"Stop there!!"

All of a sudden, a shriek came from behind the plaza. Everyone turned around to land their eyes on a single man standing in between two golems, his clothes in tatters and every bit of his skin covered in dirt.

Everyone's eyes set on the golems immediately, discarding the man in the center as a threat. It didn't take them long to notice that these two golems were not in any shape or form similar to the ones they had seen before. Robust bodies that reflected the little light that hit them, although covered by a thick layer of rust. Their arms were formed to look closer to an ape's, and even a few fingers adorned the end of their hands. Feet, and even a proper head were in place. Any magic caster could also feel the heft of their magic cores.

However, when everyone's eyes were set on the potential threats, Valta's eyes were instead focused on the man in the center. The same man that had tried to impose himself on her that night, the one that had discovered the golems, and one of the inheritors of the Aremeira family. She felt her blood boil in an instant.

"You're all trash! Yet you dare enter this city, the city where I live!" The man yelled while smashing his chest, disorganizing his clothes even further. "You fucking monsters! You might look human, but look at this! Look at me! Even thede fucking pieces of iron are more human than you!"

"Slow down there, handsome!" Suu nervously smiled while putting one foot behind her and the other in front, ready to cast. "You're assuming too much."

"Fuck off!" He swayed his arm, and the golems moved one step forward, sending chills down everyone's spine. "What the hell is this?! Why?! What gives you the right to invade this city, ah?! What do you think you're gonna get from this?!"

"Quiet." Valta narrowed her eyes.

"You shut it, whore!" He pointed his finger towards the woman. "You chose this! You could have lived a lavish life as my wife, but here you are! And now, the only thing I've got left, is killing you!"

"Watch your mouth if you don't want to get your throat sliced, kid." Thom smacked his lips, centering his eyes on the man. He had already tried activating his combat aura to kill the man before his golems could move, but even displaying a bit of his presence was proving to be an issue at the moment.

"You all..." The man sighed. "I never understood war, you know?"

"Shit..." Suu gesticulated a face of disgust. "Here comes the typical self-absorbed talk."

"So many lives..." He snickered. "For what purpose? Don't you see? What is this all for?! If you just want to take control of everything, money is where it is at! But you kill and kill, and here it's where it has lead you! You'll die now, but don't forget! You were killed not because you needed to, but because you sought for it!"

"Hm." Thom narrowed his eyes. "Elegant. Now, you should proceed to..."

His words became slower as he blurred the end of his sentence, and his eyes became wider. He hadn't noticed, at that moment, that everyone else beside him had also stopped paying attention to the man and the golems. Their attention had been robbed from them mercilessly.

They trembled as the sun grew dark.

"That's..." Erina's voice came out in gasps.

A red veil had covered the sun as a shadow eclipsed all its might, robbing the day of its light. The dark clouds contrasted the black apparition, the silhouette of a winged monstrosity that bloated the very day, beating a pair of dark wings to the rhythm of their heartbeat, flailing around a thick tail to match its body.

There was not one person who could not recognize such a scene. Thousands of eyes were thrown up from the windows of many homes, observing from afar, contemplating such a beautiful, and yet, terrifying scene. It felt like a glance at death, a glimpse into a terror so unreal that they could not take it seriously. As their eyes organized what they thought was an illusion, the sudden realization that they were not in a fairytale hit them, striking their hearts like an arrow.

"A dragon." Suu whispered.

A calamity in the form of a living being. Devourers of magic and destroyers of civilizations, dragons would often bring with them unspeakable change for all which was human, or human-made. It was a terror that was deeply ingrained in them, and in all races, a response that had been passed down like an invisible baton from generation to generation.

Thom placed his hand on his chest, staring at the dark silhouette. Why had his heart constricted so deeply? At such sight, why had he faltered?

Before he could find an answer, fire rained.

A stream of endless crashed against the eastern gates of the city, then marked a bizarre line around the district. Silent came first, and then, a terrifying crackling sound pushed a cloud of dust towards the center of the city, followed by a wave of heat that warmed the air around them, turning the winter into summer for a short while, engulfing hundreds of houses in a an ardent red fire that burned up the very stone.

