Dragon Gods Reign

[Beast forest]

As soon as the dragon's fear blanketed the area, the unruly whispers in the crowd instantly died down. Their eyes turned to Darganth and Yldra and they couldn't help but tremble slightly at the sight.

Quickly they started to notice that Neandra was the only one present that wasn't shocked by their sudden appearance, prompting some of the beasts to back down again. The lesser dragons on the other hand only became emboldened by this, many flaring their mana aggressively.

Waiting for these reactions to their entrance fade, Darganth and Yldra landed behind Neandra in human form. As soon their feet touched the stone, the usual illusion that normally hid everyone but Neandra from view started to fade.

As soon as it did, another wave of shock washed over the crowd as their gazes fell on Venrie. Standing in her personal gear consisting of a chest plate woven from strands of wood that were ornamented with leaves in the form of a cloak, as well as a wooden staff of around two meters, they easily realized her identity.

Especially when they focused on the tip of the staff, the four tree branches that coiled around each other splitting into what looked similar to a leave-less tree. Around it hovered its most striking and most famous feature, a series of leave-like objects that would regularly grow from the staff's top before joining the others in its orbit.

And despite their small size, these leaves held serious power within them that made the staff more than worthy of being wielded by an emperor. Not just could they be controlled freely and had no known way to dispel them, but their durability also exceeded most magical weapons.

Combined with their high speed and the ability for each one to receive one of the countless enchantments that could be switched upon contact with the staff, they were like a deadly swarm of insects.

Soon the first beasts started linking her to the elf regularly seen at Neandra's side, the realization slowly dawning on them as to their empress's true influence. Her presence alone made it clear to alone that the balance of power was firmly in Neandra's favor, with most having underestimated her greatly and assumed it to be equal.

But even these beasts knew that the addition of another emperor or empress destroyed any chances for them. In the current times, all species concentrated a majority of their resources on their strongest fighter. This resulted in not just the emperors but also other leaders having many times the power of the next strongest.

And while the majority were focusing on Venrie, some had their attention drawn to Jennia and Allaire, them wearing a full set of magic items made from dragon scales and other dragon materials resulting in quite a few greedy looks. But as Neandra's presence completely overshadowed theirs, something she was doing on purpose, they falsely assumed the two to be mythical ranks.

But even though they held some caution towards them, none of the beasts showed much fear. And with Darganth standing between them with his arms around their hips, their attention quickly shifted to him.

Together with Yldra, he had the most impact on the crowd as practically no beast didn't have strong opinions about dragons. Whether these were positive or negative, none could deny how much dragons influenced beasts.

Thus seeing two landing next to Neandra in support caused the entire situation to flip on its head. Many of her opponents rethought their position, leading to a handful more silently backing away from the happening.

“It seems like some of you still remain steadfast in their rebellious behavior, I had hoped better.” Neandra said.

Watching as the beasts that were opposing her flinched from just her voice before doing their best to steel their resolve, she was amused by the spectacle.

“I'm waiting, offer me your complaints.” She said after a few seconds of pause.

Still, the beasts opposite of her stayed silent. And with Neandra herself having no reason to start, she used this opportunity to remind the beasts how little regard she could give to their opinions and just stayed silent.

Slowly the intended effect of this showed, with some beasts understanding that she didn't take the initiative to reach a compromise because she didn't need to. But at the same time, others came to a completely different conclusion, seeing it as her showing weakness.

When Neandra noticed one of these acting, she did so too and naturally a step faster. In an instant her tail shot forward, even the most powerful beasts present only perceiving a blur before her target found himself impaled by it.

“One traitor less.” Neandra said, her tone completely apathetic.

The beasts were meanwhile completely shocked as with his death, the man's communication spell became noticeable for a moment before failing. Some even managed to catch a glimpse at its destination, finding it to be somewhere in the human lands.

Neandra only had to wait a few seconds for this to start spreading, slowly tearing her opposition apart as they started to fear that they had been pulled into a ploy to serve their enemies. Soon the clearing was filled with shouts, the formerly united opposition to her now shouting wildly amongst themselves other and accusing each other of colluding with humans, beastmen, and sometimes even dwarfs.

As the discussion started to grow more heated, different camps started to form around certain beasts. And while these could have refocused the attention on Neandra, they were already too far in the discussion to realize that they were playing right into her hands.

