While every other dragon bowed momentarily as a sign of respect, and returned to idling soon after, the six now stood confused as they not once greeted Raccelline with her formal identity. Adret took the prize here though, as she realised how just six months with the group transformed her to completely ignore the child’s title.

“Is something the matter? Was it rude for me to sit on them… They offered!” She spoke panickedly on approach of the group, worried that she had created a problem in some form and threw out an excuse for it straight away. Although, in this case, it really was just an explanation.

“Not really. We just forgot about some things, did your time in the desert go well?” Korridan came to first, dispelling her concerns as he changed the subject. Obviously, they wanted to discuss this matter, but realistically only Icy and Mala obtained anything of value.

Stress alleviated, she gladly summarised the last four days, “I completed 27 trials! But it was really boring! There was nothing to do, and those worms just bug you constantly. Are we leaving after Icy gets the stone?” She asked such an innocent question, but from the way over fifty pairs of eyes now focused on the group… Things took a really bad turn.

And she realised this too.

“So, you are the dragon who’s just taking the dragonstone? You did stand out with those ridiculous scales, but could you possibly kill a monster like that?” Rather than any of the surrounding dragons with impressive mana, what amounted to a lackey came by to aggravate him… Or maybe they just foolishly acted willfully to uphold the general beliefs of everyone here.

Either way, Icy found it cute.

Not his power, just to be clear, the tough scales and innards easily blocked most Adept true spells, even when enhanced with Origin Force. No mithril tier dragon deserved to be treated lightly, but that just meant everyone here understood the insurmountable gap between themselves and a monster like the demon elf progenitor. And yet, the elders claimed Icy’s group killed it, alone. None doubted that authenticity, but the word ‘alone’ can mean many things.

Another dragon followed up, “I wondered that as well. We heard you used an array to restrict him, but that’s ridiculous. Even an array utilising great languages only partially seals that abomination. You actually used a scroll, didn’t you?”

“It’d have to be a Master true spell at the least to cripple an opponent for that long too,” someone else from the crowd threw in a further point. However, that was just a fake-out. No such spell at that level possessed the means to seal one’s Body, and separate it from their Mind, and Soul.

“Icy, I’m disappointed. Only five of these lot are actually impressive. It was ridiculous for me to trust the words of crazed wizards on this matter. Not that your books are any better,” Mala’s words earned sneers from all but seven dragons, and as they looked at one another they realised none knew which five this wizard talked about. “Ah sorry, I meant six. You’re rather good too, Pritaslo.”

The late compliment almost made the female dragon scoff, but she kept silent regardless, none of them interested in feuding with a human wizard. As dragons, they hardly cared for a human’s word unless they exceeded master tier.

Blossoming or Starlite, those demarcated an important quandary, even more so for dragons.

Icy’s eyes flashed white once more, and his long neck swivelled about once to glance at the whole room. However, when his eyes glanced upon one brown-scaled dragon surrounded by lackeys, a smile grew. Rather than brown, he saw obsidian black diffused with a sharp power which wished to cut apart his eyes simply for looking. But they passed over to look elsewhere, settled on something which drew so much more interest.

The Elder eyes glistened with gold and finally shut off after a few moments, “Two. I believe you called that one, Kalmiktar. As for the other… That one hidden in the corner with dull grey scales. His name?”

A few looked over to who he pointed out succinctly, out of curiosity, and someone answered his question rather quickly, “Lotradus? He’s just average, never even broke the top 20. What the hell’s he got to compare him to Kalmiktar?”

“One with black scales laced with sharp shadows… And another with scales that seek to break the heavens. I have to say though, just standing near him really annoys me,” Icy spoke honestly, the divinity within him broiled from the moment he uncovered that ‘average’ dragon’s highly unique aspect.

But others saw it another way. Especially that top-ranked dragon who wished to claim the stone for themselves. “Bullshit! You come here, having cheated your way to obtain the stone, and now belittle me with these ridiculous lies. Your eyes are good, I see that, but you should’ve chosen someone less well-known if you’d spout such nonsense.”

