Chapter 88: Everyone Stand Up

At the border of the Silver Dragon territory, smoke filled the air, war raged.
Black Sun Dragon King Blai and Chaos Dragon King Jagus stood side by side.
Blai looked at the three badly wounded women before him, who dragged their exhausted bodies to stand in front of their Queen and Princesses.
“I don’t understand, two maids and one scout, willing to persist until now to protect a Dragon King who is about to fall.”
Blai looked at Anna, speaking flatly, “Not long ago, the Silver Dragon clan was already dispersed by your Queen, you could have fled when disaster struck, and though you’d be deserters, at least you could have saved your own lives, right?”
Half of Anna’s face was covered in blood, her broken dragon wings barely hanging on her back, her body could collapse at any moment, but before she died completely, she would not give up a single step.
“My life… belongs to Her Majesty, it’s not for you to worry about— cough cough—”
Even just speaking loudly made Anna cough blood.
She had no strength left to fight.
Now if those two Dragon Kings wanted to, they could take her life with just a finger.
But so what?
As Rosvitha’s head maid, she would never abandon Her Majesty to save herself.
“Hmph, still stubborn at death’s door.”
Jagus spoke leisurely, his tone full of the victor’s pride and showing off, “Your Queen is also at her last breath, and as for those three little brats… even if we spare them, how long can they survive in this chaotic world? Sooner or later they’ll be—”
“Don’t you dare insult the Princesses!”
As the words fell, the maid Milan gathered magic power, concentrating it into a water sphere in her hands, and threw it towards Blai and Jagus.
But those two didn’t move an inch.
When the magic water sphere approached, they casually opened a spatial magic array and easily neutralized Milan’s attack.
“Just the last desperate struggle.”
Blai yawned, as if already out of patience.
He looked at Jagus beside him. “You go or I go?”
“I’ll go.”
Blai shrugged, not arguing with him.
His old companion was always the first to run from trouble, but when it came to opportunities for merit, he was also more eager than anyone else.
His motto was always being one step ahead.
Jagus slowly began walking towards the few people who looked like candles in the wind.
Rosvitha was exhausted both mentally and physically, her magic nearly depleted. She weakly knelt on the ground, protecting her three daughters under her blood-stained dragon wings.
She looked down at her daughters.
At least… until now, she had managed to keep her precious ones from harm.
A slight smile of comfort appeared on Rosvitha’s tired face.
“Leon… I’ve protected our daughters well…”
Noia held Aurora in one arm while tightly holding Muen’s hand with the other.
Both younger sisters were terrified, trembling uncontrollably as they huddled next to their older sister.
Noia returned her mother’s gaze, and in that smile, she saw a flash of despair.
I see… Mom, so it’s just comfort before despair.
Noia’s pupils trembled slightly.
After thinking briefly, she placed Aurora near Rosvitha’s hand. “Mom, please take care of Little Light for now.”
“Noia… what are you going to do…”
“What I can do.”
“Noia, don’t! Noia—” Too weak to move, Rosvitha couldn’t stop her daughter.
Noia turned back to look at Muen, pursed her lips hesitantly before saying, “Muen, I need you to help me with something.”
“Sister…”
Muen spoke with a tearful voice, clutching tightly at Noia’s sleeve, “Muen is scared…”
Noia reached out with both hands, cupping her sister’s face and looking into her eyes, saying each word deliberately:
“You are that man’s daughter. You can definitely do this.”
A trace of hesitation crossed Muen’s tear-stained little face, but in the end, she mustered her courage and nodded firmly, “What should Muen do?”
Noia leaned close to her sister’s ear and whispered something.
“Do you understand?”
“Mm-hmm, Muen understands.”
“Good.”
Noia mimicked their father’s gesture, encouragingly patting her sister’s head.
Then, she turned and walked to Anna and the others.
“Your Highness? Your Highness, please go back, we’ll hold them—”
“Milan, your magic element is water, right?” Noia asked, ignoring her plea.
Milan paused, but still nodded, “Yes, Your Highness.”
