~ Chapter 158: The tears of a bloodline ~

[Ayuseya’s point of view]

Did it hurt?

Yes.

Was it something I wished for?

No.

Then why did I let it happen? Why did I let this bastard kill those innocent draconians? Even if they were nothing more than living hosts for his fiendish curse, they were still part of my family... True, they were part of the family I had cast away, but even so, I couldn’t deny their existence since they themselves never did anything bad to me. They weren’t my enemies, they weren’t my friends either, but letting them die simply because this monster of a draconian thought that they didn’t have the right to live was too much.

How many children ended up never seeing their own future? How many men were pushed towards immoral acts by a being they could not understand and for reasons they couldn’t even begin to comprehend? How many mothers were forced apart from their young or maybe... they weren’t allowed to be aware of the fact that they had given birth in the first place?

Such questions were difficult to find an answer to when one eluded even my husband, Illsyore.

They should not have died like that. They should not have been tortured in such a way and robbed of all the little rights they had... even that of free thought. Just by thinking about this and then reminding myself that they were maybe my cousins, my aunts, or my nephews, triggered a sharp pain right in the very depths of my heart.

Thus, a pair of crystal tears flowed down my cheeks, hidden from the world behind the black metal mask Illsy made for me. I was thankful for it, and at the same time, I had wished that it wouldn’t come to the point where I had to use it.

No matter how much I steeled my heart, there were always some things that would end up hurting whether I wanted them to or not. Yet, this feeling of pain in my heart also gave birth to the powerful desire of not letting this atrocious tragedy happen again in the future.

“Let the fires lick my skin as I set ablaze my enemies...” I said in a whisper as my armor was covered with Magic Fire.

“Do you really think a party trick like that is going to scare the great Dragon Emperor?” Draconius, the monster of my blood, asked with smirk on his lips, but his words were entering through one ear and simply going out the other.

There’s still pain in my heart... Regret for not being able to save those below... Guilt for running away and leaving them behind... Anger for not being aware of this earlier, for not being stronger earlier, for not knowing when it was the right time to change Teslov... Do I even deserve to feel regret and guilt for this? Do I even deserve to be angry at something I supposedly abandoned on that night on top of that mountain? I wondered as I looked at this bad excuse for a draconian.

He stole the powers and lives of others through Black Magic and then used them to strengthen himself. A selfish monster who knew only how to appear as powerful but knew not what true power was.

A long time ago, I may have seen these disgusting acts of his as acceptable, but now... I didn’t, I couldn’t think like that anymore.

A country didn’t need someone who was willing to sacrifice them for the ruler’s selfish gain. A country was there to grant prosperity and joy to the many who lived on its lands be them nobles or commoners. The difference between the two was insignificant. One cultivated the lands, while the others the arts. The Royal Family was nothing more than overseers of the whole thing, nothing more and nothing less. Yet, somehow, it appeared as though we had all forgotten this.

Even I did but was luckily reminded of it little by little. The first slap to my face was back when Illsyore cursed the second prince of Aunnar Kingdom. His words back then regarding the linage of nobles and royals were as true as they could be, and it acted as proof that the Monarchy was just the way we currently wished to organize ourselves.

Within the Sorone Continent, there were other forms of government, and from what Nanya told me, the demons themselves back in the Demonarkiar Empire had a different method of ruling themselves with. The strong held the power, they were respected, but they didn’t act as they pleased. There were rules enforced by everyone, and a social structure everyone followed. Going from a commoner to a noble was not a dream over there, even the possibility of becoming the City Lord somewhere.

That was why, while knowing all of this, I could bluntly declare in front of Draconius the following words “You are not worthy of the crown you wear.”

“As if someone like you can tell!” he retorted, but the glare he tossed at me was one filled with hate and disgust.

“You wanted power? Here... I’ll show you power.” I told him and then activated a simple [Boost].

In the next moment, the air around me began to swirl, and Magic Energy flowed into my body, amplifying all of my stats, but thanks to my armor, it wasn’t as impressive as his. If he was smart enough, however, he should have been able to tell that I was far more powerful than he was.

