Defeating the World with the Power of One Dragon!

A crimson meteor tore across the sky, its low wail trailing as it plunged toward the mountains.

The wind pressure flattened trees along its path until they nearly kissed the ground. When the dust cleared, a dark-red giant claw slowly released, and a figure staggered and tumbled down.

Tolfen Chapman, ruler of the Theo Kingdom, was in a pitiful state.

Dizzy and pale, his face drained of color, his royal robe smeared with dirt and torn by flying rocks, the golden embroidery dulled under the sun.

While trapped in a dragon’s talon, the human king hazily recalled a childhood scene of playing with ants in the palace garden.

Back then he squatted by the stone path, poking an ant colony with a twig and watching them scatter in panic.

Only this time, the ants were him.

Tolfen collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.

He tried to rise, but his legs gave out. With trembling hands he steadied himself against the earth. A gust of mountain wind howled by, whipping grit into his face, making him shiver and, at least a little, come back to his senses.

“You… what do you want to do…”

The king mustered courage and looked up at the mountain-sized dragon, stammering out the question.

Hearing this, the red iron dragon merely lowered his gaze and glanced at him.

His look swept over the human king without stopping, as if inspecting a stone or a dead tree.

Then he withdrew his gaze indifferently and suddenly spread his wings.

The red iron dragon shot into the clouds and vanished in an instant, leaving only a dissipating trail of cloud.

Tolfen stared blankly as the dragon flew away, his mind a void.

Am I dreaming? His thoughts were hazy.

He pinched his arm; pain came sharply.

Whoosh!

Another blast of wind hit, pulling Tolfen fully back into reality.

He looked around and found himself on an unfamiliar mountain peak.

The place was extremely high; distant mountain ranges loomed through seas of cloud.

The cold wind bit through his bones. Jagged, sheer rocks surrounded him, and a few stubborn tufts of grass clung to crevices.

He struggled to his feet and inched to the edge to peer down.

The bottomless drop made him tremble all over; his stomach clenched and he nearly collapsed again. The cliff was almost vertical, its face smooth with only occasional protrusions that offered no real foothold.

The Red Emperor…

Did this dreadful dragon mean to leave me here to die?

A surge of despair began to spread through his chest.

As a king he had faced many trials, but never had he so nakedly confronted absolute power.

Before the arrogant, lawless Red Emperor, his schemes, armies, and wealth had lost all meaning.

At that moment the sky darkened.

A shadow fell over Tolfen.

He looked up instinctively and saw a dragon circling the air above.

It was not the Red Emperor, but a black dragon radiating stern pressure.

An iron dragon, smaller than the Red Emperor but still overwhelmingly huge.

Its scales were black and lustrous, glinting coldly like metal in the sunlight. Muscles were defined like forged steel, each plate carrying terrifying force.

Tolfen’s heart tightened again.

He recognized this dragon.

The second most powerful existence of Aola, the Iron Prince, blood brother to the Red Emperor — Solog Igneous.

The iron dragon slowly descended. Its broad wings churned the air and whipped dust from the ground as it looked down at the tiny king.

Tolfen’s throat tightened.

He forced himself to stand to preserve the dignity of a monarch, but weak legs left him half-kneeling, looking up at the enormous creature.

The position felt humiliating and was hard to change.

“Solog… Ignas…”

Tolfen’s voice trembled, but he forced the words out. “Do you… do you know what you are doing? Kidnapping a king?”

He drew a deep breath. “Outrageous! It’s lawless.”

“This is trampling on the bottom line of the nations! It is a declaration of war on the new Lothrian Federation! Put me back immediately, or—”

“Or what?”

The iron dragon’s voice rolled like distant thunder, making the human king’s ears ring and cutting off his bluster.

Solog asked with interest, tilting his massive head: “Will Lothrian go to war for you? Or will your Theo legendary heroes protect you?”

The king’s face froze.

After a few seconds of silence he said, “I will speak with Garoth Ignas, speak with the true king of Aola.”

He hoped direct bargaining with the supreme ruler might change his situation.

At that, the iron dragon couldn’t help but lift his huge head and laugh, the sound echoing among the clouds.

“Haha, tiny human, who do you think you are?”

The laughter subsided, his gaze sharpening. “Are you joking? If so, I must admit, you amused me.”

Tolfen’s face went ashen.

He gritted his teeth and asked, “What do you dragons want?”

