Dragon Gods Reign

 

[Skies of the pocket realm]

Following the destruction of the high order base by Darganth, Jennia, and Allaire, the entire humanoid alliance went into a frenzy. While the attack itself happened within the human territory, the appearance of a dragon, a species they had assumed dead, shook the leaders of every species to their cores.

After all, phoenix blood also ran through their veins and the rivalry between their ancestral relatives and dragon kind was well known. While the phoenix was known as the incarnation of rebirth, dragons were conversely known as symbols of destruction. Through this, the two species were connected by the cycle of rebirth and destruction, though it was in the form of an eternal rivalry whose source only Darganth truly knew.

But the natives of this word did know of its existence, prompting them to jump to hastily conclusions. Slowly but surely fear spread among the common populace, with talks making the rounds that he was here to exert revenge for the death of the local dragons.

Or at least the death they all assumed to have befallen the dragons. In truth, there had never been any native dragon on this planet, whether before it was placed in this pocket dimension or after. Instead, it had always been Locis in disguises that came here to have fun, with the rumored extinction of dragon kind simply being Irsyr placing stricter restrictions on revealing themselves.

Though even if the source of their fears was based on falsehoods, their consequences weren't. Driven by this fear, the population signed up in droves to join the army, whether it be previously independent mana users or mana less civilians.

And despite these new additions amounting to nothing in the face of a dragon, many local higher-ups didn't stop it. Some even went a step further and agitated the people even further, hoping to increase the number of soldiers under their command even more.

Most of those that did either did so despite knowing that attacking a dragon with large armies was impossible. Not only were they one of, if not the best species in fights against hordes of weaker enemies, but catching up to a flying target with such an army was close to impossible.

But he had never truly been the goal for most of them, only using his presence as an excuse. They knew that after amassing such large armies, few of their fellows could resist the lure of marching them into monster territory in the hopes of gaining new opportunities. With the prospect of their rivals gaining new land, great wealth, or just fame, few could let such an opportunity slide.

Thus it had taken only a couple of ambitious individuals to send the might of humans, elves, dwarfs, and beastmen against the monster. Even some of the less influential species marched out for varying purposes just like the major ones. Whether they were led by their greed, their hate for the monsters, the thrill of discovery, or just the prospect of grand battles like the beastmen, they set their sights straight towards the monster lands.

Though in addition to all of these, there were also exceptions that refrained from partaking in the war. Especially among the smaller species their number was quite large, with their possible gains being the smallest while the impact that each individual's loss caused was the largest.

Together, these armies quickly covered the border that marked the current front line between the humanoids and monsters in an extensive network of encampments. And with at least a rudimentary defense being put in place, the main portion of the army marched into enemy territory, completely unaware that they were being shadowed by their target.

And rather unusually, he did so alone, with Jennia and Allaire being about fifty kilometers further north and south respectively. In this formation they had already searched through the entire humanoid territory, doing so despite knowing well that finding Alicia was entirely reliant on luck.

Not just couldn't they completely cover more than a few kilometers with their senses, with active mana emissions being detectable from a few times that distance, but those skilled in hiding their presence could remain undetected even amidst that distance.

It was even possible that Darganth's dragon eyes couldn't spot her from more than a few hundred meters either, at least if she managed to learn how to hide from them based on what her own eyes showed.

In addition to these two factors, there was also the distance. The continent may be small when compared to most other worlds that had mana, but it was still far too large for even fourth ranks to completely cover. The at least loosely round landmass had a diameter of somewhere between four and seven thousand kilometers depending on which points it is measured from.

While a massive gulf that cut into it in the east and a couple of large inland seas cut down the land area somewhat, it was still far too much to be searched by three people.

Thus, when they noticed the armies sallying forth, they chose to use their advance to their benefit. Instead of mindlessly searching all over the continent until they had enough and called on Irsyr, they would follow them and react if one or more armies suddenly shifted direction.

After all, it took only one scout that found Alicia for at least one army to focus on her, that great the reward for her death or capture was. And for the lords and commanders leading the armies, attacking one girl held far less risk than venturing on, with only a slightly lower but in return guaranteed gain.