“Jets.” I said as I summoned the two extra pieces of equipment that could connect to the slots on my back.

Before he could comment, I used these jets and flew straight at him. The sound barrier broke after my first step, releasing a powerful Sonic Boom. Illsy taught us about these things during his spare time. The better we understood what he called ‘science’ the better we could use and cast our magic. After all, science was just the intellectual and practical activity through which we came to better understand the way the world around us worked. Knowing that some feats of magic could be performed without using Magic Energy and just as a result of wisely using what Illsy called ‘the laws of physics’ was a remarkable discovery for me.

Thus, I knew that when I would extend my fist at this speed, I would deal more damage to my foe than I normally would if I just stood still, and thanks to this armor of mine, I wouldn’t need to spend too much energy either, allowing me to fight for longer periods of time.

When I reached him, I punched him straight in the stomach, sending him flying through the wall.

Draconius gasped for air as his Magic Armor started to crack. The force with which he smashed through the enchanted material of this room was powerful enough to cause it to crack and then crumble, resulting in a huge hole that spread from the wall behind the throne all the way up towards the ceiling.

Below us, the draconian guards scattered like bugs, while the Supremes who broke through the doors were now facing my husband.

My focus never landed on them though, my eyes followed only Draconius. I flew up after him since he took refuge to the sky in an attempt to recover his strength and repair his Magic Armor. We were both floating at about fifty or so meters above the destroyed ceiling. The Pleyades Palace was being bathed in the light of the night, or rather... it wasn’t night yet, just very dark outside, almost as if the light of the sun had been sucked away by some monstrous fiend.

Maybe that’s a secondary effect of using a powerful Black Magic curse like that? It wouldn’t be surprising, seeing what sort of gloomy feel it gives to this entire region. I thought.

“H-How?” Draconius asked as he coughed and glared back at me “You shouldn’t have such power!” he shouted and pointed at me.

“...” I didn’t reply, my attention was on the data shown on the screen inside my helmet.

“Thousands of years ago, I was at the peak of my strength, but then... then I met that infuriating woman! A demoness she claimed to be... and Akardia was her name. She fought against me, and I saw it as nothing more than a silly woman pretending to be strong. I should have won... but... but... HOW COULD I, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL DRACONIUS, LOSE?!” he shouted and then gathering magic in both palms, he tossed a [Magma Spear] and a [Lightning Wind Spear] at me.

Both of those were Emperor Rank spells which combined various elements, especially that last one. It looked like a powerful lightning bolt encased in a spear made from a violent wind that flowed around it in a perfect shape.

Staying together with Illsy and by practicing my magic together with my sister-wives, I came to learn that magic in general was a type of energy that was heavily influenced by how each of us viewed the elements and what we knew about them. Thus, someone with deep knowledge of how the world worked could cast simple spells like [Fireball] that proved to be far more powerful than those cast by someone who had just picked up a magic book.

I was well aware of the fact that at one point during an individual’s training, they could easily cast a spell without having them required to say its name or shout its chant. Everyone in the Deus family, with the exception of the little ones, could do this, so over time, I also got to learn how powerful a spell could be depending on how it looked, how fast it was cast, or how big the end result was.

In this case, both spears were almost the same size as a standard draconian door, at around 2.5 meters in length and with a diameter of under a meter. They took a few seconds to cast, and it was done without a chant. This meant that each of those attacks had the potential of injuring a Supreme at the very least, while completely pulverizing anyone with a Magic Armor below it.

The attacks were powerful, but they couldn’t surpass the strength of my armor. So, I pointed my palm at them and then released two condensed [Fireball] spells. Unlike those of a beginner in magic, mine had a diameter of about half a meter and gave off a bright white light. According to Illsy, they could each release a temperature of 1400 degrees above the freezing point.

The reason I picked such dangerous spells was because of my affinity with fire. I could cast and infuse with magic a fire elemental spell far quicker than I could with everything else. Fire was my friend, it couldn’t harm me, and it obeyed my commands without delay.

