Under the Red Dragon

Princess Ajani of the Elves strolled through the streets with her guards, seeking those in need of assistance, when a tremendous roar and the cries of dragons echoed from afar.

The elves knew that the Golden Empire's legions and dragons were moving to suppress the chaos and quell the sudden destruction.

She actually admired the atmosphere of the Golden Empire, as elves shared a similar aesthetic appreciation for all forms of beauty.

Blood spread across the streets, but the kind-hearted elf averted her gaze from the already deceased, noticing instead two dragons in the distance lying in a pool of blood, barely clinging to life, their presence weak but not terrifying.

One was a dragon covered in jewel-like purple scales, and the other was a rare, slender dragon of black iron hue.

Massive amounts of dragon blood soaked the dragons' once pristine scales, and gruesome wounds marred their bodies.

The slender dragon, hearing the approaching footsteps, struggled to turn its head, its last glimmer of sight fixed upon the elf.

The purple-scaled dragon continued to emit deep, labored breaths.

Isabel Ajani recognized the slender dragon as one of the Golden Empire's core members, the Steel Dragon Mirdyl, renowned even among the lower ranks of the empire.

Ajani rushed forward, employing her elven natural magic in an attempt to save the frail steel dragon's life.

"You are one of the Golden Empire's dragon lords, why did you not await the support of the Imperial legions and other dragons, instead of ending up in this state?"

Ajani cast healing natural magic light, while questioning with confusion, for this situation was extremely difficult for her to understand.

"Cough, cough,"

The steel dragon's blood-soaked throat rasped out a response, "As an Imperial lord, it is my duty to protect the Empire, and I could not bear to see it destroyed by such a calamity."

"Even at the cost of your own life?" Ajani asked.

"It seems everyone is fixated on a good ending, but I believe the ending is not all that matters. I am willing to follow the path of Gogmora because I made that choice,"

The steel dragon said, "What you do not change is what you have chosen, I changed, so I am willing to bear the consequences, the quality of the ending is of no concern to me."

The elf sighed, "Such admirable thoughts."

"What is admirable about it? All choices are but a fleeting thought," the steel dragon said, evidently invigorated by the healing.

"This amethyst dragon, the idiot Loya, resisted the influence of the chaotic force only because of the temptation of a few thousand gold coins, he chose to fight alongside me, and now he has gained strength that even surprises him,"

But the steel dragon's thoughts seemed to jump too quickly, as she suddenly shrieked.

"No, I can't pay these five thousand gold coins all by myself, I need to apply for additional funding from Gogmora."

Ajani chuckled at the steel dragon's astonishing train of thought.

But at that moment,

Boundless raging flames responded to her from within the mottled darkness of the night.

The steel dragon instantly flipped upright, raising its head to look with the other dragon and the elf towards the source of the tremor.

The city's millions of lights dimmed, the moonlight obscured by dark clouds, and only the Emperor descended from the sky amidst a raging storm.

Two dragon kings, wings fully extended, followed beneath the sky emperor, like eagles beneath the wings of the red dragon, eagles leading the way for the king.

The dragon emperor and the king of scales descended.

The highest dragon's eyes flashed with fire and burning ancient dragon runes, radiating an overwhelming majesty, as it perched atop the highest tower in the Imperial capital.

The enormous golden bell that resonated daily to awaken the city, marking the hours of dawn and dusk, seemed to hang from the dragon's claws, swaying back and forth without making a sound.

The empire's dragon kings settled beneath the Emperor.

The White-Scaled King Gomot clawed at the left side of the tower, its massive body clinging to it, its vast wings lowered and spread, glancing back with an eagle's gaze.

The Green-Scaled King Antagena coiled its slender tail upwards, its enormous body clinging to the right side of the tower, its head, adorned with an emerald crown, lifted proudly, gazing down upon all beings.

Every dragon ceased its movements and roars, for they were in awe.

The entire Imperial Capital was not just a city, but a territory.

It was the territory of the Dragon Emperor of the Golden Empire, filled with his majesty.

The Imperial Capital was vast, but not greater than the power of Calon Gogmora.

Here, he felt capable of holding the entire world within his grasp, ascending to the summit, overlooking the seas and mountains, devouring the heavens and earth, and those who resisted would perish!

All roaring dragons closed their mouths and sheathed their claws, lest they incur the wrath of the monarch.

All warriors halted their advance, raising their bloodied blades high.

Even the 'War' mainframe within the golem legions emitted soul-like psychic energy, "Chirp...Emperor...!"

Behind the dragon perched atop the tower, from within the layered magical teleportation arrays in the vaulted passage, teams of legionnaires emerged as if traversing from the depths of distant space-time, following the empire's ruler into the present world.

Simultaneously arriving with these legions were the Golden Empire's eternal allies: Anudale, the King of the Dark Elves, and Saros, the Lord of the Shadow Lair.

