I will burn Edwin… Incinerate, torch, immolate, vaporize… I will reduce that fucking slime of a man to ash!

  Valar’s heart roiled with a burning desire, and his soul responded with desperate glee. In that singular moment, all he could feel was rage and fire. Fear and exhaustion melted away under the flames, and the feelings of dejection, of surrender, became only further fuel for his rage. How dare he make me fear? How dare he threaten me? How does he dare to hurt my friends?

  No, you will not kill my friends. No, you will not hurt me! I. Say. No.

  Burning pain flashed out from his soul, torching Valar’s insides, but he couldn’t care less. What was some pain in the face of ridding the world of that monster? Because that’s what he was, a monster. Just like Thomas Dremen and just like the slavers of the empire, Edwin was undoubtedly a monster, and Valar would be the one to take down that monster with his own two hands.

  More and more fire flowed out from his soul, so he accepted it and asked for seconds, then thirds… When the pain became overwhelming in its intensity, he still continued… Just a bit more… I want more!

  Edwin looked down at the boy, his hands hanging by his sides like there was nothing to worry about. To him, the disheveled boy just looked like a pitiful brat, preparing some grand showing that would surely fail as the rest always had.

  Of course, Edwin would never let the boy actually draw blood… He had his silver ranked body enhancement spell on, so the brat would just break his hand against his face. Edwin would have laughed from just the thought, but that would have ruined the surprise, wouldn’t it?

  A hopeless lad, ready to die. I hoped he would’ve had a bit more rage in him, but I guess he was too young. Just punch me already, and let’s get this over with!

  When the boy finally moved his arm, the bandit king felt that something was off.

  From an outside perspective, the punch he threw would have looked weak, and it was just that. Really, what could an iron ranked life mage with the body of a thirteen-year-old kid do? But the punch itself had never been intended to be the main force, but just the vehicle that delivered it.

  The moment when Edwin realized something was deeply wrong, it was too late already. Valar’s fist was only a finger’s width away from his chin, and he would have no time to dodge. Instead, the man went to chant one of his prepared spells.

  “A New D-.”

  That was when the boy’s fist erupted.

  “Edwin didn’t know pain.” It was a widely known fact among all the bandit factions in Leoria, and he was feared because of it. Simply, the parts in the body that warned others of damage didn’t work for him. His mother and father had to save him from many dangers when he was young due to his strange condition. The young boy would put his hand in fire, cut himself with knives and break his bones for fun. That resulted in heightened expenses and stressed out parents, but at least they managed to raise him to adulthood.

  This is pain, huh?

  The next instant, his head was turned to ash in a torrent of fiery death.

  Valar collapsed on the ground. He let out a pained scream as his newly burnt right arm impacted the rough soil palm first. He was injured, in pain and exhausted to the bone.

  Worth it…

  Seeing Edwin’s confident face twist into a frown, then panic, had been such a satisfying moment for him that he would be savouring it for many nights to come. That man had been a lunatic, a demon that should have been killed years ago. Who knew how much carnage he had already caused?

  Unfortunately, Valar had collapsed face first, so he couldn’t gaze upon the headless corpse of the Undying Horror, but recounting the image of his head vaporizing was good enough as it was.

  It was lucky that he remembered Troy’s earlier words about the so-called bandit king. When they had been briefed, the veteran antimage had emphasized the importance of taking Edwin’s head, as it was the only part of his body nobody had seen him heal. It was the best shot at killing him bar none.

  Removing the vile man’s head had been costly, that was for sure. Valar’s right arm was ruined once more and his internals weren’t doing that well either. Drawing that much fire out of his soul and holding it within his body had been a profoundly damaging experience, but at least it had worked, right?

  Wait… A thought—one that seemed too ridiculous to even consider—entered Valar’s mind. It was not a good thought at all… Where is the mana from the kill?

  “A New Dawn is an interesting spell,” Valar heard a harsh voice echoing in the clearing. No, no, no… “Unlike many other healing spells, it isn’t channeled at all.”

  Tears started flowing from the boy’s eyes as he heard the Undying Horror get his feet under him. No, no… The fiery pain inside him seemed to intensify with each word. While it had been dulled by his rage just seconds ago, the dawning realization that he would die anyway only made the pain grow stronger.

  “I actually designed it as a chain of spells that activate each other, each one healing only a little bit at a time and activating the next,” Edwin grunted. “Never tested it with my head, but I guess it works with that too…”

  Valar let out a pained scream as Edwin grabbed him by his right shoulder and flipped him around. He wasn’t gentle. “You hurt me, boy…”

  When Valar’s eyes focused on the man standing above him, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The bandit king’s face was there, but it was missing parts. Thin green strands of life magic seemed to hold his face together just barely, and most of his skin was still missing. Edwin’s eyes, however… The only word to describe them was ‘crazed’.

  “I did not enjoy feeling pain,” Edwin spat on the ground. “You’re dead, kid.”

