CHAPTER 29: BLOOD OF THE DRAGON KING

XENON WINGATE

2 ½ YEARS AGO

My vision is blurry. I am hearing an endless irritating screeching noise on my eardrums, similar to a chair being dragged on a waxed floor. All I can see is a faint light in front of me that looks like a golden star.

“Xenon, wake up!”

Somebody slapped my cheek. Jump starting my sense to feel pain, I finally reignited my presence of mind in this current situation. The face of a blonde man with a man bun was the first thing I saw, and there are burning buildings in the background. On the far side, I saw a gigantic dragon with mechanical armor; the Monolith Dragon. It is currently confronting something that looks like a dwarf star.

Argh. My head hurts. I can feel pain all over my body, but I can sense that my wounds are being enveloped by warm water. These sensations make me want to sleep more.

“Wake the fuck up, Xenon!” A familiar voice shouted again, followed by a powerful hand stab to my chest. It made my heart ache as the nerves of my body finally sparked.

“Ouch! Don’t!” I cried.

“Listen, Serena is fighting the Crimson Dragonfly alone! She needs you!” Alphonse shouted.

At that moment, I fully opened my eyes. I remembered the situation I got myself into. We’re in the middle of a war. Serena. I can’t have her fighting all by herself. She wouldn’t have a chance to win against a fifty-meter tall dragon.

“Uh… my head hurts.” I held my forehead as I desperately tried to stand. I used my shield to assist my shaking foot. I remember taking the claw of the Monolith Dragon in order to shield Serena. That was a bad idea. Now all my muscles ache. “How long have I passed out?” I asked Alphonse.

“About a minute,” Alphonse said. “I have temporarily healed your external wounds together with your internal hemorrhages using my magical fire and water, but you won’t be able to move as strong and as fast as before. So don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Serena… where is she?” I asked.

“She’s right there.” Alphonse pointed at the white star.

“This is not the time for resting!” Captain Valesmith landed on the ground with his Warlord Dragon. “Alphonse, Xenon. Go to the left flank and cut all Zac Schneider’s escape routes. I’ll take the right.”

“Roger that.” Alphonse and I saluted. Then, we dragon knights dispersed as we quickly ran towards our designated post.

As I focus my eyes on the glowing light, I realized that a white star is actually a person. A woman with magnificent beauty is inside that white star. Her long blonde hair flows like waves of the ocean, her long ears are sharp as a sword, and there is a bluish-white orb on her forehead. Her body is covered by a thin layer of the white bodysuit and she has a pair of angelic wings on her back. I am almost sure that this woman is a different person until I saw a glimpse of her face. She’s definitely Serena.

“Magnificent! Truly magnificent!” Zac Schneider, who is finally standing up on top of the head of the Monolith Dragon, cried with joy. It’s as if he made a standing ovation for seeing a world-class opera. “Serena Maizono, you are a wonderful being. Activating Elform and bearing the Mark of Vesryn is the proof that you have the blood of the Dragon King running on your veins. All I ever thought was all heirs of the Dragon King has been purged during the First Dragonoid War a millennia ago, and here you are, suddenly appearing in front of me.”

Serena didn’t answer. She just glared at the terrorist duke with the intention of intimidating. Surely, Zac Schneider is shaking as he talked to Serena. Even the Crimson Dragonfly is hesitant to attack like a berserker without warning. It’s as if the gargantuan monster is scared of her authority.

Zac Schneider walked until he’s on the tip of the snout of the Crimson Dragonfly. He genuflected to the Elform Serena and offered her hand.

“Oh rightful heir to the throne of dragons, I ask for your aid. My name is Zac Schneider, and I fight for the freedom of your fellow dragons. I ask for your holy blessings in this war.”

Serena slowly reached her hand, pointing at the duke. “Begone.” Serena finally spoke.

“H-Huh!?”

Suddenly, a giant magical circle containing the sigil of the dragon materialized from the tip of Serena’s finger. The skies sparked, and the thunders roar. The midnight chaos was immediately brightened as if the sun has come to greet a new day. The source of light is not from any sun or moon or stars, but the endless magical circle that envelope the skies covering the city.

“Endless Forge,” Serena said.

The city-size magical circle immediately created hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions of swords from the skies. With this unlimited supply of magic, Serena magically forged every sword she can endlessly think off. These infinite swords rushed to the Crimson Dragonfly without mercy, chipping off every inch of mechanical armor on its body. Some swords pierced through the Crimson Dragonfly’s skin, flesh, and bones, which made it cry out loud helplessly.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH…..”

“Why… Why are you doing this…” Zac Schneider is completely astounded. He also got himself wounded by the raining swords, but Serena purposely avoided hitting his vital organs. Now Zac is just a wounded man full of scrapes and scratches all over his body, and he looked like he just showered from his own blood. “I pledged my allegiance to the dragonoids! I am working for their freedom! Don’t you want to free your dragonkin, my dear Dragon Queen!?”

“Your ways are unjust,” Serena said with a powerful feminine voice as if she is a messenger angel sent by the gods. “You committed sins and let dragonoids die for your selfish reasons. We both know that you are not really fighting for the dragonoid’s freedom, but for something else.”