The neutral beasts and her supporters were meanwhile watching this unfolding with a sense of disbelief and awe for Neandra. Never before had they seen her act this subtly as she never needed to. Now that she had done so and this successfully to boot, surprised them.

She herself was watching this attentively, waiting for the right moment to step in. Too early and she wouldn't maximize her gain, too late and irreparable damage would have happened.

Thus, when she saw the first beast gathering mana for an attack, she acted without hesitation. Her own presence spread over the area, choking the air out of the lungs of most of them. Those few were instead stopped by a poisonous cloud that spread between them, leaving holes around each beast that made it look like a piece of cheese when viewed from above.

Amidst the following chaos as the beasts were frantically attempting to keep from touching the poison, Nenadra targeted the other beasts that had been communicating with the other species. And considering that it was practically impossible that this arrangement came about recently, she did so with lethal force.

Following her will, pillars of fire rose from the ground beneath each of these beasts. Even this close to their bodies and under the full force of their passive presence interfering with her attacks, they were faster than any one of the beasts could react.

As the pillars of fire rose to the skies the surrounding beasts instantly jumped back in shock. Staring at the spaces where these people had previously stood, they shuddered at the ease with which Neandra dealt with them.

“Now that the agitators are dealt with we hopefully can start to take a more constructive approach.” Neandra said, her tone leaving no room for discussion.

Nodding weakly, the remainder of those opposing her started regretting their decision. At the same time, they bowed slightly, Neandra's display of power forcing them back in line for at least this moment.

“Let me start by saying that I understand your anger over Orielle's death, though it doesn't mean I forgive your actions. You'll live, that I will promise you, but there will still be consequences. And as for the source of all of this, do you truly think I would let things rest after they killed on our own?

Naturally, there will be revenge for her, but we won't just blindly charge into their kingdoms. Nor will we take our revenge this instant for time is on our side.

As you all could probably already guess from these two's presence, the dragons will return to the political field and we have to go with the flow like everyone else. While you were clamoring for war, I've prepared a war that this continent won't ever forget.

Let the humans and beastmen keep their illusion of peace because by the time of the next meeting, it all will come crashing down on them. Then both we beasts and the elves can end the grudges with the two specie's current leadership. No longer will our kin be hunted and treated barely better than monsters, no longer will elves find themselves enslaved on mass by humans.

Under the leadership of the dragons, this continent will become unified for the first time since ancient times.

I know that not all of your feelings for them are positive and I can understand that. As much as we lesser dragons worship them, we too have our gripes with them. But whether you want it or not, they will soon rule this continent. And better to go with the flow than to be crushed by it.

I hope for your own sake that you understand my choices because I believe my message of what happens to those who betray me is very clear. Even those who do not cross my bottom line won't find their position to be even remotely good, let these be an example of this.”

Along with the last sentence, Neandra let the psychic element brand an order into the mind of each of the beasts that had opposed her, ordering them to stop training for as long as it existed.

This naturally invoked fear in both the beasts subjected to this and those who weren't. As they were all mythical ranks, this wasn't simply a temporary setback, it was a direct risk to their lives as their lifespan grew along with their power.

Even if she were to lift her spell in a year it would leave them with consequences of years to come, leading some to even go as far as to consider trying to break it.

But when they saw the piercing glare from Neandra wandering over the crowd, all those thoughts instantly vanished. After her display of power, her position was practically completely secure as the beast's general philosophy revolved around the survival of the fittest and might make right. Now being reminded of her power, the thoughts of rebellion scattered like sand in the wind.

Ironically, those who were the least affected by this were Neandra's most loyal followers. These beasts were the largest singular group amongst their kind and they didn't follow her for her strength but because they agreed with her ideals. And considering that most lesser dragons were part of it, it encompassed a large part of the fighting power of beast-kind.

As Neandra kept standing before her throne and looking down challengingly, the beasts below slowly started to get on their knees. The first to kneel before her were the lesser dragons, prompting the others to follow soon after.

As the crowd before her knelt one after another, Neandra slowly started to smile. Waiting for even the last beast to bow down before her before undoing her transformation. Even at a Wyvern's base size, the entire area around the throne would have been filled, thus she used two beats of her wings to arrive at the stone formations peak.

Landing on it by clamping her claws around the stone, she stood there for a moment with her wings spread fully. Finally, she unleashed a booming roar to the skies, an action that was soon mirrored by the gathered beasts.

All returning to their base true forms, the area soon became filled with hundreds of different howl's that caused the nearby trees to shake.