"Impressive. You people really are something. You even dared to commit an act this blasphemous?"
Xia Mi had already seen through Erii's condition. Suppressing her shock, she turned toward Jovian and questioned him.
"Some things have to be done by someone. Even if I refused, someone else would eventually do it. Since someone has to do it, why shouldn't that person be me?"
Jovian met Xia Mi's gaze calmly. He continued smiling, showing no guilt whatsoever over the experiment they had conducted.
"You realize the most immediate consequence of this is that you've made enemies of every pure-blooded dragon in the world, don't you?"
Xia Mi narrowed her eyes. Her burning golden pupils seemed to ignite the cold air around them as an endless torrent of draconic pressure surged toward Jovian and the others.
Erii frowned slightly. A trace of displeasure flashed across her face as the majesty of a Supreme erupted from her body.
Her pressure not only neutralized Xia Mi's draconic might, but pushed back against her. That overwhelming majesty made even Xia Mi, a genuine Dragon King, feel tightness in her chest. Her breathing quickened, and for a moment, she could barely draw breath.
"Haven't I always been the enemy of every pure-blooded dragon in the world?"
Seeing Xia Mi suppressed, Jovian smiled faintly.
"This power is certainly genuine. Unfortunately, she still falls short of the true White King."
Xia Mi's face had grown slightly pale. She withdrew her pressure and calmly evaluated the immense power within Erii.
"Once Erii devours enough Dragon Bone Crosses, she won't merely gain power equal to the White King. She may even surpass it."
Jovian stood behind Erii with his hands clasped behind his back, smiling as he spoke.
"You're taking far too much for granted."
"Replacing a god isn't that simple."
Xia Mi shook her head. In her opinion, Jovian's idea was arrogant, conceited, and utterly reckless.
"I've already succeeded."
Jovian shook his head.
Facts spoke louder than arguments. No matter what Xia Mi said, the Erii standing before them was now a genuine Dragon King.
Jung von Herzog might have been an old bastard, but he had possessed genuine talent. His method worked, both in the original timeline and in this world that Jovian had forcibly rewritten.
Xia Mi fell silent.
At the same time, an overwhelming sense of danger rose inside her.
Once humans became capable of stealing divine thrones, no god in existence would be safe.
"Relax. I'm not interested in you or your brother. Your brother is too stupid, and you're too weak."
Jovian smiled at the contemplative Xia Mi.
"Heh."
"You're the weak one. Weak or not, I'm still a Dragon King. Know your place, mortal."
Xia Mi looked Jovian up and down before speaking with open disdain.
"I'm a mortal who can tame dragons."
Jovian showed no anger. He merely smiled as he responded.
"Tch."
"Just make sure your little dragon doesn't embarrass me during this operation."
Xia Mi rolled her eyes and warned him.
"My little dragon is stronger than you. Even at your peak, you might not be able to defeat her."
Jovian maintained his faint smile and unreadable expression.
"You've never seen me at my peak. Once I truly return to my full strength, I'll scare the hell out of you."
Xia Mi sneered.
As a Dragon King, her strongest form possessed enough power to destroy the world. That was no mere legend.
"Then I'll look forward to the day you regain your full strength."
Jovian smiled calmly at Xia Mi.
After this friendly exchange, their alliance was officially established.
With two Dragon Kings attacking Cassell College simultaneously, even the combined strength of everyone at the college might not be enough to stop them.
More importantly, one of those Dragon Kings was the great White King, one of the two Supremes.
Even if the White King's power remained incomplete, it would still be more than enough.
The underground Ice Cellar beneath Cassell College could be called the safest place in the world. It was even more secure than the Pentagon or the White House.
That was because the Ice Cellar had not been constructed to keep humans out. It had been built to defend against dragonkin.
Countless treasures were stored inside the enormous facility, which was supposedly impossible to infiltrate. Most were connected to dragons, particularly alchemical creations made by dragonkind.
Cassell College had already thoroughly studied some of them. Others remained completely incomprehensible to modern alchemical science.
The college's directors did not seem to care whether those alchemical objects might explode or react with one another. They had simply thrown everything into the same place.
