THE GENERAL'S DISGRACED HEIR

We are insects, David thought with crystalline clarity. Insects watching titans decide the fate of nations. And the titans have barely noticed our existence.

The Sun Empress, despite her exhaustion, maintained her composure while internally acknowledging a terrifying truth. Even Lord Hilton De Gro, David's legendary father who had defeated multiple elder dragons through sheer individual prowess, would be helpless against true dragons. This wasn't a matter of strategy or determination, the power differential was absolute, unbridgeable through any mortal effort.

There are levels of power that simply cannot be matched, she accepted with tactical realism. We are fortunate they seem disinclined to notice us.

Elara, David, and Seraphina stood in stunned silence, understanding that they'd just witnessed power that rendered their greatest efforts insignificant. Heroes who had recently battled demons and channeled divine authority now felt like children who had been playing at war while adults conducted actual business.

Throughout the streets, citizens looked up at the empty sky where an existential threat had simply stopped existing. Relief flooded through them, the immediate danger was gone, their families were safe, their city still stood. But beneath that gratitude lurked a more fundamental terror: the realization of how utterly helpless they were against cosmic forces, how their survival depended entirely on the whims of beings who could erase nations with a thought.

Having dealt with the abomination, Bahamut's cosmic fury didn't diminish, it redirected. His rage now focused on the humans below who had dared use necromantic magic on a dragon, even a dead one. The insult to his kind demanded retribution on a scale proportional to the offense.

"Mortals," his voice boomed across the capital with the force of natural disaster, each word carrying the weight of authority. "You have committed an unforgivable sin. You corrupted one of our kind with your foul magic. For this transgression, your city will burn."

Power began building around Bahamut that made his previous display seem restrained. The very air started to ignite as fury pressed against reality's boundaries. Gravity fluctuated wildly, causing loose objects to float and fall in random patterns. The fundamental laws of physics began to bend under the pressure of his rage, and everyone below felt the existential weight of impending annihilation.

He means it, David realized with dawning horror. He's going to erase the entire capital because someone created that undead dragon.

"Brother, stop." Luzara's voice carried calm authority as she positioned herself between Bahamut and the helpless mortals below. "We are not here to destroy insects merely for existing."

"Out of my way, sister!" Bahamut snarled, his form growing larger as his fury intensified. Energy rippled around him in waves that made space itself groan under the strain. "They desecrated our kind! They turned dragon flesh into an abomination! They must pay for this insult!"

But Luzara's eyes had shifted to their true draconic nature, ancient, calculating, and utterly alien. When she spoke, her words carried the weight of familial hierarchy that even wrath could not override.

"Father will not be pleased if we act without his consent," she reminded him with dangerous quietness. "You know this, brother. The mortals' sins, however grievous, are not ours to judge without permission."

The reminder of their father's authority struck Bahamut like a physical blow. His fury remained, but it was now constrained by bonds stronger than his rage, the absolute hierarchy that governed true dragons and the consequences of defying it.

Unable to directly unleash his wrath upon the mortals but needing an outlet for fury that threatened to tear him apart from within, Bahamut made a calculated decision. He turned his magic skyward and released his power in a direction where it could do no harm to the insects below.

The pillar of destruction that erupted upward defied comprehension. It cleaved through the morning sky like a blade of pure force, clearing away every cloud within hundreds of miles and creating a perfectly blue dome that extended beyond the horizon.

What should have been a gentle sunrise became a display of power visible from neighboring kingdoms, a demonstration that would be recorded in history books and remembered in legends for generations.

This isn't the end, insects, Bahamut thought as energy poured from him in a controlled torrent.

The upward blast of dragon magic painted the dawn in impossible colors, creating aurora-like effects that danced across the empty sky. Citizens throughout the capital watched in awe and terror as forces beyond their comprehension reshaped the very heavens above them.

Recognizing that Bahamut needed to leave before his anger overcame his restraint, Luzara opened a dimensional rift with casual ease. The portal tore reality apart like fabric, revealing glimpses of their distant realm, a place where dragons ruled according to laws that predated mortal civilization.

"Come," she said simply. "Before you do something Father would find... disappointing."

Still seething with barely contained fury, Bahamut plunged through the portal without a backward glance at the mortals he'd been forbidden to destroy. His parting roar shook the foundations of buildings throughout the capital, a promise that this insult would not be forgotten even if it could not be immediately avenged.

But before departing, Luzara's attention was caught by something that gave her pause. Her enhanced senses detected lingering traces of the magic that had created the abomination, emanating from the castle spires where someone had watched the entire battle unfold.

Interesting, she thought with calculating precision. The creator is still here, still observing. Bold.

More importantly, her gaze fell upon David standing amid the group of exhausted heroes. Their eyes met across the impossible distance, and she saw something in him that triggered ancient instincts. David found himself held in place by that stare, unable to move or even breathe as cosmic intelligence evaluated him with surgical precision.

His essence, she realized with growing intrigue. There's something familiar about it. Something that resonates with... us. How curious.

Luzara's lips curved in a smile that carried no warmth, only calculation and interest. She'd seen something in David that intrigued her, though the nature of that recognition remained tantalizingly unclear.

"Until we meet again," she murmured, her words somehow reaching David's ears despite the distance.

With that enigmatic smile, Luzara stepped backward through the portal. The dimensional rift closed behind her with a sound like reality sighing in relief, leaving only empty sky and the memory of power beyond mortal comprehension.

The true dragons were gone, but their brief presence had fundamentally altered everyone's understanding of their place in the cosmic order. They were insects who had witnessed titans, and the memory of that encounter would shape the empire's destiny for generations to come.

Above them, the impossibly clear sky served as a reminder that some forces could not be opposed, only endured, and that survival sometimes depended on remaining too insignificant to notice.