The ground screamed. Massive tremors rippled through the earth, and even from five kilometers away, the entire Cassel Academy expedition felt the violent shaking under their feet, as if the world's very foundations were being torn asunder.
This wasn't Principal Anjou's first dragon revival. Over a century ago, during the cataclysm known as "Summer Mourning," he had witnessed the awakening of what was believed to be a Dragon King. That event had led to the near-total annihilation of the first-generation Lionheart Society. But as devastating as that resurrection had been, the raw power it had generated was a flickering candle compared to the raging inferno of Ladon's awakening.
In that earth-shattering moment, Anjou questioned everything he thought he knew. Had the entity from Summer Mourning truly been a Dragon King? The terrifying chasm in power between that memory and the reality unfolding before him suggested a disturbing possibility.
What Anjou couldn't know was that the king from Summer Mourning had been grievously weakened, unable even to assume his true dragon form. Forced to fight in a human guise against Meneghetti Cassel—a man walking the path to godhood—they had annihilated each other. Ladon, however, was a prime specimen of the second generation who had been fully healed for over a century. His power dwarfed that of a crippled king.
The Cassel team heard it first: a bone-chilling roar that clawed its way up from the depths of hell. Then, the Mayan pyramid on the surface simply exploded. A geyser of ancient stone and debris shot skyward as a magnificent, pure-black dragon adorned with fiery red patterns erupted from the earth, fangs bared and claws extended.
Ladon's first act was to launch himself into the sky and unleash a triumphant howl to the heavens. After millennia of sleep, he could finally taste the open air again. The sky was choked with storm clouds, but the fresh breeze was enough to fill him with an exhilarating rush of vitality.
It was then he noticed the tiny figure standing before him. Compared to his own colossal form—nearly a hundred meters from nose to tail—Gustave was laughably small.
"You are the one who awakened me from my slumber?" Ladon inquired, his voice echoing not in the air, but directly in Gustave's mind.
"That's right, you overgrown lizard. I'm the one who rang your doorbell," Gustave replied casually, waving a hand in front of his masked face as if dispelling a bad smell. "And you really ought to do something about that breath. Smells like you haven't brushed your teeth in a few thousand years."
"Sharp-tongued human," Ladon responded, his tone dripping with regal dignity. "As a personal guard to the Lord of Bronze and Fire, I shall grant you the honor of a swift death."
The dragon felt no anger. To a being of his stature, Gustave was no more significant than an ant. And who gets angry at an ant?
"Oh my! You're so big and scary! I'm absolutely terrified!" Gustave exclaimed with theatrical sarcasm, wrapping his arms around himself and pretending to shiver.
"Insolent gnat! Today will be the anniversary of your death!" Ladon roared, his legendary temper finally sparked by the sheer audacity of this microscopic human. He opened his maw and unleashed a torrent of dragon's breath—a wave of fire hot enough to melt steel in an instant.
Faced with the incandescent inferno, Gustave didn't even flinch. His electromagnetic shield shimmered into existence, an invisible barrier that met the flames head-on. The resulting explosion sent a shockwave that made the hearts of every Cassel observer—watching through high-powered telescopes—skip a beat.
"Did… did he just get vaporized?" Finger squeaked, voicing the question on everyone's mind.
"Silence!" Professor Manstein shot him a withering glare that could have frozen the dragon's fire.
Following the universal law of "where there's smoke, there's no real harm," Gustave emerged from the dissipating fireball completely unscathed, his shield crackling with residual energy.
"The power of thunder?" Ladon boomed, genuine disbelief coloring his mental voice. "You cannot be human! No human can command the elements!" According to all his ancient knowledge, only dragons possessed such power.
"Who told you I was just human?" Gustave shot back with a shrug. "What a stupid reptile. You're even more pathetic than Kaido." He muttered to himself, "Actually, if you met Kaido, you'd probably wet yourself. Good thing you're not wearing pants."
Ladon had no idea who "Kaido" was, but the relentless stream of insults finally ignited his fury. Spreading his massive wings, he launched himself at Gustave, intent on crushing the sharp-tongued pest with his own claws.
