I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 743: How?

Myrine Archon’s breath had caught in her throat at the moment the figure announced himself.

Her tactical mind, which had spent centuries developing frameworks for understanding power and dominance, was struggling to process what it was witnessing.

A single human announcing his intention to destroy an entire dragon force composed of thousands of creatures that had been refined through military discipline to operate as a unified organism.

“That’s not possible,” she whispered, her voice emerging with the halting quality of someone forcing their consciousness to articulate thoughts that resisted formulation. Her hands pressed flat against the table, her knuckles whitening from the pressure.

…

Sariel Nyctelios felt the blood drain from his face.

His hand gripped the edge of the table with enough force to make the aged wood creak in protest. His ancient body went rigid as he heard the name spoken across the scrying mirror.

Ren Ryzard.

The name itself was a ghost from history, a creature that should have remained lost to time. His mind processed the implications of what it meant that this being was still alive, walking the world after three hundred years of absence.

….

King Maelor’s ancient eyes had locked onto the figure the moment he emerged from the portal.

His entire body had gone rigid, his hand gripping the stone armrest of his throne with such force that several of the younger guards had instinctively tensed, preparing to respond to what they expected would be a command to address some crisis.

The muscles of his jaw clenched so tightly that the veins along his temples became visibly prominent.

He did not issue a command.

Then the figure announced his name.

“I am Ren Ryzard.”

The words struck Maelor deeper than any blade could ever reach.

His consciousness crystallized around a recognition that transcended immediate tactical assessment. That name.

A name that had not been spoken in three hundred years. A name that belonged to a creature from the Prosperity Kingdom, a civilization that had fallen three centuries ago when the King and his trusted backers decided to kill the hero.

Ren Ryzard was alive, standing alone against thousands of dragons.

Jack Kaiser had released Ren Ryzard.

The implications cascaded through Maelor’s consciousness with the force of an avalanche.

Jack Kaiser had not simply retrieved a powerful ally. He had retrieved a Sovereign-rank entity from the lost kingdom of Prosperity.

He had retrieved something that should have remained separated from the world, something whose very existence represented a level of power that transcended conventional understanding.

But more than that, more staggering than that, Jack Kaiser possessed the capability to find and bind a creature so powerful that Maelor could feel his presence from hundreds of miles away.

The sensation was like standing before an open forge, the heat pressing against him from a distance, the raw intensity of existence radiating outward from a single focal point.

How had Jack Kaiser found such a being?

How had he convinced such a creature to serve him?

What did it mean that Jack Kaiser now commanded the loyalty of something this ancient, this powerful, this fundamentally dangerous?

Maelor’s grip on the throne’s armrest became so tight that the stone itself began to crack minutely beneath his fingers. The sound was infinitesimal, barely perceptible, yet it was enough to cause Queen Morvanna’s head to turn slightly toward him.

Her eyes met his for a fraction of a second, and in that moment of contact, she recognized something in her ancient king that she had never expected to witness.

Awe.

Genuine, profound awe at the realization that Jack Kaiser had managed to accomplish something that transcended every expectation of what a human could achieve.

He had found a survivor from a dead civilization. He had bound a being of inconceivable power. He had transformed the global strategic landscape with a single decision.

——-

Across the battlefield, Ren’s gaze swept across the assembled dragons once more, assessing their formations, their psychological states with the precision of someone who had spent centuries understanding warfare at levels that transcended tactical doctrine.

The younger dragons were afraid. Their fear was evident in the minute adjustments of their posture, in the subtle shifts of their wing positions, in the way their breathing had become shallow and rapid.

Their talons clenched involuntarily against empty air, seeking purchase against a threat that couldn’t be grasped or struck.

The older dragons were attempting to maintain composure. Their centuries of experience were fighting against the primal recognition that they were facing something that transcended their understanding of combat.

Their attention was drawn to the tactical situation, prompting a series of calculations and reassessments to formulate appropriate responses to this unprecedented threat.

Malicia’s copper scales seemed to darken as her body responded to the adrenaline coursing through her.

The scars from battles across three continents marked her as a survivor, a creature who had learned, over centuries of engagement, how to respond to threats and overwhelm opponents.

Yet even she was struggling to formulate a response to what she was witnessing.

Nexia’s silver scales reflected the chaotic purple sky as she maintained her position in the formations. Her wind and earth affinity gave her a perceptual acuity that exceeded that of most dragons, and what she was sensing from Ren Ryzard was a presence that seemed to extend far beyond his physical form.

It was as if his mere existence was pushing against reality itself, warping the fundamental laws that governed force and energy.

“Choose,” Ren said, his voice carrying the particular weight of someone issuing a final command before absolute violence became inevitable. Each word was delivered with the measured precision of someone for whom hesitation had never been a factor in decision-making.

“Select the one among you who will engage first. Decide now. Because in moments, the choice will be made for you.”

The silence that followed was filled with the sound of wind currents and the distant rumble of displaced air molecules being compressed and displaced by the sheer concentration of magical energy still being channeled by the assembled dragons.

No dragon stepped forward.

No dragon volunteered.

No dragon seemed willing to be the first to test themselves against whatever this creature was.

Ren waited, his blue eyes tracking the assembled formations with the patient precision of someone who understood that hesitation was its own form of answer.

His expression remained unchanging, his posture unaltered by the lack of response. He waited, as if he had all the time in existence to allow the dragons to come to terms with their inevitable fate.

Then, in a moment that transcended normal perception, Ren disappeared.

There was no acceleration that could be tracked by draconic sight.

There was no visible transition from his position on the ground to his current location.

There was no blur of motion, no apparent trajectory of movement.

He existed in a new place, and in that new place, he was standing on the back of a scaled dragon whose speed had once been legendary across three continents.

Boreas had one moment to process what had happened. ‘When did he get there? How?’

His consciousness registered the weight of an armored figure on his back, the movement of Ren’s arm, the arc of a blade that seemed to exist in dimensions beyond normal space.

Family vacation. I will still post chapters. TOD uncertain.

Family vacation. I will still post chapters. TOD uncertain.