Chapter 297: Dragon Family, Contradictions

"Whoosh! Swish-swish-swish!"

Wang Yu, clad in his blood-armor, became a mere blur. He slammed his foot down onto a Dragon-Tooth Soldier whose rider he had already shattered, the terrifying force pulverizing the creature's spine while launching Wang Yu like a cannonball toward the next black-robed figure.

The blood-armor rippled and shifted, drawing upon the pool of blood within. Chains forged from crimson gore erupted from his back, driven by the secret arts of the Bloody Wrath Knight and the power of the Chariot, lashing out at the surrounding Dragon-Tooth Soldiers.

"Clang! Screech-screech-screech!"

The unfortunate black-robed target was cleaved in two the moment Wang Yu landed on his mount; the broken meteorite blade in Wang Yu’s hand hadn't even been stained by the spray of blood.

"Half-dragon?"

Wang Yu muttered to himself, his gaze lingering for a heartbeat on the bisected corpse that had been sliced like tofu.

The skin was layered with reptilian scales, reminiscent of Noelle’s old disguise, though far cruder in execution.

Even as he mused, Wang Yu’s hands shot out, gripping the blood-chains that were coiling and pulling in every direction, each one now cinched tight around the throat of a Dragon-Tooth Soldier.

The blood writhed and morphed, fusing the chains together until every soldier was tethered to the next.

By the time Wang Yu finished, the black-robed half-dragon mages had only just begun to react. It was too fast; Wang Yu’s speed was beyond their reach—this was the fate of any mage caught in close quarters by a knight.

"Gack! Gack-gack!"

Some of the robed figures instinctively tried to maneuver their mounts to flee from the knight who clearly lacked the power of flight, only to be yanked back by the blood-chains.

The force transmitted along the links threw the neighboring soldiers off balance, nearly tossing their riders to the ground.

"Bang!"

Stomping hard on the head of his mount, Wang Yu’s armored boot crushed the skull into a pulp, and he vaulted onto one of the blood-chains.

He sprinted across the aerial bridge, reaching the next terrified mage in an instant. His broken meteorite blade flashed like a blinding star, and a hooded head went soaring into the sky.

The remaining riders finally found an opening to strike, unleashing a barrage of dark necromantic rays, fireballs, wind blades, and electric spears from all sides.

But alas, they were too slow. With battle aura surging through his veins and his strength fully unleashed, Wang Yu moved like a ghost—leaping, spinning, ducking—dodging with a fluidity beyond their comprehension while maintaining his high-speed assault.

The crimson shadow tore across the chains, and with every stroke of the meteorite blade, another life was reaped. The slaughter was terrifying; a dozen of the dozens of mages had fallen in less than half a minute.

"Boom! Crunch!"

Hammered by a relentless volley of spells, Wang Yu was finally struck. The panoramic view provided by the ripples in his armor warned him there was no room to dodge; he had to take the hit.

A searing explosion of fire erupted against his shoulder guard, charring it black and cracking the metal in several places.

The impact stalled his momentum, and a follow-up beam of dark energy struck him true.

The mages, sensing their chance, accelerated their casting, raining a deluge of spells upon the knight who had been slowed in mid-air.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Dust and smoke billowed, the black haze of necromancy mingling with flames to shroud the scene. The density of the assault left no room for escape.

As the smoke cleared, it revealed a shattered suit of blood-armor falling from the sky. Riddled with corrosion and burn marks, it seemed impossible for anyone inside to have survived.

But before the mages could verify his death, a silver beam of energy—far thicker than any before—slammed into the cluster of mages still bound together by Wang Yu’s blood-chains.

It was the dragon breath of the silver dragon, Aerylion. While the mages had been distracted by the rampaging killer, she had been gathering her strength.

Though suppressed by the laws of this plane, Aerylion’s power remained formidable; given time to charge, her breath carried the weight of a legendary strike.

The silver beam did not pierce through and vanish; instead, it condensed into a blinding sphere of light at the point of impact.

