Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 51 - 50 - Raven’s Plot Armor.

A while ago.

Argon, who was called to the royal palace to submit his monthly report, was annoyed enough that he kept frowning on his way back.

He couldn’t accept it.

He was the strongest man, yet he had to respond to the calls of the royals, who couldn’t even control their own court members and were betrayed by their brothers and sisters.

’Weak.’

Yes, they were weak.

He had wanted to cut them down for a long time, but—

—His jaws clenched, and his sword, feeling his emotions, trembled violently.

Staring at his palm, he closed his eyes.

’I need to grow stronger.’

He was the strongest man, but he wasn’t satisfied.

Because he knew he wasn’t the strongest.

Among the people he knew, Crisaius was already strong enough to stand against him.

He was sure there were more people stronger than him in the world.

He wanted to become stronger, not because he wanted to protect something, but because he wanted freedom.

His gaze turned back to the royal palace, its spires visible even from a distance, and his eyes turned cold.

’Once I reach that level...’

He could imagine himself destroying the palace and the people within.

But just then, as he walked through the marketplace of the academy city with a presence so thin that no one around him seemed to notice him, he felt an aura.

He frowned.

It was familiar—the aura.

It was the use of a technique only two people in this world knew—

His thoughts paused as he realized something.

’There are three now...’

Yes, the technique that only he and Crisaius could use before was now used by another person—someone he had quite an impression of.

’The youngest.’

It was his youngest son, the child of that woman.

It was a child who had shown exceptional traits since birth.

He knew that this child could break the limit like him.

Yet now, the aura of that child seemed to be diminishing.

With a flash, he moved at a speed that seemed like teleportation, appearing right in front of the mansion.

There, he saw some children of his family, unconscious at the gate.

It seemed like they were guarding the gate but were knocked unconscious before they could even do something.

He frowned before he drew his sword—

—And slashed.

BOOM!

.............

Present.

The dust hadn’t yet settled.

The entire upper floor of the mansion was gone, reduced to floating embers and blazing wood that scattered with the wind like fireflies escaping a furnace.

And amidst it all stood him—Argon Von Vaise.

No one moved.

They couldn’t.

Because the sheer weight of Argon’s presence made even the air feel tangible, making it hard to move.

The sky behind him flickered with the dying embers of magic, casting his silhouette in hues of crimson.

A greatsword rested in his hand, humming like it remembered battle and longed for more as his crimson eyes swept across the ruined cellar.

He looked at each child—at Jake’s broken form, Clara’s trembling breath, Rufus’s unconscious slump, and Jessy, who still knelt beside a barely breathing Alex.

But it was Raven his gaze lingered on.

The boy, beaten and bleeding, stared back up at him with a weak grin, making him frown.

Gerax’s eyes widened at first, filled with disbelief and dread as he saw Argon.

’What the fuck! Why is he here?!’

He cursed inwardly, knowing he was done if his doing was caught.

Like a cornered politician finding his tongue, he quickly straightened, his eyes reflecting his panic.

"Lord Argon!" He began, hurriedly stepping forward despite the wounds he had barely avoided receiving moments ago. "This... this is not what it looks like! These children broke into my mansion! They trespassed, defiled the sanctity of the Principal’s quarters!"

He bowed low, wiping the sweat on his brow with trembling fingers.

"I was merely... disciplining them, my lord. A punishment befitting students who dared to cross boundaries set by the Academy and the royal family."

He stayed silent, his head lowered and his body trembling, but Argon kept quiet, not even glancing at him.

That silence, however, was perceived by Gerax as if Argon had gone silent upon mention of the royals.

After all, for the world, the Vaises were the royal’s loyal subjects.

His voice regained confidence as a grin appeared on his still-lowered face.

He was scared, but now he had some confidence about his survival, especially with the children trembling under Argon’s pressure, unable to let out a word.

"Yes. Under the Crown’s directives," he continued. "I’ve been entrusted with absolute authority over the academy’s internal affairs."

He finally raised his head, his expression easing a bit. "Even if they are from the Vaise family, they are not above the kingdom’s law. I—"

However, when the royals were compared to the Vaise, and Gerax made it seem like the royals were above the Vaise, a shift occurred.

Argon’s brow twitched, and the temperature dropped.

Silence.

That silence was more terrifying than anything Gerax had experienced, making his voice pause.

Argon’s eyes slowly turned to Raven once more.

Raven smiled, blood trailing down his lips. His eyes glimmered with exhaustion and victory.

’Haha,’ Raven chuckled mockingly, his gaze turning toward Gerax, ignoring Argon’s gaze as if he wasn’t intimidated. ’You fool. You should’ve never said that.’

Argon stared at Raven for a second longer, his expression stern.

But something subtle passed through his gaze as Raven turned back to him.

Then, without a word, he looked toward Alex.

