Early Evening - Mid Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

*Loud Cheering*

-She’s an impatient one, isn't she.- Seeing my condescending smile, the halfie started pushing her way through the crowd with clear hostility.

Looking just past her, I noticed the several other men in black robes moving as well. -So they aren't going to wait… I expected them to at least report back to their superiors before making a move, but I guess the methods of this era are a little behind.-

With a slight shrug of my shoulders, I walked up to the edge of the railing and looked down at the halfie.

It only took a second for my smug smile to push her over the edge.

"You dare look down on me like that!" Her yell quickly silenced the crowd as everyone assumed she was talking to the king.

“Guards! Detain this woman!” The chubby noble from earlier was the first to move.

“You pesky rats! I'm not fighting you!” *Clank-Crunch* *Clunk* In an instant, she mercilessly slaughtered the knights charging at her and lunged toward me.

Before the crowd could even erupt into chaos, she closed the distance and threw a punch at my face.

*Tap* She didn't even have time to react as I grabbed her by the face. “How underwhelming…” *WHAM-Crackle*

Slamming her down into the floor, the stone platform shattered.

“Tch…” -To think I got my hopes up for nothing…- As I clicked my tongue, I kicked her limp body through the stone railing and onto the plaza. *Crumble-Thump*

The scene of me mercilessly kicking her body off the platform was instantly etched into the minds of everyone present.

Some stared at me in awe, some with reverence, and others with fear.

Although on Earth, I would have felt incredibly nervous having the attention of so many people, now that I was a dragon, I simply felt nothing. -I guess the attention of ants doesn't mean anything anymore…-

As I thought to myself though, one of the black-robed men appeared next to Oliver.

-Right on time, huh…- *CrAcK* The noise of bones shattering filled the air as my fist plowed through his skull.

But before his limp body could even fall to the ground, two throwing knives aimed at my head entered my aura.

*Clang-Clang* Casually stopping them mid-air, I turned around with a slightly crazed smile.

"Nice throws, you were just a bit too slow!" Dashing over to the two men before they could react, I grabbed one by the leg and slammed him into the other.

*Splat* Their bodies simply exploded from the impact.

"Alright, who's left?" Standing back up with a refreshed but slightly crazed smile, I turned back towards the crowd to find the other black-robed men but noticed a serious problem.

There was a blinding light coming from just below the platform. -She dares?!-

Throwing everything else aside, I jumped in front of Oliver and threw up a thick vacuum barrier between the light and him.

*fwwooOOSSHH* A wave of fire immediately blasted by us as my barrier just barely made it in time.

Once the blaze finally settled, I looked through the smoke to see a 15-meter gray halfie standing tall with anger-filled eyes.

The crazed smile on my face immediately became more pronounced before I launched myself forward and threw a bunch into her nose.

*WHAM* The entire plaza shook as she was launched back into the crowd, immediately killing several people.

At long last, the crowd finally fell into chaos.

"Run!!!"

"It's a Dragon!!!!"

“Brother!!”

The people screamed and started running away, but even though they didn't have enough time to get away, I didn't care.

Dashing at her again, I dodged a few of her crude melees before getting under her and slamming a thruster-reinforced kick into her belly

*CRUNCH* The plaza shattered as my kick launched the gray dragon several meters into the air.

Not allowing her to catch her breath, I hastily jumped up onto her head and used thrusters to drive her back into the ground.

*RUMBLE-WHAMMMM*

The entire exchange only took a moment, and most of the people had yet to even leave the plaza.

Hearing the sudden silence, the citizens turned around to see me standing on the head of a defeated dragon with the sunset behind me.

Those who saw it were immediately entranced, simply staring at me instead of continuing to evacuate.

My extreme display of strength gave a spark of inspiration to many in the crowd, but to the others that noticed the several civilian bodies on the ground next to me, it caused fear.

After a short moment to make sure the halfie was knocked out for good, I hopped off. -That felt a little too one-sided… I guess she was pretty small though...-

Over towards the front of the plaza, Michael and his group were frozen.

They each felt mad that their friend was beaten to a pulp, but none of them could move.

Their faces, instead of being covered with fear or awe like the rest of the crowd, was covered with a look of betrayal.

Michael had tears coming to his eyes as blood started to ooze out of the halfies mouth, but even though he looked like he wanted to jump in and save her, he did nothing.

A moment later, he fell to his knees and an assassin appeared behind him with a blade in hand.

-As if.- Sticking out my hand, a marble-sized metal ball formed before completely vanishing.

In the next instant, the assassin's head exploded and the stone platform behind it shattered. *CRACK*

The sound of the sound barrier ripping apart quickly brought everyone back to their senses.

"Knights don't let anyone else out of the plaza!" Oliver shouted his order to the knights in an attempt to contain the remaining spies within the plaza.

“Haah… That was pretty refreshing-”

*Clang* The metal clang of metal came from within the memorial.

-Did an assassin go inside?! They must’ve gone for Helen or Lucy!-

*Rumble* Immediately blasting thrusters I threw myself into the building.

The inside was in shambles. -I missed a fight,- but there was nothing to worry about.

On the scene was a black-robed man squirming to get out of Helen’s tight grip.

"Vasilias, are you okay?!" Father ran up to me in a panic seeing the blood all over me.

"Of course I am, but come outside, Oliver probably needs help with cleanup and I need to know what to do with something."

Back outside, Oliver had already rounded up everyone who was still in the plaza including Michael and his crew.

"Haah… Sorry to everyone for this inconvenience, but I will need to screen each of you to make sure you aren't with the assassins. If you aren't, then you have nothing to worry about. Thank you for cooperating." Oliver spoke up with confidence to calm the crowd, but he clearly wasn't calm.

As he turned away from the broken railing, his face fell into his hands.

Seeing the opening, the final assassin dashed forward and swung his knife towards Oliver. -Sh*t!-

Unable to kill him with magic without hitting Oliver I cranked up a thruster, zooming forward to grab his leg before the knife could hit Oliver.

-Got ya!- With his leg in hand, I used the momentum from the thruster to throw him across the plaza and through a wooden building. *Crackle*

"Sh*t, sorry for letting him get that close Oliver..."

After having a second to process what happened, Oliver comforted me. "Please don't apologize. I'm alright, aren't I? Plus, I should be thanking you instead of accepting an apology."

Oliver gave a deep bow causing everyone nearby to tense up, but they all understood why.

The kid in front of them just beat the hell out of a dragon and killed several assassins.

Following Oliver's lead, all of the nearby knights gave me a deep bow as well.

As I was looking around to make sure there were no other assassins nearby, a huge demihuman man came up and groveled next to Oliver and me.

"I'm sorry my liege!!"

-Who is this guy?-