All the energy of the dragon breath poured into it, silver arcs of light spinning frantically around the sphere before it detonated. The violent force swept everything away; the Dragon-Tooth Soldiers and the robed mages were as brittle as paper before such terrifying power.

Dust returned to dust. With a single breath—much like the one Zig had once unleashed over the royal capital—Aerylion wiped out the pursuers who had followed them through the spatial rift.

Below, the smoke from the mages' spells dissipated completely. Wang Yu was falling, but he was perfectly fine; he had simply shed the ruined armor, which had absorbed the brunt of the attacks.

He could have easily tanked the spells to kill a dozen more, but dropping was a way to dodge the aftermath of Aerylion’s breath and further distract the enemy.

He grabbed the remnants of his armor, reshaping the blood into two wing-like gliders to slow his descent.

Wang Yu could not fly yet, but if his Chariot power evolved further, he might one day be able to grab the very air and force himself into the sky.

Storms surged, and the spell Avia had prepared caught Wang Yu, setting him down safely.

Above, Aerylion beat her wings, circling once to ensure no enemies remained. She chanted in the dragon tongue, gathering mana to seal the silver rift that had brought her and the mages here, before descending.

Her silver form retracted and shifted, and by the time she touched the ground, she had taken human shape.

Just as they had seen in the images, her long silver hair flowed behind her, and her exquisite, beautiful features held a permanent, serious expression. Her attire, resembling a suit, was simple and sharp, yet possessed a refined aesthetic—she was the picture of heroic grace.

Though he had seen Zig’s sister in the projection crystal, standing before her, Wang Yu had to admit she was striking. That aura of strength and confidence, like a lonely, towering iceberg, was something no recording could truly capture.

"Sister!"

Seeing Aerylion, the red dragon girl Noelle could no longer restrain herself. She rushed out from behind the human-formed Zig, shouting with joy as she threw herself at her approaching sister.

"It’s been so long. You’ve grown so much. I’m sorry, I’ve been too busy to look after you. I’ve troubled your brother."

The ice melted. Aerylion picked Noelle up, a gentle smile breaking across her stern face as she let the girl rub her soft cheek against her own.

Family bonds, even after a century apart, had not faded in the slightest.

"Here, this is a gift for you. It contains the dragon-tongue magic heritage of the red dragons, along with some of the Red Dragon King’s own spells. Study hard; with your talent, you will become a truly powerful dragon."

Smiling, she stroked Noelle’s head, then used her finger to slice open a small rift. A pitch-black ring fell out, which Aerylion strung onto a cord and hung around Noelle’s neck.

The ring looked simple, a dark metal band with sparse red engravings, within which a liquid like molten lava flowed.

It was pure red dragon blood, though the immense energy fluctuations within were completely masked by the unknown material of the ring.

"Thank you, Sister!"

Noelle clutched the ring, her eyes sparkling. She didn't care much for the power it represented; her joy came simply from receiving a gift from the sister she hadn't seen in so long.

The red dragon girl kissed Aerylion’s cheek, then waved vigorously at the distance, signaling her brother to come over.

"Sister, it’s been a long time."

Zig walked to Aerylion’s side, seemingly at a loss for words, starting with the most mundane of greetings.

"It has been a long time. Thank you for taking care of Noelle all these years."

Aerylion set Noelle down and gave Zig a hug. Brother and sister reunited, Zig had much he wanted to say, but for a moment, he couldn't find the words to begin.

"This is a gift for you. I know you enjoy tracking the secret lore of the continent, so I collected these while dealing with enemies over the years. I hope you like them."

Aerylion opened another rift and handed a beautifully bound book of magic pages to Zig.

"Thank you."

Zig took them, looked them over, and thanked her sincerely. Then, the atmosphere between the siblings grew slightly stiff.

Ten seconds passed in silence. Noelle stood between them, looking left and right, growing anxious.

Wang Yu, standing nearby with Avia, rubbed his chin. He could see it now: Zig’s sister wasn't very good at expressing her emotions either, and once the gifts were given, she didn't know what else to say.

