We are well and truly fucked. No way around it. Though my allied Emperor is going to die moments before I do, that doesn’t even provide even the slightest measure of cold comfort to me. I need him alive as an ally, and as far as allies go, he is pleasant to interact with. My precious children, I can see their despair as they struggle to find a way out for me. They know that they are ultimately expendable, as death will have a loose grasp on Kings while I, their Emperor, yet live. Sadly, there is no way out, not with the hydras panicking and ready to snatch us out of the sky should we take flight, their desperation such that they will eat us in hopes that it gains them some measure of comfort or power.

  Despite the terror of the situation, one mortal, a human by all accounts, seemingly walks out of the teeming masses of flesh and fear behind us, and with haste that exceeds the casual nature of his walk, he crosses the distance and places his hand upon the Emperor in front of me. By the gods, I don’t know what happened or why, but it quickly became a welcome reprieve, if not one that was entirely unsettling.

  Before me, in the span of a few heartbeats, the Emperor grew. I don’t mean in the sense that he scaled larger in size like so many Abilities allow for. No, I mean he grew older and larger, as if a much older and powerful dragon had suddenly replaced him. His horns, so small because of his youth, became massive and radiated such pure and refined mana the likes I have only ever seen from the Titans. His body, smaller than mine, now dwarfed me, easily bigger than the largest of the whales. Well, the animal variety, not of beasts or monsters, the blue ones if I am not mistaken.

  Surprisingly, his form did not swell with the muscles of age. If anything, he became lithe, his muscles well-toned, but covered in scales so dense in both physical and magical aspects that the untrained eye could not appreciate his figure. Being a dragon myself, I know that his frame packs serious strength, even if it is deceptively svelte. The coloring of his scales remain the same, but the yellow parts, which had a metallic shine to them, now appear to be far more literally made of metal, although he still appears biological and not mechanical in nature, as much as a dragon can imitate either of those since we are creatures of magic itself. The black of his scales took on an appearance similar to obsidian, and I could literally feel the mana radiating from those parts, such was the excess of his mana’s regeneration.

  The spines, spikes, and bony growths of his body became more pronounced and mature, and dare I say, I found myself a bit envious of his looks. From the standards of dragons, he is pretty damn hot, and with our sexuality being rather fluid over the span of decades and centuries, I know I would be helpless to resist his charms if he made advances towards me. I can feel the unrestrained lust of my children towards him, and he has only been like this for a few seconds.

  His wings unfurled, and they blocked out the heavens, each one about half as long as the length of his body. What power they must have, for surely he could topple buildings with the gust generated by a serious flap of his wings. With head lowered towards our foes, he roared in defiance, and that was when I felt it.

  At a certain age, all True Dragons gain an aura of some kind. Typically, dragons choose an aura of fear to intimidate foes and to keep subordinates in line. And, while I found myself afraid of him, of his potential, I would not say that fear itself was the intended effect.

  If I had to give it a name, which my Lesser Focus of Appraisal did, it would be [Aura of Certainty]. I have never heard of that before, not even from my adopted children that have lived longer and have seen and heard things thought forgotten. To describe it, I would say that it left everyone with the inescapable knowledge of the Emperor’s feelings and attitude towards other people around you, and of oneself. You know exactly what he thinks of each person, who he considers an ally, who is an enemy, and what actions you could take that would please him or draw his ire. On one hand, it makes his emotional state completely transparent to you, but on the other hand, you are equally so exposed to him. It isn’t exactly mind-reading, but it would make any efforts to deceive him foolish, and it makes any need for him to issue commands a mere formality.

  All of that glosses over how it makes me feel like an insect compared to him. I may as well be an ant in his path to be stepped on without his awareness or concern, such is our difference in power. The [Aura of Certainty] exactly establishes a pecking order without a need for posturing or displays of prowess. It completely overpowers even the notion of hostility towards him, for such an undertaking is as whimsical as fighting a blizzard or an earthquake. He is a force of nature, and all I can do is endure until he passes by.

  I can feel it. It isn’t envy, but a renewed determination to find a path that leads me to be like him. To be fair, I felt similar effects when near Bonpricha, and that was just a doll she used to manifest her presence near us. My Appraisal gave me a sense of the scale of such things, and I now know that the Emperor before me, previously relatively equal to me, now outstrips Bonpricha in raw power, if not the expertise to wield it. How, just how, did he advance in [Age] so quickly? And his Blessing, previously unknown, is now clear as day, for Appraisal is far better at determining the nature of things of significance than not.

  Simply put, [Greater Ancient Dragon Emperor] is absurd. How long one would have to live without getting murdered to get that far along in [Age] is staggering. To become “Greater” would speak of [Deeds] that would impress the gods and leave irrefutable marks upon the World Heart. It would be impossible to do that in secret, which ancient histories suggest, for any Emperor approaching “Ancient” was ganged up on by the other Emperors in fear of what such an [Age] would entail. Certainly, my view of the lifespans of those Emperors that have come before me in that realm beyond the Material Plane would back up such a claim, if one took the time to plot out the timing of deaths.

