Ashen Dragon

The Ancient Silver Dragon lowered its head, pressed its bright, board-like wings close to its body, and then slightly bent its forelimbs at the knees.

He then respectfully greeted, "Good day, Your Imperial Majesty.

Pablichko pondered for a moment, continuing to smile gently, "I have witnessed everything you have done, and I must say, that was a truly great battle.

On behalf of the Melwood Clan, I congratulate you, congratulate your Empire on successfully repelling the invasion from The Abyss, and also congratulate you on another glorious victory."

"Are you that old fellow's younger brother, Pablichko?

Tsk, what a mouthful name."

Cassius sized up the Ancient Silver Dragon before him, his brow adorned with scaly horns suddenly lifting.

Indeed, this was Osedro's younger brother; from the dragons' perspective, they did indeed look alike, both having slender, knife-sculpted, gleaming silver faces.

However, the Silver Dragon before him was several sizes smaller than Osedro, being only about twenty-four meters in length, neither having the heavily armored equipment, nor the runes carved on the whole body.

An ordinary Silver Dragon.

This was Cassius's assessment.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Upon hearing the Red Dragon's question, Pablichko's mouth twitched slightly, yet he answered truthfully. He had no intention of annoying the Emperor over something as trivial as a name.

Cassius casually said, "Speak. My time is very precious."

Pablichko hesitated for a moment, then carefully spoke, "Your Majesty Cassius, our Melwood Clan wishes to know your views on the situation in Fianso Continent.

And... whether the Ashen Empire will become involved in this conflict."

Cassius narrowed his eyes, gazing coldly at the Ancient Silver Dragon with his pale gold pupils and asked icily, "Is this an internal affair of the Empire, what does it have to do with you Melwoods?"

Pablichko quickly shook his head and defended, "We didn't mean that; the stance of your Empire is very important to us, it concerns the whole situation of Fianso."

The Silver Dragon turned its head to gaze out over the vast expanse of the wild plains, seemingly immersed in the magnificent scenery of Anzeta.

Then, as if inadvertently, he sighed, "Your Majesty Cassius, you already possess such a vast territory, with millions of loyal subjects sustaining you, gathering the world's wealth here.

If I were you, I might already be completely content, unwilling to disrupt the order in the South..."

Cassius bared his teeth, letting out a fierce, cold laugh.

"Heh heh…"

The Red Dragon discerned the implication in his words; the Ancient Silver Dragon was clearly implying: You already have so much, why are you still unsatisfied, coveting the lands in the South?

Cassius extended a claw, and a magic image made of flame appeared in the palm of his hand.

Burning cities, displaced people, crying mothers, wailing children, bodies shattered everywhere, thick gun smoke, rivers of blood… these tragic scenes sequentially appeared in the visualization.

—That was the dire state of the region where Thrace Kingdom and the Kingdom of Cassandra bordered, where the war was most intense.

This war had been ongoing for three years, after countless reciprocal slaughters, hatred had accumulated, and both nations had completely forgotten they were once compatriots but must now be annihilated as adversaries.

And adversaries are not counted as human. Thus, the commoners of both sides died in countless numbers under the mutually destructive fire of cannons, Divine Descendant Legion, and Arcane Legion; their lives insignificant as weeds.

Cassius unmercifully said, "This is the order that your Melwood Clan strives to maintain?

If this counts as order, you might as well go to Hell and have Asmonthy, the Lord of Nine Prisons, as your ruler."

Pablichko said, "But the weapons sold by your Empire..."

Cassius sneered, "Even without the guns and cannons we supply, wouldn't they still kill each other? I see your Divine Descendant Legion is killing quite merrily as well."

Pablichko was momentarily silenced, but still stubbornly said, "Your Majesty, that is human warfare.

They slaughter each other for wealth, land, power, without differentiation of right and wrong. Even our Melwood Clan finds it difficult to stop them, let alone participate.

