[Protect]!
A pale blue, semi-transparent light barrier, at the critical moment, firmly blocked the path of the dragon's fiery breath!
"Sizzle—!!!"
The scorching breath fiercely collided and rubbed against the Protect barrier...! It was ultimately deflected, grazing past Cecilia's ear and instantly melting an Angel Statue behind her into red-hot magma.
The dust settled slightly.
That deep blue giant shark stood steadily in front of her, its back to her, facing the terrifying demonic dragon.
Cecilia's pupils contracted, her voice trembling.
"Stu... stupid ground dragon?! How... how did you..."
Caesar stared at the corrupted Red Dragon opposite him, his tone still carrying that familiar teasing.
"Shut up. Your Concert Tickets are so hard to get (referring to the difficulty of the setup), if the Actor leaves early, wouldn't my ticket money be wasted?"
...
From the perspective of the populace, the world seemed to have gone completely mad within minutes.
First, the sky inexplicably split open with a terrifying gap, then a respected "lord" in the VIP Seatssuddenly transformed into a ferocious, fire-breathing Red Dragon. Now, from beneath the Saintess's stage, an even more ferocious, unheard-of blue ground dragon had emerged!
"It's another dragon!"
"They're fighting! Is it infighting?"
"That blue one... did it just Protect Her Highness the Saintess?!"
Shocked, fearful, and bewildered discussions exploded and spread through the chaotic crowd.
In the Noble Viewing Seats, heavily guarded Veronica clearly saw Caesar's familiar yet now vastly different massive figure from afar.
She froze for a moment, then tightly covered her mouth, her azure eyes bursting with extremely complex emotions—shock, worry, and a hint of barely concealed excitement.
"That figure... could it be..."
#
At the center of the battlefield, Caesar instantly recognized his old enemy Fafnir, but his condition was clearly abnormal.
[Warning! Detected extremely high-threat target: "Fafnir Sebastian (Abyss Corrupted State)". Attributes: Dragon/Dark. Rank:?? (Energy levels fluctuating violently, soul conflict). Status: souldominance has been seized by the Legendary demon "Beelzebub (Remnant Soul)", rationality completely lost, exhibiting self-destructive tendencies.]
(Tch! This Red-Haired Gorilla really looked like he was on the decline before, and now some filthy thing actually took advantage!)
Caesar cursed inwardly, but his movements showed no hesitation—strike first to gain the advantage!
[Sandstorm]! Rise!
Centered on his foothold, violent yellow sand and dust surged into the sky, instantly forming a Sandstorm that enveloped nearly half the square, visibility plummeting to less than five meters!
[Sand Veil] ability activated, Caesar's deep blue figure became blurred and flickering within the howling Sandstorm, like a ghost.
He didn't charge directly forward. Instead, he suddenly raised his right foot and stomped heavily on the ground!
[Bulldoze]!
Boom! The already shattered ground shook violently again, more dust and debris were thrown into the air, mixing with the Sandstorm and further obscuring all senses. Under the cover of this swirling yellow haze, his deep blue figure shot forward like lightning skimming the ground!
On his Dragon Claws, dragon-type energy condensed into a substantial, dark blue sharp edge—
[Dragon Claw]! Tear!
"Clang—!!!!!"
It wasn't the dull thud of flesh and blood colliding, but an ear-piercing explosive sound like two super-giant metal blades clashing! Sparks erupted blindingly within the dust.
"Roar!!"
The demonic Fafnir let out a pained roar. The layer of dark Blue Dragon power on Caesar's claws was mostly negated by its hard scales, but the counter-damage pain from [Rough Skin] was transmitted solidly beneath its skin, like flesh rubbing against coarse steel!
Having landed a successful hit, Caesar didn't get greedy. He used the recoil from the collision to leap back lightly, while his gaze, sharp as a torch, fixed on the demonic Fafnir's footing—
[Sand Tomb]!
The ground instantly turned muddy and vortex-like! Large amounts of quicksand, like living tentacles, coiled upward, attempting to drag this frenzied Evil Dragon into a deep, restraining pit.
His strategy was clear: control the field, wear down the enemy, create an absolute one-hit kill opportunity.
Deep within Caesar's Dragon Pupils, a point of dark purple light began to rapidly spin and expand. He held his claws together in front of him, vast Ghost-Type Energy frantically gathering and compressing. An ominous dark energy sphere, capable of swallowing light and sound, was rapidly taking shape—the prelude to the Z-Move [Endless Nights Temptation]!
He intended to use this dark night Domain to simultaneously envelop the "Ultimate Cave" in the sky, the demonic Fafnir before him, and himself... Under the cover of absolute darkness and silence, fully detonate the Z-Move, covering the entire area!
Then, take advantage of the chaos to escape with the dragon!
"Get ready," Caesar said softly to Cecilia behind him. "Hold on tight."
Although Cecilia still hadn't fully grasped the situation, she nodded instinctively and reached out to grab Caesar's Dorsal Fin.