The sound of the ignition was replaced by the crackling of the burning districts, and then by the inhuman screeches coming from its streets. People began throwing themselves out their windows, rolling down on the street, taking their children out and covering with blankets desperately while their bodies were still melting down.

In a second, the district had been reduced to a flame.

BOOM!

A massive figure landed just in front of them, crushing the golems with a pair of gargantuan paws ending in pitch-black claws, long as a spear and sharp as a razor.

"Eh?" Thom's voice sounded dull as he felt the air blow down on his skin.

A snout that seemed to be formed by stones, adorned by a hundred teeth with enough power to bite down on metal, mounted on an elongated head that connected to a slithering neck, populated by crimson, murky scales. Two wings sprouted out of its back as if they burrowed into the very flesh, and each was as big as it was. A groan from its mouth let a cluster of flames go astray, and a movement of its tail roused the dust from the ground and moved stones.

It was terrifying. Thom had never seen such a thing, and it was petrifying. However, the thing he feared the most, the one that inspired the deepest pain in him, were those pair of golden stained eyes that stared into his soul, as if wanting to rip him apart.

Then, Suu fell down.

"Urgh!" She threw the entire contents of her stomach into the ground, barely able to maintain herself standing.

"Eh?" Thom whispered.

"Uck..." Valta was next, puking while trying to cover her mouth.

"Why..."

Then it was Erina, and then the crystal girl. Djolk, and anyone who was close enough, all fell to the ground and began spraying the contents of their stomachs into the stone, as if trying to desperately take something out of themselves.

Only Thom remained standing.

"Why..."

Then, from the top of the dragon, a man suddenly descended, chuckling along with the spectacle.

"Quite a show!" The man said and clapped his hands once. "It's been long since I've seen such a chaotic scene, quite long indeed. But well, special guests and special circumstances require... Cough! Ah... They require special offerings, hm? Isn't that right... Thom Arburson?"

Thom's entire soul was shaken to its core, and he felt the strength leave his legs. He took a single step back as hundreds of images flashed through his head, a recollection that he had tried to forget a long time ago, and was now coming to realize.

"You were..." Thom's breathing became heavy. "You were one of the men... Who took Runa away."

"Yes!" The man clapped once, smiling. "And I took you into this plane, too. By mistake, if I might add."

"You... Piece of shit." Thom gritted his teeth.

"I thought it would be entertaining to observe you fall into your death, but I've taken notice of how dangerous you are, so here. You'll die and all your people will too, and because of you, I will get reprimanded. Tragic, really."

Thom clenched his fist tightly and groaned, like a dog tied to a leash he couldn't escape. He would have jumped forward and attacked recklessly had he the energy, but in such a powerless situation, and with his allies in a crippled state, he couldn't do anything. He could only look into the eyes of the fearsome dragon, standing beside the man.

"You've reunited some interesting fellows, yes." The man smiled and placed his hand on his chin.

"What do you know about..."

"Silence." The sickly man clicked his tongue and sighed. "You ignorant pawn. I'll understand more about the lot of you than yourself." The man pointed at Erina with his index finger and smiled. "A descendant of the Clawgold, the clan that founded the human realms by stripping themselves from the elves the other race's claws. Ahh... Demon eaters. Ransacked and kidnapped from demon settlements, forced them to reproduce just for the sake of devouring their children. Pretty."

Erina's eyes opened wide. Nevermind that the man knew about the obscure past of her clan, had he really been able to tell such a thing? As she raised her eyes she saw that familiar face, and her mind shot back to the weekends in which she studied the gods' with Araba in the church. Was that not the head priest in front of them? The one that stood at the altar of the cathedral, always patiently waiting for the ones who came to pray.

The man didn't take long to then point at Valta, and sneered. "A former duchess, and a human with an uncanny link to Nagur and Ar-Karás... a woman that was naturally born for war. Molded by the gods for such purpose."

Valta narrowed her eyes as sweat poured down her eyebrows, blurring her sight. She hadn't paid any attention to the things the priest had been saying, regardless of whether they sounded important or not. Her stomach was being turned inside out by the devastating magic energy that could be felt coming from the creature of the legends standing in front of her.

