It stood within darkness, bearing shadowy mountains upon its back, twin horns on its head curved like a crown. Three pairs of crimson eyes opened as it stretched its wings, already spanning several kilometers, as if to swallow all light. Just looking at it made one feel that even their gaze, defined as a form of light, was forcibly seized and drawn in like an insatiable black hole.
Its mouth split open with Rend, revealing something even darker within. The towering figure amplified all stolen darkness a hundredfold and opened a mouth darker than the Abyss itself, drooling greedily toward the sun.
"What… what kind of existence is that?"
From the moment the darkness appeared, Vedoras could not look away. His body and mind trembled as a fear he had not felt since reaching the Ascendant Hall level surged back. He did not dare to sense it, nor did he dare to probe with Laws, as if touching even a trace of that darkness would drag him into the hopeless Abyss.
Then came an even more shocking sight. Although the being was massive, it was still insignificant compared to the sun. Yet under the silent roar of the Great Dragon, the enormous sun seemed to obey, shrinking and compressing, from over a hundred miles across to dozens, then to just a few thousand meters, and smaller still.
Vedoras and Parak watched as the sun was dragged step by step into the Abyss, torn into Shard by an invisible domain as its light grew weaker. Darkness returned, and the withered sun, now only a few hundred meters across, fell into the abyss.
The dark Great Dragon closed its mouth, then split it again with Rend into a terrifying Rift, opening and closing as it spoke.
"Mmm… that's quite a lot. Not bad, just enough to make up for what I was missing."
To better absorb the energy, Belial recalled his days of stuffing himself at buffet restaurants and again dismantled himself into that colossal Black Dragon form. Its mass and density were much lighter than before, but digestion was extremely fast. The energy itself was only ordinary Magic in quality, but there was plenty of it.
He was not picky. After being spoiled by stronger power before, he felt he needed to correct that habit. Poisoned or not, it all had to be eaten to stay balanced.
"Mmm… munch munch… whew. It's kind of like eating sesame dumplings. The filling temperature is not even two hundred thousand degrees, pretty good, just right."
After making sure everything was swallowed, he shaped himself back down to a much smaller form, only a bit over a hundred meters tall, and looked down at the few below him.
"Hm?"
"Why are you all frozen… never mind, I'll kill you first."
"…"
"…"
Vera could not speak for the moment. She stared blankly as the fireball that calculations said would affect hundreds of miles was eaten like a snack. Sylvia was no better off, her mind lagging from constantly querying information through her dragon soul.
What was that thing just now? By visual estimate, the volume of that colossal Black Dragon shadow made her feel smaller than an ant. What kind of existence was it, some domain ability or an unknown Magic? None of it matched the four great dragon types, or was it beyond what her silver dragon authority could access?
As for Ham, she had fainted from fear without a shred of dignity. And who was left after that?
"…"
"Uh… you, what are you?"
"How long have you walked the path of demigods? Longer than us?"
Edward took even longer than before to recover from the shock. He could clearly sense that incomparably vast form, and it was not a domain or Laws ability. It was more like the monster had finally torn away a false shell and revealed its inner horror, not something formed from physical matter but a far harder-to-understand existence.
Originally, he had placed the opponent at a sacred The Realm level of Laws, with half a step toward godhood in the soul domain. Now, that estimate was laughable. To reach that kind of power himself, he would need to gather his true dragon host and completely devour the remaining half of his broken body.
Even then, he would only be able to replicate it, not surpass it. The opponent's true upper limit could not be seen from this alone.
"No, the plan… fate. I have to speed it up, or my path to godhood…"
Before he could finish, the silk threads of Edward were pulled up from the ground, dragging his remaining head forward toward a different kind of sun. Decay and destruction, the conceptual power of Authority hidden within him, manifested, and at the moment he saw that sunlight, the soul of this Clone was ignited like kindling and carried along the faint threads toward something far away.
"Ahhh… ah! This, this is…!"
"Authority… true divine Authority? How is that possible? No new gods have been born since ancient times!"
"Wait… I think I understand…"
That terrifying conceptual power spread back toward his true body along the link of memory. Even if it meant injuring his true form, Edward was determined to grasp this crucial information. Why did the opponent possess such unreasonable strength, where did that strange rule power come from, and why did a mere dragon beast wield power beyond bloodline limits.
In the instant of being burned away, feeling that overwhelming Authority, Edward used his shocking intellect to uncover the truth.
"I finally understand everything!"
"You are not some ordinary intelligent being at all. You inherited the power of fallen Authority, an abnormal monster formed from the wreckage of Divine Kingdom!"
Once he thought it through, Edward felt that everything made sense. Why was the other side so strong? Of course, fallen divine Authority was still Authority. It was even the kind with extreme destructive force, and that god must have been among the strongest even while alive.
As for that unbelievably solid body, something no conceptual Laws could pry apart, it was clear once it was seen as remains of Divine Kingdom. That was not something Ludwig or Biollante types who played at resurrection could ever compare to. Even the mad and unreasonable behavior fit, because although the god had fallen, that insane obsession was still rooted in the remains.
After countless years at the place of the fall, a mindless Black Dragon dragon beast wandered into the fallen Divine Kingdom and was dominated by the lingering power. That gave birth to a fallen god beast that kept devouring souls and strength in an attempt to revive. It also explained why it had previously swallowed the power of gods without caring about the consequences.
"Absolutely not. I have to keep pushing the course of fate."
"The foundation of the Dragon Soul, the Bronze Dragon, must be obtained as soon as possible."
Thinking like this, but with his current Clone about to fail, he could not use spatial abilities. Then Edward rolled his eyes, because there were still allies.
Allies existed to be sold. Since both he and Elfido had already taken a beating, then you can come along too.
With a final wail, some kind of information was sent to Augustus, who was imprisoned in a spatial domain. After that, Edward completely turned to ash.
"…"
Sylvia stared blankly. The once arrogant Edward had his massive dragon body reduced to nothing but ash after a single glance from that Black Dragon. It burned so thoroughly that nothing remained.
She then carefully glanced at this possible ancestor-level Dragonkin senior. She hesitated and did not dare speak, while her mind was already racing.
"Damn it, why do these bastards all love Clone so much."
"Kill one and another comes. Does it ever end?"
Belial clapped his hands and shook off the remaining ash, cursing as he spoke. He had lost count of how many times he had dealt with this guy, and that radish-driving one too. This ugly dragon was the same, each one harder to kill than cockroaches.
He had just used the power left behind by that old friend Rodan, planning to wipe everything out along a single line like fire burning through a spider web. Then he realized the upper limit of that power was not high enough. Following that line could not truly kill the target, and the connection was cut off.
"…Forget it. He was just an early-stage monster old brother Rodan. I should not expect too much."
"By the way, why are those guys below staring at me? Do they want to talk?"
Sensing movement beneath his feet, Belial lowered his head slightly. Since they had a Crystal belonging to Miss Witch, listening to a bit of conversation was not a problem. It was a good chance to use the language knowledge he had learned before and show off a little.
"…Phew. That's great, this Black Dragon is willing to say a few words to us."
Sylvia let out a breath. After coming back to her senses from that terrifying, demon-like posture, she gathered her courage and made a request with what felt like the greatest resolve of her life. Seeing a response and no attack, she finally relaxed.
The huge head of the Black Dragon, larger than her entire dragon body, lowered down. She could finally observe it closely. The scales were dense, forming armor-like skin that was rough and uneven, like stone cliffs shaped by endless ages.