Last Egg: Reincarnated as a Dragon in a Game-Novel

392  Crematorium

POV ???:

Professor stood on the bridge opposite the white-haired alien with unusually pale skin. The lava bubbled all around them, but neither of them paid any attention to it.

Lights floated in around the alien's outstretched hand with five slender fingers. The lights quickly arranged into unknown shapes and symbols, floating and ignoring gravity.

There was some pattern in them, making him feel like it was an attempt at communication.

'These patterns... is it maybe some representation of mathematics?'

Without warning, a slight pain as if someone stabbed with a hot blade into the temple exploded in his head, making him step back.

"Can you hear me?" Words reached his mind, but they felt like they weren't coming from any specific direction, even though the being visibly opened its mouth as if speaking.

The two voices, one of gibberish and the second one he could understand overlapped in perfect sync.

'Some translating technology? How it works without any...' Horror and shock like he had never felt before took over his mind, 'That pain in my head! It somehow got into my head.'

It all made sense to him when he remembered the incredible reality-warping power of these unusual creatures.

"Y-yes, I can hear you."

"What is going on Veren?"

"Go back to your line! You have no right..."

He ignored the chancellor's angry shouts and the general's questioning as right before him were creatures with power beyond what he considered to be biologically possible.

'To think such a race could exist...' he could hardly contain his hands from reaching to probe and touch the being out of the excitement.

"Good, in that case, I would like to welcome you to the Vesuvian Draconic Kingdom. Your weak and pathetic attack was repulsed. You are now prisoners of His Majesty."

'No, this is...' He couldn't even finish his string of thoughts as the being kept speaking in the same monotone and emotionless voice that was like a cold shower to extinguish his excitement.

"His Majesty is however merciful and offers you an opportunity to exchange and work for your freedom."

"Wait, we didn't attack you! It wasn't us." Everything was crumbling before his eyes as all his hopes for peaceful first contact were bashed and smashed by a misunderstanding by the same creature that ruined his civilization.

"Then tell me what are your excuses and story?"

'At least they want to speak. They could have killed us on the spot. At worst, we will be forced to work for them, but we will survive, which is better than the previous prognosis.' He already felt it would take much to talk out of this situation.

"Hey, do not ignore me Veren! You are breaking the protocol!"

'And these two are not helping it...' He wanted to smack them to shut them up and let him focus on fixing their situation!

POV Ariane:

Ariane just looked at the weird being fully enclosed in unusual armor and crossed her legs poking from below her pristine white dress that contrasted with the hell-like world.

'As if their excuses would matter. Master desires their services so they will serve. What more they could want? Even if is it really a misunderstanding it will be better for us to keep it like that to keep the higher negotiating ground.'

Her high-noble upbringing allowed her to keep he cool, but inside, she couldn't help but feel nervous. All the years, she was sheltered and holed inside while she worked on reforming and improving legion magic for armies of the kobolds, yet now she was thrown into a role of an interrogator.

'I was just supposed to create a dictionary and announce their fate, not this. Why is the master even needing all this secrecy?'

The secrecy was the exact reason it became her job, as she was a noble of the highest order from a mage family that was expected to meet with foreign dignitaries from her childhood.

She was the only one from the close circle who knew the obscure spells to turn words into pure, mana-encoded meaning to cross all the language barriers and, at the same time, was educated in the field of international diplomacy.

Yet if there was something more behind it, then she had to discover as it wouldn't do for her to enact her master's order sloppily.

POV Vesuvius:

The dragon refused to let his paranoia take over and shoved it back, 'I will deal with it if when it comes to it, but I seriously doubt it will.'

Vesuvius himself was a dragon, so he knew what they were thinking. So he knew it was unlikely as it wasn't how dragons usually act.

'The dragon god, at worst they are trying to show me they watching my every moved and at best they are just trying to help me by empowering my minion as I need powerful commanders for my armies right now.'

"You have served me well, my minion. Keep with it, and your life will be good." Vesuvius didn't know what his minion hid away from him, but there was no malice or betrayal within him, which made him let it be.

'Even my minions should have the right to have their secrets as long as they are fulfilling their duties and are loyal. Still, why feel fear and shame? What was your deal with the dragon god to make you feel like that? They are both fitting, the fear and shame of going behind my back. The feeling of shame from relying on someone's else help.'

Only one last thing remained for him to solve, rekindling his anger once more.

The ground trembled one last time, and the trapped players raised us like angels ascending into heaven. Their bodies moved without their control as if they were nothing but toys.

"You have spat on me. You have struck behind my back and attacked what was mine. There will be no mercy to you."

The dragon no longer felt so helpless against their immortality as he now had a potential way to deal with them at mass. He would imprison them once and for all.

The space warped, and the next moment the dragon hovered in his divine kingdom's black, burning sky. The players floated helplessly within the clouds of ash.

"No, please let me go! I will serve you and join your army!" Their pathetic cries made his blood boil even more.

"Foolish mortal, do you think I want someone like you to serve me?! It is one thing to attack me and fight with honor. Instead, you have attacked like the greatest cowards. Don't you see it?! All you commanders and high-level leaders are gone! They used you and threw you away like a hot piece of garbage!"

Before him were not defeated soldiers, but the disgusting criminals.

"I have no place for cowards and dishonorable idiots in my ranks!"

The entire divine kingdom quaked, and the smoke swirled in a massive vortex as tall black metal and stone walls raised from the lava sea and sent massive waves through it.

He effortlessly deflected the wave away from the island with his alien bounty, 'Phhh, that was close...'

With a wave of the dragon's claw, the players flew like arrows straight into the structure that building by itself. Their bodies sunk through the walls straight into their eternal cells.

"Enjoy your time here! Just wait and maybe your real bodies will join you too!"

The dragon's eyes flashed with the divine golden energy flowing into his horns. The golden tendril spread through his entire divine kingdom before rushing towards the prison, engraving the new law into the fabric of reality.

'The walls of the prison cells shall be harder, and all the wind shall push down' His mana slowly trickled out, but it was minuscule. It was almost nothing, as the laws were simple and lacked any complex logic while fully within his affinities.

The magma burst from the ground, and a giant lake of lava around the prison turned it into a fortress and an inescapable trap. The wind surged down, creating a wall and barrier that sent ripples and vortexes within the lava.

'If someone gets out of the walls they will be dragged straight into lava, making them respawn back in their cell.'

"You. You will from now on guard this prison."

"Graaah!" The draconian's roar responded from the distant cloud of smoke, and the pair of reptilians' eyes, glowing like lamps, turned at the prison with absolute dedication.

Finally, he created his latest boogeyman, the prison of fire, 'I shall call you in the weirdest way possible. Crematorium, that should work.'