The Metal Dragon

=Great Isthmus, Capital City of the Kingdom of Atira=

It was two days before the group's departure to the east. The two ladies had a cart ready with their supplies camouflaged as merchants, the adventurers were eager, but also wary. Rudolf chose to not tell his friends about the potential danger they were in, fearing the sudden loss of morale among them, which would further jeopardize them and the mission.

The group was waiting at the Inn, eating and drinking before the day of reckoning was upon them. Shialynn planned on sleeping with a few men later that day, and Rudolf was seen bringing a group of women to a brothel.

The only ordinary people in the group which were Liz and Grey just sat there and waited, Grey fell asleep at the table while Liz was cleaning her bow, she always swept her bow to distract herself.

"Sigh..."

Liz would often be attacked, not by her enemies but by her memories. Although she rebelled against her family under her own will, she still loved them as any daughter would. The memory of that fateful day, when everything changed forever continued to haunt her in her sleep, her nightmares, the disappointment in their eyes, and the horror in their expressions as she rebelled.

But she continued to assure herself; she did what she thought was right. She had her own life now, unbound by the shackles of nobility and forced marriages, responsibilities were of no concern to her for she had her friends with her always, and that was her only duty.

All she had to do now was wait. Two more days before their departure, two more days before they leave and finally reach the peak of their careers.

30,000 Aureus... I'll show you...

Her thoughts were the same, the denars and the foreseeable rich future she and her friends would attain.

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=Royal Palace, Throne Room=

Queen Evelyn was humbly sitting on her throne, wearing her royal gown. The Great Warrior of Atira was standing right beside her as the maids served her some tea. Ten guards were standing in line, one meter between each other on both sides of the throne room. All the drapes were lifted, allowing the shining yellow light of the sun to penetrate the windows and shine its ethereal light inside the throne room.

They have only just finished handling the requests, problems and overall complaints of various merchant leaders, landlords and other appointed members of the council tasked on rebuilding the country.

The nobles were busy with their fiefs, claiming that they were rebuilding the kingdom's domains to help recover from the devastating famine and financial ruin that the country was facing. Though, Queen Evelyn heard otherwise.

The Grandmage Hazelborn was working closely with the clergy with their investigation of the strange enemy which occupies the City of Halledge, referred as the Eastern Fortress City. So far, they haven't come into any conclusive answer.

It was part of the reason why Izrael requested the adventurers to act as covert agents; they needed information obtained from the heart of the enemy territory. They needed to know their magic, power, numbers, and overall strength before they could launch a siege to retake the city using a combination of the army and mage groups.

But the work was almost done, the Queen was only awaiting the arrival of Theodore, bringing them updates regarding the adventurers.

The Throneroom doors clanged and slowly opened. Two guards pushed the doors from the outside and walked in Theodore. He was sporting his smile and good-looks, admittedly making the Queen slight blush as she stared at him.

No!

The Queen thought to herself; she must not distract herself! there were many more things to handle and focus on and not the handsomeness of some random student.

Theodore went and kneeled before the Queen and Izrael, his head almost touching his bent knee.

"You may stand," The Queen ordered.

"Yes, your highness," Theodore replied and stood up, his posture as solid as ever.

"Your majesty, and Great Warrior, I bring you the current status of the adventurers assigned for the mission on the Eastern Fortress City,"

"Continue,"

"Very well, ten people from both factions have been selected according to their skills and ranking. On the Lion's Alliance, two groups of 5 have been selected, the Diamond-rank Theodore's Pack and the Mithril-rank, Shining Sands. On the Vulture's hole, we have three groups, a group of 4, 2, and 4. Most notable of them are the Walking Calamities, followed by the Lord Squad and Fantastic Duo,"

"Sigh.. why were the idiots of the Walking Calamities chosen?" The Queen had only gotten to know the Walking Calamities, but by their records alone, while they are strong, she was skeptical of their abilities as spies.

"I can assure you, your highness; the Walking Calamities will give us two benefits,"

"Oh?"

"First, I am sure you've seen their records and how almost all of their missions play out, we can use that ability of theirs to our advantage, they can deal the first major blow against our enemies on that city, Second, it would eliminate the group which was due for execution already"

"Execution?"

"Yes, Great Warrior, your childhood friend, and his group were already supposed to be executed by the rule of law of Atira, their status as Adventurers and the fact that they've managed to gain some influence with the nobles prevented such justice to take place,"

"..."

The Throneroom fell into an awkward silence.

"A suicide group, huh?"

A menacing smile appeared on Theodore's face; this was the real Theodore. His master had only seen this side of Theodore a few times, to think he'd also show his true self to her majesty was a surprise.

"You've thought this far?" Izrael asked, his expression was worrisome.

"You could say that, Great Warrior, but as you said, 'A Warrior who refuses to use his wits in times that it's needed is not a warrior, but a fool' and I am no fool. What I have thought out has the kingdom at the center of it all, I live to serve her majesty, the dynasty, just as you thought me. And for the family and throne, I shall serve till my death."

The Queen was shocked at the amount of resolve Theodore possessed, to think Izrael would raise such a cunning warrior under him. He may become the next warrior once Izrael retires.

"So, Theodore, can you enlighten us further as to where you intend to take this?"

"I'm afraid I cannot, my mission is of utmost importance, and I cannot trust anyone other than myself for now. Not to fret, my plan will soon come to light and shine with all its glory."

