A dragon's roar!?
Within the pillar of light, that sound seemed to tear out from an ancient abyss, shaking the entire The MOTHs headquarters until the world lost its color.
Even the clouds were churning and surging like boiling water, making one's heart and soul tremble.
Kevin covered his ears, his eyes wide: "..."
"No!"
"It can't be!?"
Among the crowd, a group of The MOTHs high-level officials stood frozen, their faces as pale as paper, their eyes wide and their lips trembling.
They had completely offended Himeko.
Cold eyes, exclusion, secret setups, power struggles...
If it really was Himeko who inherited the dragon's bloodline, they would be in trouble.
Even if she didn't seek revenge, they would be restless day and night, regretting it to the point of hitting their heads against a wall.
"It must be Hua."
The MOTHs high-level officials shouted in their hearts, praying.
After all, Hua remained in The MOTHs. Even if they couldn't command her, if Hua took this power, The MOTHs' strength would surely increase greatly.
But if it were Himeko...
They didn't even dare to think about it. They would probably find a piece of tofu to kill themselves with in regret.
If it weren't for those shady operations, Himeko would still be one of theirs.
...
"This?"
Himeko's pupils constricted, her breathing hitched.
Although it only existed in legends, she recognized it at a glance—the giant dragon circling and flying overhead, blotting out the sun.
And a half-dragon woman with purple-red skin was fighting a life-and-death battle.
She had two horns on her forehead, curved like sickles.
She had sharp claws on both hands, making a piercing sound of tearing metal when she swung them.
She roared, and flames gushed out like a torrent.
Unfortunately, that giant dragon was far stronger than her.
Its tail sweep was like a landslide, its claw strike like a thunderclap, and the ground beneath its feet had already turned into a sea of fire in the dragon's breath.
People cried out and scrambled to escape.
Unfortunately, the fire was merciless. A dragon's breath swept past, and several running pedestrians were instantly turned into charcoal before her eyes.
"..."
Himeko was a soldier, her military soul etched in her bones.
Even though her mind was shaken and her breathing was rapid, she cleared up the situation after a moment of chaos.
This was her "trial," but perhaps it was also what the hero had once experienced.
She quickly scanned the surroundings.
Demacia's archers were firing volley after volley, a dense rain of arrows pinning toward the dragon.
Unfortunately, for the thick scales, it was useless.
The dragon just shook its body slightly and shook off the arrows.
Its massive mouth opened, and a glowing red pillar of fire swept across the battlements, turning the guards and their armor into ashes.
Its giant claws slapped across, and an entire section of the city wall collapsed, sweeping a dozen warriors off the high wall.
Just then, the half-dragon woman roared to the sky.
Her muscles bulged, and her bones made a tooth-aching cracking sound.
Her body twisted and deformed in the air, her arms turned into wings, her spine lengthened, and a dragon tail burst out! In an instant, she had turned into a pure giant dragon.
The dragon's roar shook the clouds.
Himeko had never seen such a sight.
Two giant dragons faced off, their sharp teeth and claws clashing in the sky.
Claws tore, teeth bit, and the dragon tail sweep kicked up a howling gale. Every collision was like mountains crashing together.
Himeko bit the tip of her tongue hard, forcibly suppressing her fear, and leaped onto the gap in the city wall.
There was a paralyzed siege crossbow.
The soldiers were already dead.
The winch was jammed with broken bones and flesh, but a three-zhang-long heavy bolt was still stuck in the arrow groove, its tip glowing with a faint blue cold light.
She quickly cleared away the flesh and bones, stepped on the stone battlement, pulled the winch with both hands, and gave it her all.
"Aaaaah—"
Her muscles and bones creaked, and her palms even bled from the friction. With a roar, she finally pulled the crossbow string back!
After repeatedly aiming and confirming.
Boom!
The loud sound of the heavy bolt breaking the wind tore through the battlefield.
In the eyes of the soldiers, the heavy bolt pierced through the air and accurately stabbed into the dragon's right leg!
"Roar—"
Under the agonizing pain of her body being torn, the dragon let out a sky-shaking wail, dragon blood gushing out like a spring.
Her vertical pupils shook frantically. In her pain, she suddenly turned her head, her crimson gaze locking onto Himeko.
With a flap of her wings, she dove down!
Her giant mouth opened, flames churning inside.
A pillar of fire capable of burning a city was ready to fire!
At the critical moment, a red shadow streaked through the air!
Shyvana, in her dragon form, slammed in from the flank at high speed, hitting the dragon's chest with her shoulder!
With a thunderous bang, the massive dragon body was sent flying far away.
Although she avoided the pillar of fire, a large amount of scalding dragon blood fell from the sky, drenching Himeko like a rainstorm.
The high-temperature dragon blood, comparable to lava, burned upon contact with skin.
Himeko felt as if she were nailed to a stake, being roasted repeatedly.
She knelt on the city wall, her fingers digging into the stone cracks, her teeth chattering, but she didn't make a sound.
She knew very well this was a trial, but if she couldn't hold on, she would fail.
The sky returned to silence.
