Ascend

"The Raavi have no business in the Goliath desert." A Ship suddenly appeared over the horizon, two figures standing on the ship's bowsprit. The figure adorned in Gold Armor continued. "If you leave now, I will spare you the shame of having to run with your tail between your legs."

Ralf didn't bother to respond to that sly remark, instead he released a mental wave towards the ship to get a better look.

"A Draco Royal, that's unexpected." Ralf murmured, a nasty grin plastered across his face. He waved his hand and Sappa started to bleed from his nose and passed out. He then silently floated off the deck and turned to face the approaching ship.

"And what brings you here Draco youngling." Ralf's voice reverberated across the air and reached Rekim's ears. "Do you really think you can leave untouched, when you are this close to the Raavi border."

The 4th Prince, Rekim Draco, squinted his eyes and spoke. "Who are you?" Rekim didn't think any bigshot's would be at the small and unimportant Raavi border city.

"Ralf Arvo, of the Arvo Family." Ralf shouted, in a thundering voice. "Now how about you come down like a good lizard, so I can imprison you for violating Raavi territory."

Rekim started to sweat as soon as he heard the name, he clenched his teeth in anger.

'Why is he here?' Rekim thought. 'Does he know about the artifact?'

Uther, who was standing behind Rekim, silently whispered. "Your highness, we can still salvage this situation."

Rekim was brought out of his thoughts, without turning around he responded. "Speak"

Uther grinned, this was his moment. As long as the prince were to be captured, his task will be done, and he will retreat.

"Your highness, Ralf Arvo's last reported level was 47, and that was decades ago." He silently whispered. "Currently he should have reached Level 49, its highly unlikely he has broken through to level 50."

"As long as your highness can hold him off, I should be able to check the ship, for any sign of the artifact."

"Your highness should have that ability if you were to use the full capabilities of the Armor"

The ship came to a stop just a few hundred meters from the human ship.

"If you can't find the artifact, kill everyone on that ship. I don't want any information making its way to the Raavi." Rekim stated as he jumped into the air and wind gathered under his feet as he calmly floated.

The wind slowly brought Rekim closer to Ralf, who was also in the air. He stared back at Ralf with a merciless gaze and said. "I will show you the true power of a Draco, Vermin."

Lisandra who was just about to attack the Cloud Komodo was taken aback by the sudden arrival of the Draconian's.

"So this is the trouble you were talking about." Lisandra said. "It seems my job got a lot more complicated."

"Indeed it did Lady Lisandra." A voice suddenly appeared in her ears.

Lisandra's eyes widened as she turned her back, only to see that no one was there.

"Oh I'm right here dear lady."

Lisandra turned back to face the cloud Komodo, this time she saw the source of the voice. A young Draconian, with dark azure scales, and a Silver Armor with sizzling dark flames slowly dancing about.

"Uther Pendragon, at your service." Uther declared as two dark flaming swords appeared in his hands.

Lisandra looked at the young draconian, and could not remember his name. She was well aware of all the large family names of the Draco kingdom, she had fought half of them in her youth.

She smiled towards Uther and spoke. "Pendragon, not a family name I'm familiar with."

"No worry's lady Lisandra, your descendants will surely know this name." Uther, who was standing on Modi's head, jumped. Dark flames congregated under his feet into a flaming cloud as he slashed with his swords.

Lisandra raised her hand and a staff suddenly appeared in it. The staff was made of spiritual bone, and it had a light blue soul stone encased on the top. The Soul stone on Lisandra's forehead glowed in unison with the staff as two dark streaks cut across the air and reached her front.

The dark streaks failed to reach Lisandra, they collided with an invisible barrier and dissipated. "What the hell" Lisandra exclaimed. "This draconian is very accomplished in the spiritual path, and it seems he has some royal blood, otherwise that dark corrosive effect wouldn't be possible."

Lisandra kept her guard up, she was expecting another attack from Uther, but the attack never came. Lisandra's eyes widened as she looked towards the ship, somehow Uther had gone right past her and was now approaching the human sand ship.

She panicked, if he was able to reach the ship that fast, without her noticing, then he could have just as easily attacked her. Although she was sure he wouldn't be able to kill her, but he would have put her out of commission for days.

"Can't go easy on this one it seems." Lisandra sighed as the cerulean linings of her dress started to glow and she started to grow taller. Her teeth elongated like a pair of sharp fangs, and her black hair turned white as wrinkles appeared on her formerly youthful face. In but a moment, she went from young lady to old woman.

Uther who was only a few paces from the ship, suddenly stopped. A threatening aura was fast approaching him, It had been a long time since he had felt such a menacing force.

"Dark Armor!!" He yelled as he turned around and crossed his arms to guard. Black flames started to congregate on his silver Armor, adding a flaming layer of defense.

"Hehe, what a perceptive lad you are." Lisandra's old and rickety voice sounded as the air in the surroundings started to thin out. "But that won't save you from me"

"CUT HIM DOWN!!" She shouted, her tone shaky, almost unstable. The staff in her hand glowed a brilliant blue in tandem with her soul stone, several sharp metallic needles started to bore out of her skin and rushed towards Uther.

The needles reached Uther, a few were held off by the flaming Armor, but they kept coming in waves and they finally broke through.

"Haha haha, DIE DIE DIE DIE!!" Lisandra continued to yell in mad glee as the bloody needles started to penetrate Uther's scales and reached his flesh.

Uther, who was supposed to be under a lot of pressure, had a light sneer on his face.

