Xaltiq had met Seraphim before. In fact, he had Seraphim blood in his veins. In his mind, he was the undisputed strongest power that the humans had. But the amount of power he had was dwarfed instantly by the four standing before him.

Their presences could only be described as suffocating and overpowering. Every instinct in his body told him that he should run away.

Xaltiq remembered the existence known as Fox, he thought that she was on a level of unattainable strength, but these dragons were even further than that on the scale of power.

It was more like they broke that scale.

“Now that that’s done, can we get started?” Erebus questioned, breaking the stunned silence.

“Yes.” Rolut flicked his wrist and their surroundings disappeared. It happened so quickly, that Xal’s mind was unable to process what just occurred. One minute, they had been standing in a grassy patch of land, the sun was casting a beautiful light on the eye-catching architecture of the Opinum Academy, the effect was truly mesmerizing.

But, within a single moment, everything was gone. Without a trace, the buildings had disappeared, all signs of life were gone. The only thing that proved the existence of the academy was that the small circle of grass that they stood on still was there.

The air was already thick with smoke, the ground had turned into a charred black with veins of lava running through it. The sun now illuminated the harsh surroundings in a bright red light.

An intense heat radiated off of the lava, making all those with minimal heat resistance start to sweat. Since their bodies were strong enough, they managed to bear the heat even though there was a fissure full of lava right next to them.

“No fun! No fun at all, you didn’t hold back at all,” Erebus shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. He had wanted to savor the destruction, but Rolut hadn’t even spared a single second to eradicate the academy.

The opportunities they got to run around and go wild were few and far between, and Rolut had so carelessly thrown away one of those chances. Why couldn’t he appreciate the art of drawing things out?

“There is no point in wasting time,” Rolut answered. “Ayirn, scan for any signs of life.”

She nodded her head, using her bond with nature, she felt out for any traces of life. “None except for us.”

The life dragon didn’t feel the slightest bit of sorrow for all the lives that had been lost, actually, it was speculated that Ayirn was the cruelest out of all the Dragon Council... but that’s a story for another time.

“Erebus, make sure that there aren’t any undead lurking here,” Rolut ordered.

“What am I, your watchdog?” Erebus responded indignantly, but he did what was asked of him. “There’s none. You got rid of everything, including my happiness. Are you satisfied?”

Rolut gave Erebus another burning glare. “Erebus, this is not a game for you to enjoy.”

Erebus’ own eyes narrowed in annoyance. Everyone noticed the tension in the air grow to an even greater amount, Ayirn decided that it was time for her to step in. “Now, now. There’s no need to get into an argument, you two. Look at where you are.” She knew they would not get into a physical alteration. Still, these fools were scaring the children.

The two men both threw a glance at the terrified young ones, even Vyne and Tear had looks of fear on their face.

Dissolve was used to their bickering, so he stroked Erebus on the head. “There, there...” he murmured sleepily.

Rolut cleared his throat. “Anyway, Erebus’ subordinates, you are to go back to his castle. We will deal with this, there is no need for you to involve yourselves any further.”

Tear wanted to protest, but once look at the intimidating dragon shut her up. Ah, how much she wanted to stay with her dear, dear, Lord Erebus... A tragedy. A true tragedy!

But there was one man who didn’t quite get the atmosphere still.

“I only listen to Lord Erebus’ orders,” Vyne piped up.

Hey! Vyne, it’s great and all that you have undying loyalty to Erebus, but read the mood, dammit!

Rolut raised his eyebrows, it was the first time anyone had spoken back to him since well... Erebus.

Now that he thought about it, Erebus was the only person who sassed him. The old dragon wondered why the others never fully voiced their opinions like Erebus did.

“Do as he says for now,” Erebus said, sounding uncharacteristically tired. It’d be troublesome if Vyne angered Rolut and the man ended up killing his subordinate... Erebus, by unwritten law, wouldn’t be allowed to intervene and would have to watch one of his favorite toys, I mean, servants die.

Vyne tightened his fists at his side. “I hear and obey,” he gritted out.

“We’ll be on our way,” Tear said, yanking Xal up roughly from his seated position. Wolf scrambled to his feet when he saw Tear’s hand reaching for him.

