Ashen Dragon

"It's His Majesty!"

"His Majesty Cassius has taken action! I knew it! He has been watching over us all along!"

"Long live the Great Red Dragon! Long live the Ashen Empire!"

The people within the Flying Dragon City cheered in unison, their voices thunderous. From the moment the Red Dragon appeared, even as the blood spear that pierced through heaven and earth descended, there was no trace of fear in anyone's heart.

They gazed fanatically and devoutly toward the sky, fully prepared to witness their Emperor triumph over a divine being, brimming with absolute confidence.

In the minds of the Imperial People, Cassius symbolized victory and embodied strength; the possibility of his defeat was entirely unthinkable.

One could see the enormous dragon claws gripping the edges of the spatial rift, muscles on his arm bulging fiercely as he exerted force.

"Screeeeech—"

The space was completely torn apart. The ground became abruptly dark, and humans, orcs, and half-dragons within a hundred-mile radius collectively lifted their heads. From the rift, an imposing, massive head emerged. Its pale-gold, lava-sphere-like vertical pupils flickered with the light of an inner flame.

Following that, the expansive wings, large enough to shadow the city walls, unfolded abruptly, followed by a mountainous, undulating torso and a giant tail.

In an instant, scorching gusts swept across the land, so intense they almost took physical form, pressing down on every lifeform present with an overwhelming aura of Dragon's Might, evoking an uncontrollable impulse to submit.

Under countless gazes, Cassius tore through space and appeared above Flying Dragon City. His expansive figure stretched over fifty meters in length!

"Father God above!"

"What an enormous dragon!"

"Is... is this the Ashen Emperor?"

Even the resurrected orcs wore faces of shock and trembled with fear. For most of them, it was their first time witnessing such a domineering and colossal creature.

Hundreds of bipedal wyverns within Flying Dragon City raised their heads in unison, striving to extend their necks. Their collective howls echoed loudly, lending strength to the Red Dragon.

"Roar—"

The Red Dragon raised its head high and roared at the descending great spear from the heavens, its voice shaking the world.

At the very moment the great spear approached the ground, the Dragon Crystal embedded in Cassius's chest erupted with star-like radiance.

"Boom—"

A silver-white flame surged from his throat, shooting skyward!

"Foolish Imperial People—don't even think a ridiculous Red Dragon, or even if Tiamat descended to this world, could save you!" The Beastman God's furious roar reverberated across the wasteland, unleashing boundless divine power.

The enormous spear, dragging Beastman's Fire, carried unstoppable force as it fell from the sky, meeting head-on with the silver-white flame.

Two diametrically opposed powers devoured and collided with each other. Flames infused with Origin Power and Divine Energy burst outward instantly, creating an awe-inspiring, magnificent explosion in the skies.

"The Force of Order?"

Gush gazed at the distant Red Dragon, momentarily dazed as his expression faltered.

The distant spectacle left even a god who had waged war for tens of thousands of years feeling uneasy—how could an evil Red Dragon possess purity of Order Force that rivaled even Bahamut?

Was this perhaps a Gold Dragon cloaked in crimson scales?

Seizing this fleeting moment, Cassius poured forth all his energy. From the Dragon Crystal on his chest erupted motes of dazzling light.

The Flame of Order, Sun God Power, Bahamut Divine Power, and Imperial Region's Power of Laws—forces opposite to Chaotic Evil—streamed skyward, converging to counteract Beastman's Fire.

"Boom!"

A deafening explosion rang out. Scorching shockwaves expanded rapidly, and creatures within dozens of miles felt a wave of heat rushing toward them.

The great spear shattered mid-air, the mottled divine power attached to it scattering and transforming into countless flowing flames and chaotic currents, ultimately obliterated by the power of Cassius.

The great spear was entirely disintegrated, reverting to its original form—a blood-smeared wooden spear about six meters long, seemingly ordinary yet radiating an extreme sense of chaos and evil.

That was Gush's Blood Spear, reportedly having injured both Correlon and Moradin, stained with their blood, resulting in an inherent danger to elves and dwarves.

However, as a divine avatar, Gush's spear was merely a material projection imbued with a trace of authentic Origin Divine Power.

"A fine prize..."

Cassius's expression turned greedy as he beat his wings, taking off into the air while unleashing a ferocious Plunder Breath from his mouth, intent on consuming the Blood Spear.

"Greedy reptile..." Gush snorted coldly, suddenly raising his arm. The Blood Spear instantly tore through space and returned to his grasp.

Staring at the distant, towering Red Dragon who surpassed the racial limits, the Beastman God finally withdrew his casual disdain for mortal beings and afforded Cassius a measure of gravity.

As a divine being of the realm of war, in that brief instant, Gush had comprehended the Red Dragon's essence through his sharp and murky singular eye—

A body of the Ancestral Dragon, Chaos Power from The Abyss, Order Force of the Material Plane, Origins of Heaven, Sun God and Bahamut Divine Power, Authority of the Elemental Plane, and even a trace of Du Masong's Divine Energy...

What exactly is this creature? An Ancestral Dragon? An Elemental Lord? Or a Demigod?

In Gush's eyes, the entity resembled a patchwork of incongruous forces, mutually repellent and hostile elements coexisting within it in harmony. Even Gush found this phenomenon incomprehensible.

This being... is no ordinary mortal.

Yet, despite such considerations, Gush remained confident. Having returned to the land after millennia, he would lead the orcs on a path of glorious yet bloody ascension.