Dragon Gods Reign

[Above the mountain range]

While the civil war among the dwarfs raged down below, the inhabitants of the peaks that gave the range its name barely even acknowledged it. Only some of the younger dragons cared, watching the fighting below from the comfort of their lairs.

The older ones had grown accustomed to the regular fighting between them long ago, seeing them as mere squabbles between short-lived children. And they did so with good reason, with the previous king dead and all mythical ranks above a certain threshold relocating to the emperor's side each one of them was near unstoppable in these mountains.

But even among these dragons, there was one that stood out from the rest. Occupying the very top of the central peak, he barely even registered the fighting down below and certainly didn't interrupt his sleep due to it.

And even in this state, his presence stood out as a massive beacon that constantly reminded the dwarfs whom they share their home with. This mana presence radiating from his sleeping form held enough weight that it shielded the peaks from the dangers of the chaotic mana stream, splitting its currents as a rock does inside a river.

Even the initial collision of the fight around the capital only caused him to open his eyes for a few seconds, though this soon changed. Feeling a familiar power from inside one of the entrance tunnels, slowly stirred before directing his gaze downwards.

There he found what he had sensed, feeling the weak presence of a breath of destruction. Intrigued, he continued observing the fighting with interest while searching for the source though with little initial success.

The reason for this was that he believed its source to be a solar dragon that achieved its use. As for why a dragon would intervene, he could only guess while reluctantly ignoring the insult that an unannounced arrival this close to his territory was.

Just a normal solar dragon would force him to do so, one that mastered the breath of destruction even more so as solar dragons, like the majority of dragons that even just had the potential for it, had to learn its uses, something few managed to do.

This led him to simply glance over Darganth's comparatively weak presence, especially as the latter masked his true presence to prevent his transformation to be looked through.

All of this abruptly changed during the fight with Verid, with Darganth's dragon authority quickly spreading and enveloping even his layer. As soon as it did he acted purely out of instinct, his body shooting up while he slightly lowered his head.

Only after a second did the confusion at this set in, his current position going above the respect even most solar dragons could force him to show.

He, Curel, one of the oldest fire dragons not just on the continent but on the entire planet, and thus this universe, bowed his head due to the presence of a dragon not even two decades old. He was a being that had few equals here, especially if one excluded other dragons.

Precisely, he knew of only four, the beast empress, two of the ancient aquatic beasts that spend most of their time slumbering in the depth of the seas, and lastly the spirit tree on the elven continent. And the last one of these could be debated whether it should count, with spirit trees being the stage between mana and world trees and only slowly developing true consciousness. A young one like that one would still take centuries to grow past the equivalent of a human toddler and was thus unable to act on its power besides if it were to be attacked.

While this count ballooned somewhat when also considering dragons, with it now including five fellow fire dragons as well as a few dozen solar ones, a low number that came from the fact that most older ones choose to leave the universe to travel. Additionally, that number also rose when he were to include the solar dragons using their authority.

Thus this development enraged him slightly, though it mostly drew his curiosity about which prominent dragon clan send one of its descendants to this universe.

Leisurely sweeping his gaze across the city, he barely covered half of it when he felt the authority also conveying an order. In truth, only a fraction of a second had passed since the initial spreading, though Curel's fast thoughts made it seem like longer.

“My kin, let these insignificant fools know the consequences of enraging a dragon. Let their fortresses be a monument to this, one that no one will forget in the near future.”

Feeling this practically shouted message, dragons from all across the crowned mountains descended upon the positions held by the rebels. They all felt the anger it contained and even without the pressure that forced them to follow the command they took to the skies.

And all across the crowned mountains this took the dwarfs by surprise, both loyalists and traitors alike. Every single one just stayed still, staring at the dragons above with fear.

And then the first of them started descending.

As if on command, soldiers from both sides started running around in panic, fearing that they would soon perish under its fiery breath. Even the mythical ranks just looked on in horror, hearing their ally's reports through communication magic and getting with it the knowledge about some dragons far larger than had ever been reported in the past.