At the human’s words the iron dragon’s laughter vanished; his eyes became cold vertical slits.

He lowered his head so that his great shadow swallowed the king.

“Tolfen Chapman.”

The iron dragon spoke the name plainly. “You violated the Norton Treaty.”

“Tariff barriers, arms expansion, secret alliance with Lothrian… each act is a provocation against Aola’s bottom line.”

“That was… a necessary adjustment under the new balance of nations,” Tolfen protested. “The war is over. Now is an era of peace; we can negotiate.”

The iron dragon bared his sharp fangs in a cold smile that glinted menace.

“Bringing you alive from the royal court to this place is our dragons’ way of negotiating.”

Tolfen’s heart sank.

“You… you mean to kill me?”

Tolfen said, “That will only enrage the people of Theo and give Lothrian full reason to unite all kingdoms against you.”

The iron dragon leaned forward, his pressure even greater.

“Kill you? You could say that.”

“We have decided to punish Theo’s breach most severely.”

“First, execute the source of the breach — you, Tolfen Chapman, King of Theo — as an example. Then our armies will march, crush Theo, burn this reckless kingdom to ashes, and erase it from the map.”

“No! You cannot!”

Tolfen screamed. “That will start total war! Lothrian will not stand idly by! Every kingdom on the plains will—”

At that moment a low, impatient roar came from the other side.

“You insect, what are you chirping about?”

With scorching breath, an even larger, more muscular red figure landed; the temperature around them spiked.

Tolfen recognized this dragon, too.

The Fire Prince of Aola, another blood relative of the Red Emperor — Samantha Igneous.

She was more imposing than Solog, at least one-fifth longer and higher at the shoulder.

She wore an extremely heavy armor that seemed fused to her body, melding with her scales; even her chin was wrapped in steel. The exposed crimson scales shimmered like burning coals. Her maw parted to reveal interlocking fangs as sparks flew from her breath and sizzled against the rock.

The red dragon looked down at Tolfen with undisguised brutality and hunger in her eyes.

“Solog, why waste words on this treaty-breaking little insect?”

Samantha reached out with a claw and pinched the protesting Tolfen up in the air.

She held the human king before her and narrowed her vertical pupils to a line. “I haven’t tasted a human king yet. You live in luxury — your flesh should be tender.”

She licked her jaw with a crimson tongue.

Then she actually opened that fang-filled maw — and flung the human king straight toward it.

“No!!!”

Tolfen gave a dying scream as his soul seemed to split apart.

Under the terrifying dragon maw and fangs, all kingly dignity and diplomatic rhetoric were crushed into raw fear.

He smelled sulfur and lava and felt a wave of heat. He imagined being chewed to pieces.

The dragon’s jaws closed.

The king’s form and voice vanished.

Darkness.

Blistering heat.

A suffocating oppression.

Tolfen thought he was dead.

“Samantha, wait a moment.”

The iron dragon’s voice arrived in time, sounding distant yet firm.

The red dragon paused and shot Solog a displeased glance, but she opened her maw and spat the human king out with a disgusted sputter.

Tolfen collapsed, shaking violently.

He was covered in sticky saliva smelling of sulfur that ate into his royal robe and left burning stings on his skin.

He coughed violently; each breath scorched.

In that moment he had believed he was eaten — flashes rushed through his mind.

His father’s stern lessons on ruling; the glory of the coronation; tense negotiations with Lothrian envoys; his dream to restore Theo; an ordinary afternoon on the palace balcony watching the capital — these mundane memories became piercingly clear at the brink of death.

The iron dragon looked down at the mangled king on the ground and slowly said, “Tolfen, being brought here today, you still do not understand?”

He paused, waiting for the king to regain some composure before continuing.

“Aola has decided to personally ignite this war and set the nations aflame.”

“You and Theo will be the first offering.”

Tolfen’s mind blanked.

War… offering… the words buzzed and hammered his consciousness.

He recalled Theo’s struggling rebuilding after defeat, his own oath upon accession to restore Theo and prevent subjugation.

And now…

“A king deserves a slightly dignified death, not being eaten alive.”

The iron dragon lowered his huge head and leaned toward the crumpled king.

Tolfen could almost see his reflection in the dragon’s pupil.

Humiliated, terrified, insignificant.

“We will build a gallows high enough in the Citadel of Crimson Flame’s square and hang you with ropes soaked in ferocious beast oil.”

