The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 66

Whoosh.

Azure's blue claws touched down. She settled her body into its previous spot, folded her wings, and rested her head so it was half-exposed from the lair. She opened her left claw. A diamond-shaped white magic crystal lay in her blue palm.

Aiden turned his head to the left. “What are you doing?”

“You don't want it?” Azure countered.

Aiden held up his own empty claws. “Eat it yourself.”

Azure's blue pupils constricted for a moment, then relaxed. Aiden wasn't acting at all like an evil red dragon should.

“This is the magic crystal you hunted,” Aiden said, his voice firm. “So, you eat it. The life sacrifice is fast approaching. You understand this as well as I do.”

Under the intensity of his gaze, Azure gave a slight nod.

“Then focus on increasing your strength,” Aiden continued. “In this hunt, any crystals the two of you acquire belong to you.”

Even after he had said all this, her outstretched blue claw did not retract.

“Help me clean it.”

Her open palm was covered in pink slime, and the magic crystal was inevitably coated as well.

Aiden reached out, taking the small, marble-sized crystal from her. He opened his maw and exhaled a short, controlled blast of red fire. The slime vanished. He turned back to her. Their eyes met.

“Open your mouth.”

The blue maw opened, revealing two rows of full, sharp, pearly-white teeth set against the red flesh within. Aiden tossed the crystal. It flew in a perfect arc, landing precisely in her mouth. Her maw snapped shut. Her throat bobbed a few times as she swallowed.

Aiden turned his gaze back to the sands below.

Rustle, rustle…

In less than a few minutes, two more sand worms emerged. One high-tier, one intermediate-tier. One green, one blue. They spotted each other instantly. The high-tier green worm ignored the blue one, crawling directly to the pile of carcasses and pointedly selecting the largest. Its conical head expanded into a maw even wider than its body, and it swallowed the corpse in one gulp. Its green body began to undulate.

The blue worm waited, watching the green one. Only after it saw the other begin to feed did it lower its own head, expand its mouth, and swallow a corpse. Its blue body began to undulate.

“I'll take the green one,” Aiden stated.

Azure nodded. There was no argument. It was an unspoken rule that the strongest had priority.

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Aiden's powerful red claws pushed off, and his body shot from the cliff in a dive.

Whoosh!

A blue shadow quickly caught up, flying side-by-side with the red.

One high-tier, one intermediate-tier. It was another crushing victory. They expertly extracted the magic crystals, hauled the corpses into the air until their full length was free from the sand, and then let them drop.

Whoosh.

Aiden landed back in the lair. He opened his claw, which was now smeared with green slime. A white, tennis-ball-sized, diamond-shaped magic crystal rested in his palm.

A blue claw, covered in blue slime, suddenly appeared next to his. In its palm lay a slightly smaller diamond-shaped crystal. Aiden turned his head. Their eyes met again. Her blue pupils were as deep and calm as ever.

“Help me with this one, too,” Azure said.

Aiden nodded. Azure tipped her palm, and her crystal, trailing a thin thread of blue slime, dropped into his. He took it. He opened his maw and exhaled a torrent of red fire. When the flames subsided, the mixed slime on his claw was gone. He picked up the larger crystal and tossed it into his mouth, swallowing it with two bobs of his throat.

He turned his head to the right. Azure's blue maw was already open, waiting to be fed.

Aiden tossed her crystal, which she caught expertly.

He glanced behind him. The white wyrmling was still sprawled on the ground in the exact same pose—limbs splayed, neck and tail stretched out, like a wind-dried lizard. The only change was the sizable pool of drool that had formed beneath her head.

It was time to wake Bianca up. The “fish” were clearly becoming more numerous. She had rested for nearly three hours; her mana should have recovered enough for a normal fight, as long as she didn't use magic. Besides… he and Azure had been working hard while Bianca slept so soundly. It was an unpleasant feeling.

Aiden's long, sinuous tail lifted high into the air. It became a red blur.

SMACK!

A crisp clap echoed through the cave. The white dragon's head was knocked clean to the right.

“AOW!”

With an enraged howl, Bianca shot to her feet, her white pupils scanning the lair. Her eyes screamed a single message: I'm going to kill whoever dared to disturb my sleep.

But there were only two other figures in the cave, one blue and one red, both lying near the entrance. And the red one's head was raised, staring directly at her. The culprit was obvious.

The ferocity in Bianca's eyes gradually faded. “Aiden, why did you hit me again!?” The familiar opening line.

Aiden stared at the foolish dragon, not bothering to speak. Under his gaze, Bianca felt as if there were flames moving in those red pupils. Is he… going to hit me again?

“You can't just hit me for no reason all the time,” Bianca said, her voice dropping, becoming weaker.

Aiden remained silent, but the flames in his eyes seemed to burn brighter. He was going to hit her.

“I mean… next time, could you be a little gentler?” Bianca caved completely, her eyes taking on a pitiable, aggrieved look.

For a moment, Aiden's heart wavered. This fool is playing cute again.

He tore his gaze away, looking back down at the sands. It was quiet for now. No new fish had arrived yet.

“Get over here,” he said, his voice flat. “Prepare to hunt.”

Bianca padded over to the empty space to his left, not daring to resist. She didn't know why, but from the moment she woke up, she had a powerful intuition: do not defy Aiden, or you will absolutely get beaten. She settled her body down beside him.

“This is a hunt,” Aiden said, his young voice cold and impassive. “You should participate.”

With that, he turned his head and continued to watch the sands below.

No longer under his direct gaze, Bianca felt her body relax considerably. Wait a minute. Why am I afraid of him? This can't continue. It makes me look like I'm scared of him. I'm a dragon! Even if Aiden is stronger, I shouldn't be afraid. That's right!

Her white pupils grew firm with resolve. She lifted her head and looked at the red dragon beside her.

At that moment, she saw the red flames literally burning in his crimson eyes.

Bianca instantly deflated.

Forget it, forget it… I'll just wait until I'm bigger and stronger to get my revenge. Right. This is called tactics.