Ashen Dragon

This kind of conversation happened countless times within Stone Sword City. The citizens were terrified of the Ash Empire, wishing to flee from here to the Thrace Kingdom in the south.

On the northern hillsides of Stone Sword City, an opulent fortress was shrouded in the oppression of an impending storm. This was the ancestral residence of the Wilson family, named after the ancestor—Cade Castle.

The heavy oak doors creaked in the cold wind, and the Stone Sword emblem on the gilded chairback faded in the candlelight. In Cade Castle's hall, the current Duke, Eli Wilson, sat at the end of the long table with his hands clasped under his chin, his face grave.

"My lord, the beacon at the Northern Border Watchtower has been lit..." The Guard Commander knelt on the carpet, his voice interrupted by the crackling pine resin in the fireplace: "Our sentinels have spotted signs of the Ash Empire's Wyvern Knights."

"They've finally come, those damned Imperial People!" Eli gritted his teeth, but the trembling of his fingers betrayed the deep fear in his heart.

Uneasily, he asked, "What about the people of the Thrace Kingdom? His Majesty Wilhelm promised—to dispatch troops to support us!"

The Guard Commander shook his head solemnly: "The messengers we sent have been stopped at the border, my lord. I fear His Majesty Wilhelm has completely abandoned us. He does not wish to offend the Ash Empire because of us."

"How, how can this be?"

Eli's face turned pale, he leaned back on the chair's backrest, fingering the family ring in his hand, muttering, "But His Majesty Wilhelm is the son of the Sun Emperor, a king with Divine Blood flowing through his veins. How could he fear a Red Dragon?"

The elderly butler, with graying hair, sighed and explained: "The Three Great Kingdoms are still at war, and if Thrace offends the Ash Empire, it would face pressure from both the south and the north. That miserly, shrewd king wouldn't do that.

Moreover, the Ashen Empire's Emperor—no, the evil dragon in the north has already proven his formidable might in a series of conquest wars. No one in the Material Plane dares claim they can defeat him."

Upon hearing this, Eli broke into a cold sweat, nearly collapsing in his chair, and asked weakly, "Then... what should we do?"

The butler was silent for a moment before replying: "Submit to that Red Dragon, express allegiance to the Ash Empire. Or..."

The Guard Commander continued his words, saying in a deep voice: "Fight to the death, live and die with Stone Sword City, with the Wilson Duchy."

"No!" Eli suddenly stood up, turning to look at the portrait on the wall. It was of his grandfather, the founder of the duchy—Cade Wilson.

The portrait depicted a middle-aged man with a meticulously groomed mustache, clad in armor, holding a simple Great Sword, appearing spirited and imposing.

But now, the Stone Sword, a symbol of family honor, was nowhere to be found, and Eli was merely an unremarkable, impoverished noble, far from his powerful ancestor.

Thinking of this, Eli mustered some courage, puffing out his chest and saying: "This, this is the foundation left by my grandfather. Our Wilson family, renowned for slaying Giants, cannot bow to an evil dragon!"

After a long silence, the Guard Commander asked in a deep voice: "Your Grace, then... are you willing to die for the honor of the family?"

Eli wanted to answer "willing," but the visions of being torn apart by the Claws and Fangs of the evil dragon and being burned by the Flame made his whole body tremble, his throat quiver, unable to utter the words at the tip of his tongue.

He whispered in rebuttal: "Can't we hold Stone Sword City while living?"

The butler sighed, forcing a bitter smile: "Even Fadlan's Angel Divine Descendants couldn't withstand the Ash Empire's assault, how could we possibly do it? Not to mention the Red Dragon... Even if Lord Cade were resurrected, it would be difficult to resist."

Both the butler and the Guard Commander had watched Duke Eli grow up. They knew this duke's character well—timid, cowardly, fearful of death, yet often maintaining appearances to save face.

Sure enough, Eli somewhat angrily pointed outside the door, asking: "Is that Red Dragon really so terrifying? We are the Wilson family!"

"Whoosh—"

Suddenly, a strong wind gusted, blowing the heavy oak doors open, and the chandelier in the hall swayed, making continuous crisp sounds. Glasses on the long table fell and shattered.

Eli, who had just been angry, was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, hands and feet frozen, hiding behind the Guard Commander.

"Hello, everyone—"

The thunderous voice echoed over Stone Sword City, and just hearing that voice could cause countless people to tremble in fear.

Cautiously, Eli lifted his head, peering outside through the door gap, only to find the sky suddenly darkened.

"By Amanata... that, that is the Ashen Emperor!"

The duke's face was ghastly pale, sitting paralyzed on the ground, beneath him wet, his only trace of resolve utterly shattered, replaced by endless terror.

Within seconds, he actually fainted, his eyes rolling back.

There appeared in the sky a colossal Red Dragon, more magnificent and awe-inspiring than a mountain, its Dragon Wings casting shadows over the city, veiling the Sun and enveloping the entire city underneath.

"Oh gods..."

"That, that is the Ashen Emperor! He's here!"

"Dammit—he'll burn this city to ashes! How can there be such a giant dragon!"

The people within the city were in a state of panic, wailing, crying, and screaming incessantly. The Wilson family Guards could no longer maintain order, even as they themselves were consumed by fear.

What kind of giant dragon was that!

Before today, they could never have imagined seeing a dragon with wings that could cover the entire city!

They could not fathom the gaping maw capable of swallowing the city's tallest tower and spewing out horrific Dragonflame.

The tales of the Red Dragon eating a thousand children wherever it went—seemed not to be false.

Rein and Ellie held each other tightly, wrapping their shivering, sobbing daughter in their arms, and said with trembling voices: "Ellie, don't be afraid, we won't let the one up there eat you, absolutely not..."

The Red Dragon surveyed the people in the city from high above, its eyes cold as golden pools, it opened its wings slowly and spoke.

"I trust you know who I am. I am the Emperor of the Ashen Empire, ruler of the Anzeta Great Wilderness, North Aisier Plain, and Wuge Prairie, the master of the Fianso Continent's north.

Today, I am here to inform you that the land beneath your feet will be incorporated into the Ashen Empire's territory, and you—will become glorious Imperial Citizens."

Not only in Stone Sword City, but above dozens of small countries in the north of Fianso, and over a hundred cities, appeared the figure of the Red Dragon.

Its outspread leathery wings were as wide as three football fields, with each beat creating an electromagnetic storm in the ionosphere. The smart glass on the skyscrapers' exterior walls shattered one after another, and amidst the torrential crystal grains, I saw the true color of the Dragon Scale—not the fiery red of Flame, but a dark ochre like solidified blood. Each scale's edge glowed with the orange light of molten iron in a steel furnace. Seventeen obsidian-like bone spines protruded from its spine, and the fluid dripping from their tips vaporized into indigo poison mist at three hundred meters high.

As the Dragon Claws swept past the New Asia Financial Center, the carbon fiber exterior walls warped like melting chocolate. I smelled sulfur mixed with the scent of scorched titanium alloy. The silver hive formed by police drones just completed encirclement but was consumed by the blue-white plasma flame spewed by the Dragon Breath. As the molten metal rain fell, Mirror Lake in Central Park boiled, and hundred-year-old lotus flowers carbonized instantly in the boiling water.

When the dragon's head turned to the ground, I could see its eyes through an iris enhancer. They weren't the eyes of a living creature but two swirling nebulae in liquid crystal. The iris patterns were clearly the lost cuneiform script. As the pupils contracted, the Life Monitor Ring on my wrist melted into my skin—it's analyzing human technological civilization.