Evileye, none other than the Adamantite-class adventurer who once lived in Re-Estize, felt somewhat… nervous, perhaps out of place.
Especially without her trusty, gray-haired, embarrassing old woman at her side. She was practically alone. At least in terms of real company, for in front of her stood four figures.
"It certainly was a stupid idea to wait for Titania and ambush Komodo." The silver armor growled.
"The four of us could have gone all out and attacked from the start, and none of this would have happened." A scarlet armor snorted.
"None of this would have happened if it weren't for your indecision, Platinum." With a surprisingly serious tone, the gold armor reprimanded the fourth figure.
The same platinum armor remained silent, almost crestfallen.
Evileye could understand it, she too would feel guilty if one of her friends died forever because of her…
She didn't really believe the Platinum Dragon Lord had such a deep relationship with the Wyrm Dragon Lord, but she could still understand that it was quite close on a different level.
The Dragon Lords were on the brink of extinction.
This reality had been an undeniable fact 500 years ago, with the emergence of the Kings of Greed after the Six Great Gods.
And throughout all that time, up until today, the Dragon Lords hadn't significantly increased their numbers. Once upon a time, the Dragons were the greatest world power, with a large population of beings who could easily be called Dragon Lords.
But thanks to the purge carried out by the Kings of Greed, the number of existing Dragon Lords could barely reach below 20.
It didn't matter if they were conventionally weak, like the Wyrm Dragon Lord, who could have been defeated by the Blue Roses with a lot of luck, but it still speaks to his weakness compared to other Dragon Lords.
And due to the appearance of Komodo, according to what Rigrit told her... Three Dragon Lords died. And since two Dragon Lords had betrayed their race and become Undead, the situation for Dragons worldwide worsened by leaps and bounds.
Of course, to say there were no Dragons would be a lie. There were the Frost Dragons, who were tamed, or allied? With Deorum Regnum, or the Magma Dragons at the Mer Volcano to the southeast.
There was no shortage of Dragons, but none of them were true Dragon Lords. And guessing which one was a fake Dragon, that is, a Dragon that for some reason wasn't native to the world, was difficult.
But back to the topic, among the Argland Council's losses in its army, such as the loss of four members of its most elite unit, two of whom had been taken over by the enemy, was the death of a Dragon Lord.
Politically speaking, it was a blow, not a major one, really. There were many who could replace the Wyrm Dragon Lord's political positions, ignoring his position as a Dragon. And there were still four Dragon Lords in the Council, even stronger than him, including Platinum. Therefore, there wouldn't be much room for other countries to put pressure on Argland.
But it was a moral blow, both to the Dragon Lords of the Council and the entire world, and to the Argland Council as a whole.
And that's why, among the four present, a discussion, or rather, a furious rebuke, was taking place against Platinum.
"Hm." The armored Dragon muttered. Or the Dragon's armor? Since Platinum really wasn't there.
"Is that all you have to say?" Scarlet asked.
"No." Platinum shook his head, before looking at the other armored men. "You're right." He relented, causing the Dragon Lords to fall silent. "We lost one of our own and several children because of me. I've been overly cautious when Komodo only dwindled our forces little by little. And I've made a decision." He declared.
"Say it then. Depending on what it is, I'll decide if I'll consider it." Silver snapped, clearly irritated.
"We'll open a path for the Alliance armies, use them to stall Komodo's henchmen as long as possible, while we, with or without Titania, will destroy that Demon."
The Dragon Lords fell silent once more, with Evileye almost wishing she could faint from the incredible pressure in the underground chamber.
"Fine. I'm in." Golden said, shrugging.
"... Sounds good to me." Silver had to concede, as their gaze shifted to Scarlet.
He remained silent for a while, under the glares of his companions.
"... Fine. This time we won't hold back. Even if there have to be casualties like Titania." He almost spat, but at the same time, he was calm.
Platinum nodded. He understood that he shouldn't test Scarlet's patience in a situation like this.
They were held together by both their sense of survival, their desire to wipe out the Players, their status as the last vestiges of their species, and by the friendship born of hundreds of years of coexistence, in one sense or another.
That's why the loss of one of them was such a grave blow, not only as a species, but also because of the alliance that kept most of them under the same banner against a greater threat.
Therefore, with the clear evidence that, if they continued as they were, they would only continue to lose, it was time to go and finish off that Demon once and for all.
And to the adventurer's mortification, all four armors' gazes turned to her, at least after someone mentioned her.
"Child. You... You'll come with us." Platinum said seriously. The magic caster froze, not confused, since she couldn't really be, but surprised, and within what she could identify, since she couldn't feel fear either, scared.
"Is it really safe?" Silver asked.
"No, but it will be an option in case things get complicated." The Platinum Dragon Lord explained. "We still don't know what the object that left that thing does, so it will be our last option."
"Or first." Scarlet interrupted, earning glances.
