Chapter 143: Dragon Couple (2)
The shock spread beyond the commanders.
Rudos fell flat onto his backside, mouth gaping wide as his weapon clattered from his hand. "C-Captain… you're… you're seriously a dragon?! Not just any—look at you! Look at you both!"
Felix swore under his breath, stumbling backward until his back hit the cracked wall. His hands trembled violently. "All this time… we were fighting alongside gods disguised as men…"
Irina's knees buckled, not out of fear but sheer disbelief. She had thought herself hardened after everything she'd endured, yet her eyes shimmered with tears. "Ryuzen… Venus… how long were you carrying this secret from us…"
Even the dragons themselves were caught off guard.
Ryuzen's blazing eyes locked onto Venus's massive emerald form. This was his first time seeing her true dragon body, even though he had gifted her the bloodline. Her wings shimmered with earthen light, scales glistening like divine gemstones, and for a heartbeat, even his breath caught.
Venus's emerald eyes widened, disbelief flooding her expression. Her voice trembled as it thundered out of her colossal throat, "Mana Daddy? Ryuzen… you're him?"
The words pierced deeper than any blade. Only now, staring at his Solarfrost Imperial Dragon form, did Venus piece the truth together. He was the one who had awakened her slumbering potential, who had given her the dragon bloodline, who had silently watched and guided her. All this time, the figure she relied on had been Ryuzen himself.
Tears welled in her massive eyes. "It was you… always you…"
Ryuzen's great head lowered, his draconic gaze sharp. "Not now," he rumbled firmly, cutting her words short. This was neither the place nor the time. Yet even as he silenced her, his chest ached with regret.
Venus's tears streamed freely, crashing against the stone floor below like liquid emeralds. For so long, she had carried the guilt of her father's death, and for so long Ryuzen had kept his distance, even blaming her out of his own pain. But now, in this moment of revelation, she understood—his care had always been there, hidden behind harshness.
Outside the broken hall, soldiers who had seen the twin dragons tower above the shattered headquarters were already scattering in a frenzy.
"Dragons! Two dragons inside the Legion!"
"The Blood Legion headquarters… it's collapsing!"
"Sound the alarm! Get the commanders—no, the commanders are already inside!"
The panic spread like wildfire through the city streets. Ordinary soldiers, mercenaries, and even civilians felt their knees weaken beneath the oppressive aura that radiated from the colossal beings within.
Inside the hall, beneath falling dust and broken stone, everyone realized one thing—nothing in the Blood Legion would ever be the same again.
The six commanders stood frozen for a long moment, their gazes locked on the twin dragons whose colossal bodies had shattered the ceiling and filled the hall with suffocating majesty. Dust swirled around them, the glow of scales casting eerie lights across the cracked stone walls.
Noah was the first to exhale, his voice caught somewhere between awe and disbelief. "By the heavens… I thought they would be smaller. But this size was unexpected."
Aurora pressed a trembling hand against her lips, her eyes sparkling despite herself. "Magnificent… truly magnificent… but… if you two stay like this, the whole headquarters will collapse."
Dama folded his arms, though the tension in his jaw betrayed his awe. "Hmph. I'll admit it, I didn't expect that. Those forms are far larger than even Disaster-class hollows."
Lugh let out a low whistle, grinning despite the oppressive weight pressing on his shoulders. "Two dragons in one generation… no, in one party. What are the odds?"
Mikael adjusted his glasses, though his voice was steadier than most. "Impressive as it is, your draconic auras are crushing everyone around you. Even I can barely hold myself steady."
Finally, Nimo clicked his tongue, eyes narrowing at the gaping hole in the roof where sunlight now streamed in.
"Enough. Before the city thinks Blood Legion has been taken over by monsters, revert back to your human forms. We've seen enough to be convinced."
The six commanders exchanged glances, each one silently acknowledging what they felt: they had been impressed, even shaken, but now they had to regain control of the situation before it spiraled out of hand.
The words of the commanders carried weight. Even the massive dragons, their scales gleaming with divine radiance, seemed to acknowledge the order.
Ryuzen's golden eyes flickered once before his colossal wings folded inward. A fiery brilliance enveloped his enormous frame, flames and frost intertwining around his body in a swirling storm. His hundred-meter-long figure began to collapse inward, shrinking with each pulse of light until, with a sharp flare, he stood once more in his human form. His black hair with crimson tips settled over his shoulders, his chest rising and falling heavily as residual draconic aura still rolled off him.
Beside him, Venus's emerald scales shimmered as cracks of golden light spread across her seventy-meter frame. Her body dissolved into particles of earth and light, spiraling inward as if drawn into her own core. When the glow subsided, she stood barefoot on the fractured marble, her emerald eyes wet with unshed tears, her breath ragged from the strain of holding her dragon form for the first time.
The sudden absence of their towering draconic bodies left the room strangely hollow. The shattered ceiling gaped open above them, sunlight spilling in where once their massive frames had filled every corner. Dust still floated in the air, settling slowly as silence pressed down on everyone present.
The commanders, hardened veterans who had seen countless battlefields, could not fully mask the awe lingering in their eyes. The party members, however, still stared as if waking from a dream.
Rudos whispered, almost reverently, "It… it feels like the room lost its soul when they turned back…"
Even Felix, always calm and composed, crossed his arms and let out a long breath. "Heh. Now that's something you can't unsee. The two of you really are monsters of a different class."
Irina was only who was feeling down. "The two of them really make a great match.." she murmured.