“That’s not true in the slightest, but anyway… If I can prove to you we possess enough means on our own to kill a Blossoming wizard of such calibre, will you let this matter go?”

“Of course not!” Kalmiktar’s angered response infused with the general agreements from dragons all around them.

He mumbled with exasperation, “So this is a matter of principle? Are all of you such sticklers for the rules… Or maybe I’m the weird one?” A few dragons rolled their eyes, but none spoke up as Kalmiktar silently opposed him. Icy thought about it some more, and thought up the most direct solution to this nuisance. Asking, “How do we resolve this matter?”

Korridan butted in as Mala translated the words for them all, “Preferably in a way that requires no one dies.”

“Relinquish that ridiculous reward for something fair. If you want the dragonstone, then fight for it. Or is that body of ice cream so fragile you need to use this method just to win?” Given the glares right now, if any other dragon made that comment, he knew the room would have descended into jeers and insults.

“I don’t really want to spend a few months here, but the elders will probably force me to anyway. One month then, either beat me in combat or have a higher rank. Complete either, and the dragonstone is yours!” The change of pace surprised many. After all, who amongst them held the guts to willingly give up a guaranteed reward of a dragonstone?

And while it shut up most of the gathered dragons, as Kalmiktar returned to his group, they immediately talked amongst themselves through a communication spell of some sort. Many other dragons did as well, and all seven of the group more or less understood the discussions.

When to attack? Fight lethally? Use consumable scrolls and weapons? But most of all… Who was most likely to hinder each of the big names after they beat this ice cream dragon.

Everyone knew the reports. They knew how Icy’s combat power hardly mattered in physical battles, and the humans beside him did all the heavy lifting in that regard. Furthermore, a few with relatively high attainments with arrays knew that even with an hour of preparation at most Icy prepared an array with Adept true spell effects.

In other words, he either planned a special weapon for this, or sought to trade the stone away… But everyone dismissed that latter option immediately.

“Wait, you said we must beat you, so let’s fight here! In the palace, all lethal attacks are suppressed, so both our lives are guaranteed,” a new voice from the corner broke through, but somehow it lacked any tension as the surrounding dragons looked at this challenger oddly. Lotradus, precisely that special dragon he picked out. And while the palace grounds descended into pure silence, everyone also spread out to give the two dragons space.

He refused, clearly struggling as though he secretly wanted this battle, “I suggest you stand down. If it were anyone else I’d accept this.”

“You’re scared now? After you came in and looked down on all the dragons here? Well over a dozen with potential already great enough to reach cornem tier, and now you’re scared of me!? What a little joke you really are, a mishap at that.”

Someone finally said it. He waited to see who initiated, and of course, it had to be this dragon out of everyone. He could keep his cool against anyone else mentioning it, but the troubled divinity within him already targeted its foe. An already bubbling annoyance changed to true anger, for no real reason, but Icy’s eyes narrowed at Lotradus’.

That… That damn whelp said those words knowing full well what came next.

“Five seconds. Prepare yourself now,” Icy’s words gave next to no time for anyone to react, least of all his friends.

Mala tried to intervene the moment he heard such Draconic, worrisomely shouting, “You’re being rash–”

“Quiet! He accepted the battle and set the conditions,” multiple dragons hushed Mala, all with slight variations of the same words. They all prepared to see what abilities Icy revealed in this fight, and whether the ordinary-seeming dragon held any of his own.

A pocket watch appeared, wound up to 15 seconds, and precisely as five seconds passed… Everyone in the room saw Icy appear beside Lostradus no slower than a master tier, with a spell already cast. His speckled teeth transformed to a blood red, and bit down on dirty, silver scales with a crunch. Golden light barely shone through the heavy red, one which enhanced not only the teeth, but the spell which allowed this transformation.

