Leon kicked Constantine's head with a single decisive strike, allowing the broken "big ball" to roll several times across the ground.
He staggered backward a few steps, appearing slightly fatigued.
Truth be told, this battle could easily be ranked as one of "General Leon's Top Ten Classic Battles."
Why the top spot? So far, no other nine battles have made him feel such pressure.
Though Constantine wasn't exactly an extraordinarily powerful dragon king (at least not compared to Leon), thinking back on both of their fights, they were quite memorable.
Leon glanced at the decaying head and snorted,
"Now, you can finally rest, old Constantine."
The monster that defeated the stat monster was the stitched monster;
And the one who could defeat the stitched monster could only be the mechanism monster.
If he hadn't left a trump card to deal with the Empire earlier, this battle might not have ended so easily.
After catching his breath, hurried footsteps sounded from behind.
Leon turned around to see Rossweise and Isha approaching.
The sisters ran over, glancing at Constantine's head.
"Done?" Isha asked.
"Yeah," Leon nodded.
"You weren't hurt, right?"
Rossweise asked, as she quickly checked his arms and shoulders.
Leon smiled, gently pressing her wrist, then holding her cold hand to reassure her that he was fine.
"Don't worry, no injuries," Leon said.
The queen slightly nodded, and in the cover of the night, the blush on her face slowly faded.
Isha, too, sighed in relief, dusted off her dress, and then crossed her arms, tilting her head to look at her sister and brother-in-law,
"Alright, you two can flirt later. For now, someone explains to me why that heart-protecting dragon scale suddenly turned into a ticking time bomb?"
As a seasoned dragon king, Isha knew the characteristics of the heart-protecting dragon scale very well.
It was a 'valve' for the dragon race's power and also a form of 'safety device' that could prevent the dragon from harming itself if their power went out of control.
In other words, under certain circumstances, the heart-protecting dragon scale could indeed be a massive bomb, detonating not only the power accumulated over centuries but also the dragon's innate magic.
In the dragon race's history, there were several famous battles where desperate dragon kings used the self-detonation of their heart-protecting dragon scale to perish with their enemies.
But while dragon scales could be used as bombs, the key point was that only the owner could detonate their scale.
If any dragon could trigger the heart-protecting dragon scale of another dragon, there would be no need for battles— everyone would just be studying how to make the opponent's scale heat up.
So when Leon snapped his fingers to detonate Constantine's dragon scale, it intrigued Isha.
Seeing her sister's curiosity, the couple exchanged a glance, and then immediately opened their team's communication channel.
Rossweise: Can't tell the truth, my sister is very smart. As soon as you mention the Empire, she'll immediately get suspicious.
Leon: Got it, give me a few minutes to come up with a better excuse.
Rossweise: A few minutes? Where am I going to get you those few minutes?
Leon: There's no choice, honey, you don't want your husband's human identity exposed, do you?
Rossweise: Hey! …You jerk, hurry up and think of something, I'll help distract her.
Leon: OK
The couple let go of each other's hands. Rossweise walked over to Isha, pressed her lips together, then spoke,
"Actually… it wasn't a time bomb."
Isha raised an eyebrow, looking at her sister, "If it wasn't a time bomb, then what was it?"
"It was… a remote-controlled bomb!"
"🙂"
Isha looked at her with slight bewilderment.
"Little Rose, no matter what kind of bomb it was, it was just a simple metaphor. No need to be so pedantic about it."
She said casually, then slowly turned her gaze to Leon, "So, brother-in-law, how did you manage to do that?"
"Ah… sis, actually—"
Seeing that her sister was about to get straight to the point, Rossweise's brain worked rapidly, thinking of ways to stall.
But Isha was a smart person, and Rossweise couldn't afford to spout nonsense, or else Isha would immediately catch on.
After all, Rossweise wasn't particularly skilled at lying, and she didn't have many clever excuses to offer.
Just as she was feeling desperate, Leon finally spoke up,
"It's like this, sis."
Isha nodded slightly, "Mm, go ahead."
"I dIshappeared for six months through the spatial rift from Ravi, and by accident, I ended up in the future, twenty years ahead. You know about this, right?"
"Right, Little Rose mentioned it in a letter she wrote to me a few days ago but didn't explain it in detail. I've been meaning to ask you about it. Time travel is a rare thing I've never seen before."
Isha watched Leon with interest, "So, does the explosion of Constantine's dragon scale have something to do with your trip to the future?"
"Yeah, there's a connection."
Leon said, "First of all, that dragon scale wasn't originally Constantine's heart-protecting dragon scale, but Black Sun Dragon King Bly's. That's why he can use spatial magic, appear silently at your temple, and avoid Rossweise's lethal strike."
"And that explains how I managed to detonate the dragon scale."
"When I returned from the future, Bly and Jags were attacking My Wife's Silver Dragon Temple. I took them out, along with four other dragon kings."
"But I didn't destroy their heart-protecting dragon scales because, in the future…"
Leon took a deep breath, and he was about to start fabricating the lie, feeling a bit nervous.
