As things gradually settled down on all sides, Horace enjoyed a rare stretch of peace.
However, that peace did not last long.
Soon, the Dragon Girl came again, bringing news:
The Dragon Lord had descended upon the Land of Shadow, and the Hornsent would have the pleasure of facing the ravages of two Elden Lords.
That once-battered body had now largely recovered.
Though his lost heads had not grown back, he had undoubtedly regained his peak strength as a lord.
The allied forces in the Land of Shadow witnessed Placidusax's expedition firsthand.
The Ancient Dragons followed behind him in scattered ranks. The Flying Dragons trailed far behind, afraid to approach, yet afraid to leave.
It was the first gathering of dragonkind since Bayle's rebellion.
Across the Land of Shadow, red lightning fell without cease, while the Flying Dragons' varied breaths wrought immense destruction upon the entire surface.
But the most destructive force was Messmer's Flame.
Messmer's fire burned the earth, utterly destroying everything on its surface. Neither abundance nor Scarlet Rot remained.
When the Golden Dynasty's armies pressed in, when the Dragon Lord descended from the sky with the Ancient Dragons, the Hornsent finally realized that what they faced was not merely a war.
It was an extermination.
Messmer's Fire Knights underwent a complete transformation in this war.
Those scions of noble families had been utterly reforged through battlefield trials and reinforcements from the Golden Dynasty.
Their armor was drenched in Hornsent blood, their fire incantations precise and deadly. Wherever they passed, they left only charred corpses and ashes.
"Lord Messmer."
A Fire Knight knelt on one knee, a Hornsent village blazing behind him.
"Resistance to the southeast has been eliminated."
Messmer stood atop the blackened ruins. He nodded without a word.
The foolish boy was wondering whether he should