Noia then turned to Anna and Shelly, “Anna, Sister Shelly, can you still use dragon flame?”
Shelly glanced at the head maid beside her and shook her head, “Anna can’t, but I can still manage barely.”
Shelly was also seriously injured, but her condition was somewhat better than Anna’s – at least using dragon flame wasn’t a problem.
However…
“Your Highness, what are you planning?” Shelly asked.
Noia slowly lowered her gaze to look at her right hand, where there were some burn marks – scars left from practicing the first move her father taught her thousands upon thousands of times.
“I won’t wait there to die. After all… I am his daughter.”
Jagus’s footsteps grew clearer.
He raised his hand, beginning to gather energy.
“Oh? Even pushing out children now? Looks like you’re truly at your wit’s end.”
Jagus continued to mock them, “Don’t be afraid, little one. Death is but a moment, there won’t be any pain.”
The energy gathering was complete, and Jagus was about to strike.
But before that, Milan and Shelly simultaneously activated their elemental magic.
A concentrated magic water sphere and blazing dragon flame collided in mid-air, instantly creating thick mist.
The mist spread rapidly, covering a large area below.
In the mist, Jagus’s vision was impaired, with very low visibility.
Jagus furrowed his brows, secretly gritting his teeth, and shouted into the dense mist, “Why are you still struggling?! Wouldn’t it be better to just wait quietly for death?!”
As soon as he finished speaking, lightning and fire elemental magic flashed from not far to his side.
Jagus remembered that Leon Casmode’s eldest daughter – the child who had just been pushed up to stand beside the maid – had awakened the very rare lightning element.
As for the fire element beside it, it must be from the scout who had just used dragon flame.
“Using the cover of dense mist to secretly move to the side…”
Jagus sneered, “Such childish tactics.”
He stepped towards the direction of the lightning and fire.
“Whether it’s a diversion or drawing the tiger away from the mountain, it doesn’t matter.”
Jagus said leisurely, “I’ll kill you one by one, then cut off your hea—”
Before he could finish, a sharp explosive sound suddenly rang out behind him.
A small black figure leaped up after charging, the lightning in her hand like a sharp arrow, piercing towards Jagus’s shoulder.
Instantly, a searing pain spread through him, and Jagus even stumbled, barely managing to maintain his stance.
And the one who had ambushed him was already preparing for a second lightning strike.
But this time, Jagus wouldn’t let her succeed so easily.
Even with the cover of dense mist, at such close range, he could still catch the opponent’s movements with perfect precision.
“Damn brat!”
He shouted angrily, reaching out and grabbing Noia directly by the neck.
The dense mist gradually dispersed.
In the center of the clearing, Jagus held Noia up, her feet dangling more than a meter off the ground.
Noia struggled, but to no avail.
Whether in size or strength, she was no match for the Dragon King before her.
For some reason, Blai, watching from afar, had an unpleasant memory surface when he saw this scene.
Although Jagus had caught the ambushing brat, why did… this scene feel so familiar?
“Using water and fire elements to create mist to obscure vision, then using dual awakening as bait, and finally a quick lightning strike ambush.”
Jagus looked at the struggling Noia, “How could a brat possibly understand these things?”
“I’m not… a brat…” Noia clenched her fists, hitting Jagus’s arm while her little tail also thrashed forcefully behind her.
“Heh, then what are you?”
“I am… Leon Casmode’s daughter!”
At the mention of that man’s name, the mocking smile on Jagus’s face instantly froze.
His hand around Noia’s neck suddenly tightened, “Your useless father is already dead, died in the spatial rift. It’s been six months already, haven’t you faced reality yet?”
“Don’t you dare talk about my father…”
Jagus’s grip grew tighter and tighter, but the little brat in his hand still hadn’t given up struggling.
“Painful, isn’t it, brat?”
Jagus sneered, “Now, if you just say one sentence – that Leon Casmode is dead – I’ll let you go, or give you a quick death. How about it?”
Noia’s heart was racing, her breathing labored, and her eyes were filled with blood vessels.
