Beneath the Red Dragon

The head of the House Targaryen finally let out a heavy breath and loudly praised, ”Praise the Supreme Emperor. The House Targaryen will offer everything to the Emperor of the Empire.”

At this moment, two more nobles stepped out from the crowd, knelt before the Decurion, and offered their family’s legendary tokens, exclaiming in unison: ”Orion Clan, Belerys Clan,”

”I swear in the name of bronze and steel,”

”I swear in the name of ice and fire,”

”To honor the glory of the Supreme Emperor of the Empire and be loyal to the Empire!”

...

Red-robed Witch Nalia stood at the bow of the ship, gazing afar at the massive Valerian Peninsula. Even in the dark night, she occasionally saw thunder rolling in the sky nearby, along with several falling Giant Dragons.

Beside her stood several Faceless Men in black robes, leaders of the Sect of the God of a Thousand Faces, and several remaining Red-robed Monks.

The group was observing the situation on the island, while the ship beneath them was sailing out of the Smoke Sea, heading into the distance. This early preparation gave them enough time to escape the region within a few hours.

”Perhaps, those outsiders were right. The Divine Spirits merely see us as pawns and sacrifices,” thought Witch Nalia silently.

At this moment, the witch appeared a bit younger than before, looking radiant, but her heart felt somewhat strange.

”The punishment of the Divine Spirits is about to descend upon the mortal world,” Nalia sighed, ”What mortals cannot achieve, the Divine Spirits will solve in their own way, even if it’s...”

”All deities have their tools, the faithful executing their will in the world,” the leader of the Faceless Men Sect, his face concealed within a hood, chuckled softly, ”Death is a gift from the gods, the end of suffering. The gods simply use our hands to bestow this gift upon those slaves, generously granted to all on Valeria, including the greedy nobles and tyrannical slave owners.”

”Look, those outsiders will also receive such an honor!” The Faceless Men raised their hands high to welcome the vibrations from afar.

As the words of the Faceless Men fell, the once tranquil Fire Peaks on Valeria Island began to stir like a gigantic beast awakened from slumber.

The earth trembled slightly, and continuous booming sounds echoed from the mine tunnels in the Fourteen Fire Peaks, merging into a deep rumble.

”Damn it, not just this city, the entire island is trembling and changing,” the leader of the Casters steadied his emotions and shouted loudly, ”Hasten the pace, we must open the passage immediately, it seems a great upheaval is about to occur.”

Black Dragon Rosani felt the tremors of the earth, transforming into his true giant dragon form at this moment, soaring high, roaring for the warriors to expedite their assembly.

For the Black Dragon had already seen it—the distant peaks of the Fire Mountains were shaking uncontrollably, and the entire island was beginning to transform.

As the tremors escalated, the solid mountain bodies surrounding the volcanic peaks began to crack and crumble, massive stones tumbling down with deafening noise.

Soon, a dazzling blaze and molten magma erupted from the mountain openings of the peaks, illuminating the entire night sky, even obscuring the moonlight.

Giant pillars of lava shot toward the sky, as if attempting to pierce the heavens. The scorching magma roared like a howling Fire Dragon. Several Demon Dragons leaping over the peaks were instantly melted by the eruptive firelight, falling into the mountains.

And the vast volcanic ash cloud spread across the sky, blocking out the sun, veiling the moonlight.

Then other Fire Peaks followed in eruption, the once quiet underground magma now gushed like boiling floodwaters, pouring down from the mountain openings like a red avalanche, a scarlet stone flow surging down the mountains.

The unstoppable torrent of lava destroyed everything in its path. Countless slaves succumbed to the intense heat long before the flood approached, suffocated by the oppressive air, turning to ashes in the raging torrent.

The solid mountain bodies and sturdy earth were ripped open into deep ravines by the rushing lava.

Soon, all the mountain openings of the Fourteen Fire Peaks, under this intense chain reaction, began to burst forth with their most formidable power.

The volcanic veins in the mountains were all triggered by the intense reaction. Each peak quaked, spewing vast amounts of magma and volcanic ash with sounds more heart-stopping than the muffled thunder above.

Crackling, crackling,

The massive island, the landmasses shifted and tore, as if crying out in lament. From the cracks in the earth emerged countless flames and magma, licking at the earth and life.

Across the island, volcanic ash clouds spread, covering the sky, plunging the heavens into darkness. But beneath the darkness was a hell of flames and magma.

Ample stones ejected and fell with the movement of the crust, collapsing countless buildings and houses.

This was the apocalypse of Valeria, a punishment sent by the Divine Spirits.

Dozens, a hundred massive Demon Dragons scattered in panic, disoriented in the sky, fleeing in all directions.

But the lava and flames between the mountains and the earth scarcely touched these Demon Dragons before easily dissolving their enormous bodies, reclaiming their naive, wild souls.

One by one, the Demon Dragons fell like raindrops, dissolving into this apocalypse.

Only the encampment of the Imperial Legion, under the Magic Array constructed by the Casters, continued to resist this earth-shattering upheaval. Black Dragon Rosani also exerted his full power, channeling all his Magic Power to support the precarious Magic Barrier.

Crack, crack,

The immense sound in this moment suppressed the earth’s tremble, a sound of shattering, of space breaking, of the world breaking.

The Casters finally opened the passage to the Plane World, but under the interference of the world’s Magic Power upheaval, the exit of the passage appeared high above.

They looked up to see a massive opening in the dark ash clouds, but the gigantic gap was rapidly shrinking.

”No,” the Casters looked on with despair, their last hope of escape quickly vanishing.

Even Black Dragon Rosani, perhaps, could rely on his power to rush up into the sky to survive the catastrophe, but no one could predict if the Black Dragon could withstand the might of the entire heavens.

Boom,

A mighty sound came from the high sky. The crowd saw two enormous claws extending from the continuously closing hole, holding the spatial passage open on either side.

Then, a massive, majestic head emerged from the passage, six enormous Dragon Horns spiraling out like pillars propping up the heavens and earth.

Those dark-golden eyes, like pools of molten rock, flames dancing within.

It was the ancestral Red Dragon, the Emperor of the Empire, Karon Gogomola, casting his gaze at this moment.