Gabriel paced about his lair. Those dragons were turning out to be an even bigger problem than he had expected. Turns out, when your society and moral system revolved around who was the most powerful, that it was both a very strong incentive to gain power. Add that to the fact that Ladybug's track record made them support her, not only because their leader was doing it, but because they themselves legitimately respected her, and he had a massive problem on his hands.

And of course the fiasco that was Dragonslayer. He was never Akumatizing anyone mad at his Shadow Moth persona ever again. Especially a Dragonborn.

But the dragons and Alix were a small problem compared to Strunsahtiid.

Before, he had not considered the white dragon a significantly bigger problem than the rest, convincing himself that the dragon was just bluffing when he said that he was both the creator of the universe and an entirely separate plane of existence, and that he was the firstborn son of a time god.

Even after seeming to have a Shout to counter every Akuma he created and the dragon's many feats of incredible power that rivaled those of other dragons, he still doubted the white dragon's divinity.

Until the second time he Akumatized Sabrina Raincomprix into Miraculer.

Miraculer sprinted towards Ladybug, her hand outstretched. The red, black-spotted champion of Paris was trapped beneath a pile of debris and was struggling to get up.

"Yes, Miraculer! Take her Miraculous!"

"Cataclysm!"

Pure destruction swirled around Miraculer's hand as she raised it, ready to turn her to dust. But instead of Ladybug, her hand hit white scales instead.

But instead of crumbling to ashes, to Ladybug's astonishment and Shadow Moth's horror, the affected patch of scales merely turned black, and nothing more. The great dragon slammed his wing down on Miraculer, creating a human-shaped crater in the concrete and spoke directly to Shadow Moth, his voice echoing with the power of the Thu'um.

"Listen here, Shadow Moth, you joor mey. I am Strun-Sah-Tiid, the World-Forger, firstborn of Akatosh, twin brother of Alduin, as well as his slayer. The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous may house the very embodiments of creation and destruction, but I am the one who created the conditions that allowed those embodiments to exist in the first place. Zu'u unslaad. Zu'u nis oblaan. I am eternal and cannot end, least of all by the likes of you. Know this, and despair."

And Strunshatiid promptly destroyed Miraculer's Akuma, leaving Shadow Moth still reeling from what he just saw.

"Nathalie, I have a plan to get the Miraculous once and for all. To do that, you must become Catalyst once more."

"I agree to it."