“Release Lady Noia!”
“Stay where you are! Or I’ll squeeze her to death right now!”
Jagus wasn’t joking.
Killing this little brat in his hand would be as easy as crushing an ant for a Dragon King.
After the threat, he looked back at Noia,
“Say it. Say your father is dead, that he’s a coward, a weakling, that he abandoned you mothers and daughters to die alone.”
Noia gripped Jagus’s wrist and struggled to open her mouth,
“My father… isn’t dead! Ugh!—”
“If you don’t say it, I’ll snap your neck, and then you won’t be able to say anything at all.”
Noia clutched Jagus’s forearm tightly, her vertical dragon pupils filled with killing intent and ferocity completely unfitting for her age.
Scales began appearing at the corners of her eyes, her dragon blood boiling with anger.
“My father… is Leon Casmode! He’s not dead! He will definitely return, and then kill every single one of you bastards without leaving any behind!”
Jagus’s eyes widened in surprise.
How could a two-year-old young dragon have the courage to speak to him, a Dragon King, like this?!
“Fine… you little thing, since you’re so unafraid of death—”
Jagus threw her to the ground, then turned and transformed into his giant dragon form.
In an instant, dragon wings blocked out the sky and sun, casting a shadow over Noia.
The terrifying form of the giant dragon towered before Noia, the size difference between them reaching absurd proportions.
Jagus slowly lowered his dragon head, bringing it close to Noia.
Just his dragon head alone was several times larger than Noia’s entire body.
“Haven’t wet yourself in fear yet, brat?”
The heavy dragon pressure came like a tidal wave, instantly engulfing Noia.
Her body was afraid, trembling, her heart nearly stopping.
But her will… hadn’t wavered in the slightest.
Noia gasped for breath, using her trembling hands to gather lightning element, then raised her head to glare fiercely at the giant dragon before her.
“…”
Jagus was speechless.
The monster’s daughter… was also a monster.
How could she not be afraid?!
How could she still be standing here?!
Any phrase describing an overwhelming difference in strength – an ant trying to shake a tree, a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot – would be inadequate to describe the current situation.
Yet this brat… still intended to attack Jagus.
“Fine… then come on.”
Jagus’s dragon breath ruffled Noia’s hair, “Let’s see what your weak, pathetic power can do to me? I’ll stand right here and let you hit me – what can you possibly accomplish?”
“In the end, you’ll meet the same fate as your dead father!”
“All of you will die!”
“You, your mother, your sister, your maid – all of them must die!”
“Your struggles are meaningless, brat!”
The roar of Chidori interrupted Jagus’s victory declaration.
The magical waves lifted Noia’s hair as images of her father flashed through her dragon eyes.
Her gaze was firm, her expression calm.
“I told you not to call me brat.”
“I am his daughter, I am the Silver Dragon Queen’s daughter, and I won’t just wait here to die!”
“Then try it! Your pitiful power can’t even leave a scar on me!”
Noia raised Chidori high and thrust it toward the giant dragon before her.
BOOM! —
Lightning dominated the entire battlefield in that moment.
Chidori’s sharp cry echoed through the heavens, as vast lightning elements howled like awakened beasts.
The dragon who had been showing off just a second ago now let out an agonized wail.
“ROAR!!—”
He tried to break free.
But the lightning elements had paralyzed his body completely.
He could only crawl there, allowing the surging lightning to break down his dragon form.
A child… how could a child possess such power?!
Jagus struggled to open his dragon eyes, and in that lightning, he seemed to see another man standing behind that brat.
“It’s you… it’s you? IT’S YOU!!!”
Chidori bloomed, lightning surged, and the dragon’s form scattered to dust.
As the light faded, Noia stared in disbelief at the scene before her.
The Dragon King’s corpse lay at her feet.
This was…
Suddenly, a warm sensation touched her small shoulder.
That familiar hand gently pressed on her shoulder.
“Well done, Noia.”
“Now, go back to your mother and sisters.”
“Leave the rest to Dad.”