The death knights surged forward like a dark, overwhelming tide, pressing toward the heart of the blazing flames.
The spark burned on, but the ashes poured in endlessly—the spark would be snuffed out in the end.
Draevor's body didn't have a single patch of unbroken skin left. Blood gushed from her wounds, dripping onto the ground and sparking into flames. Fire raged on all sides, the piled-up bones on the ground swallowed by the inferno.
Facing the dark horde of death knights and their swords glinting in the firelight, a cruel smile spread across Draevor's blood-soaked face. She let out a roar, a golden fireball gathering in her palm, and charged straight into the death knights' ranks!
...
Sizzle! A red-hot sword pierced straight through Draevor's chest, but it was only the fourth one lodged in her body. Two more were stabbed into her back and waist, and another was jammed into her thigh bone.
Blood dripped down the blade impaling her chest, one drop at a time, as Draevor half-knelt amid the flames. The reason it wasn't spurting out was that her blood was nearly drained dry.
The power of Wild Magic faded with the ebbing of her life force. It flowed away just like her blood, and Draevor's mind cleared a little.
"I'm so unwilling to accept, Lord Dragon Progenitor... I'm so unwilling," Draevor murmured to herself.
She lifted her head slowly and caught sight of her brother's massive dragon corpse. Two drops of crimson blood tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, brother. I can't take you with me."
"But I'm so unwilling to accept!!" Draevor jerked her head back, roaring at the sky engulfed in raging red flames:
"SUPREME AND ALMIGHTY LORD DRAGON PROGENITOR, CAN YOU HEAR ME? MY DEATH MEANS NOTHING, BUT MY BROTHER, EZAR FLAME, CANNOT DIE! MY BODY AND SOUL ARE YOURS! ALL OF IT BELONGS TO YOU! I BEG YOUR SCORCHING LIGHT TO SHINE UPON ME, YOUR FIERCE FLAMES TO BURN ME! I OFFER UP EVERY SOUL AND LIFE IN SACRIFICE, TO GAIN THE SURGING POWER BOILING IN MY BLOOD!"
Crunch!
Another sword shattered Draevor's breastbone, thrusting through her chest. The massive blade tore through her body, pinning her to the ground.
Draevor's roar went unanswered. She slowly lowered her head, still holding her half-kneeling pose, but the golden glow burning in her eyes had completely faded.
The flames around her body gradually died out, turning into cold ashes, just like her life, her power.
Draevor was dead.
The tallest death knight stepped forward—it was the leader of the death knights. It raised its longsword high, ready to chop off this dragonborn's head and hang it on the city walls as a warning to others.
The sharp broadsword came slashing down with full force. Draevor slowly opened her eyes.
The blade, gleaming with icy menace, hovered right across the back of Draevor's neck; one more inch, and it would slice into her throat. But the death knight leader's hands trembled uncontrollably—it couldn't control the sword anymore! The steel-forged blade seemed to come alive!
The sword twisted, suddenly yanking back and wrapping around the death knight leader's arm. The whole longsword coiled up the leader's arm like a snake, then the sharp tip rose up, flicking like a serpent's tongue.
In a split second, the sword tip stabbed into the death knight leader's eye socket, twisting and churning inside its skull. The screech of metal blade scraping against bony cranium was ear-piercing.
The death knight leader toppled over stiffly, the soul fire in its eyes snuffing out in an instant, crumbling into a heap of dry bones.
"Draevor" slowly rose to her feet. The bloodied longswords impaled in her body slid out one by one, the blood from her wounds stopped flowing, the gashes sealed themselves, the splits in her skin closed up, the shattered bones knit back together, leaving her body without a single scar.
"Draevor" muttered to herself:
"My soul has wandered the distant skies for hundreds of years. Throughout the ages, every faithful believer has only ever been willing to sacrifice others to satisfy their own greed.
"Only you, Draevor Flame—you're willing to sacrifice yourself, but just to save someone else. Thank you."
Dozens of death knights still surrounded her; they couldn't wrap their heads around what had just happened, and they wouldn't even try.
As one, they raised their longswords, the crackle of their bony joints echoing. The forest of blades pointed skyward, poised to hack down at Draevor in the center of the circle.
"Noisy!"
"Draevor" looked up, surveying the surrounding death knights like a king, her blood-stained lips parting slightly as she said: "You are things of death, craving life. I grant you life."
As her words fell, a surging aura of life burst out like a tide, washing over all the death knights in waves. The death knights froze in their tracks, their bony joints and skulls twisting wildly, like a bunch of puppets with cut strings.
Death knights are creations of necromantic magic—they crave the essence of the living, but just like how too much water can poison a human, an overload of "life" is straight-up toxic to them. It's like divine magic straight-up crushing and overpowering necromancy!
Every death knight's bones shattered all over; after twitching like they were having seizures, their skeletons crumbled, all of them collapsing, turning to dust that scattered in the air. Only dozens of sharp swords clattered to the ground. And those blades, once shiny and new, suddenly rusted over, corroding into worthless scraps of iron.
