Chapter 13-373: Cold-Blooded (1/2)

“We were unaware of such things, although we saw where the Empire has indeed spread its bloodlines to many other worlds, conquering some, merely infiltrating others.”

“It happened fairly recently, and since you were trapped here, you could not have known.” I pursed my lips thoughtfully as I studied this Portal, setting my hand on it and keying the power inside of it.

Nothing happened, of course. This thing’s only purpose was to form a Portal to another world ruled by dragons, and the Shroud naturally stopped it.

Its presence here also explained the numbers of dragons here. Any of the various rival lineages of the dragons could have keyed into this Portal and sent their younger generations through to the Hollow World. I was actually surprised it was being guarded by the Bloodline of Abyssal Maws...

“Is there an arrangement with some other Old Gods here to allow it to persist, or has it basically been forced to shut down by external pressure?”

“There were many forces competing with the dragons very energetically while it was open. Once the Shroud came down and no more dragons could enter through it, the interest of the more aggressive terrestrial forces waned, and those forces in the tiers ceased to pay attention to it. Grobriundlarsh dares not leave the clouds unless he wants them to come here and destroy the Portal, as some of the neighboring Old Gods would react immediately to his existence and the spread of his Bloodline if they knew he was still alive.”

“Well, his Bloodline is not an issue, unless they are wary of you.” There was no true physical change at this point, but I could feel the Charisma effects starting to grow around them as they assimilated the lilitu completely. They were ten days into it, and their Presence had soared.

“They have sensed us, but only as a Warlock Grandmaster. A Bloodline is mostly irrelevant with such status, although we have felt their interest. Would we make any overtures, we are certain they would be willing to speak with us.”

“I saw your Sorcery kicked in.” Hard for someone like me to miss that.

“Yes. Syasstraz was only a base succubus, after all. We have completely assimilated her lineage, and are feeding her Sorcery as we continue up the advancement to a lilitu.” They shook their head in exasperation. “Too many of the spells are directly tied to the Bloodline, and they are coming in without direction or choice.”

“Well, you’ve a dual Bloodline inheritance, exacerbated by you actually advancing succubus Racial Levels. It is probably not that surprising.”

“Nereid/Sirine and Erinyes, as well.” I arched an eyebrow, thought about that, and nodded. It made sense. Just with that arrangement, that meant four of their Spells Known were pre-selected for them by Valence, and they naturally had the same spells Syasstruz had to start with. Their optimized choices were basically null.

“But you actually have higher Valence spells, not stopping at Five?”

“We shall see tomorrow. What do you wish to do with this Portal?” they asked, clearly not placing much value on the fixed magic at this point.

I withdrew my hand from the Portal, and the burning Glyphs on the thing gradually dimmed. “I was verifying dimensional coordinates. I’d like you to break the thing into small pieces, and then I will Disintegrate the lot of them.”

They smiled, canines now considerably more developed then a human’s. Scaled knuckles cracked like gunfire. “Certainly!”

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The last remnants of the Portal hissed and fell into powder. The dragons would have no easy path here, and pointedly, didn’t have an easy route out of here if and when the Shroud rose.

I still hadn’t met a noble dragon, and considered it unlikely. They were long-lived, predatory, magical, extremely proud, arrogant, and very intelligent reptilian killing machines with their own agendas, desires, drives, and motivations that certainly didn’t take the welfare of measly intelligent primates into consideration. Their bloody habit of infiltrating and subverting the ecology of wherever they went was basically a one-way road to disaster to any other species living there.

They were going to have to die, because they were too dangerous to everything to keep around. Bloody drak...

That Qi-mutated dragon wasn’t one of the Lineages from the Empire of Cold Blood, of course. Cultivator-dragons were as alien to dragons as Cultivators were to humans. But the presence of dragons also meant the presence of Dragonhearts.

Dragonhearts were kinder, gentler ways to get the half-dragon Template, if you were capable of wrestling with and besting the soul of the dragon you butchered to get it. If you failed, you became a new dragon in humanoid form who had to be put down, so it was not something for the faint of heart to do.

Consuming a half-dragon succubus Pact Grantor was a very non-standard approach to getting the same thing. Having to be Heaven-and-Hellbound to make that work was a rather steep requirement, too.

“You are considering something?” Legion asked, eying the empty spot where the Portal they had wrenched apart was no longer standing, but my eyes were focused elsewhere.

“The amethyst dragon that Bound Professor Shellington. All I know of dragons was basically gained through conversation with celestials or Jotuns. We rarely had anything resembling gainful conversations with the Lineages that invaded Terra-Luna.

“As I recall, the amethyst Lineage is considered noble, wise, aloof, and disinterested in conflict. They are masters of magical and psionic powers, particularly force effects.” I considered a whole bunch of variables. “That does not make them pacifists, that makes them passive aggressive. They are still subject to the compulsion to hoard, and to gain territory and status, and they are still proud and arrogant.”

“All of that is true,” Legion agreed. “Wisdom is also a euphemism for slyness. Amethysts are the type of dragon that attempts to beat you before the fight starts, so you that you simply concede. If you dare to fight, then they are over-prepared and punish you accordingly. Since they move around other dragons instead of against them, they are a frustrating foe to counter.”