Chapter 349: Not Even a Goddess Can Take Luke From Aurielle!

Darkness immediately gathered around her body as black-violet armor formed piece by piece, covering her from shoulders to feet while silver-edged plates locked into place and violet runes moved faintly across their surface.

The crown-shaped headpiece settled above her head as the lower armored layers spread around her waist like a royal battle skirt, while a dark cloak formed behind her and shifted gently beneath the surrounding currents of energy.

Once the armor had completely manifested, Aurielle summoned the purple blade inherited from her mother and wrapped her fingers tightly around its hilt.

“Luke is mine, and no one is taking him away from me, not even a goddess herself.”

The instant those words left her mouth, something within Aurielle reacted.

For the briefest moment, one of her eyes became filled with complete darkness while the other shone with brilliant light, and at the same time, a faint Twilight mark appeared between her eyebrows.

It lasted for less than a heartbeat.

The mark had barely formed before an unseen force erased it completely, suppressing whatever power had attempted to emerge as though Valtharion itself refused to allow it to manifest freely within the world.

Had the System been present to witness it, it probably would have complained once again about Valtharion’s pettiness toward powers originating beyond its control, because among everything Luke had encountered so far, Valtharion seemed especially wary of foreign power.

Aurielle didn’t waste time questioning what had happened, because her attention was already fixed on the woman waiting outside.

Darkness gathered behind her back before spreading outward into the black-violet form of the Regalia’s Eclipse Wings, and with a powerful flap, Aurielle rose from the ground before flying toward the Time Chamber’s exit.

Elsewhere inside the chamber, Theia, Aurora, and Vaelira had also heard Noah’s warning, and although each reacted differently, the same thought passed through their minds almost simultaneously.

Someone had entered their master’s territory with hostile intent while openly searching for him.

None of them intended to ignore that.

Aurora immediately prepared herself for battle, Vaelira took up her bow, while Theia rose and gathered her recovered mana around herself before following the others toward the exit.

The warning spread quickly throughout the Time Chamber after that, passing from one training ground to another until Luke’s soldiers and summons understood that an unknown dragon had appeared above Blackstone while demanding to see their lord.

Armor was fastened, weapons were taken from their racks, and formations began assembling without anyone needing to repeat the order twice.

Soon, one unit after another began marching toward the exit.

What happened afterward would eventually spread far beyond Blackstone, because this became the day outsiders finally realized just how much military strength the Hero of Light had gathered within barely two months.

More than a hundred Silver Knights and thousands upon thousands of Bronze Knights were about to appear before the public at once.

***

Outside, Blackstone had fallen into near-total silence.

Those capable of remaining conscious continued staring toward the dragon woman floating above the territory, while those strong enough to stand kept their weapons close without daring to make the first move.

Everyone was waiting for Lord Luke to appear and deal with the situation, because one thought had already begun spreading through the frightened crowd.

If this dragon became angry enough to reveal her true form and attack the city, the damage to Blackstone could become catastrophic.

Surprisingly, almost no one recognized the woman as one of Luke’s wives.

Rhaenyra Crimsonscale rarely displayed herself publicly outside the Dragon Continent, and while some people had heard that the Hero of Light had married a Dragon Princess, very few had ever seen her face closely enough to connect the woman floating above them with that title.

Before Luke could appear, however, another sound began spreading through the territory.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The synchronized footsteps grew steadily louder as people turned toward the direction of the Lord’s Estate, and soon their already frightened expressions began changing into disbelief.

Rows of armored soldiers were emerging in disciplined formation, their weapons already drawn as one group after another filled the road, while the sound of metal boots striking the ground rolled through the surrounding streets.

The pressure from the dragon still hung over Blackstone, yet none of the approaching soldiers stopped.

Silver Knights marched among the forward formations, while behind them came line after line of Bronze Knights whose numbers continued growing until the road itself seemed filled with Blackstone’s forces.

The surrounding adventurers and merchants stared in disbelief, while several guild members who had believed they possessed a reasonable understanding of Blackstone’s military strength suddenly realized how incomplete their information had been.

One adventurer finally broke the stunned silence.

“What the fuck?! Since when did Blackstone have this many soldiers?”

No one answered him, because most of the people nearby were wondering the exact same thing.

The number of Silver and Bronze Knights marching out from Luke’s territory no longer resembled the military strength expected from an ordinary Barony, and as formation after formation continued appearing, more than one experienced observer began comparing what they were seeing to the forces normally controlled by a Count.

Before the onlookers could recover from the sight of Blackstone’s hidden army, another movement from the direction of the Lord’s Estate immediately drew their attention, because five figures emerged from behind the marching soldiers, and aside from Luke himself, they had already become some of the most recognizable people within the entire territory.

Aurielle appeared first, rising above the formations with the black-violet Eclipse Wings spreading from behind her armor, while beside her came Elena, whose large white angelic wings were fully manifested as she flew through the air with a faint golden radiance surrounding her feathers.

The third figure was Theia, the B-Rank powerhouse whose existence had already become known among Blackstone’s higher-ranking residents, although unlike Aurielle and Elena, there were no wings behind her back as she slowly rose into the air.

Instead, faint Arcane energy gathered beneath and around her body, allowing her to remain suspended as though the air itself were holding her up.

She was using an Arcane-Grade flight spell, one of the many utility spells available to sufficiently advanced mages, and because there were no visible wings or obvious physical movements involved, her flight looked closer to effortless floating.

Behind the three flying women came Aurora and Vaelira, both walking forward among the armored soldiers with unusually cold expressions as they looked toward the dragon floating above Blackstone.

That alone surprised several people watching from the nearby streets, because while Vaelira’s quiet and reserved nature made such an expression unsurprising, Aurora was almost always seen smiling brightly whenever she moved through Blackstone.

Seeing that familiar smile completely absent caused more than one person to realize just how seriously Luke’s people were treating the current situation.

However, the moment Blackstone’s forces fully emerged from the estate grounds, Rhaenyra’s draconic pressure descended upon them as well.

HUMMMMMMM!

The air seemed to thicken around the formations as the invisible weight pressed down upon every soldier, causing those below D-Rank to freeze where they stood while many struggled even to properly breathe, and the D-Rank fighters themselves were forced to circulate their strength just to remain upright.

Only those at C-Rank and above could continue moving with relative freedom, although even they could clearly feel the oppressive presence surrounding the dragon woman above them.

Several soldiers clenched their weapons harder while others instinctively lowered their stances, yet none broke formation despite the pressure weighing against their bodies.

( ；∀；)

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