In just two more days, Max would receive the news of whether he had become a father or not, and whether that child would bless him with an initial Ice Dragon bloodline at the ancestor level. He had waited for this moment for too long. Too long to pretend he was calm. Too long to pretend this did not matter.

In just a few days, he would enter the Thunder Dragon capital city, raise hell, and plunder their treasures with the new abilities burning inside him. The thought alone should have made his blood roar with excitement, yet that night, he still could not sleep. His body was restless, but his mind was worse.

Again and again, it dragged him back to Rosalia, back to the words he had said, back to the ugly thing he had done. He wondered if he had been right. He wondered if this whole system thing was even right. What if it was playing him? What if he did not receive the bloodline? What if Rosalia left with his child and never looked back?

The words he had spat at her kept playing in his mind. "Not like you were attending to your wife’s duties..." He knew it was a lie the moment he remembered it. Rosalia cared about him. She had cared more than most people ever had. Ever since they got married, she had stood by his side, even when he did not deserve it.

Max slapped his own head, jaw tightening as frustration and regret twisted inside him. Maybe it was his inexperience. Maybe he was ruining the first real relationship he had ever had before it even had the chance to grow.

He rose to his feet and stepped outside into the fresh night air. His eyes swept over the tents from the outside, then over the people lying beneath the open sky. Many of them could not sleep, their hearts still bleeding from the pain of abandoning their home. They looked at Max with hatred in their eyes, and he accepted those looks with a friendly nod. Their anger meant nothing to him.

He walked out of the camp and sat down by the cliff, letting the cold wind brush against his face as he watched the distant lands bask beneath the moon. The world stretched far beyond him, wrapped in silver light, wild, beautiful, and still unknown.

"It’s all so... foreign," he muttered to himself as he remembered his old world. Yet even with those memories weighing on him, he could not deny the strange pull this world had on his heart. Every new region felt magical. Every mountain, forest, and distant city tasted like another adventure, the kind his heart had secretly yearned for long before he ever came here.

He spent the rest of the night there, sitting by himself and thinking about his life while allowing every ugly, restless thought to run free. In his view, holding them back would only make the weight inside his chest grow heavier. It would only drag him deeper into the depressing mess his own choices had created.

Early in the morning, he rose and welcomed the sun.

"Time to go..." he muttered, determination hardening in his eyes.

He gathered the army quickly. Before long, the entire force began to move, warriors and common folk marching together as their thundering steps shook the ground.

Max sat alone on the Ice Ancestral Beast, his figure high above them, yet more isolated than ever. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Rosalia stood with the rest of the Ice Dragons, and that single choice shook the very foundation of their loyalty. She did not tell them about Max and Agnia, but they were not blind.

They could all feel that something huge had happened. A few days ago, Max and Rosalia had been inseparable. Now, they did not even speak.

Even Agnia kept her distance. Max could not understand what she was plotting now.

------

Days later, the forces of the Voidstar Kingdom quickly raided the first villages. The thundering clouds became a perfect mask for their movements, swallowing the sound of marching feet beneath the endless roar of the storm. Max even laughed to himself, thinking that this land was selling out its own people.

The rumbling sky and the lightning striking the earth made his conquest easier than he had expected. Dragon empires were too cocky. For far too long, nobody had dared to invade them. They had grown comfortable behind their name, their bloodline, and their ancient pride. That was why Max could execute his plan so easily.

Today, he stood with his army surrounding the capital city.

Lightning struck its walls again and again, making the city glow beneath the dark clouds like a jewel trapped inside a storm.

Alarm bells screamed in defense, and those who remained trembled in fear at the sight they were forced to witness. Their emperor was not here. Their strongest warriors were not there to save them. Who would protect them now from the tyrant reaching his claws toward their throats?

-----

"Emperor... there’s nothing ahead."

A young man rushed toward the massive army flying through the sky, returning from the distant range of fuming volcanoes and jagged mountains. His face was ashen, and his eyes revealed the discomfort he tried and failed to hide.

"What do you mean?" Thor’s eyes narrowed. "If they are not hiding in the Fire Lands..." He stopped his army with a single raised hand.

"My team searched every single nook and cranny... There are no signs of them..." The young man lowered his voice, too afraid that the news would ignite the emperor’s fury.

Thor’s face darkened, and the man before him shivered in fear.

"Turn the armies around. We must return to the capital immediately!" he roared at the top of his lungs. His voice crashed through the sky like thunder striking the clouds, shaking the entire army into confusion.

And yet, nobody dared to question him.

The army turned and flew back at top speed, with Thor leading them from the front, his face twisting with anger.

"Max, you evil little mastermind. So this was your plan from the beginning..." He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw trembled.

He finally understood what Max was doing, and that realization made him both furious and afraid.

But before he could return, an even bigger army descended from the sky and blocked his way.