  This is it… Valar was out of options. He simply had nothing left to use. He was out of mana, grievously injured and drawing more fire would have definitely ended up in his death. It was all over, and he would die a painful death. Perhaps it would have been better to die in that sewer instead…

  He closed his eyes as the bandit king raised his fist, and smiled. It had not been a good life, but at least it had been a life. Perhaps I’ll reincarnate to a nice family and live in peace? That’s a nice thought… For now, it’s time to sleep.

  Just like those months ago when he had closed his eyes, ready to die, Valar’s rest wasn’t destined to last.

  Valar’s eyes flashed open in shock as a mighty aura descended upon the clearing. His eyes were trained on Edwin, who had frozen in place with his fist raised up high.

  The Undying Horror was shivering…

  The aura that had descended upon the clearing was unknown in origin, but even an iron ranker like Valar could somewhat understand its meaning.

  “Leave.”

  It wasn’t directed at Valar himself, but the man standing above him, and that man reacted fast.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Edwin lost his composure completely. The mighty peak silver ranker let out a frightened scream and practically disappeared, moving deeper into the forest at top speed. He stumbled over roots, slammed into trees and even fell on the ground, but he continued his sprint away. When an aura like that descended, even the toughest warrior would run with their tail between their legs. Disobeying would have meant death, after all.

  Valar looked up at the sky with a mix of fear and confusion. What just happened?

  He had been certain that his life was over. There had been no options available, no cards in his hand that he could’ve played, but somehow Edwin had ended up running away? And that aura…

  It had been the strongest aura he had ever sensed, that was for sure. The only real comparison he had was the academy headmaster’s presence, but even that would have fallen short in the face of such monstrous power. Was that… a dragon?

  Valar’s exhausted mind finally gave out and his eyes closed as he fell unconscious at last.

  After the incident with the behemoth ursa and that stupid princeling, Nilas had been keeping extra attention on the eastern parts of Leoria. Flying near the sea was therapeutic anyway, so who cared? Well, her patriarch would probably care, but he didn’t need to know, right?

  Besides, nothing was happening in western Leoria anyway! The empire of Ki-... Khu… Khatesh, right! Khatesh wasn’t going to attack for years to come and if they were ignored, the region was usually pretty calm. Sure, there were some dangerous dungeons in the area, but she was pretty sure they weren’t going to matter for years anyway.

  Am I making up excuses for when father inevitably finds out I’ve been slacking off with my new position? Nooo… He wouldn’t, right?

  She was flying over the Ronaheim forest that morning. It was a nice forest filled with all kinds of beasts, plants and even humans! The humans didn’t know about the dungeon forming beneath it, but she wouldn’t be the one to tell them. That would have been breaking the rules, and not some silly rules like where she was supposed to fly, but actually important ones.

  For most of her life, Nilas had been taught that her race, the dragons, were the protectors of Aldun—its guardian beasts. Even though the ‘sapient’ races often forgot that fact, the dragons did not. While the humans of Leoria grew old, dragons did not. Their memories lasted for eons, and that gave them purpose.

  The dragons had many rules, but that hadn’t always been the case. When she had been young, Nilas’ mother had told her bedtime stories about dragons that had gotten too greedy, too powerhungry… Those that had broken the rules. She was told that some millennia ago, they had ruled over the lands of Aldun with an iron claw. She had thought that such a world sounded quite nice, but her mother had assured her that it had been everything but.

  Oppression had led to rebellion, and rebellion had led to death. Of course, many humans, elves and dwarves had died, but surprisingly they hadn’t been the only ones to perish during those times. Pressure created diamonds, and great heroes rose to fight the dragons. While many of them had died, so had dragons…

  Those bedtime stories were a good reminder to follow the rules. While she felt stronger than most, her parents had told Nilas that even such puny creatures as the humans had champions that were capable of slaying her. It’s best to keep a low profile and fly along… Yes, yes, a low prof-.

  Nilas’ snout flashed downwards and her reptilian eyes grew wide as she felt something from the Ronaheim forest. Her gaze focused down to the clearing she had sensed the disturbance in and she slowed down, eventually stopping above it. What’s this?

  The first thing she saw was a cloud serpent corpse, most likely belonging to the idiot that had tried to attack the nation's capital. Nilas scoffed and continued looking. That little lizard obviously isn’t what I sensed, so what was it?

  When she managed to divert her eyes from the cloud serpent taking up most of the space, Nilas’ eyes thinned to dangerous slits. What’s that silver ranker doing to those bronze rankers? That’s obviously against the rules! He was even bullying an iron ranker—a familiar iron ranker, now that she looked more closely. Is that the party I saw hiding from the ursa? What have they gotten themselves into?

  Despite the silver ranked man’s inability to follow rules, Nilas did not descend upon him. It was not her job to meddle with the humans, even if they didn’t follow the rules. Humans would handle their own rulebreakers, so she was not to interrupt their actions even if she found them to be immoral. Then the rulebreaker in question would be me!

