Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 202 - 201 - Demons Down and the Explosion.

Chapter 202: Chapter 201 - Demons Down and the Explosion.

BOOM!

Crisaius hit the ground like a meteor, bounced, flipped once mid-air like an angry grandpa gymnast, and then launched himself back up again, only for Theon to casually float five meters higher with a sneer.

"Oh, for the love of—COME BACK DOWN AND DIE WITH DIGNITY, YOU FLAMING TOOTHPASTE STAIN!" Crisaius roared, lightning curling around his beard like a malfunctioning Tesla coil.

Theon, floating effortlessly with his arms crossed, looked down with the serenity of a smug pigeon who just pooped on a statue. "Why would I lower myself to your level?"

"HE’S MOCKING ME WITH VERTICALITY!!" Crisaius screamed, flipping both his swords in frustration. "Back in my day, we fought on the ground like civilized psychopaths!"

"YOU CAN FLOAT," Raven hollered from behind, clearly enjoying himself. "Just admit you can’t fly and I’ll help. I can give you wings. Kinda. Not Red Bull but better."

"I DO NOT NEED YOUR PITY AERODYNAMICS!" Crisaius barked. "I AM THE STORM THAT—hang on, let me jump again—!"

BOING!

He shot into the air like a pissed-off firecracker, narrowly missing Theon by inches.

Back on the ground, Clara leaned on Raven’s shoulder. "Why doesn’t he just say yes?"

"Pride," Raven muttered.

"Stupidity," Jessy corrected.

"Same difference," Alex added.

Meanwhile, in the air, Crisaius’s eye twitched as he flipped mid-jump, both blades lighting up in arcs of electricity and pulsing heat.

"You want airborne?" He snarled, "Fine. Let’s dance on your grave in stereo."

Then—

Time twisted.

The wind bent inward.

The light shimmered.

Static crawled across the sky like silver roots.

His dual blades surged with synchronized power: fire along the left, lightning on the right, and time magic pulsing through both like a conductor orchestrating the apocalypse.

"Witness my masterpiece!" He bellowed.

"Storm Waltz: Ashen Chronoburst!"

He slashed once—

—And then slashed a thousand times.

In that moment, a rift of compressed time opened behind Theon, and every slash followed him through it simultaneously.

Fire cascaded. Lightning cracked like judgment. Blades danced in temporal sync like vengeful ghosts. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Theon’s eyes widened.

SCHLICK-SCHLICK-SCHLICK—SLAASSSH!

It was not one clean slice.

It was a thousand precise ones, all delivered in the same breath.

Theon was still mid-air when his body fell into pieces.

Clean segments, clean angles—like a diagram of failure drawn in blood.

The top of his head slid to the left. His torso twisted and dropped. His lower body floated, absurdly, for half a second.

Everyone stared.

"...Damn," Rufus whispered. "That was aggressively elegant."

Jessy crossed her arms. "Grandpa’s been holding out."

Raven merely let out a low whistle. "He’s showing off because Father got a cool moment first."

"WAS THAT COOL ENOUGH FOR YOU, YOU PRIDEFUL BRICK?" Crisaius shouted toward Argon, panting heavily but still full of smug energy.

Argon, standing with sword on shoulder, gave a short nod. "Acceptable."

"Ha! You hear that? Acceptable. That’s as close as he gets to saying ’amazing.’ I win!"

But then—

Glow.

Theon’s remains—still hovering in the air—began to pulse.

A slow, throbbing red light ignited within each severed piece.

"What the—" Raven tensed.

Clara stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. "That’s not regeneration."

Selena’s hand dropped from Raven’s arm, her posture shifting. "It’s a failsafe."

Theon’s voice—gurgling, broken, a hollow rasp from cracked lips—echoed across the battlefield.

"You... are dangerous, old one..." He coughed up blood. "...so I’ll... take you with me... No resistance... for who’s coming."

Crisaius’s smile vanished. "Oh no. Don’t you dare plot armor your way into relevance again!"

Suddenly, the glowing red pulsed brighter.

"EVERYONE, BACK!" Argon roared.

He leapt, positioning himself between the glowing chunks of Theon and the rest of the group. His greatsword slammed into the ground like a wall, space magic rippling around it like a shield dome forming.

"THIS ISN’T JUST A SELF-DESTRUCT!" he yelled. "IT’S A...!"

BOOOOOOOM!

Time slowed.

It wasn’t magic.

It wasn’t some divine interference.

It was instinct—the kind that came screaming through blood and bone when death surged close enough to taste.

The pieces of Theon hung in the air, glowing red-hot like cursed coals, exploding one by one.

The world held its breath.

Even the flames seemed to freeze.

Then—

Pulse.

A final, echoing throb shook the air.

Everyone moved.

Before anyone could think, Raven was already in motion.

Dragon scales exploded across his skin like an erupting second layer of armor, rippling with lava-like veins.

He lunged forward, grabbed Clara, Selena, and Siris, and pulled them into a crushing embrace, twisting his body so that his back—his shield—faced the epicenter of Theon’s implosion.

"Hold tight," he whispered.

