Chapter 27: Ceremony Finale [2]

The grand arena was plunged into a deathly, suffocating silence.

Tens of thousands of spectators sat frozen in their seats, their breath catching in their throats as they stared up at the sky in absolute, unadulterated shock.

Three massive dragons were slicing through the shattered storm clouds, their giant wings outspread as they circled each other in an ethereal, terrifying aerial dance high above the colosseum.

"Monsul koris vael? Xar’drak isthae mor’drak!" Duke Oscar’s voice thundered across the imperial pavilion, spoken in the sharp, commanding cadence of High Darkstarian.

(What is occurring in the skies? Why are three dragons dancing in this ceremony?)

Before any of his grand commanders, military ministers, or guardian knights could offer an answer to his booming question, the Patriarch abruptly rose to his feet.

His dark golden eyes narrowed, his brow furrowing deeply as his gaze locked onto the central figure leading the aerial formation.

A colossal, five-horned crimson dragon radiating an unstable, catastrophic mana.

"Chaosbringer...?" Oscar uttered in genuine, rare shock.

He recognized that abomination instantly.

Forty years ago, during his own Dragon’s Calling Ceremony, Oscar had ventured into the deepest volcanic rifts of the northern sanctuary to tame that very same creature.

It was an infamous, fiercely prideful monster that had rejected every Darkstarian for over a century, refusing to acknowledge a single master no matter how powerful their bloodline was.

Yet here it was, soaring over the central arena, roaring not in wild, unbridled fury, but in complete, majestic harmony alongside two other powerful drakes.

Oscar was stunned, but he was far from the only one shaken to his core.

A wave of panicked, bewildered whispers broke out among the noble stands and foreign diplomatic galleries like a sudden, violent storm.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"Are those wild intruder dragons?! Where are the perimeter boundary knights?!"

"Could... could one of those riders actually be the Seventh Young Master?" a young noble from the Eastern Continent asked, craning his neck into the heavy wind.

"Nonsense!" an old vassal elder snapped back immediately, waving his hand in frantic dismissal. "Look at the violent mana vibrating off those abominations! The crimson one is at least a 5th-Tier Calamity! Those dragons are far too powerful for a fifteen-year-old child to tame. It is physically impossible!"

High above the chaotic arena, Craig sat comfortably atop the broad, iron-hard crest of Chaosbringer’s neck, his legs resting securely behind the dragon’s massive forward-curving horns.

To his left flew Soul-Dreamer, her sleek violet scales shimmering like liquid starlight in the sun.

To his right flew Dark Sister—the third dragon Craig had bound to his soul shortly before leaving the northern peaks.

Dark Sister was Soul-Dreamer’s trueborn nest-mate, a fierce 4th-Tier dragon covered in shimmering emerald-and-violet scales.

She had willingly offered her soul to Craig the moment she felt the double-bound authority of his Divine Draconic Physique and the presence of her sister.

The wild wind blew fiercely against Craig’s face, making his sleek crimson hair flutter wildly over his gold-trimmed ceremonial coat.

Looking down at the packed, rising colosseum, a cold, majestic smile touched his lips.

He opened his mouth, his voice splitting into the ancient, double-toned cadence of High Darkstarian that echoed across the entire open airspace:

"Valthor, Chaosbringer! Valthor, Soul-Dreamer! Valthor, Dark Sister!"

( Descend, Chaosbringer! Descend, Soul-Dreamer! Descend, Dark Sister!)

The three colossal abominations opened their jaws simultaneously, unleashing a synchronized, deafening roar that shattered the remaining clouds above.

On their master’s absolute command, they folded their massive wings and plunged toward the arena floor at lightning speed.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The impact shook the entire stone colosseum to its structural foundation.

Clouds of thick volcanic dust, pulverized ash, and shockwaves of pure, dense mana violently scattered across the arena floor, forcing thousands of spectators to shield their faces.

The four dragons belonging to Craig’s cousins—three 1st-Tier dragons and Mizuri’s 2nd-Tier black dragon—instantly flinched.

Terrified, high-pitched whimpers escaped their throats as they scrambled backward in complete disarray, their massive legs buckling until their snouts were pressed flat against the stone in absolute, involuntary submission before the apex predators.

None of their beasts could even stand upright in the presence of two high 4th-Tier dragons and a true 5th-Tier Calamity.

Abominations that had evolved into the 5th-Tier possessed the terrifying ability to impose their inner domain and raw willpower directly onto the physical world.

The howling, suffocating mana radiating from Chaosbringer vibrated through the very bones of every single living being present—pressing heavily even against the soul of a powerhouse as terrifying as Duke Oscar, a Peak-stage Sword Demigod.

Silence reigned in the arena as everyone watched with stunned, disbelieving looks written across their faces.

The dust slowly settled, revealing the immense crimson snout of Chaosbringer resting against the dark basalt floor.

Craig von Darkstar, Seventh Young Master of the Darkstar Family, swung his leg over the dragon’s neck and stepped cleanly down onto the solid earth.

The exact second his boots landed on the ground, the frozen silence shattered into utter chaos.

The tens of thousands of spectators erupted.

Whispers, screams, and heated murmurs flooded the entire colosseum like a breaking dam.

Vassal lords leaped from their seats, foreign ambassadors stared with wide, bloodshot eyes, and even the high ministers of the Duchy lost all composure.

No one could believe what they had just witnessed with their own eyes.

How was this even possible?

The Seventh Young Master, the least worthy candidate in the Successor War?

A mere Baron who was away for five years, had returned to the capital and bonded with not just one top-tier dragon, but three legendary abominations at once?

Up on the high balcony, Duke Oscar stood at the edge of the marble balustrade, staring down at his youngest son.

The cold shock on the Patriarch’s face slowly melted away, replaced by a deep, lopsided grin that spread across his stern features.

His seventh child had done what even he had failed to do forty years ago.

But more than that, Craig had broken the unwritten law of their ancestors, standing at the center of the world with three powerful dragons roaring behind his back.