The Father-in-Law Arrives

Night in the Swamp of Sorrows was shrouded in damp mist, wrapping Onyxia's lair in a hazy veil. Moonlight filtered through thin clouds, casting mottled shadows across the muddy ground like countless prying eyes.

Deep within the lair, mountain-like piles of sacks labeled "Blackwing High-Yield Fertilizer" glimmered an eerie grayish white beneath the dim biogas lamps. Every sack had been precisely placed in a designated position. From above, one would see that they formed an enormous rune array—apparently the core of a trap.

"These ones all need to be moved over there." Deren huddled in the shadows, speaking in an extremely low voice. His filthy fingers tightly gripped an invoice. "Yes, right there."

Onyxia stood beside the piles in her High Elf form, her golden hair still gleaming softly in the dim light. Her slender fingers gently nudged the sacks, her movements as elegant as though she were arranging tableware for a banquet.

"Is this batch of fertilizer being shipped out tomorrow?" In her High Elf form, she tilted her head slightly, her voice carrying a teasing note.

Deren wiped the cold sweat from his brow. "The Goblins have urged us several times already. They're practically sold out over there—"

His words abruptly stopped.

The insects in the swamp suddenly fell silent. The mist froze in midair. Even the droplets falling from the lair walls hung suspended.

Deren's blood instantly turned to ice. Slowly, he turned his head toward the entrance—

A tall figure had somehow appeared there.

Deathwing remained in human form, his black hair streaked with dark red like cooled magma. His golden slit pupils burned in the darkness as his gaze swept over the piled fertilizer sacks, over Onyxia's carefully maintained High Elf illusion, and finally settled on Deren in the shadows.

In that instant, Deren felt as though ten thousand blades had pierced his soul. His knees weakened uncontrollably, and his teeth began to chatter. This was the pressure of the Worldbreaker—no magic was needed. His mere existence was enough to break mortals.

"Father." Onyxia barely maintained her High Elf illusion, but her voice had already begun to warp.

Deathwing walked forward slowly. His boots made not the slightest sound on the damp stone floor. His eyes fell upon the nearest sack of fertilizer, and his fingertips lightly traced its surface.

"Countess Katrana Prestor." His voice was low and calm, yet the temperature in the lair plummeted. "The jewel of Stormwind City's noble circles, Bolvar Furtagen's most trusted adviser." Suddenly, he crushed the sack in his hand, and grayish-white powder spilled through his fingers. "And now, you're playing with manure?"

Deren nearly stopped breathing. He saw Onyxia's illusion beginning to flicker unstably. Beneath the High Elf's elegant face, black dragon scales appeared and vanished.

Most terrifying of all, Deathwing had not even released his Dragon Awe yet.

Painful wails from the Dragonborn guards sounded from deep within the swamp—merely the unconscious pressure radiating from the Worldbreaker was enough to make these lesser Dragonborn wish they were dead. Deren heard the dull thuds of heavy bodies collapsing outside the lair, followed by the harsh scrape of scales against the ground. The guards were struggling in their death throes, and before long, they fell silent.

Deathwing finally turned his full attention to Onyxia. The corner of his mouth rose slightly, forming a chilling smile.

"My dear daughter," he said softly, "when did you start needing mortals to tell you how to arrange your toys?"

As the final syllable fell, the High Elf illusion shattered like glass. Black dragon scales flooded over Onyxia's entire body like a tide, and her dragon wings snapped open, the resulting gale sending nearby clutter flying.

"Run!" she roared at Deren before fully assuming her dragon form.

Deren did not need to be told twice. He scrambled toward the pre-dug escape tunnel on all fours. Behind him came Deathwing's cold laugh. "This is your beloved pet? A homeless cur? It abandoned you and ran without a moment's hesitation?"

As Deren's figure disappeared, the entire lair began to shake. Onyxia fully revealed her Black Dragon body, her ebony scales gleaming with a metallic sheen beneath the crystal lamps. She stood before the tunnel entrance, her dragon eyes fixed firmly on her father.

Behind her, beneath the scattered fertilizer sacks, the hidden rune array began to emit a faint blue glow.

Deren staggered into the escape tunnel as the roar of collapsing rock walls thundered behind him. His heart pounded wildly in his chest, and the roars of two Black Dragons confronting each other made his eardrums ache.

"You dare—!"

Deathwing's furious roar unleashed tangible soundwaves. It felt as though someone had shoved Deren hard in the back, sending him sprawling forward. He struggled back to his feet, his palm sliced open by sharp stones as blood mixed with cold sweat and dripped onto the damp ground.

He couldn't stop.

He forced himself to keep crawling. Dragon roars and the deafening crashes of shattering rock echoed through the narrow tunnel. Just a little farther. He thought as he desperately crawled onward.

In the lair's main hall, Onyxia's dragon wings were fully spread, her black scales reflecting a cold metallic gleam in the dim light. She blocked the entrance to the tunnel where Deren had vanished, a low growl rolling from deep in her throat.

Deathwing still retained his human form, but shadows and magma churned around him. He stared at his daughter, his golden slit pupils narrowing to thin lines.

"Your human pet certainly fled decisively."

Mockery colored his voice, but there was more of something else... disappointment.

Onyxia's tail lashed violently against the ground, sending shattered stones flying.

"He isn't a pet."

Deathwing sneered and took a step forward. That motion alone caused the lair's temperature to surge, instantly scorching the moss on the rock walls dry.

"Then what is he?" The Worldbreaker's voice was low as thunder. "A mortal teaching you to play with manure? An insect that dared scheme against Titan creations?"

