Chapter 755: One-Sided Duel

"Let me shift the battlefield first, to avoid damaging the palace." Cassius snapped his fingers unhurriedly.

In an instant, the surrounding space blurred, twisted, and cracked. Massive rifts swallowed the female red dragon, and in the blink of an eye, she appeared in a barren and unfamiliar land.

What terrifying spellcasting ability—I didn’t even notice, and I was already teleported to another space.

She didn’t even get a chance to resist!

Dracarys was shocked. She knew this emperor’s spellcasting was powerful, but not to this degree.

Time and space were like fragile toys under this emperor’s claws, easily torn apart.

Seeing this only ignited Dracarys’s fighting spirit. She believed only the strongest enemies could draw out her full potential.

And the red dragon emperor before her was clearly one of them.

"Come, Your Majesty Cassius! Show me just how vast the gap between us truly is!"

Dracarys’s eyes blazed with madness. Her muscular dragon body trembled with excitement, as if she were about to receive a divine blessing.

"Heh, it’s the first time someone’s come begging for a beating. But..." Cassius paused, then continued, "I’m worried I might accidentally kill you."

"To die under your full strength would be my greatest honor," Dracarys answered fervently.

Cassius shook his head with a touch of helplessness, then slowly rose from his throne. At once, his massive body, over sixty meters long, was fully revealed before Dracarys.

What a dragon this was!

Before her stood a red dragon with bulging muscles and a long, winding tail like a mountain of blood.

Sulfur smoke and embers spewed from his massive maw, distorting the surrounding air with heat and forming visible waves.

His mere presence radiated oppressive majesty and the fierce beauty of a raging fire.

"Absolutely... perfect."

Dracarys stared at Cassius in a daze, licking her lips uncontrollably.

Cassius said calmly, "Then... the duel begins."

In the next moment, Cassius unfurled his wings, vast enough to blot out the sky, casting Dracarys entirely in shadow.

A torrent of ancient draconic might surged forth, like a tidal wave overwhelming her soul.

[Ancestral Dragon Majesty]

"Buzz—"

A deafening hum filled Dracarys’s ears. Her body, spirit, and even soul were completely suppressed—a pressure rooted deep in her bloodline.

At that moment, she was like a tiny boat tossed in a storm, barely clinging to reason against the onslaught.

A single misstep, and she’d become his slave.

"Kneel."

Cassius looked down upon the female red dragon, his tone indifferent.

Dracarys trembled even more violently. Every organ and cell in her body screamed to submit to the red dragon emperor.

But with sheer willpower, she held on, refusing to yield to the crushing force.

From deep in her throat came a hoarse whimper: "No... I can’t fall here... no!"

The sound turned into a furious roar.

Dracarys raised her head and howled toward the sky, her body engulfed in scorching flames, ancestral dragon blood surging through her veins.

Cassius looked slightly surprised. "To resist my dragon’s might... interesting."

"ROAR—"

With a roar, Dracarys flapped her wings and lunged at the red dragon emperor, ferocious and clawing.

But what greeted her was a claw from Cassius, tearing through the air with explosive force.

"Slash—"

So fast?!

Dracarys was shocked. In her experience, the larger the creature, the slower the movement.

But this Ember Emperor defied that logic. He was faster than her! His claws carried a power that could tear space itself!

Danger!

She twisted in midair, trying to dodge with an awkward maneuver.

But it was too late.

"BOOM!"

With a sharp sonic boom, the sky cracked, and powerful shockwaves tore through the air.

Scales shattered and blood sprayed as the thirty-meter-long female red dragon was struck and sent flying like a crimson blur.

Under the overwhelming force, Dracarys’s muscles tore, bones snapped, and her body was ravaged beyond recognition.

"BOOM—"

She flew over a hundred meters before crashing into a distant mountain, shattering rock, collapsing slopes, and raising a storm of dust.

"Not bad, still alive," Cassius looked at his claw and commented lightly.

This female red dragon still had some use, so Cassius hadn’t gone all out.

Maybe only...

Thirty to forty percent of his strength?

But that was already terrifying. Cassius’s strength stat was nearing level forty—world-shattering wasn’t an exaggeration.

In most cases, even half that strength would pulp a foe into bloody mist.

In the rubble, Dracarys coughed up blood and gave a pained laugh: "Hahaha... so this is the power of one who can stand against the Dragon Queen."

"But someday, I’ll grow to that level too! And now—I haven’t lost yet!"

She slowly rose, shaking herself off as ancestral blood began to mend her wounds.

Roaring, she took flight once more, bursting from the dust cloud into the sky.

Dracarys opened her bloodied mouth and inhaled deeply, greedily drawing in fire elemental energy. Her throat glowed.

