Chapter 400: Trinity, Incarnation of Thunder

The moment the Dragon King, Wendel Mix, summoned two spears forged of pure lightning from the void, crimson bolts saturated the sky. They rippled through the dark clouds, illuminating the heavens with a rhythmic, blinding strobe.

The thunderous lances plummeted from the firmament, and the lightning occupying the skies above Dragon Island followed their lead, diving down with a deafening roar. The shockwaves of the thunderous impact shattered the air, causing the storm clouds to shudder as dust and debris, caught in the high-pressure vortex, drifted slowly toward the heavens.

The crimson lightning transformed into a surging river, drowning the two behemoths that had been blasted from the mountain. This torrent of thunder obscured all prying eyes, leaving only the relentless, ear-splitting roar and the sight of the earth being carved away, layer by layer, to hint at the true, terrifying scale of the Dragon King’s power.

"Who is that!?"

"Where did this dragon come from? Why appear only now? Such immense power—how did it manage to remain hidden for so long..."

"Friend or foe—that is the only question that matters. Hiss... the power contained within that frame; if it were to turn its gaze upon the Sky Mechanical City, the consequences would be unthinkable."

The command team of the Sky Mechanical City was in an uproar. The threat that the Skyfire Giant Cannons were meant to face had been neutralized by this suddenly appearing titan. Those who knew nothing of the Dragon God were plunged into chaos.

The terrifying pressure radiating from that golden form and the effortless display of strength in every movement shook their very souls. This primal fear of a supreme life form was something even the abyssal creature had failed to evoke.

"Calm yourselves. It is no enemy. It is the Dragon King, Wendel Mix. The reason for its appearance at this hour is unclear, but if it strikes, it will be a tremendous boon to our cause."

Astartes’ voice echoed, and the team quickly regained their composure, returning to their posts. If the city’s machine spirit said as much, then it must be true; after all, the knowledge Astartes possessed far exceeded that of anyone present.

"Continue the bombardment. Do not target the Dragon King’s position. Focus fire on the modified dragons in the surrounding area. Keep the Skyfire cannons at half-charge. Our negligence allowed this; if such an enemy appeared once, it could appear again. Stay sharp!"

Icarus quickly laid out the battle plan based on the shifting situation. Regardless of the circumstances, having this formidable dragon on their side provided an unparalleled sense of security. With proper coordination, this could be the turning point in a losing war.

"...The Dragon King, Wendel Mix. Was that silver dragon lying? His shell was not occupied by the abyssal creature? No, that cannot be. He appears powerful now, but in truth, he possesses less than a third—no, perhaps not even an eighth—of his original strength. This form of existence... is this your contingency?"

In the core space of the Sky Mechanical City, Astartes and Malfurion watched the golden dragon unleashing its might upon the battlefield, their thoughts heavy and profound. Even they had not anticipated this.

"At the very least, it is a good thing. The Skyfire would not have been able to fully halt those two behemoths. Had they drawn any closer, we would have been forced to play our 'final trump card'."

Malfurion offered no comment to Astartes’ soliloquy, her gaze fixed on a translucent card hovering in her hand, glowing with a faint, indecipherable light. She had been on the verge of playing it just moments before.

"It is too early to say. This abyssal creature is unique; its power has likely not been fully revealed. The path ahead remains unknown. Though it feels a pity to expend such an item here, if the moment comes where it is necessary to end this battle, we must not hesitate."

Astartes spoke calmly, his tone grave. Based on the intelligence gathered, he had formed a rough estimate of the abyssal creature’s strength, yet its power still exceeded his calculations.

"Naturally."

The torrent of crimson lightning finally subsided, leaving behind two paths of molten destruction where the earth had been stripped away, leaving scars that would never fade. The thunder continued to crackle in the periphery.

The two monsters had vanished entirely, and for reasons unknown, their shattered remains were unable to draw upon the void to regenerate.

In the next instant, the Dragon King, Wendel Mix, vanished from his position with a fluid, unnatural grace, reappearing in the thickest cluster of the surrounding modified dragons.

"ROAR!"

A violent, thunderous bellow swept across the island. The Dragon King opened his maw, and within his throat, a golden light grew increasingly incandescent. When it finally erupted, two bifurcated beams of light swept out in different directions.

This dragon breath defied description; it looked like a golden, smoky stream of light. The moment it struck its targets, it obliterated everything in the vicinity, possessing both the high-energy melting power of a beam and the lingering, expansive reach of a fog.

Though its raw destructive power was less terrifying than the previous crimson torrent, after the golden mist lingered for a dozen seconds, every modified dragon it touched plummeted from the sky.

Their surfaces were completely eroded by the exotic breath, revealing the mangled, twisted, and charred flesh beneath.

The golden-red war banner fluttered without wind. With the two behemoths annihilated and a multitude of modified dragons slain, a vast surge of life force poured from the artifact, the Banner of Triumph, into the shattered body of Wang Yu, who resided within the dragon.

Indeed, the one piloting this dragon was Wang Yu, who had pushed his Chariot Power to its absolute limit, using the blood saturating the Dragon King’s body to command the vessel.