A terrifying dragon is flying directly at you, planning to tear you to shreds. What does a reasonable person do? Gustave chose the most unreasonable option: he charged forward to meet it head-on.
He had already sized Ladon up with his Observation Haki. The dragon was no match for him. A serious fight would be over in seconds. But where was the fun in that? Dragons were famed for their physical might, and Gustave's own hand-to-hand skills could always use some polish. He decided to use Ladon as a living, breathing, fire-spitting training dummy.
Ladon felt nothing but contempt. This human thought he could challenge a body harder than steel? But when flesh met scale, the dragon instantly regretted his arrogance.
Gustave's initial plan to grapple was quickly abandoned; he was simply too small. Instead, he pivoted from grappling to striking, smashing a thunder-infused fist directly into Ladon's left foreleg. The mighty dragon cried out in a pained, surprised roar.
No more banter. The training had begun. Gustave unleashed a relentless barrage of punches. Ladon swiped back with his massive claws, but the human was too small, too agile. For all his size and strength, the dragon couldn't land a solid hit on the frustratingly evasive target. But Gustave wasn't just fast; he was devastatingly strong. After taking a sustained volley of "ordinary" punches, Ladon was hammered out of the sky, crashing to the earth with a ground-shaking thud.
"Holy crap! He's physically dominating a dragon!" Finger yelled, his mouth hanging open. "Is that thing even human anymore?"
Finger wasn't the only one left speechless. Even Anjou, who had lived over a century, was at a complete loss for words. Gustave's physical power rivaled that of the Dragon Kings themselves.
Sprawled on the ground, Ladon groaned in agony. This human's strength was on par with the behemoths who served the King of Earth and Beasts. But the ancient pride of dragonkind roared louder than the pain. He struggled back to his feet, refusing to resort to Word Spirits. He would crush this mortal with pure physical prowess.
With a defiant roar, Ladon rose. Fueled by humiliation and adrenaline, his movements became significantly faster. Finally, he connected, his massive claw striking Gustave squarely. The impact sent a shudder through Gustave's entire body, but this was exactly what he wanted. What was the point of training if his partner couldn't even hit him?
"Come on! Again!" Gustave roared, charging back in, his fists ready.
BOOM!
Thunder crashed overhead as the storm finally broke, unleashing a torrential downpour. Man and dragon fought on, a spectacular, brutal ballet in the wind and rain.
The battle raged for what felt like hours. Ladon, the beast who once dared to attack Nidhogg, was finally reaching his limit. He'd lost count of how many bones Gustave had broken. Gustave wasn't unscathed either; several of his ribs were cracked, and his left forearm was likely fractured.
"Word Spirit: Candle Dragon!" Ladon finally roared, his pride shattered. He began to summon one of the most destructive spells in the arsenal of the Bronze and Fire Kings.
At full power, the detonation would be equivalent to a nuclear blast. Gustave's Observation Haki wasn't yet prescient enough to see the future, but as the fire elements of the world began to riot and gather, he felt the catastrophic shift. The world-ending spell needed less than a second to charge, but for Gustave, it was an eternity.
"Super Magnetic Field!" he shouted, unleashing the same technique he'd used to neutralize Kaido.
If a Yonko couldn't withstand the disruption, what chance did Ladon have?
The instant the field manifested, Ladon's spell collapsed. The dragon coughed up a massive gout of blood and plummeted from the sky like a kite with its string cut, crashing into the earth and creating a massive crater.
"Remarkably resilient creatures, dragons," Gustave observed, watching the broken beast still struggling to rise. Deciding it was time to end it, he prepared his final technique.
"Thor!"
For the first time in this world, the towering blue thunder giant materialized. It raised one massive fist and delivered a single, decisive blow to the broken dragon below.
"With… such power…" Ladon whispered with his dying breath, a flicker of genuine curiosity in his fading eyes. "Why… didn't you… use it from the start…?"
The thunder giant dissolved into arcs of electricity as Ladon's life force departed from the world forever.
At that exact moment, thousands of miles away in a brightly lit internet café, a man known only as Old Tang suddenly clutched his chest.
"What was that?" he murmured, a strange pang echoing within him.
He shrugged it off as indigestion and, without another thought, turned his attention back to his video game.