Having formed this plan, they had spread apart even further until the furthest reaches of their perception barely intersected. And even that was only possible by focusing on less frequent but stronger scans that lead to stretches of sometimes multiple hours where they had no updates on an army's positions.

Flying or walking across the continent like this, they kept in constant contact through communication magic. In a world as weak as this, they had little worry that their conversations would even be noticed, lest traced or intercepted.

'Hm.' Noticing one of the beastmen armies close to him not having disassembled their camp of the last night, Darganth transmitted his surprise through this connection.

'What is?' Allaire directly asked.

'One of the army's left their camp standing so I'll go take a quick look.'

Turning abruptly before he even transmitted these words, Darganth flew straight toward the camp in question.

'I didn't sense anything similar but I'll keep you updated.' Jennia sent them.

'I'll do the same.' Darganth replied, with Allaire also sending a mental affirmation.

About two minutes after their conversation ended, Darganth reached his target. As soon as he did he noticed the camp to be mostly empty, with only a bare-bone garrison being left behind.

Seeing this it took him only a moment to decide what to do next. As soon as he did, he didn't hesitate and leaned forward into a dive. Naturally, the garrison spotted him just a moment later as he didn't even attempt to hide, though they could do little beyond panicking.

Faced with his massive form rushing towards them, many quickly chose to turn tail and flee. Of those that remained, only a fraction managed to find the courage to mount a defensive effort.

Shooting spells and aura-laced arrows at Darganth, they desperately tried to stop his descent. But to their horror, these attacks simply bounced off his scales, with his unharmed form shooting out of the smoke that was left in the wake of the impacts.

Readying another volley, they watched in horror as Darganth reached them before they could launch it.

Catching his fall with a couple of strong beats of his wings, his landing was accompanied by strong winds rushing through the camp and uprooting multiple tents. Unbothered by this, Darganth's arm shot out and got a hold of one of the defenders.

Needing only a quick psychic spell to read the poor man's mind, he found out that the main portion of the army was en route to a small village of humanoid monsters. But compared to the vast majority, these had managed to prevent their mind from being affected during the mutation, leaving their intellect fully intact.

But despite being capable of forming a village as functioning as other humanoids could and seemingly having none of the usual instincts that monsters had, they lived out here, far from any humanoid cities. This was more likely than not due to their presence not being accepted there despite only their appearance differing.

Normally a small group such as theirs would not be worth his attention. But considering that his sister may very well have been forced into monster territory, there was a chance that she stumbled on this village.

Thus he let go of the man whose mind he had searched and instantly turned around. Snarling as he saw some of the mages and aura users trying to attack him again, he took flight without bothering with them. And seeing as none dared to attack him, his assessment proved to be correct.

'I've found a village inhabited by mutated humanoids and I'll go check it out. But if one exists there will likely be more, so try if you can find more.' He transmitted to Jennia and Allaire.

Shortly after he also reached his destination, though he could see it long before as a massive plume of smoke rose from the village. Already flying at his full speed, he could only hope that his sister either wasn't in the village or would hold out long enough.

Due to him flying close to the ground and thanks to a hill obscuring the direction he was approaching from, the first soldiers only noticed him when he was barely a kilometer away. This was a distance at which he already had to slow down to not cause too much of a ruckus when landing, though it still only gave them a bit over a second.

Transforming back into his human form even before landing, he caught his body still in the air and floated towards the center of the town. Huddled there were the last remnants of resistance, with barely a hundred individuals facing off against an onslaught of multiple thousands of attackers.

All around them their wooden houses either burned or were otherwise destroyed, the culprits encircling the inhabitants. They did so without any worry, already treating the villagers as defeated and only leaving them alive as some of the soldiers and commanders clearly enjoyed their suffering.

Landing between the two groups without care, Darganth paid no heed to the attackers. The confidence with which he disregarded them unsettled not just them, but also the small group of defenders.

“Did your village have any recent newcomers?” He directly asked.

Hearing his commanding tone, the villagers nearest to him unconsciously took a step back. Still, despite their fear of him, none of the inhabitants answered his question.

After a moment one of the attackers reacted instead, the beastman with minimal canine traits rushing at him. This act annoyed Darganth greatly, prompting him to dispatch the attacker without long deliberation.