But he was not alone. Three entities controlled this shell: Wang Yu, Aivya, and the Lady of the Night.

Wang Yu provided the kinetic force to move the body, striking the enemy with its terrifying physical strength. Aivya, utilizing Wang Yu’s Chariot Power, indirectly took control of the dragon’s magical circuits to cast spells.

The Lady of the Night acted from the rift between the void and reality, coordinating their efforts while shrouding the dragon in the invisible cloak of the night sky.

Thus, a trinity was formed. Like pilots in a mecha, the three of them worked in unison to force the Dragon King’s immense, powerful body into motion.

This was what Wang Yu meant when he said it was his only way to intervene in a battle of this magnitude.

...

Time returned to when the alchemical fleet was approaching the island, and Wang Yu had leapt into the ocean with Aivya on his back, heading toward the Dragon Island alone. He had already confirmed his objective: to find the remains of Wendel Mix and drive them with his enhanced Chariot Power.

Wang Yu was certain the body still existed. To Melos, this shell was not a resource, but a cage that had trapped him for untold ages; his attitude toward it was one of pure loathing.

While Melos might have attempted to utilize the shell, the Dragon King himself—the master of that body—would never have left anything usable for the parasite within him.

Even as his body was slowly usurped over the years, the Dragon King, a protector who had shielded his people with an iron will, would have certainly rendered the shell unusable during his struggle against Melos.

In fact, one could tell from Aerillian’s account of facing Melos that if the shell had truly been usable, she would never have had the chance to escape.

Once the target was confirmed, they had to locate it. The Blood Beacon, an artifact, was tailor-made for this. Since the blood of all dragons flowed with the Dragon King’s essence, if multiple dragons’ blood pointed in the same direction, the location of the shell would be clear.

With the direction and location set, the next challenge was reaching it without Melos’s knowledge. This relied on the Lady of the Night, empowered by the Chronos Hourglass.

The Lady of the Night was a peculiar deity. In direct combat, she was largely useless; her powers, aside from her shadow blade, lacked destructive force. Her domain was night and concealment, not fire and slaughter.

However, as she had told Wang Yu, within her specific domain, her capabilities were staggering. The Chronos Hourglass served to multiply that magnitude several times over.

Wang Yu did not have her participate in the direct confrontation with Melos. While her power could disrupt the enemy’s senses, he could not be sure if the abyssal creature could harm her, and that was a risk he would not take.

Furthermore, the effectiveness of her concealment against an abyssal creature was an unknown, so he needed an insurance policy: the acceleration effect of the Chronos Hourglass.

With twenty minutes of total time to allocate, the shorter the duration of use, the higher the multiplier. Theoretically, if the multiplier were high enough, it would be akin to pausing the world for twenty minutes, but the burden of acceleration fell upon the user.

Usually, a four or five-fold acceleration was the limit. Aivya had once pushed to sixteen times under the influence of potions to save Wang Yu from Rudolph, and her body had nearly collapsed in an instant.

But what if the Chronos Hourglass were used by a unique life form like the Lady of the Night? What was the burden on a god? Could she accelerate infinitely? The answer was that the burden still existed, and there was a limit, but she could reach roughly 1,500 times acceleration.

At 1,500 times speed, combined with her own movement, she could traverse the entire island in twenty minutes with ease. With her innate concealment, Wang Yu doubted anything could detect her passing.

And so, a seemingly impossible plan was completed with a smoothness that felt almost inevitable.

The Lady of the Night found the shell Melos had hidden beneath the earth. Wang Yu and Aivya entered the void, were pulled across by the Lady, and Wang Yu merged his physical form with the Dragon King’s shell, while Aivya remained in the space opened by Wang Yu’s door within the void.

The power of a mighty creature does not easily fade, even after the passage of vast ages. Just as the nameless magic armor used by Sieg was crafted from the remains of the ancient behemoth Behemoth, it still possessed formidable power—let alone the intact, relatively fresh body of the Dragon King.

Draining the blood pool and combining it with the vast reserves Aivya had prepared, Wang Yu was enveloped in a sea of blood that filled the voids within the Dragon King’s frame.

Eventually, the entire shell was saturated with Wang Yu’s blood, which was treated as an extension of his own body. His Chariot Power extended into every corner of the dragon. This vessel, no longer possessing a soul or a master, was now driven by Wang Yu.

"Wang Yu, can you hold on? Your body is disintegrating. If this continues, your recovery will not keep pace with the destruction."

The girl confirmed his condition with worry. This was Wang Yu’s first time piloting such a massive, powerful entity, and the terrifying load was already taking its toll.

With the help of the blood saturating the shell, the pressure on Wang Yu had been reduced, but the destructive force was still beyond his current capacity. His body was breaking down—muscles, bones, and skin were all crumbling.

"Don't worry, I won't die just yet. My healing can't keep up, but as long as I have the Banner of Triumph, constant slaughter will extend the time I can pilot this dragon. Before my body falls apart, let me adapt to this!"

For once, Wang Yu felt a rare, long-absent excitement. Usually so composed, once he broke his chains, the result was nothing short of extreme. He felt his blood boiling; despite the destruction of his flesh, his body let out a joyous, defiant cry.

