CHAPTER 918: ALL BEINGS ARE GUILTY

"Ooh-ho! And there’s a female in the mix!"

As the enemy arch lords arrived, Leonidas’s tone became extremely excited, especially when he sensed that one of them was a female dragon.

"Bro, that one’s mine. Don’t you dare try to take her from me!" he declared, his voice taking on a lecherous, sleazy quality. "When it comes to female dragons, big bro here has the most experience!"

"Heheheh..." He was practically howling with glee, like a male dragon that had been locked away for ten thousand years and had just laid eyes on his dream mate.

"As you wish," Orion said, holding up his hands. A shrewd glint appeared in his eyes as he discovered another one of Leonidas’s little quirks. He mentally filed it away, perfect ammunition for some future trash-talking.

While he made his mental note, he carefully analyzed the approaching enemies.

Just then, the arch lord auras in the distance accelerated. A radiant figure strode through the air toward them. She wore a coat of crystalline blue, cut in a knightly fashion, over a pair of tall boots. Her lustrous, blue hair was naturally curled, framing a mature, bewitching face.

She was a dragon-woman of stunning beauty.

But to Demon Makareth, such beauty was worthless.

"The enemy before me is like a poppy, like a thorn apple... an intoxicating drug that I drown in, an acid that corrodes the will, a vexation that stays my hand from its purpose!"

"A painted skull... a perfect dance... a serenade of death..."

"All of it must be... severed..."

The moment he saw the enemy, Demon Makareth fell into a strange state. It was as if he’d lost his mind, caught in a state of self-hypnosis. And yet, his aura was skyrocketing. The attacks he launched at the approaching woman grew more and more tyrannical with each swing.

"I have to say," Leonidas commented, his gaze fixed on the distant battle, "those who can forge their own Lord’s Stone are truly on another level. It’s impressive."

It was high praise, a sign of his deep respect for Demon Makareth’s power.

"That state he’s in seems even more high-tier than your Behemoth rage, bro," Orion observed.

It was the first time Orion had ever seen Makareth truly unleash his full power. In this state, he seemed to be walking a razor’s edge between enlightenment and madness, like a saint and a true demon all at once.

"Every being has a past. All beings are guilty," Makareth chanted, his voice distant. "And the guilty must be judged! They must be subjected to torture!"

He was so unpredictable. One moment he was in a state of enlightened madness, and the next he had become some kind of religious fanatic, casting himself as the judge of the dragon-woman before him.

Faced with this opponent, who was a full tier beneath her, the woman in the blue coat simply raised a hand, summoning three phantom thunder dragons that shot straight for Makareth.

"Interesting! A blue dragon with both water and lightning affinities," Leonidas purred, his voice starting out normal before becoming distinctly improper. "That is exactly my type."

"There are two big ones underwater," Orion noted, keeping his eyes on Isabella’s position in the distance. Since Leonidas had claimed the dragon-woman, Orion’s concern shifted away from Makareth. "Should we give Isabella a heads-up?"

"That little hothead is too proud and smug, and she has no real combat experience," Leonidas scoffed. "Alexander sent her to the front lines specifically so she could get knocked around a bit. Leave her be. Let her learn the hard way."

Orion had no objection to that. Isabella truly needed to be tempered by battle. The fact that she and her colossal dragon had fought Makareth to a near standstill meant that most of her battles had been fought with a crushing advantage. She had no experience with her back against the wall.

In the sky, as Makareth engaged his foe, Isabella also sensed the enemies in the deep sea.

"Down!" she commanded, standing majestically atop her colossal dragon’s head, lance at the ready.

On her command, the colossal dragon tucked its head and plunged into the sea like a falling mountain. The water erupted, churning with massive bubbles. A powerful vortex formed where the dragon had entered the water. The Sea Race units from both sides sensed the immense power and fled the area.

In the sky and in the deep, the challenges for Makareth and Isabella had begun.

Stoneheart City, the Silent Goblet.

Orion lay on his stomach on a massive bed covered in fur blankets, his eyes half-closed. Delilah, clad in a transparent silk robe, sat astride his waist, her hands slick with a mysterious, aromatic oil traded from the human kingdom.

As Orion understood it, it was a type of soothing muscle balm, meant to enhance a massage and increase comfort.

"The civilization of the human kingdom is so much more prosperous than our stoneheart horde," Delilah said, her voice a low, sultry tone. "They have no shortage of wonderful things for enjoying life."

She was using the massage as an excuse to take liberties, her hands tracing the lines of his powerful back—a sight that made her heart race.

"The humans are inherently intelligent, and they’ve accumulated knowledge over countless years," Orion said, his eyes still closed. He was using his own perspective to slowly broaden Delilah’s worldview. "They are far ahead of us in life experience and technology."

"Fortunately, this isn’t a world where technology is the only path forward. We have many other roads we can take to eventually surpass them."

"I heard the transformative weapons from the Bureau of Weapons have entered the final stage. Can they be mass-produced yet?"

Transformative weapons—a manufacturing technology the Stoneheart Horde had acquired from the Godforsaken Land long ago. The Horde had invested immense resources and manpower into mastering this knowledge. Only recently could they finally claim to have fully digested the technology and the principles behind it.

Orion’s requirement wasn’t just to follow the blueprints, but for his people to truly understand the forging techniques. Only then could the Stoneheart Horde forge its own unique line of technology, an advantage no other race on the continent possessed. It was their foundation, and their edge.

"Mass production will begin soon," Delilah reported. "According to the plan laid out by the council, the transformative weapons will first be supplied to the Alpha-level powerhouses in the horde’s various armies."

"The surplus will then be added to the horde’s treasury, allowing our bloodline warriors a chance to exchange for them."

"A small portion will also be made available to our allies. As for the continent of Utessar, for now, they will not be for sale."