There was also an interesting rule that declared how two spells would react when being cast at one another. In case of attack spells like these ones, what mattered most was the amount of Magic Energy poured within it and then the elemental of the spell because the first determined the characteristics of the latter.

There were also two possible ways the spells could react. In the first case, both spells detonated and the one with the least amount of Magic Energy would end up being consumed by the other one. In the second case, the spells didn’t detonate and would simply have their own Magic Energy get shaved off and released in the surroundings in a nullified form until only one spell remained. The winner would continue its path and strike the enemy but with a far weaker reaction because it didn’t have its initial fuel.

The latter situation depended heavily on both casters and was mostly used during practice matches. The typical reaction was usually the first one, although, I had seen Illsy cast some spear spells that could slice through other spells. That was mostly because he added to the initial spell another one with the sole property of nullifying or cutting the opponent’s spells.

In the current situation, however, I ordered my spells to explode on contact and nullify the spears cast at me.

Thus, two big explosions appeared at a distance of a few meters away from me. The heat wave didn’t bother me at all, while the sonic shock wave was muted by the helmet’s protection systems. Draconius, however, wasn’t as lucky, and he was now holding his hurting ears.

“Why?! Why?! I don’t understand how you could get so powerful even though I had to sacrifice so much so many times?! Tell me! How did you do it!” he demanded to know and glared at me.

I did not reply.

“After that wretched demoness defeated me, saying it was just some past time activity, I swore to become more powerful than her! When I did though, I could not find her, so I thought she had gone into hiding, waiting for her strength to grow more! But as years past, I never heard any rumors of her existence, so maybe she fled past the barrier around the three continents! Still, this could only mean that there were a lot more monsters like her out there! It was natural for me to conclude that all the lives on these three continents were mine to sacrifice in order to become the most powerful of them all!” he shouted in anger.

I did not comment.

“Just like how you toss a bunch of poisonous insects in the same jar to find out which one was the deadliest! I was the deadliest within this humongous jar! I was the most powerful and you...” he pointed at me “you were supposed to be my food to grow strong! You weren’t supposed to keep that strength for yourself!” he growled at me.

I was beginning to wonder if he had always been this delirious or if I somehow managed to trigger some sort of mental breakdown within him. Whatever the case, I didn’t care, but I was curious to see where his story was heading. The more of a loudmouth he was, the more I could feel a sense of madness surrounding him.

He did use a Black Magic Spell to curse his own kin in order to feed off their life force and Magic Energy. I wouldn’t be surprised now even if he turned into a Devil eager to eat all the children in the capital. I thought as I prepared myself for the next attack.

“Tch!” he clicked his tongue and then a strange smirk appeared on his face. It contorted his expression to the point of extreme, making me wonder if maybe he was suffering a muscle spam. “I will kill you and then... like a Dungeon, I’ll absorb your Magic Energy!” he declared.

Does he really have a way to acquire the power of other living creatures like Illsy, Anette, and Kormian do? I wondered, but at this point there was not even a single part of me that wished to find out the truth.

Without saying a word, I lashed out at him.

The first strike was blocked by his sword, but the enchants that strengthened it were shattered to bits, causing several cracks to appear in his weapon.

“Tch!” he clicked his tongue again.

Looking into his crazed eyes, I could see that I was a grievous annoyance for him. I was someone whom he wanted to kill, whom he despised from the bottom of his heart. I was his kin and at the same time I wasn’t. I was his family, yet at the same time we couldn’t be more different than a pair of strangers meeting randomly in the middle of the city.

What I felt when I was aimed at with those eyes of his was, in a weird way, injustice. There was no one out there who smiled and felt happy to be the target of hate of a madman. The reason why I wasn’t saying anything to his crazy talk was simply because I felt as though there was no way for my words to reach him.

The plasma blade slashed through the air, aimed at his sword. He flew back while trying to parry with his broken weapon, but without an enchant to protect it, my sword cut right through its metal with ridiculous ease. The slashed off blade fell to the ground, lost to the shadows below.

By now, all the guards within the Palace were aware of our presence up in the sky and were beginning to mobilize in order to take action against me.