"Draevor" pressed a hand to her heart and whispered: "Draevor, you sacrificed yourself to let your brother live on. Very well, I'll grant your wish."
After the sea of fire burned itself out, Dragon Zoo was left in ruins, but the dragons' scales were incredibly tough, and dragons have killer fire resistance, so not many of the dragon specimens got torched.
"Draevor" raised her hand and shouted: "AWAKEN, MY CHILDREN!"
A pale green boundless domain enveloped Dragon Zoo, the breath of life sweeping through like a spring breeze, the power of Wild Magic endless and boundless.
The dragons blinked their eyes, stretching their solid, massive bodies; their wide dragon wings started quivering, dragon breath spurted from their mouths, and their claws scraped the earth, gouging deep furrows.
They were alive again.
The revived dragons gazed at Draevor with awe; they flapped their huge wings, whipping up countless gusts of wind, and all at once, they took to the sky.
Above the vast blue skies of E-Rantel city, the dragons soared with wings outstretched, their forms sleek and powerful, their spread wings blotting out the sun, casting layers of deadly shadows over the land.
But soon, all the dragons flew off to the distant horizon, vanishing into the endless sea of clouds.
On the ground, there was still one living Dragon Lord, bound by magical iron chains and unable to move. The surface around the black Dragon Lord was etched with a mass of intricate runes, colorful magic crystals embedded like stars, forming a massive binding array.
"Draevor" strolled up to the Dragon Lord, which was the size of a small mountain. She shook her head, scolding sternly: "To think you'd be locked down by some other race's Tier Magic—I'm truly disappointed."
The black Dragon Lord crouched on the ground, folding its wings and obediently lowering its massive head. Even so, "Draevor"'s form in front of the Dragon Lord was like a child standing beside a blue whale.
"Draevor" waved her hand: "Go on, you're free."
The magical binding runes around the Dragon Lord shattered piece by piece, the mana bursting like a popped balloon, the restraining force dissipating into the air. The magical iron chains binding the Dragon Lord rusted into nothing, crumbling apart in chunks.
The black Dragon Lord shook off the rusted iron chains, spreading its wings—the "small mountain" unfolding into a full mountain. It flapped its wings and soared, its enormous figure instantly vanishing into the distant sky.
"Draevor" nodded in satisfaction.
"SISTER!!"
A dragon roar mixed with joy and fear rang out. The only young red dragon hadn't flown away; he rushed toward "Draevor," but his claws scraped the ground, not daring to take another step forward.
"Look closely—am I your sister?" "Draevor"'s voice was utterly majestic, nothing like what a dragonborn could produce.
The young red dragon shrank back, lowering his head in awe. But he soon stomped forward fiercely, roaring in Draconic:
"GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER!"
"Draevor"'s expression turned cold, unleashing a torrent of dragon fear. The draconic aura hit like a solid force, as if a colossal mountain towering to the heavens was bearing down on the young red dragon.
The young red dragon winced and huddled for a moment, shielding his head with his wings, but he couldn't hold out. He wheeled around, flapping his wings to launch into the air, his massive body flying off to the distant horizon.
"Draevor" touched her face, her fingers feeling the texture of fine dragon scales. She possessed all of Draevor's memories, and suddenly, a fragment of memory sparked like a star in the depths of her mind.
Eight Greed Kings desert... Moonstone Hollow... campfire... adventurer... The Last Defender of the Way... roasted whole lamb... EeDechi!
"What a powerful soul!"
"Draevor" suddenly widened her eyes, losing focus. Her gaze seemed to pierce through mountains and rivers, landing on a single figure.
"So powerful..." "Draevor" murmured, "Such a powerful soul, and it's a human's!"
In her nonexistent vision, EeDechi's soul blazed like a massive torch in the darkness, radiating unmatched light and heat.
"AH... so blinding."
"Draevor" couldn't help but cover her eyes, lest they be scorched by that nonexistent flame.
Suddenly, she let out a "hehe" laugh, her voice tinged with madness:
"Hehe, haha, I've found it, finally found it. EeDechi, I must make you the savior! For that, I can sacrifice everything—even your life!"
"Draevor" looked at her own hands and body; the dragonborn's palms had sharp dragon claws, broad knuckles, powerful muscles, her knees and thighs covered in fine, sturdy scales, and her head topped with fierce, jagged horns.
"Draevor" shook her head: "A body like this—how could a human ever like it?"
As her words fell, her body suddenly shrank, dwindling down to the size of a twelve-year-old human child.
At the same time, her green dragon scales vanished, turning into soft, snow-white skin. The sharp dragon claws became small, slender fingers; the rugged horns retracted into her skull, and a head of smooth, lustrous golden hair grew out.
In an instant, she transformed into the form of a human girl with golden hair.
"Time to go! To the damn Eight Greed Kings desert."
The dragon girl put one hand on her hip, flashing a cute peace sign, her rosy lips curling up slightly: "And retrieve my body at the same time."
A pair of small, bat-like wings suddenly sprouted from her back. The little wings flapped, carrying the dragon girl soaring toward the southern horizon.