“Neiiiigh! Narrrgh! Ruuuueigh!”

  “Ruuuuuuuuuuuu, hiiiiieeeeeeee, naarrrrrrrr-krantaaaaaa!”

  “Neiiiigh!”

  Hooves and claws stomped on the ground in the harbor, causing the gray stone piers to shake and discolor to blue as veins of mana started to seep into them like a network of roots. Horse-like dragonkin called kirins roared and neighed, while their dragonewt brethren began throat singing alongside them. With every rise in volume, the dragon veins erupted with electrical buzzing as a levianewt ship was docking on one of the harbor’s teeth.

  The festival’s attention was solely directed to it. The jubilant atmosphere was rising to its first crescendo, attracting every single dragonkin in the city and outside of it. Elder scales, clan leaders, and curious fledglings gathered around the lagoon, peering down from the sky city like vultures eyeing their prey. Anticipation rose, but so did the young scales’ competitive nature, as many knew who was arriving. The “black sheep” of the imperial family, the mutant kirin-dragon, the only ‘lesser’ child of the illustrious emperor of the dragon empire—so many derogatory murmurs… Yet, I could do nothing about these foul-mouthed assholes.

  Why? For this was not my homecoming after the traditional adulthood pilgrimage. I was not the star of the day, and I should not, under any circumstances, steal it away from my big sister. Orders from the top—from my mother, siblings, and my step-mother, Yuilengreil. The culture of power was too important to ignore.

  My half-sister, Fargryneill, could not allow herself to seem weak after years of travel. I’ve learned a lot from my visit to Inferno Nest concerning our culture, the mentality of dragonkin, and also about my own family. Mostly about how Ryra and Neill were treated by the elder scales and anybody stronger. Bullies, all of them.

  They tried it on me. I couldn’t imagine what my half-siblings must have experienced.

  Which was why Neill’s first appearance in Kargryx had to show her full might as a rank A. She couldn’t allow people to believe she would hide behind her mother’s dragon veins, or that she needed the help of her younger sister. My interference, no matter how altruistically intended, would only hurt her.

  Then again, did I really have to do anything when I knew exactly who my sister was?

  Clang! A creaky, metallic slam rocked the harbor as the ship lowered its anchor. The barnacle-covered metal-coral ship released its stairs, as the levianewt sailors shouted, “Melicertha has granted safe passage! Kiss his mercy, and enjoy your rest from the salt-covered winds! We’ve landed!”

  “Neiiigh!” The kirins stomped the ground, sending a mana current streaming like electricity, illuminating the docks with blue color. The orange-colored sky was slowly dimming into the night, allowing this spectacle of dragon veins to look like a red carpet fit for the princess of the kirins.

  The shadows cast by their mana expulsion hid the appearance of a young woman as she slowly walked over to the edge of the ship. Her long, wild hair fluttered from the sea breeze, but they couldn’t hide the two horns on the side of her head and the one unicorn-looking one growing from her forehead.

  She stepped forward, releasing dragon veins with her first step. As they crackled with energy, light began to emit from them, revealing a black-purple kimono and the scales adorned on her bare feet and arms. With the second step, my eyes shot wide open as I felt mana agitate my skin. It was an aura attack. A clear message to all—“I am back.”

  “Neiiiiiigh! We welcome our princess!” The kirins of Clan Gueillxar shouted, sending bolts of mana from their horns into the sky, while wyverns roared like trumpets.

  A blunt and clear declaration of challenge; maintaining an aura and spreading it from the harbor to the lower and sky city was a show of power. Though considering how the elder scales were also victims of Neill’s aura attack, it was also a sign of disrespect. After all, Neill was smart and strong enough to reduce the intensity of the aura for those older than her, but she wasn’t doing that. She was treating even elder scales in the same manner as a newborn whelping.

  “Our second youngest has truly grown,” Wendriosa smirked with pride, similar to the rest of my siblings aside from Ryra. “Exactly, Fargryneill! No matter if they are our elder scales or not, do not let any of them look down on you! My little sister, show them why the Kargryxmors are not allowed to lower their tails!”

  “Yet, you are not finished, right?” Kahalameet grinned as his red eyes started to glow like light bulbs.

  “Do you even have to ask, eldest?” Phso said as he stroked his mustache. “The mana she’s releasing is still growing. It’s not stopping. She’s truly trying to send a message to everybody.”

  Taim snickered. “‘That I have mastered—’”

  —Battle Frenzy!

  With a powerful explosion of mana, Neill’s body lit up like a Christmas tree as veins of mana covered her body from head to toe. Her black scales started to glow like purple neon signs, as the dragon veins were released with the tap of her fingers. She didn’t walk on the stairs, but strutted through the air as roots of mana formed a bridge for her to walk over the pier.

  Dragon veins spread to the sound of the kirin’s erratic neighing, while the dragonewt kirins raised their singing voices in celebration—her clan members were in an absolutely electric mood. Her mana caressed those who greeted her with love and anticipation, while her mana exploded in the face of the true dragonkin who looked down at her.