Shyvana, the half-dragon covered in wounds and bleeding profusely, gripped the dragon's head with both claws. With a roar, she suddenly twisted—
Crack!
The neck bone broke, and the giant dragon twitched for a few breaths before becoming motionless.
Then, the dragon shadow dissipated, and Shyvana staggered with her broken body, walking toward Himeko step by step.
In those vertical dragon eyes burning like fire, a rare trace of respect appeared.
"Pure dragon blood is something humans cannot withstand."
"Remember the anger in your heart at this moment."
As she spoke, the half-dragon woman raised her injured right arm, aimed the wound at the top of Himeko's head, and let the scalding dragon blood fall.
"Drink it, and remember my name, Shyvana, The Half-Dragon."
Himeko looked up and swallowed the warm dragon blood in large gulps as if drinking from a sweet spring.
A strange scene occurred: her body, burned by the dragon, actually healed quickly.
Deep in her bloodline, a fire seemed to be gradually waking up.
The dragon blood flowed slowly, igniting every inch of her muscles and bones.
Shyvana's bloodline happened to neutralize the violent dragon blood power of the giant dragon.
"When your shackles are released, remember your own will at this moment."
"I come from two worlds, but belong to neither."
Shyvana's voice became increasingly ethereal, as if coming from the gap between two worlds.
She gazed at Himeko, the fire in her eyes flickering slightly.
"I hope you won't be like me."
...
Meanwhile, on the other side, Fu Hua.
She blinked her dazed eyes; she was a bit confused.
"A temple?"
"Mm? That person is..."
Before she could react, the temple door opened, and a slender figure quietly rushed out, heading toward the mountain peak under the moonlight.
Fu Hua's pupils constricted: "Wait, it's dangerous."
Her first reaction was that something was wrong.
This night was too quiet.
The insects were silent, the wind was still, and the entire mountain range was as quiet as a dead place. She didn't even hear the light sound of a falling leaf.
Without any hesitation, she kicked off and chased after the woman's back.
She even forgot she was still in the middle of a trial.
In the dark night, a woman in golden armor watched her silently.
The peak of the sacred mountain.
The difficult climbing journey was a trial Fu Hua had never experienced, pulling every muscle fiber to its limit.
The steep mountain path was covered in hard ice, as if stepping on a blade.
The cold air seeped into her bones, and the pain of tearing muscles pierced through her entire body.
On both sides of the slope, there were frozen corpses everywhere.
Fu Hua gritted her teeth and didn't dare to stop.
After an unknown amount of time, when her legs almost lost sensation and her lungs felt like
they were frozen into ice blocks, Fu Hua was surprised to find she had climbed to the peak.
Staggering onto the last ice step, exhausted, she gasped for breath.
The cold air poured into her throat, and the knife-like pain was even worse.
Then, she saw an incredible sight.
The woman from before was firmly imprisoned within a silver pillar of light.
Seeing her body twisting, twitching, screaming, and terrified in the light, Fu Hua didn't hesitate and rushed over.
Her first reaction was to save her.
"..."
Just like that day when she saved Carole from the Deadwalkers.
Her body's reaction took over before her thinking, and her instinct for "good" drove her to leap forward.
She wanted to knock that woman out of the light pillar!
At this moment, a beam of golden light descended from the sky and enveloped her.
Heat.
An indescribable heat instantly swept through her entire body!
Inside her chest, it felt as if a "solar core" had been brutally stuffed in.
The high temperature was far worse than lava, enough to incinerate everything.
Her skin began to crack, and her flesh seemed to evaporate.
She didn't back down, her teeth gritted and her eyes wide, using her unyielding will to fight against the torrent that wanted to burn her completely.
At this moment, she finally remembered she was in the middle of an Ascension Trial.
"Dad!"
"Carole."
"Lord Demon God."
"Now is not the time for despair. I will not retreat even in death!"
"Aaaaah—"
Fu Hua roared in her heart, and an inextinguishable fire ignited in the depths of her soul.
The fire and the golden light merged and clashed. Finally, the power of the Radiant Dawn completely merged into her "soul fire."
The light gradually faded.
Fu Hua landed on the ground, a faint golden glow flowing on the surface of her skin, looking as
if she were plated with a layer of the sun's brand.
The fire of the Radiant Dawn surged in her bloodline, and every inch of her muscles and bones cheered and surged.
"You!?"
She suddenly looked up at the woman before her.
The woman wore a golden halo, her chestnut hair falling like a waterfall. She was dressed in heavy golden armor, holding a giant sun shield and a flaming longsword.
The light of the sun surrounded her.
Under her skin, sparks flowed like a river, and in the depths of her eyes burned the eternal fire of a Celestial Aspect.
"..."
The figure of the woman previously imprisoned by the silver pillar of light had long since disappeared.
Fu Hua then realized this seemed to be a trial?
"I am the protector of this land. They call me The Radiant Dawn, but you can also call me
'Leona.'"
"You have just inherited my power."
"The power of the Radiant Dawn's fire," Leona said.
Her voice echoed like a morning bell, solemn and warm.
"Ah? This... the trial is complete?"