  Honestly, the scene under her in the forest clearing was a total mess. Three humans were laying on the ground, most likely unconscious and injured. One was lying on the ground as were the rest, but based on her aura, which reeked of ice, she was just barely conscious. Good job staying awake, girl!

  The final member of the team of… adventurers, was it? was standing in front of the obvious bad guy. The orange haired man was grinning down at the human child, a sadistic glee clear in his eyes. Nilas wanted to burn that man so, so badly… Only if I-. Huh?

  The iron rank boy’s aura surged, but not with the magic she thought it would. She had been sure he was a life mage, so why were her senses telling her that he was using fire magic? And not just any fire either…

  WHY IS THAT KID USING MY-... OUR MAGIC?

  Just as her senses told her, the boy’s fist soon erupted with bright dragonfire. Predictably, the silver ranker he punched had his head vaporized nearly instantly, but Nilas’ attention wasn’t on the bad guy anymore. The boy was much more important. He had just used the magic of the red dragons!

  What should I do? He needs to come with me, but the rules… There are rules! Nilas desperately wanted to grab the small human and fly him east, but that would have made her a rulebreaker and thus a bad dragon… She didn’t want to be a bad dragon!

  But the boy was injured. She wasn’t even sure if he’d survive on his own, and worse, the bad guy wasn’t down just yet. His healing spell is impressive, that was for sure… Really strong for a silver ranker, that one, although his durability is really weak! That amount of dragonfire was like the flame of a candle, no more…

  But it still had been dragonfire, and that was the issue. Humans weren’t supposed to have dragonfire. In fact, no being other than the red dragons themselves were supposed to have access to it. Their souls, gates and all, simply didn’t allow for it. It was just the same with phoenixes with their flames, leviathans with their disgusting water and rare beasts like the mirror foxes up north. Their magic was limited to them due to their unique souls, just like her fire was limited to herself and other red dragons—the dragons of other colours hoarding the rest of the elements. Members of the sapient races simply shouldn’t have had access to those magics!

  This child needs to stay alive, and I need to tell father… But how?

  She couldn’t do anything! Meddling in mortal affairs would have been breaking the rules, but if she did nothing, the boy would die! That wasn’t acceptable!

  As the bad guy raised his fist and prepared to kill the boy, Nilas had had enough…

  “LEAVE!” She infused her aura with everything she had and projected it to the clearing. Nilas knew she was breaking the rules, but who cared? She would not let the interesting boy die without revealing his secrets to her, no way!

  Her soul’s full authority upon the world crashed down upon the bad guy, and he froze. He was guided by the instincts of someone who knew they were prey, and instincts were hard to overcome. Predictably, he pissed himself, screamed and ran away. A fitting punishment for someone who wanted to kill the interesting boy!

  Unfortunately, Nilas’ issue wasn’t solved just yet. She could sense the boy and his friends would die soon, so she racked her brain in search of a way out. I’ve already broken the rules, so do I just fly him over to one of the human healing places? No, that would be way too much, no matter how interesting he is. Besides, the stupid king would just slay me for it, so it wouldn’t be a good idea either way… But what is?

  She decided to descend to the clearing in search of answers to the boy’s plight. Nilas flew down just under the cloudbed before she transformed to her human form and glided the rest of the way down, impacting the ground with a soft thud. Polymorphing sure was useful!

  Honestly, Nilas didn’t understand why she could even polymorph at all. It wasn’t related to the core of her magic—that being her fire—but she could still change forms to fit in the sapient societies pretty easily. Apparently, it was due to an advanced beastcore or something like that, but father’s explanations had always been confusing. She liked mother’s explanation much better.

  “You can polymorph because you’re strong, Nilas!” said the medium-length young woman with white hair stretching all the way down to her… knees, was it? Nilas giggled when she recounted the older female dragon’s words. Yes, I’m strong, aren’t I?

  Nilas looked down upon the boy who was laying on the ground with his eyes closed, and her lips twisted into a frown.

  “An hour at the maximum,” she muttered. Her lilting voice was like tinkling bells, making it clear that she was different from the humans that inhabited these lands. That would have been pretty obvious from the unnaturally long white hair and eyes that were closer to little fireballs than anything even resembling a human anyway…

  “What’s this?” she muttered to herself as she scanned the boy. The young woman picked up his coin pouch and upended it, then picked up a single coin that differed from the rest. “It’s linked to somewhere in that big city… Do I use it?”

  The young woman, not a day over twenty-three if her looks were to be believed, grabbed her chin in thought just like the humans she observed daily did. She tapped her foot furiously too. That was part of thinking like a human, she was sure of it!

  “I’ve already broken the rules,” Nilas nodded to herself. “The rulebreaking would've been a waste if the boy died now… Let’s do it!”

  She took the strange coin in hand, infused some mana into it, and yelled. “COME FAST OR THE BOY WILL DIE!”

  The young dragon’s eyes widened with horror. I didn’t do the human thing!

  “PRETTY PLEASE?”