As they stood frozen, three colossal beasts plunged from the sky, their massive jaws yawning wide.
"Boom!!!"
Crimson dragonfire poured down like a waterfall, instantly swallowing a tightly packed formation of cavalry.
The moment the flames touched flesh and horseflesh alike, both were vaporized, with no time even for a scream.
Dry grass on the ground ignited at once. Stone melted and flowed, forming rolling fields of molten lava.
Lo Quen sat astride Blooddancer, looking down over the enemy ranks.
At his command, Blooddancer and Ashshadow roared once more, veering in unison before exhaling another blast of dragonfire. A cavalry unit that had been trying to regroup was erased in an instant, reduced to drifting ash.
On the other side of the battlefield, Janice rode the purple dragon Duskshadow. Jaelena was mounted on the silver dragon Silverfall. Daenerys worked in perfect coordination with Greysmoke, while Chai Yiq directed the blue dragon Seaheart.
Pol Qo had once been proud and dismissive, scoffing at the very notion of dragons.
Now, standing before six such monsters, he seemed laughable.
He had believed dragons to be nothing more than exaggerated tales, creatures no larger than Rainwood basilisks or oversized lizards, something that arrows could easily bring down.
Reality shattered that illusion.
These were true calamities, living disasters given form.
Some brave soldiers raised their bows and loosed arrows into the sky. The shafts struck dragon scales with sharp, metallic clangs, failing to leave even the faintest mark before dropping uselessly to the ground.
The archers themselves were incinerated moments later, engulfed by onrushing dragonfire and turned into burning silhouettes.
In an instant, the battle shifted from a clash between two armies into a one-sided massacre.
The power of the dragons crushed every known form of military organization.
Personal bravery, battlefield formations, the subtleties of command—none of it mattered in the face of such absolute disparity in strength.
Pol Qo was shaken to his core.
He had spent his life at war, from clashes with the Jogos Nhai to the chaos of competing warlords in Yi Ti. Through raw ferocity and cunning tactics, striking stronger enemies with ambushes and surprise, he had never known defeat. That record had earned him the fearsome title of the "Hammer of the Jogos Nhai" and allowed him to establish the "Orange Dynasty," a power that could stand against Yi Ti itself.
Never before had he suffered a loss so complete, so utterly without resistance.
Watching his army wail and collapse beneath dragonfire, seeing flames like divine punishment ruthlessly burn away his dreams of domination, Pol Qo came close to breaking.
No one could harm a dragon.
And no one dared challenge them again.
Terror swallowed what remained of Pol Qo's soldiers.
After a thousand years, dragons had returned to the lands of Yi Ti, bringing not glory, but awe and death.
"Run!"
"Monsters! They're monsters!"
"We surrender! Please, stop burning us!"
The will to survive crushed all other thoughts. Weapons were thrown aside as soldiers fled in panic toward the rear, toward the sea.
The ferocious Jogos Nhai warriors were the first to be wiped out by the Dragon Soul Guards. The remaining cavalry fell in great swathes, hunted relentlessly by dragonfire from above.
Those who lived dropped to their knees along the shore, casting away their arms, trembling and sobbing as they surrendered, begging the death god in the sky to spare them.
The entire coastline of the Jade Sea was dyed an unnatural mix of crimson and black.
Across the plains, withered grass and corpses burned together, thick black smoke rolling upward into the heavens.
On the sea itself floated countless charred remains and desperate survivors, their blood turning the blue waters into vast, spreading stains of red.
The battlefield was left in utter ruin.
And Pol Qo himself, the ambitious man known as the "Hammer of the Jogos Nhai," never even had the chance to perform his final dance. As a sweep of crimson dragonfire washed over the low hill where he stood, he and his warhammer were reduced to drifting ash, scattered on the wind and erased from the world.
...
Yin.
News of Pol Qo's crushing defeat along the Jade Sea coast, where more than a hundred thousand cavalry were all but wiped out and Pol Qo himself was burned to ash by dragonfire, reached Yin with astonishing speed.
On the surface, this immense and magnificent city appeared as prosperous and orderly as ever.
Yet in the markets, within noble estates, and deep inside the imperial palace, countless rumors harmful to the throne quietly spread.
When the confirmed battle report was rushed into the palace by relay riders, the entire court seemed to suffocate.
Bu Gai sat on his chair in full court regalia, his face pale as death.
He gripped the report tightly, as though he could already see colossal dragons blotting out the sky before his eyes.
"My lords…"
Bu Gai's voice was hoarse, trembling on the edge of tears.
"Pol… Pol Qo has been defeated… a hundred thousand troops, gone in smoke and ash… we… what are we to do?"
The civil and military officials filling the hall were just as ashen-faced.
Those ministers who had earlier argued for using Pol Qo to wear down Lo Quen now kept their heads lowered, afraid to meet anyone's gaze, their backs drenched in cold sweat.
None of them had imagined Pol Qo would lose so quickly, so completely. Nor had they believed the dragons' power would truly be as terrifying as the rumors claimed.
In the dead silence, the Grand General suddenly stepped forward.
He was one of the few in the hall who still managed to hold onto a semblance of composure.
His voice rang out like a great bell as he faced the throne.
"Your Majesty! There is no need for alarm! Pol Qo fell because he underestimated the enemy and acted rashly. How could his rabble be compared to the mighty Heavenly Army of Yin? I am willing to lead ten thousand Imperial Guards out of the city to meet the foe. I will not allow that rebel to take even a single step into Yin!"
His stirring declaration failed to raise morale. Instead, several ministers' faces changed drastically.
Fight outside the city?
After hearing how the dragons had obliterated Pol Qo's army, they were still expected to march out and face them?
That was nothing less than seeking death.
Bu Gai looked at the Grand General. There was no comfort in his eyes, only deeper fear.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but in the end could only weakly wave his hand.
"G-Grand General… your loyalty is firmer than the Five Forts themselves. But as for leaving the city to meet the enemy… let us discuss that another time…"
Bu Gai nearly slumped against the dragon throne as he brought the hopeless council to an end.
After the meeting, undercurrents began to churn.
That very night, several senior ministers who wielded real power and whose families were deeply entrenched in Yin gathered in secret within a hidden chamber of a noble estate belonging to a man famed for his shrewdness.
Candlelight flickered, illuminating their faces as shadows shifted between light and dark.
"We can't hesitate any longer!"
A noble who controlled the treasury spoke urgently.
"Even Pol Qo's hundred thousand iron cavalry couldn't stop Lo Quen's advance. He has six dragons! Is that something human strength can resist? And that fool still wants to fight outside the city? He means to drag the entire city down with him!"
"But… His Majesty and the Grand General…" another noble said hesitantly.
"His Majesty?"
The first noble replied coldly, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
"That Bu Gai brat is weak and incompetent. How could he possibly continue ruling Yin? As for that Grand General, he's courting death. For the sake of the people of the city, for the survival of our houses, we must make a swift decision."
"So you mean…"
All eyes turned to him, understanding already taking root.
He spoke slowly and clearly.
"Replace the God-Emperor. Open the city gates."