Dangerous! He felt as if she’d try to tear off his arms if he let her help him up.

“How about I fly you there?” Ayirn asked sweetly. “It won’t take me that long, and we’re making you leave, so it’s only fair.”

Vyne wanted to decline, but honestly, he wasn’t confident in his capabilities to trek through the wasteland Rolut had turned the academy into. Even standing here, the heat it was radiating was damn near unbearable. So, he graciously accepted her offer.

“Wonderful. I will be back, go ahead and get started.” She clapped her hands together then walked over to where she could transform herself freely without squashing anyone.

Within moments, Ayirn’s beautiful dragon form with shimmering emerald green scales appeared. She bowed her massive head down. “Climb on,” she said in the dragon tongue which Erebus translated to the others.

“Bye, Lord Erebus,” Tear screeched tearfully as she was pulled away by Vyne and the four subordinates of Erebus boarded the dragon.

With a few flaps of her mighty wings, Ayirn shot off.

“Bye, bye...” Erebus said softly, waving goodbye to them even though they were already a spot in the sky.

“Let’s get started. Erebus, you’ll be handling Milon. Dissolve, Halagenia. I will take care of the final kingdom, Dyora. I was originally intending for Ayirn to handle Dyora, but she is currently dealing with your servants.”

Dissolve sighed.

Why couldn’t his job end already? He only signed up to act as a teacher, and honestly, he hadn’t done much.

He heaved out another sigh.

Dissolve morphed into his dragon form and lifted into the air, leaving Rolut and Erebus by themselves.

“Hah... I actually have to do this properly,” Erebus complained, not caring that Rolut heard him.

“Of course you will. Did you expect that I would just let you fool around?” Rolut questioned Erebus.

“Mm. Like I always do.”

Rolut couldn’t help but let out a short, bark of laughter. “Well, that much is true. You don’t listen to me at all, it’s like my words fall on deaf ears...”

“No, I hear you, I just chose to ignore it.”

Rolut would grow angered if anyone else said that, but, Erebus would just laugh it off and do something to piss him off even more...

It was similar the one time Rolut told Erebus to stop playing pranks on Triton since it normally leads to great disaster... so Erebus challenged Triton to a duel without either of them holding back their strength and a large chunk of the Main Continent had been completely obliterated.

Needless to say, Ayirn had to come to Triton’s rescue.

“Whatever,” Rolut said. like the other two, he changed into his original form and flew off, leaving the smirking Erebus.

Erebus looked up at the dark sky. “Now then, I should get started, right?” Unlike the other three, he didn’t transform, but rather stayed in his human form and began walking. “Milon... I had fun in that place, it’s such a shame that I have to destroy that place.”

Even though he said that Erebus didn’t care about the loss of one of his play toys. There were so many human kingdoms, he knew that he’d be able to find another one to mess around in shortly.

That was one thing the humans were good at, after all, being entertainment for him, that is.

“I told Rolut that I’d do it seriously, but, I always take my games seriously,” Erebus said to himself as he walked across the volatile terrain. “Hmm, how should I do this.”

The dragon created multiple scenarios in his head that he could carry out.

Eh, what was this? The possibilities were endless.

“But, how do I make them suffer the most?”

Then it clicked in Erebus’ mind.

Yes, it was that simple! How had he not thought of it sooner? Humans were so easy to torment, it was almost laughable.

Rolut wouldn’t mind if Erebus took a little bit longer, right? Ayirn would back Erebus up since she understood why he was doing it.

It was payback, okay? Payback! It was Erebus’ vengeance for Rolut ruining the fun that they could have had at the academy. Of course, Erebus wanted the humans to pay for what they had done, so he wasn’t only solely motivated for his own personal gain.

He thought of it this way, the humans that had sinned would receive their divine retribution...

...Or something, right?

It didn’t matter that much as long as those disgusting beings were wiped from the face of this planet. Ah, he’d also have to give Mae some rewards for her help, he paid her, but she did a superb job within that short amount of time.

Maybe he’d get her a dog (hellhound), she said she liked animals.

With his mind made, Erebus who thought of everyone, including the members on the Dragon Council to be his pieces in this big game he called the world made his way closer to the bordering villages of the Milon kingdom.