Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot

The wind above the cavern whistled like a blade as the group caught their breath on the jagged ledge.

Graye planted her gauntleted hands on her hips, violet dust streaking her armor, and leaned toward Raven with a grin so wide it practically glowed.

"So," she said, her voice vibrating with the thrill of near-death. "Please tell me we're not just…leaving. We have to kill those twelve freaks. Right? Please say yes."

Raven's crimson eyes slid toward her, molten and cold all at once.

"No," he said, his voice quiet. "We're not leaving. Not until at least those twelve level-ten beasts are dead."

Graye lit up like a lantern at a festival. "YES! Murder party unlocked!"

Even Siris pumped her fists, as she had been meaning to ask the same question and wanted to hear the same answer.

Selena arched a delicate brow, her black coat settling around her like midnight silk. "You sound far too happy about mass slaughter."

"Have you met me?" Graye beamed, tossing a playful wink toward Raven.

Raven continued, his gaze cutting through the swirling ash.

"They rarely show themselves. Legends say that if all part-dragons were to be destroyed, the corruption in the Ashen Expanse would end. Meaning there would be no more corrupted beasts."

Yes, this was a legend from the time of the first ancestor, better known as the first patriarch of the Vaise family.

It was said that the day all of the part-dragons fell, the Ashen Expanse would return to being the green land it was supposed to be.

That was the reason why the people of the Vaise family ventured deeper into the Ashen Expanse.

Yet, after so many years, no one could defeat all of the part-dragons.

Even if some were killed, like how Argon had killed a part-dragon, a new one would rise to fill the space.

The only way to completely get rid of them was to kill them all before they could rise again.

Now, looking at everyone's expressions, Raven leaned forward. "We're stronger now. Together, we all can kill at least one of them if we go all out."

He paused, eyes narrowing. "But we're nine fighters, and they have twelve."

Squeak!

Nibbles, perched on Alex's shoulder, raised a paw, his expression confused, as if he were asking, 'What about me?'

Even the panther purred.

Raven turned to look at them, and for a second, he stared before he replied. "This isn't a fight you can participate in."

Then, as if he could understand their disappointment, Raven added, "But you can support from the side."

Nibbles and the panthers beamed, happy to help, while the others finally realized the situation they were in.

Jessy stretched lazily against a boulder, as if discussing the apocalypse over tea. "Math check: nine people, twelve murder lizards. Someone's getting a bonus boss."

"I'll do two!" Graye hopped onto a rock like a kid calling shotgun. Her armor shimmered, curves and blades in perfect chaos. "Come on, double fun!"

Before Raven could answer, Selena's voice sliced in, velvet and sharp.

"Why not strike smarter?" Her blue eyes glittered like knives in candlelight. "If we focus everything on the first three the instant they appear, we thin their numbers before they can spread. Then we fight evenly."

That silenced even Siris, who'd been idly twirling a dagger like she was already planning throat-stabbing routes.

"…That's actually brilliant," Rufus admitted, blinking.

"Yeah," Jessy said, shrugging. "Less suicide, more efficiency. I'm sold."

Even Raven raised his brow. "Well, that was unexpectedly simple, yet the best way."

Selena shrugged. "I have to be at least this forward to be with you."

Raven smiled. "Oh no, you don't."

He pulled her closer, his arms around her waist. "You are better than what I could hope for, even if you don't do anything."

Jessy whistled in the background. "Smooth."

Selena, on the other hand, blushed, and that made Raven pause. 'Did she blush?'

"Oh yeah, boss. I think she did," Omni replied to his question, making Raven imagine his dream when he came into this world.

"I want to make a harem and have girls blushing in his arms."

Omni, who could see whatever he thought, chuckled in his head. "Guess you got what you wanted."

Raven's smile widened as he leaned forward to kiss Selena, while Clara and Siris got ready to demand the same.

But just then—

The ground shook violently, making all of them almost lose their footing.

"Whoa! Are the big ones finally moving?" Jessy raised her brow in surprise.

Raven straightened, realizing that now wasn't the time to be messing around or getting happy about becoming the type of guy he had always wanted to be.

He turned toward Rufus and ordered. "Conduct a scan."

Rufus nodded, closing his eyes and stretching his senses downward.

But he sensed no movement from the twelve titans—only the crawling chaos of the lesser horde.

"They're not moving," he murmured. "But the horde is."

They all crowded to the fractured edge.

Far below, the shattered cavern writhed like a living wound.

Corrupted beasts climbed over one another in a frenzy, claws gouging stone as they scrambled toward the surface.

It was a nightmare tide—wolves with too many eyes, horned insects, and shadow serpents—clawing upward like a thousand starving zombies.