"Is it really useful to you." He muttered as he allowed some of the needles to break through his defense on purpose and penetrate his flesh. "The blood is filled with poison."

Deep in his mind, where his spiritual core was slowly spinning, a green mist which had almost taken over the whole core was slowly spreading out. It wriggled through Uther's body, collecting the bloody poison from the needles, and devouring it, like a nutritious meal.

The mist collected itself and formed into a human face. "This is very gooood" It spoke in a very slow and hissing voice. "More, get me moooreee."

"Will it help with the conversion, otherwise I have no reason to do as you say, you are on your own." Uther grinned. "Remember our deal, I give you my core, and you help me ascend."

"Yesssss, Ascend." The human face hissed. "This will help, yessss. Path Ascension, you will have a true path. But help me get more, more, mooreee."

"Dark Spear" Uther shouted as a flaming dark spear formed in his hand. The needles which had broken through, were once again being held off by the flaming Armor.

"What!" Lisandra shouted in surprise, this fight should have been over by now. Her poison art was very famous for being fatal to everyone below level 40. In her pursuit to create the most vicious poison possible, she had created mayhem throughout the Raavi empire.

Her poison's often not only affected her enemies, but also flowed out into civilian areas in the aftermath, resulting in thousands of deaths. The only reason she could stay in the city as governor, was because of Old Ralf.

Even though her own level was only 29, she could use the soul stone on her staff, to fight above her level.

The needles were soaked with her blood and should have been able to kill one measly draconian.

"Ahhh" Uther hurled the flaming spear with incredible force, it rushed towards Lisandra and reached her front in seconds.

"Noo!" Lisandra shouted as the transparent layer of defense around her shattered, she attempted to dodge, but the spear still managed to pierce her abdomen.

Over on the other side, Rekim and Ralf's battle was also coming to a close.

"Ahhh" Rekim yelled as the runes inscribed on his Golden Armor protected him from Ralf's constant mental attacks.

He pushed forward, trying to force Ralf into a brawl, but Ralf simply smiled, and kept his distance.

"You should be the 4th Prince, Rekim Draco. I heard your father likes you the best due to the purity of your bloodline". Ralf waved his hand, and a rune plate appeared, calmly floating on his palm. "But from what I can tell, you're not so special."

"Why…y…you!" Rekim blurted in anger, as the runes on his arm and leg guards also started to glow. "You will pay for that."

Ralf's eyes widened, he could see visible changes appearing on the young draconian royals body. His originally azure gold scales started to become pure azure, the horns on his head started to widen and two wings spouted from his back, the Armor lines melting away, as if it was made for this form.

"Incredible, so that Armor is a bloodline activation tool." Ralf muttered. "None of my clans rune-masters can make such an artifact Armor."

"Ahhhhhh" Rekim yelled out, as he looked at Ralf with bloodshot eyes. The wings on his back flapped, and his form disappeared, appearing right before Ralf, with his claws springing forth.

Ralf didn't dodge, he looked at the approaching draconian with curiosity, and grabbed the floating rune plate.

"Void Wind" Rekim shouted as he felt a transparent layer of defense hinder him from reaching Ralf. Several dark wind blades formed overhead and clashed against the transparent defense.

Although none managed to breakthrough, but left several corrosive blade marks.

"Die!" Rekim's claws clashed with the transparent defensive layer, he was expecting it to shatter, but nothing happened.

"Know your limits boy" Ralf took a few steps back, increasing the distance between himself and Rekim, and tossed the Rune Plate towards him. "That Armor is remarkable, but you are NOT"

The Rune plate clashed with Rekim and shattered.

"Huh" Rekim was surprised, he thought Ralf had just hit him with a weapon of some sort, but it simply shattered into several pieces and dropped down.

Ralf grinned. "A bit too early to celebrate."

The several pieces of the shattered rune plate started to float and rushed toward Rekim. One piece hit one of his wings, and a rune imprint appeared on it.

"What!" Rekim tried to move his wing, but it simply swooped down, unresponsive. Another piece hit his arm, and the same thing happened. More pieces started to hit his body, and he finally lost all control.

"Umm…Umm…" Rekim tried to move his mouth, but he couldn't, his whole body was paralyzed.

"Don't worry, little lizard." Ralf appeared over Rekim, as he started to fall down. Ralf grabbed one of his horns with ease and pulled him up like pulling on a pet. "You are very useful to me."

"How did you like that sealing rune, It's a new invention of mine. It can seal the flow of blood and spiritual power. Doesn't work on mental power though, you are the first test subject, and quite a successful one at that, haha."

"I wonder, what will your father do when he hears how his favorite son disgraced him by getting captured."

"Umm…UMMMM!!" Rekim blurted in anger. He had never had anyone touch his horns, especially when he was in this form.

"Easy there, we don't want you to run off now do we." Ralf gazed into Rekim's bloodshot eyes, and sent mental wave after mental wave. The runes on the Armor had stopped functioning after the spiritual power was cut off.

"Bluurg" Rekim spurted out blood and with one final look at his captor, passed out.

Ralf looked over at the battle between Lisandra and the other draconian, and squinted his eyes. He saw Uther yell out and throw the dark spear. He didn't feel like that spear was anything special, and decided against interfering.

However, when the spear broke though Lisandra's barrier and pierced her abdomen, Ralf was shocked.

"Damn it!" He cursed and sprung toward Lisandra. However, Uther was even faster, he appeared in front of her and grabbed her by the neck.

And then he did something that made a shudder go through Ralf's spine. He opened his mouth wide and bit down on Lisandra's neck like a wild animal.