“Once I kill you, I’ll take that blade for myself.” Draconius spat as he tossed the broken sword into the gardens below.

I rushed at him, my sword to my side, and a raging fire consuming me, engulfing me. It spread from the tip of my tail all the way to the tip of my blade.

“[Ice Storm]!” Draconius shouted, causing a Supreme Ranked spell to manifest.

The air around us grew cold and thousands of ice spears and ice spikes formed all around us, their tips aimed at me. Around us a raging wind was keeping us separated from the rest of the world like some unbreakable barrier. On the ground, the guards who got caught in the jaws of this storm found themselves flying off the walls or getting tossed into the walls of the palace. The flowers and trees planted below felt the rage of the winds as they were being torn apart. The maids and butlers together with the nobles unlucky enough to have been taking a stroll at this hour outside were met with a terrible fate. Their bodies were tossed around like ragged dolls, several guards who were a bit stronger were desperately trying to save them.

All of these hellish scenes were captured by the mechanical magic eyes built within the armor. While the King was thinking that he had won thanks to this spell, I wasn’t even in the slightest bit unsettled by it. This spell, [Ice Storm] was an impressive Supreme Rank attack, but with my current strength and the armor I wore, I could take on numerous attacks like this one without shedding a sweat.

“DIE!” shouted Draconius as he activated the spell and sent all those ice spears and ice spikes towards me.

Indeed, they could not harm me, but was there a reason to take them on like that? No.

“Huh?” he blinked surprised when he saw the first wave of projectiles pass through my afterimage.

Using the very dexterity I trained on the Boss Island, I navigated the aerial pin cushion with an extreme ease. None of the spikes and spears even came close to me, always missing me by a hair’s length. The lights on my armor and swords leaving a trail behind as I got closer and closer to him.

His eyes were not following my current position but that of my afterimage.

“[Diamond Barrier]!” he shouted at the last moment, as I cast another spell.

My blade bounced off a powerful crystal barrier, but my attack was powerful enough to cause it to shatter. It was not easy to block one of my attacks, but I could commend him for being able to do it, at least.

“Kuh! All this power... it should have been mine! Why did you take off your curse?!” he questioned me as I continued to dodge the rain of ice spikes and ice spears.

“You speak as though it was my destiny to become a meal for your curse.” I told him.

This was the first time I answered him since the moment I put on this armor.

“Naturally! I made you, so I have the right to kill you! You are my creation! I can kill you or do whatever I want with you!” he shouted in anger at me.

“Just because I carry a part of your blood doesn’t mean that you have such rights over me!” I retorted and then activated my jets to push me at full speed towards him.

Because I was not dodging anymore, the ice spears and ice spikes were all smashing into my armor, but they shattered upon contact, leaving not even a single scratch behind.

Instead of using my sword, I smashed into him with my shoulder, sending him flying back as his Magic Armor suffered from another major crack.

“It’s because you carry my blood, you unfilial wench that I can kill you and do whatever I wish with you!” he shouted in anger as he began to channel several powerful spells into his hands.

Draconius was doing a powerful multi-cast, which could have easily killed a Supreme if my power estimates were right.

“I made your mother! Your sister! Your grandmother! Your grand grandmother! I can kill you all because you are all my THINGS!” he shouted and tossed a lightning bolt at me.

Unlike a typical lightning spell, this one was black red in color and contained a lot more energy than the regular one. If I would have gotten struck by that thing, my armor may have taken a bit of damage.

“Do you know how troublesome it is to raise kids like you?! Always crying and pooping like there was no tomorrow! Even the maids were disgusted when they were changing your diapers, Ayuseya! You worthless granddaughter!” he shouted at me as he released a black ice spear at me.

This thing was clogged with a sinister magic, which I couldn’t identify, but which I knew I had to dodge at all costs.

Both of his spells missed me, but in order to make sure they didn’t hit anything else; I activated the AGLMC installed in this armor and shot them down one by one.

