Drakos laid down in the cage, his legs and maw locked up with chains. Even if he wanted to burn them in flames, he couldn't. Despite being locked up, Drakos wasn't sad. Having his new art, all he had to do is wait till his soul heals itself, and then he can just perform it again, escaping from the Dwarf Kingdom.
King of Dwarfs was talking to himself this whole time but Drakos didn't even listen, his mind occupied with a certain beauty that lingered in his memory.
Bella.
The scene from just a few hours ago was still vivid inside his mind.
He gazed at Bella for the last time and looked away, observing the approaching Dwarfs. His heart was aching but when Bella's presence disappeared, his body felt lighter.
'She is safe. That's good…' he thought.
Since that moment, he could finally focus on himself without worrying about her. His body began transforming and he turned into a Dragon once again. His original body provided him more power against such giants as Dwarfs.
"Hahaha, what do I see here! A lone Dragon fell in love with a Phoenix and used his only escape too for her, letting her escape. The relief in your eyes, aaaaah, so romantic," King of Dwarfs called out as he stopped, letting his men spill into the Storage Room. "It is such a shame that you will never see her again."
"Haha, you think so?" Drakos replied with a dry laugh, fire bursting from his maw in the Dwarf's direction but the King of Dwarfs was already prepared, swinging his hammer that sent powerful shockwaves, dispersing the fire.
"You couldn't beat me the last time. What makes you think you can do it now?" the King of Dwarfs questioned mockingly. "Especially with the pitiful strength you have now. I thought you would recover your strength after I injured you the last time but you are still in your pitiful state."
Drakos only smirked at that, not planning on revealing anything about his new ability. After all, it wasn't the King of Dwarfs that caused the death of his first body. No one aside from him, Bella and Xuefeng's group knew about his ability to separate the soul from the body and creating a full-pledged body using Fate Qi.
"Even if I can't beat you, I will make sure you and your men suffer. I know you won't kill me so I can go all out," Drakos replied casually, snapping his maw while glaring at his targets.
He was now a Celestial Dragon, so his power and endurance multiplied. Just by looking at Xuefeng's Dragon Edge sword, one could imagine how tough was a Dragon's body. His scales cannot be broken, nor sliced so most of the attacks couldn't break through his defenses. As long as he was careful, he could inflict serious damage to the Dwarf Kingdom.
The King of Dwarfs didn't waste any more time and locked the place while walking up to Drakos.
Drakos knew the battle was lost but that didn't scare him away from the battle. The endurance of both Dragons and Dwarfs was one of the best from all the races so even though Drakos was weaker in strength, the battle lasted longer than expected.
In the end, Drakos was still locked up but he was happy he could kill multiple Dwarfs, dirtying the floor of the storage with their blood.
"You are the worst King I have ever seen…" Drakos muttered through his teeth but the King of Dwarfs only burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, thank you! I will take that as a compliment."
He didn't even care about the death of his people, treating them like tools.
Thud!
The elevator finally arrived at the bottom, causing the cage to shake.
"We arrived! I'm so happy you returned. Now that you are here, I will have two workers that will help me finish my project faster," King of Dwarfs called out ecstatic, opening the doors of the elevator. They were alone there with no other Dwarfs following them.
Drakos got quickly confused, wanting to ask when he smelled a familiar scent coming from the depth of the cave.
There was another Dragon inside! It was a female too!
Drakos' mind exploded at that thought and his eyes widened but the King of Dwarfs seemed to already expect that.
"I know you already sensed her. Don't worry, you will meet her soon. She is also a new addition to my collection," King of Dwarfs assured. "Maybe you two can even fall in love here. Who knows. She is quite uncooperative on her own so maybe she will relax with another Dragon with her."
Roaaaaar!
Just as the King of Dwarfs spoke, they heard a loud Dragon road and heatwave coming from the deeper ends of the cave.
"Damn, she is at it again. Wasting my precious flames," King of Dwarfs cursed and grabbed the chains of the cage, pulling Drakos out of the elevator.
The cage was like a wagon, sliding into the rails which made it possible to transport a giant Drakos. The chains on his legs and neck made it impossible to change back into his Human form which would allow him to sneakily leave.
They rode through a simple tunnel covered by the darkness. Drakos got hit by stale air, filled with the burned smell. He was wondering what could be the King of Dwarf's Project when he finally saw it as the light from flames illuminated the final cave place.
"Welcome to my secret project. I call it: Project Giant!"
A huge metal armor that had the size of the King of Dwarf stood in the middle of the cave. There was a huge hole in its chest, showing it wasn't finished yet. Next to the Giant stood multiple smith's tools as well as enormous piles of metal as well as smelting furnace.
Then, there was another cage, similar to his own with an adult black Dragon inside of it.
"YOU BASTARD! ONCE I'M OUT OF THIS CAGE I WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS!"
A female voice growled at them as a cone of fire burst from her maw. King of Dwarfs only grinned and suddenly a big shield appeared in his hand. He covered his body, blocking the flames with ease.
"I called this metal Terminium," King of Dwarfs called out to Drakos. "It has such a high melting point that only Dragon and Phoenix flames can melt it and that also requires a lot of exposure to continuous flames. Imagine I could build myself an armor using such metal. I would be invincible!"
"Why are you telling me this?" Drakos questioned.
"Because you are going to help me build it! You two will not leave this cave until my armor is done! Hahahaha!" King of Dwarfs announced as he burst out laughing. "You want to leave? This is your only choice. Convince this lady to cooperate with you and then help me melt the rest of Terminium Ore so I can finish my Armor. I will let you free afterward and you can go back to your Phoenix Beauty."
"I WILL NEVER WORK FOR YOU! EVER!"
The Black Dragon cried out as the flames stopped and King of Dwarf sonly shrugged.
"Good luck!" King of Dwarfs wished as he kept the shield and walked behind Drakos' cage. He pulled on the single chain that connected to all locks on Drakos' body and pulled on it, swiftly unlocking them all aside from the collar.
PA!
He smacked her cage with his foot and it slowly rolled on the rails towards the female Dragon.
"I need to handle some matters on the surface! I will come back later so enjoy your new companion!" King of Dwarfs called out before going back to the tunnel, disappearing from their view.
"Hahaha!"
All they could hear was his laugh that made Drakos annoyed.
Bang!
The two cages smacked into each other, causing her to bump her head against the metal crate.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I will murder this fucker!" the female Dragon cursed multiple times but Drakos was more interested in checking her out as he waited for her to calm down.
Now that he took a closer look, it seemed like she wasn't exactly black but had a bit of dark blue hue to her scale tone. Her scales shone under the light from the torches, blinking blue light from time to time.
"Really pretty," Drakos muttered only to gather the female dragon's attention.
"What did you say?!" the Female Dragon barked at him, showing her fangs. "You shut up! I am mad now!"
"Sure. We can stay here in silence the whole time. I don't mind," Drakos replied politely but she only glared at him, looking away.
'There is no way I'm ever leaving this cave.'