Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 206 - 205 - Plot Armor Again.

Chapter 206: Chapter 205 - Plot Armor Again.

The sky cracked louder than a tavern brawl over a rigged dice game.

Everyone stared.

The monstrous face that had oozed out of the rift with the confidence of a drunk nobleman at a brothel was now gripped—gripped—by a divine, glowing claw that had appeared out of nowhere like an unpaid debt collector with divine receipts.

It was massive, silver and gold, swirling with ancient runes that shimmered like starfire dipped in holy rage.

It didn’t move fast. It didn’t need to.

Because when you’re that big and that divine, you don’t need to rush.

The claw squeezed the jelly-faced horror as if it were an overripe fruit.

Squelch.

The creature shrieked.

But it wasn’t a scream.

It was... static.

A sound that made ears bleed and minds twitch.

Even Raven, standing there with his plot armor still glowing faintly like an overpriced system candle, winced.

Clara clutched her ears, eyes wide. "Is it trying to... curse us in sixteen different languages?"

Jessy groaned, "I think it just insulted our entire bloodline and also my cat."

"Bro, if that thing’s talkin’, I’d rather not learn its dialect," Omni muttered, still inked onto Raven’s arm like a magical prison tattoo. "It sounds like two roaches fightin’ in a bag of glass."

Rufus held up a hand weakly. "I think I just remembered six childhood traumas and one I didn’t even live through."

The claw didn’t care.

The claw pulled.

With a wet, reality-defying crackle, it yanked the screaming creature back into the rift like an elder telling a misbehaving toddler it was time for nap-nap in hell.

The crack resisted, but the divine force behind the claw didn’t relent.

With a shudder that echoed through dimensions, the sky snapped shut.

The pressure vanished completely.

For the first time in what felt like hours, there was silence.

Not ominous silence.

Just... silence.

Birds chirped in the distance, and a squirrel farted. Somewhere, a flower bloomed.

Rufus fell back with a fwump, arms splayed. "Okay. Okay. I’m calling it. That was a divine plot convenience."

Jake followed.

"Y’all saw that, right?" Alex muttered, still in Blargh-form. "A god just yoinked our boss and fought back into hell."

Selena looked over at Raven, her voice soft. "Do you know who that was?"

Raven shook his head slowly. "No. I don’t think so."

"Who the hell was the owner of that overpowered claw?" Jessy asked, pushing herself to her feet.

Raven frowned. "I don’t know."

Omni hummed. "It sure felt like the voice you had heard during your soul upgrade, man. Maybe it’s a cosmic sugar daddy. Or maybe your deadbeat dead luck decided to shine for the first time."

"...Or maybe someone doesn’t want me dying yet," Raven muttered.

His hand flexed slightly as the system window faded.

The [Plot Armor Activated] notice blinked out, leaving only residual sparkles of divinity in the air.

It was clear that the plot armor was used up.

That thing was gone, and so was the one that pulled it away.

For now, they didn’t have to do anything with such entities.

But then, they noticed something.

Crisaius was silent, and so was Argon.

They both stood with their eyes still fixed on the sky and their fists clenched.

"You okay, old man?" Raven asked Crisaius despite knowing what was going on with him.

Then he turned toward Argon. "Father?"

There was no response for some time.

Crisaius stood motionless, sock still in hand, its charred edge fluttering in the fading divine breeze like a half-burned relic of pride.

His eyes never left the sky, though the hand was long gone.

He wasn’t breathing hard. He wasn’t sweating.

But something had shifted.

He’d lived long enough to see even corrupted beasts bow, two kings go bald, and time itself bend around his will.

He had stood atop peaks the people of this kingdom couldn’t even dream of and mocked the heavens with wine in one hand and lightning in the other.

Yet, as that celestial claw had torn a being of unspeakable horror out of their reality like a page from a cursed book... he had felt it.

The difference.

Not fear.

Scale.

There was a power so high above that it didn’t care who he was, what he had achieved, or what he had overcome.

He was a footnote in that moment.

Crisaius slowly lowered the sock.

