Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

Aina's resolve was firm, but her path was unclear.

Run away and become a mercenary? Try to build my own faction from scratch? But where would I even begin?

She was an Alpha-level being. Next to her Legendary-level Duke of a father, she was nothing. But out in the world, that kind of power made her a significant figure. She had hidden it well. To everyone who knew her, she was just a clueless little girl.

To advance her power, she had taken a huge risk, using a Rebirth Card she'd managed to trade for. Luckily, it led her to the Tower Defense World, where she'd met Orion and shamelessly latched onto him. She had never imagined that the person she'd stuck to out of desperation would lead her into a circle of such terrifying power—a world she had never even known existed. She'd certainly never met a Legendary-level Survivor before.

"My lady… my lady…"

A hand waved in front of her face, pulling Aina from her thoughts.

"My lady, did you not sleep well last night?" the maidservant, Vianne, asked with concern.

Aina shook her head, forcing a sweet smile. "Vianne, how many times have I told you? You don't have to be so formal with me. We're not strangers."

"Of course, my lady. You look very beautiful today, my lady."

Aina sighed internally. For some people, servility was a cage they couldn't escape unless something truly drastic happened.

"Vianne," Aina asked on a whim, "have you ever wanted to be a powerful warrior?"

"A warrior?"

"Yes. The kind who wears armor, carries a longsword, and rides a white horse."

Vianne's eyes went wide with a hint of fear. "My lady, those are nobles and knights you're talking about. Vianne would never dare to dream of such a thing."

"Ah…"

Aina sighed again. It was so difficult to change the people closest to you. If she wanted to alter her own circumstances without hurting her family, leaving home seemed like the only viable, if painful, option.

There has to be another way…

***

An Unknown Realm. A square piled high with hay bales.

Scarecrow surveyed the one hundred Scarecrow Guardians standing before him, their farming pitchforks held at attention. He felt a mix of excitement and disappointment.

He was thrilled because the guardians he'd recruited were clearly combat-effective. They stood in perfect, disciplined ranks.

He was disappointed because their intelligence was rudimentary. They could only understand simple commands like "attack," "defend," and "charge."

This world is far more mysterious than I ever knew, he thought. Before I broke through to the Legendary level, I'd never even seen or heard of units like these. And they aren't real beings. They have to be recruited with materials. They're like… pre-fabricated automatons.

That was his assessment of his new soldiers. To summon them, he'd expended not only a significant amount of grain but also a great deal of specially-treated straw.

Resources… I need a lot more resources.

***

Silverwood Realm. The Dragon Territory.

Before Leonidas stood a rare Sapphire Dragon. Its body was immense, yet possessed a lean, serpentine grace. That was Orion's first impression. He could see the weight of ages in its sapphire-blue scales and ancient eyes.

Leonidas ignored all of it.

"ROAR! By the ancient pact of dragonkind: strength prevails, and the weak are devoured!"

He launched himself into the sky, his form swelling into that of a World Dragon. Compared to the Sapphire Dragon, his body was several sizes smaller, his features less monstrous. Yet the demigod aura radiating from him was a pressure that could not be ignored.

Orion knew that Leonidas's World Dragon avatar was special, different from their own. The draconic laws Leonidas had mastered were naturally attuned to it. From the moment the avatar had hatched, the small world within it had been successfully born.

Leonidas had poured nearly every resource he owned into nurturing that inner world. It was also why Leonidas, upon arriving on the Moonlight Continent, had been so damn aggressive about seizing land and power. The truth was, his foundation was now even more threadbare than Orion's.

"A World Dragon?"

The Sapphire Dragon and Leonidas circled each other in the sky, the beat of their wings like thunder, each sizing up the other. To see a World Dragon on the Moonlight Continent was clearly a profound shock to the ancient creature.

"Hahaha… since you can sense what I am, submit now, and I might spare your life!" Leonidas's laughter was smug. In terms of bloodline, a World Dragon held absolute dominion over a Sapphire Dragon.

But this was a demigod-level dragon. He had shed the limitations of bloodline centuries ago.

"ROAR! By the ancient pact of dragonkind, devouring you may grant me my own ascension."

In truth, Sapphire Dragons were not typical. They disliked interacting with other races, preferring solitude and long slumbers. By nature, they detested evil, which was why they had spurned the Cult of Four's advances and had no patience for demonic monsters. They also loathed the undead. Consequently, the dragon held no great love for the Champions Alliance coalition either, which was one of the reasons the Alliance's veiled attempts at a peaceful surrender had failed.

"I knew it. No point in talking. Let's see who's stronger!"

With a final roar, Leonidas initiated the charge.

This was a battle between demigod dragons, and Orion watched with intense focus. He would have his own World Dragon avatar soon enough, and the combat style and experience of these two were invaluable data.

Let's see what makes a World Dragon so special!

The Sapphire Dragon beat its wings, its massive body seeming to eclipse the sky itself. It opened its great maw, revealing teeth like a forest of daggers, intending to swallow the charging World Dragon in a single gulp.

But just as it lunged, a colossal, translucent dragon-shaped phantom erupted from the World Dragon's smaller frame. The phantom opened its own ethereal mouth and clamped down on the unprepared Sapphire Dragon.

Though it was only a phantom, two gaping, bloody wounds instantly appeared on the Sapphire Dragon's neck.

"A Shadow of the Future?" it hissed, the pain a mere pinprick to its immense form, but the nature of the attack a complete shock.

"Shadow of the Future?" Leonidas's laugh boomed across the sky. "You vastly underestimate the World Dragons! This is the Shadow of the World!"

He was immensely pleased with this first exchange. The World Dragon was a truly special avatar. Though newly born, the miniature world inside it, fed by the entirety of Leonidas's resources, had already expanded to a significant scale. And a World Dragon's power had nothing to do with its physical size; it was determined by the vastness of the world it contained.