Chapter 450 The Burning Moon



POV Vesuvius:

With a flap of the dragon's wings, all the flames sizzled out, the water drained, and the winds calmed down, leaving only silence and the mortals and elementals stricken with fear.

'It isn't entirely a bad thing as it will give me and my servants the image of saviors. This great catastrophe will reinforce the unity of my empire as all will share this horrible day.'

With the second flap, the thunders resounded, and lightning drowned the elementals, melting them into nothingness.

All the survivors collapsed or hugged each other, tears of pure joy and relief pouring from the corners of their eyes.

"We are saved!"

"Worship our draconic protectors."

"I live."

[+80 FAIT]

It was the purest kind of joy, the joy of living for another day.

Still, something didn't sit right with him about the attack. He was more than aware of the importance of worshippers to the mortal gods.

'This attack makes no sense. Why did the gods attack everything in such a destructive manner.'

The attack didn't damage only him but also the gods themselves, likely even more. No, matter how he thought about it, attacking so haphazardously made no sense to the gods as they damaged their source of power and even damaged their image.

'It is as if I attacked my minions. This makes no sense.' He expected an attack. However, he imagined a precise scalpel-like strike against his core forces or himself. Instead, he got the equivalent of mace crushing everything in its path.

Something has changed with the light. Vesuvius turned his head and looked up into the sky.

'Huh?'

A pillar of fire so bright yet distant shot up into the sky. The flaming serpents of white and blue fire spiraled upwards. The sacred and divine energies blazed from the pillar as the flames lit the sky. The magical energy seeped into the soil that vibrated from the immense power behind it.

In surprise, the dragon stared at the fire show, 'This is some powerful ritual magic, and with the presence of divine and holy energy, it is likely even supported by the gods. Its origin must be somewhere far, probably on another continent. '

The crimson moon on the reddish night sky cracked, and an explosion of flames created a large burning lake on its surface where the column of fire hit it. The bright orange light scorching with the sacred energy reached the dragon.

The heat was so shocking that he could see the moon's surface melt around the point of the hit, creating a sea of lava.

'This is bad. If it landed somewhere here, it would probably evaporate at least an entire average kingdom.' However, he wasn't worried too much as he doubted it would be in anyone's interest to launch something like that at their own world.

Especially the difficulties that would come with it reassured him.

It ticked inside his head as he realized he had fallen for it. He underestimated the gods, and they tricked him, keeping his attention away from something more significant. 'The only option is that the attack of the elementals was all just a distraction.'

It was unsettling and spiteful as he realized the gods played him like a violin. They grabbed his urge to protect his property and turned it against him. He didn't even notice anything was wrong until the moon was set on fire.

'This must have been a large ritual. The magic had to be felt all the way here, but I still missed it amid the chaos of this invasion.'

The sea of lava on the moon brightened, with each moment, turning the night into an orange day with the flickering orange light.

'Why would they want to blast the moon?' The more he observed the actions of the gods, the more he was lost. He lacked information and a lot of them.

Amidst the orange glow, the sounds of flapping wings closed in. They quickly approached from every direction.

'My war draconids? No, they should be guarding all the empire's important locations and hubs.'

A small adult wyrm appeared on the horizon. They landed and bowed their head. Then more and more wyrms and even lesser dragons arrived, all deeply bowing. The glow of their reptilian eyes passed through the clouds, and the smell of blood filled the air from the bleeding injuries on their bodies.

Their scales were bent, scratched, and seared, bearing the signs of their recent battles.

'What do they want?'

The largest lesser dragon landed fluidly, like a living shadow and light, as if they defied gravity. All the lesser dragons and wyrms stepped back in respect.

The true dragon almost snickered, 'So they have finally realized.'

The leading lesser dragon bowed, "Your lordship. We ask for your power..." Reluctancy seeped out of its voice. Vesuvius felt their hesitation and even worry.

"So you want my blood and marrow to ascend? Why now?" The lesser dragon's heart jumped up with greed and fear, but they didn't show even a bit of their emotion to the outside, only Vesuvius noticing it with his senses far beyond the norm.

'In the past, true dragons were always stingy with their blood. They must be scared of insulting me just by asking for it. This attack must have finally broken their pride.'

"They have attacked us! This was just the first battle and we have already suffered. We want to survive. I can see your cunning your lordship."

'What? Did my living advertising billboard work?

"You have lured us with the promise of riches to drag us into this war, and we have swallowed it and occupied the lands offered by you. Now, we have no choice but to fight if we want to survive."

"So, you truly want my power. So, be it. However..." The lesser dragon stepped back as Vesuvius stared straight into their eyes, "...don't lie to yourself. I didn't drag you into this war. I just speeded up the inevitable. This war would come sooner or later. I just took the initiative and struck first."

POV Random Guard Number 5:

A soldier raised his fist, signaling for his men to hold their position. Thin laser rays stretched from below the gun's barrels into the dark corridor.

The alarm blared in the background with only the vague stripes of emergency light weakly shining.

'What have we done? We have destroyed our world... not only our world.' He was just a security guard, but even he heard the rumors about the black devil trapped deep within the facility. He was a Christian, so he knew dealing with evil beings only led to misfortune.

A red silhouette appeared at the end of the corridor, slowly walking towards it, with blue flames dancing around it. A pair of demon-like horns crowned its head.

"Fire!" The guard shouted, and bright flashes from the muzzles lit up the corridor, accompanied by thundering roars of their guns.

The small plasma bullets exploded and rained everywhere, melting the solid concrete walls. He couldn't see through all the flashes but didn't release the trigger, and more and more plasma bullets flew out.

"Keep firing!" That thing already massacred through the one floor, and he refused to be careless, 'This devil's creation must be stopped.'

Finally, the shooting stopped as their barrels heated up to bright red. However, the light didn't dim, with the blue inferno still raging.

'It survived!'

"Phhh, the next time, bring some flamethrowers to make it more interesting." His visions turned blue, and the heat hit his face.