His form momentarily becoming blurry, he crossed the six meters between them in an instant. Striking the man's unprotected head with enough force that it shattered into a gory mess, he appeared at his previous position before even half a second had passed.

All the mostly mana less defenders saw of this was his form blurring slightly and the soldier keeling over with his head missing.

“My patience isn't all that great at the best of days, so don't test it.” Darganth said, mostly directed at the beastmen army.

But it also showed its effect on the defenders, with an elderly man hastily pushing through the front rank before stopping before Darganth with his head down in a bow.

“Y-Yes, your grace. A small family of three arrived about a year ago, their four-year-old had started mutating.” He said.

With his words he pointed at the crowd, allowing Darganth to identify the mother and son pair.

“Were there any other within the last one and a half years?” He asked just to be sure.

“If they aren't who you are searching for then I fear that you won't find them here.”

Hearing the man's confirmation, Darganth sighed in a mix of disappointment and relief. However, before he could start considering how to continue the elderly man spoke up again.

“But if you suspect the persons you seek to be in a village like ours, maybe I could help you with a map of their locations.”

“You have such a thing?” Darganth asked surprised.

“H-Had, it was within the main hall.” The man answered, pointing at the largest building in the village.

Seeing the signs of forceful entry all over the building, Darganth turned to the army with a savage grin.

“I give you two options, give it to me or I will take it.” He announced.

Seeing no response from the army before him, his grin became even more ferocious as his mana flared into action. That alone was enough to cause a good portion of the soldiers to just faint from the pressure, with most of the rest barely holding on.

This changed with a mere thought from Darganth, the quick psychic assault causing the remaining foot soldiers to collapse with their white eyes. The remaining four individuals were all man users of the second and third rank, with the third rank holding both a communication magic item and what Darganth assumed to be the map.

Seeing the defiance in their eyes, Darganth didn't waste time with such trivial things as negotiating.

Rushing at the four, his body became hued in a time-elemental aura. As soon as it finished forming, his dash suddenly sped up further as time sped up for him.

Before any of them could react, he had already arrived before the first of the men and driven his fist through his ribcage. Slowly drawing back his left arm, Darganth grabbed the sword that was swung at him with his free right hand before trying to yank it away.

Its wielder surprisingly managed to prevent his weapon from being ripped from his hands, though he was still dragged toward Darganth. With a single swing from his clawed left hand, the man's throat was ripped open.

Turning his attention to the last two, Darganth found the last second rank rushing at him while the third rank dashed toward the village's inhabitants. Snarling at the attempt of the latter, he barely paid any attention to the man attacking him.

Simply flicking his left arm towards him, the aura user suddenly stopped and stared at him with wide eyes. A moment later all of the blood inside his body was forced towards one point, crushing his heart under its pressure.

“Ha, now you wo-” The third rank started, holding the elderly man with his left arm while pressing a sword at his throat.

But before he could finish his sentence, Darganth's gaze locked with his. As soon as it did, the man felt an existential dread welling up from deep within himself but it was already too late. Before he even realized that he never had a chance, Darganth's spell already reaped his life. In the last seconds of his life, he only saw Darganth staring back at him with apathy, barely even acknowledging his existence.

And with his death, the elder could free himself. Falling onto his knees before Darganth, he looked at him in reverence that quickly spread to the others

“My lord, I-” He said but Darganth cut him off.

“Don't, I won't take you under my protection. Once I leave, the only help I will still give is that these soldiers will remain unconscious for at least twelve hours, so deal with them however you want. Apart from that I wish you good luck, but nothing else.”

“We can understand and wish you also the best of luck.” While his words were filled with disappointment, the elder didn't hold it against Darganth.

They had gotten at least a chance from him, they were in no position to ask for more. Still, they watched Darganth return to his true form and fly away with hopeless eyes.

Glancing behind him one last time, Darganth let out a mental sigh at the sorrowful sight. Despite this, he didn't stop, though he brought himself to stealthily create a magic circle beneath the village.

'You can thank Allaire for this.' He thought as he watched the invisible protections activating.

With his final parting gift, he turned back towards his original route while simultaneously informing Jennia and Allaire of what he had learned.