Dragon Gods Reign

[Monster territory]

Ending the vampire's life with one swift slash to the neck, Jennia finally took in their surroundings. What had previously been a greyish grassland was now a field littered with monster corpses that were already being devoured by the mutated fauna of the area. These monster plants were present nearly everywhere, with only the area around their group being left alone by them.

In the distance, there were a few dozen scattered hills and small mountains like the one they arrived on, while two rivers snaked in between them before merging shortly before a forest a few kilometers away.

At some spots, one could also see man-made structures in addition to these natural wonders. Large, towering castles filled the monster and undead territory while two sprawling cities were visible on the horizon.

“Then what now?” Allaire asked after taking in this sight.

“I would start with the humanoid territory. We don't know where the dragon is and if settled near humanoids it's more likely that the reports spread further. In the monster territory, we would have to find him or her personally.” Darganth suggested.

“Then which one do we go to first?” Jennia asked.

Looking into the distance thoughtfully, Darganth needed only a few seconds before pointing at the noticeably smaller one of the two cities.

“I would first go for the safe option. While Irsyr said that there are no fourth ranks, just one vampire that managed to barely reach the power of one, avoiding meeting peak third ranks would still be better.”

After a short discussion, both Jennia and Allaire agreed with his assessment. Thus making their way towards the smaller city, they weren't sparing with their mana usage and thus constantly used aura to quickly cover the distance.

Following the river through the forest, they quickly reached a contested but largely humanoid controlled area. Noticing this due to the quickly plummeting number of undead as well as the rising number of streets on their path.

Around that time the city they were currently heading for was thrown into chaos. Thanks to scrying magic they had been able to constantly have an eye on the gathered monster and undead army, allowing them ample time to prepare.

But when their mages reported its sudden destruction by an unknown and undetectable force, this calm preparation abruptly ended. Instead raising the alarm and scrambling together as large of a force as possible, they prepared to face an unknown enemy whose capabilities were largely unknown.

Spreading out throughout the city as the failure in scrying revealed Darganth as a master of the space element, the soldiers nervously waited for the first portal to be spotted.

The source of this pandemonium was meanwhile arriving at the city's entrance clueless as Darganth hadn't even needed to actively interfere with the attempts to spy on him.

Due to this, they didn't make further preparations before they arrived at the city, simply approaching the gate in their usual forms. Initially, this didn't lead to any problems as for the normal soldiers they were still at a large enough distance to be barely even a speck on the horizon, but once an aura user turned their way it changed quickly.

Able to discern their features rather accurately thanks to his all-around superior body compared to other humans, his eyes widened in shock as he confused Darganth's draconic traits with those of a monster.

Without hesitation he rang the alarm, shouting, “Monsters approaching, get ready!”

This shout quickly spread throughout the entire city, with the civilians quickly seeking shelter in their homes while the soldiers doubled their vigilance.

The shout also wasn't missed by Darganth, Jennia, and Allaire, momentarily confusing them. Quickly realizing the source of the confusion, Darganth reacted immediately and cast an illusion that hid them.

“Just change, then I'll bring us into the city.” He told Jennia.

Nodding, she followed his lead and changed her transformation into the form of a human. Layering a fail-safe in the form of a passive compulsion on top of this, he directly teleported them into the city.

Seeing the panic it was currently in, undoubtedly caused by their arrival, Jennia chuckled in amusement.

“At least it makes hiding easier.” She said.

“Then let us go.” Darganth said with a smile.

Leaving the alley they had arrived in, the three of them started walking toward the city's center. Regularly passing by groups of soldiers undetected, they made their way there while remaining unnoticed.

About half the way towards their destination, Allaire noticed that multiple of the houses they had passed had the same dozen or so different posters sticking to them. Deciding to take a quick look, she walked closer to the next one they found.

Seeing each one to be a warning or alert with the faces of human looking monsters or human criminals as well as one elven. Quickly reading the information beneath the picture of one random poster, she found out that it was a human criminal that collaborated with a vampire to bring him fresh victims.

Taking a look at two more, she found another similar story of an elven collaborator and that of a monster known for infiltrating cities.

“Oh, nice find.” Darganth commented from behind her.

“I was just lucky to notice them.”

“Doesn't matter, you have found them.” He said.

Letting his fingers run through her hair while scratching her head, he conjured a few small light balls to bring the entire wall into view. As soon as the dim, eerie light of the moons was replaced by that of his spell, all seventeen posters came into full view.

Quickly reading over them, Jennia and Allaire found only ones that were irrelevant to them. But when Jennia turned to Darganth a minute later she noticed his eyes to be glued to the notice in the middle of the upper row.

Following his eyes to this paper, she furrowed her brows as she found little that could elicit such a response from him. Tapping Allaire on the arm and motioning for her to take a look at it, she received a similarly clueless shrug in response.