  I am ashamed to say it, but I would not be in a position for my flight or my person to refuse any demand of his. Perhaps some of the other flights could contest him in some way, especially since they have great repositories of resources and knowledge hidden away, but I may as well be a leaf before a hurricane for my odds to oppose him. It would be best to stay on friendly terms and discover all I can about him and how he accomplished the impossible.

  Gods above, I am a big boy now! Fortunately, I expanded in the direction of my foes, so as to not crush my allies. I had invested in Abilities to help me become smaller than my true size, and even using them to the max, this was my size. I would like to be able to shrink as small as at least a drake for the purposes of mining tunnels through mountains, so I would need to loop back to such Skills in my Blessing at some future point.

  I had not spent all of my Experience Points; not even close if I am being honest. I carefully reviewed every single option I could see, compared them to every single [Deed] I had, which I had many more now. Apparently, my efforts in past lives count for earning them. I must have spent weeks planning out my potential and how I envisioned growing depending on how various new Skills shape out in practice.

  However, I did invest heavily in everything defensive I could find. I increased my general toughness, my regeneration, my reflexes, and my resistances to all the weird shit that magic can do, such as this dang blasted aura of decay that my current enemies employ. Anything and everything that makes me stronger, increases my toughness or stamina, or otherwise helps me survive any eventuality was greedily gobbled up. There were no more available Skills of those varieties, even the ones that helped with niche cases, like the ones that allowed me to see through illusions. Something is gatekeeping me from more, and I would guess that [Deeds] is the culprit. Even though I have many more now, I don’t have any of them that would be respectably noteworthy to be earned at my current level of power.

  And sadly, my [Enchanting] is still gated at Master tier, but every single Skill I could get for it has been acquired, even things that benefit it in secondary or tertiary ways. I gained little efficiencies here, little techniques there, and I have a hefty arsenal available to get things done. Now, my knowledge of how to use them is absolute in that I know how to mechanically perform them without failure, however, time and experience will give me the wisdom to use them to their full potential. It isn’t like I am a young human that just learned [Fireball] and now I have to go practice until I can reliably cast it. No, we dragons have an innate mastery of magic and have no chance of failure to produce our Skills reliably due to incompetence or unfamiliarity with them.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  All these new [Enchanting] Skills are about to be put to good use. With my gains in my Skills for [Spatial Manipulation], I pack a meaner punch. I raise up my right arm with my deadly claws fully prepared to rip and tear. My opponents are still well outside my physical reach, but that is of little concern. With precision as if I had practiced thousands of times, I seemingly casually lash out with a swipe. Though I fail to reach them, my claws do not fail to impress. By warping the space around my claws and within the strike zone of my opponent, the tips of my claws connect brilliantly with the nearest of the two remaining Harbingers of Decay. Its crystalline body is cut into five pieces as the four fingers of my claw connect, for my thumb is not aligned to strike. And those five pieces of its body quickly explode into bits and pieces as the force of my blow follows behind after a very short delay, as if my palm had struck it fully.

  The remaining Harbinger and the Apostle halt their advance, seemingly hesitantly, before they try to awkwardly withdraw. Their speed is anything but impressive, and without any posturing or hesitation, my right claw is set down as I step forward and raise my left. My left claw repeats the same action as my right, and the same devastating effect is delivered to the final Harbinger of Decay. That just leaves the Apostle of Decay, which is essentially a giant walking crystal.

  And you know how [Enchanters] just love big giant crystals as mediums for their craft.

  With utmost confidence, I close the distance into melee. Even with my body pressed against the crystal itself as my claws scrape away the pesky limbs and lanterns, I only feel a slight singeing of my person. I am not a jeweler per se, but I know some basic patterns of how to cut gems into fairly generic shapes. The crystal of the Apostle is rough and uncut, which is a matter that I will address promptly. With its only weapon against me neutralized, I set about carving it up into a basic shape, with my [Material Arcane Science] helping to smooth and polish it rather instantly instead of going through the tedious and time-consuming manual process.

  Some runes find themselves carved into the crystal itself, but most of them are saved for an armillary of brass and orichalcum, along with small amounts of a dozen other metals. It really doesn’t take me long to make such basic shapes, with the whole affair perhaps taking a minute or two. To be fair, I had planned every step of this process during my timeout, and so the execution of my plan was a mere formality.

  And, just like that, a former enemy had become a new tool. It is quite dead, but the crystal of its corpse has been put to good use. With an exertion of my will, the obsidicrete and obsidisteel floor parts almost like liquid to allow my new toy to sink deep towards the heart of my fortress. That is just one of four though, for Nabonidus had been busy. He had foreseen what I would do, and thus had foreseen my needs. To that end, he had delivered instructions to the other flights to keep the Apostles of Decay alive.

  I took wing, reveling in the power that they offered as my body almost effortlessly took to the air, the great gusts generated from the downdraft enough to topple over the smaller hydras. The flight was far too brief, for I wanted an opportunity to test the limits of my new body. Only a short time later, not even a minute, I landed on a lone Apostle of Decay that had no remaining bodyguards, and this foe received the same treatment as the one I had at my mercy earlier. So too did this process repeat until all four of the Apostles of Decay were no more.

