Chapter 149: Assembly At The South
A true king never fears his responsibilities.
In the same way, a true king does not rule by his whims and wishes.
Unity, loyalty, and freedom must go hand in hand.
Adonis always believed in this motto.
He might have always acted alone, but he did it with purpose. To ensure his loved ones stayed protected.
Some of his women understood this, while others did not. Regardless, they all had full trust in Adonis.
Since he had given the command to gather in the south, they obliged.
In an open basin on rocky terrain, thousands of active soldiers, dragon lords, and commanders from the Chaos Order quickly gathered in neat lines.
Their draconic paws shook the earth, their wings cover the orange sun.
Within hours, the numbers grew to 5,000 units, standing under the setting red sun, their shadows stretching like an assembly of demons.
Adonis stood atop a raised altar, overlooking his thousands of subordinates with calm.
He noticed Millia, Valentina, Rai, Queen Mariana, Claudia, and even Queen Sapphira present in the very front row, waiting with eager eyes.
He met everyone’s gaze. He felt every expectation, every bit of trust, and every belief.
He raised his hand, instantly silencing the assembly into a pin-drop silence. Even the birds above stopped screeching, fearful of whatever was happening below. He finally began to speak.
"First, look at yourselves. We stand here because we were the stronger force today. We have claimed victory on every front, but we have paid for it in the blood of our kin. We will now tribute ten breaths of silence for the brave warriors who fell so that we might stand."
For ten seconds, no one spoke. Some, however, quietly shed tears, remembering the tragic moments when they lost their comrades to the Sky Serpents. Adonis looked at the assembly and continued where he left off.
"Now, let us get down to the main business. I know you are curious to know why I have assembled you all here, instead of allowing you to withdraw to your posts and celebrate."
Indeed, this thought was running through everyone’s mind.
Adonis answered for them, simple and direct:
"The reason is simple: We have had enough."
Everyone’s heart skipped a beat, as if they were about to hear the unexpected.
"Our victory today is temporary. If we retreat to our walls now, we are merely waiting for the next shadow to fall over our homes. And I will not preside over a kingdom that exists only to survive the next massacre. I will not watch our land be scarred again while we play the part of the prey."
His voice turned deep and loud.
"History marks this twilight as the end of our patience. As your King and the Protector of Dragonia, I hereby declare a full-scale attack om the Sky Serpent Clan.
Rumble!
"Tonight, we are done defending. Tonight, we will take their sky. Tonight, we make them bleed."
Hearing his declaration, thousands of souls stopped breathing for a second. Their blood started boiling.
Some of them exchanged uncertain glances.
Rai spoke then, "Your Majesty, I know this comes as an interruption, but do you know how many reserved forces they have? Or where they are hiding? Do you have a plan? And what about finding the precise location of the Sky Palace?"
Adonis wasn’t angered in the slightest. Instead he flashed a faint amused smile.
"Appropriate questions, Commander Rai. But fear not, I already have something that will allow us to find those slippery fiends, including their Sky Palace."
"What is that, my husband? May I ask?" Dragon Queen Sapphira asked, extremely curious.
For years, finding the location of the Sky Palace had been a major hurdle in her path to rule. Suddenly hearing that her husband had discovered a way to locate it made her naturally curious.
Adonis smiled and took out a strange-looking red beetle.
"See this? This is called a Blood Beetle. Give them a blood sample to drink, and they will find those Sky Serpents for us, whether they are hiding underground or behind illusion clouds."
The words dropped like a bomb to the assembled soldiers and his close confidants.
"A creature that track anyone bypassing illusion clouds?" Sapphira whispered, her eyes fixed on the pulsating red shell of the beetle. "Husband, if this works... the Sky Serpents will have nowhere left to hide. Their greatest defense is gone."
Valentina’s hand tightened on the hilt of her blade, "Then they are no longer hunters. They are prey."
"As expected of our unpredictable ruler," Rai smirked, all hesitation vanishing away.
Adonis didn’t waste another moment. He stepped to the edge of the altar and crushed a vial of white blood he collected from General Akira over the beetle.
Zzzzzz
The insect let out a high-pitched vibration, its wings glowing with a malevolent, crimson light.
Buzz!
Suddenly, it took flight, streaking toward the southern horizon like a red comet.
"The hunt has begun!" Adonis’s voice boomed, amplified by his innate vocal that it shook the very foundation of the basin.
"Dragon Legion, take charge of the sky! Blood Legion, Shadow Legion... move on thr ground! I want every one of them either destroyed or absolute surrender!"
The response was cataclysmic.
BOOOM!
With a thunderous beat of wings, the Dragon lords ascended, their massive forms blotting out the fading twilight. Below them, the Shadow Legion and the vampires of the Blood Legion moved with practiced, lethal efficiency, their dragon mounts roaring in anticipation of the feast to come.
Rai vaulted onto his partner dragon, leveling his silver spear toward the stars.
"For the King! For Dragonia!"
"FOR THE KING!" five thousand voices screamed back, a unified war cry that silenced the wind.
The march was not a slow crawl, but a high-speed blitz. Led by the streak of red light from the Blood Beetle, the army of the Chaos Order surged forward. Thousands of wings beat in a rhythmic, terrifying percussion that sounded like the heartbeat of a literal god.
As they crossed the border of the Fallen Desert and moved toward the uncharted Southern Skies, the red sun finally dipped below the horizon. In its place, the glowing eyes of five thousand warriors lit up the darkness, like a tide of shadow and fire sweeping toward the unsuspecting Sky Palace.
Tonight, the Sky Serpent King would learn that some shadows are too deep to survive.