The space fell silent for a long while. Dany fixed her complicated gaze on the Red Dragon and asked, "How much more can you tell me about the secret of Sheep Egg?"
It was obvious that the Red Dragon, who felt not a shred of regret for sacrificing herself for Sheep Egg, would never betray him.
The Red Dragon seemed lost in thought.
After a moment, she sighed and said, "I know you are his enemy, and at first I intended to say nothing. But seeing you with those two little dragons, I couldn't help but think of what we once were."
"One last thing," the Red Dragon continued with a sigh. "Sheep Egg and his two brothers gave rise to the Thirteen Firepeaks, while his cousins gave rise to the Valyrian Dragonlord families.
In other words, you and Sheep Egg share the same ancestor.
After becoming a demigod, Sheep Egg used blood magic to transform all his kin's bloodlines into true dragon blood fused with dragon essence.
That is why the Valyrian Dragonlords were born naturally attuned to dragons, with powerful strength flowing through their veins.
So, every achievement you have today is thanks to Sheep Egg."
Dany understood what the Red Dragon was implying.
But she would never respond to such hints. The conflict between her and Sheep Egg was irreconcilable: Sheep Egg wanted to devour her, but unlike the Red Dragon, she would never surrender. She was even planning to devour him instead.
"Sorry, even if he were my own father, I would kill him all the same!" Dany shook her head firmly, her expression resolute.
"Then, let us fight!"
The Red Dragon soared into the air. Gone was the previous exhaustion and warmth; now her divine eyes flashed like lightning, her presence oppressive, and chains of magical runes appeared out of thin air, encircling her body.
The dark red space lit up like a ballroom under a blazing lamp, the sky and earth burning in searing crimson.
It was like a steel furnace, like a lake of magma at the earth's core, filled with heat and blinding red-white light.
This was the true form of a demigod dragon's soul-space.
Even the rune chains began to sparkle with sparks.
In an instant, the rune chains grew rapidly, turning into real shackles that spread and coiled toward Dany and her two dragons.
Unlike a Soulbinder's head-on clash, a Dragonslayer could flexibly use the rune formations inscribed within the horn.
The attacking rune chains carried the power to seal and restrain.
Since the Red Dragon acted decisively, Dany wasted no time either.
The scorching heat had no effect on her.
As for the encroaching chains, she didn't resist them directly. Instead, she immediately invoked her dual dragon-soul fusion. Little White and Big Black transformed back into streams of light and merged with her soul as one.
She launched a soul strike.
"Toh!"
A pearly-white soundwave burst from around Dany, visible to the naked eye. When the rune chains touched the solidified soundwave, they shattered like glass struck by a hammer.
With a crash, the rune chains broke apart into countless tadpole-sized magical characters.
But the runes seemed able to regrow endlessly.
Crackling sounds echoed as the broken runes were replaced by new ones, and soon a sphere formed around Dany, five meters across, made of fallen golden-red runes.
Between her and the Red Dragon, the chains grew denser and denser, until the whole space became an ocean of rune chains surging like waves.
There was no doubt—the Dragonslayer's combat skills far surpassed those of the Soulbinder she had faced before. She knew her own soul, without divine power, could dominate other dragons and even dozens of wyverns, but against the demigod Black, she stood no chance.
So, the Red Dragon used every possible means, borrowing the power of the horn itself to wear down Dany and her dragons' soul force.
From the outside, the glowing white runes on the horn in the Dragon Queen's hand flickered and vanished, one after another, as quickly as they had first appeared.
"This attack is clever, but I've already adapted. Now, you'd better use your trump card, or you'll never get another chance."
Dany spread her arms wide, palms pressing forward, and forced open the sea of rune chains between herself and the Red Dragon with raw soul power.
At the same time, her second soul-ring entered the Song of Wind state, and the Grand Sorcerer's nine-colored vortex spun at full speed, pouring in a torrent of magic.
The air roared.
The Dragon Queen's silver hair whipped wildly, and in this world of fire and blood, a tornado slowly rose.
With the "Blacksmith" divine gift empowering her, faith poured in, and dragonflame was transmuted into Blacksmith's Dragonfire.
The flames roared.
Brilliant enamel-red fire fused into the tornado, painting the storm-wall crystalline crimson. Wind fanned flame, flame fed wind, and the power multiplied.
At the storm's heart stood the Dragon Queen, as the fiery whirlwind tore through heaven and earth, shredding the rushing magma, fire, and rune chains, then drawing them into its vortex.
Burning, erasing, converting them into soul-stuff and singular runes.
This was the Red Dragon's soul-space, and all the flames and rune chains rushing at her were filled with fragments of the Red Dragon's soul.
The Red Dragon's soul carried a faint spark of the divinity of the Song of Fire, just like Sheep Egg's soul in Beni's sea of consciousness, greatly boosting the quality and quantity of Dany's nine-colored vortex.
In a single day, she began her second ascension.
Whether Sheep Egg Balerion or Red Dragon Balerion, both became great nourishment for Dany.
Perhaps it was fate—every "Balerion" she met turned to her fortune?
"Why is your soul so strange? Not only can it withstand the demigod's dragonflame infused with the Song of Fire, but it is also abnormally resilient, with almost no loss at all. The Grand Sorcerer's meditation alone couldn't grant such strength."
