Judas rubbed his chin. Regarding the clause about breaking the contract, there was a specific condition for that scenario too.

If one of them ever decided to end the bond, they couldn't hurt each other until both reached the same cultivation stage again.

Judas was sure of one thing: he would never be weaker than a dragon at the same realm. If he couldn't beat her on equal footing while he had the System, he should just accept his death.

Nyx continued reading, her expression shifting constantly. Occasionally, her eyes darted toward him. Though he saw irritation in that golden gaze, it also reflected a bit of recognition. He had provided a solution where there was none.

While reading, her head tilted toward the direction they had come from multiple times. Her anxiety was obvious.

Her reading speed increased every time she sensed a disturbance in the wind; it seemed like that person was going to reach them at any moment.

Judas finally unclenched his hand.

"Fine…" she hissed.

The tight muscles around his neck loosened, and he allowed himself to release all the tension through a long exhale.

"But I, too, want to add a condition," Nyx said sharply.

Judas knew she would. After all, the 'Wall of Equality' in the contract made by the System was heavily in his favor. A smart creature wouldn't sign it blindly.

"Remove the Order Command."

Judas paused. Once a monster was bonded with a human, there would be a Law of Order stamped onto their souls.

The human could order the monster to do anything, and they couldn't physically break the command.

He clicked his tongue, pretending to be annoyed.

The dragon was smarter than she looked; it was expected. Anyway, he wasn't going to use that slave clause regardless. Forcing a sentient being into slavery would only create a ticking time bomb.

So, he nodded. "Agreed."

With a thought, he removed the clause. Nyx didn't hesitate. She bit her finger and threw a drop of blood into the holographic contract.

Judas did the same. As the blood merged, a cool sensation appeared on his forehead. A connection snapped into place. It felt different from the mind link he shared with his wives—colder, more ancient.

"I will take you to a nearby human town," Nyx said, the contract fading into light. "She will be here soon."

The next moment, Judas found himself in her embrace. She rose into the air, still in her human form. She moved her hands in a strange rhythm, and the space around them distorted violently. With a loud bang, reality was destroyed.

A void appeared all around them.

Judas widened his eyes as the corrupted energy of the void started to spill out like black ink.

"What the hell have you done?!" he screamed in the air.

This amount of corrupted energy was enough to open a Dire Rift. It was a catastrophe. Even a Master couldn't stop a rift of this magnitude once it opened; it would consume everything in the area.

"If she were merely a Master, I wouldn't have run away," Nyx stated calmly, stunning him further.

A being beyond Master…

Judas felt cold. Did he actually help a dragon who was escaping from such a being?

Nyx ignored his stupor. She tore through space, stepping into the rift. In an instant, the forest was gone. They appeared high above a huge city nestled between two cliffs.

The city was square in shape, suspended over a chasm, bound by four massive chains.

The architecture was incredibly advanced. Countless skyscrapers pierced the clouds, glowing with magical light. It was a dirt and diamond difference from his small, primitive village.

"Where are we?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"A city in the Dragon and Phoenix Riders Alliance." Her voice sounded disdainful.

"Here, you can act as an ordinary dragon rider. That woman will take a few months to clear that Rift I just created. Since she cannot enter a rift without collapsing it further, it acts as a wall."

"What?"

Nyx didn't answer. She dove down, landing outside the massive city gate.

In front of him, a huge line stretched out, filled with people waiting to enter the city. No one noticed Judas suddenly arriving due to Nyx's stealth magic, so he slipped into the queue.

Suddenly, a man behind him yelped.

"Good shit! When did ya sneak behind me?" a fat man shouted, wiping sweat from his brow.

A lizard sat on the man's shoulder. It gnashed its teeth at Judas, trying to look intimidating. But then, it suddenly shrank back in fear as another gnashing sound came from Judas's own shoulder.

Judas tilted his head to look at his left shoulder.

Sitting there was a small creature. It was obsidian black with large, round eyes. The pupils, however, were not black; they were a brilliant, glowing golden color.

Nyx, in her lizard form, looked incredibly cute and chubby. Her two little legs were curled tightly on his cloth tunic.

"No need to praise me," her voice echoed in his mind. "My disguise cannot be detected by anyone. Even she can't pinpoint me as Nyx now because I bonded with you. My signature is masked by your… weakness."

Judas chose to say nothing to the insult.

The fat man before him cursed in a low voice at his cowering lizard. "Useless thing," the man grumbled.

"Also, it's a drake. Not a lizard," Nyx corrected him.

"Oh…" Judas muttered, looking at the tiny dragon on his shoulder. "Right."

*

* *

While the dragon and her new bond waited patiently in the bustling line to enter a Rider's city, a terrifying silence descended upon the forest they had left behind.

High above the chaotic spatial fracture created by Nyx, a lone female figure materialized from thin air.

She looked deceptively fragile, possessing a petite frame and a flawless, porcelain face that seemed carved from cold marble.

Her amber eyes blinked slowly as she looked down at the expanding void rift beneath her feet.

"That hateful leech…" Violet cursed, her voice dripping with venom.

A ripple of light distorted the air near her grasp. A sword appeared in her hand, radiating an intense pressure.

She waved the weapon, and immediately, a massive golden dome materialized, slamming down around the fracture to contain the spilling corruption.

Her gaze snapped toward the horizon, tracing the remnants of the spatial distortion. Following the magical trail with her eyes, she watched until, quite suddenly, the track vanished into nothingness.

It had broken off completely.

She frowned, a deep crease marring her smooth forehead.

'Where did it go?' she wondered.

Anyway, the creature had escaped from her once again. Violet clenched her free fist until her knuckles turned white. It did not matter; escaping her forever was impossible.

No matter how long it ran, or how strong of a protector it sought help from, she would hunt it down. She vividly imagined the punishment she would inflict. Peeling its scales one by one, slowly and methodically, she would then burn its raw flesh in magical fire for thousands of years.

Only then would her enmity wash over. Only then would her rage be satiated.

Violet glanced down at the sealed rift coldly. Before she could resume her hunt, she had to maintain this barrier to keep the void from consuming the world until it was conquered.

Waiting for the arrival of the others, she grew more irritated with every passing second. Those pieces of trash couldn't reach her in time, taking hours even after she had dropped clear signals along the way. Finally, a few black dots appeared in the distant sky.

An army of cultivators arrived, their flying mounts creating a windstorm. The leading man descended, his expression confused.

"Violet, when did you…" He paused, his words dying in his throat as he looked down. "A Greater Rift?"

His face hardened in fear.

"You guys clear it," she said coldly, her tone leaving no room for argument.

The man blinked, stunned by the absurdity of the demand. "Why would we?"

He retorted with indignation, but he never finished his sentence. In a blur of motion, his head flew away from his neck, spinning through the air in a spray of crimson.

"Because if not, you all will die."

A vicious, suffocating aura surrounded her, bringing the rest of the army to their knees.

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