"Rooaaar!"
Over the skies of the Imperial Capital, a golden brilliance tore through the clouds. Skyler Quinn, transformed into a divine dragon, streaked across the firmament and arrived at the Mutant Beast Observation Center in mere moments.
But the facility was no longer intact—it had become a battlefield. All the buildings lay in ruins.
On the ground, corpses of humans and beasts alike littered the rubble. Even now, ability users fought desperately against mutant monsters. What shocked Skyler most, however, was the sight of a panda locked in fierce combat with a snow leopard.
He had no time to ponder. Flames surged in his throat, condensing into a blazing orb of power. A scarlet beam split the skies, descending like divine judgment.
Boom!
The scorching torrent incinerated every mutant beast caught in its path, bodies pierced straight through.
Skyler landed on the shattered earth, reverting to human form. His face betrayed no emotion. Raising his right hand, he summoned a long blade forged of thunder.
"Kill!"
Blue-violet lightning burst from him, enveloping his frame. With a surge of acceleration, he plunged into the horde.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
At the peak of speed, paired with lightning's brutal wrath, Skyler was like the sovereign of the battlefield, slaughtering beasts as though reaping wheat.
A massive serpent lunged. Its hiss reverberated through the wreckage.
Bang!
Skyler spun, his leg whipping out like a storm-driven lash. His kick hurled the giant snake away. A heartbeat later, he hurled his thunder-forged blade after it. The weapon twisted into a lightning serpent mid-flight, skewering the mutant python's body.
"It's the Dragon Emperor! Dragon Emperor is here!"
Relief flooded the faces of the embattled ability users.
Skyler Quinn was one of Huaxia's strongest. His power utterly eclipsed these beasts.
Though even he could not wipe them all out alone, his presence gave the others newfound courage.
Skyler frowned. His strikes never faltered—each arc of lightning carved down another beast.
But it wasn't enough.
The monsters weren't only those confined within the Observation Center. Mutant beasts from the surrounding areas were converging. At this pace, killing them all would take far too long.
He needed greater power.
Now, he had to choose a path.
Thunder Dragon, Golden Dragon, Azure Dragon, Black Dragon. If he committed, he could no longer wield fragments of them all—but in return, his bloodline power would reach purer heights, unleashing the true strength of dragons.
"Then… I'll choose Thunder."
Lightning was the element he knew best. Its speed and destructive might were unmatched. With it, he could cull the beasts faster.
Yet just as he prepared to commit to the Thunder Dragon's path—
Time itself froze.
Mutants, ability users, flying attacks, even the spray of blood hanging in the air—all of it stopped. Skyler could move, but his powers were sealed.
"Rooaaar!"
A dragon's cry echoed in his ears.
Before him appeared a crimson crystal etched with a dragon's head, along with a summoner bracer engraved with flame runes and clasped in a claw-like design.
"The Flame Dragon Summoner…?"
Skyler's eyes widened. He was around Firewing's age—of course, as a child, he had watched Armor Hero. Of course he had fantasized about becoming one. But fantasies were fantasies. How could they ever be real?
"…Was it him?"
A single figure rose in his mind: Brandon White.
Skyler had no idea that Brandon possessed the power to manifest works of film and anime into reality. Only Firewing and Huaxia's highest authorities knew.
But he knew one thing: if anyone could create the Flame Dragon Armor, it could only be Brandon White.
That man bore the power of a god.
Skyler had once fought him—and been utterly crushed. Even at his fullest, his blows had bounced harmlessly off Brandon's body.
His vaunted physique, normally enough to dominate any battlefield, had been broken with casual ease.
At the end, Brandon had simply summoned five elemental dragons and let them thrash Skyler at will.
The gap had been absolute.
Chris Frost had said Brandon could manipulate his powers directly. If true, then in Brandon's presence, Skyler wouldn't even be able to use his abilities.
The Natural Authority—a force nigh divine.
Yes, if it were him, then creating the Flame Dragon Armor was only natural.
You're giving this to me… Do you know of my hesitation?
Skyler's lips curved faintly upward. He strapped the Flame Dragon Summoner onto his arm, lifted the Fire Crystal, and slotted it in.
"Flame Dragon Armor—Unite!"
At once, time resumed.
A dragon's roar burst across the battlefield, accompanied by a crushing aura. Both humans and beasts froze. Under its weight, their bodies could not move.
"Armor Fusion!"
A voice of righteous authority boomed.
A scarlet, dragon-shaped armor manifested, wrapping Skyler's body. Then, with a deafening eruption, fire blazed from him, shooting skyward in a pillar of red light that pierced the heavens.
…
In Brandon White's home, where he was playing with Pikachu, he suddenly looked up, as though sensing something.
"The Flame Dragon Armor chose Skyler, huh?"
"A Divine Dragon paired with a Flame Dragon… fitting."
He nodded approvingly.
Skyler was Huaxia's own—a soldier born of a military family, a man whose heart held only loyalty to his nation.
For him, country and people came first.
Some might argue his sense of justice was narrow, bound only to Huaxia and not the world at large.
But Huaxia was enough.
Skyler didn't care what happened to the world. What mattered to him was Huaxia—always Huaxia.
"The Flame Dragon Armor I manifested retains every trait from Armor Hero. Its upper limit is tied to me, but for you—it will be more than enough."
The Five Element Armors had no fixed limits. Their true strength depended on their wielders.
And Skyler Quinn, with his Divine Dragon powers and a body as formidable as a dragon's cub, would wield it far beyond anything the original series' Xin Nan had ever shown.
Even in base Flame Dragon form, the power he could unleash was terrifying.
"The Flame Dragon Armor has chosen Skyler… I wonder who the others will be chosen by."
Brandon chuckled softly and turned back to Pikachu.
(End of Chapter)