Shut Up Malevolent Dragon I Dont Want To Have Any More Children With You Chapter 728

[ … words ]

The Fire Spirit Divine Stallion slowly stepped into the arena, leaving burning hoofprints with every step.

With each step it took, ripples of red-gold spread across the ground. Its eyes glowed like flowing lava, and when its gaze swept over Leon and the others, a scorching and ancient aura suddenly filled the air.

“Please have the challengers kneel on one knee and prepare to receive the blessing of the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion.”

The voice of the divine stallion tribe’s judge echoed. Unlike before, Leon could sense a weightier solemnity in the tone this time.

Safina blinked at Leon and muttered, “This ceremony is almost as exaggerated as when our king ascended the throne…”

Though she grumbled, she still knelt on one knee, and Leon and Jesti, the other challengers, followed suit.

And so, one by one, the challengers knelt in order from left to right—Jesti, Leon, and Safina—lining up perfectly.

The Fire Spirit Divine Stallion stopped in front of Leon.

Its head lowered slightly, and sparks of fire from its breath nearly scorched his face.

Before Leon could even raise his head to meet the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion’s gaze, he suddenly felt something stirring within him—a kind of memory within his bloodline, awakened and ignited by the flames before him.

Something was wrong.

The power of the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion felt strangely familiar.

Leon was certain that he had never seen the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion before—he had never even heard of it.

But how could he explain this sense of familiarity?

“Please receive the purification of the Sacred Fire!” The divine stallion tribe member sang aloud.

Only then did Leon snap back to his senses and lift his head to face the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion.

The stallion let out a neigh, and soon, a burning fire seed slowly began to form above its forehead.

But when Leon finally made out the red shape, he realized it wasn’t just any ordinary fire seed—it was a sharp-edged red crystal—

The Fire Spirit Crystal Core!

It was the holy relic created by Vida, the Celestial Knight Order, and the Elemental God many hundreds of years ago!

“Boom!”

Before Leon could even process this discovery, a sudden change occurred.

A dark crack appeared in the dome of the spectator stands, and an eerie, destructive energy poured down like ink.

Leon blinked, looking towards the source of the energy. This energy felt familiar to him, and this time, he could immediately identify what it was—

“…The Void…”

The previously empty space had been torn open by some kind of divine weapon, the gap growing larger as void energy flooded through.

The tide of energy surged out from this gap.

In addition, dozens of armored warriors surged from the spatial tear, following the rushing energy.

The armor they wore was unlike any Leon had ever seen.

It was older, more fragmented, from the seams in their armor, tentacles and energy leaked out from time to time.

These Void warriors landed in the arena.

Without a doubt, their target was the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion behind Leon.

The stands erupted into chaos.

The spectators without battle experience immediately chose to flee;

Those with battle experience but no desire to cause trouble also slipped away with the crowd;

There weren’t many who weren’t afraid of trouble, but one by one, they jumped down from the stands, rushing to stand before the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion.

Among them was Vida.

However, Cecilia was nowhere to be seen in the crowd.

“Who are these people?!” a guardian of the divine stallion tribe asked.

“They are from another world.”

Vida stepped forward, gathering dragon flame in his hand, staring at the enemies ahead, and continued, “Their goal is to steal the crystal from the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion.”

“How… do you know this?”

Vida glanced at him and said nothing further.

He rarely discussed matters related to the Void and the primal gods with outsiders, so when he explained earlier, he had referred to the Void as “another world.”

Even the Fire Spirit Crystal Core was not directly mentioned.

The reason being that, for now, related information could not be disclosed, too many people learning these secrets would only add to the confusion.

No matter what, these strange beings could not be allowed to harm the divine stallion!

“All members of the divine stallion tribe, prepare for battle! We vow to protect our sacred beast!”

“And to the challengers, we thank you for your help. Our tribe is deeply grateful.”

“No need to mention it. Even if we fail the trials, we cannot just stand by while others come to steal from your home.”

“Yes, we understand the feeling of losing something precious.”

“Everyone, let’s fight side by side.”

“…”

Though only a small portion of the challengers from the stands were willing to help, each of them held their own principles and values.