“I was the one who allowed you to be born, you brat! Your stupid mother wanted to kill you! She was in love with me! She could not wait to sacrifice your life to me, especially since you carried the blood of that dragon father of yours! I was the one who thought it was going to be fun to let you live, to see you struggle, to get you to give birth from a ridiculous marriage! You think Dankyun was bad luck?! Who do you think gave him that poison to burn your throat in the first place?! The more you struggled, the more you fought, the more the curse on you could satisfy me! You have always been and always will be my TOY, Ayuseya Pleyades!” he shouted as he activated a [Boost] spell.

With his own physical strength and speed going up, he formed a pair of Magic Energy blades at the end of each of his arms and flew towards me. There was anger in his eyes as though I had somehow wronged him. There was hate in his heart as though I had somehow stolen what was rightfully his. There was madness all around him, maybe the repercussion of using that Black Magic Curse?

Yet, as he flew at me, there were tears rolling down my cheeks.

There was no way his words didn’t hurt. For a long time, I thought that my mother loved me, yet her letter to me was nothing more than an additional proof which enforced this mad king’s words. I thought that my people cared about me, that I was studying and working hard in order to support my country not to become the meal of this crazy draconian, but when I stepped out of the palace, I saw the truth. My name, my existence among the nobility of Teslov was nothing more than a joke, I was the pet mascot with whom they all pretended to play nice because they were afraid of this monster before me.

It hurts... It hurts... because even I... even I wanted to have a good and kindhearted family. I too wanted to have grandparents for my children, a family of which they can be proud of... Instead, what I got was something shameful, something disgraceful, something blasphemous... I thought as I cried inside the armor, although from the outside, my moment of weakness couldn’t be seen.

Illsy did a good job with these gifts of his... they protected not only our body but also our dignity and pride.

Why? Why was I cursed to have such a family? I wondered as I clenched my fists.

The sword vanished from my hand and was returned to my Storage Crystal.

With my fists clenched tight, I set loose upon them the fires of my anger. They blazed up, lighting up the area around me. I looked up at the skies... and spoke a small prayer.

“If there is a God out there who wishes to listen to me... please... forgive me for killing my family... forgive me for taking the sins of the Pleyades on my own hands.” I said and then looked down at Draconius, who kept charging up his [Boost] spell.

“[Mega Boost]...” I whispered and closed my eyes as I allow myself to fall forward, the Magic Energy in my body flowing fast and releasing the secret of my blood.

In front of the eyes of the draconians within this capital, I would forsake my humanoid shape and take on the bestial form which I inherited from my father.

My body grew in strength and size, my pulse was like drums struck by the gods, the energy surging through me veins, fueling my muscles, strengthening my bones, refining my inner organs. Then, when I opened my eyes, I also spread my wings.

The first thing I saw was the expression of disbelief on Draconius’ face, then I said “You are small...”

The fires I let loose at the beginning of this battle were still trickling dowm on my scales, which were now covering my whole body. My armor had changed as well, adapting to my new shape, covering my vital points with thick plates, and generating a powerful energy shield around me. My tail was longer, stronger, faster, covered in golden scales that now also had a tint of red on them.

“This... this cannot be...” Draconius said as a sense of dread and fear washed over him.

“You wanted my power, didn’t you? You slaughtered my family, YOUR family because you wanted it, right? Then... here’s a taste of it.” I said with a low growl, but in this new form of mine, my voice was like a powerful thunder, intimidating and loud.

“What?” he pretended not to understand.

I leaned forward and before he could react, I swatted him like a fly.

His body flew towards the protective wall that surrounded the palace, smashing into it with merciless brutality. Shattered stones flew to the sides as big cracks formed on it. Several guards lost their footing and fell on the floor, while a dozen others began to flee, scattering like bugs. There were two or three who tried to attack me, but their pathetic little spells barely reached me, they were of no threat to me.

With a growl escaping my throat, I flew down towards Draconius, who was pushing a huge slab of rock off his chest. There was a drip of blood on the corner of his lips, but the anger in his eyes had yet to fade. With my dragon palm, I aimed to smash him into the ground, but he dodged at the last second, my strike shattering the wall, causing a big chunk of it to crumble and reveal my beastly shape to the frightened draconians on the other side.