Zac Schneider gritted his teeth. He looks like a convicted criminal who just got a guilty conclusion in a courtroom. He held his chest, which is aching nonstop. “Kill her! Crimson Dragonfly, kill her!” Zac finally snapped.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

The Crimson Dragonfly charged a powerful photon beam again, which has the power to annihilate the whole city in one sweep. With its full magical force, the Crimson Dragonfly unleashed the gigantic blaster on its mouth.

Serena didn’t move an inch. She let the photon particle laser to get close to her. But when the blaster is one-meter away from Serena, it can be seen that the photon beam disintegrates atom by atom. It’s as if there is an invisible barrier that dissolves the laser, protecting Serena from such attack. After long thirty seconds, the Crimson Dragonfly depleted all its energy. Even using all its full force, it failed to make a scratch to Serena.

“This ends now.” Serena made a cold proclamation as she raised her hand, pointing at the giant magical circle above. “Sword of Camelot!”

Using her unlimited forging magic ability, the magical circle above created a gargantuan golden sword; so huge that it is on the size of a battleship. The giant sword crashed down on the Crimson Dragonfly in a blink of an eye. A powerful shockwave echoed around that cleared the clouds when that happened, and the result of the crash is definitely amazing. It went through the Monolith Dragon’s chest all the way to its hips.

“GRUUUUUUHHHH….” The Crimson Dragonfly uttered its last defeated cry.

Suddenly, the giant golden sword exploded with white blinding light. Everything went so bright as if the whole city has been bombarded by flashbangs. There was a faint screeching sound as the blinding flash goes on.

“Aaaaah! Close the curtains!” I cried as I covered my eyes.

“We’re outside, jackass,” Alphonse said.

After three seconds, the flash faded. Not just the flash, but the giant sword and the Monolith Dragon is nowhere to be seen as if they never existed in the first place. But there is a large crater where the giant Excalibur's tip crashed, so that is the proof that the awesome battle did exist in this land.

Deserted, Zac Schneider can be found on all fours at the center of the crater. His wounds continue to drip blood, but he does not care about those. He hammered his fists on the ground due to the frustration on his heart. “Dammit!” He cried.

“It’s over, Zac Schneider.” Serena slowly descended until she was a meter away from the defeated terrorist leader. “If you truly hope for a free world, you should know that asperity is never the answer. Vesryn taught the Vesryn Pulse to dragon knights so that the humans and dragonoids can live together in harmony by peaceful ways.”

Serena pointed her hand towards the defeated duke, and she magically materialized chained handcuffs to restrain the duke’s movements. Immediately, Captain Valesmith with his dragonoid Rius arrived on the scene together with some foot soldiers and apprehended the terrorist leader.

Even at the brink of defeat, Zac Schneider had this smug like a madman. He glared at Serena like a retarded idiot with a devilish smirk.

“Arcadia will live on, your majesty. Arcadia can never die. Arcadia has people everywhere; not just in Alterra, but also in Elysia, Sargus, and Fleija. Arcadia even has men in the Dragon Knight’s Academy. The love of freedom is undying.”

“Shut up, motherfucker.” Captain Valesmith put a tape on his mouth and then dragged him to the nearest humvee. Then, they exited the scene. They left the golden-haired Serena alone, who is uttering a deep relieved sigh.

And thus, the victory of the Empire of Alterra against the terrorist group Arcadia has been marked on history, ending the Third Dragonoid War. Zac Schneider may have proclaimed that the dragonoid wars are far from over, but I’m pretty sure he’s still in denial on his defeat. He’s just a crazy terrorist. A mad man speaks what he wanted to speak.

I watch Serena from a distance with sparkles in my eyes. I’m proud of her. I am so lucky that she chose me to become her knight. I never thought that she has the power to unlock ancient mystic arts that make her overpowered. If what Zac Schneider said is true, then Serena might really have a royal dragon’s blood in her veins. 

Her powers will greatly aid me on my upcoming revenge for Cheng, Trystgade, and Eldritch.

I made a step forward, attempting to get close to her. But the moment she heard my light foot, she already knew that it was me. She turned around with a blush and smile on her face but also tears on her kind eyes.

“Senpai…” Serena’s cute and caring voice returned.

“Serena.” I smiled.

“Senpai!” Serena ran towards me. As she closes in the distance, her Elform transformation faded. Her blonde hair turned back to shiny black, her pointy ears went back to normal, her white bodysuit and wings turned to dust but were replaced by her standard kimono and short frilly skirt. The orb on her forehead and the red V mark on her chest also faded. Now that she’s just regular Serena, she jumped to me with joy. 

“Ack!” I cried out loud as my body hit the floor. I didn’t have enough strength to support her weight, and I think she’s getting a little bit fat, so I crashed on the ground the moment I caught her.

“Senpai… Senpai…” Serena rubbed her cheeks to mine while crying nonstop. “I thought you died again… I’m glad that you’re completely fine!”

I just uttered a secret smile. Inside my mind, I am laughing. I never thought Serena cares to this extent about me. Yeah, I thought I died too. But I will gladly risk my life for her even if that event happens again. 

“Don’t worry, Serena.” I caressed her silky smooth hair as I tried to calm her. “I will never die.”

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