The boy’s chest barely rose.

His body was broken, nearly unrecognizable beneath the bruises and burns.

Jessy sat beside him, her hands pressing his wound, as she tried to keep more blood from flowing.

Argon moved a single finger.

Woosh!

The pressure that held Jessy and Alex disappeared instantly, as if it had never been.

"Speak," Argon said, his voice low, emotionless.

It wasn’t a request but a command.

Jessy, wide-eyed, opened her mouth, her gaze lowered, not daring to look into Argon’s eyes—but Gerax spoke first.

"My Lord! Please, there is no need to—"

BOOM-Crack!

Without moving, Argon exerted force.

"GAAHHH—!" Gerax screamed as his knees hit the ground.

Every shield he had conjured—dozens of them—shattered like glass beneath Argon’s presence.

Bones in his arms shattered audibly, his body buckling and his spine cracking as if the universe itself had decided to kneel him down.

"PFFT—!!" Blood seeped from his nose and mouth.

Argon didn’t even look at him.

He stared at Jessy.

She flinched but answered.

"We came here... to rescue a Vaise family member," she said, her voice trembling but clear. "Gerax had him locked up in the cellar. Right there."

She pointed behind the ruined stairs to the shadowed archway barely visible under the debris.

Argon’s eyes flicked toward it.

He didn’t need to be told.

He could feel it.

Someone was inside.

He could feel it since he arrived here, but he didn’t poke into it as he didn’t know who it was.

Above all, he could see the children of the Vaise family injured. freewebnσvel.cѳm

But now, when he found out that the person trapped in the room might be a Vaise as well, he straightenes.

He couldn’t ignore it anymore.

If someone—anyone—dared to touch a member of his family, they would pay the price, even if they were the royals.

To make them pay was his responsibility as the Vaise Patriarch.

He was already going to punish Gerax, but now, the sitution had developed from mere attacking to abduction and maybe more.

So, Argon stared at the cellar entrance for several seconds.

Then, with one sharp breath, he turned back to Gerax, who had by now collapsed face-first into the dirt, unconscious from the pressure.

Argon didn’t kill him.

He could have.

But that wasn’t the Vaise way.

The Vaise never did any work half-assedly, and Argon could tell that killing Gerax now would be half-assing everything.

After all, someone audacious enough to touch on the Vaise surely had a powerful hand feeding him from the shadows.

He stepped over the crumpled man, walking through the wreckage silently.

He was right there, but no one could tell where he was until they heard the scrape of his boots against iron and the faint hum of his sword.

He paused in front of Raven.

The boy lay barely propped against the cellar wall, dragon-scale fading slowly from his arms.

Despite the bruises, despite the blood, he grinned again.

Argon said nothing and frowned.

"Why are you grinning?" He finally asked, his expression unreadable.

By now, others had also noticed it.

’How can he grin under this pressure?’

What others didn’t know was that Raven, unlike them, wasn’t scared of Argon, and therefore, he didn’t feel any pressure.

He simply found it funny how a grown man, known as the strongest of the kingdom, always tried to appear strong for others.

Because Raven knew Argon’s truth, he easily held the strongest man’s gaze.

"Because my father is here to rescue me," Raven replied to Argon, making the atmosphere freeze as Argon frowned.

’Is he mad?!’ Everyone exclaimed.

No one, not even the eldest son of the Patriarch, dared to call Argon father.

Yet Raven did.

After a second that seemed like eternity, Argon turned away, jumping out of the basement without another word.

’There he goes again...’ Raven coughed blood, then whispered, almost too faint to hear.

"Coconut."

Argon, who was now standing on the ground above, stopped for a heartbeat, but he didn’t turn around.

The next second, he vanished.

No one knew whether he heard Raven’s words, but even if he did, he made no sign.

However, the shadows stirred when he vanished.

Ffffshhhh—

From the edges of the ruined floor, black shapes burst from nothingness. Silent, swift figures wrapped in Vaise elite cloaks—shadow guards—appeared beside each wounded Vaise child.

Jake, Clara, Rufus, Jessy, and Alex.

One by one, they were lifted gently yet efficiently, vanishing into streaks of shadow and light as the operatives extracted them with surgical precision.

Another cloaked figure stepped beside Gerax, slinging the unconscious man over their shoulder with effortless ease.

They disappeared into the same shadows, leaving behind only the whisper of movement.

The cellar stood quiet.

Raven remained the last to go, and just when he was wondering if he was forgotten, his eyes getting heavy, he saw a silhouette of someone who had vanished a moment ago, staring down at him from above.

Those red eyes emotionlessly stared at him until he lost consciousness.

He didn’t know what would happen now and how many things would change, but he knew one thing: he was safe... for now.

’Those 4000 plot points... were worth it.’

That was the last thought he had before even his thoughts ceased, and his head went blank.