Raszageth's enormous body, covered in crystal spikes, suddenly stiffened, as though she had just heard the most absurd, incomprehensible words in the world.
Then a sharp, shrill dragon roar that was almost enough to rupture eardrums echoed across the mountaintop. "No!!!"
That roar was filled with blood-deep hatred and bone-carving resentment accumulated over ten thousand years. The air itself seemed torn apart by the sound waves, while the remaining arcs of lightning writhed madly.
"Reconciliation?! With those executioners whose hands are stained with the blood of the Proto-Dragons?! With those traitorous dogs who willingly knelt at the Titans' feet and betrayed their own bloodline and origins?!"
Raszageth lowered her head, her storm-cloud dragon eyes locking tightly onto Deren. A fire fierce enough to burn away reason blazed within them. Deren was nearly scared out of his wits. It seemed his earlier verbal barrage had amounted to firing blanks before ten thousand years of hatred.
He said dryly, "Don't be impulsive. Peace is precious. The hatred between you dragons has already lasted more than ten thousand years. Maybe you should talk things over properly."
"Impossible!" Raszageth opened her jaws and roared at Deren.
"Do you know how many of my brothers, sisters, kin, and companions died during the War of the Scaleborn, which lasted for over a century, beneath the claws and breaths of the Aspect Dragons 'blessed' by the Titans?!
"Their bones piled up across the western wilderness! Their wails still echo through my dreams! Even the river of time could never wash away this hatred. Until death, without end, irreconcilable!!"
Faced with that overwhelming torrent of hatred, Deren did not retreat. Instead, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was better that she was willing to roar than simply swat him to death with one claw.
That meant