The priest's eyes then wandered towards Suu, and a strange smile formed on his chapped lips. He seemed to enjoy looking at her, which he expressed. "Wonderful. A High Human in this day and age... A superior being whose lineage was never enslaved by the elven. A direct descendant of Archene, the legendary sorcery from whom there is no information except for his name, and his deed. Quite rare! And much more in this plane." He tilted his head to the side, then pushed it back to swing his strands of hair.

"First notice I get of that..." Suu bitterly smiled through the pain that took her over. "But it sounds fucking cool... So hey, I'll take it." She stomped her foot on the ground, and then quickly rose to her feet.

"Oh..." The priest lifted his eyebrows. "You obtained resistance to the magical energy of a dragon so quickly... As expected of a being above humans. You should learn from her, Thom Arburson."

"..." Thom side-eyed the girl by his side.

"Yes... You're surrounded by many interesting people. A fallen angel, an orc born half a giant, and my many children, which, by the way, you can keep in the afterlife." Laughing slightly before beginning to cough again, the man looked at the surrounding of the city. "Had you not my dear niece in such a time, perhaps you would have been of great service to her."

"You're..." The black-haired man felt his heart thumping. "Not talking about Runa, are you?"

"Am I now?" The man smiled. "I don't think it matters anymore."

As soon as his words fell the dragon opened its mouth wide. Thom paralyzed. Time froze.

Fire began forming at the back of the monster's throat. It didn't take more than a split second, in which no one could think. Suu was about to jump forward, and rescue Thom.

However, at the last millisecond her feet moved by themselves. She forfeited the safety of that man, leaving him to his luck, and guiding herself by a primal instinct, she pushed Erina out of the way.

"Ugh!"

A blast of demolishing fire raced the entire area as it trailed into the distant buildings, setting them on fire together with the people inside them, arousing screams of all ages, and species.

Suu opened her eyes wide as she realized what she had just done by staring at Erina's pained expression.

"Thom!"

She turned back in anguish, but quickly found that the crystal girl had pushed Thom out of the way by sacrificing half her crystal body. Valta had been dragged away by Djolk, whose body was scorched and bleeding. In contrast, the orc's face had a savage grin as he stared at the dragon that licked its mouth as the fire was quenched.

"I'm fine!" Thom placed the crystal girl behind him to protect her. "Scatter!"

"Oh, no!"

The priest raised his hand and the dragon swept the air with brutal might, ripping the ground apart as sparks flew all over the place. Raising its jaw, a fireball formed in the dragon's mouth, and shot it towards Thom in the form of a raging blaze.

"[Land—]!"

The magic energy erupted from Suu's body before she could even finish casting, creating a massive explosion of dirt that covered the fire and mitigated the hit— creating a dome of flames that engulfed the entire plaza. Thom opened his eyes wide and stepped back, covering the crystal girl before a torrent of dirt and stone began raining down on them.

Suu clicked her tongue as she began to fall down, before she felt a pair of hands grabbing her from behind.

"Stay there!" Erina voiced out her worries with a trembling voice, stealing Suu's sword from the grasp of her sheathe.

The dragon licked its mouth and began inflating its chest once again, timing up with a laugh from the priest as the earth quaked below their feet. It wasn't until the man was about to give the order to fire, that he noticed the Clawgold girl raising a crude scimitar above her head, her breath ragged and lacking energy.

"Oh?" The priest showed a mocking smile and signaled the dragon to stop for a moment. "What is this? Are you... Raising a sword against a dragon, girl?"

"Ha... Ha... Ha..." Erina swallowed once to quench her thirst and blown out dry air. The heat had begun to put a great deal of pressure on her.

"A feeble sword and a feeble mind. What is that? You're not even capable of standing up without trembling, yet you pretend to face me? Preposterous, miss Erina! A woman who could not choose to pray to a god cannot raise her sword against an ene—"

"[Torrential Slash]!"

The priest choked on his words and shielded himself with the wing of the dragon as a massive shockwave rippled towards him, turning the very stone to dust as it broke the grounds.

Splurt!

A tear appeared on the side the dragon's wing before a massive stream of blood came from its cartilaginous limb, spraying hot onto the ground at the same time that a horn crumbled down into pieces, followed by a splurt of blood that oozed from a now-severed eye on the side of the dragon's face.

