A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

‘Urgent News: Attack on Inferno Nest! The culprit? Prince Kahalameet with the aid of Dragon Ruler of Volcanoes, Arkanator!’ This damn headache is coming back… I finished my fulinoe tea after reading the stream’s title, swirling the liquid in my mouth to try to get rid of this pain in my head. The arcane corruption from my true ice training should have subsided by now, so this should be stress. Stress caused by my eldest brother.

“I think we have to postpone the stream a bit. Mom, guys, look at the available streams!” I called my crew before joining the stream to listen in.

As the screen was projected before me, Mom and the others realized what was going on, prompting Mom to connect her party bracelet to our recorder to cast the stream for all to see on a building’s wall. Shutting my bracelet off, I cringed as I saw a dark dragonewt presenting the news.

“Due to a lack of an information tower near Dusk Nest, the images shown are not live. The recorders with the footage were flown here by our clan’s true dragonkin. Most likely, the fighting has already begun,” the reporter said as the mentioned recording played in the background on a large [Earth Wall].

Filmed from the sky like a drone, it was actually hard to identify any small details, but the environment was undeniably from Inferno Nest. With the ground colored ashen-grey with mushroom forests and cypress trees, this most likely was recorded right at the border between Dusk Nest and Inferno Nest, since I presumed the footage came from a dark dragonkin.

This rim was noticeably peaceful despite ash falling like rain from the numerous volcanoes at the center of the nest, yet it felt so eerie with the lack of monsters running around, grazing, or hunting like when I last visited Inferno Nest. That unease made me naturally drawn towards the large army of dragonkin in the center of the recording.

With flames bursting from their glowing, red-hot mouths, fire dragons and drakes comprised the majority of the true dragonkin in this army, with multiple hulking, mountain-sized earth drakes surrounding them like moving walls. In this fortress-like arrangement, fully armored dragoons and wyverns could be seen, although due to the distance, I couldn’t identify any insignias, emblems, or even their faces. It made them seem like rank-and-file soldiers, although I suspected quite a number of them were highly-leveled knights like Estranor and Yorshka.

Behind this army, as promised by Uriahn, holy dragons and drakes followed them from a safe distance, as if to tell all that they weren’t here to participate in the fights, but to rescue lives. Like a group of Red Cross medics assuring their neutrality outside of the battle. To emphasize this, their drakes were exuding bright, yellow light from their scales, turning them into giant, walking mini-suns so bright that the greyed ground around them looked bleached.

And leading this massive army was none other than the “star” of this stream: Kahalameet, the First Prince of Kargryx. Next to him, you could see the two gold-black-scaled sons of the second empress, Phsothophus and Ryranakus, flanking him like two massive behemoths. As the only leviathan-dragon in this army, Kahalameet stood out massively with his serpentine form held up by a group of flaming clouds. His black scales, brightened by the blazing fire and the ashfall falling from those clouds, made my eldest brother look like a catastrophe from hell itself.

… Yeah, you appear before people like that, you’re gonna make people want to scream. Why does it look like that, even with a bird’s-eye view, sheesh. I shuddered, feeling my skin crawl as it reminded me of a certain someone. I’ve seen his form before and marveled at how beautiful it looked, but… I only felt awe now.

Just as I was about to gulp, Neill suddenly began ruffling my hair and pushing my head down to bend my back before loosening her grip to let me readjust my posture. As I was about to complain, she pulled me closer to her and let her arm relax on my right shoulder.

“That’s our brother. Our eldest brother,” she said, leaving me confused at what she was trying to say. “I know I told you that I was worried about how he and Wendriosa would treat you, but that fear’s gone. He listened to you. He made this choice with your neutrality in mind and for our family’s safety and peace. That form symbolizes more than just the prestige of our bloodline. It represents our eldest brother absolutely willing not to repeat Father’s mistake.”

My eyes widened a bit as my nerves started to subside, finally noticing that my tail had been tapping the ground in an almost rhythmic fashion, like a metronome at 150 beats per minute. Neill saw me show fear for Kahalameet, and not the kind I felt when seeing Taim’s flabby-skinned zombie dragon form or Phsothophus’s giant figure.

It was trauma. I was seeing Quasdrakeen in him, reminding me how that leviathan had crushed Vifi, Neill, and Nong as she floated in the air, glaring down at me with that wide smile. Haaa, and that damn woman was making me remember Saori’s Mom, Vidia, when we first met in the Belzac forest. The Grim Reaper almost had me that day, and I surely was about to meet him when Quasdrakeen almost crushed my entire throat.

