Chapter 44: The Fear Was Real.

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: The Fear Was Real.

Deep within the heavily fortified Imperial Palace of Draxen Empire, thousands of miles away from the bloody streets of Rodrag City, General Kolin knelt on the pristine marble floor.

​"Speak, General Kolin. Why are you trembling in my presence?" Princess Aveline asked, taking a delicate sip from her porcelain teacup.

​Aveline was the absolute pinnacle of draconic beauty. She possessed cascading silver hair, glowing ruby eyes, and a flawless, pale complexion adorned with a few elegant crimson scales along her collarbone. She was the most desired royal in the entire empire, chased by countless noble suitors.

General Kolin replied with a stutter:

​"Forgive me, Your Highness. I just recived a terrifying report from the outer borders. It concerns a human boy."

​"A human boy?" Aveline sighed softly, sounding incredibly bored.

"You interrupted my quiet morning tea to talk about a filthy human peasant? Throw him in the slave pits and be done with it."

​"We cannot do that, Princess. This boy is actively hunting us dragons. He slaughtered Baron Arklong’s elite search party last night. They said ne summoned some kind of black mist and devoured their living flesh whole. The survivors are calling him the Dragon Devourer."

​Aa soon as Aveline heard "Dragon Devourer", she froze completely.

Clang.

Her porcelain teacup slipped from her delicate fingers and shattered into dozens of pieces against the marble floor.

​"What did you just say?" Aveline asked urgently. Her voice was no longer bored. It was completely breathless.

Kolin explained patiently,

​"H-He possesses the exact same dark magic as the Godless Hero. He is an absolute catastrophe, Princess. The City Lord of Rodrag is begging the Dragon Emperors to send the imperial army before the beast grows too strong."

​Slowly, Princess Aveline stood up from her velvet chair. Her beautiful cheeks were flushed red. Her ruby eyes widened, practically glowing with a feverish intensity.

She wrapped her arms tightly around her own shoulders, shivering violently.

​But it was not out of fear.

​"A Devourer... An actual, living Devourer has returned to our world. After five long centuries, a true predator has finally arrived."

Looking at her ecstatic expression,

​"Princess?" . "We must increase the palace security immediately."

​"Do not be a fool, Kolin. Why would I ever want to hide from him? Look at the Dragon Emperors of this current era. Look at my pathetic noble suitors. They are incredibly fat, lazy, and weak. They sit on their golden thrones and pretend they are the absolute masters of this world. But they are nothing but domesticated lizards."

Kolin started sweating.

​"Your Highness, please lower your voice! That is blatant treason, you know it!"

Aveline snorted,

​"Hmph, I do not care about treason! I only care about absolute strength! The fundamental law of the dragon race is that the strong devour the weak. If this human boy can eat elite dragon knights alive, then he stands at the very apex of the food chain! He is the ultimate predator!"

​General Kolin stared at her in absolute horror.

"Princess, you cannot possibly mean what I think you mean."

​"Oh, I mean it with all my heart. I want him, Kolin. I want him more than anything I have ever wanted in my entire life."

​"But he will kill you! He views us as nothing but food! He will eat you alive!"

​"If he is strong enough to eat me, then he is exactly the monster I have been waiting for. Go to Rodrag City, Kolin. Take my personal royal guard. Find this terrifying monster for me. But do not harm a single hair on his head."

​"Then what are your exact orders, Your Highness?"

​"Bring him to me. Tell the Devourer that the Imperial Princess wishes to become his incredibly loyal, incredibly obedient wife."

---

Meanwhile, the emperor of Draxen Empire was completely opposite.

​Inside a colossal throne room, Emperor Vorlag sat in suffocating silence. He was a massive, heavily scarred dragonoid who had survived countless bloody wars. He could destroy mountains and seas with ease.

Yet, upon hearing the dreaded title of the Dragon Devourer, the ancient warlord’s face went completely pale.

​The imperial messenger knelt on the scorching floor, waiting in terror for the Emperor to speak.

​"A Devourer..... Are you completely certain of this report? Do you understand what you are telling me?"

​"I swear it upon my very life, Your Imperial Majesty. Thay boy used some dark magic to dissolve Baron Arklong’s elite guards. He consumed their living flesh, their mana, and their souls. The magic perfectly matches the ancient descriptions of the Godless Hero."

​Emperor Vorlag’s usually so immense fiery aura that surrounded his massive body completely vanished, replaced by a primal fear.

​Unlike the young, foolish Princess Aveline, Emperor Vorlag actually studied the dark history of their world. He had read the forbidden archives of his ancestors. He knew exactly what a Devourer truly was.

​"My ancestors fought in that first era. They watched the Godless Hero eat entire mountains. They watched her swallow divine armies whole. A Devourer is not just a human magic caster. It is a walking apocalypse. It is the absolute end of all things."

​"What are your orders, Sire?" the supreme commander of the army asked, stepping out from the shadows of the throne room.

"Shall we send our finest investigators to Rodrag City?"

​"Investigators?" Emperor Vorlag roared. His voice was so loud it violently shook the massive stone pillars of the grand hall.

"Have you gone insane, Supreme commander? You can not investigate an apocalypse! You need to eradicate it!"

​The Emperor pointed his finger toward the grand exit.

​"Mobilize the entire Infernal Vanguard! Awaken all three of the Imperial Executioners! I do not care about whether he is a child, and I do not care about who’s behind him! March our armies directly into Rodrag City and turn the entire lower district into a burning ocean of fire!"

​The supreme commander bowed deeply, hiding his own shock.

"And what of the boy, Sire? Shall we bring him back for execution?"

​"No no no. Do not even attempt to capture him!" the Emperor shrieked, "Kill him on sight! Burn him until there is absolutely nothing left but ash! Do not let him speak! Do not let him cast a single spell! If that monster learns how to consume cities, our empire will be the first to fall!"

The fear was real.