Jake's shadow twitched tighter around his boots.

"Fast," he said.

Selena raised a hand, black mana whispering across her palm.

Even the others got ready to attack, but Raven's voice cut through the rising growls, cold and commanding.

"Not yet."

Everyone paused.

"Conserve your strength," he ordered. "Charge everything for the first three titans. I'll handle the horde."

Jessy gave him a long, dry look. "Of course you will. Because why let the rest of us pad our kill count?"

Omni hummed from Raven's wrist, the tone all mock gangster. "Boss is about to solo an entire demon Costco. Respect."

Still, no matter what they said, everyone knew that letting Raven take care of all this was the best bet. After all, he had unlimited mana, if that was even possible.

Raven, on the other hand, stepped forward, his crimson eyes gleaming like twin eclipses.

With a shrug, red-black scales rippled across his skin, racing from the fingertips to the throat, and then covering his face, his hair turning into fire spikes.

Flames coiled behind him, stretching outward until wings of voidfire unfurled with a hiss like a dragon's breath.

He was still human—but half-dragon now, a walking storm of abyssal heat.

It was his voidborn form—the one he couldn't use for long a month ago. But now, Raven felt like he could live in this form without ever getting tired.

The only thing he needed was mana, and that was something he had plenty of.

The horde, on the other hand, shrieked, a sound that clawed at bone, not in the least intimidated because why would they be when they were the ones who looked like creatures from nightmares?

Raven, looking at all this, merely tilted his head back, shadows and fire pooling around his fanged grin.

Then, with terrifying calm, he opened his jaw.

The next second, Raven exhaled.

The sound was not a roar but a pressure—a deep, subsonic boom that rattled bones and made the very walls bow outward.

From the furnace of his chest erupted a lance of voidfire, a torrent so dense it bent light as it tore through the cavern.

The beam was black at its heart, fringed in crimson, and laced with streaks of violet lightning that hissed like living serpents.

It struck the first wave of beasts before they could scream, and the creatures ceased to exist.

They weren't burned or broken, but erased.

The voidfire swept forward in a widening arc, a scythe of annihilation. Creatures the size of fortresses—wolves with antlered skulls, centipedes plated in obsidian—were reduced to silhouettes of flame before collapsing into drifting ash.

The air became a storm of molten embers and screaming wind as stone bubbled like tar beneath the heat.

The cavern below cracked and sagged as entire ridges vaporized, leaving rivers of glowing glass in their wake.

Even the twelve titans that were still underground stirred, their massive forms twitching as the temperature of death rolled inside.

But they did not rise.

Not yet.

On the ledge, the group could only watch.

Their hair whipped backward in the hurricane of Raven's breath; their skin prickled as the air thinned of oxygen.

Jessy clutched her coat to her chest and muttered through gritted teeth, "Okay… okay, that's… officially illegal. I didn't know it could get this strong."

Graye's grin stretched wider, eyes sparkling like a kid watching fireworks. "Best. Dragon. Flamethrower. EVER."

Below, the horde kept coming—until they didn't.

The rushing tide slowed to a crawl, then to a twitching carpet of dying embers.

Every creature that had clawed upward moments ago was now nothing but drifting motes of gray.

The only sound left was the low, resonant hum of cooling stone.

Raven lowered his head, crimson eyes glowing through the fading haze, the last curls of black flame licking his jaw.

Not a single beast remained standing.

Only silence…and ash.

It was then that Selena, who had stood motionless throughout the carnage, suddenly stiffened.

Her blue eyes flickered—not with fear, but with an alien glow, a violet shimmer that did not belong to her.

Mistress.

The connection slammed into her mind like a blade of ice.

'Selena…'

The voice of the ancient goddess trembled with urgency, echoing directly inside her skull.

'The Capital is under siege.

A demon tyrant is approaching. It is a strong being that I have no information about.

I'm making you aware of it now, but you don't have much time.'

That was all Mistress said before her voice was gone, and so was the connection.

Mistress had tried to make the news quick and precise, so she was gone as soon as she delivered it.

Selena gasped, clutching her temple as the connection snapped. Her breath frosted in the superheated air.

"Selena?" Clara moved toward her, concern cutting through the settling silence.

Selena raised a trembling hand. Her voice was quiet but sharp enough to slice the heavy heat.

"The capital…" She met Raven's burning gaze, her own eyes still faintly glowing. "A demon tyrant is coming. Mistress says… it's already on the move."

Raven's voidfire wings flexed once, scattering ash like dying stars.

His expression hardened, every trace of warmth extinguished, while the cavern smelled of scorched stone and inevitability.