Westminster Bank

Pound figured it out. With a shout, he immediately began chanting a long, complex spell.

A storm cloud was gathering on the horizon, crackling with lightning—a perfect opportunity to borrow its power.

BOOM.

Lightning streamed from the storm cloud, coalescing into the Thunder Ball on his Magic Staff. A destructive aura surged from the sphere, potent enough to make even some Bronze Tier Law Enforcers uneasy. Dewey, a Law Enforcer who held a grudge against Pound, felt the destructive power it contained most keenly of all.

He knew in his heart that if he were to face that Thunder Ball directly, he likely wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

Just then, the lightning gathered in the Magic Staff reached its peak, and Pound aimed directly at the Baron:

[Black Iron Magic: Condensed Thunder]

The sphere of light shot forward.

Its roar was like thunder, shaking heaven and earth.

CLANG!

In the wake of the sound, the entire square fell silent, every person stunned.

The Baron had actually caught the Thunder Ball with one hand and instantly crushed it!

This was a Magic spell that even a Bronze Demon Hunter would admit they could only dodge, not block head-on. Yet in the Lawbreaker’s grasp, it hadn’t lasted a single second!

"How is this possible... How is this possible!"

Pound’s composure shattered. He raised his Magic Staff to call down lightning again, but his sister, Windsor, grabbed his arm. "Brother, please don’t... Your Spiritual Power is exhausted... Please stop..."

The Trial Takers’ pupils trembled in shock. It was so unbelievable that some of them, already exhausted from fighting the Dragon Descendants, began to convulse.

Roy stepped forward, spear in hand. "Baron Constantin! You escaped from Ben Mountain last time, and I failed to stop you from killing Soron. This time, you won’t get away!"

The Baron sneered. "Roy of the Hestia Family? If your Griffin Knight Order were still here, this might be a little tricky. But unfortunately for you, you’re the ones who are surrounded!"

As the Baron finished speaking, several Dragon Guides in the square suddenly broke away from their groups. They moved to stand behind him, casting off their masks and donning the robes of the Dragon Eater Association.

The Trial Takers were still struggling to process the scene when they heard Roy speak, his voice ice-cold:

"These Dragon Devourer Cultists are your men... It seems your connection to the Dragon Witch is far deeper than I thought."

The Baron said, "This is all for power. I grew tired of being a Bloodless—having my engagement broken, being mocked, looked down on by the entire Inner Side... Now, a single Dragon Heart can help me reclaim everything I’ve lost. So why wouldn’t I take it?"

As he spoke, his body began to swell and transform. A monstrous, outsized Dragon Body gradually replaced his lower half. A Dragon Species, both jarringly discordant and possessing a strange, grotesque beauty, appeared before them.

His upper body remained human, but his lower half was the Dragon Body of a Giant Dragon.

Jose and those around him recognized the shape of the Dragon Body. "That... isn’t that... a Third Generation Fierce Dragon..."

’Did the Baron form a pact with a Third Generation Fierce Dragon from the Fire Dragon Faction?!’

While everyone was still reeling in shock, the Dragon Devourer Cultists behind the Baron pulled Dragon Hearts from their robes, bit down, and transformed into incomplete Dragon Species.

Reacting to the Baron’s transformation, the Gale Dragons outside the square let out a series of disorienting roars. The cries pierced the entire mountain range, and even the Dragon Tide at the valley entrance grew more frenzied in response.

A low rumble of thunder sounded from the storm cloud to the southeast.

The Dragon Descendants, who had fled from Isabella’s [Dragon Mighty], were now surging forward again! And their numbers were far greater than before!

The faces of the Trial Takers went pale.

’How... how are we supposed to fight this?!’

Seeing this, Isabella unleashed her [Dragon Mighty] again, now enhanced by the Ancient Dragon Aura. She tried to drive back some of the Dragon Descendants as she had before, but it was no use.

The Baron looked past Isabella, his gaze fixed on Freyja, who stood behind the others.

"Come! I will show you what a true Dragon Knight is—what a perfect creation is... Freyja Lancelot, I will take back from you everything that I have lost."

Hearing this, Freyja’s previous arrogance vanished. Her delicate eyebrows knitted together and she bit her red lip. Only when she saw Roy and her own Trial Takers move to shield her did she reply coldly:

"Baron Constantin, Lancelot’s Family will make you pay for killing Anthony!"