Solog described calmly: “Your physique is stronger than ordinary humans, so you won’t die instantly by hanging.”

“The rope will slowly tighten. You can struggle for a while, but you won’t last. Envoys from many kingdoms may gather to witness the fate of a treaty-breaker.”

“After you die, we will advance on Theo.”

“We will slaughter resistors, use their skulls to build monuments; we will scorch your kingdom with dragonfire until only dust remains; your family, your ministers, all loyal to you will be purged.”

“Eventually, the name Theo will be erased from history.”

As he spoke, Solog painted the inevitable future. Quietly, a sliver of spiritual energy gleamed in his eyes, giving his words an eerie potency that made anyone picture the scenes he described.

“No… please…”

Tolfen’s pupils grew distant as he whispered.

He could see that image: rope cutting into his throat, the crowd’s clamor, his corpse swinging in the wind… then Theo burning, fugitives fleeing, mountains of skulls…

Solog’s words made it feel real.

At the brink of mental collapse, the iron dragon spoke again.

“But our majesty is merciful and dislikes senseless slaughter.”

“There is another option for Theo.”

Like darkness and bloodfire shifting to a sliver of light, Tolfen jerked his head up.

He hurriedly asked, “What?”

Solog’s voice was low, each word deliberate: “Turn a rumor into reality and become Aola’s Theo.”

He paused, then continued: “Abolish all treaties with Lothrian and swear fealty to Aola.”

“Then Theo will become Aola’s vassal, and you, Tolfen Chapman, may live to continue ruling Theo — of course under Aola’s will. Your family can remain; your throne can be inherited. However, every major decision of Theo must henceforth be approved by the Citadel of Crimson Flame.”

“Too troublesome!”

The red dragon Samantha flicked her tail impatiently, flinging pebbles. “Just eat this insect and then trample Theo — how simple! Let Garoth lead and burn through!”

She leaned close, blowing scorching breath into his face. “Human, do you know what I love most? Watching everything turn to ash.”

“That sight… is exquisite.”

“Samantha, be patient.”

The iron dragon turned to his kin with a steady tone: “Garoth prefers conquest, not wanton destruction. Dead lands produce no grain; ashes yield no taxes. Give the human king time to… think it through.”

With that he looked back at the anxious Tolfen.

“Think well while you’re here.”

Solog tapped the steep cliffs with a claw: “You have ample time. Nights here are bitterly cold. You will feel hunger and thirst, but that is part of thinking.”

“In three days I will return. Then give me your answer.”

“Either you end as a sacrificial victim on the gallows and your kingdom turns to ash, or you become a vassal and your bloodline and throne survive.”

Samantha cocked her head and studied the king.

“Hey, human, I hope you bravely choose to die.”

She added, “Then you’ll earn my admiration, maybe even my respect. That won’t change being eaten, but I will get my feast.”

“What a fine ending, right?”

Having said this, the two dragons beat their wings and rose, vanishing into the high sky.

On the peak only howling cold wind remained and the human king, eyes full of struggle.

Tolfen sat motionless on a rock for a long time.

The cold gnawed at him, but he barely felt it.

He climbed to the edge and looked down into the abyss; dusk made the bottom seem even darker.

Jump… everything ends.

No more struggle, no more humiliation, no agonizing choices.

Then Theo would have a new king.

He could resist Aola, call on Lothrian for aid, and war would follow… or he could surrender outright.

Elsewhere among the mountains,

the two dragons folded their wings and landed beside another blood relative.

Nearby, the red iron dragon was holding a large piece of rock with a claw, bringing it to his mouth.

Not far from him, a chunk of mountainside was missing, leaving a clear indentation — evidently something he had eaten.

“Garoth, what are you doing?”

Samantha tasted the rock Garoth was gnawing and immediately spat, face contorted in disgust.

“Tastes like dirt, not some treasure that looks like dirt.”

“Dry and flaky, it brings back bad memories.”

She stared at Garoth in puzzlement. “You drink black oil for energy, that I understand, but why are you gnawing on dirt now?”

“If outsiders find out they’ll think Aola’s dragons are so poor they can’t afford food, that even the emperor gnaws dirt.”

Garoth paused his eating.

“This is one of my new training methods.”

He said: “I’m trying to stimulate the stomach, improve… never mind, it’s hard to explain. How did things go with the Theo king?”

The red dragon pranced and preened, proud.

She even rose on her hind legs and mimed the human king’s terrified expression with her front claws.

