No way.
He couldn''t just wait for death.
Jared forced himself upright and pulled a pill from his Storage Ring.
It was a Dragon Essence Elixir he had taken from Dragonmere, famed for mending wounds.
The moment it slid down his throat, warmth surged through every vein. Cuts knitted before his eyes.
Broken ribs clicked together, fractures sealed, organs drew taught once more.
Momentster he was on his feet, his aura more than halfway restored.
He looked to the battlefield. Darian had revealed his true form—a golden dragon a thousand feet long, coiling with three Demon Dragons in mid-air.
Five titanic dragons rolled above the forest canopy.
Dragon roars split the sky, demonic aura billowed like a bloody sea.
Jared''s gaze sharpened, his bloodline power rushing awake.
The Five-wed Golden Dragon phantom sprang out again, brighter and firmer than before.
The five-wed golden phantom behind him thickened, its outline sharper and more tangible than it had been moments before.
He filled his lungs with a single steady breath, then shot toward the roiling fight ahead.
"Elder Darian, I''ming to help!"
Darian''s eyes flew wide. "Your Majesty, your wounds aren''t healed yet—"
Jared ignored the warning and drove a straight-armed punch at Morven.
Morven, still locked inbat with Darian, never sensed the approach. Jared''s fist smashed squarely between his shoulder des.
"Boom!"
Morven''s frame pitched forward, and a jagged crack split the dark-red scales running down his spine.
He whipped around to stare at Jared, eyes widened, pupils quivering in protest. "You... your injuries..."
Jared let out a cold chuckle. "Credit your own Draconian elixir for that."
He struck again. The Golden Dragon phantom roared and barreled straight for Morven.
Morven''s face tightened; he met the charge with a vicious palm strike.
Scarlet light collided with the golden dragon. The st shoved Jared three steps back and forced Morven back one.
Jared still carried the weaker side of the exchange, yet he was no longer the helpless target he had been earlier.
Elder Darian straightened, fresh vitality charging through his stance.
"Your Majesty, magnificent!"
With a thunderous roar, he hammered his attacks even harder.
Quentin and Ss found themselves tangled in his sweeping coils, unable to wrench free.
Morven ground his teeth and pulled a dark-red orb from inside his robe.
The instant the bead appeared, the surrounding air warped and rippled. Color drained from Darian''s face. "The Demon Dragon Orb?! Are you mad?!" Morven''s grin twisted. "Elder Darian, did you really think the three of us came unprepared?"
He crushed the orb. A torrent of terrible demonic aura sted outward.
The foul power was at least ten times stronger than anything they had shown before.
Morven''s presence ballooned, climbing higher with every heartbeat.
Top Level High Immortal Realm Level Nine...
He threw back his head and howled while dark-red radiance burst from every scale.
He fixed Jared with a razor-sharp stare. "Jared, today you''re not getting away."
Jared held his features steady, though a tightness gripped his chest.
Darian roared and hurled himself at Morven with everything he had left.
Morven simply flicked his wrist; a single scarlet beam mmed Darian backward. "Old fool, stay out of my way."
He advanced on Jared, step by leisurely step, a slow curl lifting at the corner of his mouth. "Jared, anyst words?"
Jared studied him and suddenly broke into a grin.
"Yeah."
Morven arched an eyebrow. "Speak."
Jared pronounced every word with care. "You are ugly as hell."
Morven''s expression froze.
A pulse shuddered through his scales, and scorching heat poured off him.
"You''re courting death!"
He mmed his palm downward, dark-red light flooding the sky like a copsing tide.
Jared shut his eyes.
There was no space left to dodge this time.
Right then...
"Stop!"
A clear, fierce voice cut through the mor, and a lone figure sprinted into the fray.
Jared''s eyes snapped open, and his body stiffened.
Vivian.
A flicker of disbelief crossed Jared''s face-why was she here?
Vivian stood covered in blood. Her
skin had lost every trace of
look of
omeone who home &
path here by force.
She nted herself in front of Jared, fixed an unblinking stare on Morven, and said, "You can''t kill him."
Morven stopped in ce.
An instantter he let out a lowugh.
The curve of his mouth dripped with mockery.
"Miss Janis, your father locked you in the ancestral hall. How did you slip out?"
Vivian kept her eyes nailed to him. "I said, you can''t kill him."
Morven gave a small shake of the head. "Miss Janis, you''re far too na?ve. Do you really think you can stop me?"
He lifted his hand, ready to bring it crashing down.
Vivian suddenly drew a golden pendant from inside her robe and thrust it high above her head.
The pendant glowed gold from edge to edge, and a Five-wed Golden Dragon was carved across the face.
Morven''s pupils contracted.
"The Dragon Sovereign Seal?!"
Vivian''s voice rang out. "For you Draconians, the seal is the Dragon Emperor himself. Will you dare defy it?"
Uncertainty tightened Morven''s features; how the seal hadnded in Vivian''s grasp made no sense to him.
He locked onto the pendant, a wary flicker spreading behind his eyes.
The Dragon Sovereign Seal was the greatest Draconian relic, a symbol of the Emperor''s authority.
Every Draconian who saw it was bound to obey; refusal branded the offender a traitor.
They had thrown in with demons, yet the instinct buried in their blood left them shrinking from the seal
same.
the
After a drawn-out silence, Morven finally snorted. "Miss Janis, you think a scrap of
jade can shield him?"
He flicked his wrist. A streak of dark-red light smashed against Vivian''s forearm. Vivian cried out, and the seal spun free of her grasp.
Morven snatched it from the air, turned it over once, then tucked it into his robe.
"Now the seal belongs to me."
He nced at Vivian, a cold gleam
sliding across his eyes ruined my ns
you
"Miss Janis,
"Miss
Stain and..
again. Today you die with him."
He raised his palm; dark-red energy thickened there, churning for release.
Vivian''s face stayed bloodless, yet she never stepped back.
She pivoted toward Jared, an unmistakable apology filling her gaze.
"Young Master Chance, I''m sorry... I dragged you into this."
Jared looked at her and, out of nowhere, smiled.
"Miss Janis, why would you be this foolish?"
Vivian blinked, caught off guard.
Jared went on, "You could have walked away and left me."
Vivian shook her head; tears slipped down. "I don''t want you to die..."
Jared held silent for a beat, then reached out and wrapped her hand in his.
"Then we stay alive together."
He lifted his head, met Morven''s gaze, and let the resolve in his own eyes speak.
"Come on."
Morven gave a coldugh and mmed his palm downward.