Darkness began to spread, the Ghostly Hand's seal was about to form, and the Ultimate Cave in the sky seemed to stabilize and contract slightly due to the powerful energy pull.
Now—detonate! Then, retreat!
However, just as Caesar was about to complete the final channeling, the instant before he submerged his consciousness into the detonation command—
The sky was torn apart by something "even more scorching".
...
It wasn't light.
Rather, the temperature of the entire Starlight Square skyrocketed by hundreds of degrees Celsius in a ten-thousandth of a second, without any warning! The air distorted and refracted on a massive scale due to the extreme heat, making everything in sight appear weirdly wavering.
A giant claw, composed entirely of the purest golden-red flames and materialized burning Laws, as if reaching out from the surface of the sun, pierced through space and descended from the heavens above!
It didn't slap or swing; it simply reached out from the air and "scooped" toward the demonic Fafnir struggling in the quicksand.
"No! How is this pos—sible—?!!"
The Shadow of Beelzebub inside Fafnir let out an unwilling shriek! Before the words faded, a twisted column of smoke, pitch-black on the energy level and absolutely invisible to Mortals, was forcibly "extracted" from deep within Fafnir's body by that flaming giant claw!
Then, the fingertips of the giant claw gently closed.
"Pop."
A faint, crisp sound.
That wisp of black smoke, representing the Legendary demon Beelzebub's split soul, vanished completely in the scorching light of the Laws, like a popped bubble, leaving no trace.
As the black smoke vanished, all the ferocious demonic features on Fafnir—the bleeding scales, sulfur-fire eyes, ominous black aura—receded like a tide. The madness in his eyes dissipated, leaving only endless exhaustion and Confusion. His massive dragon body lost all strength and fell limply from mid-air.
Then, it was caught steadily, as if catching a feather, in the palm of that flaming giant claw.
Only then did the belated, yet seemingly eternal, terrifying pressure descend like a falling sky, crashing down upon the soul of every living being in the entire royal capital!
This aura...
—Caesar instantly halted all movement, every scale on his body standing on end.
That Legendary Red Dragon! Why is she here?!
And, definitely not a Law projection like before... This is her true form, personally present!
The intensity of this pressure made all non-Dragon Clan beings in the area—whether civilians, soldiers, Temple Knights, or High-Ranking Inquisitors—instantly feel their hearts stop, blood freeze, and souls suffocate! The church's jointly maintained Holy Light barrier, under the flushingof this pressure, flickered violently like a candle in a storm, on the verge of extinguishing completely at any moment.
After Ilena rescued her student, her massive, mountain-like fiery contour slowly became clear in the air. She didn't even deliberately release her might; her mere existence made space itself groan.
Her eyes, burning with eternal fire, slowly swept over the ravaged square and chaotic crowd below. Finally, like two scorching suns locking onto a target, they fell upon Caesar.
Not because of the dangerous move Caesar was preparing, nor because of his shark-like appearance.
But because she sensed that... deeply ingrained aversion and vigilance from the deepest part of her Bloodline, from the Dragon Clan's Inheritance memories—the defiling aura of—
[dragon devourer] Curse!
(—[dragon devourer I: You are tainted with the resentment and bloody smell of your kin. Initial affinity and affinity growth rate with all dragon-type creatures are forcibly reduced by 50%. When affinity falls below 50, you will be considered a hostile creature.])
"Goo-choo! Goo-choo!"
At that moment, three small, semi-transparent, chibi-style Red Dragon soul phantom, flapping their tiny wings, hurriedly flew out from behind the Mane of Ilena's massive Dragon Head.
They were none other than the Gan, Wen, and Cui Brothers, whom Caesar had counter-killed in the Mine Tunnel and whose souls were turned into "dragon bubbles"!
Hiding behind Ilena's enormous Dragon Head, they pointed at Caesar below, urgently tattling:
"It's him! It's him!"
Ilena's gaze finally fully focused on Caesar.
There was no anger in that gaze, only the cold scrutiny of a supreme being looking at an "error".
"..."
The Legendary Great Dragon said nothing.
She simply slowly raised one of the giant claws, composed of flames and Laws, that seemed capable of easily crushing mountains, and pointed a single finger at Caesar below.
"—!"
The next moment, Caesar felt the entire world solidify.
Not a metaphor. The space around him, the instant that finger pointed, turned into a cage ten thousand times harder than the strongest alloy! Even the finest dust particles froze in mid-air.
Simultaneously, a pressure as if the entire weight of the Azeria continent were pressing down, condensed to the extreme, mixed with materialized "burning" Laws, gathered and collapsed above his head!
A sky-obscuring, golden-red flaming Dragon Claw silently appeared directly above him, then slowly pressed downward...
There was no sound of tearing air, nor any wave of scorching heat preceding it.
Only the deathly silence where space itself was slightly scorched and rippled by the passing of the Dragon Claw, and the "erasure" will locked onto his soul.
A calamity, here—materialized as a press of a fingertip!!