"Titan?" The ancient silver dragon, having just declined Muria's request, was about to lazily settle back down to sleep when he heard his minions outside crying out in alarm. Then, a loud voice echoed from outside, accompanied by a scorching aura that felt like a blazing furnace, dispersing all the cold around his fortress.
"This aura... isn't it that golden dragon who just visited me?" The ancient silver dragon, feeling the destruction of part of his castle, became furious. He spread his wings and flew out, perching atop the highest tower of his castle, glaring angrily at the Titan standing below.
"You..." The sight of Muria in his Titan form stunned the ancient silver dragon for a moment.
But Muria, still angry at being refused, didn't give the silver dragon a chance to speak. He reached out and grabbed the elegant silver dragon in his massive hand.
"Xilzati Baowudong, you truly live up to your ancient dragon status. Hearing my challenge, you couldn't wait to come out. I will do my best not to disappoint you."
Caught off guard, the ancient silver dragon found himself in Muria's grasp, who then slammed him down onto a nearby, slightly lower mountaintop. The powerful impact of the dragon's body collapsing the mountain peak in an instant.
"Muria, what exactly are you trying to do? Don't go too far!" The ancient silver dragon, whose scales had shattered from the impact, stood up somewhat disheveled and roared angrily at Muria.
"I just want to fight you. Didn't you come out to respond to my challenge? Stop talking and fight." Muria took a step forward, covering a thousand meters in an instant, and stomped down toward the battered mountaintop.
The battle was entirely one-sided. The ancient silver dragon was on par with Muria in terms of rank—they were both at the third tier of the Legendary rank. However, the battle was a one-sided beatdown by Muria.
Despite the ancient silver dragon's vast knowledge and mastery of countless frost spells accumulated over the years, Muria shattered each of them with a single punch. When the spells failed, the silver dragon attempted close combat, only to be beaten even more brutally.
"Roar!" Muria's fist landed heavily on the silver dragon's face, twisting its head and sending it crashing into a snowdrift, embedding it into an ice wall.
"I surrender!" Just as Muria's fist was about to strike again, the ancient silver dragon, having barely freed himself from the ice, immediately conceded. As soon as he uttered the words, Muria's fist halted inches from his face, not advancing any further.
Muria, his black hair hanging loosely, stared calmly at the ancient silver dragon before a playful look appeared in his eyes. He suddenly smiled and clasped his hands in salute.
"Xilzati Baowudong, you are indeed a worthy elder. I've learned much from our battle. Let's end it here for now. After I've reflected on the lessons of this fight, I'll surely visit you again."
With that, Muria didn't wait for the dragon's response. He found Mikaela, who had been watching the entire time, and left with her.
"Again?" The ancient silver dragon, beaten to the point where his scales were in tatters, looked at Muria's departing figure with a complex expression. After a moment's thought, he flew back into his castle, cast spells, and used up a portion of his accumulated treasures to repair the broken fortress. He decided that if Muria came back, he would pretend not to hear and refuse to show himself. Even battle-hungry Titans should have some sense.
Three days later, Muria once again stood at the gate of the ice fortress, loudly declaring his challenge to the ancient silver dragon, asking him to graciously accept.
But this time, the ancient silver dragon activated a silence spell, pretending Muria didn't exist. However, this attempt to hide was utterly futile.
When he received no response, Muria reverted to his Titan form and, with a few punches, shattered the silver dragon's castle. He then barged in, dragged the ancient silver dragon out, and once again beat him soundly outside the glacier. When Xilzati finally managed to utter his surrender, Muria stopped, claiming he had learned a lot, and left again.
Three days later, Muria visited for the third time, only to find the castle still in ruins, not yet repaired. Upon entering, he discovered it was empty—the ancient silver dragon had fled with his minions, not waiting around to be beaten again.
"Is it really so difficult to become a teacher at my academy and educate young dragons?" Muria sighed as he looked at the empty castle. "Educating dragon offspring is a noble cause for the dragon race. Why avoid it? And it's not like I'm not offering a salary."
