The violent shaking made almost all the busy residents in the city unsteady on their feet, with the sound of broken bottles and cans filling the air as chickens flew and dogs jumped.

An earthquake? This thought only lingered briefly in everyone's minds as every Lapland resident outdoors soon saw the gigantic sword standing in the center of the city like a sword of the gods.

Suspended high in the sky, the giant sword descended with immense kinetic energy. Tiran unleashed her Frost Chi to form the indestructible ice crystal sword blade at the largest scale achievable, almost effortlessly slicing through the golden roof of the Maston Palace, deeply embedding into its foundation and transforming the magnificent palace into a pile of rubble.

The transparent ice crystal reflected the sunlight, casting a huge shadow on one side, while the dust and water vapor from the collapsed palace mixed with the ice mist from the cold, gradually obscuring the view, adding a touch of mystery to the already incredible creation for ordinary people.

"Perfect, Aya," the princess on the dragon's back exclaimed excitedly, nodding repeatedly and rubbing her chin, "Maybe this lady has artistic talent?"

"The design and patterns... Isn't it a blatant copy of little Feizi's Angel Holy Sword?" Aya, hovering near the hilt of the giant blade, whispered softly.

"So what if it is? Feizi is my attendant, what's hers is mine, copyrights and all, okay?" Tiran playfully tapped Aya's scales.

"Even if it's Feizi's, isn't that sword part of the Angel's Arsenal collection? The ancient swordsmiths of the Angel clan are probably rolling in their graves." Aya calmly retorted, making a convincing argument. Yes, I am no longer who I used to be, I, the Golden Dragon, an ancient sentient being with wisdom – protocol, you understand?

"Hmph, according to human laws, copyright protection lasts fifty years, patents for inventions twenty years, and design patents only ten years. Even if I consider those Angel clan inscriptions as copyrights, those ancient swordsmiths have probably coughed their last cough countless fifty-year cycles ago, right?" The princess chuckled in self-satisfaction, her eyes sweeping over all.

"Hey, can human laws really govern angels?"

"Hehe, talking as if angels have laws protecting copyrights and patents. Anyway, I used you to bite me, heh!"

It seemed like it was heading towards a playful quarrel!

"However, why are we even bothering about this kind of thing?!" Aya suddenly realized her mistake. She shouldn't be engaging Tiran in this kind of intellectual banter in The Realm; in the art of verbal sparring, Princess Tiran always had the upper hand, with her wealth of experience and relentless persistence.

This was the moment to decisively shut Tiran up in a different way, in a more physical sense... cough cough!

"Although we're in enemy territory, there's a bit of urgency, right?"

Aya's mental tentacles spread out again, bringing back high magical reactions from all directions—quite impressive compared to humans, these were likely the "National Magicists" near Maston, haunting the city as ever.

"No worries, let them come. We're targeting the elites; once we deal with them all, it'll be over. But take it easy, don't go too hard; the main course hasn't arrived yet."

With the longsword in hand, Tiran's wings made of crystal-clear ice feathers lifted her and Aya off the ground. Amidst the swirling smoke, the colossal shadow of the dragon disappeared, transforming back into Aya, who gracefully landed on the hilt of the giant blade.

"They don't seem to be closing in... huh?"

Before she could finish, the excessively magic-enriched environment alerted Aya. "Unified casting!"

The previous Intermediate-level Storm technique cast by ten Magic students in the Academy City, amplified by multiple magic powers, reached a level of Advanced, with the synergy of over a hundred skilled sorcerers likely...

"Arcane Comet!"

The deep purple meteor illuminated the sky. For Magicists with varied strengths in different magical attributes, jointly casting spells of pure magical essence like Arcane Magic was the best option. While lacking the elemental diversity of Elemental Magic, the combined spells of nearly a hundred National Magicists stationed near the royal city of Lapland possessed a destructive power akin to a Forbidden Curse.

"This thing's Elemental Annihilation Aura won't be able to handle that."

Aya raised an eyebrow. Breaking into half-dragon form, her membranous wings sprang out from her back, grabbing Tiran's hand and swiftly pulling her away from the impact range of the Arcane Comet.

It was wiser not to face such a threat head-on; even Holy Rank individuals weren't invulnerable to such maelstroms of magic. Moreover, outside the laws of magic, they could still sustain harm to their physical bodies—it was just that they were significantly more durable and powerful compared to ordinary practitioners.

The Arcane Magic struck the sword hilt of the ice crystal giant sword. While the magical impact itself didn't produce any noise, the colossal release of magic caused an explosion and shockwave that reverberated throughout Maston City.