Giving the ring to Noelle had been seamless, perhaps because the girl’s heart was simple, but with Zig, the gift lost much of its weight.

It stood to reason; dragons usually parted ways long before reaching adulthood, and a brood like Zig’s—three different species in one nest, caught in the midst of a draconic catastrophe—was an anomaly among anomalies.

"Sister, how have you been all these years?"

After hesitating for a long time, Zig finally spoke; all the words he had meant to say had somehow distilled into this single, hollow inquiry.

"Not bad. Those enemies couldn't touch me, and as I age, I only grow stronger. Given enough time and enough kin like myself, I can put an end to Him."

Arielian answered after Zig’s prompt, her tone light, though it was impossible to tell if she was merely reassuring Zig and Noelle or if she truly meant it.

Wang Yu, listening nearby, was astonished. He knew exactly what "He" referred to—that entity from the heavens with supreme power, capable of killing Zig with a flick of a finger. Was Arielian truly that formidable?

"Those enemies who chased you into the Undead Plane... how could humans attack you?"

Zig followed up with another pressing concern; that their designated meeting place had been compromised left him deeply unsettled.

"They are the Cult of the Dragon, a new scourge from this past century. They worship the dragons who serve 'Him' and assist in purging us heretics. Do not worry; they are far easier to handle than those maddened dragons."

"They only followed me to the Undead Plane because I didn't want to waste time entangled with them, so I tore a rift in space to reach you both sooner."

Arielian remained lighthearted, seemingly dismissing the Cult of the Dragon as a trivial nuisance.

"The Cult of the Dragon? They aren't... wait, does this mean the dragon race has begun to form a religion among other species? Could what He did to the dragons be happening to others?"

Arielian’s words were unremarkable, but Zig caught the gravity of the implication, asking urgently.

"..."

"I will stop Him. Leave it to me."

Arielian fell silent, perhaps surprised by Zig’s quick deduction. Just as she had told the Old Bones, her brother was clever, and in the end, she could only offer the same answer: leave it to her.

"Sister, tell me what you are doing now. I can at least help with something."

Clearly, this answer did not satisfy Zig; he looked into her silver eyes and spoke with earnest intensity.

"I am sorry. His power is such that even telling you certain things could lead to disaster. You only need to look after Noelle. Seeing that you are both well is enough for me."

Arielian shook her head, refusing to give Zig the answer he craved.

"You cannot carry the entire burden alone. Let us share the weight."

Zig grabbed his sister’s shoulders, pleading desperately.

"I know you want to help, but you must be rational. In your broken state, what can you possibly achieve? You can do nothing!"

"Boom!"

Arielian’s voice turned cold and severe, mercilessly pointing out Zig’s inherent flaw: a dragon with broken wings, lesser than even an ordinary drake, utterly useless.

In the next heartbeat, she seized the hand Zig had placed on her shoulder and flung his human form away, sending him crashing into a nearby hill in a cloud of dust.

"Try shifting into your dragon form. I must show you how powerless you truly are. This is not the time for bravado; this is a sister’s lesson."

Her silver dragon form, slender and elegant compared to others yet still immense, manifested, and she spat the cruel words toward the spot where Zig had landed.

Noelle, on the verge of tears, was gently set down beside Wang Yu and Avia by a touch of magic. Supported by the girl, neither Wang Yu nor Avia offered comment; perhaps this was, in truth, just a very ordinary conflict between siblings.

"Zzzzt!"

Purple arcs of electricity crackled as the dust kicked up by Zig’s impact was instantly cleared by an invisible pressure, pinning the debris to the ground and revealing Zig’s draconic form.

Arielian’s dragon eyes widened in surprise. That was... magic? Was Zig not born broken?

"I once had a dear friend who died because he bore everything alone. Sister, I cannot watch you walk that same path."

Zig’s voice rang out, stubborn and resolute. He emerged from the distance, his form far more robust than an average dragon, his body a landscape of rippling muscle.

Across his hide, intricate magic circuits glowed with intense light—artificial conduits, akin to alchemical tools, and thus immune to the suppression of the plane.