Chapter 353: Luke vs. Rhaenyra Finally Begins!

People throughout the territory instinctively raised their heads, and the sight waiting above them caused whatever courage remained in many of their hearts to vanish.

A thousand-meter-long crimson dragon now filled the sky.

"Dragon..."

That single word escaped several mouths almost simultaneously, but before anyone could recover from the sight of Rhaenyra’s true form, her gigantic jaws opened.

Then came the roar that had made the Dragon Race legendary throughout Valtharion.

GRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!!!

The sound struck Blackstone like a physical wave.

Windows broke apart as their frames became empty, then even rooftops shook, while the air itself seemed to vibrate beneath the draconic roar sweeping through the territory.

For most people, there wasn’t even enough time to understand what had happened.

Their consciousness simply disappeared.

Mortals collapsed immediately, followed by cultivators throughout the lower realms, while even those who had reached C-Rank failed to remain conscious beneath the roar of an Ancient Dragon.

Within moments, almost the entire territory had gone silent.

Only a handful of people remained capable of resisting at all.

Inside one of the distant buildings, even the B-Rank elder connected to Jerreck struggled to move beneath the direct pressure of Rhaenyra’s draconic presence, leaving him unable to interfere despite understanding that something dangerous was happening outside.

Above the territory, Aurielle remained floating in front of Rhaenyra.

Her condition, however, was anything but stable.

Her hair had turned a brilliant shade of purple while one of her eyes radiated light and the other contained absolute darkness, yet the power gathering around her clearly exceeded what her current body could safely contain.

Twilight energy continuously surged through her, but rather than becoming stronger with every passing moment, Aurielle’s body trembled beneath the strain of wielding something it wasn’t yet prepared to control.

Below them, Theia was still conscious as well, although barely.

The backlash from Dream Convergence had already injured her, and now she was forced to endure the Dragon Roar directly while kneeling against the cracked ground, blood continuing to stain the corner of her lips.

Rhaenyra swept her gaze across the silent territory with little concern before looking toward the place where Luke’s clone had been standing earlier.

Then she paused.

"???"

Her gigantic golden eyes shifted slightly.

"Where is he?"

Luke had been there only moments earlier, and Rhaenyra was certain he hadn’t physically moved, because his presence had remained within the range of her draconic senses the entire time.

Yet now there was nothing.

Before she could investigate further, a faint voice reached her from the air ahead.

"Luke is mine..."

Rhaenyra turned back toward Aurielle.

The Human Princess appeared almost absentminded as unstable Twilight energy continued flowing around her body, yet her gaze remained fixed entirely upon the dragon before her.

"Luke is mine... mine alone, and none of you have any right to him."

Rhaenyra’s patience finally began to disappear.

She still didn’t understand what kind of magic Luke had somehow worked upon Aurielle to make her behave like this, but up until now, Rhaenyra had deliberately restrained herself because she had no intention of killing or seriously injuring the people belonging to her so-called husband.

Aurielle, however, seemed determined to interpret that restraint as weakness.

"Aurielle, it seems you’ve forgotten something very simple."

Rhaenyra’s voice remained indifferent as her immense body shifted through the air.

"The weak should remain quiet when standing before the strong."

Her crimson tail moved.

There was no need for her to use anything close to her full strength, so Rhaenyra deliberately controlled the strike, intending only to hit Aurielle hard enough to leave her half-dead rather than killing her outright.

The gigantic tail swept through the air toward Aurielle.

Below them, Theia immediately understood how dangerous the attack was.

Her emerald eyes widened.

If Aurielle was struck and something happened to her, then Theia knew better than almost anyone what Luke’s reaction would be.

"No!"

She forced herself upward despite the blood running from her lips.

"Don’t do this!"

Rhaenyra didn’t stop.

Her tail continued along the same path without increasing or decreasing its speed, while the unconscious soldiers, mages, guild members, and citizens scattered throughout Blackstone could do nothing to interfere.

Theia could only watch as the crimson tail closed the remaining distance toward Aurielle, whose unstable mind still seemed trapped between rage and the Twilight power surging through her body.

Then, just before the attack connected—

BOOOOOOM!

A seventy-foot-tall Titan clad in sleek black armor materialized directly between them.

Luke raised his right hand.

The thousand-meter dragon’s tail slammed straight into his open palm.

BOOOOOM!

A violent shockwave burst outward from the collision, blasting the surrounding air away and sending ripples across the sky above Blackstone, yet Luke’s gigantic body didn’t shift backward even slightly.

His fingers closed around Rhaenyra’s tail.

He remained floating there calmly.

"Master..."

The word escaped Theia’s lips almost unconsciously.

At the same instant, the summoner bond connecting Luke to his summons suddenly became unmistakably clear, and the familiar presence that Aurora, Vaelira, Theia, and the others had never been able to properly feel from the doppelganger now radiated directly from the Titan standing above them.

This was Luke.

The original Luke.

Behind him, some of the confusion clouding Aurielle’s mind finally began to clear, and when she looked toward the towering figure protecting her, recognition appeared across her mismatched eyes.

"Luke..."

Her voice came out softly, but Luke didn’t turn toward her.

His attention remained fixed entirely upon Rhaenyra.

There was no playfulness in his expression, nor any trace of the nervous husband who usually tried to escape whenever several of his wives gathered in one place.

He had already learned everything that happened through the memories and information carried by his clone.

And right now, his gaze toward Rhaenyra was cold.

Before Aurielle could move closer, space rippled beside her.

WHOOSH!

Luke’s doppelganger reappeared wearing Valzareth, immediately reaching out and taking hold of Aurielle before carrying her away from the confrontation.

The clone descended toward the territory below, where Aurora and Vaelira lay unconscious from the Dragon Roar, and without wasting time, he lifted both of them using his enhanced strength before moving toward Theia.

Theia tried to rise on her own, but her injuries made the effort almost pointless, so the clone simply picked her up as well before turning toward the Lord’s Estate.

Above them, Luke continued holding Rhaenyra’s tail while the others were evacuated behind him.

Aurielle remained conscious within the clone’s grasp, while Theia occasionally looked back toward the sky at the seventy-foot Titan who had appeared at the final instant.

Neither woman looked away.

As the clone carried them farther toward the mansion, the towering silhouette of Luke gradually became smaller in their vision until the buildings began blocking the battlefield from sight.

Soon afterward, the doppelganger reached the entrance connected to the Time Chamber and brought Aurielle, Aurora, Vaelira, and Theia inside.

Only after they crossed completely into safety did the last visible trace of Luke’s seventy-foot figure disappear from their view, leaving the original body outside to face the Ancient Dragon alone.

---

"Rhaenyra."

Outside Blackstone, Luke finally called her name, yet for once, even he couldn’t decide what emotion his voice was supposed to carry.

Should there be warmth because she was his wife, someone he was finally meeting again after such a long time, or should there be anger because only moments ago, she had nearly struck Aurielle and forced his entire territory unconscious beneath her Dragon Roar?

Before Luke could properly settle those conflicting thoughts, Rhaenyra’s thousand-meter dragon body rapidly began shrinking, the crimson scales and gigantic wings disappearing as she returned to her humanoid form and floated calmly in front of his seventy-foot Titan figure.

She looked directly toward his giant armored face before speaking with faint mockery.

"What happened? Are you angry because of what I did earlier?"