Rowena's voice was calm but carried an underlying edge as she addressed Drakar, "You will regret it if you go to war with us," she stated, her gaze unwavering.
Drakar's response was laced with contempt and a sense of long-held grievances, "Haha devils... Did you not hear what your so-called immortal king did? He conquered the tower but also rendered the pact void on the way. Now, don't you think this is the moment our ancestors have been waiting for...to finish our unfinished business? We were robbed of our rightful kingdom, our lands, and our bloodline rights and forced to swallow our humiliation and losses for thousands of years. We have been preparing for this war for all these centuries. So, you still think we are going to regret it?"
Rowena, maintaining her composure, replied in a frigid tone, "You will only end up losing more than what your kingdom has now. So you can turn back now and leave. If you don't... then I won't stop at nothing if you try to destroy my kingdom," she stated, her tone icy and resolute.
Drakar's laughter rang out, a sound filled with disdain, "Listen to you... so young and powerful but arrogant, and I like that because it makes it easier for me. Your father was arrogant too, and look where that got him. Trying to conquer the Severed Realm, a fool's errand, only to end up dying like your forefathers. I guess that is some foolishness you people inherited from our common ancestor."
Asher, overhearing Drakar's booming voice, had his expression hardened, while Naida furrowed her brows as she saw the look on his face.
Drakar's smile twisted with scorn as he continued, "I really wished he was standing before me so that I could have wiped that smug smile off his face myself after making him watch me burn down his little kingdom and take all those dragons back."
Unperturbed by Drakar's provocations and after calmly listening to them, Rowena drew her whip, which suddenly ignited with blazing crimson flames, "So you have chosen death," she declared, her voice frighteningly cold.
With a flick of her wrist, she lashed out her whip towards Drakar, the fiery weapon cutting through the air with lethal intent.
Drakar grunted as he deflected Rowena's whip with his huge black wings and said with a scoff, "You really think you can take both of us on?"
Rowena, undeterred, answered with unwavering confidence, "No. I believe it," Her figure surged forward, whip raised, ready to crack their bodies with her whip.
Lysandra frowned, feeling that despite being a queen she was being far too confident not that it would make any difference.
Drakar turned to Lysandra with a scoff, "Let's pincer her from both sides and finish her off right now. It will make it so much easier to kill her while her dragon is busy," he suggested, confident in their combined strength.
Lysandra merely nodded as she vanished and reappeared behind Rowena, positioning herself for a coordinated assault.
Drakar charged from the front, his weapon, a dark red lance, at the ready.
"Burn her down!" he roared, unleashing a torrent of flames that enveloped Rowena. Simultaneously, Lysandra brandished her dark silver staff, its sharp dark red crystal top radiating fiery light.
A sea of dark red flames surged forward, converging with Drakar's attack, creating an inferno that engulfed and blasted Rowena to the ground, leaving a small crater in its wake.
From a distance, Asher, wracked by pain and helplessness, cried out, "Rowena! Urgh!" He attempted to move, but the searing heat within him flared, immobilizing him with pain.
Naida, sensing Asher's distress, grasped his arm firmly, offering support, "My king, don't worry," she reassured him.
Asher, driven by concern, insisted, "You have to go now, Naida...now! Or I will."
Naida, maintaining her composure, firmly held onto Asher's shoulder as she made her face him, "Lysandra has no reason to hold back. But I also believe you don't have to worry about our queen. Because of the pact and how our queen never had to fight until the war with the Umbralfiends, they have no idea what she is truly capable of."
Asher blinked his eyes as Naida continued, "If they did...they would have known that using flames against her is the last thing they should do, for her bloodline is as close as it could get to the Devourer himself. And you know more than anyone what happened to those who tried to drown him in flames. It's not her dragon they should fear…but her...the only one who can has the chance to be the true bearer of the Blood of the Primarch," she explained, her lips curving into a knowing smile.
"Bearer of the Blood of the Primarch?..." Asher mumbled with a astonished look as he did hear of this term. It meant that the bearer carried the same blood as the first or most powerful of their kind which in this case was none other than Raziel or the Devourer!
Every Drake throughout history had dreamed of being worthy to be associated with this term but none were worthy enough and thus it had became a myth by this time to the point people stopped talking about it. Everyone thought it was impossible for the Devourer's legendary bloodline to completely rise in one of his descendants. It wouldn't be a surprise since the Devourer was one of his kind and the strongest one to ever exist in this realm.
But now...Asher's heart pounded in anticipation at just the thought of it.
As the dust and dying flames swirled around the crater where Rowena had fallen, Drakar and Lysandra descended like vultures.
The battlefield around them was eerily quiet, the aftermath of their fiery onslaught hanging heavily in the air.
"She is still breathing," Lysandra stated, her brows knitting together. Drakar, ever confident and dismissive, responded with a smirk, "Of course she is. If she didn't, I would be disappointed. But after bathing in our flames head-on without even caring to defend herself, she can't be standing. These bloodburners are arrogant enough to think that they are immune to flames when in reality they are only resistant to it. But they have never tasted ours. Let's go and finish her but don't kill her. I still want her to watch while I destroy her kingdom," he said, his smile laden with malice.
However, as they moved closer to the ground, a sense of unease began to creep over them. The smoke that shrouded the crater began to stir, and within it, a woman's shadow began to rise ominously. Two shimmering crimson eyes suddenly pierced through the haze, locking onto Drakar and Lysandra with an intensity that sent a chill down their spines.