The Red Dragon merely assumed her soul was naturally being worn down in battle and did not realize that Dany was secretly absorbing it.
Her first moment of alarm came only because of the "Undying" trait of Dany's second soul-ring.
Just like that day in the apple orchard of the North, when Dany discovered the Three-Eyed Raven's soul was unextinguishable, it was unbelievable.
In theory, when two souls clash, both sides should suffer loss.
Even if Dany held the advantage, she should have been exhausted and gasping for breath. It was impossible for her to appear so calm and composed, as if her soul was still growing stronger.
An illusion. It must be an illusion.
"Instead of worrying about the nature of my soul, perhaps you should worry about yourself. Your soul is weakening," Dany said strangely.
Indeed, the red dragon's once-solid body was gradually turning illusory.
It was as if she had gone from flesh to phantom.
With no master for the horn, the red dragon could only rely on her own strength against Dany. But all her magic and divine power had already been given to Egg; all that remained was her soul's power.
In other words, this entire grand spectacle was sustained purely by her soul.
Yet the red dragon's tone was utterly indifferent: "I do not fear death. What is soul annihilation compared to that?"
"So, you won't surrender?"
Dany sighed and suddenly expanded the storm of fire and wind.
Boom—crash!
Massive chains of runes shattered, broken and burned into single runes, which the Dragon Queen collected.
Soon, the runes were gone. The blazing space, white-hot like a steel furnace, returned to its earlier dark red and chilling stillness. The red dragon's form turned half-transparent like crystal, her soul power diminished by at least half.
Floating across from her, Dany let the storm vanish. With a complicated expression, she fixed her gaze on the dragon's crystalline red pupils and asked, "You're already dead, and you've resisted with all your might. Why not surrender to me? I won't demand Egg's secrets—just share some of Valyria's arcane arts with me. How about it?"
"No. If you learn the secrets, you'll only harm Egg. To betray Egg like that would hurt me a thousand times more than death."
Her voice was weak, but her tone remained firm.
"In that case, there's no helping it." Dany prepared to destroy the flower with cruel hands. After all, even an old mother dragon was still a flower of sorts.
But just as she was about to unleash another storm of fire, a sudden change erupted. In the real world, the horn in her hands went completely dim. The runes etched upon it cracked one by one, until the dragon-horned instrument dissolved into a handful of fine sand and drifted away on the wind.
In the spiritual realm, a beam of heavenly light shot from the void, piercing the dark red, icy space.
Crack, crack, crack!
White light fissures spread across the walls of the soul-space, crawling like spiderwebs.
The red dragon sighed. "Daenerys, you were careless."
Dany felt herself being pulled rapidly away from the red dragon. They no longer shared the same spiritual space.
The dragon spread her wings freely, soaring high, her form growing hazy. Her voice reached Dany faint and distant: "I used the horn's rune array against you, but you shattered and destroyed them all.
Did you forget? It was those very runes that bound me within the horn. By destroying them, you set me free. Remember, I am Egg's soul mate—our souls are one.
Speaking with you for so long, I've also learned many of your secrets. I'm sorry. I truly like you and your dragons, but for Egg's sake… farewell!"
Her figure grew fainter still, as if about to cross time and space, returning somewhere else entirely.
"In your state, you can still soul-bond with a dragon?" Dany asked in surprise.
The red dragon flinched. Her opponent was not panicked, but calm and unhurried.
"I must go now." She spread her wings and vanished into a starry-night-like void, streaking across the sky like a meteor, drawn toward an unseen force.
"Hehe, where can you possibly go?" Dany smiled brightly.
"What?"
The falling meteor was seized by an invisible force. The red dragon's face twisted in shock as she looked at Dany, who stood with hands clasped behind her back atop the white dragon. With terror and confusion, she cried:
"How is this possible? I am in dragon-soul form! You can disrupt my dragon-soul? Not even true gods can do that!"
Hissss—crack! "You are the second," Little White said with pity, sending a mental ripple to the elder.
"The second?" The red dragon was bewildered.
Indeed, the second. The first unlucky soul was Varamyr.
Dany's greenseer meditation was more perfect than the Three-Eyed Crow's, yet unlike him she could not silently slip into another's soul. Still, she had inherited part of the greenseer's special gift: merging her soul with nature.
After absorbing the spirit-substance transformed from Varamyr's soul, she could use the weirwoods to track skinchangers crossing into wolves.
And after absorbing spirit-substance from the red dragon's soul, she could naturally follow the wind to track the dragon's soul-bonding.
In an instant, her perspective expanded, soaring beyond the Yellow Earth Road, past the crooked-neck willow, past the cornfields, over Meereen, and across the sea, chasing after the red dragon.
Hissss—crack! "You cannot escape. Surrender!" Big Black growled.
Yes, with Big Black in front and Little White behind, they trapped the red dragon in between.
"Kill me, then!" The red dragon shut her eyes with a mournful sigh.
"Very well."
Dany did not hesitate. First, a soul strike left the dragon reeling and dazed. Then she summoned a storm of fire and wind, engulfing the red dragon within.
(End of chapter)
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