Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 335

Chapter 335: EX 335. First Blood
The Dragon Lord’s body tore through the clouds like a blazing comet before crashing into a massive structure miles from the palace.

The ground quaked. Walls splintered. A shockwave rippled through the entire district of the Draconis City, the mountain’s capital.

For a moment, silence followed the devastation. Then came the sound of rushing footsteps.

Dozens of dragons in human form, commoners and attendants alike crowded around the crater, whispering in confusion.

“What was that?”

“Something fell from the palace…”

“Did a meteor hit the mountain?”

But as the dust began to settle, all chatter died.

The figure within the wreckage became clear, crimson-haired, cloaked in smoke and blood, scales cracked across his arms and chest.

One of the onlookers stumbled backward, voice trembling.

“L-Lord… Eragon.”

The words hit like a thunderclap.

The crowd fell into stunned silence, every eye widening in disbelief.

Their Dragon Lord, the undisputed ruler of the mountain, brought down?

In the next instant, a burst of power rippled through the air as several Rank 9 and Rank 8 dragons appeared, their presence shaking the ground.

The elder dragon, cloaked in gold-tinged aura, stepped forward first, landing by the crater.

“Lord…” he said quietly, staring at Eragon’s unconscious body.

Then his head snapped up.

A wave of pressure was closing in from the sky, so vast, so suffocating, so divine.

The elder’s breath hitched.

Cold sweat rolled down every dragon’s back. Even the Rank 9s felt their instincts scream.

“Take the Lord away,” the elder commanded sharply, turning to the group of thirty Rank 8s. “The rest of us will hold him back.”

The Rank 8s nodded without hesitation, hoisting Eragon’s battered form and vanishing in streaks of red and gold light.

The elder and six other Rank 9s remained, their expressions grim.

They all knew who was coming.

They’d heard of Leon Kael, of how he had stormed Dragon Mountain not long ago, handling their Rank 7s like children.

They had expected him to return with the united might of the human, elf, and beast domains.

But instead, he came alone.

And with one strike, he had floored their Lord.

The elder’s jaw tightened.

“Lord Eragon…” he muttered bitterly. “Of all people… why did you have to offend him?”

Then, without another word, all seven Rank 9 dragons took to the skies.

Their wings unfurled, their laws flared, and the heavens themselves seemed to burn with dragonfire as they moved to intercept.

–––

Leon appeared before them like a vision of war.

His white hair rippled in the wind, divine light tracing the edges of his body.

Bare-chested, his skin gleamed faintly, as if forged from pure essence.

His aura wasn’t just power, it was command.

When the dragons saw him, instinct screamed danger.

All seven transformed simultaneously, bodies expanding into colossal dragon forms, each invoking their Laws—flame, thunder, earth, wind, frost, gravity, and sound.

The sky became chaos itself.

Leon didn’t flinch.

His violet eyes narrowed.

His voice booming across the mountain.

“Get out of my way!!!!.”

And with that, he unleashed it—

Tier IV Force Domain

The world shuddered.

And a deafening BOOM echoed through the heavens as invisible pressure crushed everything in a thousand-meter radius.

The dragons never even saw it coming.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Seven shockwaves tore through the mountain as each dragon crashed into the earth, massive craters blooming beneath them.

Silence followed.

Leon hovered above the devastation, calm and unhurried.

The commoner dragons below could only stare—none daring to move, none daring to breathe.

He drifted past the fallen Rank 9s as if they were nothing more than obstacles in his path, his gaze locked on the horizon where the fleeing Rank 8s carried their unconscious Lord.

A faint glimmer of divine energy rippled in his wake as he whispered under his breath—

“You’re not running from me.”

And then, with a single beat of will, Leon vanished—

A flash of light cutting through the sky like divine judgment descending upon the escaping dragon lord.

****

The thirty Rank 8 dragons sped through the sky, their wings slicing through clouds, their aura blazing like streaks of molten light.

The unconscious Dragon Lord Eragon hung suspended within a cocoon of protective essence, his body still trembling faintly from the earlier impact.

None of the thirty dared to speak.

Their instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong.

Then, one of them froze mid-flight, eyes wide with sudden dread.

“Wait…” he whispered, scanning the skies behind them.

“The Rank 9s… I can’t sense them anymore.”

A cold silence fell.

Another dragon turned sharply, panic spreading across his scaled face.

“That’s not possible! Seven Rank 9s—”

He never finished the sentence.

A force, unseen but overwhelming, slammed into them like the wrath of the heavens.

BOOM.

The shockwave spread outward in a perfect ring. The thirty dragons didn’t even have time to resist.

Their wings shattered midair, their consciousness flickering out like snuffed candles.

They plummeted one by one, streaks of light fading into the forests and peaks below.

The Dragon Lord’s body—wrapped in half-formed scales and blood—was hurled even farther, crashing through stone and earth until he finally came to a halt in a ruined valley.

–––

Leon floated above the chaos, eyes sharp, his divine aura shimmering faintly.

Below him, Eragon stirred.

The Dragon Lord’s crimson eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first. His breathing was ragged.

The world spun around him in shattered fragments, the scent of dust, stone, and blood thick in the air.

He pushed himself up with one trembling arm, confusion lacing his tone.

“Wha… what happened?”

Then his gaze lifted.

High above, amidst drifting dust and broken light, stood Leon, his arms folded, silver-white hair flowing and divine light radiating from his form. He looked down upon the dragon like a god who had already passed judgment.

For a brief moment, neither moved.

Then something warm touched the back of Eragon’s hand.

A single drop of crimson.

He blinked, confused, then touched his forehead with his fingers, when his hand came back into view, it was stained red.

His pupils contracted to pinpoints.