"BOOM—"

The air exploded as a conical breath attack burst from her mouth like a waterfall of flame.

Hmm, a textbook red dragon breath. None of Cassius’s strange variations.

"You dare use fire breath... on me?"

"Truly bold."

Watching the incoming flame, Cassius felt amused—no one had tried using fire on him in ages.

He wielded authority over the fire element plane, was a master of elements, and held the solar power of Amanata.

Forget Dracarys’s breath—even the Lord of Fire Elementals couldn’t harm him.

Cassius calmly raised his claw. With his dominion over flame, he instantly absorbed her breath.

The flames swelled, intensified, then shot back at the female red dragon.

"ROAR—"

Panicking, Dracarys tried to dodge but was struck by the enhanced version of her own breath. A charred wound appeared on her chest.

Engulfed in fire, she scrambled higher into the sky, evading the continuing flames.

What terrifying elemental control! No more breath attacks!

This Ember Emperor was the strongest opponent she’d ever faced—no contest.

The gap was immense. In size, strength, speed, spellcasting—he dominated every aspect.

He stood like a mountain before her, suffocating and despair-inducing.

Yet amid the despair, she felt an intoxicating thrill, dancing on the knife’s edge.

Only by fighting such foes could she grow stronger.

"But... I must show His Majesty Cassius my strength! Make her recognize me!"

Clenching her teeth, she steeled herself.

She spread her powerful wings and circled in the sky, then dove for Cassius’s blind spot.

"Slash—"

Her wings shrieked against the air as she dove once more.

"Nice spirit, but too slow," Cassius said flatly.

He flapped his left wing, conjuring a searing gale that blew Dracarys off course.

In the next moment, he flashed behind her.

He grabbed her neck with massive claws, lifting her like a hunter seizing a rabbit.

"ROAR—"

Dracarys struggled wildly, roaring hoarsely.

She twisted, clawed, flapped—but nothing worked. She couldn’t escape his grip.

Cassius looked at her and said, "I’m surprised you lasted this long, but the gap in strength makes this fight meaningless."

"This so-called ’duel’... ends here."

Before finishing, he slammed her into the ground, then again, and again.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

His movements were so casual, as if tossing a rag doll.

Not until he had pounded a pit ten meters deep into the earth did he let go.

Buried in dust and dirt, Dracarys was a bloodied wreck.

"Huff... huff..."

Faint breathing could be heard.

Her body was battered beyond recognition. Bones shattered, flesh mangled.

Were it not for her breathing, she could be mistaken for a corpse.

To Cassius, she was near death, barely clinging to life.

Yet somehow, she used the last of her strength to slowly rise from the wreckage.

A rasp escaped her throat: "I... haven’t... lost... yet."

"Why bother?"

"Stop, or you’ll die. Even with ancestral blood, these wounds are too much."

Cassius looked on calmly.

"To fight the strongest dragon of the material plane... even dying is worth it!"

"Maniac," Cassius muttered.

Red dragons were naturally combative, war-crazed by nature.

But to come from so far just to fight a hopeless battle—even for a red dragon, she was exceptional.

Still, Cassius didn’t want her dead. That would be wasteful.

As one favored by Tiamat, her intel was valuable.

"ROAR—"

Dracarys raised her bloodied head, spread her ruined wings, and howled skyward.

Boiling rage surged within her. Her blood turned to crimson light, coating her body.

Her golden eyes filled with blood, madness and fury blazing.

"ROAR—"

Like a beast in frenzy, she lunged at Cassius, jaws gnashing.

"Bloodscale Berserker..."

Cassius chuckled. He pointed a claw at her.

A blinding white beam shot from his claw, instantly dispelling her blood aura.

Then he raised his claw skyward.

"BOOM—"

Massive stone pillars erupted from the ground.

They formed a giant stony claw, trapping Dracarys within.

As Cassius clenched his claw, the rock claw followed, locking her in place.

She thrashed madly, trembling the ground, stones falling.

But no matter how she wailed or thrashed, Cassius only watched coldly.

Until the Bloodscale Berserker effect faded, and she collapsed from the life-draining cost.

In a faint voice, she said, "Your Majesty Cassius... I yield."

"Before your power, all I did was childish folly... meaningless."

The once-proud red dragon lowered her head, truly convinced, bowing in her most respectful posture.

But Cassius didn’t care about this ’duel’. He was more concerned with something else—

Tiamat’s descent.

In this era, the material plane’s barriers were unbreakable. Gods couldn’t descend in true form.

So then...

How had Tiamat descended into the mortal realm?

Cassius waved a claw, sending beams of draconic life force to heal Dracarys rapidly.

He looked at her and said solemnly, "Dracarys, tell me everything you know—everything."