Onyxia did not answer. Every muscle in her body tensed, her dragon claws digging deeply into the ground as she prepared for her father's attack.

But Deathwing did not strike immediately.

He slowly raised a hand, palm facing upward—

"Look at yourself now."

"You were once the offspring of the Worldbreaker, blood of Deathwing." His voice was almost gentle. "And now? You hide in a swamp, haggle with Goblins, and let a human teach you how to handle fertilizer."

Onyxia's pupils trembled faintly, but in the next moment, she bared her fangs in a dragon grin.

"At least I know what I'm doing."

A flicker of genuine rage flashed through Deathwing's eyes.

"You think you're defying me?" At last, his voice carried the tremor of a dragon's roar. "You're merely playing a laughable game of house!"

Boom—!

At last, he released his Dragon Awe.

The tangible pressure swept through the entire lair like a tsunami. The rock walls cracked in an instant, and lamp after lamp exploded. Onyxia was blasted back several steps by the shockwave, her dragon claws plowing deep furrows into the ground.

But she did not fall.

"Playing house?" She raised her head beneath the Dragon Awe, her Golden Vertical Pupils burning with a light Deathwing had never seen before. "What about you, Father?"

Her voice no longer trembled.

"For ten thousand years, what have you been doing?"

"Madly trying to destroy the world?"

Deathwing's pupils suddenly contracted.

Deep within the tunnel stood a prearranged Portal. After passing through it, Deren arrived at a safe house on the outskirts of the swamp. Trembling, he pressed the mechanism on the wall, slipped into the basement, and shut out most of the Dragon Awe from outside.

He collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath, his ears ringing.

Before him stood three conspicuous knife switches, connected to three sets of simple Voltaic Cells.

Inside the dragon lair, Onyxia stared fixedly at her father with dragon eyes, a low growl rumbling in her throat. Her dragon claws tightened slightly, and her sharp talons carved several shallow grooves into the ground.

Deathwing's gaze swept over the overturned fertilizer bags. Grayish-white Ammonium Nitrate powder was scattered across the floor, revealing the blue runes engraved into the rock beneath. The runes flickered faintly, brightening and dimming like breathing, forming a massive Energy Array.

The corner of his mouth slowly curled into a mocking smile.

"A Rune Trap?"

His voice was low and disdainful, as though he were judging a child's scribbles.

"When did you... become so naive?"

Onyxia did not answer, but her dragon wings trembled slightly, the muscles beneath her scales tensing.

Deathwing sneered and took a step forward—

BOOM!

His human shell suddenly shattered.

Shadow and magma intertwined as Worldbreaker's true form emerged. Pitch-black dragon scales rose like blades, molten patterns flowing through the gaps in his armor and bathing the entire lair in blood-red light. The shockwave from merely assuming his dragon form split the rock walls, sending fragments raining down like a storm.

"Runes of this caliber..."

His dragon claw stomped heavily onto the ground—

CRACK!

The rune array exploded instantly.

The blue veins of energy shattered like fragile glass. One rune after another went dark, turning into drifting motes of magical dust. The entire lair shook violently, but Deathwing's body did not budge. There was only cold mockery in his Golden Vertical Pupils.

"That's it?"

With a sweep of his dragon tail, he sent all the scattered fertilizer bags flying, and grayish-white Ammonium Nitrate powder drifted through the air like snow.

"Your resistance... amounts to nothing more than this petty trick?"

Onyxia's breathing quickened slightly, but she seemed somewhat afraid as she slowly retreated. Fear and panic began to appear in the way she looked at her father.

Deathwing noticed her gaze and let out a derisive snort. He advanced toward her step by step.

"What are you playing at?"

His dragon wings slowly spread, casting shadows over the entire lair. His daughter really was retreating in fear, one step at a time. Confidence filled his heart once more. That feeling of dominance and control had returned.

"Let me see... what else you can do."

Just as Onyxia was about to retreat all the way to the rear wall of the cave, the fear in her eyes suddenly began to fade. She took a deep breath, her dragon maw curling slightly to reveal sharp fangs.

"As you wish... Father."

The next second, her body abruptly contracted. Her black dragon scales receded as she returned to human form.

Deathwing narrowed his eyes.

"You think you can escape?" His voice was thick with mockery.

"Surprise~!"

His mockery came to an abrupt stop.

A golden light suddenly burst out behind Onyxia. Two little hands reached out from the Time Rift and grabbed her by the back of her collar.

"Coming through, coming through!"

Chromie's face squeezed out of the rift, the Bronze Dragon's signature twin ponytails already curled and singed by the heatwave. Grimacing, she dragged Onyxia into the rift while tossing a smoking hourglass at Deathwing.

"Here, have a clock—ah, no, have some Hourglass of Time!"

The hourglass exploded into golden mist the instant it touched his dragon scales. The laws of time wrapped around Worldbreaker's limbs like chains. But this restraint was not as effective as expected—Deathwing merely struggled lightly, and the Hourglass of Time crumbled away in rustling streams. At Chromie's level, she was still far from capable of completely binding a Dragon King with time stop.

"Bronze Dragon tricks..." Deathwing wore a look of utter disdain. He felt that he only needed to exert himself for a few seconds to break free from time's restraints. Then he could have a proper talk about dragon life with his daughter and the Bronze Dragon.

With half her body already withdrawn into the rift, Chromie had no time for nonsense. She shut the door and vanished. The bronze flash faded, leaving only the frozen Black Dragon King inside the lair. A sudden wave of panic rose within him, as though something bad was about to happen.

He remembered the mocking shape of his daughter's lips before she vanished—

—The times have changed, Father.

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