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Floating in the air was an aircraft. It was outfitted with never before seen weaponry, each radiating a subtle aura so immense even the current Damian felt slightly threatened.

Even so, the most eye-catching part of the aircraft wasn't it futuristic design, nor was it its weapons that pointed at the group, but the man that currently piloted said aircraft.

Although, the aircraft was entirely cladded in metals even Damian felt would take him several minutes to destroy relying on his pure strength alone, a holographic visage of said pilot was projected for them to see.

He was a Human, clearly confirmed from his appearance. He had fiery red hair, crimson eyes and he bearded a bush of red hair as well, a sneer tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Who is he?" Damian asked, never once withdrawing his gaze from the aircraft, or more specifically, its weapons. Just by looking at them, he felt his senses tingle slightly.

Although, his question appeared to be directed at no one in particular, an answer came almost immediately.

"Claude Dy Antonio." The melodious voice of the Duchess, suffused with an anger that threatened to overflow, sounded.

"Well, judging by the way he addressed you and you, him, you two seem to have history, no?"

A sigh was what followed Damian's question. The Duchess looked on with a complicated gaze that soon burned with rage, and answered.

"He was my father."

Damian raised an eyebrow, finally looking at the Duchess. His mind raced, surfing through countless thoughts before settling on two.

"So, you are a half-Human." He said, taking his time to reexamine the tiny details he had overlooked in the heat of the battle.

Firstly, unlike the other Draconians, the Duchess possessed no scales whatsoever, nor did her tailbone extend several feet out of her body. In addition, she didn't have the exceedingly tall heights common among the Draconians.

But what she did retain was the horns that sat imposingly on her forehead and the reptilian golden eyes that clearly announced her part non-Human heritage.

"And I seem to hear you saying something about him being dead. With the hostility that practically wafted off your body and him, his eyes, didn't that mean you…?"

"Yes, I was his killer." The Duchess's words was swift and succinct, her murderous intents undulating off her voice.

To this, however, Damian only chuckled. He didn't want to know why she killed her own father, not because he condoned it, but because he didn't see a need to.

The fact that her father could call her a lizard bitch and speak of eradicating her existence as though it was another day spoke volumes.

'In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason the Draconians treated Humans worse than slaves was solely because of this man, or at the very least, he was a part,'

Damian casually thought, but he didn't know how accurate he was.

Claude Dy Antonio was a powerful man few could match. In fact, he had been the King of the Nevermore Kingdom for tens of years, until his daughter, the Duchess, Valerie Dy Antonio, revolted against him and succeeded.

With her father's supposed death, Valerie took the reins, forcefully subduing the noble families under her father's rule before his death. She then changed the name of the Nevermore Kingdom to Nevermore Territory, and made its capital the Draconian Duchy of today.

Swift and simple, however, the reason for her revolt was anything but. Claude was a tyrannical magnate who acts as he pleased, and awarded any sort of defiance, even the slightest bit, with death.

In addition, he took women from all over the Kingdom, and snatched wives from their husbands, making his harem the largest in the history of the Nevermore Kingdom. And yet, he was never satisfied.

At that time though, the Draconians were the only other race that could oppose Claude. Headed by Valerie's mother, a pure Draconian, and a powerful one at that, they stood a chance to go against the Humans, or so they had thought, until Claude invaded their home with hundreds of thousands of soldiers outfitted with advanced war suits and weapons.

The Draconians stood no chance. They lost. Even so, it hadn't been an easy battle, and Claude could have sworn he hadn't saw his soldiers dwindle so greatly in his life.

The major force of the Draconians was Valerie's mother. She, alone, decimated thousands to tens of thousands to over hundred thousands of his soldiers.

However, in the end, she was subdued.

Claude then took her as a war trophy back to his castle, raped her anytime he felt like it, and have her treated worse than a slave. It was during this time she got pregnant with Valerie, and Claude, after being aware of this, did nothing to abort the child despite having the capabilities to do so.

He didn't abort the baby because he was suddenly compassionate, no, but because he intended to treat the child, which was Valerie, no different from the way he treated her mother.

Getting a whiff of the Human King's vile intentions, Valerie's mother did everything she could to protect her baby. She activated a secret technique she had stumbled upon ages ago and transferred the memories she felt was appropriate for the growth of the baby to the still developing child, and sealed it, but timed it to break the day her baby clocked ten years.

This was the only way she felt she could protect her child. With the memories, her baby would be able to begin preparing ahead.

Finally, when the child was beget, she was forcefully snatched from her seconds after. She wasn't even given a moment to cuddle with her child.

It was that very night she died, killed by Claude himself, after telling her he had gotten bored of her.

He then began raising the child, treating her a little more better than his slaves. Unbeknownst to him however, when said child clocked ten, she awakened the memories her mother sealed in her mind, making her aware of the real story behind her birth and her mother's death.

Although she had cried and weeped. She didn't let that weigh her down, and immediately began fabricating the fall of Claude Dy Antonio from that moment.

With her half-Draconian blood and half-Human blood merging into one, she appeared to inherit the best of both worlds, making her several notches stronger than those of her kind, be it Human or Draconian.

With the memories she inherited, she polished her skills secretly, built elite forces, and eventually, she triumphed over Claude.

However, it appeared he had miraculously survived.

Valerie frowned as she looked at the face of the vile Human in the projection.

'How had he survived that?'

She could still remember that day. She had first beaten him to an inch of his life and decapacitated him by tearing his limbs from their sockets. She then hung his body on a post for all the whole Kingdom to see, and afterwards left him to die of blood loss.

But it appeared he had somehow… survived.

However, that didn't seem to matter now. She didn't care how he survived. But the fact that he had dared to come face her again meant… she would just have to kill him again.

Valerie turned to face Damian, her rage reaching a point where it almost triggered the frenzied state of her Draconian blood again.

"What is your name?" She asked.

Damian chuckled, a smile playing his perfect features before his gaze grew serious.

"Damian. My name is Damian."

"So, Damian. I need your help with killing him."