Chapter 510: The Dragon's Resurgence

Among this generation, young and old alike, nearly everyone in Lyon had heard the legends surrounding Gareth—but almost no one had ever laid eyes on him in person.

Even William Garrison, who had technically crossed paths with him once before, had been far too young at the time to truly comprehend the extent of Gareth's power.

To borrow a phrase from Aige, Gareth had long since transcended mortality. He simply remained trapped within a mortal body, never fully allowed to break free.

That was how Gareth had slain dragons the way an ordinary man might wring a chicken's neck. His sheer, unreasoning strength had once terrified the githarks and their red dragons so badly that they'd refused to face him head-on at all, instead scheming to have him exiled and taking Alabastra hostage in an attempt to force his hand.

If Gareth hadn't grown so infatuated with Alabastra's beauty that he'd disqualified himself from ever contending for the divine domain of death, even the ghoul Yugasi wouldn't have dared to think too hard about the man, terrified that a single strike from Gareth would obliterate him before the President could intervene to save him.

That was the power of Lyon's so-called Shame of the Empire. A single blow from Gareth carried roughly the same power as the Silvermoon Knight at the very height of his strength.

A single strike was capable of breaking through city walls. Nothing could stand in its way.

Holy light did indeed counter dark magic, that much was true, but who could hope to douse a raging inferno with a single cup of water?

The dark magic, condensed to its absolute purest form, cleaved straight through the wall of holy light, but that wasn't the end. It continued onward, ready to cut old William Garrison clean in half.

At that critical instant, a razor-sharp presence flashed into existence: a beam of holy light, pure to the point of transparency, materialized directly in the path of that wave of black flame.

Like two glass blades colliding head-on, the holy light and the dark flame shattered simultaneously.

What followed wasn't a shower of shattered glass, but rather a violent explosion of raw energy, quite like the orc king's charged strike from before. It tore a deep crater straight into the earth.

This blast was much the same. Everything near the center of the explosion was blown away, even Lyon's Shield himself.

By the time the battlefield cleared up again, a figure drenched head to toe in blood knelt half-collapsed before Gareth. It was Allen.

He was the one who'd stepped in and blocked Gareth's strike a moment ago—and the reason William Garrison was still alive at all.

Gareth's eight-legged steed gave Allen a light kick, sending him tumbling away. The Dullahan tsked, unimpressed. "I told you, you need at least another thirty years of training before you're ready to fight me. And here you go throwing your life away early anyway."

As Gareth turned and began advancing on the emperor of Lyon once more, every Lyon soldier present felt a chill run through them.

The Dullahan was simply too terrifying. Even Lyon's Shield himself hadn't been able to block a single strike—and judging by his demeanor, the Dullahan wasn't even fighting at full strength yet.

The young emperor sensed something was deeply wrong as well. He couldn't fathom why the lich would arrange an assassination attempt like this, but for the moment, withdrawing seemed like the only sensible course of action.

"Lord Orwell, activate the teleportation array at once—" The young emperor was intending to escape via his own personal teleportation array, only to realize there was no response from beside him.

The young emperor turned and shouted at the court mage standing next to him. "Orwell! Did you hear a word I said?!"

The personal teleportation array was under this court mage's direct control. Only a trained mage could activate the teleportation spell quickly enough in a crisis.

But the once composed and dignified mage now stood with his head lolling to one side, most of his tongue hanging out past his lips, foul-smelling drool dripping steadily from his mouth.

The instant the young emperor turned to look at him fully, the court mage lunged at him as if he were possessed, mouth wide open, teeth aimed straight at the emperor's throat.

The young emperor kicked the frenzied mage away, hard. By the time the man staggered back up, everyone could see clearly that he had transformed into a zombie. The overwhelming stench of dark magic radiated off him in waves.

The emperor's guards finally snapped into action. Several beams of holy light struck the transformed mage at once, searing radiance purifying everything it touched. Even the man's enchanted robes were reduced to ash on the spot.

