Chapter 436: Don’t make me do something that will stop the count of those years.

“My… arm…”

Draksis’s words trembled as he stared at his charred hand. The feeling of being able to see his arm but not feel it was… terrifying.

Unable to believe what was happening to him, he forced his left hand to lift the ruined right, and once in the air, he let it go, hoping that he would be able to feel his arm and stop it from falling on the bed.

But…

It didn’t go as he expected.

His right arm fell on the bed with a light thud. There was no pain, or any other feeling. It didn’t resist. It simply dangled uselessly, looking like a grotesque shadow of what it once was.

The only thing Draksis’s action did was open up the ‘wounds’ Korvath had closed, making the smell of old char and cooked flesh spread in the room.

“N-No…”

Draksis whispered, his eyes widened in horror.

In an instant, memories of decades he had spent inside the Forge appeared in his head—the forge’s heat, the weight of a hammer, the ringing of steel.

His entire life…

It was completely dependent on his right hand.

But now…

It was gone…

“I can’t— I can’t feel it…”

He stuttered, the sheer panic in his voice was… heart-wrenching.

His breathing turned harsh, fear slid into his chest, making him choke, even his body began to shiver.

But then—

His fear hardened, his eyes snapped up, blazing with sudden rage.

“Kael.”

The name came out like a growl.

The elders around him shifted uneasily, staring at each other with an uneasy look on their faces. Even Morvain seemed a little unsure of what to do.

Lavinia, too, was here. Kael had left, but she felt like she needed to be here, else the wall between them and the Velmourn Elders would strengthen.

Her body flinched when Draksis growled Kael’s name, she however, kept a poker face. Her shoulders remained tight, ready to face whatever was about to come.

Just then, Draksis’s glare found her.

“KAEL!”

He roared, his raw rage spread all over the room.

“Bring that bastard and that Dragon of his here!”

He lurched forward towards Lavinia, left fist clenched, his ruined arm swinging like dead weight.

The elders exchanged nervous looks, some lowered their eyes. Morvain tried to stop Draksis, but the man pushed her away and stood right in front of Lavinia.

“They will pay for this! DO YOU HEAR ME?

They will pay!”

“…”

Lavinia stood silent, staring at the maddened man standing in front of her. Now, even her poker face began to crack, her mouth twitching nervously ever so lightly.

The room was dead silent after Draksis’s roar, and the silence only deepened his fury.

He lunged forward, as if trying to attack Lavinia but then—

Flap

Fwoosh

Through the thick stone walls, a distant thrum filled the air—a deep, heavy beat like a giant heart.

Flap Flap

The sound became clearer and clearer. In an instant, everyone in the room realized what it was.

Lavinia sighed in relief.

Igni was here.

And if he was back, then it meant…

The Mage closed her eyes and stepped back from the maddened Elder. Draksis didn’t react to her movements, he just stared towards the sound of the thrum, as if waiting.

Snowflakes shivered on the window ledge and finally—

A shadow passed over the courtyard.

Fwoosh

A roar of wind followed.

Outside, Igni’s massive wings cut through the gray sky, and Kael leapt off the dragon’s back with a soft crunch of snow.

Every head in the chamber turned toward the sound, staring at the man who had appeared through the window.

Draksis’s breathing quickened, his eyes glaring at the man, ignoring everything else beside him.

“Kael.”

He growled in fury,

“You dare show yourself…”

The elder rushed out of the room, slamming the door open with a powerful kick. The Elders flinched at the sudden action, but they soon followed behind the Leader of Forge, not wanting the situation to escalate any further than it already had.

The old man walked towards Kael, his blackened arm moved like a loose sling. The snowstorm whipped across the courtyard, but the cold did nothing to cool the fury on his face.

Kael stood there, his one hand on top of Igni, as if telling him not to make a move, not right now.

When Lavinia noticed his calm, almost expressionless face, she felt odd.

Something… did not feel right.

And it wasn’t just her, Morvain noticed it as well. Kael did not seem like his normal self right now.

However, Draksis was already standing in front of the Dragon Rider, his anger completely out of control.

“Look at what your Dragon did to me!”

He screamed, showing the charred remains of his right arm—skin cracked and black, fingers twisted like burnt branches.

“I can’t feel a thing!”

He spat.

“This is your Dragon’s work!”

In front of his outburst, Kael’s eyes slowly slid to the ruined limb and back to Draksis’s face without any change in his expression.