  Each Apostle of Decay had perished, and each one’s crystalline body had become centerpieces of enchanted devices that were now safely secured in locations that could propagate their effects. While they are dead, and thus, their power is diminished, the nature of their essence has seeped deeply into the crystals. With a bit of creative application of enchantments, I created devices that can combat the aura of decay from the portal. It is fundamentally a similar concept to making antivenom from venom, perhaps crossed with the idea that two equal and opposing waves will cancel each other out. While the new aura they generate will not reverse decay and grow back one’s body, they will do much to neutralize the effects and range of decay from the portal. In short, defenders can now approach much closer before the aura of decay becomes unbearable, which greatly increases our defensive capabilities.

  With those out of the way, and my body positively brimming with mana, I have ample reserves that could be burned off so that my natural regeneration of mana is not wasted. Now, while I still have not invested in specializing in any particular elements for my breath attack, unlike Bylo’Selhi, who can seemingly turn things to silver with his, I still retain versatility in that all elements are at my disposal. While in relative terms, my breath attack is far weaker than someone who specialized, in absolute terms, it probably hits harder than any dragon alive, with perhaps an exception of Bonpricha if she specialized in something.

  And without further ado, I approach the portal as close as reasonable, for I am not so cocky as to believe I am invincible. Then, I take a deep breath and exhale a new kind of breath attack. Now, I didn’t specialize in it, but I did have to purchase it with Experience Points. From my mouth I exhale a continuous stream of clouds. Said clouds look eerily similar to storm clouds, but storm clouds are not golden, and the lightning within is not so radiant and holy.

  The golden cloud spreads like mist, and where it touches, it purifies. It is antithetical to a host of concepts, such as Undeath, Desecration, Decay, Pestilence, and all things Unholy. It is the concept of Holy, of Consecration, and of Purification. It is pretty much the same stuff that [Healers] use to cleanse places of corruption or people of afflictions. It is not made of Healing; it will not mend wounds. However, it would remove any hex, disease, poison, or other such malady from a person or area.

  Caster, from earlier, had used the opposite from his thurible. Where the two meet, they will cancel each other out. However, my own attack is far more potent and of a much higher volume. Now, surely there are enemies on the other side that can counter this attack, either as individuals or as a combined force, but they don’t know that it is coming. My breath starts slow, as little more than a meandering cloud slowly gliding over the ground, but it quickly gains speed, becoming an angry storm and then a raging tempest as it fans out and crashes through the portal. I can only imagine what happens on the other side, but I predict it to be devastating enough to buy us a measure of reprieve.

  With my various minds focused on different tasks, I assess the battlefield. With no immediate threats detected, I set about affecting repairs and constructing bastions for the defenders to attack the enemy from closer vantage points, each one connected by an underground tunnel to the outer perimeter. Considering what we have seen so far, and with my ability to create the means for defenders to seal the tunnels in my absence if the bastions are overrun, I find them to be reasonable additions to the defense.

  What would have taken me hours before now takes a few minutes as tons and tons of material pours out of my pocket dimension, heats up to liquid form, is poured into shape, and cooled almost instantly, all without compromising its structural integrity. I had already planned their design in advance, and I have the means to start the process and then walk away as it finishes, whereas before I had to remain present and somewhat manually direct each step. The next improvement would be allowing a whelp to start something like this off in my stead, but I must learn to walk before I try to run.

  Currently, my whelps are serving as eyes, ears, and mouthpieces for communication, as it seems that no one, dragon or mortal, Emperor or foot soldier, has the stones to come talk to me in person. I know, unequivocally, that I am powerful, but not so strong that I could take all the other flights in a fight at the same time. However, a flexing of my [Aura of Certainty] has established a clear hierarchy of physical and magical prowess, although I still find myself to be rather cooperative and subordinate to Bonpricha despite the disparity in power. She is the brains behind this operation; I see no reason to buck the system, and the other Emperors are still my allies, so I see no need to actively intimidate them.

  Another hour passes as I finish making improvements and repairs. No enemies come through the portal, and so the battle resets, this time with far fewer insurgents in our ranks, for Alterez and his contemporaries in the other flights have done work to clean house after he interrogated the lead [Cultist] and found the means to sniff them out. All predictions, forecasts, and auguries had divined that the battle would be a slow grind from here on out, and so, it was reasonably determined that the defense would hold in my absence, or at least for as long as it would take me to get to one of my shrines and teleport back here at a moment’s notice.

  With things well in order, Bonpricha gave Bylo’selhi and I leave to attend to our duties in the world at large. Today was only the first day of an unending war, and our armies will need steady supplies of manpower and resources if we are to keep fighting. Without much further ado, I gathered my host, issued orders for those staying, and a handful of them followed me towards my new tasks. I would naturally be checking in every now and then, but otherwise, I had to trust in my allies to continue the fight without me.

  There is work to be done and little time for rest. However, I still took Chooka onto my back and flew away, making sure to make a victory lap so all would see me before I departed, so as to make it clear that I am heading to other tasks and not scampering away in fear. Nanu followed behind me when I departed, and she felt so small now that I have grown so big. Times were changing, and I would need to change with them to stay ahead.