The hatchlings had only just been born, yet their bodies had already rapidly grown to a meter in length. Ravenous, they scrambled toward the sea monsters that had been roasted to charcoal and began devouring them without restraint.
Their tiny bodies seemed like bottomless pits. Together, they soon swallowed most of one sea monster's tentacle.
The great dragons Rafa, Hognara, and Hogras refused to be outdone. They immediately rushed to the sea monsters' corpses, tearing and gulping down flesh in a frenzy.
Once they had all eaten their fill, Danyla chanted a spell and sacrificed the remaining sea monster corpses to the statue of Winged Dragon Chixiao.
The sea monsters' abundant vitality and magical energy made the ruby in the Chixiao statue's mouth increasingly clear and lustrous. The Holy Fire atop the temple tower flared to life again.
Danyla also felt the magical energy within her grow considerably stronger, while all manner of magical techniques began flashing through her mind. She knew these must be gifts Chixiao had left her.
"From this day forward, this temple shall be renamed the Holy Flame Temple! You are the priests and Fiery Hand of the Holy Flame Temple. Free every temple slave. Wherever the radiance of the holy flame shines, there shall be no more oppression or slavery!"
Chixiao had already reshaped the minds of the surviving temple priests and Fiery Hand, and she was now the object of their most devout faith. Naturally, they obeyed Danyla's every word.
Soon, the collars and shackles were removed from the hundreds of temple slaves with Valyrian blood imprisoned within the temple.
These slaves had been raised in the temple from childhood and knew almost nothing beyond prayer. Danyla therefore allowed them to remain as apprentice priests.
More than half the priests and Fiery Hand in