"Darn it, my precious sword! It took considerable effort to forge!"

The princess gnashed her teeth in the slightly distant airspace from the palace, watching her masterpiece melt and crumble under the impact and heat of the comet.

"Found them! Focus fire!"

Having successfully driven Aya and Tiran out of the smoke with a forbidding spell of great power, the surrounding Magicists immediately locked onto them with their Hawk's Eye spells, unleashing a deluge of Magic spells.

As key assets in Maston, the National Magicists possessed a robust training system, outclassing the national Magic guild with nearly a thousand mid-ranking Magicists. While individually, their combat prowess wasn't exceptional, due to uniform training, their lack of innovation in spell creation and magical improvements was compensated by their rapid mastery of known spells, a skill crucial in Maston's defense.

The main role of these National Magicists was on the battlefield. A thousand swiftly cast explosive fireballs were more effective in disrupting key enemy nodes against vast armies than the prolonged incantations of mid-level Magic by practitioners fluctuating between ranks four to six.

Even these rapid low-rank spells, when colliding, could amplify their elemental reactions, creating situations that were best avoided.

– except for Aya.

"Stay close to me."

Tiran was taken aback as a particular dragon swiftly embraced her from behind.

As Aya's immense membranous wings enveloped herself and Tiran like a cocoon, a radiant layer representing the blessing of power shimmered and circulated on their surface.

"Hey hey hey?! While I don't mind you being proactive, there's a time and place for that kind of thing, you know," the blushing princess quipped.

Aya's face darkened. "Don't make a serious matter sound so inappropriate!"

Meanwhile, outside Aya's protective barrier, the space was engulfed by surging magical storms for the second time, with chaotic elements assaulting the membranous wings like a tempestuous tide.

Yes, even for human strongmen, facing such magical storms without dodging would be a headache. But for Aya, a Golden Dragon possessing innate high magical resistance and multiple elemental blessings, this was probably nothing more than a tickling breeze?

"Hehe, I tease you, because I like you. I don't speak like that about others, do I?"

"Does that ‘others’ exclude little Feizi, Coco, and Mimi?"

"...Eh?" The princess, still being embraced, tilted her head, showing a cute expression to Aya.

"You and your ‘eh,’" Aya sighed, truly at a loss with the princess, "Let's take care of the troublemakers outside first. I've mentally locked onto them."

Through their shared Dragon Knight Contract, Tiran's mind also visualized a series of scattered positions surrounding them in three dimensions.

"The fireworks are almost over. Now, it's time for the hunt."

...

"I still think they'd prefer a 'who kills faster' scenario... Is it really necessary to delay and give the opponent a chance rather than striking first?"

Not long after their absolute dominance in crushing three defense lines of the Maston Royal Guard, Aya and Tiran whispered to each other.

"Dad indeed thought about that plan, even telling me he'd find a good hiding spot so the other side couldn't find him... and assured me to go and finish off that Maston King scoundrel. He always aims for the quickest kill."

"Well..."

"Which is why I can't just directly confront him."

Tiran asserted with confidence, having made her judgment.

"Whether out of a fear of death or looking at it from a national perspective, a king isn't a character to simply die without consequences. I bet the Maston King is not like my dad, who dares to put his life and wealth on the line; when in danger, he'll surely call back his Holy Rank as the first line of defense."

"What if...? What if he's – What if the king is actually...?"

"...Then that old man's wish would come true." The princess's face darkened suddenly, realizing she might have been deceived by her father?

Even if she gambled wrong and found herself targeted by the opposing side, the worst-case scenario would be her father meeting his end, compelling her to inherit the position as queen – something he desired, right?

No, no, absolutely not! This couldn't happen!

...

"Is this the National Magicists' prowess? Really?"

Atop the ruins of the Maston Palace, the princess, using Aya's Voice Magic, taunted the entire city, her feet surrounded not only by broken beams and tiles but also the wreckage of several Maston National Magicists' flying vehicles.

The National Magicists were formidable on the battlefield, capable with just a handful to cause severe damage to crucial enemy positions unless faced with superior hero units.

Like a Dragon Knight.

Under the spatial and temporal laws, the Magicists were defenseless, most not even realizing the enemy's presence before falling to the sword.

With the dozens they eliminated earlier upon their sudden intrusion into the royal city, the National Magicists left unguarded at home were almost entirely wiped out by Tiran and Aya, yielding some sort of harvest.

However, what followed would be crucial.

One human and one dragon waited anxiously.