“Kill her! Kill her!” Draconius ordered as he tried to flee from my sight, but I took flight and followed him.

With a sweep of my hand, I gouged the earth at his feet and tossed it towards several draconian guards. I then let loose a jet of flames from my throat, but he still managed to dodge. He was a boosted Supreme who indulged himself in the life force and Magic Energy of hundreds of my relatives, so weak he was not.

There was no need to look at the Royal Guards, they were all just tossing weak spells at me that didn’t even scratch my Magic Armor, as for the other Supremes in Teslov, my husband was probably taking care of all of them.

Draconius tried to run towards the main entrance to the Palace, but I tossed a [Fireball] in his path, the spell exploded, and the flames spread across that side of the wall, burning and eating away the moss and vines that crawled between its stones.

“Are you trying to kill me?” he asked.

“Isn’t that natural?” I asked as I jumped towards him, grabbing him while I flew past him.

He almost slipped through my fingers, but I was able to grab hold of him just in time. The sound of his Magic Armor shattering under my grasp was pleasant to the ears. I flew up until I was high enough to see the entire capital.

Thanks to the ground chase that happened a moment earlier, the Pleyades Palace, which had never seen a single moment of danger since the moment it was built over a thousand years ago, was now in a state of chaos as fire was spreading fast and the crumbling walls were a danger for both those inside and those outside, yet there was still more to come.

Illsy will protect those who will need protecting… I thought as I placed my faith in him so that I could continue my rampage without worry for the safety of my sister and nephew.

Although, through my tears and sorrow, I wondered if the two would one day forgive me for taking away from them the last draconian to hold our blood and the ruler in our legends.

“Y-You can’t kill me!” Draconius shouted.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you are my creation! A father has the right to kill his daughter not the other way around!” he shouted.

Growling, I then placed all the strength in my upper arm and shouted from the bottom of my heart “YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER!”

BOOM!!! I punched him.

“GAAAH!” Draconius screamed as his body broke the sound barrier and then crashed into the ground below.

The shock wave of the impact damaged the surroundings even more, while the ‘projectile’ was groaning in pain, with a hand and a leg broken in three places, an elbow twisted the wrong way, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth and both of his ears.

“It’s time to end this...” I said as I allowed myself to fall on top of the draconian below me.

In this form, I was far heavier, far bigger, and far more powerful than my in my humanoid form. Landing on someone was akin to tossing a boulder the size of a house right on top of their heads. Or at least, that was how Illsy put it when I stepped on him by accident.

“I... will... not....” Emperor Draconius was still alive, but... not for long.

Taking a deep breath, I then jumped up and released the full power of my fire at him.

“GYAAA!” he screamed in pain and writhed on the ground, while bathing in my flames.

The screams of pain and horror released from him were slowly drowned by the fury of my breath. The guards had stopped shooting at me as well, they realized they couldn’t do anything to me and could only watch in shock as I tried to reduce their king to nothing more than ash.

Unfortunately, this was one stubborn insect. With the full blast of my breath washing over him, he still dared to take a breath. He was in pain, he was crying and groveling on the ground, but he was still alive.

I reached down and grabbed him with my dragon hand, my scaly fingers wrapping around him and my claws stabbing into his charred flesh.

“Gha... I... will... k-kill you...” he managed to say through all the spit and blood spewing out of his mouth.

“Delusional fool.” I said and then squeezed hard until I heard his bones cracking.

“GAAAH!” his shouts of pain were heard so loud that for a second, I almost believed that we were the only ones here and not being watched by everyone in the palace.

Draconius squirmed and twisted in my grasp, but it appeared as though the vitality he gained from all those innocent souls had turned him into a very formidable pest.

Feeling his tender flesh pressed against my scales and the warm blood flowing down my fingers as his life was slowly being squeezed out of his body, I found myself not in a state of enjoyment but one of sadness. A pair of tears flowed down on my cheeks as I felt as though all this suffering was not enough for a piece of scum like him, yet at the same time, by killing him, I feared I was going to become like him... just another kin murderer.

