"Bow before your Empress!"
A sharp, prideful voice rang out as a woman bathed in elemental tides revealed herself.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, with pointed ears and long green hair that shimmered in the sunlight. A pair of tiny dragon horns adorned her smooth forehead, and translucent fae wings fluttered behind her as she floated effortlessly above the ground. She looked down at Orson with her chin lifted and a smug expression on her face.
"You... you’re my egg?"
Orson blinked in disbelief, staring her up and down, trying and failing to connect this powerful woman with the greedy, dumb egg he used to toss around like a Pokéball.
"Ahem, well... Orson’s egg is... truly one of a kind," Bradley muttered under his breath. "Dude’s just built different."
Everyone nearby nearly faceplanted on the spot.
As the incoming swarm of dragons closed in, their sheer aura made even top-tier adventurers shudder.
"I am the Empress of Dragons! My roar shall echo across the galaxy!" Berenice declared with imperial pride.
Bradley and Madman stared in shock as their Battle Space activated on its own.
Velorith, King of Lightning Dragons, and Quarla, the Golden Dragon King, emerged—both bowing low before the Empress without any command.
Other Dragon Knights experienced the same. Their dragon mounts took flight and submitted to Berenice, their roars echoing through the skies.
For a moment, all contracts between Dragon Knights and their mounts were overridden—no commands worked.
"She carries my father’s aura... He must’ve fallen," said Denoka, the Silver Dragon, in a trembling voice.
"Tulikiki stands with me. The dragon race stands with me," Berenice said calmly, her eyes reflecting both grief and conviction.
Her presence radiated pure sovereignty. As she walked across Celestial Fortress, dragons bowed in reverence.
By the time she reached Orson, her smug facade cracked—her lips curled into a mischievous grin.
Then came the dramatic eyebrow waggling, the kind only a chaotic little dragon could master.
"Shiver in awe, mortal! Worship your Dragon Empress!"
"What the hell is happening right now?"
Orson turned to Drunken Dream, still stunned.
He remembered flinging her around like a plush toy. Now she stood over two meters tall, her body as stunning as her mana was terrifying.
The contrast was... too much.
"The dragon race’s god-making project is halfway complete," Drunken Dream explained, frowning slightly. "Only one more dragon needs to sacrifice itself. Let’s hope he keeps his promise."
He swept his gaze across the gathered dragons but didn’t see Rebellion, the Dark Dragon King.
"Couldn’t see you clearly when I was in the egg. Now that I can... meh, you’re not even that handsome," Berenice said, leaning in close enough for her nose to brush against Orson’s.
She sniffed him once, then pulled back slightly, eyes narrowing.
"But you’ve definitely changed. You reek of the gods."
Orson didn’t flinch, but a glint of cold intent flashed through his eyes.
Their master-servant contract had disappeared. In many ways, Berenice was now a brand-new being.
He couldn’t be sure whether she was still ally or foe.
He checked her stats.
[Holy Dragon of the Fae · Dragon Empress · Berenice]
[Sub-God-Tier Lifeform]
[Incomplete Maturity: 50%]
[Skill: Dragon’s Roar]
[Quasi-Divine Law: Super Jackpot]
"No level? No attack stat?"
This was unlike anything he’d seen. Only neutral entities had no level... but no attack stat, yet quasi-God-tier strength?
And what kind of law was "Super Jackpot"?
Was this dumb egg selling lottery tickets now?
"Berenice, do you think I won’t cut you down?"
Aeloria stepped forward, her voice like frost.
With a single swing, her bone blade landed just shy of Berenice’s neck.
Berenice flinched, instinctively licking her lips in fear.
"You vile wyrm! You ambushed me before I even hatched. We will settle that score later!"
Despite being the Dragon Empress of this Infinite Dimensions era, she couldn’t shake the primal fear carved into her DNA by the Death God Dragon Clan.
"Blue Planet’s dragons answer to me now. You will show them proper respect—even if you are Death God Dragon King!"
Roars of support followed from Denoka and the other dragons.
"Fight her! For the glory of the true dragon race!"
A hundred dragons roared in unison. The sheer force made the ground tremble.
"I can rally the dragons and break their chains, but you? You’re just a bloodthirsty serpent. A relic doomed to fade into history!"
Berenice’s voice carried across the battlefield like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.
A rising star. A new ruler. A future drenched in dragon blood.
"This is... not how I expected this to go," Drunken Dream muttered, stunned.
There were over a thousand dragons present, many from foreign warzones. At least twenty were Dragon Kings.
This power... it could flatten Blue Planet in days.
No wonder Berenice was so confident. She could actually stand up to Aeloria.
Suddenly, Berenice froze. A bump had appeared on her forehead.
"Too loud. Tell them to shut up."
Orson sighed, retracting his finger with an air of finality.
Berenice’s pupils shrank.
His aura flared, making him tower like a titan. She, despite being Dragon Empress, felt herself sinking into a whirlpool.
He could kill them all—all the dragons—if he wanted to.
"Don’t forget," Orson said softly, "you’re still one-third human. And who made you what you are?"
He smiled and gently touched the bump on her forehead.
"Had enough of the spotlight? Fight by my side. When it’s over... you’ll have your freedom."
Berenice shrank to palm-size, pouting as she perched on Orson’s shoulder.
"Just a joke, geez. Big meanie... Aeloria was really gonna kill me back there."
She sulked, swinging her legs as she clutched the lucky flower Sienna gave her.
"...Is that it? One look and she’s back on his shoulder?"
"A quasi-God-level beast... tamed with a flick to the forehead?"
Skyslasher and the others were left speechless.
That wasn’t game-breaking. That was just absurd.
"I’ll give you the contract, but uh... we’re splitting the loot fifty-fifty, right?"
Berenice cautiously held out a master-servant contract.
Orson nodded, completely noncommittal as he signed it again.
"Um... Lady Aeloria, about earlier—I got a little carried away. You’re not mad, right?"
Denoka peeked out from behind Drunken Dream, trembling.
"You’ll live... once you become a King."
Aeloria’s blood-red eyes locked onto him like he was a fresh steak.
He hadn’t even married yet! He still had millennia of life left!
"10 seconds until the Abyss opens!"
The final countdown began.
Orson took a deep breath and scanned the faces around him.
Even with god-tier powers awakened, the unknown still sent a chill down his spine.
In his past life, top-tier adventurers had once formed a strike team to enter the Abyss in hopes of shutting it down from within.
Some said they’d found a new world and were lost to the stars.
Others said they were swarmed by endless Heaven Demons and died fighting.
No one knew the truth.
But Orson did know one thing:
The best way to deal with fear... is to attack it head-on.
Ruthless. Overwhelming. Firepower.