Chapter 80: Dawn of Dragons

As I suspected, it wasn't long before the Dragon Legion arrived, headed by none other than Ragios. With a flap of his massive wings, the ruby-scaled dragon landed right outside Claude's castle. The flock of dragons he had brought with him cast large shadows across the ground, momentarily blotting out the sun.

The orc serving as a sentry had caught sight of the dragons in the distance and quickly raised the alarm. As such, I was more than ready to greet Ragios and his army of dragons, along with a contingent of vampires, kobolds, dark mages, elves, orcs and lich. Truthfully, I wasn't sure if even such a sizable force would be able to withstand an assault from the dragons.

The opponents were dragons, after all. Each individual dragon was worth a hundred or so normal creatures. An entire flock of them could raze several armies.

On the other hand, we had vampires, dark mages and elves on our side. If physical arms and conventional weaponry were of little use against dragons, then magic was our trump card. As powerful as they were, dragons were still not impervious to magic. Magic was one of the few tactics that were effective against them.

Ragios strode to the front, his tremendous talons crushing rock and leaving craters in the earth. He glared at us and snorted a cloud of smoke from his nostrils.

"So which one of you is the so-called new Demonic Emperor?"

"That would be me." I stepped up to the front, my right hand resting on the hilt of my sheathed Nocturne. Not too aggressive, but enough to show the arrogant dragon that I wasn't going to be intimidated by his show of force.

Ragios studied me, his reptilian eyes narrowing, then he sneered.

"You? A wimpy, skinny vampire? I expected a little more."

"Why, you piece of…" Stryker growled, about to draw his sword and stomp forward. I raised a hand to stop him.

"I also heard about you, Sir Ragios. Initially, I was impressed that you managed to take leadership over the Dragon Legion, but now that I've met you in person…" I sighed theatrically. "I must admit that I'm disappointed. Lady Tiamattra was a lot more imposing and dignified than you."

Flames erupted around Ragios as he snarled and reared up, his wings sweeping up a tremendous gust of wind.

"You dare…?"

"Why wouldn't I?" I responded quizzically. "And besides, aren't you the one who should mind your manners? Or are you the type who can dish it but can't take it? You remind me of a motivated sloth."

"Did you just compare me to a…sloth?" Ragios asked incredulously. "And one of the most toxic, arrogant and rude sloths to ever exist on the planet, at that?"

"If you want to think of it like that, then yeah." I shrugged. Whoa, bro, I never went that far. But okay…

Ragios furiously unleashed a torrent of flames upon my position, but I simply raised a hand and instantly froze the tide of fire into a wall of ice. Embers turned into frost and the huge glacial wall slowly shattered between us. Surprised, the dragon king withdrew slightly.

"Ho…impressive. So you do have some skills after all." He inclined his head to the side, his serpentine neck twisting ever so subtly. "I did hear that you succeeded in unifying the vampire legion under your command, defeating three of the strongest warlords and winning the loyalty of the remaining two. Seems like the rumors do not do your strength any justice."

"Thanks." I gave a short bow before straightening up to meet his gaze evenly. "And I assume you are here for a contest of military might once more?"

In the past few days, Eleanor had helped me strategize several plans for this encounter. Aware of how powerful the dragons were, even the usually prideful vampires were somber when they discussed the various methods of countering their tremendous might.

Funnily enough, one of the kobolds mistook Ragios for the "Red Demonic Dragon" because he had read about him somewhere in one of those trashy web novels that were so popular in both the human kingdom and Demonic Empire. According to him, Ragios was supposed to be leading the remnants of the Demonic Emperor's army and holed up in a castle somewhere.

Eleanor had laughed at him.

"The dragons don't live in a castle," she had said dismissively. "They can't fit inside there."

I nodded, recalling the sheer size of the dragons. Moreover, with such huge wings and their preference to fly about, there was no reason for them to hide within the confined, cramped and enclosed space of a castle.

"Then why do dragons always show up in dungeons?" Kelvin asked, confused.

"…they don't?" Mallory replied with a scoff. "Where did you get that from?"

"Apparently there's a popular role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons that's taking off among the lesser-ranked demons," Larson explained. Everyone stared at him, and he shrugged. "What? Okay, maybe I took part in a few of those sessions. It's kind of fun."

"In any event," Silvia had cut in after that, forcibly reverting our attention back to the topic at hand. "The dragons live in a valley, near the northeastern mountains. Not a castle. With the natural terrain and steep slopes, it is not practical for us to assault their location."

"We are not going to invade the Draconic Valley," I had swiftly declared. It was suicide, and we didn't have the military strength to do so. "And we won't have to. From what Silvia says, I believe Ragios himself will show up here and attempt to subjugate me."

Silvia had hesitated, but she nodded. "That's right. That's the impression I received after speaking to him. Ragios was eager to impose his superiority over you."

"So he will be coming to us." Eleanor had smiled, her eyes glittering slyly as she formulated a strategy. "That will make things a whole lot easier."

And now we were here, arrayed in a defensive formation and getting ready to cast both offensive and defensive spells. Under Eleanor's direction, Stryker, Mallory, Claude, Valerie, other high-ranking vampires and I had drawn out blood barriers to protect the castle and ensure that the dragons would pay a high price for assaulting our fortress.

