Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 473 The Battle of Dragons (Part 2)
When the two colossal creatures were tearing and entangled in the center of the battlefield, the earth had lost its stable form.

The dark gold blood that August had spilled on the ground suddenly lit up, turning into red-hot chains that coiled upwards in reverse, invading Mammon's interior along its bite path.

Mammon then increased the magnetic field output, causing the crystal facets to flash wildly, attempting to crush the foreign object that had invaded its body.

The two forces collided head-on inside, causing a secondary collapse of the surface and squeezing the rock layers into irregular folds.

Amidst this chaos, five thousand dark red figures surged out through the cracks and faults in the ground, their speed reaching its limit within a few breaths.

The scales rubbed against the ground, creating brief sparks, yet their steps were synchronized and their spacing precise, making the entire legion resemble a front line compressed to its limit.

The dragon blood that August spilled left dark golden trails in the air, like red-hot chains, guiding their path.

As they approached, the dragon guards began to cling to them.

Hundreds and thousands of figures leaped up at the same time, landing on the surface of Mammon's diamond body, which was thousands of meters long.

To this pseudo-dragon, these beings were so insignificant as to be almost negligible, or even unworthy of attention.

Until the first dragon bone spear pierced the crack in the crystal surface.

That was not a random attack.

The Dragon Guards share the old emperor's perspective through blood ties.

The tip of the gun precisely wedged into the smallest misalignment in the crystal structure and slid in along the crack.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of dragon guards exerted their power at the same time. As their fighting spirit erupted, they did not hesitate to cut open their own scales.

Dark red blood flowed down the gun barrel, resonating with the dark gold dragon blood, and its power was forcibly amplified.

A series of ear-piercing cracking sounds rang out.

Those giant diamond armor plates, powerful enough to withstand forbidden spells, were pried up piece by piece.

Mammon began to writhe in agony.

The magnetic field vibrated wildly, trying to shake off these intruders.

The crystal surfaces rubbed together, producing dazzling sparks, and the earth cracked as a result.

Some of the dragon guards had their scales shattered by the close-range energy backlash, and their bodies were thrown out of control, falling directly into the churning chasm below.

But most of the Dragon Guards remained firmly rooted to the spot.

Their limbs were embedded in the crystal surface, their spears pierced through the structural nodes, and their bodies emitted a dull bone-crackling sound amidst the vibrations, yet none of them let go.

Auguste saw it all.

Mammon's massive jaws remained firmly locked on his side, tearing apart his dark gold scales and dripping dragon blood.

But instead of breaking free, he deliberately turned his head away, allowing the fangs to penetrate even deeper.

He chuckled softly.

The laughter erupted from his chest, not sharp, but carrying a condescending composure, as if mocking an object that had finally revealed its flaw.

He looked directly into those lifeless diamond eyes, his voice slow and clear:
"Can you feel it? The weight you're so proud of, the pull you exert, the power you devour..."

Dark golden blood slid down his scales, igniting tiny flames in the air.

"Now, they are all nourishment for me."

Under August's watchful eye, the Dragon Guard completed the final prying motion.

Mammon's chest cavity was forcibly opened.

That layer of "physical immunity" defense, which the Federation was so proud of, was scattered all over the ground like a peeled-off ore shell.

The core inside, so dazzling it was almost impossible to look at directly, was completely exposed to the air.

August spoke in a low voice: "You are strong, but before my will, you are not even a speck of dust."

The moment the words left his mouth, all suppression vanished.

August suddenly tightened his tattered dragon wings, locking them tightly around Mammon's neck.

His right claw lit up, and the sharp claw pierced through his chest cavity.

"Roar--!!!"

A deafening scream rippled outwards, as if the entire continent had been struck by a heavy hammer.

August slowly withdrew his arm.

Between his claws was a massive core.

Mammon began to collapse, and its body, which was thousands of meters long, quickly lost its structural support.

The once-clear diamond lost its luster and turned into grayish-white waste ore.

The mountain-like body crumbled within moments, the dust it raised obscuring half of the capital.

August stood atop the corpses and swallowed the core whole.

A burst of golden light erupted.

The broken dragon wings instantly reformed, the wounds disappeared, and its aura completed a leap.

The scattered diamond fragments were pulled into the air and instantly melted in the high-temperature dragon breath, adhering to the outside of the dark gold scales to form a new outer structure.

A fully evolved, dark gold dragon body stands amidst the ruins.

August ignored the crumbling capital city beneath his feet.

In fact, the ruins didn't even linger in his sight for a moment.

His anger was rising.

These ants who dared to blaspheme the dragon's authority, a false god built with money and scheming, have wasted so much of his time.

He didn't even glance back at the dragonman guards who were a third of the way dead.

In his eyes, the war was already over, and it was time to deal with the sycophants behind the scenes.

August raised his dragon head, and a roar filled with pure rage tore through the sky.

Its dark golden wings suddenly flapped.

The dragon's body broke the sound barrier directly, and the air was violently pushed aside.

Due to the excessive speed, the vacuum shockwaves generated along the way crushed downwards, instantly uprooting and tearing apart the forests on the ground.

The dark golden figure transformed into a bolt of lightning that pierced the sky without slowing down.

His anger found its next outlet.

Crossing the border, Crystal Rock City, a city built on money, had already entered his killing intent range.

…………

Inside the council chamber at the top of the floating island, the lights were still bright.