A palpable, suffocating, bloody aura emanated from the figure within the smoke, spreading outwards in every direction. She stood unwavering amidst the billowing smoke, her aura intensifying, casting a scorching shadow over Drakar and Lysandra. Asher, watching from a distance, couldn't suppress a look of relief and awe. Rowena's resilience and the sudden surge in her power were astonishing. It was as if the very essence of the Devourer flowed through her veins, allowing her to absorb and harness the energy of the flames that were meant to destroy her.
Asher contemplated after realizing her true strength.
He knew so far she wasn't specialized in the Space pathway. But the potential for her to develop a Space pathway, in addition to her innate mastery of the Gravity pathway, hinted at a future where she might rival the legendary prowess of Raziel himself. The thought filled him with pride, and he didn't feel the need to worry about her as much as before.
Drakar's expression darkened as he felt the oppressive weight of Rowena's aura bearing down upon him. The ground beneath his feet seemed to buckle, the ground sinking as if trying to swallow him alive, "Impossible... You can't be completely immune to our flames," he muttered, disbelief etching his features. No bloodburner in history had ever been immune but was only resistant to flames, including her father, let alone becoming stronger through it.
Other than this fact, his draconian bloodline was passed down from the Devourer himself. His flames were far from ordinary and should easily burn any bloodburner to a crisp unless...she was the bearer of the...No! That can't be possible...Drakar didn't want to believe such a possibility.
But reality told him otherwise, making him realize that the last thing he should do was let her achieve her true potential. Lysandra's eyes were also widened in shock upon seeing that Rowena didn't even have a scratch on her. Even if she did heal them, it shouldn't have been possible for her to heal so fast after getting injured by their flames, which were imbued with draconic power.
Only the Devourer was capable of something shocking like that. But does that mean…
*Whoosh!*
Without a word, Rowena responded not with words but with action. Her whip, alight with fierce crimson flames, lashed out towards Drakar with devastating speed. Drakar attempted to parry the strike with his lance, but the intense heat emanating from Rowena's whip began to warp and melt the metal of his weapon, rendering his defense futile as he struggled to free it from her whip's grip.
Simultaneously, Lysandra took the initiative, her staff raised high as she conjured a hundred fiery orbs in the sky. With a swift motion, she directed the fiery barrage towards Rowena, the orbs descending like a relentless meteor shower, each one a beacon of destruction and with enough power to blast a low-level Soul Devourer to pieces.
Rowena's stoic figure remained unfazed as she witnessed the hundred orbs of dark, fiery energy descending upon her.
With a chilling calm, she raised her other hand. Her skin, once pale, now turned unnaturally pale, her visage adopting a haunting, eerie demeanor.
Demonic crimson lines traced across her face like the intricate patterns of some arcane ritual. From her palm emerged a small, rapidly swirling vortex of blood and fire, a maelstrom of destruction that twisted and devoured the very space before it, warping and altering reality itself.
The fiery orbs, initially aimed with deadly precision, found their paths altered, irresistibly drawn into the swirling abyss. One by one, they were consumed, their essence disintegrating into raw dark energy, fueling the vortex as it grew in size and power.
With a forceful tug at her whip, Rowena shattered Drakar's lance, rendering it into molten steel that dripped to the ground with a hiss.
Frustration etched on his face, Drakar could only watch as his weapon disintegrated. Meanwhile, Lysandra, attempting to strike from behind, found herself repelled by the sudden unfurling of Rowena's crimson wings, the powerful motion sending her staggering backward.
Asher, observing the unfolding battle while grappling with his own excruciating pain, murmured in confusion and concern, "Why... Why is she going all out already?"
Naida, standing by his side, softly shook her head, her voice tinged with understanding, "Because she knows her best bet is to kill these two as fast as possible and get you out of here before Drakar sends more of his men. All the powerhouses of Draconis Kingdom may not overpower us individually in raw power. But their true strength was always in their vast numbers and resources...not their individual strength."
Drakar, witnessing Rowena's display of might, sneered, the strain of resisting the vortex evident in his voice, "Clearly, you were hiding your power all this time, huh? How clever for someone who had recently only ascended the throne," Saying so, he channeled one of his most powerful abilities, warping the space before him to such an extent that the vortex suddenly reversed, now threatening to engulf Rowena herself.
Having no choice, with a focused snap of her fingers, Rowena dissipated the vortex, but the backlash of such a sudden action was immediate and brutal. She staggered, coughing out blood, her body reeling from the impact as if struck by a thousand hammers.
In that vulnerable moment, Drakar seized his chance. Appearing behind Rowena with predatory swiftness, he clutched her neck in a vice-like grip, making Rowena grimace.
With his other hand, he brandished a sharp dagger, its blade glinting ominously as he aimed it straight for her heart, "You might be strong but you are far too inexperienced against me!"
The scene unfolded with heart-stopping intensity. Asher's eyes widened in horror as he saw Drakar bringing down the dagger toward Rowena's heart while his body refused to move an inch.
"Rowena…" But before he could react, a sudden bout of dizziness overtook him, his vision blurring as darkness crept at the edges of his consciousness. He cursed at the fact that he was going to get knocked out at a crucial time like this.
He felt blood escape his lips, and then a pair of soft arms enveloped him, cradling him as his senses faded into oblivion. The world around him disappeared, leaving only silence and darkness in its wake until even the pain wreaking havoc in his body began to fade away till he felt nothing.