Watching Kahalameet gave me that same feeling. His appearance in Inferno Nest felt like an omen to me, and that was not something I should feel about him.

“… You think it’s weird that I want to beat him up?” I finally said, causing Neill to turn to me with a look that was asking me if I was all right in the head. I shrugged and turned back to the stream, only for Neill to suddenly poke my cheeks.

“Question to you, then: how long do you think I would need to get to rank S with [Hestia’s Retainer]?”

And now I was the one to widen my eyes.

Smirking, Neill tapped her horn, fearlessly declaring, “I’m the only one who can level like never before. Kramps may not have blessed me, but I will take full advantage of the blessing’s experience gain increase once we arrive at the Dungeon.”

“Unless your siblings or enemies possess a true element, then all of them must fear me, my lady.” Tasianna walked up to me, bearing a serene smile as she stared at the stream. “So, no, I do not believe it is weird that you wish to beat your sibling. It is just normal.”

“Part of our nature, in fact. Sibling rivalry isn’t abnormal, just because our family’s current generation is quite amicable towards each other. Other clans had plenty of siblings disliking each other’s guts, or, even if they do love each other, they would still put them down for the sake of the sibling hierarchy.” Neill shrugged. “It’s normal, little sis. Feeling envious is normal. I felt it towards you, and it’s not because of your power. You just felt so mature when we met.”

“I mean, isn’t it still the case? You keep getting a headache whenever Mot—Mrrmph!” Neill slammed my mouth shut with her hand.

“Shut up before I show you what I can do with a giant rock,” she warned, prompting me to raise my hands to surrender in peace. Her glare was scary.

In any case, bantering with those two did alleviate some of this tightness in my chest. Though the main cause of this stress was that Kahalameet freaked me out with how ominous he looked while readying for war, the real reason was the war itself. This was a conflict that would affect an entire nest, and Inferno Nest was large enough to be considered its own kingdom. Kahalameet’s and Taim’s plans were fully underway.

To further illustrate this fact, another video was shown where Arkanator, the Dragon Ruler of Volcano, was rallying the many lava and magma dragonkin of the nest. In the sweltering heat, where multiple volcanoes spat out lava hot enough to melt dragon scales, you can see these dragonkin swimming in these lava pools and rivers, breaking through hardened stone crusts and terraforming the land with their massive bodies like bulldozers. Caves and ravines would break down in their wake, once again reminding me of the calamitous destruction true dragonkin could perform.

These two armies convened together before they departed into the magma chambers of Inferno Nest’s underground. With none of the dark dragonkin braving these treacherous death traps, the footage of this conflict ended here.

“Due to the uncertain nature, I would like to remind everybody not to venture into Inferno Nest. Even if you are a citizen, the imperial family recommends that you stay away from the conflict.”

With the videos repeating, the reporter continued the stream by inviting a few elvenized dark dragons to speak their mind, with some of them suggesting this was inevitable.

“Maustoovaka had threatened Princess Hestia and admitted to having harmed Prince Ryranakus in the past and threatened Princess Fargryneill. He might have done everything due to his loyalty to Prince Kahalameet and Emperor Eltharion, but such actions are inexcusable,” the dragonkin explained. “Believing he could silence the youngest princess, he exposed everything to His Imperial Majesty and the six smpresses. This is simply his just punishment.”

Yet, the chat was divided.

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The number of unfamiliar names was growing. I couldn’t remember all the viewers who commented only once in the announcement stream, but I recognized enough to know the flood of new accounts wasn’t just a feeling. It was a fact. The digital media guild could confirm my suspicion with numbers later, but I was seeing it happening live.

Honestly, conflicted. More accounts are good for business, but I don’t want this to be the reason for it. Damn. Sensationalism is starting to dominate the streaming meta even in Peolynca.

“A stream started in Iceskale!” Rhekk suddenly shouted. “A black flame tornado can be seen from the coast!”

Mom instantly switched to the other stream, and just as Rhekk said, a fire column rose on the horizon at the city’s harbor. Inferno Nest was directly south of us, and close enough that we could see its land, as long as we flew up, before the horizon hid it all. It was colored black like onyx, confirming this was caused by either Kahalameet, Phso, or Ryra. It was the mark of a Kargryxmor dragon.

However, since nobody wanted to visit Inferno Nest, the recordings only continued to show the black tornado until it died out. Was it a fierce battle? Were my brothers okay? What exactly was happening? Questions stormed my mind as none of the current streams were telling me more than I’ve already learned. I wanted to fly over to Inferno Nest to check on things, but Mom told me to stay.