  Elder scales could not react as they were all watched by the empresses and the emperor, while the younger ones could not act on Neill’s declaration at all due to her suffocating aura attack. The dragon veins continued to grow through the ground and air, spreading further into Coral Beard like an infectious disease, until the veins exploded the moment they reached too far into the sky city.

  “Your control has gotten better,” a woman’s voice echoed through the city with the power of [Aerokinesis], silencing all the neighing kirins, singing dragonewts, and the cheers of the citizens and festival guests below. At the same time, dragon veins started to spread through the air from the sky city, breaking down Neill’s own as a woman jumped off the floating city towards the harbor.

  Like the stride of a galloping horse, the dragonkin woman stomped the ground with the help of her dragon veins until she reached the same altitude as Neill. As the latter’s dragon veins lit up the docks with her mana, the identity of the galloping woman was revealed to be none other than Neill’s mother—Yuilengreill Huanlong Gueillxar.

  “Mother.” Neill bowed with her horse-tail tucked under her legs.

  “The treasure of my trove,” Yuilengreill replied, before the two of them charged at each other.

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  As the two clashed against each other with their scaled forearms, mana electricity crackled around them before it settled down. Yet, the struggle didn’t stop as both sides tried to push the other to the ground. Although it was hard to see from up here, I could still see their dragon veins forming in the air while they tried to invade each other’s bodies.

  From what I remember of Neill’s dragon veins, her mana could enter objects and people she touched. Injecting mana this way allowed her to effectively hijack the properties of objects, turning fluids and gases into solids by binding everything with her mana. She could even precisely cut things if she controlled her mana distribution, excavating a slim cylinder from a giant boulder, for example.

  Offensively, this method of expelling mana was similar to attacking somebody with a mana cannon. You could only block it with mana-resistances and the wisdom stat. Elemental resistance was useless against “neutral mana,” as she liked to call pure mana. The “electricity” caused by the technique was like getting shocked by a barrage of needles made from mana, and this wasn’t even speaking about how those veins could explode like actual cannon shots.

  Due to how her mana veins could invade through inorganic objects, it was perfect to pierce through an opponent’s armor and defenses. Against a dragonkin with [Draconic Barrier], the dragon vein technique could pierce through a dragonkin’s pride and joy—their scales—as long as Neill could overwhelm their mana.

  And as a Kargryxmor dragon, her innate mana growth was just that, better than a normal dragonkin.

  Yet, her mother was still a rank S kirin. Neill might have possessed the ability to produce dragon veins due to her kirin bloodline, but she had learned all her techniques from her family. And the heirs of the rank SSS kirin’s techniques and skills were none other than Empress Yuilengreill and her siblings, who formed Clan Gueillxar in honor of their father. Unless her siblings were stronger, Empress Yuilengreill would not falter against her own daughter’s technique.

  Yet, the result of their clash would remain indecisive as the two parted from each other, creating some distance before both bowed like two martial artists. As they took their stances, the neighing kirins all transformed into their dragonewt forms as they pulled out flutes, playing them as the mother-daughter duo started sparring.

  Fists flew through the air, kicks landed on each other’s shins, and dragon veins popped like a bursting pipe around the duo. They flew around using their mana, trading blows as the flutes created the perfect atmosphere for a fantastical, eastern martial arts movie. As she wasn’t a true dragonkin, the empress’s natural disposition towards [Scale Manipulation] was pretty low compared to her daughter, due to the latter’s dragon blood. As such, she not only had to contend against her daughter’s martial arts, but also projectiles that would explode upon contact due to Neill’s dragon veins.

  Though as if the empress could write in the air like Tasianna, her fingers created strokes of mana around her as she twirled like a dancer, protecting herself with a barrier with those dragon veins. Once Neill’s initial barrage dissipated, the dragon veins started gathering in Yuilengreill’s palm, coalescing into a ball of pure mana before she threw it forward as a beam.

  Instead of blocking or dodging it, Neill instead grabbed the beam as if it were something physical before throwing it back at her mother. And just like her daughter, the empress faced her beam head-on as she threw a punch at it, destroying her own attack by splintering the mana like a hail of glass shards.

  Neill copied the same barrier move as her mother to protect herself from the hail, thought that only gave the more experienced kirin time to gather mana at the tip of her horn—a sign for the Gueillxar’s all-piercing mana beam, [Freikugel]. Even if Neill was confident in using her dragon veins to counter kirin-techniques, like how she redirected that [Pulse Arcane: Maxima], [Freikugel] was too fast, and if she messed up the timing of the counter, Neill could have her body pierced.

  It was obvious from the flow of the spar—the empress wanted Neill to fight her with her own [Freikugel] in a beam battle. That was the intention of that first [Pulse Arcane: Maxima], I believe. Yuilengreill was now forcing Neill to finish the spar in a fantastical end… yet, my sister was not done showing off.