And when the sighting of one nearly four kilometers from head to tail came in, some simply fainted. Their largest classification for dragons, ancient, measured barely one kilometer and referred to those older than ten millennia. And considering the estimated rate at which a dragon's physical size grows, they didn't want to imagine what kind of monster they might be facing.

And this was their reaction even without Curel transforming, his true form slowly but surely approaching ten kilometers in length. And while it wasn't as impressive on its own as a beast of the size would be, he also spends a considerable time of his life training.

As most beast's growth slows considerably before they even reach a kilometer in length from head to tail, with the exact point depending on the species, it would far surpass a base dragon of the same size. And while he could probably match such a beast, though barely as even the beast empress hasn't reached that point yet, he would prefer to avoid such encounters as a beast of that size would nearly always be quite a bit older than him, thus also more experienced.

At the same time, dragons grow between one and two meters per decade depending on the species, with a low-tier species tending to be the smallest while high-tier species tend to be the largest. This meant that it would still take a considerable amount of time for him to join the most powerful percent among them, those that can dwarf nearly all planets.

But even without his appearance, the dwarfs lost every chance at a coordinated defense. But luckily for the loyalists, Darganth wasn't too lost in his rage and still conveyed that the target of his anger was only the rebels.

Thus, when the first group consisting of the oldest of the dragons dived down the panic among the loyalists slowly died down. Drawing hope from getting no report of them being targeted, the mythical ranks just watched with fearful eyes as the flames descended on their adversary.

The opponents they regularly fought to a draw and never even being able to force them to go all out, though they never did themselves, were forced to do so from the beginning. But even this didn't matter to the opponents they faced this time, their form quickly being swallowed by fire, ripped apart by claws or simply squashed by the dragon's body colliding with them.

And then it was the fortress's turn. The bastions that weathered years of fighting against them just fell, their defensive emplacements crumbling, the enchantments barely flickering alive before being snuffed out again.

All across the front line, the scene repeated itself, fortresses that held firm for sometimes millennia just being reduced to rubble one by one. Whenever a group attacked, the dragons would choose their targets in a way that allowed one of them to finish the job. And by the time the ones that they classified as ancient descended, over fifty of the strongest position had already fallen.

From then on, the remaining dragons no longer dived towards their targets, instead preferring to bombard them from afar. This caused a wave of despair among the rebels, their hope to at least get some small revenge being shattered. While there were tales of ancient dragons dying, they all knew that with the level of the mythical ranks here, they had no chance to archive it.

The same went for the classification directly below, elder dragon, but they had hoped to at least bring down a single adult dragon or lower by concentrating their fire. Those even younger, being below a century, would likely not even attack as their power often didn't even reach the mythical rank.

But against an enemy at such a height, this would be impossible. And while they cried at the injustice in it, they could do nothing to prevent their impending deaths.

And while his kin were raining fire down at the rebel soldiers, Curel was executing the special message Darganth gave him.

After taking a short detour to weaken the death mage that would have cast the spell that Verid gave the targets for and thus allowing Darganth to mark his soul in a similar manner as he had done to Verid, he appeared in the sky above the capital.

He didn't simply teleport there silently, believing that the first time in millennia he interacted with his neighbors below should be appropriately imposing.

Effortlessly breaking through the shields that made teleporting more difficult, he arrived in a flaming inferno. Letting these flames spread out and form a replica of his true form within a second, his entire form was covered by a deep red glow before it slowly expanded to perfectly fit into the flaming construct.

Then, with a loud roar, he dispelled the flames by letting them fly outwards and slowly lose their strength.

This act broke apart even the last fight, with even the mythical ranks staring at him stunned. None of them trusted their own eyes at that moment, trying all kinds of methods to dispel the illusion despite knowing deep down that it isn't one.

For the fourth ranks this was even worse, the by now nearly victorious defenders having seen the tide turning in their favor, giving them the strength to face the mythical ranks still stuck at one of the entrances.