A mighty roar echoed in the skies, a wail of pain emitted by the almighty dragon. The shock imprinted on everyone's faces was not less than the one shown by the priest, who trembled behind the protection of the ruptured wing, assaulted by a sudden fear for the Clawgold clan that he did not know before.

"Absurd..." He muttered. "Utterly absurd!"

The dragon flapped its wing and produced a gale of wind, making the fickle girl tumble back. Suu barely grasped her back and laid her down slowly, seeing Erina's eyes close and open with great effort.

"A girl dares mock me!" The priest gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, bating it around as if to demonstrate his frustration. "I'm done with dialogues! Tremble in front of those blessed by the Sky, in front of me!"

He signaled forward and yelled, followed by the mighty roar of the scaled colossus. Its belly inflated before the fire promptly moved towards its throat, and then, a scorching column was thrown up into the sky, parting the clouds away with a mighty blast. The priest opened his eyes in surprise, seeing the dragon disobey his command.

"What are you doing?! Attack the man, the man!"

The dragon roared and swung its head once as flames still erupted from its mouth, creating a perfect horizontal line that broke the city into pieces, setting it aflame. Its paws and tail flailed around the place, creating havoc and pushing around tonnes of debris and dust. Frustration began to well up in the priest's face as he failed to control the monster. Perhaps the sudden damage he had received from Erina's sword had thrown its brain off-balance, especially taking into account that such a god-like creature could have never been damaged before.

"We won't be able to put a dent on it!" Yelled Thom towards Suu amidst the chaos. "Let's fall back!"

Suu hurriedly nodded and took off with Erina in her arms, but when Thom was about to do the same, a massive tail whip came thrashing against him.

Crack!

Thom was pushed several meters back as the body of the crystal girl acted as a shield, disintegrating under the impact. Thom flew across the plaza before an orc on the other end of it grabbed him, then the shrapnel of the crystal girl's body hit him.

"Girl!"

"Worry not." The crystal reformed slightly. "Get out."

A circle of fire erupted from the earth as the dragon injected its magic energy into the ground, shattering the sewers below. The earth began shifting and

"Everyone!"

Thom bit down on his lip as he yelled, letting his aura explode from his body as he ensnared everyone close to him. A gigantic crimson tree erupted from the ground and grasped the nearby people with its roots, sinking down into the earth as the dragon painted the skies red with its scorching breath.

"Fowl beast!" The priest flew back with his entire image in a disarray and gathered his magic towards his hands. "May the skies come down and bind you, so that you are trapped below the clouds and never see its glories! [Blessed Chains]!"

He swung his hands with might and two circles were produced out of thin air. From them two massive chains came bursting forth and wrapped around the neck of the dragon, pulling him back like a leash. The priest pulled back on the chains with great effort as he did his best to redirect the flames, causing them to roast the entire city down to the ground in a matter of seconds.

"Thom!" Suu let go of Erina, who was trapped between Thom's aura. "Careful!"

She tried to cast an earth spell, but without being grounded, her spell failed. She saw the dragon moving its head with impetus towards the man, and without thinking about it for a second, she broke free of Thom's tendrils and launched herself in front of him as she displayed magic power.

"[Landslide]!"

She yelled, the flame impacting against the risen ground, destroying it and managing to burn her in the process before washing over to the next district of the city.

Crack, crack!

The ground finally gave in and the entire plaza crumbled into the sewers, breaking pieces of the city as its destruction rippled through. Thom and everyone around him crashed down to the black waters below as the roaring of the dragon became louder and louder outside. Between the screams of the people he had brought in with him, Thom could barely hear the voice of the priest cursing out his name, together with the roaring sound of the flames.

Finally crumbling down into the water, the light shut off, and everything turned pitch black. A few drowning sounds were accompanied by people getting pulled out one after the other, sounds of disgust, and even some puking.

"Wait." A womanly voice sounded out. "Everyone. Don't light any fires."

Thom rustled in the waters as he spat out the filth, trying to get a hang of anything. He finally got a grasp of a piece of wet stone, and used all his remaining strength to hoist himself up. He felt the aura of about three dozen people, including everyone he cared about. Standing up, he reached for Valta's back and pulled her closer.

"I'm going to kill him." Thom whispered.