Standing beside him, Rossweise also anxiously held her breath, hoping her husband would come up with a good excuse and that Isha wouldn't catch on. Otherwise, not just old Constantine but possibly everyone could be in trouble tonight.
"In the future, I found out that a mysterious organization was collecting dragon heart-protecting dragon scales. Their goal was unclear, but clearly, they were hostile to us."
"So when I returned to the present, in the very first battle, I intentionally left a hand to deal with Bly's dragon scales, as a trump card for future use. Just like how I handled Constantine earlier."
After saying that, Leon looked at Rossweise.
Leon: How was that, honey? I think my excuse is perfect (confident).
Rossweise her lips twitching, a look of exasperation written all over her face:
Some, mysterious, organization—Come on, Dear, you thought of such a hasty and terrible excuse in just two minutes!
Couldn't you have been a little more convincing?!
Do you think my sister is an idiot?
Do you think she'll believe it?.
Leon: Why wouldn't she believe it? I think my reason is flawless (sure)..
Rossweise: If she believes it, I'll—
Isha finally understood, "Oh~~ that's how it is."
She bought it!!
Leon shrugged, then glanced at Rossweise smugly.
What did you just say, Your Majesty? You'll—
Rossweise: I'll… I'll just take my husband's hand, how about that?.
The couple, once again quietly close to each other, Rossweise gently hooked her arm through Leon's, leaned into his ear, and whispered,
"My sister probably just finished fighting, her brain is a little fuzzy, and she didn't dig deeper into your flimsy excuse, so you can enjoy your little victory."
Leon whispered back, "We'll patch things up later, let's just get through tonight first."
In reality, Leon's excuse was indeed hasty.
He had simply replaced "the Empire" with "a mysterious organization."
The rest was the truth.
However, the Empire was the key part of the excuse.
As long as Isha didn't connect Leon's trump card with the Empire, even though she was smart, her mind couldn't immediately jump to the human side.
After all, foreign races fighting dragons weren't just humans— many other races were involved.
They were all waging wars for those limited resources.
Seeing that Isha had bought Leon's last-minute excuse, the couple breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
But little did they know, Isha was secretly observing them, her mind in doubt,
"I just feel… something's not quite right."
Her brother-in-law was indeed hard to figure out, but Isha couldn't directly press him, as that would yield no useful information.
Well… since you've left a hand for this so-called mysterious organization, I'll keep my guard up.
You're indeed an excellent family member, husband, and father,
But certainly not an excellent… pretender.
…
After the battle, Isha efficiently directed the Red Dragon Guards to begin the cleanup work.
"Take down the mammoth legs hanging from the door, see how the meat is, and whether it can still be roasted."
"Replant the entire lawn, since there's not much of it left intact anyway."
"Also, rebuild the pavilion for me. The materials and labor costs will be applied for by my sister. Deny it? She dares to deny me? Her husband broke it, so her family should pay for it!"
"And that… Constantine's head, just bury it somewhere, it looks unlucky."
"..."
The Red Dragon Temple, inside and out, was in a state of dIsharray, and it seemed like it would take a while to fix everything.
Leon and Rossweise stood not far behind Isha, quietly watching her direct the scene.
After a while, Rossweise lowered her voice and said, "My sister doesn't seem to suspect you."
"Of course not. My excuse earlier might have seemed hasty, but in reality—"
"In reality, it was even more hasty," Rossweise said.
Leon rolled his eyes at her and argued, "Actually, it was flawless! Your sister won't find any holes in it to doubt me."
What Leon said was true.
His excuse, while simple, was often the hardest to find flaws in.
If there were too many embellishments and lies in an unspoken truth, it would only raise suspicions.
And it wouldn't be easy to cover up the lie later.
The phrase "a mysterious organization," though hasty, left plenty of room to spin the story later. It wasn't hard to cover up.
"Dad, Mom! Auntie! Are you okay?"
The daughters' voices came from behind.
The couple and Isha turned around.
Under the protection of the Red Dragon maids, the little dragon girls were all safe and sound.
Leon crouched down and picked up Muwen, "Mom and Dad are fine. How about you? Were you scared?"
Muwen's little face clearly showed a hint of lingering fear, but she bravely shook her head. "Muwen wasn't scared. Big sister was always protecting Muwen and Little Light."
Leon gently pressed his cheek to his daughter's, knowing that his little darling was probably quite frightened. She was just trying to avoid making him and Rossweise worry.
However, he didn't force Muwen to admit she was scared. Sometimes, fear is something one has to process on their own.
"Muwen is great. Noah, Little Light, you're great too."
Isha also walked over and picked up Little Light.
The scene was nearly complete, with three parents each holding a child. Only the grandmother was missing, making the full Melkvey family.
Isha, holding Little Light, looked at the wrecked temple with a light sigh, "There's a lot of work after the battle, I probably can't go with you all to Sky City to take the family photo tomorrow."
Little Light blinked her beautiful pink eyes, her gaze shifting past her aunt's shoulder to her parents.
Rossweise caught the unspoken meaning in her daughter's eyes and smiled, nodding in approval.