Chapter 60 - Chapter 60: Old wounds

The first stop was at the Dragon's domain were we went to report our progress. We met with the emperor dragon, Zurin who was in a very irritable mood. "The spider general was not there? Were you in a hurry to come back here? Did you check well enough?" Zurin asked. I left the answering of the questions to Zari. If he thought we did a poor job he could go and do it himself. Zurin's generals informed us bout other developments. We were notified that the vampires had not been seen in public for the last month. The regular confrontations with the fey was now nonexistent and brought about uneasiness. There were also low level spiders that had appeared in Yaran continent. The fey were now stationed all over the continent protecting the gnomes and dwarves. The small number of human population within the continent migrated to the coastal areas away from the forest to better deal with the spider threats. The forest separated by the wall was a home to large monsters and it was suspected that most of the spiders that appeared here were either killed or eaten by other monsters. Being a home to large predators, spiders had no chance of survival here. I took the floor and began explaining about the spiders we had captured and left outside the entrance of the Dragon's castle. Led by curiosity, Zurin asked to see the type of spiders and so the meeting took place outside. I explained more about their attack patterns and habits. The various dragon leaders were thankful for the additional information. They were going to pass it on to the leaders of the different species. "Leave them all here. I need to train our kids." Zurin said referring to the spiders. That was not part of my plan. I needed to have this spiders exhibited in the kingdom of Capel so that father can convince various leaders to prepare for war. "I am leaving one species each for this kingdom. I need to take the rest to Capel and notify them of the danger that is coming. I hope you understand." I said. "What is the use of giving them to humans. They are too weak to even defend themselves." Zurin said angrily. I did not answer the question because I found it annoying. "Chrono you need to leave all this spiders here with us for training purposes. You can always go back and catch others." Zurin said. Zari was dumbfounded but could not go against his brother. I could not believe the gall this guy had to demand such a thing. "Zurin, you lead a powerful race. I lead humans so I must insist that I take the rest of the spiders back home to make sure the leaders take on adequate measures." I said. I was met with wide stares. "Chrono, you address him so casually?" "That is disrespectful!" on and on they went. I immediately apologized and referred to him as dragon emperor Zurin. This people were such a hassle. Zurin by this point was fuming. "Emperor Dragon Zurin, might I suggest sending Zari and her subordinates to get more spiders." I said. I knew that he wanted me to leave the three mid-level spiders with him because they were hard to come by but that was not advantageous to my plans."You call me the emperor dragon yet refuse to acknowledge me as your leader despite sharing the same kinship. Why is that Chrono?" Zurin asked. What the hell am I supposed to answer to that question? I might be a dragon but that does not mean I have to be Zurin's subject. "I am not interested in serving anybody. Neither a Human, Dragon nor the Hydra. My wish is to live freely." I answered. This was the wrong answer to give Zurin. "How do you compare serving me to serving a human? Are you mocking me?" Zurin asked angrily. He had been in a very foul mood lately and all that was needed was a spark to unleash his anger on the unsuspecting victim. That person was now me. "I did not mean any disrespect emperor dra…" I said before I was interrupted. "Oh stop that. You are just mocking me with your words." Zurin interrupted. "As you have said I am the head of the most powerful beings on this world. Do not forget that because the humans may experience accidents if you do." Zurin threatened. I was stunned for a moment before looking at Zurin's eyes. "Do you intend on going back on our agreement?" I asked in a cold voice. The atmosphere was tense, very tense. "My emperor, please let us calm down…" Zari said before she was mercilessly hit by Zurin's fist. Her head began to bleed with blood running down her forehead. "Do not interrupt me. Foolish sister." Zurin said. He then looked at me straight in the eye. "I asked you a question Zurin?" I said. If he was going back at his word after I rescued his kin then I needed to know. A few of the dragon leaders took a step back to avoid antagonizing Zurin any further. "Suppose I do, then what?" Zurin sked coldly. I smiled a little and then answered. "My power cannot only give strength but take it away. I will take away everything and more that I have given to your kin starting now." I answered. I had learnt a little bit about Life Manipulation magic. The reason I grew stronger at a faster rate was because after defeating monsters, I could drain their life force away and make it mine using Life Manipulation Magic. While others were dependent on race, age and other factors to grow stronger, I only had to defeat other opponents. "Are you threatening me Chrono while you came here with a family member?" Zurin said as he pointed towards the unconscious Luton. The ministers tried to calm us down but I was insistent on knowing if Zurin was going to break our pact that forbid dragons attacking human settlement. "I need a clear answer Zurin. If you are not going to uphold our agreement then say it now!" I pushed the matter. My eyes were red with fury. Threatening to attack the human settlements after agreeing not to do that? Are you kidding me? I had no way of knowing this at the time but the marks present all over my body were glowing white in color. My focus was solely on Zurin's answer and such things escaped my notice. "Such insolence." One of Zurin's military leader took it upon himself to confront me. I used gravity magic when he was close and fixed him at a point where he was unable to move. I then extended my right arm towards him and absorbed his life force. It was a little troublesome because he was not subdued completely but my objectives were achieved. His once impressive 900,000 mana reserves were now down to 200,000. The rest were taken by my body at an efficiency rate of less than half. In total only about 300,000 were absorbed inside my body. The dragons had a keen observation and could tell that he had grown considerably weaker. I had also taken away the power to manipulate the second attribute which I had given him. "I am tired of expecting an answer from you Zurin. You shall all share the same fate." I said. I extended my hand towards the group before I was interrupted by Zari who had just wiped the blood of her forehead. "Chrono, please calm down." She said. The other leaders present there also began to plead with me to calm down. "I should calm down? When my home is threatened? You shall or curse the day you met me." I said. I used the same technique on all those present apart from Zari, her subordinates and Zurin. They all fell to the ground once I was finished with them. I looked over to see Zari holding her mouth in shock and her subordinates were also stunned. Zurin took a fighting stance while looking at me. This was just an act because through my very accurate and sensitive senses, I could tell that his heart rate was now faster. There were traces of fear written all across his face. "Zari and the rest of your people, move as far away from me as much as possible. Today I do not forgive this so called emperor." I said. I used gravity technique and brought Zurin closer to me. He tried wiggling and turning but his body was fixed. "Spare the dragon kin. I was at fault, please do not harm them." Zurin cried out. I punched his face so hard that I broke his jaw. "You threaten my home with annihilation and have the gall to beg for mercy?" I asked. Zari's group was still around and were now standing there with Roy who until this point had just been a casual observer. We had forgotten about Roy halfway through our journey here and went back for him. He was now the most terrified of all in the group. "We are not going to harm the humans." Zurin said. Does he want a medal for that?