  Yuileingreill froze for a moment as the light on her horn dimmed, before dodging to the side as a purple beam shot from Neill’s finger.

  “I thought it would be better to give everybody a glimpse of my rank A evolution before tomorrow’s tournament. [Fuera Arcane],” Neill said, her voice traveling even to the sky city. “Far weaker piercing power, but I am not only a kirin of Clan Gueillxar, I am the second princess of the Empire of Kargryx, Fargryneill Qilinus Kargryxmor! What use is there to only learn how to wield the dragon veins like my mother, when I also have to show some respect to my father, the emperor. A weak child is a blemish… but who are you to look down on even the weakest of the Kargryxmors?”

  My eyes darted to the side. Younger dragons and drakes were starting to back away, while the elder scales of their clans let out a deep sigh. The dragon veins coming from Neill were slowly growing back towards the sky city, and it was clear to all that this was a warning. “Do not come out tomorrow unless you’re willing to kneel and offer me your scales,” essentially.

  Yet, this threat only lasted for a moment before the dragon veins all dissipated. Neill skied over to her mother with her dragon veins before jumping at her mother, giving the empress a massive hug as the two tumbled from the sky, caught by the dragon veins of the kirins below.

  “Mother, you still look young as always!” Neill cheered as she rubbed her unicorn horn along her mother’s, causing the latter to break into a wide smile.

  “My whelpling…” Tears flowed from her eyes as she tightened her grip on Neill, causing the latter to stick her tongue out as she endured her mother’s embrace. “Y-you’re… Welcome home, Fargryneill. My daughter.”

  “… Yes, I’m home.”

  “Welcome home, Princess Fargryneill!” the members of Clan Gueillxar cheered, causing the harbor to erupt in applause and cheers, chanting her name over and over again like they were all under a spell.

  I unconsciously did the same, only for Nong and Ryra to stop me. Both pointed up, but before I could look, a voice entered my mind. No, in every citizen’s and guest’s mind.

  [“There is nothing more to say. What a wonderful welcome back gift, my child.”]

  The clouds above started to vanish as an azure wingless leviathan appeared, slithering through the sky like a snake, to reveal that a black dragon was slowly descending from the sky. Father had appeared, and with him, the first empress. However, it wasn’t just him, as the other empresses quickly came into view as well, surrounding Coral Beard with their titanic forms.

  My siblings stood up, grabbing my hand to lead me forward as we went to the edge of the sky city. We looked up, still staring Emperor Eltharion now levitated above us, casting his massive shadow onto everybody as he blocked out the last hour of the sun.

  [“Seventh child of the Empire of Kargryx. Daughter of Clan Gueillxar and of the fifth dragon empress, Yuileingreill. Have you come home from your adulthood pilgrimage?”]

  “I have!” Neill and her mother had already stopped their embrace, as the former kneeled.

  [“Have you learned much from your travels on Altrust?”]

  “Beyond my words can fully express.”

  [“… True. I need not hear your words, but feel the way your aura has spread around Coral Beard. Your smell has matured as well, and my eyes could never miss the sheen on your scales. You have mastered [Battle Frenzy] and have become a fully-fledged Kargryxmor,”] he said, pride clear to hear. [“… It was only a moment that I saw you through that subspace, but I already knew how much you have grown. Yet, here you stand, showing not only a growth in your confidence and strength, but also an outstanding display of words. You have made it clear to everybody on the continent that you are truly the seventh imperial child. Every nest has witnessed your declaration!”]

  Father then snapped his fingers, causing the sky behind to suddenly distort before it formed a large image of Coral Beard. It was a video currently being recorded, and… looking at the direction that was being streamed, it was Empress Gyadiosa who was filming it.

  [“Citizens and guests. I am the Emperor of Kargryx and ruler of Miononbolax, Eltharion Tyranoid Kargryxmor! The firstborn of the Black Tyrant of the Skies, and the first rank SS dragon of this era,”] he stated before he started speaking in Draconic. “Whether you live in Coral Beard or are a denizen of another nest, you will be able to watch everything that will unfold during this festival through the lens of this ‘recorder.’ An invention of my youngest daughter—Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor.”

  … Oh, shit. Woooooah, Forminaxtrass used the recorders we gave her for this event? I realized, before noticing something weird next to the lich dragon. A subspace was open, which explained why Eltharion mentioned how this was streamed to the other nests.

  How… smart. The subspace runes the empresses borrowed from me weren’t just used to meet each other inside, it was now being used as a substitute for the information towers since more hadn’t been built. It was exactly how I used it to stream everything to Iceskale when I confronted the elemental emperor. Mom… I told her how I did it. How mean. She took my idea and used it to… further advertise the digital media guild.

  Okay, this wasn’t mean. This was fucking ingenious!

  [“Now, citizens and guests, let this celebration in honor of my daughter begin!”]

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