Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 225 - 224 - “I’M THE MAN!”

Chapter 225: Chapter 224 - “I’M THE MAN!”

Two days later.

The divine domain shimmered with a steady pulse of mana as Raven and Arietta, who had all the time in the world, lay on the cloud.

Arietta lay above Raven, and the boy, feeling her softness, was not in the mood to stop her. Ever.

How could he call himself a man if he let go of this opportunity?

But still, Raven wasn’t only wasting his time for the past two days.

Although he wouldn’t awaken his element until all others had done it, he could still stabilize his mana.

He had been doing just that.

Now, however, he was resting with Arietta right above him, their eyes locked and their lips close.

"I want a kiss," Arietta muttered, even though they had been doing this every five minutes for the past two days.

"As you wish," Raven smiled.

Neither of them minded, nor were they getting bored.

But as they kissed, relishing the silence, the quiet was broken by the soft hum of energy synchronizing with soul and spirit.

Everyone was deep in focus—some still, others twitching like they were trying not to sneeze while meditating.

Except Clara.

Her body began to glow.

It started faintly—like sunlight peeking through morning fog—before the glow intensified into rings of undulating vibration.

From Raven’s cloud-seat beside Arietta, he felt it first. Not the sight. The resonance. A low-frequency buzz, then rising higher and purer, like a crystal being struck underwater.

"...She’s close," Raven muttered, sitting up.

Arietta tilted her head. "Oh? The one who speaks the most goes first. How nice."

The lotus flowers around Clara began to shudder and ripple. Then they vibrated until they practically danced. Mana spiraled around her like ribbons, thrumming like harp strings.

Clara’s eyes snapped open—gold with concentric circles glowing inside—and she let out a breath.

Then, the world around her boomed.

A pulse of force exploded from her chest, like a shockwave of pure sound. The blossoms were torn from their stems. The air shimmered. Even the distant clouds rippled like paper caught in a bass drop.

Others were sitting far from her on other floating islands, so they weren’t affected, but they could all feel the change.

However, Raven could tell that if Clara were to be left like that, someone might get disturbed.

He quickly turned toward Arietta, who nodded and waved a hand as Clara’s surroundings went silent.

A soundproof barrier sealed the shockwave instantly, containing the leftover resonance.

Clara exhaled and floated gently down. The glow in her eyes faded as a circular sigil etched itself over her back in shimmering light.

"Sound," Raven said with a grin, appearing beside her. "High-level vibration manipulation with both destructive and constructive potential. You did it."

Clara awakened the element she had awakened in the original story, and that was why Raven could tell at one glance that it was sound.

The girl smiled, a little breathless. "Told you I was in sync."

Then she looked toward Arietta and waved. Arietta gave her a tight-lipped smile, nodding like a customer service worker suppressing the urge to scream.

Clara walked back to her zone with a calm grace that somehow screamed, "I got here first, ladies."

But the moment she left, it began again.

It was as if her awakening had worked as a catalyst.

A sharp chill blanketed the area, originating from Siris.

Clara’s awakening might have stimulated her since their zones were right next to each other.

Now, her zone was filled with frost, the air warping with intense cold. But it wasn’t just normal ice—it was shadowed, unnatural, even... voidlike.

"Uh-oh," Raven muttered.

Crystals formed at Siris’s feet, black and jagged. Her breathing slowed as if syncing with the heartbeat of some ancient tundra. Her skin turned pale blue, eyes glowing an eerie, frostbitten silver-blue.

Then—

CRACK.

A black spike of void ice shot upward, almost impaling her from below—but a small, spinning dagger of mana flicked it away mid-air. Siris hadn’t even moved.

A circle of frost expanded outward like a perfect ring.

"W-What is that?" Clara whispered, turning back. "It feels like it could devour warmth and matter at the same time."

Raven didn’t have an answer. He could tell what was happening and why she awakened whatever she awakened, but that didn’t mean he knew the element she had awakened.

After all, there was no mention of what Siris’s higher element was, because, in the plot, she had died before she reached that level.

Yes, she had died before reaching plate eight, and again, yes, everyone in Raven’s group had advanced to plate eight, as that was the level where one awakened their higher element.

"Cyrovoid," Arietta replied to Raven’s question, peering over. "Dangerous but beautiful."

Her gaze then turned somewhat serious as she added, "You need to keep her in control, Raven. The power she had isn’t suitable for people who are as unstable as her."

Raven didn’t reply for a while before he shook his head. "She isn’t unstable, Arietta."

The goddess turned to him, but instead of Raven, Clara explained.