“Your brother has chosen his path, similar to how Wendriosa has chosen to fight the two ancient leviathans. He hasn’t asked for your help, so it is okay to simply remain on the side lane and wait, dear. You do not need to involve yourself in every matter. Trust in your siblings,” she told me before activating her subspace runes. “I will ask Eltharion. Don’t start your stream, either. For the remaining day… continue your training. I will come back tomorrow.”

Since I was the only one allowed to stream the results of the preliminary polling, there wasn’t a rush to present the results. I wasn’t supposed to read them before my stream, either. Although curiosity was gnawing on me like a colony of ants biting away at my sanity, I stilled my mind to let Hikari finish the training for the day as Mom wished.

Once morning came, Mom returned as mentioned. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem as troubled as yesterday, even though the battle in Inferno Nest hadn’t ended yet. In fact, a stream from “Morgrun’s News,” the same channel from yesterday, reported that the battle lasted until midnight before both sides stopped due to exhaustion.

And, well, unfortunately, quite a few dragonkin had died. A fact I painfully knew as the messages started coming before bedtime.

468 dragonewt, dragon, drake, wyvern followers lost Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 57322Since the messages didn’t differentiate the various races, I didn’t know who died exactly, yet I knew 468 people who enjoyed my music, or even my stream, had vanished from the world. Frankly, I went to sleep livid.

My brothers were dragging soldiers and dragonkin into their deaths despite the fear of a civil war. My mind was racing at the prospect of a real war happening. The thought of a civil war and losing even more people in my life, even if most were simply fans, started to haunt my mind again.

Though it wasn’t enough to stop me from maintaining a proper life. This was just reality.

As such, when I watched today’s news, I tried to remain calm. A lot of fighting had happened, but none of my brothers were terribly injured, although reports stated that Ryra left the battles early. The holy dragons were instrumental in healing the wounded on both sides, but casualties were a reality of a full-scale battle like this. The fact that only 468 had died was fortunate.

“So… what did Father say?” I asked Mom after gathering my thoughts.

She nodded. “He knew. He allowed it.”

“Why? Was it really because of me? I remember Father mentioning that Kahalameet had to punish his followers for what they did, but is this really the reason?”

Mom tilted her head to the side, closing her eyes with her arms crossed. Once she corrected her posture, her brows furrowed. “That is most likely the real reason. The reason Kahalameet gave your father to justify the attack is actually due to voter intimidation. We have eyewitnesses confirming Maustoovaka’s clan having spoken to other clans to ensure that they would vote for your brother, even using threats on the less-loyal clans.”

“… That’s because of us, right?” Fehrkatruk said from the side with his little brother, Kylu, standing next to him. “Father’s supporters, in other words. Those who supported Father when we defended Princess Hestia from Maustoovaka.”

“Correct, youngling.” Mom shook her head with a sigh. “Forminaxtrass boy is one annoying brat… he already tipped off the people who served as eyewitnesses before the preliminary polling day was planned. This is why the information is so solid. With Maustoovaka clearly paranoid from an imperial child wanting to usurp his role due to the rules of the succession battle, he was easily agitated by the news of a possible war with the leviathans. He feared some might have garnered an interest in Wendriosa as news spread that she was planning to kill Quasdrakeen to protect you.”

“What? I never heard about that even once. Wait, hold on, did Wendriosa spread that?”

Mom shook her head. “Your brother, Taimatrak, did it, after he got permission from Wendriosa, of course. However, the information was slowly spread inside Inferno Nest through his contacts. He anticipated Maustoovaka to be desperate enough to fall into his delusions. Though I cannot blame him since he is quite loyal to Eltharion. The fact that he was chastised and punished by the lord he served probably kept him in a bad headspace.”

Taim, if this really was all part of your plan, then… sheesh.

It wasn’t a very complicated plan, but he did anticipate Maustoovaka’s actions enough to station his collaborators to act as eyewitnesses. Still, despite all of this, Father accepted such reasoning?

“Though you can argue that Taim instigated this by spreading the news of Wendriosa’s willingness to kill both Quasdrakeen and Kiedaceus, it doesn’t directly force Maustoovaka to break this law for the voting process. Eltharion understands this is for Kahalameet’s sake, but from the view of the imperial family, this is simply getting rid of a Dragon Ruler willing to break a law simply out of convenience,” Mom explained. “The eyewitnesses gave just cause, and that allowed Eltharion to conduct an investigation the day after the votes were cast. Instead of facing his crimes, Maustoovaka further secluded himself in the depths of Inferno Nest. Arkanator acquiesced to help Kahalameet—to note, he did allow freedom to vote. An entire clan loyal to him even voted for Wendriosa, for your information.