For the first time, the three girls had the same reaction. "Raven! Stop!"

They tried to break free, but Raven’s hold was too tight for them to even move.

But before the heat could hit—

Jake appeared.

He shadow-teleported just behind Raven, back arched like a shield despite having the weakest defense of them all. Shadow energy covered his whole body as his arm was gone.

He had sacrificed his arm to gain more power from the inheritance of the god of darkness.

He knew it wouldn’t be enough, but it didn’t matter.

He didn’t think—he just moved.

Then—

Alex slammed in front of Jake like a living meteor.

Covered entirely in his lava-slicked symbiote armor, he wrapped all six of his bladed tentacles around them—Jake, Raven, the girls, even Nibbles, who peeked out of his chest like a squirrelly war god.

"You think you’re the only one allowed to play meat shield?" Alex growled.

Nibbles sighed dramatically, holding up a wooden sign that read, "This is a bad plan."

Then pointed to another: "But I’m in."

Behind them all, Jessy stood perfectly still.

Her eyes narrowed, hands weaving intricate patterns as iron dust thickened like a storm cloud.

She formed a wall, a meter thick, curving it slightly inward to catch the shockwave from the side, right in front of Argon.

He was the first wall.

But she would not let him stand alone.

"Try me," she whispered to the coming fire.

Then—

FLASH.

A streak of red and black cut through the surroundings like lightning, and Rufus landed beside them all, slamming a knee into the dirt.

His nano-suit shimmered, pulling into a hardlight shield shaped like a door.

"Reinforcing the perimeter," he grunted, digging in.

Then—

The world shattered.

The explosion hit like a collapsed sun.

The iron wall disintegrated instantly.

The air warped.

The Earth screamed.

The light was not light—it was annihilation.

Argon braced with his sword, space magic coiling into a crescent arc in front of him. The blast crashed against him like a divine judgment—flames clawing at his cloak, golden fire eating at his gloves.

His fingers, even with the Vaise bloodline, burned, blistered, and blackened.

But he didn’t move.

Behind him was his son.

Behind him was everything that mattered.

He clenched his jaw.

"Not one step backward."

The fire surged.

And was stopped.

Cracked.

Pushed.

Deflected.

When the smoke finally settled... 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Silence.

Nothing remained of the forest.

The trees were ash. The mountains had chunks missing. Rivers evaporated. The battlefield was now a wasteland of charcoal and broken glassy earth.

But in the middle of it all—

A triangle remained.

Its apex began at Argon’s feet.

Everyone stood—still breathing—inside its lines.

Raven still held Clara, Selena, and Siris in his arms, bare-chested, dragon scales dimmed but intact.

Burnt smoke curled off his shoulders. His hair was wild. His breath was calm.

Selena clung tighter, her eyes red as if she would’ve cried if something had happened.

Clara looked up, hitting him on his chest, her nose red.

Siris, on the other hand, didn’t say anything, which was more dangerous than the reactions of Selena and Clara.

"I’m sorry, alright?" Raven whispered to them, patting Siris’s head. "But I don’t suppose you would yell at me for trying to protect what matters to me, right?"

Those words made them go silent as Siris looked up, her expression serious for the first time. "Never do that again."

Raven nodded before he looked at the rest.

Jessy stood tall behind them, panting, blood on her lip from overuse of iron dust—but unbroken.

Her eyes met Raven’s, and with a nod, they looked away.

Alex, who was expecting more, let go of Jake and sighed in relief. "Okay. That wasn’t so bad—"

"AAAAAGGHH—"

They all turned.

Rufus collapsed forward, smoke rolling off him. His shield was gone.

His armor was cracked. Skin blackened in streaks across his chest and arms. He hit the ground with a groan and a whimper that tried very hard to be manly.

"...Okay. Now it’s bad," Alex muttered.

Everyone was at his side in an instant.

Jessy dropped to her knees, staring at his wounds with a frown. "You idiot! You knew that shield wasn’t enough!"

She could see that his wounds were healing, but he could’ve died.

"You think I was just gonna let you all stand there like cool anime protagonists while I napped in the back?" Rufus croaked.

The others shook their heads at that while Siris offered to "carry his soul to the afterlife" with a cheerful grin. He declined.

Alex stood behind them all, nodding slowly. "Good hustle."

Nibbles flipped a sign over Rufus’s head. "MVP: Most Valorous Pancake."

Everyone laughed.

Even Raven.

It was another moment of relief after all that had gone down.

It was as if they had survived a nuclear blast.

As the dust finally settled, Argon straightened, his massive greatsword resting on his shoulder. His face, as always, was carved from pure seriousness.

He glanced at the scorched battlefield, then at the others who were still catching their breath.

"Well," he said in that deep, grave tone, "I guess you could say... that was a pretty hot situation."

Silence.

Everyone froze.

Clara blinked. "Did... did he just—?"

Jessy groaned loudly. "Oh gods, no."

Raven facepalmed. "Not the dad jokes. Not now."

Rufus, barely conscious, mumbled, "...kill me again."

Argon didn’t flinch. "Too soon?"