According to Xia Mi, these hybrids were wasting treasures beyond belief.
Despite their willingness to pile all those treasures together, Cassell College's directors still refused to hand them over to anyone else for research. In that regard, they had inherited the dragons' obsession with hoarding treasure.
Even when a treasure served no practical purpose, dragons still loved gathering riches and piling them inside their homes. Merely looking at such a collection was enough to bring them pleasure.
The truth was that Cassell College's directors and shareholders trusted the Ice Cellar even more than they trusted their own homes.
They firmly believed that no one could ever infiltrate it.
That confidence had led to the awkward situation unfolding now.
At the deepest point of the Ice Cellar stood the Well of Oblivion.
The strongest alchemical formation ever developed by hybrids protected Cassell College's most valuable treasure.
The Dragon Bone Cross of a first-generation dragon, the great Dragon King Constantine, one of the Kings of Bronze and Fire, rested there in silence.
"The fact that hybrids developed alchemy to this extent deserves praise."
"Unfortunately, in the eyes of a true dragon, this place is nothing more than a junkyard."
A woman wrapped in layers of thin gauze that concealed both her graceful figure and her face had effortlessly destroyed every defense Cassell College took pride in.
She strolled through every checkpoint as though taking a leisurely walk, eventually stopping before the Dragon Bone Cross.
"It has been a long time, Constantine."
"By rights, our meeting should have been a glorious reunion."
"I still remember the covenant we sealed with our blood. Yet when I finally saw you again, you had already withered away."
The mysterious woman gently caressed Constantine's cheek, her eyes filled with memories.
Unfortunately, as she silently reminisced before Constantine's remains, a pair of long legs entered the chamber and thoroughly ruined the solemn atmosphere.
"Mai Sakatoku?"
The mysterious woman froze when she recognized the owner of those straight, slender legs.
"Hello."
"I didn't realize I was so famous."
Mai Sakatoku appeared surprised, although not the slightest hint of surprise could be seen on her face. She casually waved at the mysterious woman as though greeting an old friend.
"Mai Sakatoku, what are you doing here?"
The mysterious woman glared at her.
"Stealing the Dragon Bone Cross, of course."
"I arrived first, you were second, and he was third."
As Mai openly admitted her purpose, a blond, blue-eyed man in a suit appeared inside the supposedly impenetrable Well of Oblivion.
"Haha, hello, everyone. I'm the fourth."
Just as the third intruder arrived, a disreputable-looking man wearing a paper bag over his head strolled into the chamber.
"Damn. There are four of us now. We might as well deal a hand of poker."
The mysterious woman stared at the bizarre gathering and complained.
"Everyone knows the rules at a poker table, right?"
"Watch the player on your left, keep the one on your right in check, and never take your eyes off the player across from you."
"Ma'am, your seat doesn't look particularly favorable."
"You're standing closest to the Dragon Bone Cross, which makes you the first person the rest of us will attack. Aren't you afraid the three of us might join forces against you?"
The man in the paper-bag mask narrowed his eyes at the woman standing only one step away from Constantine's Dragon Bone Cross.
Golden flames burned wildly in his eyes, visible through the two holes cut into the paper bag.
"Poker may be a fair game."
"Killing is not."
"You're nothing but insects."
The moment the gauze-covered woman finished speaking, immense power erupted from her body. The terrifying pressure made it almost impossible for the three intruders facing her to breathe.
"Bronze Throne!"
The paper-bagged man was the first to react.
All traces of his earlier carelessness disappeared. His muscles swelled explosively as he hoisted an enormous stone sarcophagus over his shoulder and hurled it at the mysterious woman.
"Hmph."
Unfortunately, the enormous sarcophagus shattered instantly the moment it entered the woman's absolute EX domain.
Whoosh!
Seeing that the masked man's attack had failed, the blond man in the suit drew a handgun and fired a bullet glowing with brilliant crimson light.
"What?"
The red radiance genuinely surprised the woman.
She recognized the light of the Philosopher's Stone, a substance capable of injuring and killing dragons.