“What the heck…”

“In any case, the remaining clans defending Maustoovaka are loyal to him, instead of ours. They are fighting to the death over there, apparently, with Kahalameet having slain… an ancient with Phsothophus’s help.”

I gulped. Ancient dragonkin were, unless I was unaware of some, all rank S in Kargryx and Caedhul. Some weren’t as strong as others, like my Uncle being on the weaker end of a rank S since he barely leveled after marrying, but they were still giant natural disasters. Kahalameet shouldn’t have had the time to level up one after he evolved into a rank S, yet he was still successful in doing so?

“Did he—” Neill was about to ask, but Mom shook her head.

“The ancients who sided with him said it was a duel between those two younglings and the brother of that clan’s patriarch. Those who defected after the battle stated the same. Ryranakus was sent back first to not endanger his life, and that was the correct choice. Phsothophus is hardy like his mother, so he survived the battle well, but Kahalameet was heavily wounded. Thankfully, one of the ancients from Sacred Nest saved his life,” Mom stated. “He will live, don’t worry. The reports mentioned that he didn’t lose anything important. His health was merely in danger, so healing magic easily prevented his death.”

“… And in the end, those two managed to kill a rank S,” Vifi stated. “Was that the only rank S death?”

Mom nodded.

“Your brothers just gained their commendations, lass.” Grimnir sighed loudly, though he looked more impressed than exasperated. “I mean, even if he didn’t take down Maustoovaka yet, this alone would solidify his position, right? How is your eldest sister supposed to win at this point?”

“How else? She has to take down Quasdrakeen or Kiedaceus,” I replied immediately. “It doesn’t matter if Kahalameet and Phsothophus slew an ancient, as long as Wendriosa proves herself as well. At the end of the day, just like that one lava dragonkin clan who voted for Wendriosa, she only needed to gain the people’s respect. That alone will give her a foundation for everything. Haa, how is Brother, Mom?”

“He needs four days to recover. During that time, Arkanator and Phsothophus will continue the march. Hehe, I’ll be honest. With Phsothophus still going strong, I don’t think it will be very easy for Kahalameet in the next poll. I think Quake Nest will shift over to crown Phsothophus, even against his and Gaistrus’s wishes,” Mom said with a dispirited chuckle. “I honestly have no idea if this was part of Taimatrak’s plan as well. That brat is far too annoying, unlike before.”

“Come on, you can’t just say that… Taim…” I went silent, prompting Neill to continue.

“To be honest, I always found Taimatrak a bit too lazy for a dragon, so this isn’t too bad of a change. He’s doing this for the family, right?”

“Right.” Mom nodded. “Though I should say that aside from you, Taimatrak was the one I had the least interaction with.”

Neill and Mom hadn’t met in person before their meeting in Elyonda, if I remembered correctly.

“In any case, the matter is now underway. I do hope everything else goes as planned, but we can only hope. Gyadiosa was beside herself when the news came, while Gaistrus couldn’t calm down.” Mom then walked over and hugged me, rubbing her horns and tail against me. “This last week hasn’t been good for any of us. First in Caedhul, and now within our home. A mother’s worry never ends.”

She then let me go, her face seemingly brighter than before. Maybe she just needed to refuel her Hestium tank after all the important talks.

“Okay… the battle will continue. As much as I want to tell you not to worry about your brothers, I can’t. Your father asked me to tell you to do the stream today at the same time as usual.”

“What is he thinking with this? Shouldn’t we push it back for a bit, at least until we get confirmation on their safety?”

“No, your father wants the news to come out now to explain the situation. Plus, it would act as an importan—Oh… I understand. You’re worried about the chat’s reaction.”

I nodded. It was obvious they wouldn’t even come to my stream for me or the voting results. All they would want was for somebody to feed their curiosity.

“Okay, I’ll tell your father. This isn’t the time for the stream yet, so continue on your training,” Mom said before returning to the subspace. Later on, I would learn that Father accepted my wish and would allow me to delay the stream.

Being left in the dark didn’t do me any good for my training, but the wait finally ended after five days.

“Urgent News! The Dragon Ruler of Fire, Maustoovaka, has been defeated by Prince Kahalameet! The Exaltation of a new Dragon Ruler of Fire!” was the name of the stream.

761 beastmen, dragon, drake, wyvern followers lost Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 56561A total of 1229 of my followers had died in this battle, and I wasn’t sure how many non-fans had perished.

Was it all worth it, Brother? Well, I know you did this for the sake of the family. I would do it as well. You’d better honor those who died for you, or I’ll make you do it.