Beneath the crystal dome, the directors of the seven major guilds suddenly sat around a round table.

Speaker Clement swirled his wine glass and glanced at the crowd: "Don't get too excited. Although the Empire's resistance is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, we should still respect them." The crowd chuckled as if they had heard a funny joke.

“I bet five million magic stones,” Clement said casually. “Three minutes, no more than that. That so-called imperial glory will probably last that long.”

One of the directors chuckled and interjected, "Three minutes is too conservative. The city walls are still made of old metal and broken stones, I'd give it two and a half minutes."

The other person shook his head: "Two and a half minutes is unrealistic. Mammon needs to be completely absorbed, and processing the residue also takes time. Otherwise, it will affect the purity of the recovery."

Laughter spread around the table.

Some people casually jotted down an entry in the ledger, some raised their glasses in a toast, and others had already begun discussing how to divide the capital's storage districts and population quotas after the war.

In their context, it was not the end of a country, but a gain that had already entered the liquidation process.

The music suddenly stopped.

The musician responsible for the accompaniment paused for a moment, then looked down at his fingers.

Blood was seeping from his fingertips, and several alchemical strings snapped silently, as if pulled to their limit by some unseen force.

Before he could even speak, the red wine on the table stopped swirling.

The wine detached itself from the glass and floated slowly upwards, condensing into blood-red droplets in the air.

One of the directors frowned and subconsciously looked up: "...Why is it dark?"

Beyond the dome, the starry sky disappeared.

Instead, there was a thick, cold, dark golden scale that covered the entire sky.

A giant dragon's eye slowly lowered.

Golden flames swirled in his pupils, illuminating every face in the council chamber as deathly pale.

Those eyes that were once filled with gold coins and accounts were now filled with fear.

Clement was the first to react.

He stood up abruptly, his fingers trembling as he activated the highest level of defense.

Complex runes lit up the dome and walls simultaneously, and the council chamber was enveloped in layers of shields.

"Great Dragon Clan!" His voice had lost its usual composure. "I am the Speaker of the Emerald Federation! We possess half the wealth of this world! We can act as your agents, provided you name your price..."

Before the words were even finished, the sound had already resonated deep within everyone's bones.

"Name your price?" The voice was deep and calm, yet impossible to ignore. "Your so-called wealth is nothing but the residue that slipped through my fingers while I slept."

The council chamber was deathly silent.

"How dare you use my remnants to buy your lives from me?"

Anger took shape in that moment.

It wasn't just irritability, but a deep-seated disgust at being utterly offended.

For Augustus, the real crime of these merchants was not greed, but the attempt to use money to sit at the same negotiating table as God.

The dark golden giant claw fell, tearing apart the theoretically unbreakable composite protective layer as if it were ripping a piece of waste paper.

The dome shattered, and a fierce wind rushed in, hurling ledgers, antiques, plates, and wine glasses into the air, where they fell to the ground amidst screams.

Isabella screamed as she activated the teleportation array.

The light had just begun to shine when a wisp of dragon's breath descended.

Her body suddenly stiffened in mid-air, and her skin, clothes, and bones were instantly coated with a thick layer of pure gold.

The statue, having lost its balance, fell from the edge of the floating island.

A few breaths later, a dull thud came from the slums below.

Golden fragments scattered and flew everywhere, embedding themselves into the street along with flesh and blood.

Before Clement could retreat, a dragon's toe was already pressed against his chest.

“Since you love magic stones so much,” August’s voice was as cold as metal, “I will grant your wish.”

Clement opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

His blood began to crystallize.

Semi-transparent clusters of high-purity magic stones pierce out from under the skin, growing, branching, and penetrating the bones.

The excruciating pain lasted only a very short time before consciousness was completely overwhelmed.

A few breaths later, the original human form had disappeared.

Instead, a gem flower made of blood-red crystals stood quietly in the center of the shattered council chamber.

August did not stop; the small-scale killings did not quell his anger.

He raised his head and let out a roar that shook the entire continent.

Supported by its greedy core, the dragon's body continued to expand, its dark gold scales covering the field of vision.

August did not rush to end everything. He hovered high in the sky, his dragon eyes coldly overlooking the entire Crystal Rock City, as if examining a precious artifact waiting to be dismantled.

Over the next half day, the Emerald Federation underwent a true reckoning.

The tower collapsed, the streets caved in, and the fleeing crowd scattered in the shadow of dark gold, but could not find an exit.

When the last beam of light fell, the city finally lost its original form.

Streets, towers, workshops, and still-struggling lives were all transformed into a dark golden molten flow.

Having ended it all, August had lost all interest in staying any longer.

He slowly rose to his feet, his dark gold scales making a low, rumbling sound as they rubbed against the plateau.

Dragon's eyes turned eastward, towards the direction of the empire's former territory, the land he had left behind before his departure, now trampled upon by mortals.

"It's time to take it back."

This statement is not a declaration, but rather a confirmation of reality.

The next moment, the wings unfolded.

The wind pressure swept across the entire Dark Gold Plateau, simultaneously stirring up gravel and mineral dust.

Augustus took flight, his dragon body tearing through the clouds as he headed east.

Everything that mortals temporarily control will be taken back.

Under his will, a kingdom based on the glory of the dragon race will take shape.

It's not about returning to the old empire, but about erasing all the past and creating a divine kingdom that he himself has built.

This made the world finally realize... that the only emperor had returned.

(End of this chapter)