Right then, the young girl gritted her teeth, abruptly raised her head, and spoke in an extremely fierce tone:
"Wait, Your Grace! Do you really think we signed a peace treaty with you just because you defeated a mere Duchy of Reny?!"
With a sudden jerk of her arm, she broke free from her guard captain, who was shaking her head in a desperate warning. Her gaze seemed to pierce right through Fido's sturdy frame, locking onto Irene's displeased face.
"Since you are unwilling to cooperate, I will speak plainly."
"The only reason we condescended to come here was at the behest of the Mother of Shadows. Otherwise, did you really think you had the strength to speak with me on equal terms?"
Vina's gaze swept over everyone present.
"I do not wish to cause conflict between our two sides, so you had best cooperate. Hand over all those god-cursed creations of your own accord, and we can pretend nothing happened and continue to coexist in peace. Otherwise..."
"You wouldn't want to suffer the wrath of the gods, would you?"
Having blurted all this out in a single breath, Vina felt her chest thumping wildly, her heart practically leaping out of her throat. Yet, at the thought of the fear and terror that might soon wash over the dragon's face, an inexplicable, indescribable thrill welled up inside her.
It was a sensation she had never experienced before—like dancing on the edge of a blade, tense and thrilling, yet incredibly exhilarating.
At the same time, as her voice fell, the entire area fell into a dead silence.
It was so quiet that only the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the sand could be heard.
Along with the increasingly heavy breathing of Guard Captain Laya, who stood to the side in utter helplessness.
After an agonizingly long silence, an abrupt voice broke the quiet.
"Hehe, what a bold little thing."
Hearing this, Fido glanced sideways slightly and then voluntarily stepped aside.
Revealing Irene as she slowly walked back.
"You are one of the few who dare to speak to me like this. I quite admire you."
A faint smile played on Irene's face, though she was actually feeling rather pleased because this confirmed her previous suspicions about Mother Dragon.
Vina seemed highly receptive to Irene's words. She proudly puffed out her small chest, her precociously developed figure showing even more clearly beneath the thin veil. "Thank you for your praise. His Holiness the Pope has said the same to me."
"Hehehe..." Irene let out a cold chuckle, but her smile vanished in an instant. With a Blink, she materialized directly in front of Vina, slowly bending down to say, one word at a time, "You are very proud?"
The little Saintess was clearly startled by the sudden proximity. A flicker of alarm crossed her face as she took half a step back. But then, looking at Irene's face, an odd surge of emotion—perhaps jealousy, perhaps something else—suddenly welled up inside her.
Biting her lip, she actually took a step forward, her face almost pressing against Irene's. Her watery eyes widened as she declared, "Yes, I am proud! And that is because I have the right to be proud. I am the God of Light's messenger in the mortal realm, I am God's most favored child, I—"
Before she could finish, Irene placed a finger against Vina's lips while raising her other hand in a shushing gesture.
"Then, my dearest Saintess, the most pampered darling of your great deity..." Irene slowly pulled her finger away from Vina's lips. Locking eyes with those watery pools, her tone softened into something incredibly warm, like a gentle older sister next door.
"Could you... help me conduct an experiment?"
"What experiment?" Vina asked subconsciously.
"Hehehe..." Irene's face twisted into a sinister grin, looking very much like a wicked witch whose scheme had succeeded.
Long ago, when she learned from the notes of that Gold Rank Archmage that the gods had vanished, Irene had harbored several doubts.
Had the gods truly vanished? Were they dead? Or... had they fallen into a deep slumber?
After all, the technological creations currently in her possession were, in the end, still creations cursed by the gods.
If the gods were to suddenly wake up one day, it could cause her quite a bit of trouble.
It would be far better to seize this perfect opportunity. In the spirit of seeking truth through experimentation, she could kill a divinely ordained Saintess to see if the god backing her would manifest to usher her soul into the divine kingdom.
After all, as a Saintess, she had to be at least a fanatic believer. A believer of this caliber was hard to find even among ten thousand people, and the power of faith she generated was incomparable to that of ordinary believers, both in quantity and quality.
According to the Draconic Inheritance, when such a believer died, the deity would inevitably manifest in person to guide them into the divine kingdom.
With this in mind, Irene spoke:
"It's quite simple."
"Help me test if the God of Light will manifest if I kill you."
"You..."
Vina swallowed hard, a shroud of fear instantly settling over her heart. Yet, she forced herself to remain composed and asked, "What do you mean..."
"What I mean is..."
As Irene spoke, dragon horns sprouted from her head, a long dragon tail whipped out behind her, and two pairs of massive dragon wings tore through her white robes.
Then, her body rapidly expanded.
Growing larger and larger, bigger and bigger!
Until her terrifying form loomed over the entire area. Completely engulfed in shadow, Vina could only crane her neck, staring up in absolute horror at the colossal beast before her.
At this moment, she finally recalled the fear engraved in the bloodline of every intelligent race—the terror of being ruled and dominated by dragons countless years ago!
It was also at this moment that she finally realized she had never been facing a human.
No matter how gentle she might have seemed, she was still a brutally savage chromatic dragon!
A cold voice boomed from the maw of the behemoth before her: "I want to see if the great God of Light will personally manifest to guide your soul into the divine kingdom if I kill you."
With that, Irene unfurled her massive wings with a loud whoosh. The colossal black wings were like a dense storm cloud, completely blotting out the sky and forcing an uncontrollable dread to well up in the hearts of everyone present.
Irene lowered her draconic head. On her face covered in cold black scales, her golden slit pupils pressed almost directly against Vina's face. A gentle breath from her nostrils nearly caused the girl to lose her balance and fall backward.
A sound like grinding metal squeezed through her teeth: "This is a very interesting experiment, isn't it?"
Faced with such a terrifying scene, the female guard captain standing to the side could finally endure it no longer. She wanted to strike to hold back the black dragon before them, seizing any chance for her Saintess to escape.
Rate on N.U.
