Chapter 206: Dragon Pride [1]
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Dralma roared with draconic fury. Provoked into battle by Louis, she did not hesitate to transform the moment he revealed his true strength and insane determination.
Louis’s dragon form attacked first, swinging his powerful weapons in a series of slashing strikes. A sword dance of cutting winds engulfed her body the instant her claws reached him.
She hissed and opened her mouth, unleashing a devastating dragon breath attack, a beam of all-destroying bright golden light. The beam struck Louis’s weapons and pushed him back. He clenched his teeth, smiled, and stepped forward, swinging his swords. His Chaos Blade, Gram, overflowed with dark energies and unleashed a storm of chaotic demonic sword energy and flames that struck her left shoulder, leaving a deep wound.
"AAARGH! YOU!"
Dralma roared and leaped over him, slamming Louis into the ground. Their bodies rolled violently as jaws, fangs, claws, and tails clashed, tearing scales and flesh from their draconic forms. Louis swung his spear and pierced her body, only for Dralma to roar back and bite his shoulder, tearing off one of his arms and making him scream in agony.
She kicked his stomach and sent him flying across the entire Fantasy Domain before leaping after him, her claws gleaming with divine dragon power.
"I’LL TEACH YOU A LESSON YOU WILL NEVER FORGET, LOUIS!"
"Heh..."
Louis stood up and unleashed his Psychic Powers, combining them with his Fantasium Aura and Cultivation Methods. His aura surged from his draconic form as a giant holy dragon roared. He thrust his spear forward, merging dozens of attacks into a single combo of three consecutive strikes.
"Holy Dragon Lance Style."
"First Form – Radiant Fang!"
Dralma could not respond in time. As a dragon, she had grown complacent with her raw power and had never trained in weapon techniques, relying entirely on her natural talent.
That was her mistake.
CRAAASH!
A powerful, devastating fang pierced through her shoulder, tearing off her arm as blood sprayed everywhere. Her jaws opened wide as she screamed, tears of pain streaming from her eyes.
"Second Form – Celestial Claw!"
She desperately conjured all her magic. Hundreds of piercing beams of light and wooden spears impaled Louis’s entire body, filling him with holes, but he did not stop. His next attack, a giant holy claw, thrust through her neck, tearing out a large chunk of flesh and blood and destroying her left wing entirely.
"AAAAGGH! L-LOUIS, WAIT...! STOP!"
Dralma quickly realized she was fighting someone who did not care about receiving lethal damage. He was covered in countless wounds, bleeding a gleaming yellow substance, yet he kept attacking, his eyes shining with red-gold fury.
"Third Form – Heavenly Dragon Ascent!"
Right afterward, his third strike landed. His spear thrust forward and pierced her chest. A giant golden dragon roared as it surged through her body, destroying her dragon heart and lungs. She vomited a massive amount of blood as her body was hurled through the skies.
"GAAAAHHH! AAAAHHHHH! SAVE ME, FATHER...!"
Dralma screamed in agony and despair as she flew through the air, on the verge of death. But the torture did not end there. Countless wooden branches emerged and pierced her entire body, holding her in place while she bled and trembled.
"A-Ahhh...! Aaack...! L-Louis...! Why...! I...! I haven’t done anything to you...! Louis..." she muttered through tears. "W-Why...? We’re family..."
"We are, aren’t we?" Louis flew toward her. His body slowly crumbled apart into crystal-like fragments and ethereal energy, revealing the monstrous pseudo-dragonoid form beneath.
"W-Wha...?!" Dralma’s eyes widened as she vomited more blood, realizing she had not been fighting a true dragon. "Y-You...! You’re still not... a dragon...? What...?"
"As you can see, I have yet to awaken this power," Louis sighed, summoning his golden spear, Gungnir, into his hands and thrusting it into her forehead. "Goodbye."
"W-WAIT!"
CRASH!
Dralma’s entire head and brain exploded, splattering across the Fantasy Domain and staining it red with her blood and internal organs.
...
"Ah!"
She woke up gasping for air, back in her original form. She looked around in disbelief. Her body was mostly intact, yet every sensation from the battle had felt terrifyingly real.
"W-What happened?!"
She frantically touched her face, arms, wings, and chest. Everything was there. Her chest was not empty, and her dragon heart had not been destroyed.
"W-Who...! Who...?"
Footsteps approached. Louis walked toward her with a calm expression, showing almost no emotion.
"What you experienced was a special technique I created by combining my Psychic Powers, Malevolent Play, and Fantasy Domain Projection," he explained. "I can simulate a parallel reality, a dream, once you are inside my Fantasy Heart. However, do not think I cannot do it whenever I wish."
"...!"
"Now, let’s negotiate, my... aunt, I suppose?" Louis said, rubbing his chin. "We are indeed family, and I am willing to forgive you for never helping my mother, your sister, all this time. If you are willing to give me something worth that forgiveness. If not... well, who knows?"
"...Are you threatening me?!" Dralma asked in disbelief. "How could you be a member of our family?! You’re a monster...!"
"Yes, we all are. Dragons are monsters," Louis replied with a cold gaze. "Those like you who have grown too complacent simply cannot understand the struggle of the weak. You do not know the insanity I have endured... You think I am mad, yet the only thing I am doing is reasonably asking for compensation if you truly want to join my faction. If not, then I will take it by force. You owe me, and you owe your sister that much."
"I don’t owe you or my sister Benladra anything!" Dralma stood up. "I was too weak to help, I was—"
"Too weak? Now that’s rich! Hahahaha!" Louis laughed loudly. "With the power you displayed, you could have done a lot. You simply chose not to. Do you think your father would side with you after that? No wonder you ran away from Yggdrasil. It is quite clear you are not a good daughter, hm, Dralma?"
"...!"
Dralma swallowed hard, feeling immense pressure as she faced Louis. Her hands trembled as memories of her life before coming to Earth flooded back. She had grown spoiled, selfish, and narcissistic, disappointing many in her family. Her father and mother had constantly reprimanded her for stealing from her siblings, killing divine beasts essential to the world’s elemental order, and cutting branches and leaves from the Yggdrasil tree to sell or eat, all strictly forbidden.
She had always believed that being the daughter of the Dragon King and the Elven Queen meant she could get away with anything, until her parents finally had enough and banished her from Yggdrasil to Earth to learn humility and kindness among humans.
The "kind person" she pretended to be was nothing more than a mask, just like Louis’s many masks. Although she had mellowed slightly while living with the humans of Camelot, she remained selfish and narcissistic. Not once had she truly cared that her older sister Benladra had fallen into a deep slumber and that her kingdom desperately needed help.
"What’s wrong? Has the cat got your tongue?" Louis asked with a gentle smile. "Dralma, if you want to regain your father’s respect and show that you have changed, if you want to return to Yggdrasil, then you had better assist me well. My grandfather, your father, is watching over us right now, and he seems to admire my wits and strength greatly."
"You’re lying...!" she muttered. "Why would my glorious father ever respect a weak, pathetic cripple like you?!"