The young emperor let out a furious roar. "You just incinerated the portable teleportation array!"

These useless idiots—they were all legends, and yet they were panicking like a pack of stray dogs in a crisis!

"There are more ambushers out there! Stay alert, all of you!"

He'd seen this exact method used before: turning a living person into undead without a sound, without any warning whatsoever. This was the legendary boon of that undead queen, which could transform a living person into undead, bypassing any defense, resistance, or protection. There was simply no way to fend it off.

The legendary court mage by his side had been transformed without so much as a flicker from any of his magical defenses.

That undead queen was all but designed to counter Lyon. No living person stood any chance of escaping that corrupting transformation once it took hold.

Gareth gave them no opening to regroup. His eight-legged steed launched into another charge, while the orc king, having driven back the two paladins with his twin axes, bore down on the emperor of Lyon once more.

This time, it seemed, there was truly no one left standing between the attackers and the young emperor.

Facing what looked like certain death, the young emperor let out a heavy sigh and reached up to touch his own forehead.

Upon his head sat a crown of shining silver, outwardly nothing more than a symbol of Lyon's royal line. But at his touch, an immense surge of power flooded outward, pouring directly into his own body.

The young emperor took a single step forward, straight into the onrushing tide of enemies bearing down on him.

The instant his foot touched the ground, a ripple spread through the air.

Gareth and the orc king, mid-charge at full speed, froze in place as though the world itself had stopped. Everything fell utterly silent. Even the scattered clumps of flying earth and dust hung suspended in midair.

Two seconds passed. Then, everything around them began rewinding at tremendous speed.

Gareth and the orc king snapped back to their positions from before the charge began. The scattered magical energy pulled itself back together, and every interacting force in play began reversing itself entirely.

Time itself flowed backward, retreating from the very moment Lyon's people had found themselves trapped in a hopeless situation.

Allen, drenched in blood, returned to the instant he'd leapt to block Gareth's attack—and then, under the young emperor's watchful gaze, returned once more to his original position at the emperor's side. William Garrison's shattered wall of holy light restored itself, then dissolved back into pure light and returned to the depths of his own body.

The overturned earth resettled itself back into place. The orc king leapt backward into his original stance, the blinding crimson glow reappearing along the edge of his axe once more... Everything continued reversing. Even the thunder crashing across the sky was pulled back by some unseen force, retreating into stillness.

Even the shattered villa restored itself fully, and the dazzling fireworks display returned all the way to its very beginning.

The emperor of Lyon once more sat in his own room, the copy of Introduction to Divination Magic still in his hands.

Time finally resumed its normal flow.

The instant the first firework exploded outside his window, the young emperor closed the book and strode briskly out the door.

William and Allen were standing watch outside his door, and both were visibly startled by the emperor's sudden appearance.

William asked immediately, "Your Majesty, is something wrong?"

The young emperor didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he issued an order. "Have Lord Orwell activate the teleportation array immediately. This is a trap. That lich has set up an ambush. He means to kill me!"

William looked utterly bewildered. They'd only just arrived on the island; nothing had happened yet.

Could the emperor have discovered something inside his room?

Surely not. They'd already thoroughly searched every inch of the villa, inside and out.

William asked, puzzled, "Your Majesty... could it be nerves? Are you certain you aren't simply overwrought?"

If they suddenly bolted from the island now, it wouldn't bode well for Lyon. Losing face was one thing, but provoking the other kingdoms into finding an excuse to band together against Lyon would be a far more serious matter entirely.

Just as William was about to press the point further, he suddenly seemed to witness something horrifying. The young emperor projected the entire sequence of events he'd already lived through directly into William's mind as a vivid memory.

The emperor commanded, "This is the future you just experienced. I reversed time, but I can still show you everything that happened. Trust me—we need to leave, right now!"

