"ROAR—!"
In the eyes of Cerydra and the Chrysos Heirs, the dragon—larger than a mountain range—had only just broken free from its shackles, letting out an exhilarated roar.
Yet, a second later, the behemoth began to struggle erratically. Even the most foolhardy observer could see the agony etched across the dragon's features.
"Lady Imperator, is this the work of Lady Hysilens?"
"Naturally. Only the Dux Gladiorum possesses such prowess!"
Esdeath turned her gaze toward Cerydra. The young girl understood that this was the doing of the vanished Dux Gladiorum and immediately sought her orders.
"Should we take this chance to strike? Looking at the state of that dragon, this is undoubtedly the optimal moment..."
Consumed by pain, the dragon could no longer focus its senses, doing nothing but thrashing amidst the peaks—turning the surrounding snowy mountains into a desolate wasteland.
"No, we need only wait. Leave the rest to the Dux Gladiorum!"
Cerydra's voice rang with an ineffable confidence. Esdeath understood why Her Majesty the Empress felt this way; after all, the Dux Gladiorum's strength was evident to all.
Since she had first encountered Hysilens, Esdeath felt as though she had never seen a single flaw in the woman...
Beautiful, sweet-voiced, and possessing explosive martial might!
Any person would surely treasure such a subordinate.
In Esdeath's mind, the silhouette of Hysilens began to gradually overlap with her own...
When will I be able to become someone like that?
Though Esdeath was already arguably the second most powerful General in the Northern Country, she was still very young. There was still vast room for her to grow.
And Hysilens was clearly a definitive goal to chase!
Esdeath hoped that in the future, she could be like Lady Hysilens—becoming a loyal, excellent, and formidable warrior!
She would offer everything to Empress Cerydra!
"They say the Northern Country is unsuitable for habitation. After all, this land is perpetually blanketed in wind and snow; becoming a powerful nation is a challenge among challenges."
"But now, it seems a portion of that problem has been solved?"
Watching the dragon thrashing in the mountains, Cerydra was lost in thought.
By simply rolling through the peaks a few times, this dragon had caused countless snowy mountains to vanish. The temperature in the North had even spiked by dozens of degrees, reaching the optimal level for human comfort.
"Sigh! What a pity!"
If she could have pressed this dragon into her service, the North's greatest issue—the frigid climate—would be solved.
Once the environment improved, they could farm, build houses, and ensure the people of the North lived prosperous lives...
By then, becoming a global superpower would be just around the corner, wouldn't it?
Regrettably, Cerydra lacked the ability to persuade the beast, so she could only endure the "pain" of having it slain!
However, before killing the dragon, she decided to let it roll around in the snow a bit longer to raise the temperature a little more...
On the other side, Hysilens—who was continuously summoning the ocean—gripped her sharp dual swords, preparing for a sudden, decisive thrust in one direction.
The dragon's exterior was armored in hardened rock and terrifying lava, rendering most attacks useless.
But a powerful external defense did not mean the interior was equally sturdy... powerful beings often collapse from within!
Hysilens only needed to pierce through the dragon's brain and let her sea water flood everything to bring this subjugation battle to a definitive end.
Ding—!
As the Demigod of Ocean fully unleashed her power, the dragon's struggles ceased entirely. It collapsed onto the ground, unconscious...
"We... have won!"
"Hmph! Though I didn't get a live one, a dead one is fine too~"
A body like a mountain range lay before her eyes. There was no pity in Cerydra's gaze; instead, it was ninety percent excitement and ten percent regret.
In the world of Akame ga Kill!, the First Emperor of a millennium ago had subjugated many Super Class Danger Beasts. Using their remains as raw materials and rare metals as a base, he created the weapons known as Teigu.
And now, Cerydra had secured a Super Class Danger Beast of her own. Given its massive size, she should be able to craft quite a few interesting new weapons, right?
As for the technical issues... Hah!
Did Cerydra need the Empire's methods?
If she merely created new Teigu, Cerydra would at most be remembered as the "Second First Emperor" in the history of this world. That was not what she desired.
She wanted to be "The First Empress, Cerydra"!
Relying solely on technology to craft new weapons would inevitably take a vast amount of time. Although Cerydra faced no strict time limit in this world, it was better to leave as soon as possible.
Therefore, for this dragon's corpse, Cerydra planned to directly utilize her Authority of Law to perform an "Equivalent Exchange." This would save time and maximize efficiency.
Cerydra had briefly studied Teigu before.
Specifically, Najenda's Roman Artillery: Pumpkin!
While its power was indeed impressive, she always felt something was missing... Pumpkin's output didn't seem as massive as she had imagined.
Cerydra had also ordered weapons to be forged from rare metals and Danger Beasts, even consuming a significant amount of her own Golden Blood for the task.
Soon, she discovered a problem.
When using a Danger Beast itself as the material, the corpse would continuously degrade, resulting in weapons that lacked "spirituality."
To solve this, Cerydra had considered many methods to improve efficiency and ensure no degradation occurred during the forging process.
The final answer was: none of them worked!
Artificial means simply could not stop the phenomenon of degradation. The only way was through non-human means...
The Authority of Law: Equivalent Exchange!
Cerydra immediately approached the dragon's corpse and placed her hand upon it.
The creature had just died; she had to act while it was still "warm"!
If the body went cold, the effectiveness of the converted weapons would be greatly diminished!
"With so many dragon scales and so much dragon flesh, I should be able to form a powerful unit of Dragon Scale Warriors, right?"
Scales for armor, claws and teeth for weapons... she would utilize every scrap, wasting not a single bit!
However, just as Cerydra was about to activate her Authority, she sensed a flicker of life from the deceased dragon...
This sudden turn of events startled Cerydra into taking a large step back. Was this dragon planning to fake its death and counterattack once they drew near?
"Everyone, fall back! We— wait!"
Just as she was about to regroup her army, Cerydra realized something was off. She suddenly noticed...
The dragon's death was no ruse, but that abnormal life signature was incredibly weak. It seemed to belong to someone else?
After tracing the source, Cerydra's expression turned blank for a moment, followed by an unimaginable surge of excitement...
"I really have... hit the jackpot!"