All it took was a single crack. Just the slightest piercing through scales tougher than natural diamond. And that red colour seeped into Lotradus’ body, and Icy already reached his original spot.

Blood Explosion, an Adept true spell composed of 215 words and compressed down to a mere 89. A fiddly thing to use as it only coated a tooth, claw, or horn and needed to enter the body through a direct wound, not to mention his whole mess with transformative spells which meant only his teeth could make use of it.

But once inside a body, the damage spoke for itself.

At the makeshift arena’s edge, Lotradus’ body cracked and split, scales fell off as skin beneath peeled with gaping wounds. No blood poured out, instead it coagulated into thick clumps and boils formed on the gored skin.

Then it exploded.

Like a mine underwater, liquid gushed out and sprouted into a fountain in all directions. A very physical impact smashed into the target as well, muscles torn and bones shattered. Sudden walls of mana erupted from the dragons nearby to block the shower of blood, but all around the victim remained a lake of dark red sand, clumped up with so much liquid that it became a slurry.

However, even though the massive beast already released waterfalls of blood, he stood strong without recognition of pain. Perhaps rather devastating against humans and other beasts, but dragons hardly depended on blood like other species. So long as their hearts pumped mana, they could frankly be drained dry and survive the ordeal. To withstand this attack, the blow invoked through it, and then stand idly, he didn’t think much of the combination.

But just as they stood eye-to-eye, aggression multiplied on each other’s face for seemingly no reason. Neither of the two controlled the powers within them properly, however, one of them already gave into its aggressive tendencies to all that is divine.

Gravity multiplied hundreds of times over, and Icy almost fell to the ground if not for the spirit’s footing. At the same time, the divinity within him activated on its own and fought against the pressure. As though it met a divine might which blanketed him, but so much more offensive in nature this time. It materialised naturally into a golden cloak of Divinus runes, and seized all pressure.

Not just on him, but the surroundings as a whole.

Lotradus beckoned him, not purely out of his power’s will, but something personal sought to fight. And Icy could make a guess, mocking the self-absorbed dragon, “You’ve never actually gained its acceptance? Have you? No reason you’ve been so average!” His derisive laughter easily enraged the other, and at the same time filled himself with amusement.

Transparent, cold flames surged from his body. They wrapped around to form a suit of invisible armour and flared outwards. However, even as they washed through many dragons, none received even the lightest lick of heat. On Icy’s end though, his already out of control divinity took full control, no longer inactive, it forced the full extent onto his weak body.

[2 minutes until burn out begins. You can survive that state, unharmed, for 25 seconds]

Quite nice of the Nexus to warn him of these things, having Authority really helped in so many ways.

The golden cape wrapped around his body, in its place came not a coating like Lotradus, but rather a giantised dragon with Icy at the centre. An immaculate figure of Divinus, bathing the palace grounds in golden light.

So much for a battle…

“What a useless thing you are. No wonder those Divinus-wrecking flames ignored you,” Icy spoke, his voice carried through the air and instantly translated to all those who heard it. It lacked his usual rough, deepened voice, or the one laced with anger, but contained a desire that vowed all listeners must kneel. Most of the dragons here trained their Minds and Souls enough to resist such things, but a few still failed.

His incarnation of Divinus flapped its wings, and the invisible flames over its temporary owner created a pair to lift him up. Icy already saw through the battle in its entirety though.

How could something unrecognised by this power possibly outlast him? Even Icy did not know how such a thing came to be, but the relatively gentle divinity won any battle of attrition. And with a tiny orb beside him, its size not even great enough to stick between his teeth, it glowed with golden markings over a shell of green, so dark Lostradus mistook it for black as well.

This battle, the first at that, might appear the most brilliant, but he knew that more were due to come. And in those, the Kandir divinity retrieved its desire to fight.

“You… will all make wonderful meals,” his words came out twisted, but the gaze of endless greed marked a frightening moment for every young dragon in the Dragonlands.