A dark-gold meteor streaked diagonally across the western sky.
August flew through the air in his true dragon form.
His immense draconic body cleaved through the clouds, stirring up an unbroken storm of air currents that flattened entire swaths of forest in his wake.
This was the border of the Southeast Province, already within Louis's territory.
As far as August was concerned, this reckoning had only one possible outcome.
He would crush his way through the Southeast and show that newly risen lord, in the most direct way possible, that mortals should never dream of laying a finger on his Empire.
Yet when he looked down at the earth, his draconic eyes paused.
Below him, no panicked mortals fled in all directions. The roads were empty, the villages shuttered, and the towns seemed to have been emptied in advance.
This displeased August.
Ever since awakening in the Ancient Tomb, he had rampaged across the continent in his true dragon body, moving at speeds far beyond mortal comprehension.
Even the most sophisticated intelligence network could not possibly have completed an evacuation of this scale in so little time.
It was as though someone had known he was coming. The feeling offended him.
"Rats hiding in caves." His deep draconic speech echoed through the air, laden with undisguised contempt. "Did you think you could escape your king's reckoning?"
He did not dwell on it. Mortal schemes meant nothing before true power.
August beat his wings and accelerated toward the strongest fortress on the Southeast Province's defensive line.
It was a fortress built specifically to withstand heavy siege engines, with thick walls, an intricate structure, and metal components at every joint.
In the old era, this stronghold would have exacted a terrible price from any army. Unfortunately, it faced a monster beyond its