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While Longshan was quite isolated and secluded, they were not fully shut off from the rest of the world. While independent, they still were one of Serperion’s territories, so they had to pay some amount of taxes. To accomplish that, they had a small group of trusted merchants and traders who were allowed into their cities, keeping an economy afloat. Sometimes their governor would also have to go meet with the other nobles of Seperion.

Sometimes there would be foolish adventurers who would sneak in wanting to make a name for themselves, but most of them would be quickly chased out by dragonborn children in humiliating defeat. But that also led them to develop a superiority complex over other species, especially humans, who they deemed to be inferior to all other species.

Now Fan-Yen was fighting against such a human, a girl whose face still looked like she was not fully grown out of her childhood.

And it was an actual fight.

There were only a handful of dragonborn in Longshan who still remembered the old war, those who really knew their old days of glory when they were revered as the messengers from the Gods, and how they fell. One of them was Fan-Yen, someone who had taken part in the war, and was a legendary warrior from those days.

The dragonborn watching the fight were shocked, hardly believing that there was a human who could corner her like that.

As the fight went on, they also began to realize that the girl was no ordinary person either.

But they all still believed that Fan-Yen would emerge victorious, or rather, that was their conviction. And when the girl punched Fan-Yen’s chin to send her flying into the air, their conviction turned to certainty.

That girl had just sealed her death sentence by enraging Fan-Yen.

After Olivia’s punch, Fan-Yen’s body flew high into the air, but then she seemed to freeze in mid-air. Even though Olivia had sent her there, she stared in disbelief, feeling like it almost looked like time had frozen for Fan-Yen.

“Graahhhhhhh!!!”

Then Fan-Yen turned around and dove straight towards Olivia to attack her.

Her eyes were bloodshot and drool hung from her lips, it was like she had lost all sanity. But that also meant all her limiters were gone, attacking without mercy and restraint.

Olivia quickly moved out of the way, putting in a lot of distance between them with the speed of Divine Wind.

But no matter where she went, she would find Fan-Yen right in front of her. Somehow Fan-Yen was moving just as fast as Divine Wind.

Realizing she could not run away, Olivia quickly assumed a defensive stance, though with one of her arms broken it would only be half as effective.

“Grrahh!”

Olivia swatted the incoming punch with the back of her hand to avoid it, but Fan-Yen’s attacks became much more violent than before, and since her left arm was unusable, she had no choice but to somehow use the speed of Divine wind to evade the rest. But no matter how quickly she ran, Fan-Yen was always closing up to her.

She could not block or evade anymore, so Olivia had one option left.

“Hahh!”

She had to attack too.

After a deep breath, she fought back with the same speed and force as her opponent. It was like her broken arm’s disadvantage vanished in an instant, punching and kicking constantly, and after some time cracks began to appear in Fan-Yen’s scales.

“Hyehh!”

Olivia kicked Fan-Yen’s stomach with all her might, pushing her back.

“Ghuh!”

As she groaned, something crimson began to leak from between her sharp teeth. And then she opened her mouth and spat out an enormous fireball. A heat wave even hotter than before hit everyone, but Olivia punched the fireball without hesitation.

The dispersed energy produced an explosion, spreading flames and smoke everywhere.

“Hahhhh!”

Then from within the flames came Olivia, her fist held up and covered in lightning.

“GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Fan-Yen’s shout sounded more like a dragon’s roar, sending a powerful shockwave that made the surrounding buildings crumble and sent Olivia flying back.

Olivia was carried like a leaf in the wind, but just when she was about to hit a wall, she spun her body around to hit the wall with her feet before jumping forward again. She flew like an arrow heading straight for Fan-Yen’s torso.

“Grahhawarrr!”

Not even Fan-Yen could tell if that was a groan of pain or a roar of anger, as the hit pushed her back, but she managed to stay on her feet, even as her heels dug into the ground.

While she came to a stop, Olivia had already jumped high into the air. When Fan-Yen looked up, she saw Olivia heading down right at her, like a comet of purple lightning.

“Hyeeeeeeehhhhhhhh!!”

She shouted loudly as she accelerated down, a bright lightning blinding everyone when she landed, and a large cloud of dust rose into the air.

Dragonborn had more physical strength than demihumans and dwarves, could fly freely like birdmen, and had magic prowess and lifespan that rivaled that of elves.

Because of that, they were once worshiped as messengers of the Gods, and the territory they lived in was considered a holy mountain. The emperor of the time even built a temple for them there, and would regularly give them offerings.

The dragonborn also assumed that was their divine duty, dedicating themselves to clerical roles and lending their strength and wisdom to those in need.

Nearly an eternity passed like that and they watched many countries form and fall around them.

Eventually a new dynasty began, led by a ruler with no regard for religion who merely cared about his own vanity and riches. He ravaged the land, impoverished the people, and forgot the true meaning of ruling over people.

The land no longer resembled a country and was more like a sitting duck, prime for Seperion to invade and conquer.

“I would’ve never expected they’d be this tenacious.”
“It’s so annoying when weaker species decide to bunch up like that.”

Just the battle cries and voices of their army told them how numerous they were.

Seperion’s army was composed of humans, various types of demihumans, dwarves, and elves, each of which had specific roles that suited their expertise.

As superior as dragonborn were in most aspects, that was always compared against a single other species. But if there were multiple species banded together so they could cover for the weaknesses of each other, they could easily overpower the dragonborn, especially considering how outnumbered the dragonborn would be.

“So the tigers already surrendered to them.”
“Considering how rotten the emperor is, no one can count on receiving assistance. I’d say that was a wise choice.”

Many dragonborn warriors had already fallen in battle, but they were still ready to march to the front lines one last time, as a demonstration of their willpower and pride.

Then someone else joined them, a dragonborn woman who was covered in bloodied bandages.