But seeing these previously imposing figures now barely larger than flies that buzzed around the dragon's body, they felt the same fear their allies outside had felt. The only saving grace was that their enemies also seemed unsure of which side Curel was on, giving them some hope.

“So this is all that today's dwarfs amount to? If your ancestors from my time were to see you.” He said, his voice booming throughout the underground city.

This rattled at least some of the mythical ranks out of their stupor, though the five's reactions differed vastly.

One of the defending ones acted by bringing his body defensively between Curel and the largest gathering of civilians and soldiers.

Simultaneously the mage he was previously facing acted, switching his target to an unprepared aura user and firing a wave of spells at him. But while he was busy launching a surprise attack, he was himself attacked by a defending aura user that drove his sword through the mage's back.

And while his target was only broken out of his stupor by this while receiving minimal wounds, the mage's weaker body and the more deadly attack sealed his fate.

The aura user that Kheduil had been facing was also part of the group, as was Kheduil himself. And while he prepared to launch a wave of attacks at his opponent, he changed his mind when he saw the latter preparing to attack Curel.

Conjuring a barrier halfway between the two, he watched as the man collided with it before Curel's tail struck him faster than he could even perceive. Ignoring the large crater that formed as the man struck the ground, Kheduil gulped as he saw Curel's gaze towards him.

Already preparing to explain his reasoning in case the dragon opposite of him was enraged that he believed it necessary to protect him from such a weak attack, Kheduil instead was faced with a look of amusement.

“Why?” Came the slightly puzzled question, a question that Kheduil hastily answered.

“I wanted to prevent unnecessary inconveniences for you to arise out of our civil war. Annoying a dragon, especially one of your power, wouldn't bode well for either side.” He explained.

Slightly lowering his head to avoid eye contact, Kheduil waited nervously for Curel's response. A second later it came and nonetheless took him by surprise.

“Hahahahe.”

Along with this booming laugh, Curel's body started shaking slightly.

“How amusing yet naive.” He followed this up before continuing with a serious tone, “As if I would bother wiping you out just because of an insignificant fool. Not even your pathetic emperor is a match for me so why would I? It's not as if you would wipe out flies just because one died by colliding with you.”

Hearing this, Kheduil was just about to sigh due to the weight that fell from his shoulders when Curel continued, “And those that view such attacks differently rarely care if it succeeded but the intend so it wouldn't have mattered.”

With this booming declaration, a shudder went through all dwarfs who could hear it. Cursing the aura user for what he could have brought onto them, few did dare to imagine the consequences as even just Curel's massive body could easily bring down mountains with a wrong move.

In an attempt to calm his nerves as well as those of the dwarfs listening, Kheduil started talking again rather soon.

“Then I am thankful that you are not one of them.” He said honestly, adding after a short moment of thought, “Am I also correct in the assessment that much of the restraint your fellows showed to some of my kind mistakes is thanks to you?”

“Technically yes, but it is more of a combined effort of us elders that reign's in our descendants. My reputation just makes it easier as I can't be bothered with it.”

“As king, I thank you for it nonetheless.”

Replying with a disinterested chuckle, Curel started ignoring him and instead turned his attention to the palace.

Feeling Darganth's anger calming somewhat, he vanished in a theatrical exit by creating a similar flame show as he had done during his arrival. Though when he reappeared before Darganth he kept it simple, arriving in his human form with some dragon traits while kneeling.

Calmly waiting until the life left Verid's body, he was just about to speak when Darganth send him a telepathic message.

'Keep my true identity hidden from anyone but other dragons, for now the races of this world will only know me as a normal member of the Void lineage.'

Puzzled by what he meant by those words, he looked up just to freeze when he saw the glow coming from Darganth's eyes. And while his thoughts processed what he saw within a fraction of a second, the shock from it still left him speechless.

At that moment he felt a weak suggestion from Darganth's authority attempting to influence him and soon succeeding. Thankful for the forceful calming of his chaotic thoughts, he had let it do so despite being more than capable to resist such a weak order.

“I am surprised and honored by the presence of one of the Voidborn.” He said earnestly and with a small bow.