Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

The arrows were let loose and aimed right at the Five Dystopian Dragons who of course did their best to prevent getting hit.

Some formed protective shields with a mixture of their Transcendent beast pressure and their domineering presence as dragons.

Others did that and also moved around to evade the arrows and throw off their aim and while they did this, they of course still attempted to strike at the arrows.

It all failed.

Toxic sacrifice cannot be avoided or fought against and the five found that out the hard way when the arrows went through their defenses and right into their bodies.

The arrows diffused immediately after getting into the bodies of the five Dystopian dragons whose skins (a much skin was shown despite the scales) were quickly getting tinted with a nefarious green hue.

The Transcendent beasts felt weakened, felt depowered but whatever the effects of the arrows in their bodies, they still all held on to the belief that they were safe.

Sassy had her two daggers floating beside her giant serpentine body and after shooting her arrows, she turned her giant head at Nero and bared her fangs threateningly at the fan-holding man.

Nero was still surprised at how capable Sassy had shown herself to be but he did not look worried. Not even when the five were groaning in pain and the reason was quickly clear.

All five had countered the effects of the arrows and were already regaining their normal skin tone. They had surely gotten weaker but they were still very much active.

They all recognized what a terrible attack the arrows had been and they all knew the arrows were instigating ritualistic concepts that could not be defended against and that the only reason they had survived the arrow attack was that they were Transcendent Beasts.

Would Sassy have been happy to see them explode into a miasma of toxic mist that would likely kill Nero if it touched him? Yes, she would have loved that and had been hopeful.

That said, getting trumped by Transcendent beast build was expected and she was ready to truly implement the abilities and advantages she had through Hal.

Yes, the five were weak but they were also Dystopian Dragons... Especially known for their stamina and thirst for battle while also being Transcendent beasts whose recovery and resilience were, well, Transcendent.

The Five though no longer seemed intent on a battle and they were deferring to Nero with their expressions.

"Well, I have seen enough. You are quite strong" Nero said and folded his fan in a swift and fairly flashy display.

Sassy blinked and then she raised her head and let out a real of laughter that echoed chillingly about the void space they were in.

"Oh Please! You try to kill me and then you turn it around and try to tell me it's all a test?" she asked in a booming voice that came fluently from her giant serpentine maw. Said Maw was in the shape of a mocking smirk.

Sassy had the portal to the Harem space at the ready.

Nero spread his arms with a smile,

"Well, it was not really a test but it was also not an attempt to kill you. It was an attempt to capture you," he said.

"Is that supposed to be better?" Sassy asked and swung her tail at him in such a swift and smooth manner, Nero almost got hit mostly because it was an unexpected move with an even more unexpected result.

Nero leaped up and avoided the tail well enough though.

"No. I'm not giving an excuse. I am cutting my losses and attempting diplomacy. If you wanted to leave, you'll be gone already" he said with a smirk.

"Leave? I am trapped in this Void with you assholes!" Sassy said.

"Are you really? You have a teleportation system that allows you to travel seamlessly through two continents that are fundamentally separated.

Are you about to tell me that you can do that but you can't escape a void that is not even trying to keep you from using said teleportation system?" Nero asked but Sassy just eyed him in silence.

Nero continued,

"You are still here because you want to be here and you are confident in leaving because you know you are not trapped.

The plan relied on not letting you have space to use your teleportation system because we know it is not necessarily instantaneous.

We said nothing about our motives for attacking you just in case you managed to leave, at which point, we would have told you that you left before we could explain ourselves and it was all a misunderstanding."

"That seems an unrealistic plan," Sassy said.

Nero shrugged,

"Nor really. We are very good at spinning narratives in our favor. Sure, we would have left you with a bad impression of us but our working together does not rely on us being on good terms.

At most, you won't trust us and only return to the clan with backup but things will still run the same.

Now, had we succeeded in weakening you, which we expected to be possible with Five Transcendent beasts..." Nero paused here to give the five Dystopian Dragons a stink eye.

"... Had we succeeded, then we would have bound you in actual restrictions in an attempt to stop you from accessing your teleportation"

"And what will my capture help with? Trust me, you will get no information on the Teleporation system through me. Whether by experimentation or torture, you will get nothing." Sassy said.

"Maybe but we will still like to try. Plus, the king will be very happy to have at least gotten some revenge for some statements your Master the Prince made" Nero said.

Sassy finally shrunk down and returned to her human form, nude as ever, as she says,

"Your plan is severely flawed. Also, you are risking getting on my Master's bad side and that is a bad idea"

"Well, we are cutting our losses now and as I said before, this is us being diplomatic. The battle, in which pain was inflicted on both sides, is over and can/should be considered a spar.

Just healthy competition." Nero said with a smile and stretched out his hand as though for a shake.

Sassy eyed the hand and had no intentions of taking it and just then, a disk ripped out of the Void ground and into Nero's hand.

With the disk gone, the void also vanished and they were back in the empty and normal hall.

"Nothing about that battle was healthy" Sassy said but she was also contacting Hal so that he was privy to all that was going on.

"As is the case with most things in a strength-based world. We tried to capture you and now that we have failed and have been privy to your strength, we respect it and respect you.

We respect you and are not doubling down on how many experts we attack you with and we have a lot.

You are still at a disadvantage. You are still in our territory. Running off is an option but I don't think you'll do that. You have goals... Goals that rely on helping Dystopia against the humans.

You can leave, return to the Devil Tribe or you can stay here and do what you came to do. Brush all this under the proverbial rug" Nero said.

Sassy heard a chuckle in her head, a chuckle that could belong to no one else but her master,

"Sassy, agree to sweep it under the rug," Hal said and that was the end to their telepathic communication but Sassy knew more had been said while left unsaid.

Hal's chuckle had been one with wicked vindictive intentions but he was not going to act now. Sassy was to accept that the Dragon Clan were indeed being diplomatic and reasonable now and do what Hal had ordered previously which was to set up roots in the Dragon clan.

Hal granted Sassy more responsibilities right on the spot with the specific ability to tie people to Infinity should she catch them vulnerable enough.

He gave her free reign in many matters especially since he would be mostly unavailable very soon. Her telepathic link with him would always be active and could never be deactivated so she could always reach out whenever she needed to and whenever she was getting overwhelmed.

Hal would be her ever-present support system and that gave her the confidence and calm to go along with the Dystopians.

"Fine" Sassy said and retrieved new clothes from her spatial ring as the one she wore before had been clawed.

The new sets of clothes were as revealing as the previous ones.

Nero nodded with a smile,

"Glad to see you are reasonable. Your strength will earn you favors in the Dragon clan" Nero said before he dismissed the five Dystopian dragons.

"Now that we have given you a welcome worthy of the dragon clan, it is time to introduce you to our Clan's royalty and the people of influence you will actually be engaging with during your stay," Nero said and it was clear he hoped to make it clear to Sassy that those she had fought were fairly average joes...

... Further feeding into the idea of the grand power of the Dragon clan.

Sassy rolled her eyes at the obvious attempt at casual intimidation. As she sheathed her daggers and felt ready to follow her master's plans, the Familiar could not help but wonder if there would be more attack antics from the Dystopian dragons.

She was not worried but she was surely cautious.