A Villainous Emperor!

Bruder Donahue was a formidable ancient being, renowned not only for his strength but for igniting the divine war that set gods against each other. Such power was rare; it etched his name indelibly into the annals of history.

Indeed, his prowess was legendary, and if the evil dragon of today is a force to be reckoned with, Bruder must have been a colossus in his own time, powerful enough to challenge, yet not defeat, this fearsome beast.

Decades have passed, yet the possibility of the dragon's defeat lingers. One wonders whether Bruder Donahue still draws breath.

She was intrigued by how this fierce, defiant ancient managed to provoke the wrath of the evil dragon to such an extent that it resorted to mocking him through grotesque caricatures with a twisted mouth and slanted eyes.

It is clear he must have crossed paths with him. Without such an offense, why would the dragon persist in vilifying a man so relentlessly?

"Did he ever beat you in battle?" one might ask.

"Not only did he conquer me in combat, but he was also cunning and manipulative, weaving lies and threats to coerce me into a draconic pact, aiming to make me his mount. A shameless, immoral scoundrel, indeed, yet as a human, his charm was undeniable. I wager other dragons might have succumbed to his guile, ensnared by his silver-tongued persuasion."

Lance's gaze then drifted to the baby dragon, Lucia. If that same scoundrel from years past had encountered Lucia, she too might have been beguiled into shouting his praises, fooled into any manner of folly.

Despite his disdain for Bruder Donahue, Lance had to concede the man's remarkable abilities. When the radiant expanse of the Holy Court of Light stretched across half the continent, Bruder boldly initiated a war against the divine.

His rebellion is chronicled in the human histories as the [War Against God]. Outrageously, he opposed the Divine Court while brandishing the banner of the God of War, echoing the deity's own invocations. Such audacious acts brought the Holy Court of Light to its knees.

If the God of War were to witness this from the beyond, he would surely acclaim Bruder's genius.

"Can such a formidable, influential mortal truly perish?"

This ancient warrior was indeed fearsome, once capable of daunting even an evil dragon in his youth.

According to the evil dragon's recollections, he shared a complex and tumultuous history with Bruder Donahue during his youth.

"They coaxed, deceived, and threatened. How could such fierce ancients entice the evil dragon if they had never interacted before? And how could they possibly threaten such a beast?" one might wonder.

"The question isn't whether he can die, but whether he chooses to," the dragon reflected. "In the annals of history, he met his demise."

"But why would he choose death if it wasn't certain?" an inquirer might probe.

"He feared the repercussions of entering the divine realm. He envisioned a scenario where he'd be besieged and overpowered by the gods," the dragon explained, his voice tinged with a mix of respect and disdain.

Lucia, overhearing this, couldn't say if the gods would strike her down, but she was certain that Bruder Donahue, having once defied the gods so boldly, would certainly have been targeted by the God of War. This ancient man had not only caused the God of War to stand against his own divine kin, but had done so in a way that left the deity powerless to denounce him for blasphemy. It was such an embarrassment to the God of War that he could hardly acknowledge when the war among the gods had been ignited by Bruder. Whether the God of War had ever been chastised by his divine peers remained a mystery.

"Lance, how did he manage to deceive you back then?" someone asked, curious about the dragon's personal dealings with Bruder.

"He promised me a fortune in gold coins if I signed a dragon knight contract with him, claiming that in a few decades, my cave would overflow with riches," Lance recounted with a hint of bitterness.

"Isn't that a dragon's dream? A cave filled with shimmering gold and lustrous gems?" another questioned, intrigued.

Indeed, had Bruder fulfilled his promise, the evil dragon would not be in his current state of destitution.

The truth was, the dragon's pride had gotten the better of him. Unwilling to be subjugated as anyone's mount, he had rejected Bruder's tempting offer.

"He must have assumed that signing a dragon knight contract meant becoming someone's mount," the questioner Lucia surmised.

However, the relationship between a dragon and a knight is far more complex than merely that of master and mount; it is a partnership of mutual respect and shared destiny.

It's a partnership! The bond between a dragon and a knight transcends the simplistic notions of master and mount that many might imagine. Instead, it is a profound alliance of partners, friends, and comrades-in-arms.

Knights do not presume to use dragons merely as beasts of burden. To forge such a sacred bond, a knight must not only be strong but also sincere in spirit.

A knight who regards a dragon merely as a tool to flaunt power is doomed to fail. Such a person will neither earn the respect required to become a dragon knight nor sustain such a relationship.

"Offer me real treasures, and we could have talked," Lance grumbled, reflecting on Bruder Donahue's deceit. "Instead, that scoundrel tried to pass off copper coins as gold, insulting my intelligence as though I were a naive hatchling. If only I had the strength back then, I would have turned his face into a mess."

For a thousand years following that incident, each memory of it reignited his fury. Now, as a mature dragon, he looked back with a blend of anger and a desire to confront Bruder Donahue for his treachery.

"Passing copper coins as gold? That's downright deceitful, treating you like a mere child," Lucia commented, acknowledging the manipulation.

Indeed, Bruder was a formidable figure, bold enough to dupe the God of War and to deceive the evil dragon outright.

"Lance, that's outright deceit, not mere coaxing. How could it be coaxing when he's cheating you?" Lucia questioned, seeking clarity on the matter.

"He painted grand visions of a future where, should he have a daughter, he would offer her hand in marriage to me. He suggested I start calling him 'Father' to get the feel of a familial bond," Lance recalled, the absurdity of the proposal not lost on him.

The younger dragon listening wss taken aback. Was this ancient emperor truly so deluded? To deceive and manipulate was one thing, but aspiring to become the 'father' of a dragon stretched the bounds of credulity.

While the ambition to become a dragon knight was understandable, the notion of positioning oneself as a paternal figure to a dragon was truly bizarre.

To entice the evil dragon into signing a dragon knight contract, Bruder Donahue went as far as promising the love of a daughter he didn't even have. "When he made that promise, did he ever consider what his daughter might want?" Lucia wondered aloud.

"Is his daughter beautiful?" She asked, curious about the details of Bruder's fictitious offer.

"He didn't even have a girlfriend at the time, so how could he possibly have a daughter?" came a skeptical retort.

It was a preposterous scheme. Bruder dared to dangle a non-existent prize in front of the dragon, a mere illusion of a sweet future.

"And how exactly did he threaten you?" someone shifted the conversation towards a darker aspect of Bruder's manipulation.

"He threatened that if I refused the contract, he would paint me as a villainous dragon, committing all sorts of atrocities, prompting heroes to band together to take me down," Lance revealed, his tone tinged with bitterness.

"Did he actually go through with that threat?" the inquiry continued, probing the depths of Bruder's villainy.

"No, he eventually realized the futility of bullying a young black dragon like me and turned his attention to tormenting the God of War instead," Lance answered, reflecting on the turn of events.

The revelation confirmed that Bruder Donahue was not only a nuisance but possessed a daring that bordered on recklessness. He had the audacity to challenge the mighty Holy Court of Light at the zenith of its power and actually succeeded.

In the years following his victory, the landscape of faith across the mainland transformed. Where once the temples were few and their influence limited, his actions spurred the proliferation of diverse temples. His founding of the Temple of the God of War marked a turning point, ushering in an era where the human kingdoms recognized their autonomy from the Divine Court. They realized that royal authority could stand independent of divine interference.

Though Bruder was unscrupulous, lewd, and unabashedly brazen, it was undeniable that within the realm of humanity, he was hailed as both a hero and a sovereign deserving of respect.