Isabella, meanwhile, tore the black butterfly from her purple hair. Ignoring the Dragon Descendant horde that was stirring once more at the edges of the square, she leveled her Red Spear at the Baron, who had transformed into a Dragon Attendant, and said coldly:

"Baron Constantin, tell me where the Dragon Witch is. In exchange, I can at least grant you a less painful death."

"No comment."

"Then die."

True to her Dragon Slayer bloodline, Isabella was a person of action. Activating her Tier Two Beastification, she charged forward, Red Spear in hand.

Roy raised his spear and followed suit.

The battle began in an earth-shattering instant.

The Trial Takers clashed with the transformed Dragon Devourer Cultists, while the Cultists also contended with the Dragon Descendants drawn in by the Gale Dragons. The Gale Dragons themselves, deterred by the might of the Dragon Spear resting on the Dragon Bone, hesitated to enter the square.

For a moment, the square descended into utter chaos.

BANG! BANG...

The tip of a spear scraped against Scale Armor, sending blinding sparks into the air.

But the sparks flew for only a moment before they were replaced by splashes of blood from the spear’s point of impact.

As she swung her spear, Isabella yelled to Roy, "His abdomen isn’t covered in Scale Armor! Attack his belly!"

Roy nodded and, following Isabella’s command, lunged for the Baron’s abdomen. But the Baron, realizing his weakness had been exposed, beat his wings and soared high into the air. His muscles bulged as Dragon Flame gathered in his hands, which he then unleashed in a blast aimed at Roy.

Roy dodged the blast of Dragon Flame, but he couldn’t avoid the dark shadow that struck from his side.

A Dragon Descendant that had charged into the square whipped its tail at Roy like a cannonball. With a muffled grunt, Roy was sent flying.

As his body crashed through a wooden chair next to Isabella, he suddenly sighed. "Miss Isabella, I’m sorry... I thought it would be Jose, or maybe Tune."

Isabella faltered, her movements momentarily flawed. Sensing an attack from behind, she instinctively dodged a Dragon Devourer Cultist’s sneak attack and thrust her Red Spear through its head. But in that unguarded instant, the Baron’s Dragon Claw shot out and seized her.

Amid the chaotic din of the battlefield, the sound of the Red Spear clattering to the ground was startlingly clear.

All eyes were drawn to the flash of purple hair caught within the monstrous Dragon Claw.

Lucy panicked seeing her sister caught in the Baron’s Dragon Claw. She quickly cast a spell, and vines shot out to entangle the Dragon Attendant’s claw. In the brief moment of pause, she yelled at the Baron:

"Baron Constantin! Have you forgotten who saved you when you were surrounded by Soron and his gang?!?!"

The Baron’s expression remained blank. With a single shudder, he shattered the vines’ restraint. Gripping Isabella tightly, he started walking toward the Dragon Spear that rested upon the Dragon Bone.

Isabella coughed up a mouthful of blood, her internal organs ruptured by the immense pressure. She heard the distinct crack of her own bones breaking—seven or eight of them, by her count. Yet she felt almost no pain, even as blood splattered across her face.

Her exquisitely beautiful face held nothing but defiance and mockery.

"You... are not Constantine."

Hearing this, the Baron chuckled. "Miss Isabella, you are indeed an excellent warrior. But that is all you are."

Just as he was about to impale Isabella on the Dragon Spear, a sharp whistling sound suddenly tore through the air from high above.

Everyone, including the Gale Dragons, snapped their heads up, their gazes locked on the sky.

"What is..."

"Reinforcements?" someone asked.

Not only "Baron," but even the dying Isabella opened her eyes to gaze at the sky.

There, a flaming figure descended from the heavens, tracing an arc through the air like a crimson comet.

Falling along with the comet was the corpse of a Giant Dragon.

It fell faster than the figure, landing with a CRUNCH that crushed a rampaging Fifth Generation Species in the square.

When the crowd saw the corpse, they recognized it as the Thunder Wolf Dragon King. They also noticed a barely breathing human figure sprawled across the Dragon King’s body.

Before anyone could even wonder why the corpse of the Thunder Wolf Dragon King was here, or why the figure on it had undergone a Dragon Transformation similar to the Baron’s—’Could he be a Dragon Knight, too?’—they saw the flaming figure unfurl wings of fire from his back and slowly descend, landing softly on "Baron’s" Dragon Claw.

The flames dissipated, revealing a slender figure.

When everyone saw the figure’s face, Dragon Guides and Trial Takers alike were struck dumb:

"Master Jack!"

Master Jack looked at Isabella, still clutched in the Dragon Claw, and shrugged.

"Would you believe me if I told you I’m just here to collect the final payment?"