This was impossible.

All of it was just... impossible.

And really, once he woke up later, all of this would come to an end.

Well, he really tried to hold onto such thoughts, but it wasn’t exactly easy when his brain faced so much bigger problems.

Like what was happening to him right now.

Malrik felt like clamping his throat, panicked and wondering why his voice had suddenly returned.

But then he soon realized the trap he’d fallen into when Kael looked at him with ice in his eyes. "Since when did dragons look like that?"

Chancellor Malrik, gripped by a sudden and sharp alarm, tried to use his hands to check. But to begin with, his hands didn’t feel like hands anymore. Instead, he saw an unmistakable claw that wasn’t humanoid.

"!!!"

It was then that he realized he was much bigger now, his point of view of those on the ground shifting as he loomed over the people who’d once looked up to him. Finally, after trying to look at his own body, he realized he was on all fours.

He’d turned into a hydra, a grotesque, one-headed beast that would be questionable even to the others of the same kind.

He opened his mouth in pure anguish, but instead of the proud dragon fire he’d coveted, only a stream of corrosive poison came out.

Riley watched as Malrik went through a frantic bout of existential crisis.

He deserved to be distraught about it, just as he had driven everyone else to be uncomfortable with themselves.

Teaching those kids what he did?

How vile was this person who didn’t even have enough mental fortitude in the first place.

Riley was without a doubt extremely petty, but even with this he still felt rather frustrated and leaned against Kael for much needed peace and cleansing.

Then, as if going back to work, he spoke, his voice laced with feigned wonder. "Honey... this... is he really a hydra? But for that long, he’d been able to keep it a secret?"

Kael looked down to stare at his mate and immediately understood what he wanted. He was more than happy to oblige.

"It seems he hadn’t encountered many hardships in life, considering he’s managed to only have a single head," the dragon lord noted coldly.

"But since he’s so insistent on his nature, then let’s all see for ourselves."

The golden dragon was efficient.

He wanted things to end as fast as possible, so he simply flicked his hand. With a nonchalant display of frightening power, he cut off the hydra’s head.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!"

The onlookers gasped and screamed at the sudden dismemberment, a collective shiver running through the crowd as something like that happened right in front of all of them.

But what truly shocked everyone was what happened next.

After a screech that rang out with unnatural clarity, they watched as the head began to regenerate. Only this time, two heads popped up where one had been.

"Tch."

Kael scoffed as the onlookers pointed and whispered at the undeniable creature. While proving that Malrik had been a hydra all along would shift jurisdiction to the MBE as a whole instead of just Kael, there was a far more important detail to consider.

Worse than a dragon turning on its own was a non-dragon daring to affront one.

"For the crime of impersonating a dragon," he said, his tone flat and absolute, "you are hereby stripped of all rights and privileges."

A brief pause.

"You are sentenced to death as a hydra. Effective immediately."

The aforementioned hydra reacted violently, attempting to thrash against its bonds and contradict Kael’s claims.

He dares?!

How could Kael treat an esteemed elder like this?!

But no one could hear his agonized screams.

Instead, Malrik witnessed that human putting a hand on the dragon lord’s chest, looking at him with a languid, satisfied smile.

Then once again, inside that mana bubble, he heard the demon’s voice that was meant only for his ears.

"Ah, but we have to take time to go through everything, right? So listen carefully as you go..."

At first, Malrik didn’t understand.

Just what was he talking about.

But then the air shifted, and the mana bubble started feeling suffocating.

Then, in a shocking turn of events, the barrier was coated in blue flames.

"!!!"

They spread along the surface of the barrier before seeping inward, filling the space bit by bit.

It looked like the fire was going to consume every inch of the space. Malrik, recoiled. He tried to back away, but the entire bubble was filled with heat.

There was nowhere to run.

He was completely surrounded.

"Hey. Are you listening?"

"You should listen when you’re told, you know?"

"Tsk. Even children follow instructions better than you," Riley muttered, his words sounding even more threatening as the flames clearly teased their threat.

"For dereliction of duty and gross negligence. For abducting and trafficking the vulnerable. For the indoctrination and brainwashing of our youth."

Each charge landed with weight.

"For the misuse of magical sigils and the murder of those who stood in your way. For treason and collusion with the enemy."

The flames that just surrounded him suddenly intensified.

Then as if finally allowed to wreak havoc, it wrapped around him.

It was going to consume him.

"And for hurting the people closest to me..."

Malrik screamed.

Riley’s voice had turned cold, a deadly reminder of the mental list he’d kept, throwing every single crime he knew of back at that sorry excuse of a creature.

He honestly wanted to itemize—return every name of every wronged child he could remember Thyrran rattling off from that blasted ledger they found.

But Malrik—this idiot—was too weak to even bear his crimes.

He couldn’t even burn long enough to pay for that much.

Surely, the screams of those he had wronged sounded worse than the ones he was making. If only he could writhe more in terror.

Haaay.

Everyone watched as what used to be the proud Chancellor Malrik Veyth burned alive. The people couldn’t help but shiver at the power of the dragon lord.

But in truth, it was all Riley.

Malrik was screaming because of someone he’d long pegged as a disposable human. Only now his flesh was being devoured by the very same being’s coveted blue flames.

Blue flames.

The irony couldn’t possibly escape him.

Malrik’s regeneration attempted to catch up, but it was impossible.

He was being consumed and pelted by a flame so strong it overwhelmed his very nature.

"...For all your crimes against the children and Eryndra, and for coveting what could never be yours..."

Riley’s eyes glowed.

Bright.

Lethal.

"Die knowing that someone as insignificant as you fell at the hands of an Iltheran."

Riley’s eyes glowed with a final, lethal spark as flames surged and swallowed him whole.

"You’ll be remembered as a hydra," Riley added quietly, "if anyone bothers to remember you at all."

"Congratulations."