The two understood what Theodore was talking about; they had no choice but to put their trust in him. To show doupt in his loyalty and his abilities would further jeopardize or may even turn him against the kingdom. They could not be foolish.

"Your highness!" Several guards burst through the door in a panic, Izrael and Theodore both drew their swords in anticipation of an attack.

The soldiers bowed their heads, sweating profusely.

"Theres an unknown creature flying over the capital!"

"Huh?" The three were confused and shocked. What creature could pass their Air Defenses over the capital?

Just as they were about to ask, the palace rumbled, and an explosion echoed through the throneroom. Screams of people outside and a wailing Wyvern pierced their ears.

A large thud followed by a violent shaking of the ground terrified the soldiers. Izrael and Theodore both went towards Evelyn, swords were drawn and enhancements used.

"Guards! escort us outside now!" Izrael shouted.

The guards quickly drew their swords, and even as the ground shook and many wailed, the group made their way to the balcony.

When they reached the balcony, the Wyverns and their riders were falling from the sky, and a loud thunderous roar echoed through the landscape, then one of their Airships landed to the ground creating an explosion. Whatever the creature was, it eliminated the entire Air-defense group.

"What kind of demonic creature could do this?!" Izrael felt uneasy; even Theodore had no clue what kind of creature capable of going against the Wyvern riders and their strongest Airships at this rate and power.

"Watch out!" A soldier screamed.

A metallic creature, unlike anything they've ever seen before zoomed above them at lightning-fast speed, nearly fast as a Demigod. Its loud and frightening roar struck fear into the hearts of the hundreds of thousands who heard it. The creature had a strange ship, but many called it a dragon.

The metal dragon proceeded to breathe an inconceivable weapon and burned half of the urban district, incinerating thousands in an instant.

"Where are the mages!? Get them! defend the capital!"

Just as Izrael was about to lead the Queen inside, the metal dragon roared once more, this time it was a deafening screech causing all of them to cover their ears and scream in pain. The pain in their ears lasted for over a minute; the roar finally died down.

The entirety of the group was on their knees, the guards were shaking, and the two best warriors were uneasy and sweating abit. The Queen was in tears, unable to open her eyes or feel her lower body.

Izrael used his strength to balance himself and Theodore slowly pushed the ground and stood, helping the Queen on her feet.

The three were on their feet, shaking and afraid except for Izrael who faced alot of Dragons before but this one is different. As they turned their gazes to the city, a demonic horror was looking at them.

The metallic dragon was hovering right in front of them. Its skin was black and looked like metal or something close to it, it had two long wings with a donut-shape things on each sides, it was emiting little to no sounds at all as its one red eye stared them down.

The three were horrified at the sight of the beast, what kind of creature was this? Was this their end? Will the dynasty finally perish?

The beast was huge; many were watching it staredown on the queen and her cohorts. Hundreds of thousands were outside, watching the situation unfold. Mages were scrambling from their posts and were about to launch their attacks only to be dissuaded. If they were to attack the creature, won't it attack the Queen?

The entire army was dumbfounded. Their methods presented too much of a risk, the Grandmage was absent from the capital and his currently in another city, still try to investigate with the other clergy; if he were here, he would have been able to teleport the queen to safety and kill the monster.

Back at the balcony, the three were frozen in place. An instinct kicked in, if they were to stay in place, maybe the creature won't be agitated? Or provoked? It was a gamble, but the only risk they had a chance to win.

As for Izrael, he was unsure, of course he was strong but his not the type of person to defeat it immediately, he has no knowledge of the creature in front of him, he went through like this couple of times in his life and he regrets it.

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The entire fiasco in the capital has been going on for a solid ten minutes, and it seemed to be going nowhere, the mages haven't been cleared to engage nor were the Griffin riders or Airship reinforcements from other cities were to arrive soon.

The queen had to act fast; this was her chance to prove her worthiness as the queen of the kingdom! Prove herself! Determine she is the descendant of the great kings and queens of Atira!

"Let go of me," The Queen asked Theodore and Izrael who were at this time clutching at her arms.

"But your majesty!"

"This is an order,"

The two released their arms and the Queen slowly walked towards the edge of the balcony, Hundreds of thousands were watching the queen as if she was braving her first step in the limelight, the first step of her legacy in this wretched world.

She braved the fear struck deep within her heart and stood upright facing the demonic being, which was beheld upon them all.

With the breath of her mouth and the memory of her family, she spoke in a loud voice.

"I! am Queen Evelyn Atira, this is my kingdom, my people and our home! And we will not! Be defiled! By a creature! who dares to taint our lives, our kingdom, and our children!"

The crowds were all silent, not by fear anymore but by shock, their queen was strong in their eyes, braving even the most frightening situation so that she could be the queen that everyone could look up to. The crowd slowly clapped, the claps grew louder and from the claps evolved cheers, and until just a few minutes ago, the crowds were cheering on their monarch.

"Evelyn! Evelyn!"

Morale was high, the people have found their hero, the mages and the army prepared to mount their assault. Theodore and Izrael readied themselves for they have finally understood what the Queen was trying to do.

With the edge of their swords and the shaking of their legs, they all shouted.

"Long live the queen!"

Just as they shouted, the queen was sent hurling inside. Her body crashing against the hard floor, the Gunship Drone had shot her.