However… the order among dragons, humans, elves, and other human-like races has been maintained for thousands of years.

For thousands of years, dragonkin and they have not interfered with each other, even the violent acts stimulated by Tiamat are quickly stopped by us.

You are allies of Melwood, and we do not wish to see you standing on the opposing side of the Clan."

Pablichko spoke in a dissuading tone, his gaze intermittently checking the Emperor's expression, yet he found that a trace of ... mockery appeared on the other's dragon face.

"But nowhere in our treaty of cooperation does it state that the Empire must submit to the order of the Melwood Clan,"

Cassius lowered his head, gazing at the Ancient Silver Dragon before him that now seemed rather thin and small, and said with a sneer,

"How arrogant ... what right do you have to do this? By what right should dragonkin be bound by your governance?

His voice grew increasingly heavy and loud until, in the end, it boomed like thunder,

"Do you realize—even Tiamat and Bahamut, even those lofty Dragon Gods, have no means to control me!"

"Boom!"

His broad wings spread suddenly, and a towering pressure poured forth.

The fierce wind swirled around the Red Dragon's massive body rampaging, some kind of soul-affecting oppression appeared in the minds of all the Silver Dragons.

In an instant, all was silent.

"What, what is that?"

Pablichko's eyes were dazed, his body rigid, his voice trembling.

Before his eyes seemed to emerge numerous shadows of dragons a thousand kilometers long, those were the Ancestral Dragons personally created by Emperor Aiu, mythic creatures!

This Ancient Silver Dragon shook violently, terror from deep within his blood surging forth.

But the millennia of time had granted Pablichko mental fortitude strong enough to prevent complete collapse, allowing him to barely stand up with support.

"They, they ..."

Although Pablichko felt weak under the pressure, he still managed to use the corner of his eye to survey the surrounding scene.

Under the powerful Dragon's Might, all the adult and young Silver Dragons had vacant expressions, stiff bodies, and eyes dull and lifeless as if completely scared stiff by this pressure.

"By Bahamut above, such Dragon's Might..."

In the long millennia, Pablichko had never seen a giant dragon defeat adult Silver Dragons merely with Dragon's Might—not even the Ancient Golden Dragons could do so.

Perhaps only those true Dragon Gods, transcending the physical form, could achieve such an effect.

However, the next moment, something even more despair-inducing and shocking happened to Pablichko.

The Red Dragon retracted his wings and slowly opened his mouth, commanding in a flat tone, "Spin."

No sooner had the words been spoken than several adult and young Silver Dragons began chasing their tails in circles obediently, like trained hounds.

Without receiving further instruction, the Silver Dragons continued to spin as if they would never stop.

In just this brief instant, by merely employing the might from his Ancestral bloodline, Cassius had controlled several Silver Dragons!

This, was the power of the Ancestral Dragon Majesty!

Pablichko opened his mouth wide, stunned by the spectacle before him; he had never seen such large-scale control of giant dragons.

And Cassius merely watched the circling Silver Dragons with interest, his deep voice echoing across the wasteland.

"I have no desire to harm you, my dear 'allies,' our agreement to jointly fight against demons, to withstand the invasion from The Abyss, remains intact.

But I want you to know—if I wish, the Melwood Clan has absolutely no way to influence the actions of the Empire."

That Dragon's Might suddenly vanished, and the Silver Dragons immediately came to their senses from the controlled state, still not understanding what had happened, looking at each other with confused expressions.

"What just happened?"

"Ugh ... my head hurts."

"What did that Red Dragon do!"

And Pablichko stood there, rigid with fear, unable to speak for a moment.

Cassius paced before the Ancient Silver Dragon, speaking leisurely, "Furthermore, if you had investigated my past, you should know.

I, this Dragon, am most kind-hearted, filled with compassion for all creatures; I cannot stand to see serfs suffer, nor can I watch Fadlan ravaged by the flames of war..."