Unfortunately, the crimson bullet only managed to surprise her.
The instant it touched her, it shattered into countless fragments.
"It seems you don't know that once the fifth element takes physical form, it completely shatters when it strikes something harder than itself."
The mysterious woman looked at the blond man with a trace of satisfaction.
Immediately afterward, her EX domain surged toward the three intruders like a tidal wave.
"Now I'll show you what true Power and Authority look like."
The instant the woman finished speaking, the enormous EX domain crashed down upon all three of them.
The blond man in the suit felt the immense alchemical field surrounding him, and his pupils contracted sharply.
"According to our research, the smaller an EX domain is, the more powerful it becomes. Conversely, the larger the domain, the weaker its effects should be."
"After seeing this, I'm beginning to question our research."
As a member of the Gattuso family, the blond man had received an exceptional education and was familiar with everything recorded in the textbooks.
Seeing the mysterious woman release an EX domain that was both incredibly vast and overwhelmingly powerful left him genuinely shocked.
"Hey, knowledge exists to be overturned."
The masked man remained unconcerned, and his tone was just as flippant as before.
While the masked man and the Gattuso family member exchanged words, the immense EX domain's attacks descended upon the three of them like a violent storm.
"One of the people here possesses Bronze Throne, while another has the Philosopher's Stone to serve as protection."
"You have neither."
Just before the attacks struck, a mysterious voice sounded from behind Mai Sakatoku.
"I know. That is why you are my shield."
Mai's expression became calm the moment she heard the voice. She clearly possessed absolute trust in whoever stood behind her.
"No. You are merely a weapon in my hand."
"The sharpest weapon does not need a shield. It only needs to cut down the enemy."
The instant the mysterious voice faded, Mai Sakatoku opened her eyes.
Terrifying power boiled inside her body.
Two alchemical weapons, Amanohabakiri and Futsunomitama, appeared in her hands.
At that moment, she possessed enough power to challenge even a Dragon King.
"Who are you?"
The mysterious woman stared in horror at the unseen being who had purified Mai Sakatoku's bloodline.
As far as she knew, fewer than five beings in the entire world possessed the ability to purify bloodlines.
More importantly, she should have known every single one of them.
"You're as beautiful as ever."
The words sounded partly like praise and partly like a casual greeting.
The mysterious presence then vanished.
At the same time, the two beautiful women collided in battle.
"Let's get out of here, buddy."
Seeing their earth-shaking battle and the terrifying shock waves rattling the entire Ice Cellar, the masked man suggested retreating to the blond man beside him.
"Fine."
The blond man thought for a moment before nodding.
"Damn it. I can't believe a lowly hybrid has forced me into such a miserable position."
Elsewhere, the mysterious woman was being suppressed by Mai Sakatoku, who now wielded both blades and had received a tremendous enhancement.
The situation left the woman furious.
Mai Sakatoku, meanwhile, wore a faint smile.
The two women continued exchanging violent attacks, shattering everything around them. As the battle intensified, both began undergoing draconic transformations.
"Are you going to help me or not?"
Finally, the mysterious woman could no longer restrain herself. She shouted into the seemingly empty chamber.
"What?"
Her shout startled Mai Sakatoku.
In the next instant, she saw another woman draped in crimson gauze descend from above and effortlessly seize Constantine's Dragon Bone Cross.
"Withdraw."
Carrying the Dragon Bone Cross, the woman gave Mai Sakatoku a long, penetrating look before speaking a single word.
Yet that one word seemed to possess boundless authority, causing Mai's heart to tremble.
"Hmph."
The mysterious woman fighting Mai saw that they had successfully obtained the Dragon Bone Cross. She immediately stopped wasting time on the battle.
The two women departed the mysterious Ice Cellar together, leaving Mai Sakatoku standing behind in stunned confusion.
Meanwhile, after learning that the Dragon Bone Cross had been secured, Jovian sat calmly on a couch and smoked.
"Surprised? I brought two people."
"Unlike you, you've got no heavy hitters, only a couple of small fries."
"These days, power belongs to whoever has the bigger crew."
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