"But if you think you can escape, you're too naive." Muria pulled out the Terminus Staff, activated the Dragon's Mandate within it, and locked onto the familiar energy signature of the ancient silver dragon.
Without another word, Muria and Mikaela set off in pursuit, eventually intercepting the silver dragon atop a glacier as he was trying to flee with his family.
"Lord Baowudong, where are you heading? Moving house without informing me?" Muria asked with a smile, watching the stunned ancient silver dragon in front of him.
"I clearly erased all traces and even used astrology to confuse the stars. How could you have found me? No, you shouldn't have been able to track me down at all." The ancient silver dragon looked incredulous. He remembered cutting off all possible tracking methods before leaving, but he hadn't fled far before being caught.
"Lord Baowudong, I wasn't satisfied with our previous fights. Let's have a third round now!" Muria didn't waste time talking and immediately released his Titan form, his fists crackling with lightning, making the silver dragon's face twitch.
"Wait!" The ancient silver dragon instinctively took a step back and shouted loudly.
"What is it now, Lord Baowudong?" Muria paused, his expression filled with malice as he asked, exuding an intense killing intent.
"I suddenly remembered that you had invited me to teach at your dragon academy. After reconsidering, I think it's a great idea, and I shouldn't have refused. I should have agreed. How foolish of me."
"Oh, you still remember that? I almost forgot." Muria unclenched his fists, and the stern expression on his face softened into a smile. The thick golden lightning around his body dissipated, receding back into his form, and his Titan physique gradually shrank, returning to the appearance of a seemingly weak black-haired, golden-eyed youth.
"Heh." The ancient silver dragon forced a laugh but couldn't help regretting it. If he had agreed earlier, he wouldn't have taken two beatings only to end up surrendering anyway.
At the same time, he wondered how on earth a Titan and a golden dragon could produce such a brute. Instead of reasoning with him, this guy resorted to fists. Who solves problems like that? Couldn't he have just talked things through?
...
"Fists really do work best!" Mikaela remarked, watching the ancient silver dragon, now preparing to move his family to Synapse, having witnessed the entire ordeal from start to finish.
"Don't you think what I did was a bit extreme? After all, the metallic dragons are my kin, and he's even considered an elder of my race," Muria asked, somewhat surprised by Mikaela's reaction. His actions would be seen as disrespectful among ordinary golden dragons.
"Elder? You have no blood relation with him. Besides, you're of golden dragon blood, and he's a silver dragon. The only thing you share is the identity of being metallic dragons."
Mikaela dismissed Muria's concerns. "You offered him all sorts of conditions and spoke respectfully, but that ancient silver dragon just looked down on you, treating you like a whelp and shutting you out. Now, after you've beaten him twice, he's become much more agreeable, not even mentioning his pay.
Moreover, in my view, your dragon academy is clearly beneficial to the entire dragon race. Yet these ancient dragons would rather sleep than agree to your plan. They deserve a beating."
Mikaela spoke as an outsider. In her opinion, the dragon race should be as unified and powerful as the Titans and Seraphs, but their arrogance, laziness, and greed had led to their fragmentation, allowing even ordinary humans to bully them. Just look at humans—who dares to mess with Titans or Seraphs?
Even angels, who are derived from Seraphs, are treated with utmost respect by humans. But look at the dragon race, where even golden and silver dragons are preyed upon by evil humans.
For example, the female silver dragon and her eggs that were captured in the Deproson continent—Mikaela heard that the Kingdom of Tiago had to send five legendary dragons to retrieve her and her offspring.
For that, the ancient dragons of Tiago had slaughtered several human kingdoms, leaving rivers of blood, but even then, they couldn't curb human greed for dragons. In Mikaela's view, the dragons hadn't killed enough; the deterrence wasn't sufficient.
"A gentleman uses virtue to deal with others," Muria recalled a phrase from his past life and solidified his approach to inviting ancient dragons.
"I'll first visit the ancient dragons respectfully as a junior, offering them terms and carefully explaining the pros and cons. If they agree, I'll remain the noble, gentlemanly golden dragon Muria. But if they make excuses to shirk responsibility, then I'll become the Titan warrior Muria, speaking with my fists."
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