"You're not implying we risk the loli perhaps exploding into a thousand pieces right away, are you?" Golden questioned, making Evileye certainly want to punch him... But she held back, both because she was a mage, and therefore, such a blow would only hurt her own hand, but the Brilliance Dragon Lord could very well disintegrate her with a wave of his hand in response.
"That's exactly what I'm implying." The chaotic armor replied without hesitation.
"There's no need to expose her to the possibility of death." Platinum cut in.
"She's an insect, Tsa-Platinum. Her loss won't present anything grave in the grand scheme of things. She'll be a hero to the humans, but she's not even a millionth of the full power of our forces." Scarlet said coldly, noticeably… Numb to Wyrm's death. Or simply not in the mood for games for him.
And Evileye… She could only remain silent as she clenched her fists… Utterly powerless against the Dragon Lords. If they decided she must do something… Evileye had no way of refusing. If she did, they might as well kill her right there. If she ran, they'd find her sooner or later, unless she was lucky and they didn't consider her something worth hunting… Simply such was the level of power that separated them, the most powerful beings in the world, from her.
"I approve." Silver sighed, causing Platinum to look at him alongside Gold.
"You? The most righteous of us?" Golden questioned.
"The chances of the girl dying from using the item are small compared to the range of other effects the item can have. In any case, if the item is useless, either because Komodo resists it or the effect isn't anything that causes damage, we'll finish off that Demon among us. In any case, we'll know how dangerous that thing is, the possibility of easily defeating Komodo is used in the first place, and we won't have to rely on something that might very well do nothing in the extreme case where we have to use it as a last resort." Silver explained his point of view, a fairly well-argued one.
Platinum fell silent, while Golden clutched his chin, looking at Evileye.
"Mm… Well, in that case…" He muttered doubtfully.
"I don't think there's any way either of us would refuse that." Scarlet hummed, somewhat haughty at his apparent victory thanks to Silver…
Evileye only lowered her head slightly…
"In that case, I'm going to ask you something, kiddo." Golden murmured to the magic caster.
"Y-Yes…" She blurted out immediately.
"Are you a virgin? In any case, I'll be generous by not letting you die a virgin." He blurted out, making theatrical movements as if he were making the greatest of sacrifices…
Only to receive a punch from Silver, slamming his face into the table and causing him to fall off his chair.
Evileye simply remained silent, completely unwilling to answer in the slightest. Not only because she wasn't going to answer such degenerate questions, but for her own sanity, not wanting to be reminded of it.
After all, 200 years of having that body could only attract one type of man, and Evileye resented the idea too much to even consider it.
"Back to the topic. Kid… I'm sorry to say, but we'll do that." Platinum blurted out, returning the conversation to seriousness.
"… I understand." She could only accept it.
Platinum remained silent, ignoring Scarlet's victorious glare, even though it was just armor.
"What do we do with the rest of Komodo's subordinates? They'll likely get in our way." Silver asked.
"We'll leave them to Titania, we can use teleportation." Platinum dismissed.
"Straight to the core, huh." Scarlet hummed, clearly pleased with the directness of the attack.
"Yeah~ Just the way I like it~ A direct attack to the uter-~ Ugh!" Golden was silenced again by another punch, or well, considering he was on the ground, a kick.
"S-Sorry to interrupt, but… We haven't heard from Titania in four days…" Evileye exclaimed from her spot. "Would it be okay to leave a task like that if we don't know what happened to her…?"
"Mm… There's a good point there." Platinum muttered.
"From what I understand, the Deorum Regnum Commanders were able to confront some of Komodo's subordinates. We can leave that to the United Army in case the elite unit has… Failed." Silver mentioned.
"And the Children of Tomorrow could stall one of those Demon Generals for long enough-" Scarlet pointed out.
"While I don't like the idea of exposing the Children further, there's no other way. And considering there are at least 51 more of Golden's bastards out there, we could make up for minor casualties." Platinum muttered, thinking for a moment as he tried to ignore the bad taste in his mouth from speaking of his descendants so coldly, as if they were just numbers.
"Hey! What do you mean, 51? Who do you take me for?!" Golden suddenly stood up, before placing his hand on his chest as he proudly declared… "There are at least 78~ And 23 more on the way~"
Silver just grabbed his face, as if suffering from stress.
"When will it be then?" Silver asked after sighing.
"They'll be born soon~" Golden exclaimed comfortably.
"Not that… The attack. When will we do it?" He said after grabbing his 'face' again.
"Mm… Maybe in 3 hours we can join the armies." He murmured. "While it's an inconvenience for the nations to know about you, it's a minor problem. Komodo already knows who we are for sure, both from that monster we defeated, and from the information the two kidnapped Children might have revealed." Platinum decided after a few seconds of silence.
"That's soon… And I wanted that blonde Diamond mommy to smash my skull with her thighs…" Golden cried.
"You mean Crystal Generation's wife…?" Platinum murmured flatly.
"Hm? Oh no, I meant his sister." Golden corrected.
The Dragon Lords just remained silent… And Evileye, even though she was an insect compared to any of them… Felt a sort of… Sisterhood with them… At least based on how they felt about Golden…
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