Westminster Bank

He hastily performed a Knight’s salute. "Lord Newton."

"This would be a fine place for a cemetery, but these mountains are quite an eyesore. To use a Chinese phrase, the feng shui is bad."

Newton pointed toward the hills and fields beyond the Dragon Tide. The landscape was a vibrant green, a rare sight in the cold winters of Wales. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Dragon Descendants swarmed across the green slopes, their rumbling advance reminiscent of dozens of steam trains departing a London station decades ago.

"However, I am a man who keeps his word. The Beowulf Family did, after all, openly adhere to our agreement. Besides, the disturbance from these Dragon Descendants might just stir the Mad Dragon beneath Traitor’s Cliff... Hmm, one-third, then."

Newton spoke in terms Wilder didn’t understand. "One-third for natural selection. That shouldn’t warrant a meeting with God. It also counts as honoring my agreement with Leighton, so those Druids and lovers of the natural environment and wild Magical Beasts won’t be lambasting me in the papers."

BOOM!

Just as a Fifth Generation Species of Dragon Descendant roared and lunged at the two of them, and as Silver Lion Wilder activated his [Lion’s Eye], the old man suddenly extended a finger and pointed it unsteadily at the Dragon Descendant.

The Dragon Descendant’s body froze in mid-air.

No, to say its body froze in mid-air would be inaccurate. Rather, everything had stopped.

The Dragon Descendant, the Dragon Tide, the grassy fields... Even the roars of the Dragon Descendants—everything as far as the eye could see had fallen into a terrifying state of stagnation.

Wilder could feel a terrifying, invisible power radiate from the old man’s fingertip, instantly blanketing the entire Dracul Mountain Range.

In Wilder’s Lion’s Eye, that power was iron-gray. Everything it covered, from the multi-colored Dragon Tide to the vibrant green slopes, instantly turned the same iron-gray.

Then, he felt a wind blow from an unknown source.

It blew the galloping, roaring Dragon Tide away.

Literally blew them away. The Dragon Tide, like stone statues weathered over many years, disintegrated into dust.

"Are they... all dead?" Wilder could still speak in this iron-gray world, probably because he was a Silver.

"I accelerated their time. To be precise, they were culled by natural selection," Newton said. "Tell the Beowulf Family they can cordon off the foremost plot of land. The London Tower intends to invest in a cemetery there."

"It’s better than lying in some place like Westminster Cathedral, at least."

A gust of wind blew past, and Newton’s form dissipated as well.

Wilder gazed in the direction the Dragon Tide had come from. Though some Dragon Descendants continued to trickle out from the rear, their numbers were no longer significant. Moreover, some of the High Tier Dragon Descendants began circling in place when they reached a vast, flat expanse, seemingly hesitant.

’If I saw the mountain range that was previously blocking the way suddenly turn into a plain, I’d hesitate too,’ Wilder thought.

It had taken seven hours for the Dragon Tide to erupt and become an unstoppable force, yet Newton had eliminated a third of it in just seven seconds. As expected of the strongest Golden Mage of the current era.

Upon receiving the news, Lidton, Patriarch of the Beowulf Family, looked at the reinforcements that had just arrived and bellowed, "Counterattack! We must drive the Dragon Descendants into the inner circle!"

Countless Dragon Slayers answered his call, raising their Big Sabers, Great Swords, and long spears as they roared, venting their emotions.

Elder Pence immediately issued a command to the arriving Griffin Knight Order: "You must capture Baron Constantin!"

Then, he added through clenched teeth, "Even if it’s just his corpse!"

............