Chapter 256: Usurpation

In the medical research building of the Wiltonstein Charity Hospital, Consulius Wiltonstein stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing out a window toward the eastern part of the city.

From there, one could see dark clouds rolling in the sky, with countless flashes of lightning darting through them, accompanied by peals of thunder.

"Why have you suddenly come here?"

Professor Abraham Wiltonstein, the director of the Wiltonstein Charity Hospital, asked with great curiosity: "And you say you want Hazel's blood sample, but I remember that girl was disowned from her father's generation, wasn't she?"

"It exists!"

Consulius said with a firm tone: "After Vivian died, the Council of Elders sent someone to test Hazel's aptitude. There must be a copy of her records here."

"Is that so? That makes sense. If it does exist, I'll have them send her blood sample as soon as possible."

Abraham said as he dialed an internal phone: "But Consulius, can you tell me why? That girl should now be in the Dragon Witch Cult's base, being used as an egg bed for the resurrection of the Calamity Dragon Maiden Adriana, right?"

"Someone told me that Hazel would become a dragon-winged Valkyrie."

At that moment, Consulius's expression was quite complex, and Abraham Wiltonstein stood frozen in place. It took him a long while to react before he gave a few instructions to the person on the other end of the line.

"You're right, they did keep a copy. But Consulius, I think that statement wasn't something just anyone would tell you, was it? Valkyries—those of the Norse pantheon?"

"I'm not sure what state Hazel will be in the future, but I guess what that person meant was that she would be as powerful as a Valkyrie. Also, you guessed right—the one who told me this was Judith Brown."

"Mrs. Brown? The close friend of the late Chrisa?"

A look of astonishment appeared on Abraham's face: "Wow, that renowned astrologer from the Eastern Continent, the genius medium who foresaw more than forty years ago that your union with Chrisa would end in tragedy—"

He couldn't continue, because his cousin Consulius shot him a glare as sharp as a knife.

Fortunately, a knock came at the door, and Diamond entered, easing his embarrassment.

"Chairman, according to the observations of the Twin Stars, Sir Andrew's men have slain the Seven Apostles."

Consulius turned around and looked again at the distant night sky. Abraham exclaimed in surprise: "Did I hear that right? Andrew, his men killed the Seven Apostles? The Calamity Apostles, right?"

But Diamond ignored his question: "However, our observations from the outer layer can only go this far. They have already entered the second underground level, which is shrouded by a powerful force, and our observation spells cannot penetrate further."

Just then, a massive thunderstorm suddenly erupted in the sky over the eastern city, turning the entire sky a silvery white. Three seconds later, a tremendous thunderclap reached them, causing the glass in front of Consulius to develop faint cracks. This made the three people in the room look grave.

"It's dragon might—"

Abraham muttered involuntarily: "It seems Andrew's subordinates have terribly bad luck. It's not even 11:40 yet—damn it! I guess the Dragon Witch Cult must have used some strange bloody secret art; they're good at that."

His voice suddenly stopped because the door to his office was flung open, and a young man staggered in.

"Professor, I've brought Hazel's blood sample, but something is very wrong."

He took out a crystal vial from his white coat and placed it on Abraham's desk with trembling hands.

"She seems to have awakened her dragon vein, but I've never seen anything like this."

The three people in the room all focused their gaze on the crystal vial. Inside, the blood had transformed into countless threads, weaving together into the shape of a red dragon, its entire body engulfed in a black flame. Just by looking, they could sense the power of that flame, as the specially made crystal and sealing array showed signs of collapse under the intense heat, forcing Abraham to immediately act to suppress the black fire.

"The Calamity Dragon Maiden, indeed—"

Abraham sighed: "It seems she couldn't escape this fate after all."

Even Diamond couldn't help but frown, a hint of unreadable emotion in his eyes.

Only Consulius remained focused, watching intently. As time passed, the look of astonishment on his face grew deeper.

The other two were initially puzzled, but just three seconds later, the red dragon inside the crystal vial began to change again. The blood scattered back into thousands of threads and then rewove and reassembled.

After about a minute, a young girl with dragon wings appeared inside the vial. She had a lithe, tall, and beautiful figure, also covered in calamity flames, and in her right hand, she held a horn.

"This is—"

Abraham's eyes were dazed and disbelieving: "Consulius, am I seeing this right? This Hazel, she's repelling Adriana's will? My god, I think this idea of mine is really absurd."

"She's also usurping the Calamity Dragon Maiden's power—"

Consulius was staring at the 'thing' in the blood-colored girl's hand: "And the Horn of Calamity! The divine authority our ancestor Rudolf von Hohenstaufen stole from the Calamity Dragon God Desfalck. If nothing unexpected happens next, this child will become the second demigod of our Wiltonstein family—"

"Judith Brown, she was right."

...

Meanwhile, in the vast space of the second underground level of the Gerard Refinery Plant, the consciousness of the Calamity Dragon Maiden Adriana had manifested outside Hazel's body, turning into a massive dragon soul tens of meters long, constantly winding around Hazel's body, trying to re-enter the girl, but to no avail. The layer of starlight outside Hazel's body prevented her soul from entering, and within the girl, there was also a powerful repulsive force rejecting the dragon soul's entry.

Adriana's soul gradually grew impatient, beginning to ram and bite, but still to no avail. The girl remained motionless, fixed to the black cross.

Nearby, Cressy Jax and the other two had turned pale, their eyes filled not only with panic but also with bewilderment and confusion.

What made them even more horrified was that the blood in the pentagram pool was rapidly decreasing.

That was not real blood but the manifestation of the life force left by the Calamity Dragon Maiden Adriana in this city, yet it was being forcibly absorbed by Hazel's body, causing her magical source to rapidly grow and strengthen.

Councilman Cressy's eyes turned bloodshot. He suddenly drew a revolver from the holster on his chest and fired repeatedly at Hazel's head. But it was useless. The high-grade armor-piercing bullets fired from the 16S-class firearm couldn't even leave a white mark on the dragon scales on Hazel's forehead.

This body, now infused with the power of laws, was something they could no longer shake.