They stood at the back of the crowd, closest to the Fire Spirit Divine Stallion.

They could clearly feel the power of these Void warriors, which only strengthened their resolve.

They absolutely could not let these Void warriors steal the Fire Spirit Crystal Core.

But there was something else they didn’t understand:

“Why now?”

From what had transpired with Karl and Talos earlier, the Void Realm could locate the relics left by the divine stallions.

That’s why Rosvisser and Isha were guarding Xiaoxue, to prevent an ambush from the Void Realm.

But why wait until the battle here on Samael was at its most intense before striking at the Fire Spirit Crystal Core?

Couldn’t they have waited for a time when fewer people were present? Wouldn’t the chances of success be higher then?

“Leon, don’t get distracted.”

Vida’s voice came from ahead.

Leon quickly pulled his thoughts back, acknowledging with a nod and preparing to step forward, but he didn’t notice, at all, that behind him, a flash of green light appeared suddenly.

As Leon moved, his peripheral vision caught the energy.

Almost instinctively, he activated his heightened senses, and his body forced itself to stop in its tracks.

At that moment, just as he was about to dodge, a massive black shadow suddenly pounced from the side, blocking him and carrying him away.

While being lifted and thrown by the shadow, Leon raised his hand and shot out a lightning bolt.

The lightning struck the attacker dead-on.

Leon then rolled twice on the ground, stopping before he turned to look at the person who had just thrown him to safety.

“…Albert? You’re still here?”

It was the tough guy from the Black Elephant Tribe, the one who had lost his wife and family in the plot of Shadow.

He had been the one to help Leon dodge that attack just in time.

Albert slowly rose to his feet, “I was going to leave, but I still wanted to see if you could get ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) some kind of blessing. Didn’t expect…”

He then slowly turned his head to look at the person who had tried to ambush Leon.

“…And found something unexpected.”

Safina gripped a purple version of the dry bird in her right hand, and a fresh wound from Leon’s lightning bolt was visible on her arm.

She silently glanced back at Albert and softly said,

“You shouldn’t have come, you big brute.”

“Big brute” was the nickname Safina had given Albert the night they had all drunk together.

She liked giving people nicknames—Leon’s nickname for that night, because he couldn’t drink, was “Orange Juice Boy.”

Though it wasn’t very catchy, so after she gave it, it just stayed that way.

Then, Safina turned her gaze back to Leon.

“Though I deliberately slowed down my attack when I ambushed you just now, how did you manage to both counter my attack and dodge, then immediately make the decision to fight back when you realized I was the enemy? All of this happened in less than a second.”

“These four things all happened in under one second.”

“If we say that you could see the opponent’s movements, anticipate possible attacks, and counter a surprise attack, anyone on alert for surrounding experts could do that;

But the key point is, in Leon’s mind, just a second ago, I was still a human companion, a comrade—how could I suddenly try to ambush him?

To accept this fact almost instantly and decisively counterattack… Such a person couldn’t possibly be just a simple high school graduate.”

“It’s no surprise,” Leon added as he straightened up, facing Safina.

“Since I was ambushed by some second-rate guy ten years ago, I haven’t been backstabbed since.”

He stood tall, facing off against Safina.

“Now it’s my turn to ask you.”

“I come from the Void Realm.”

“I’m not asking about that.”

Safina raised an eyebrow, “Then what do you want to ask?”

“Why did you deliberately slow down your ambush? Didn’t you want to kill me?”

Upon hearing this, Safina smirked,

“That level of attack wouldn’t kill you. Even if it hit, it wouldn’t cause any substantial damage. I just wanted to use that blow to tell you, Leon Cassmod—”

As she spoke, Safina swept her right hand, adjusted her stance, and bent her knees, preparing for her next move.

But she paused for a moment, her usually proud expression flickering with a brief flash of loneliness.

Of course, that loneliness disappeared as quickly as it came.

She looked at Leon and continued,

“The moment I attacked you, we were no longer friends who had drunk together and talked. We are now… enemies from two different worlds.”

“So—”

“Don’t hold back in the battle to come.”