It took William Garrison several long seconds to fully process what he'd just witnessed. He couldn't help but ask, shaken, "Your Majesty... was all of that truly real?!"

"Of course it was real. I have no talent whatsoever for crafting illusions. I simply returned the memories you will have to you."

William Garrison took a deep breath and pressed further. "Your Majesty, is this also the power of the Draconic Armaments? Our historical records did not state that the Draconic Armaments were capable of such precise control!"

The emperor was growing irritated. Why was this old man wasting time on such useless questions?

"I discovered this ability in the Draconic Armaments myself. They've been sealed for too long, and few have studied the full extent of their effects. Let's go, Lord Garrison. We must leave immediately."

But old William Garrison remained unmoved. The esteemed general sighed heavily. "Your Majesty, are you telling the truth? Is the power you have displayed solely the power of the Draconic Armaments?"

The young emperor finally lost his patience entirely. He snapped in fury, "William Garrison, what exactly are you trying to say? Follow my order. Withdraw, right now. This is not the moment for this conversation."

With that, the young emperor turned to Allen instead. "Allen, I trust you. Get me out of here, right now!"

Allen's willingness to nearly die blocking the Dullahan moments ago had been entirely genuine—there was no faking that. Had Allen been even the slightest bit weaker, Gareth's blade would have cut him down on the spot.

The emperor still couldn't fathom exactly why the lich would arrange such a blunt assassination, but one thing was clear enough: Allen was plainly not working with the lich.

Even without having yet laid eyes on that detestable man, Arthur Lyon, there was no way he could remain on this island any longer today. If this lich had truly been reckless enough to torch his own hard-won reputation like this, then he could damn well expect the emperor to use it against him in turn.

Having ruined his credibility, this lich and his entire business empire would collapse overnight!

Ambrose's naked hostility left the young emperor's thoughts in a daze, and the entire situation had caught him completely off guard. But retreating immediately was surely the right call.

Yet despite all that, the young emperor realized both Allen and old William remained utterly motionless. Both men were staring at him, fixed and unmoving.

"What are you two even doing?! Idiots! Fools! Didn't you hear a single word I just said?!"

The young emperor could no longer contain his fury. But all he received in response were William Garrison's grave, heavy words: "Your Majesty, is this the same method you used to alter my memories, back when you were first defeated?"

The young emperor froze for a moment. Why would this old man bring that up at a time like this?

Something was wrong.

He turned to make his escape, only to find that William had already flashed directly into his path to block him.

"Your Majesty, answer me! Is this truly, purely the power of the Draconic Armaments?" William Garrison gripped both of the young emperor's hands tightly, struggling to hold back his fury as he demanded, "Are you truly His Majesty, Percival Lyon? Or should I address you instead as... the Dragon Tyrant?!"

"Of course not. What are you even talking about?!"

The young emperor wrenched his hands free from William's grip with all his strength. In that same instant, time froze once again.

The young emperor had activated his power over time once more. But this time, instead of the frozen moment reversing itself, it shattered apart entirely, like a spiderweb torn to pieces.

Everything before his eyes cracked open like a broken mirror. As the young emperor blinked, he found himself standing at the very center of a massive arena.

Overhead, endless thunder rolled without pause, and countless towering, ghostly silhouettes loomed above, gazing down at the mortal world below—as though every god in existence had turned their attention to this single spot. Surrounding the arena on every side sat a dense, unbroken crowd of spectators.

Mortal and god alike, every set of eyes in the place was fixed directly on him, as though he alone were the sole protagonist of this entire spectacle.

"This is... an illusion? When did this—"

The young emperor stared at the scene before him in absolute shock, because he realized that Lyon's own delegation was seated among the spectators. Every single member of his own delegation was watching him with expressions of pure disbelief.

At that moment, the lich's voice rang out from above.

"Everyone, take a look at the light from the ring on his finger. He's just been caught lying in this dreamscape! Let it be witnessed by every god present that the Dragon Tyrant of old has returned to life!"

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