The gray dwarves, captured from the Underdark, led by their chieftain Durzagon, also arrived in the Golden Empire.

These wicked, unruly dwarves, who dared to rebel against devils and regarded giants and titans as enemies and prey, strove to march in step with the legions ahead.

Their appearance, like the weapons they forged, was unbeautiful but filled with practical, cold colors, which stood out vividly at this moment.

For behind these gray dwarves were the massive corpses of dragons and titans dragged in chains.

These resisters had died at the hands of the gray dwarves' newly sworn master, and their bodies would become the empire's spoils of war, contributing their final value to the Golden Empire, making up for the sins they had committed.

No one cared how many resources it took to simultaneously activate all sixteen of the empire's large main city teleportation arrays and persistently maintain the teleportation channels for the army.

Because the Golden Empire belonged to Gogmora.

The loyal empire welcomed its master at this moment.

The heart of the ancient god-like dragon in the sky, the Heart of Nagamat, shone and spread blood-colored radiance like a raised blood moon.

But even the remaining power of this ancient god-like dragon's heart became a display for the descent of the Progenitor Red Dragon.

Because Calon Gogmora, the Dragon Emperor perched atop the tower, slowly opened his mouth, revealing rows of glimmering, cold teeth.

In the layers of light and shadow rotating in the realm behind Calon Gogmora's head, countless dragons and creatures also opened their mouths at the same moment, as if simultaneously sucking in the air before them.

The massive Heart of Nagamat was slightly larger than the Progenitor Red Dragon's fearsome mouth, but the Progenitor Red Dragon's mouth at this moment was like that of a snake, its flexible muscles and bones slowly expanding, which was the instinct of dragons.

Everyone subconsciously held their breath, witnessing this miraculous scene.

The surface defense of the Heart of Nagamat in the sky could not be broken by the empire's dragon lords, but it seemed to sense the danger before the opened mouth of the Progenitor Red Dragon Calon Gogmora.

Along with the Progenitor Red Dragon's deep inhalation, the blood moon in the sky began to slowly rotate, and the shadows and light of the blood moon began to distort, flowing like the wind.

The sudden gale raged between the scimitar-like fangs, then began to stir up a violent hurricane, and in an instant all the wind in the surrounding space converged towards this ferocious mouth.

It looked as if the sun during a total solar eclipse was being pulled into the mouth of the Progenitor Red Dragon that devoured the sun.

The dragon's stomach could digest most substances in the world, even the sturdiest mountain steel in the mortal world, which could withstand the attacks of adult dragons for a short time, would gradually digest after being swallowed into the dragon's belly.

No dragon lord or dragon king could break the defense of the Heart of Nagamat in the sky, no spell could undo it, and there was no magic that could easily eliminate god-like power.

But no one would dare to think of swallowing this evil blood moon, because the bodies of these dragon lords could not easily withstand the heart of a god-like dragon.

And their originally barely conscious minds and souls could not withstand the disintegration from within by the dragon frenzy spell.

But after the last trace of the blood moon's shadow in the sky was swallowed into the belly of the Progenitor Red Dragon Calon Gogmora, the crazed spell power was actually blocked by that massive dragon body at this moment.

That ancient spell power that drove countless dragons mad dyed Calon Gogmora's crimson scales with a layer of shimmering blood color, so rich and translucent that it seemed about to flow down.

Chaotic, contradictory, violent, dark, grand, and tragic, all kinds of negative emotions and desires threatened to overwhelm Calon Gogmora's reason and wisdom.

But the countless ancient dragon runes and magical symbols in Calon Gogmora's pupils flowed, burned, and surged.

The extreme thoughts and will born and awakened within this powerful body firmly occupied the center point in those pupils, even though the rich blood color had occupied almost all areas of the fearsome pupils.

The golden bell beneath the Progenitor Red Dragon's claws rang at this moment, and the city-wide chimes seemed to stabilize the twisted desires in the blood-colored pupils and awaken the dragons affected by the dragon frenzy spell.

And whichever direction this pair of blood-colored pupils scanned, dragons in that direction would bow down.

One by one, the gradually rational dragons looked up at the Progenitor Red Dragon on the high tower and began to recall the memories of being dominated by the fallen darkness.

The adult gold dragon Naloia also fully awakened, and she lowered her noble head for the first time.

The gold dragon Naloia did not worship the Dragon Emperor of the Golden Empire, but bowed down to all the suffering in the human world.

In the brief silence, a thunderous cheer erupted, shaking the entire Imperial Capital.

The Imperial citizens hiding in the city's buildings came out in the silence after the cheers, and joined the shaking cheers.

It was not until the blood color in the Progenitor Red Dragon's pupils stabilized that he extended his claw covered with blood scales, and pressed down slightly, putting those sounds under his palm.

