496 Reaching the mountaintop

"The invader has won!"

Only now I could relax a bit. With how I managed to save up my greatest ace for the fight with the ancestor, despite spoiling it a bit by revealing the entropy during my fight with that amiable elder, I could finally get to the next step of my plan.

"As per tradition that somehow you managed to keep intact, I will now announce my ruling for the entire city!"

Contrary to all the previous challenges, by winning against the sect leader, I was basically putting myself in his position and was allowed to make all his previous decisions and votes in the sect leader gatherings disappear from the records as the price for establishing my own words as the new law.

Due to how insanely hard it was to reach this stage during the old days, where this rule was formed, no one really bothered to remove it from the codified law that I found in the library and based my entire plan on. 

"But before I do so, I would like to ask you all one thing. Have you ever heard about the dragon sect?"

Considering the fact that this part of the knowledge became obsolete with the escape of those people from the continent as the event called "the fall of the dragons" marked the dark ages of their entire culture and their ultimate banishment from the mainland, I didn't expect any of the disciples, elders or even other sect leaders to know about that sect more than the fact that it used to be the absolute power in their civilisation.

According to their legends, rather than being a demonic beast capable of destroying all its oppositions with just a single breath of fire and magic, dragons were akin to the caretakers of the other beasts, serving as the shield that protected the ancestors of the people below me from all the harm while making sure that the beasts and the humans could live in peace. 

Yet to get to this explanation, I had to connect the dots that were shattered between all sorts of books! Some of the details could be found in the ancient techniques of the goose sect, claimed to be born from the dragon's teaching received by the protector goose and adopted to its worshipers need. Others were clearly and openly stated in the basic manuals that introduced the young disciples into the world of cultivation, prompting them to one day recover the glory of the dragons.

In fact, I wasn't even sure if I could get the whole picture after finally getting my hands on their entire library! But as this was nothing but a small detail that became the foundation for the ruse I was effectively creating, I didn't really feel any urge to learn more about those apparently extinct magical creatures.

Suddenly changing my tone from one akin to someone reminiscing good, old times, to the one fit of the persecutor on the national trial for the high treason. Turning myself around, I faced the tip of the mountain where the town's ancestors were supposedly located, pointing my finger directly at the mansion barely visible through the dense layer of clouds.

"You banished the dragon sect, as soon as the last dragon breathed his last! You are the culprits behind the downfall of our people! You dare to call me an invader when I'm your saviour!"

Smashing my formerly extended hand on my chest, I made sure to do it right below Pengu's hiding place, in the signal I explained to him before this entire ruse started.

"You wanted to just observe as the aggressive sects following your example would destroy yet another part of our tradition, as soon as one of the sects lost their protector!"

Shouting those words at the mountain, I could feel the weight of Monica's gaze despite having no clue where she could be at this point. While the lack of their guardian penguin could be somehow explained, when I clearly stated that it was gone, there would be no saving for the penguin sect!

Unless…

"As a proof for my words, as the proper disciple of the dragon sect, heralding the balance and the wholesomeness of the dear relationship between the beast and a man, I bring you a new guardian, who will not only be capable of protecting his own but as the dragons who sheltered us back when we were nothing but mindless primates, he will extend his protection over this entire city and nation!'

The moment those words left my mouth, I felt the pocket on my chest rapidly expanding, only for my friend to quickly tear through it and jump forward. While he appeared in the air, rather than falling to the ground, he just continued to grow in size at a speed that made him stomp on the ground before he could fall even an inch!

But the rate at which Pengu was turning bigger and bigger also meant that it would only take a moment before he would cross the barrier, effectively stealing my opportunity to force the ancestors to accept my challenge, as they could call him my tamed beast and consider him crossing the barrier as my loss!

"Oh, traitorous ancestors of the Vivaci nation! I have waited for this moments for years! I hereby challenge you to for the grand supremacy duel!"

As soon as my words left my mouth, I sprawled the entire area with the bits of entropy, instantly taking down the entire barrier before jumping on top of Pengu's shoulder. With just one swing of its small wings, he somehow managed to raise to the air and fly towards the building at the top of the mountain!

But as soon as I crossed the layer of the clouds that covered the tip of this majestic earthwork, I realised that something was wrong.

Instead of seeing this mansion in more detail, the two of us appeared in a completely new space, as if by climbing so hard we managed to reach the boundary of space just like my stronghold!

Taking a look around, I could only realise that what I took initially for the mountain top was nothing but a portal that lead me to the foothold of yet another mountain!

"Welcome to the ancestral lands of the Vivaci refugees. By reaching this point, I assume that you are the new overseer sent from the continent?"

But as soon as I crossed the layer of the clouds that covered the tip of this majestic earthwork, I realised that something was wrong.

Instead of seeing this mansion in more detail, the two of us appeared in a completely new space, as if by climbing so hard we managed to reach the boundary of space just like my stronghold!