“Didn’t you see how frightened that human was? Hilarious.”

“When I grabbed him, he shook like a frightened rabbit. That look—”

She roared with laughter, slapping her tail on the ground and kicking up dust.

“Haha, my performance was flawless. He must think I’m a mindless, savage red dragon ready to swallow him. Pfft, his meat wouldn’t even fit my molars — what a foolish human.” 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“You agree, Solog? If that human submits, credit belongs to me.”

Under Samantha’s gaze, Solog slowly nodded.

He had resumed his usual calm posture, wings folded neatly like two massive shields.

“Yes, that was close to an authentic reaction; I couldn’t tell the difference,” he said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

Samantha blinked and widened her eyes. “Wait, what do you mean authentic reaction? Are you saying I’m…”

“Enough.”

Garoth cut off the brewing quarrel.

He turned to Solog, face serious. “How did the King of Theo respond?”

Solog sobered and answered: “Fear, struggle, but not yet collapse. He’s still weighing options — that’s good. It means he’s taking our choice seriously; if he yielded immediately, he’d be unreliable.”

He paused, then added: “However, the Theo king might not accept our offer.”

“If he is stubborn, he may throw himself from the peak or take his own life. Some humans value dignity over life, especially rulers.”

Garoth’s expression did not change.

“No matter.”

He said, “There are many in the Theo royal house. Even if they know their king is a puppet, others will gladly take the position.”

Solog nodded: “Conquering Theo is not difficult for us — straightforward, in fact.”

“Under our years of influence, voice, and propaganda, there are already many within Theo who are close to us.”

He smiled, baring sharp teeth. “Sometimes we don’t even need to push with our mouthpieces; Theo citizens will speak for us naturally.”

“It’s as if proximity to us washes away the shame of being a defeated nation. They gain a sense of superiority and can hold their heads up.”

“Also, our scouts reported that after the king was captured, some in the capital paraded and celebrated.”

“They insulted their king and soldiers as weak and praised the greatness and might of the Aola emperor, eager to join us — truly… foolish.”

For such people, Solog had a clear verdict.

They would make Aola’s governance easier, but they would never earn Aola’s genuine respect.

Rather, Aola’s proud citizens would despise traitors from the inside; betrayers of their own people will be reviled by all, enemy or ally.

Garoth listened silently until Solog finished, then spoke slowly.

“Theo is not important; it is a prelude.”

“The real obstacle is other kingdoms, especially Lothrian. Do not underestimate them.”

He would not impatiently seize Theo before the dust settled.

On the surface, Theo was merely meat. But if they truly tried to occupy it, the fate of the Rhen Kingdom would be a warning. Aola might avoid repeating Rhen’s full errors, but would still be dragged in.

Solog agreed gravely.

“Lothrian alone is not easy, but manageable.”

He grew serious: “But we are the greatest anomaly among the nations. Human kingdoms may war and ally and betray each other, but facing us…”

“We fear Lothrian might unite the kingdoms in a joint crusade against us.”

“If that happens… we may have to abandon this area, which would result in huge losses.”

Garoth nodded slowly: “You are right. Lothrian has its new federation, nominally for peace and development.”

He paused, a keen light flashing in his eyes: “Aola will also have its own allies. Power attracts power; fear drives unions. Not all kingdoms will kneel before Lothrian.”

Samantha’s eyes lit up and she flapped her wings excitedly.

“Reebos! That kingdom lost narrowly to Lothrian twice — they won’t bow to Lothrian!”

Garoth regarded her with faint approval and chuckled.

“Interesting.”

“Once, Reebos was our enemy and Lothrian our ally.”

His vertical pupils narrowed slightly as if recalling those war years, then he continued.

“But times have changed.”

“Now Lothrian sees us as the largest threat, and we see Lothrian as an obstacle.”

“Reebos has become a potential ally. Heh — the line between friend and foe is fragile in the tide of interests and power; there are no eternal enemies or friends, only eternal interests.”

He looked up to the sky.

Night had fully fallen and stars prickled the heavens. The elven moon of the Nausil Empire shone brilliantly, as it had nearly every night these recent years.

“But regardless…”

“This time we will kindle the flames ourselves and end the squabbles of the nations with our own hands.”

He spread his wings and faced the iron dragon and the red dragon.

“Prepare yourselves, my brothers,” he said. “The fire is lit, and we will ride it so the entire world trembles under dragon wings.”