"So it talks, or perhaps there is someone on the inside projecting their voice. No matter, a single person and their oversized armour won't make any difference before me," the Hong Patriarch says with an unchanging expression of confidence.
"Well, we'll see about that! This Blazing Metal Dragon is about to show its prowess to the world while I kick your ass, Hong... Hong... Big Chicken," I say as I still can't remember his name.
For the first time since his arrival, the Patriarch's expression changed, even if just barely, as I called him Big Chicken, although it seemed to be only a slight annoyance to him. Yue also seemed a little distracted there as soon as I said chicken, but she too regains her composure quickly as I move forward and slash at the Patriarch with the sword arm of the Blazing Metal Dragon.
Rather than trying to avoid the sword that's at least five times larger than his body, the Hong Patriarch tries to block and deflect my attack with his own flame clad sword. With the clashing of blades, much to my surprise, he actually did manage to block my attack... for a couple of seconds, until all the flames the shrouded the sword got absorbed then sending him flying back, crashing towards the manor. But he doesn't have stats in the millions for nothing as he manoeuvres around through the air and kicks off the side of the manor, flying straight at me, but instead of taking hold of his sword, he sheathes it mid-flight and instead he transforms into the form of the Vermilion Bird and ascends into the air.
With the swing of a wing, a myriad of red feathers is shot towards me. They seem to have some strong penetrative power as the feathers slice some of the trees in the courtyard in half and even kill some of the subordinates of Yue while she moves quickly to get behind me. But the strength of the feathers means nothing to me as they just bounce right off with a loud and very noticeable sound as they collide with the hihi'irokane that makes up the Blazing Metal Dragon.
"What!? Impossible, how can mere metal possibly withstand my feathers!?" The Hong Patriarch shouts, finally expressing some emotion.
"It's only natural, after all, both the Blazing and Burning Metal Dragons are all made from hihi'irokane. If you could even put a dent into my machines then I'd be surprised, but you're far too weak for that!" I say, taunting him.
"Hihi'irokane? But that's not malleable, no one should be able to work it into something like that!"
"Too bad, I can, now it's time to make do on my promise and kick some chicken ass!" I shout as I leap into the air, grabbing onto the Patriarch's talons.
He puts up a bit of a struggle, but it's futile as he can't break free from the Blazing Metal Dragon's grip. Gravity soon does it's work as the Patriarch can't generate enough lift to sustain the weight of me and the Blazing Metal Dragon alongside himself. Just before we fall to the ground, I swing the Blazing Metal Dragon's arm down, dragging the Big Chicken along as I slam him into the ground to make a feathery landing mat for myself.
My landing practically cripples the Hong Patriarch as even after I step off of him, he can't seem to move. I'm pretty sure his talons aren't supposed the bend the way they are right now and his right wing has completely snapped in half while the left doesn't look like it'll stop bleeding any time soon.
"You know, I was expecting more from him. I thought this guy was supposed to be the strongest one here," I say.
"He is, at least amongst the Scion Families. In the grand scheme of things, he's only mid-tier, albeit at the top of his class, but there are plenty of people stronger than him. And don't forget, that Blazing whatever you call it, that machine of yours is basically the perfect counter to him and the other members of the Hong Family since they specialise in fire techniques. Anyway, it should be soon, ah, there we go, right on time," Yue says as we all look up into the sky to see the signal flare for success.
"So what do we do with all of them?" I ask, pointing towards the demoralised and defeated Hong guards, that is, the ones that Wanjing hasn't turned into shrivelled empty husks.
While Yue is thinking of what to do, I notice some footsteps as Aurelia comes barging in, "I came to help, but it would seem I'm a bit late and you've got everything under control, and more importantly, it looks like Shuren's team got what they came for," she says, glancing towards the signal flare.
"As for those guards, it doesn't matter, I'll be back tomorrow without my disguise to clean things up. And regarding the Patriarch..." Yue says as she walks over to face him while taking off her headgear, revealing her face to him.
With the pain from his wounds just barely keeping him conscious, the Patriarch glances at Yue's face with a look of disgust as he musters the strength to say, "so it was you, the inbred. I should have killed you alongside your parents all those years ago."
"I've been long aware the only reason I'm alive is because those foolish elders wanted to make use of my talent to increase their influence within the Imperial Court. And it was that same greed that caused both their and your downfall today, Uncle. I don't want to look at your face any longer since even with that new disfigured look of yours, it still angers me. Cordelia, you're free to do whatever you want with him, be it killing, eating, or even both," Yue says as she goes to gather and organise the rest of her subordinates.
"Time to make due on that promise of mine," I say, coming out from the Blazing Metal Dragon's cockpit.
Standing behind the invalid Hong Patriarch, I raise my left leg behind me and create a spiked iron shoe before swinging my leg forward with as much force as I could possibly can, skewering the giant bird and finally ending his misery.
Upon his death, I see the biggest amount of experience I've ever seen, "holy shit, I just got 9 million experience.
[You have reached level 20. Due to the Level limit, 6,714,738 EXP has been lost.]
"Fuck!"
[Due to bravely facing an opponent many times stronger than you, the title 'Provoking Giants' has been replaced with 'Giant Killer', granting an additional 10% increased damage towards opponents stronger than you. Additionally, you have lost the title 'Coward'.]
"That doesn't make me feel better!"
"Why are you so upset all of a sudden?" Yue asks as she walks over.
"I wouldn't bother her over that if I were you," Aurelia says as a large smile creeps over her face.
"I'll take your word for it. Anyway, we need to get moving, the longer we spend here the higher the chances we get swarmed by the military. While I do think we actually have a good chance of winning with Cordelia's army, I'd rather not deal with the various crouching tigers and hidden dragons," Yue says.
"*Sigh* fine, give me a moment. I need to put the Blazing Dragon away and eat the bird. We can go after that."