Nicolas woke up. Something was off. But it did not matter. The long table beneath the Summoning Tree was set with the best the expanded farms could offer. Flame-fruit glazed meats, terra-grain breads still warm from the ovens, aqua-clear soups, dark-ember wines, and dishes laced with the subtle crackle of the new electrical dragoness’s element. All of them were present.
Ember sat at Nicolas’s right, white-gold scales tracing her arms and the elegant line of her spine, the soft early curve of pregnancy already visible. Victoria sat at his left, grounded and calm, her own pregnancy progressing with the steady certainty of Prime Earth. Lola, Nera, Lisa, and the still-young electrical dragoness filled the remaining places. The air was warm with their combined presence.
Nicolas moved around the table himself, serving, adjusting portions, resting a hand briefly on Ember’s shoulder or Victoria’s back to check the quiet strength of the lives they carried. He kissed each of them in turn,Ember’s mouth warm with true fire, Victoria’s steady and deep, Lola’s volcanic and sharp, Nera’s dark and lingering, Lisa’s cool and flowing, and a lighter, encouraging brush of lips against the electrical dragoness’s forehead. The meal passed in comfortable conversation, the kind that only existed inside the Domain.
When the plates were cleared, Ember leaned closer.
“There’s a Flame Cup opening in the upper combat circuits of the Domain,” she said. “Restricted to fire-aligned pairs. The final reward is a Rare Dragoness Armor, metal and fire dual-weave, self-repairing, ranked for high-intensity combat. I want it. And I want you with me.”
Nicolas met her luminous eyes and nodded once.
“We enter together.”
The Flame Cup arena was a circular platform of blackened stone suspended over a slow-burning magma rift. Only fire-capable combatants were permitted. Nicolas and Ember stepped onto the platform as a bonded pair. Three consecutive opponents rose to meet them. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping(.)com.
First came a Very Rare Alien Dragon, Level 15, elements of Electrical, Darkness, and Metal. Its body was angular and unnatural, scales like polished black chrome shot through with crackling violet current. It attacked with ruthless precision, Void-Current Lances that sought to pierce and overload, followed by Magnetic Crush that tried to fold the arena metal around them. Ember met the assault head-on. White-gold true flame erased the darkness component on contact. Nicolas channeled Absolute Darkness and Prime Earth through his own body, anchoring against the magnetic force while Ember closed the distance. She drove a clawed hand into the weaker joint beneath its jaw and poured transformational fire directly into the electrical core. The Alien Dragon convulsed, metal plating melting, and collapsed in a heap of slag and spent current. They wanted more and more than ever before.
Second was a Common Ice Dragon, smaller, desperate, trying to smother their fire with sheer volume of cold. It never stood a chance. Ember exhaled a controlled ribbon of ultimate flame that turned the creature’s own ice into explosive steam. Nicolas finished it with a single earth-weighted strike that shattered the frozen spine. That is to say that something was born. Being born was not easy. But to be born you should be destroyed.
Third came a Rare Tropical Dragon of Earth and Nature. Vines, toxic pollen, and dense living wood erupted across the platform. It fought to entangle and poison. Ember burned a clean path through the vegetation. Nicolas used Victoria’s Prime Earth insight to turn the dragon’s own terrain against it, hardening the living wood into brittle stone at critical points. Ember’s final attack Solar Annihilation Breathwashed over the Tropical Dragon in a wave of pure transformational fire. Nature and earth both yielded. The dragon fell, charred and still.
Silence held for a moment. Then the system registered the consecutive victories.
Flame Cup preliminary circuit cleared.
Reward issued: Rare Dragoness Armor : Metal:Fire Dual-Weave.
The armor appeared before Ember in a flare of heat and steel. Living metal plates layered with contained flame settled across her human-dragon form, molding perfectly to her curves and wings. It drank her white-gold fire and returned it amplified. She flexed one armored hand, then looked at Nicolas with quiet satisfaction. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
“Worth it,” she said.
They returned to the habitats together. Nicolas checked both pregnancies again, Ember’s heat steady and strong, Victoria’s foundation unshaken. The other dragonesses gathered close. He kissed each of them once more, slower this time, before the Domain’s artificial night settled over the expanded island.
The Rare armor now belonged to Ember.
Three more opponents had fallen.
And the Dragon Emperor’s circle remained unbroken.
Damn it. You dynamite baby.
Thank you for reading. Just asking bros and sis. Are you gooners?