"You see, this is the end of becoming a dragon defined by others, just a spell can make you as pathetic and fallen as beasts."

The resounding dragon language sounded, carrying the power of law, so that all races could understand the meaning of this red dragon.

Calon Gogmora looked at the awakened and bewildered dragons and said so.

"This is a disaster like a natural disaster, and you are also victims. Originally, I should not impose punishment, but your unconscious behavior has harmed my empire and my people, so you need to atone for your sins."

The pupils of the dragons flickered, but not a single dragon dared to easily utter the word 'no'.

Because they all sensed the frantically expanding aura, as if it would burst the entire city, and even the air they breathed was filled with the smell of terrifying dragon blood, the aura of the ultimate hunter's demonstration.

Only one wingless brown dragon tried to dig into the earth in a dark corner to escape this place completely shrouded in the majesty of the Progenitor Red Dragon.

It was a dragon with light brown scales, a brown dragon skilled at digging into the earth.

But the dragon's movements were discovered by Calon Gogmora, so he opened his claws, as if giving an order.

"Come here!"

The brown dragon's strong limbs could not resist the order of the Progenitor Red Dragon, and was restricted and imprisoned by the immeasurable psychic power, flying into the open claws of the Progenitor Red Dragon.

"Do you have any last words?" Calon Gogmora's blood-colored pupils were without any fluctuation, leaving the last trace of mercy.

But the juvenile brown dragon was just trembling with fear, and its fangs were constantly clashing, and it did not even dare to make a struggling movement.

Crack, the next second, the irresistible force snapped the brown dragon's neck, and its powerless body hung softly in the claws of the Progenitor Red Dragon.

And Calon Gogmora looked into the distance.

He looked like an emperor seated on his throne, overlooking the kneeling subjects.

The cold eyes began to calm down, the burning flames and the jumping ancient dragon runes began to dissipate in the sedimented blood color, as quiet as a blood-colored deep pool, but under the calm water lurked rolling thunder.

The resounding dragon language sounded again.

"They don't want to be afraid of dragons, so they want you to fear dragons! They don't want to fear the Golden Empire, so they want you to fear your country!"

The empire's citizens and warriors did not yet know who their enemies were, who they were in the empire emperor's mouth, but all the citizens and warriors of the Golden Empire knew that their enemies had appeared.

Their sadness and anger were ignited by a simple sentence from the Progenitor Red Dragon, and their momentum began to gather.

"Our will is ignored, our right to live freely is trampled upon, that is what they want,"

"The will of the Golden Empire, built with the countless heads and blood of the deceased heroic spirits, is this tolerable, what is not tolerable?"

"Is this the result of the blood and sacrifice of our countless fallen heroes?" Kalon Kogmorah asked slowly, looking at the gazes gradually lighting up in the darkness.

"No, I don't agree," the first loud voice rang out from the darkness.

Then the second, "We won't let them succeed!"

Then countless voices, until a tidal wave of sound arose.

"I will not agree to this, the Kogmorah Dragon Clan will not agree, and all the victimized dragons present will not agree," Kalon Kogmorah's deep voice echoed resoundingly.

"The Empire's Central Council will not agree, the Empire's legionnaires will not agree, the Empire's millions of people, countless races, and millions of citizens will not agree, and those dead heroes will not agree."

"This bit of blood is not enough to satisfy me, can it satisfy you?"

"No!" It was a roaring tide of anger, rising with the will of the Empire's people.

Kalon Kogmorah spread his wings, his enormous wings of burning light illuminated the sky, and also illuminated the people of the Empire. At this moment, he issued his cold, resounding declaration.

"I want you to turn the pain you have suffered into burning rage, use blood-like flames to turn all the shadowy rats into ashes."

"The Empire's war song will know what they did in the darkness, so what we must do is expose them, destroy them, with your and my rage!"

Every time Kalon Kogmorah's pupils swept across a place, countless tidal sounds would ring out.

"Let those reptiles and scum in the gutters tremble before us, let them say that we can't do this and we can't do that,"

Kalon Kogmorah's bright blood-colored pupils pressed down, and he said loudly.

"They started the war, and the Golden Empire will decide when the war ends. We will have sacrifices, we will pay with blood and fire, yes, but so what, because the final victory will belong to us!"

"Victory will ultimately belong to us!"

"Victory will ultimately belong to us! For Kogmorah!"

"Victory will ultimately belong to us! For the Golden Empire!"

The cheers roared like a tsunami, their voices converged, their will was unstoppable.

Kalon Kogmorah raised his head, the phantoms of dragons and all living beings behind his head gradually lit up, and he looked into the endless distance with his gaze, "Flee, hide, where can you escape to?"

"Even if you escape to the ends of the world and hide in the depths of time, we will find you!"

Thank you all for your votes, Happy New Year!