"Siris likes to play and appear like an unstable girl who only cares about stabbing."

Clara turned toward Arietta, smirking. "If you start believing that that is all there is to her, then you are sorely mistaken."

Arietta turned back to Raven, and seeing him nod, she turned back to Siris, squinting her eyes.

Raven, on the other hand, rubbed his chin. ’Cryovoid.’

It was the mix of ice and null—Siris’s innate elements.

Yes, Siris had an ice element.

She never used it because she didn’t like the cold, but now, her ice and null element combined, making a completely new element.

It was then that Siris moved.

She stood slowly, twirling a dagger now sheathed in shimmering, translucent blue void ice. Every breath she took created small auroras in the air.

"Element synced," she said, grinning.

"Nice," Raven grinned.

Then he blinked as Siris deliberately leaned forward again, showing a little too much cleavage—and this time, just glared at Arietta to own it.

Arietta raised an eyebrow and reached into a cloud, pulling out a divine fruit.

The fruit exploded.

"No comment," Raven said, scooting one inch away from her.

Suddenly—BOOM!

Alex exploded.

Like, literally.

Flames burst out of his zone in spiraling pillars, lava churning beneath him like he was standing in a volcano. His screams were less agony and more like someone on a roller coaster with no seatbelt.

Clara, Siris, Raven, and Arietta exchanged a surprised glance. None of them had expected that Alex would be next, but well, he was the closest to Clara’s and Siris’s zones.

There was Selena between them, but who knows, he might’ve been luckier to awaken his element first.

What concerned them, however, was that the dumbest person in the group seemed to be erupting.

Alex seemed to have noticed their worry, so he yelled, "IT’S FINE, I THINK MY BLOOD IS JUST HAVING A PARTY!"

Raven quickly turned toward Arietta, and the goddess waved her hand.

This time, she summoned a ring of frost and vacuum pressure, instantly freezing and suppressing the lava around Alex.

Alex landed, sizzling, steam pouring off of him like a barbecue after a rainstorm.

Then... ding—a molten brand of fire and stone appeared on his back.

Alex grinned, cheeks blackened with soot. "I GOT LAVA, BABY! WHO’S THE MAN?!"

"...Surprisingly," Raven muttered, "you are."

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

"Please don’t explode again," Arietta said, sipping from a newly formed smoothie. "I’m running low on divine fire retardant."

Alex threw up peace signs and ran in a circle like a happy toddler.

However, before they could enjoy the stillness, Selena shifted in her spot.

Selena’s expression remained the same, as graceful as always, and everything seemed fine... if not for the sudden change in the air.

The shadows in her zone had thickened.

Bones—yes, bones—rose from the ground like blooming flowers. Skulls clacked. Wraiths formed and bowed to her.

A dark lotus bloomed behind her, petals black and dripping with necrotic energy.

Her eyes opened. One glowed blue and the other, deep black.

The sigil that formed on her back was shaped like an ouroboros made of chains.

"Necrosis," Arietta said with a frown. "A forbidden element. The essence of death manipulation. She’s—"

"She’s fine," Raven interrupted.

Selena stood, passing a strained smile at Raven as a skeleton in full armor suddenly appeared beside her like a summoned knight.

She whispered a word, and it knelt.

Raven was already beside her.

"Control it," he said softly. "Don’t let it bite back."

"I’m not scared," Selena replied, voice calm but eyes quivering. "I just... feel too much."

"I’ll be here," Raven said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Let it in slowly."

The darkness pulsed once and then began to calm.

Selena nodded. "Okay. It’s mine now."

As she turned back, the armored skeleton saluted her before fading to ash.

"Four awakenings," Raven said, standing tall again. "Four high elements. Each powerful. Each is dangerous."

Arietta sighed, finally setting her smoothie down. "They’re progressing faster than I expected."

"That’s good, right?" Raven asked.

"Yes," she said, narrowing her eyes at Clara. "Unfortunately."

Behind them, Clara blew a kiss in Arietta’s direction, smiling.

The moment Clara did that, Raven felt like he heard sirens sounding somewhere in the divine background.

Raven exhaled.

Four down.

Six to go.

The rest were some distance away, and they all seemed busy trying to contact their higher element.

They were all trying their best, and Raven knew that soon, they would also be waking up.

The good thing was that there were no anomalies until now—everything seemed to have gone calmly.

Selena’s case could’ve gone haywire, but it didn’t, so Raven settled back on the cloud that now housed his whole harem while Alex kept running around screaming, "I’M THE MAN!"