Larson and Valencia weren't part of the formation team because they were swordsmen. Like Stella, their strength lay in their skills with a blade and not with blood magic.

Ragios didn't seem like he was aware of the blood barriers, and he was considering my question. No, it appeared that he had come here with a plan and wasn't willing to deviate from it.

"Military might?" the Dragon King roared in laughter. He glanced at his flock of dragons and waved a huge claw dismissively. "You can rest assure that my subordinates will not touch your castle or your men and women. They are simply here to bear witness to our duel."

"Our…duel?" I raised an eyebrow at that.

"That is correct." Ragios reared up, his wings flapping once to buffet the smaller beings with a huge gust of wind. "I am here to challenge you to a duel, young vampire. The prize is the leadership over the Demonic Empire."

"A one-on-one duel?" I confirmed.

"That is correct."

I glanced at the others, and while the majority looked surprised, Silvia and Eleanor seemed like they had at least expected this scenario. The two ladies had even warned me about this and advised me on the preparations I should undertake.

"Very well…"

I was about to accept, but Stella quickly intervened.

"If you wish to challenge my lord, you'll have to get past me first."

"Nope," I overruled her. "I'll take this duel. Stella, stand down."

"But…" she glanced at me in protest, but I shook my head firmly.

"This is a matter of honor…and proving myself. It is meaningless if I don't do this myself."

"…understood."

Stella reluctantly backed down, and I turned my attention back to the amused Dragon King. Ragios snorted, his eyes flickering to the red-haired knight by my side.

"I applaud your subordinate's loyalty and appreciate your courage, boy." He nodded. "If you defeat me, then the Dragon Legion will be yours to command."

"Likewise," I responded evenly. "If you win, then the throne of the Demonic Emperor will be yours."

"Good. Then shall we begin?"

Ragios reared up in an eruption of fire, but even as I froze the inferno into ice, I shook my head and raised my hand.

"I would love to, but could we change the venue of the battle? I do not mind beginning the duel immediately, but I am not exactly eager to devastate the front yard of Count Claude's castle."

"Very well. Then where should we fight?"

Despite his fierce appearance, Ragios seemed amenable to compromise. He wasn't as rigid and unreasonable as I thought he might be. Arrogant, yeah, but not overly stubborn.

I exchanged a glance with Eleanor, who had already designated a location for this precise scenario after listening to Silvia's description of her encounter with Ragios. The vampire strategist had revealed her knowledge of dragons' abilities, and she had requested a map from Claude to survey the entire area.

I whistled for Wolfe and jumped atop him. Then I turned and gestured for Ragios to follow me.

"There is a huge valley about ten kilometers from here. It's empty, and the trees and foliage are sparse. We don't have to hold back and worry about destruction there. You can use all the flames you want without having to be careful about causing forest fires or setting settlements ablaze."

That was one of the reason why I had selected that particular valley. Eleanor had actually suggested that I fight near a lake, to reduce the efficacy of Ragios's flames while maximizing the power of my ice magic, but I had refused.

Firstly, I was concerned about the marine life. I didn't want to cause any harm to the fish, amphibians, birds and plants living inside the lake. Secondly, it was a matter of honor. I refused to grab an unfair advantage over my opponent.

���How am I supposed to prove myself if I resort to underhanded means in a one-on-one duel?" I had pointed out, much to Eleanor's dismay. "Even if I win, I don't think Ragios and the dragons would accept the defeat very well. No, I have to win in a convincing fashion. And that means in a fair fight."

Eleanor had sighed at that while Silvia had smiled wryly, having expected such behavior from me. The blond strategist rubbed at her head for a moment before nodding in grudging acceptance.

"You are right. Even if you do win the duel, you won't win their hearts and minds. And that will be very dangerous going down the road of conquest."

"Exactly. And if I don't have what it takes to win, then you guys are probably better off following Ragios."

"I wouldn't say that," Silvia had objected. "He's too aggressive and hotheaded. He'll lead the empire to ruin, much like Virginia."

I didn't know about that, but I wasn't here to judge whether Ragios was a worthy emperor or not. My only focus right now was to defeat him. And so I rode Wolfe toward the valley, and then disembarked. Ragios followed closely, swooping over the forest at a low height and skimming over rustling treetops, and then landed in the colossal clearing.

Not far behind, his flock of dragons flew toward the valley, but they took up perches in the surrounding mountains, watching from above. Like Ragios promised, they were here to witness our duel, nothing more.

They weren't the only ones. Representatives from my three legions as well as honor guards – hundreds of vampires, kobolds, orcs, dark mages and elves – rode their nightmares and dire wolves or loped on their bare feet (the kobolds, in particular) – and followed me to the valley. They kept their distance, and I could see Stella watching worriedly from afar. Silva bent down to whisper in her ear, and the red-haired knight nodded, but still didn't relax.

"So…here is the place?" Ragios asked, aggressively flexing his wings and allowing crimson mana to clad him in fiery embers. The ground beneath him began to turn black and melt from the heat.

I nodded and drew both of my swords. Blood Angel gleamed demonically in my left hand while in my right, the black blade of Nocturne appeared to absorb all light, almost as if it was a bottomless void. Taking a deep breath, I adopted a fighting stance.

"Let's begin."