Reading through the text on it, Jennia found a passage that surprised her.

“She's a summoned hero?” She asked.

“Yes.” Darganth answered absentmindedly.

Taking a closer look at the picture and finding the woman to have vertical eyes, Allaire quickly connected it with the passage about her supposed mutation.

“She's the dragon we are searching for.” She said surprised.

Nodding, Darganth added, “And she's my sister.”

His words made both Allaire and Jennia abruptly turn to him in disbelief. But upon seeing the seriousness of his expression and the concern in his eyes their thoughts that this was a joke shattered.

“Then we need to find her before someone else does.” Allaire said concerned.

“I know. And we'll start the next instant, I just have to have someone to vent on.”

Seeing the rage boiling in his eyes as he stared at the bottom part of the poster, Allaire noticed the last sentence.

Written there was that during her escape the high order, the organization that also was responsible for these notices, had managed to wound her considerably, though not lethally. This made her own anger boil over and from the wave of mana she felt from Jennia, the latter had also read this.

Following Darganth without a moment of delay, all three dashed through the city without caring whether they would be noticed. Using aura to jump above the roofs around them, they caught themselves with flight magic at their highest points.

Needing only a moment of looking around to find the base they were searching for, Jennia found it first and instantly accelerated towards it. Darganth and Allaire followed closely behind her, with all three soon landing on the street in front of the building.

Without even waiting for the people inside to react, Darganth turned into a roughly twenty meter long version of his true form. Swinging his right front leg down onto the building, his claw easily crushed the wood building.

Pulling it out of the rubble, he continued to stare at it with fury in his eyes.

“I know you're still alive, no need to hide.” He growled.

As reaction a man hued in red aura burst out from the rubble, aiming his greatsword directly at Darganth's neck.

Easily moving out of the way of this attack, Darganth used his wing to swat the man back to the ground. Stamping down with his hind leg to make sure he was dead, he turned his attention back to the building.

Watching another seven humanoids emerging from it, four humans, one elf, and two beastmen, he looked down at them in pure hatred. But instead of feeling intimidated by this, five of them activated their aura while one of the other two prepared spells.

“So there are still dragons, I thought your kind died out.” The last one said with a laugh.

Not gracing them with a response, Darganth shot a concentrated breath of lightning their way. But instead of frying the mage he had targeted, the bundle of electricity was met by a beam of flames from the man that had spoken to him.

Surprised by the flames, Darganth ended his breath soon after. Easily dodging the attack that could now continue unhindered, he turned to analyze the man.

“Phoenix bloodline, that explains these flames.” He said a moment later.

Somehow misunderstanding his words as fear, the man became emboldened and started taunting him.

“You can be glad that we aren't fighting by daylight. Without the protection of the moons, my flames would have easily incinerated your corrupted existence and fueled our protector in the great battle.”

Snarling at the comparison with monsters, Darganth prepared another attack with a sadistic smirk.

“You seem proud of your flames but I have my own version of them. But they can compete against the real deal while yours don't deserve to be called flames of rebirth.” He said.

Without further words,

he shot out a breath of destruction, the wave of strangely colored flames impacting the man's phoenix fire just a moment later. But instead of being blocked like the breath of lightning, it overwhelmed his defense practically instantly.

Continuing on, they utterly erased the shocked man from existence. Along with him, they destroyed much of the rubble and ground behind him, leaving a cone-shaped hole that continued for over ten meters.

The ease with which their leader was dispatched petrified the others. Staring at the spot where he had stood just moments prior with wide eyes, the first two targets didn't even react as Jennia and Allarie joined the fight.

Easily cutting the first one down, they were met with some slight resistance by the second person. But while they blocked Allaire's arrow and Jennia's strike respectively, Allaire reacted quickly and shot an arrow at Jennia's opponent right as she attacked him.

Despite his best efforts to deal with both attacks, he failed to fully block the arrow and it managed to strike his left shoulder. Grimacing slightly, he used his sword to shatter the shaft in an attempt to keep it from blocking his movements.

But instead of achieving this, he unleashed the light energy stored inside it. Exploding outward in the form of thousands of small needles, it struck his body in hundreds of places and left him grievously wounded.

Finding not even the strength to lift his arm to block Allaire's finishing strike, he collapsed shortly after she cut open his throat.

Turning their attention to the last person, both of them attacked in unison. Allaire started by shooting an arrow that exploded into ten arrows made from hardened light. This pseudo shotgun attack forced their opponent to hastily bring his arms in front of his vital organs as his sword strike would only deflect the initial arrow.

Using the opportunity, Allaire closed the gap with a single swift dash and used his distraction as well as her superior speed to ram her claws right through his ribcage.

Spitting out blood, their target quickly lost all strength as she had managed to hit his heart. When Allaire pulled back her arm, he quickly collapsed as his aura slowly faded.