"...Well," he muttered under his breath, "Guess I’m not retired yet."

There was no panic in his tone. Only certainty. A sharpening of the old blade he had sheathed too long.

He looked at Raven—not the boy who had once stumbled into his life, but the young man who burned brighter than any prophecy.

’He’s still climbing,’ Crisaius thought. ’So I will too.’

Because if the boy, who was half-raised through sarcasm and soul trauma, was still reaching, then so would he.

His eyes narrowed.

’No more coasting. Time to evolve.’

Meanwhile, Argon remained silent.

Stone-still.

The fading echoes of divine power stirred his silver cloak, but he didn’t move.

He didn’t need to.

The claw... that hand... it had overwhelmed the heavens themselves.

But Argon hadn’t looked away.

He’d studied it.

Measured it.

Understood it.

He didn’t feel small.

He felt responsible.

The world Raven lived in was no longer a battlefield of mortals. It was one of the gods. And as a father, Argon knew—

He wasn’t allowed to stand behind anymore.

’I won’t be left watching again.’

Not for vengeance. Not for pride.

But for Raven.

For the son who carried the weight of more than bloodline, more than fate.

A slow breath left him, quiet as snowfall.

Then, without turning, he said, "Next time, I won’t need help from the heavens."

Raven blinked. He hadn’t expected him to speak first.

Crisaius gave Argon a side-eye. "Oh, so he gets to say something cool without being called dramatic?"

Argon turned just slightly, voice flat as ever. "Your sock’s still on fire."

Crisaius glanced down and yelped, smothering it with one stomp. "IT’S A SYMBOL, DAMN YOU!"

Omni’s voice piped up quietly. "...Yo, was that divine hand, or divine backhand? ’Cause the drama levels just peaked."

Clara smiled faintly, leaning into Raven as Selena did the same.

Selena murmured, "They’re not shaken."

"No," Clara said, voice warm. "They’re waking up."

Raven didn’t say anything for a second before he glanced at them in succession.

"You don’t need excuses to touch my body, you know?"

Yes, they were merely leaning on him to touch his bare chest and feel his warmth.

"Hm~"

It was then that Siris appeared from behind him, taking a whiff of him before she jumped on his back.

"Raven, you are my horsey for now!" She declared.

Raven deadpanned. "You know, I would prefer if I were the prince instead of being a horse."

Siris didn’t say anything, while Clara and Selena giggled.

Behind them, Nibbles flipped a sign from Jake’s shoulder again.

"Training Arc: Old Men Don’t Crack—They Forge."

Jessy, sprawled on the ground, muttered, "Can we lie down and relax for some time? I don’t want to move at all."

No one said anything as all of them sat down on the scorched ground.

There was a long silence before Crisaius turned his gaze back to the empty heavens.

"You saw that, didn’t you, brat?" He said softly, not looking at Raven. "That thing... it was real. But so was the thing that stopped it."

Raven nodded once.

Crisaius smirked faintly. "Good. Because we’re going to need that kind of power, because only with power like that can we say that we are strong enough to protect ourselves."

Argon gave the barest nod beside him.

Raven looked at them—both battered, both silent, but burning again in ways no technique or artifact could fake.

He grinned.

"Guess I better train harder."

Crisaius finally grinned back, eyes narrowing.

"You better, boy."

There was another bout of silence before Argon shifted slightly, the faintest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.

"You know..." he began, voice low but deliberate, "after all that claw drama... guess you could say it really hand-led the situation."

Crisaius snapped his head toward him instantly. "Don’t."

But Argon continued, deadpan. "...Truly a divine intervention."

Crisaius groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I told you, don’t."

No one else reacted.

Everyone was too exhausted to even reply.

Clara, Selena, and Siris were busy tracing fingers on Raven’s cuts, not even listening to Argon.

Jessy mumbled something incoherent.

Alex just lay flat, twitching as Nibbles sat above him.

Rufus had his eyes closed, pretending to be dead.

As for Jake, he was probably meditating, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.

They were all too tired to protest.