If I can kill the progenitor of my family like this... what stops me from killing my children and grandchildren... just like him? I wondered as my heart was slowly being squeezed by this pain just like him.

In that moment, something entered my sight, and when I looked up, I saw Illsy standing on top of the rooftop, looking down at me with a serious gaze in his eyes. He wasn’t judging me, he wasn’t condemning me for what I was about to do, instead, he was just standing there, observing me, accepting me.

A single nod from him let me know that everything was going to be alright, and then I remembered that just like this piece of worthless flesh in my hand, if I were to someday become like him, then Nanya, Shanteya, Zoreya, Tamara, Illsy and maybe even our children and grandchildren were going to be there to stop me, to make me pay if I were to ever dare to thread on the same path as this lunatic.

But would Illsy ever let me reach such a state? I wondered.

My grip loosened for a bit as I looked one last time at the burnt pile of squashed meat in my hand.

No. I answered my own question, and I felt so sure in this answer, I could even bet my own soul on it.

I closed my eyes and then squeezed my hand with everything I had.

“GAAAH!”

SQUISH!

A most disturbing sound was heard as I felt the icky and going insides of the draconian spill all over my fingers. When I opened my eyes, I almost puked at the sight of what was once the progenitor of my family. To satisfy this feeling, I barfed out a mass of fire on my hand, incinerating his remains and washing my beautiful scales of his blood.

“Draconius is no more... Teslov is finally rid of his rule...” I said and then looking towards the guards around me, who were looking at me with big eyes of both fear and wonder, I knew that there was still one more thing which I had to do.

I closed my eyes for a moment as I thought well about my next word and then I flew up towards the sky.

When I was at a decent distance from the ground, I released a powerful roar, which most definitely woke up the entirety of Drakaria if the earlier battle didn’t.

Then, using my tremendous presence and the power of my dragon voice, I made my declaration “Today! Your King Brayden Pleyades, known to the very few as Emperor Draconius, died by my hands, your former Princess Ayuseya Pleyades, now Ayuseya Deus! I now declare to all of you with the power invested in me that the current ruling power of Teslov Kingdom shall enter in a new age! The nation of Illsyorea will become a surrogate sister of this nation and help it change its corrupt ways from hence forth. The Elders Council is disbanded and all those who still wish to bow down to them, beware of my wrath!” I growled and released two powerful [Fireball] spells which were detonated above Drakaria, in the middle of those dark clouds clearing them once and for all.

This alone was enough to catch their attention, but it wasn’t enough. I had to take responsibility for my actions now but also for what was to come. I had to make another move, one that would cement the new rule of this nation.

“I hereby declare that Teslov Kingdom shall have a new ruler, Queen Vellezya Pleyades! Illsyore Deus, my husband, ended the curse that plagued the Royal Family all these generations and under our guidance, my sister shall be the ruler you all have been waiting for! She will be just and fair to you all, no matter if you are a commoner or a noble! She will change Teslov, and she will grant the draconians everywhere a newfound strength the likes of which the old rule could not even think of!” I declared.

My words should have been powerful enough to move their hearts and clear enough to make them understand what just happened tonight. The dissolution of the Elder Council was a move unlike any before, while my promise to bring fairness to both the nobility and the commoners should have made it clear that my intention was not to turn Teslov into a second Illsyorea but just help them stand back on their own two feet after all these years of suppression.

Of course, this change wasn’t going to be something easy to implement as corruption ran deep within this nation and a lot of its systems maintained a decent functionality by being dependent on a lot of the illegalities made by all social classes. Unfortunately, that could only be a dead-end solution to a dying nation.

What I offered them now was hope, and from the bottom of my heart, I hoped that they were going to see and understand this, if not... force might be the only cure for some of them.

At this time, Illsyore sent a message to the communication device in my helmet and asked, “Is it over?”

“Yes...” I replied with tears flowing down my dragon cheeks as I looked up at the now clear blue sky.