“That is a sorry sight.”

He said in a voice so void of emotions that it almost felt like he was saying it just for the sake of it.

He did not mean even a single word he said.

Draksis blinked, thrown off by the calmness.

“You dare—”

He tried to speak but then—

“You should have been more careful about where you open your mouth.”

Kael cut in.

“Words have weight.

You kept throwing yours at me like stones.

I do not understand why you are so surprised when one finally broke your hand.”

Kael answered with a slight, almost unnerving frown.

The elders who had followed Draksis outside froze when they heard Kael’s words and his almost nonchalant tone.

Draksis’s jaw tightened.

“I am an Elder of the Iron Council—”

“And you still think that matters to me?”

Kael asked in a flat voice.

“I defended this place when it was attacked, I feed the people while all this Council of yours does is come up with systematic ways to starve them to their deaths.

I stand, I shoulder all the responsibilities.

And you think a title of a mere Elder will make me bow?”

Draksis’s face flushed red.

“You insolent—”

“You mistake patience for weakness, Draksis.”

Kael spoke as he took a slow step closer, his hollow, emotionless eyes staring into Draksis’s.

“I let you talk because I respected your years.

Don’t make me do something that will stop the count of those years.”

A threat.

A direct threat.

Lavinia widened her eyes when she heard Kael’s words.

This…

Just as she thought, something happened.

This Kael was too different than what she was used to. To think this was the same man who was barely able to stand on his feet when he saw those dead bodies, but now was staring at Draksis’s grotesque arm with no change on his face.

Heck, to think he would go as far as threatening him when he would normally be thinking of ways to cure him.

Just… what was happening…?

“You…

Did you just… threaten me…?

In front of all the Council Members at that…?”

Draksis spoke, glancing at the Elders, as if trying to gain their support before he turned towards Kael again and—

“You think you stand above the Council because of what you did?”

He questioned directly.

“I stand where I choose to.”

Kael answered dismissively, as if he didn’t even take the man in front of him seriously.

To make it even worse, he glanced at Lavinia and—

“Lavinia, the Council Meeting’s long ended. There is no need to waste your time standing here because of something so insignificant. Let’s go.”

He spoke as he began walking towards Lavinia, completely ignoring Draksis.

And his words made Draksis tremble in uncontrollable rage.

“Insignificant…?”

He muttered. The elders could literally feel the man losing his sense of reason.

And before they could stop him—

“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!”

Draksis shouted, pointing his left hand at Kael.

“YOUR ARM WILL BURN JUST LIKE MINE!!!

AND THAT DAMNED DRAGON OF YOURS TO—”

Suddenly, Kael moved.

Before anyone could blink, he was in front of Draksis again, his cloak snapping in the icy wind.

Draksis flinched, but he was too slow to do anything else. Kael grabbed the elder by the throat and lifted him off the ground as easily as if he weighed nothing.

“Aaacckkkk!! Khrrkkk!!! Le—kkhrrrkk!!!”

Draksis gasped, feet kicking against empty air.

His eyes went wide, shock overtaking rage.

“Kael!”

Morvain tried to rush towards them but the woman suddenly froze when Igni stepped forward, his ember eyes staring right into hers.

“Stay where you are, Human.”

The Dragon warned and Morvain’s instincts screamed at her not to go against those words.

It wasn’t just her, the rest of the Elders stood frozen as well, none daring to move. Even Korvath stayed still, staring at the situation in shock.

As for Kael…

He glared at the struggling Draksis and suddenly—

He reached out with his other hand and grabbed Draksis’s charred right arm at the elbow. The burned flesh felt crumbly under his fingers, like dry charcoal ready to shatter. Draksis’s eyes bulged in terror, realizing what was coming.

“N—krrrrhh!!!”

He tried speaking, but he couldn’t. The only thing he could do was struggle desperately and stare at Kael’s expressionless face with horror flooding his gaze.

And then it happened.

Snap

The arm came off with shocking ease—no resistance, just a soft, brittle crack like snapping a twig. The weakened, ashy tissue crumbled instantly, blackened skin flaking off in powdery bits as the limb tore free at the shoulder.

Charred bone splintered with a dull snap, and fragments of burned muscle and tendon scattered like dust in the wind. A thin trickle of cauterized blood oozed from the stump, and the arm itself fell to the snow.