Huoi Zhao Feng, the Monarch of Dragons, regarded Mihai with an air of lazy, predatory amusement. He had spent the last two days with the regressor, Ji-Yeon Park. She was a fascinating woman. At first, she had been a problem, an unexpected variable that threatened his carefully constructed paradise. But her power was… unique.
When he had tried to intimidate her with a partial transformation, a glimpse of the golden scales that covered his true form, her eyes had glowed with a strange, multifaceted star pattern. The effect had been instantaneous and absolute. His connection to the Dragon System had been severed. He couldn't transform, couldn't access his spells, couldn't use any of his active abilities. He was left with only his raw, draconic strength. She had, in essence, declawed the dragon.
She had told him of her past, of a future where monsters like "the demon" and Mihai Cantacuzino had brought the world to ruin. He didn't believe in prophecies or predetermined futures—his Ancient Dragon Wisdom told him that fate was a river with many currents—but he recognized the truth of her power and the conviction in her eyes. So, he had agreed to her proposal. For now. This vampire was powerful, a rival monarch. Dealing with him was a worthwhile expenditure of his time. After that, he could go back to enjoying the fruits of his new divinity.
Mihai didn't sit. He walked forward, his footsteps silent on the polished stone of the pavilion, his long coat swirling around him. He stopped a few feet from the table, his gaze fixed on Ji-Yeon. "So, you've joined him?" he asked, his voice a low, dangerous calm.
"Yes," Ji-Yeon replied, her voice steady, though a flicker of something—regret? resolve?—danced in her eyes. "We will deal with every problem threatening this world. And one of them, Mihai, is you."
"I see," Mihai said, his face an unreadable mask. "You are not even denying it."
"Monster," she spat, the word laced with the venom of a hundred resurrected nightmares. "Before you go on a rampage, I must stop you here and now. Then, we will deal with the demon."
"I must agree with the little star-eyed lady," Huoi Zhao Feng rumbled, a lazy smile on his lips. "Every person, once they are granted power, becomes a monster. They do the things they never could before. I, for one, have certainly indulged myself. Power is strength, after all. Nothing beats it."
Star-eyed lady, Mihai thought and remembered that.
"Sometimes," Mihai interrupted, his voice cutting through the air like a shard of obsidian, his eyes beginning to glow with a soft, crimson light, "you must become a monster to defeat a greater one."
"Hmph. Always so philosophical," Ji-Yeon scoffed, though Mihai's words seemed to strike a chord within her. "I will admit, there are times you have almost convinced me. If you had not received your 'gift', we might have even been friends. But you did. And I have seen what you can do once you lost your mind for power. I have watched you fight the demon and burn my world to ash, and I will not live through those horrors again."
As she spoke, she locked her gaze onto Mihai's. Her eyes flared, no longer human, but twin constellations of brilliant, multifaceted starlight. Mihai felt a sudden, profound emptiness. It was as if a vital part of himself had been snuffed out. He tried to summon his blood armor, to feel the familiar thrum of his vampiric regeneration. Nothing. The well of his power had run dry, leaving him with only the raw, physical strength his stats provided. So thats why he called her Star-eyed lady, mihai thought.
"Now," Ji-Yeon said, a note of grim satisfaction in her voice, "you cannot use your armor. Or your cape."
Cape? A thought, swift and illuminating, flashed through Mihai's hyper-intelligent mind. She had seen him use his blood abilities to form armor and a cape in her timeline… mmm, if he did it like that, it would be part of his power. he would not lose defensive capacity Thank you for the idea.
"I see," was all he said, his calmness unsettling.
"Nothing personal, vampire," Huoi Zhao Feng said, rising from his seat. His body crackled with power, tendrils of blue lightning dancing across his arms. "But this dragon must deal with you."
So, your gift is a lighing dragon or a magic dragon? Thank you for the information. "You are no dragon," Mihai said, his voice dripping with a cold, aristocratic contempt that cut deeper than any physical blow. "You are a mere human who was granted power and now indulges his every base desire, no different from a dog licking its own filth."
A wave of raw, oppressive power erupted from Huoi Zhao Feng. The air grew thick, the stone beneath his feet cracking under the sheer force of his rage. Ji-Yeon gasped, startled by the intensity of the dragon's aura. "Vampire scum!" he roared.
Mihai held his gaze, unblinking. No intimidation skill. Just raw power. The "demon" wasscarier. The he spent a few more points on speed.
The dragon extended his hand and launched a bolt of pure, white-hot lightning. It screamed through the air, aimed straight for Mihai's heart.
What happened next was so fast, so fluid, it was almost impossible to follow.
Mihai's hand blurred to his pocket, producing a single, steel Romanian leu coin. With a flick of his finger, he sent it spinning into the air. He then took a single, calm step forward. The lightning bolt, drawn to the conductive metal of the coin like a moth to a flame, veered off course, ignoring Mihai completely and striking the coin in a flash of blinding light.
Before Ji-Yeon could even process what had happened—How is he so fas...—Mihai was upon her. His movement was a silent, perfect blur. He didn't hit her hard. It was a light, precise tap to the jaw, delivered with the expert knowledge of a surgeon, and her star-filled eyes rolled back as she slumped, unconscious, to the ground.
The instant her consciousness faded, the link to her power-nullifying ability broke. Mihai felt the well of his power flood back into him, a glorious, intoxicating rush. He summoned his blood armor instantly, this time with a long, flowing crimson cape made from the very essence of his being. The cape swirled around him as he drew a long, elegant sword of hardened blood from an imaginary sheath.
"WHAT?!" Huoi Zhao Feng roared, his own attack and bravado forgotten in the face of this impossible reversal.
Mihai smiled, a flash of white fangs in the dimming light of the pavilion. "Nothing personal, Dragon."