I Passed on the Phoenix, Chose the Dying Dragon

Iris reincarnates right at the contract ritual, completely ditching the "Phoenix" Orion to pick a dying black dragon whelp instead. She shatters her past life’s fate as a stepping stone, uses the Moonspring to heal the dragon’s curse, and starts grinding from the bottom up, countering Seraphina's manipulative BS and Orion's hypocrisy at every turn.Orion, realizing he's also reincarnated, tries every dirty trick to get his hands back on Iris's resources. Iris calmly reads right through him, uses a recording crystal to flip public opinion, and exposes that Orion’s been eating other beasts' magic cores. Fighting side by side, Iris and Azrael's bond levels up, officially shifting from contract partners to lovers.The seal on the Forbidden Valley cracks, and the real mastermind, Cain, steps out of the shadows. Iris uncovers the truth about what happened to her parents, and the Black Dragon Queen sacrifices herself to save her kid. The leads throw down in a life-or-death fight against Cain, u