In this moment, he was, in a sense, bound by blood to the Dragon King, Wendel Mix, constantly undergoing destruction and reconstruction; the Dragon King’s immense power was reshaping Wang Yu’s very vessel through this process. What would he become once this journey reached its end? Who could say? So, he decided, he would simply give it his all.

"Sigh, then leave the magic circuits to me."

With a soft sigh, Evia had to admit that after spending so much time with Wang Yu, her own emotions were beginning to stir. The Dragon King, the source of Dragon Language magic—how profound and complex must the magic circuits within its body be?

As a mage, a scholar, and a fighter, there was no reason for Evia not to be thrilled, regardless of the circumstances—especially when doing it alongside a certain someone.

Pressing her palm against the gateway Wang Yu had opened in the void, the sensations perceived by Wang Yu’s Chariot power were instantly transmitted to Evia. It was the entirety of the magic circuits within the Dragon King’s husk, a complex radiance like a cluster of stars that left her momentarily stunned.

"Is this the magic circuit of the Dragon King? It is vast beyond all imagination..."

The girl murmured to herself. This was, without question, the largest, most complex, and most exquisite magic circuit she had ever encountered. Could she take control of it? The sheer computational demand was staggering.

Her hesitation lasted only a heartbeat. The next moment, Evia took a sharp breath, pressed her Perfect Fractal Lens against her right eye, and leaned her body against the gate, pouring her entire consciousness into that nebular mass of magic circuits. Whether it would work or not, she would try!

The space opened by Wang Yu’s gate allowed him to grant permissions to others, much like the Lady of the Night. And Evia, being the person closest to him, possessed all permissions within this space without Wang Yu even needing to consciously assign them.

As long as she touched the gate, the power of the Chariot could be wielded by her. Wang Yu controlled the flesh, and Evia controlled the dragon’s magical circuits; that was how their synergy was achieved.

With the Perfect Fractal Lens running at full capacity, Evia’s mind was immersed to the extreme. Only when she truly plunged into that star-like expanse of magic did she realize how complex and astonishing it was—and yet, it did not seem entirely beyond analysis.

From the shallow to the deep, deconstructing layer by layer, the girl’s solid knowledge and extraordinary talent granted her abilities beyond imagination. Though mastering the entire circuit was impossible, her method of systematic dissection allowed her to take control of the relatively simpler parts from the bottom up.

"Ten percent, eighteen percent... twenty-four percent, thirty percent. Wang Yu, this is the limit of what I can maintain with stable control."

The girl informed Wang Yu, who was struggling to master the giant dragon as an extension of his own body, of her progress. Thirty percent of the magic circuits were now under her command. At this moment, she and Wang Yu were so deeply connected that "in sync" was an understatement for their cooperation.

"Amazing! Now, let’s get moving!"

Genuinely awed by Evia’s ability, Wang Yu let out a roar, pushing the power of the Chariot to its limit. The dragon eyes of Wendel Mix snapped open, though the spirit within was no longer that of the great dragon or the abyss.

"Lady Darkness, I leave the regenerative nature of those creatures to you. Their connection to the void is nothing compared to yours!"

Wang Yu shouted. The dragon rose with a thunderous crash; the mere diffusion of its terrifying power caused the cave, reinforced with countless protective spells, to shatter and collapse.

"Leave it to me!"

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but the Lady of the Night, whose tone rarely shifted, seemed to speak with newfound haste. A cloak woven from the night sky and its stars draped over the dragon’s form, the darkness becoming an additional boon to this mighty beast.

Bracing against the thick rock layers above, Wang Yu steered the dragon upward. Utilizing the dragon’s unreasonable sensory capabilities, he locked onto the two monsters on the surface, lifting the "mountain" and slamming it into their path with a deafening roar.

...

Watching the modified dragons flying in from every corner of Dragon Island, blotting out the sky, the corners of Wang Yu’s mouth curled upward. Come then; these creatures would only serve as fuel for the Banner of Triumph.

"Evia!"

"Yes!"

A simple exchange, and both understood the other’s intent. The girl began to mobilize the massive magic circuits, while Wang Yu gathered the high-energy matter within the dragon’s heart, coursing through its veins.

The surface of the dragon’s body was gradually enveloped by red lightning summoned by vast magic and the grey mist emanating from within. The Dragon King’s husk began to shift from a material state into something akin to an elemental form—yet, never had there been an elemental form quite like this.

"Fall back!"

The order from Melos was transmitted to the swarm of modified dragons charging toward them. It knew the attack the Dragon King was about to unleash, and if...

"Whoosh!"

A crimson pillar of flame swept across Melos’s body, followed by several blades forged of silver radiance. Just as it had said to Sieg and Arielian earlier, this was no time to be distracted.

Meanwhile, the Dragon King’s husk, still gathering power, gradually vanished into the spreading darkness. Everyone present lost track of its position; now, no one could know when or where the Dragon King would strike.

"Boom!"

Becoming lightning itself, heaven and earth trembled.

"A man's romance, indeed~ (￣▽￣~)"