Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest-Chapter 426: The Dragon’s Treachery

"Betrayal or wisdom. I can’t wait."

As Ifrit’s words caused Bart’s brows to crease into a deep furrow, Maven’s draconic roar drowned the plaza. Clothes flapped and hair ruffled as if caught in a storm. Blood drained from the faces of the trembling citizens as they watched the kobold’s rebirth as a noble dragon.

Unlike them, Maxwell grinned on the balcony, his voice piercing the winds. "Congratulations, Maverick." He chuckled. "You look incredible, truly. I can’t wait to see how you’ll wield that new power for the empire."

Bahamut nodded gently in front of the dragon, while Maven’s mouth split open.

Rows of fangs sharper than blades glistened, a scalding breath drifting from the abyssal depths of his throat. His voice came out guttural, delighted, and... something more Maxwell couldn’t yet put his finger on.

"Of course, great emperor Maxwell and dragon god Bahamut." Maven’s maws curled into a smirk. "Everything I’ve done and will do is for the empire my life belongs to."

His copper scales brightened, turning white before his words could even fade. Fiery tongues roiled in his mouth like water.

Maxwell’s eyes widened. It was mockery he had heard in Maverick’s tone. And he heard it much more clearly with the next declaration.

"It’s not your pathetic empire!"

Maven breathed out a scalding pillar. Golden flames swirled and crackled, engulfing the balcony’s stones and the nobles who partook in the ceremony. They didn’t even have a moment to scream before their flesh vaporised into drifting vapor as the stones beneath their feet instantly melted.

However, Maven’s eyes squinted at the growing figure bathing in his flames. Muscular arms pierced through his humanoid skin, immaculate scales growing like wild grass as Bahamut’s figure reached for the sky.

The flames crashed on his legs, vanishing upon contact as hulking wings devoured the plaza in their shadows. Then, Bahamut’s mouth, wide enough to devour half the city in a single bite, cracked open to let a dominating voice out.

"You dare try to kill my contractor in front of me? Absurd!" He opened his palm, revealing Maxwell.

His dishevelled blond hair stuck to his sweaty forehead, his dignified manners gone. Yet, no one took a second to glance at him.

Citizens scrambled like the flock of scared sheep they had become, their cracking voices barely audible amidst the chaos.

Unbothered by them, Maven snorted. "Must you ask what I’ve already done?"

"Nonsense!" Maxwell roared, clutching his chest. "I’ve seen you fight impossible battles until you collapsed and scars piled up on your face. For seven years... I’ve trusted you for seven years. I’ve praised your wit and determination, but even that was fake."

He clenched his jaw, pointing at Maven’s ridiculous silhouette compared to Bahamut’s. "You thought you could assassinate me in my palace? Don’t make me laugh, fool!"

Bahamut nodded. "I would never let it happen. Even if you succeeded by a miracle, do you realise you can’t escape my wrath?"

"Your wrath?" Far beneath the dragon god, Maven snorted. "You should fear ours, believe me."

"What ’ours’?" Maxwell clenched his fists. "I found you, lost and dreaming about dragons like every inferior species of kobolds! We granted you your wish; we can take it back! "

He turned toward Bahamut. But before he could ask to kill Maven, the latter’s laughter reverberated. "The first thing my lord taught me was this: we never fight alone!"

And with his words, orange flames roared on the plaza. They engulfed the fountain, spreading to the buildings. An inferno raged in the empire’s capital, and from its epicenter, two mocking laughs echoed Maven’s.

"We never fight alone!" Ifrit and Bart roared, followed by Noah and Maria.

Before Bahamut could even begin to comprehend what madness unfolded before his very eyes, the flames shifted into ancient cuneiforms. They ran across the ground, the air—across reality itself.

"NO!" Recognising them, Bahamut let out an enraged roar as he swung his palm down.

The pressure alone dispersed the cuneiforms and shattered the ground. Yet, they reformed a split second later, this time not out of orange flames, but...

"Chaotic water..." He muttered, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Indifferent to Maven’s dive to the plaza or the intruders who summoned them, he stopped his palm cold in its tracks, then redirected it toward Maxwell. Mortals didn’t matter anymore, not when this festive day just turned into one he could, perhaps, not survive.

"She’s coming, following the trail of her scout."

An icy shudder ran down Maxwell’s spine as he asked in a cracking voice. "Who’s coming?"

"The enemy of the universe, of the order we embody, one of the very first personifications of chaos and the dragon we must kill no matter what: Tiamat."

He pressed his nail against Maxwell’s torso as the scalding air turned humid, filling his nostrils with a deep scent of salt. "We don’t have time, so listen well. I had planned to make you one-tenth as powerful as I am during the ceremony, which would have sufficed to crush Tiamat’s contractor. But things are different if we fight her directly." His voice grew somber. "Even a weakened version of what she was at her prime. I need a reliable helper; therefore, I’ll propel you to the level of a middle-tier god."

While he used every second available to imbue Maxwell’s body with his essence, Maven landed on the plaza. His eyes darted between the debris for those who had answered his call before fire erupted from the cracked ground.

In a scalding whirlwind, Ifrit emerged in his giant size. His ember-like eyes blazed, and his fiery hair burst like fireworks. He dropped Bart and his children on the ground, smirking at Maven. "Long time no see, my dear captain of the guards."

"I knew you would come, my favorite judge." Maven winked at Bart’s suspicious glance. "All right, I acted on a little more than blind faith. But you guys... really suck at infiltration. You would have been caught on the first day had I not falsified the reports."

A deep furrow creased Bart’s brow. "It means... you knew we came for you months ago, but refused to meet us." He glared at Maven’s draconic body. "Just for power?"

Maven tilted his head, then corrected. "To kill our enemies. You’ve seen how Bahamut can alter individuals. The longer we let his perverted order propagate, the harder it’ll be to deal with him."

Bart clenched his jaw. "That’s not a method! What if we didn’t have ways to contact our side? Would it have been the guard, the judge, and the herder against the dragon god in his own territory?" His eyes narrowed. "Are you mad?"

Maven shrugged his massive shoulders. "How do you think I found this hidden realm in the first place? Why did Ifrit know about it?" He pointed at the cuneiforms. "Who sent me here? Don’t get the events mixed up. I dropped the act because your arrival meant she was done waiting, not because I thought we could become the three marvellous god slayers."

Ifrit patted Maven’s shoulder playfully. "Why didn’t you share that last idea earlier?" He waved his palm toward Bahamut. "The three marvellous god slayers. I like that title."

Maven clicked his tongue. "You know it’s impossible."

"Maybe not." Ifrit shrugged. "Adam and Garduck were on their way to kill one when I searched for you." He pointed at the cuneiforms, which were swirling like dark stars into a portal that reached Bahamut’s shoulders. "We’ll know if they succeeded soon enough."