Fu Hua froze, instinctively looking down at her palm, where some of the sun's residual warmth still remained.
Then she scratched her head, her eyes full of confusion.
It was different from the trial she had imagined.
No earth-shaking battle, no profound and difficult puzzles.
She seemed to have done nothing but run a bit and climb a mountain. Was that it?
"Trial?"
Leona chuckled and turned to look at the previous position of the moonlight pillar.
"That was my former friend, Diana. Seeing her in danger, your first reaction was to save her, rushing toward her without hesitation."
"You are even purer than I am."
Leona's eyes burned with the light of the Radiant Dawn, as if seeing through Fu Hua's soul.
"I saw your confusion, and I also saw the light in your heart."
"You are destined to carry heavy knowledge and the past. In the future, you will bring enlightenment to some and death to others."
"You and I are the same."
As she spoke, Leona's figure gradually faded.
Her voice still lingered in her ears.
"Accept it, and become the guiding light, just as the sun has always guided us."
"When night falls, you must learn to break through the darkness."
"I give this power to you. Your dawn is just ahead."
Leona's figure completely disappeared.
Fu Hua was silent, looking at those final eyes burning with the light of the Radiant Dawn.
She didn't understand, but this seemed to be more than just a trial; it was another part of her destiny?
She slowly raised her hand, palm up.
A wisp of the Radiant Dawn's fire quietly leaped, like the rising sun, gentle and firm!
...
The light of the Sun Disc gradually dimmed.
"Roar—!"
A dragon's roar that shook the sky suddenly exploded.
A violent, bloody aura surged out of the light pillar like a tide, making the people in the plaza
stagger back.
When the light pillar completely went out, everyone saw the figure inside.
The MOTHs high-level officials' hearts sank. The scene they least wanted to see had finally happened.
The one who obtained the dragon's inheritance was Himeko.
Not Hua.
It was absolutely terrible.
On her forehead were a pair of dragon horns as red as blood, looking as if they were made of condensed lava.
Her long red hair turned into burning flames at the ends, dancing wildly in the wind.
Even more terrifyingly, a pair of giant black and red dragon wings opened behind her, their edges burning with dark red fire.
Her hands had mutated into dragon claws, with scalding lava flowing and churning on them.
Her eyes turned into a glowing red fire like molten gold.
With a low growl, she flapped her wings violently, and a violent heat wave swept in all directions like a storm.
"Ah?"
"You're that... castle, dragon girl," Carole shouted excitedly, pointing with trembling fingers and quivering lips.
At this moment, Himeko also withdrew her half-dragon form and nodded thoughtfully to Carole:
"Speaking of which, your inheritance is 'Jarvan IV.' I seemed to have a prince over there too.
Could it be..."
Ryuga smiled; the two's hero inheritances were indeed from the same scene.
"Mm mm, it's him! Our... our inheritances were actually from the same battle? Unbelievable!" Carole nodded her head frantically.
"Himeko, can you promise Elysia one thing?" Elysia suddenly stepped out.
"If it's something I can do, then of course..." Himeko said instinctively.
In The MOTHs, no one would dislike Elysia, let alone given their relationship with Ryuga. Elysia was like an older sister.
But as she spoke, her voice came to an abrupt halt.
She noticed the gaze Elysia was casting toward her. Then, it slowly moved up, up... and finally stopped at a perfect angle.
There was nothing there except her horns.
"Mm-hmm~" Elysia gave a playful smile.
Himeko: "You..."
"Ah... I really want to touch her horns... I'm so curious, so curious."
Looking at Himeko's bright red dragon horns, Elysia's eyes lit up, her cheeks slightly red with excitement, as if she had discovered some rare treasure.
She approached Himeko step by step.
"Wow... so cute... I really want to touch them... just for a little bit."
Elysia's eyes were bright, and she slowly raised her hand.
"Just once." Himeko ultimately couldn't refuse.
"Mm mm."
Elysia nodded happily, then reached out a pair of "wicked" small hands and began to play with Himeko's dragon horns.
The moment her fingertips touched them, Himeko shuddered, as if a fine electric current had surged from the horns to her entire body. An indescribable tingling sensation spread from her
nerve endings all the way to her heart.
"Mm..."
"..."
Himeko's eyelashes trembled violently, her cheeks flushed, and her breathing became increasingly rapid.
"Mm?" Elysia tilted her head, the pressure of her fingertips increasing slightly.
"..." Himeko bit her lower lip.
"Oh~"
"This is truly... completely different from what I imagined."
Elysia narrowed her eyes, smiling like a kitten that had stolen a fish, as if she had discovered a secret.
"Have you touched them enough?" Himeko snorted, instinctively shrinking back and withdrawing her dragon horns, her eyes showing a rare embarrassment.
She swore she would never let anyone touch her dragon horns again.
"Alright, alright, that's enough. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity. I'll be happy all day," Elysia said with a flowery smile.
Ryuga: My god, those sounds.
Why did those "mms" sound so strange, as if something bad had been done?
Fortunately, he had sealed the space.
Has Elysia's "horn-touching demon" attribute finally awakened?
To be continued…