This made no sense at all. Not only did the other look completely unharmed, his size had doubled again, to the point where even Edward now had to look up. Just the shadow alone trapped him like an ant facing a mountain.
The power was clearly far greater than before. If Edward had not already planned to sacrifice this Clone to gather information, he might have given up entirely. Alongside the fear, a burning jealousy consumed him.
Why did you have such talent? Why could you escape that hell of the Abyss? Why did you alone profit from a deal that ruined everyone else?
"Do not think being bigger makes you stronger!" he roared. "Watch this. Draconic Magic!" The enraged Five-Headed Dragon began chanting an extremely complex Dragon Tongue, far beyond ordinary Magic.
The surrounding elements were forcibly drawn in, gathering before his chest into a growing, multicolored sphere that pulsed with violent energy. Before it could finish forming, a massive impact struck. Edward was smashed into the ground as if hit by a mountain, completely unable to resist.
The unstable spell detonated from the impact, triggering a second explosion that tore into his dragon body. Flesh was shredded, bones cracked, and internal organs ruptured under the crushing pressure. Several of his heads lost their eyes to the strain, leaving only the central one staring upward with a broken neck.
What it saw was a calm, emotionless gaze. "You really think I would just stand there and watch you charge that?" Belial said, sounding bored. Even using gravity manipulation, he had almost crushed him to death, and the effort barely registered.
"Go on, show me more tricks," he continued. "Your life will not survive my second move." He loosened the pressure slightly, deciding to watch a bit longer. Freshly awakened, it was hard not to feel a little reckless.
Sylvia was drenched in sweat. Even fighting to the death, she doubted she could defeat a single Clone of that thing, yet this Black Dragon had crushed it with a glance. The gap was greater than that between a person and a tiny animal.
"Wait, it is not dead yet. That is…" Vera suddenly widened her eyes, staring at a black sphere tearing open the air with Rend. Blinding white light poured out as the fully activated Magic Fusion Bomb appeared.
Even its startup caused heavy Magic fluctuations to flood the area. The dense magic circuits on its shell lit up one by one, ready to convert the compressed energy inside into a world-shattering blast. This was the true killing move.
Laughing wildly, Edward shouted, "Even if this cannot kill you, it will make you pay. This is what you get for underestimating me." The bomb had been activated when he was smashed into the ground, dragged out in secret at the last moment.
"This thing was meant to push fate itself," he continued. "Now it is too late for you to stop it." Someone cried out for the unknown Great Dragon to intervene, but the next scene left everyone stunned.
The mountain-sized Black Dragon casually reached out with a claw and lifted the black, glowing sphere into his palm. His mouth split open with Rend, forming what looked suspiciously like a smile.
"Very polite of you," Belial said cheerfully. "You kill monsters and still drop Gold Coins. Do not worry, when you die I will make it quick." He knew that white light well, because it was the same reaction he used inside his own body as beam energy.
It was familiar, comfortable even. Getting up and having breakfast did not sound bad at all.
"It's over… we're done."
When Vera saw that the gigantic Black Dragon that appeared from nowhere was only holding the bomb in its claws, as if it had no intention of stopping it, her eyes went dull. As the proposer of the original project and one of the holders under the Lord, she understood the destructive effect of this kind of bomb better than anyone. To put it simply, even after a modern city was bombed, many buildings would still remain, especially farther from the center, and with reinforced concrete, completely erasing a city was actually very difficult.
But this bomb was different. It was essentially a one-time super spell amplifier that could easily flatten everything within dozens or even hundreds of miles, with the secondary impact spreading even farther. The gap between the two was like comparing an ordinary Magic Fusion Bomb to a mythical Magic Fusion Bomb, and even if it detonated here, the direct kill radius would still reach the neighboring city. At that point, whether people knew each other or not would no longer matter.
Sylvia did not look any better. With fluctuations of Magic at this level, even if she tried Teleportation, the Magic Array required could not be prepared in such a short time, and using Spatial Magic to transfer it away was already too late. Everyone present looked grim, and Ham was already about to sit down and cry again, except for Edward, who was lying on the ground with one last breath deliberately left by Belial.
That remaining eye was bloodshot and fixed on the actions of the Black Dragon in front of him. Not only did the creature fail to raise any defenses or flee, it did the opposite. It directly accelerated the catalytic process, forcing the countdown from what might have been several minutes down to just a few seconds.
To Vera and the mage and alchemy research departments of Paraten, the small object in that claw was a crystallization of wisdom and effort, every circuit impossibly complex and packed with layered reactions. But to Belial, it was another matter entirely.
"Not very impressive tech, but since it was prepared as my breakfast, I'll let it pass."
With his current reserve of Magic knowledge, he could easily understand the purpose of the shell and the spell structures engraved inside. They were nothing more than compression, circulation, and a few very small release ports. At first glance, the newly constructed System in his body had already calculated more than twenty possible modifications, but Belial could not be bothered.
Elemental fusion was something he was extremely familiar with. He even dared to run fusion reactions for Heat Ray inside his own body, so how difficult could the thing in his hand really be. Still, since it was compressed, it was better to soak it first before eating so it would digest more easily.
The method was very simple. Break the outer metal shell down into basic particles, restrain the contents, and toss it into the sky. At this point, you had to be careful not to let the energy leak elsewhere, roughly shaping it into a sphere with gravity control and Energy Field, after which the energy would spread and form a massive fireball.
At this stage, you could adjust the size of the sphere according to the energy density and temperature you liked. After that, you could eat it. So, did you learn it?
With a thunderous roar and violent air displacement, an enormous and complex Magic Array flashed through the sky. What appeared next was a gigantic fireball with a detonation radius of dozens of miles that was still expanding. It burned away the thick gray-black clouds in the air, radiating scorching light that continued to rise until it even outshone the original sun.
The sky was completely drowned in blazing white light, with not a hint of blue remaining. Massive amounts of Magic poured out from the center, radiating in all directions. In just this short time, the intensifying energy reaction pushed the fireball close to a hundred miles in diameter, its unmatched brightness erasing all darkness.
Far away, Vedoras turned his head, and the spreading white light made his heart sink. He knew exactly what this phenomenon represented.
"Hahaha!"
"As expected, you still can't do it!"
Parak laughed loudly and did not continue the pursuit. The most important goal had already been achieved, and at their level, unless they fought to the death, killing an equal opponent was not easy. The bomb's power was enough to completely destroy this place, allowing the army to exploit the breach in the northern defense line, push straight through, and force the eastern defense to retreat, forming a pincer.
"…"
Vedoras did not want to linger. He immediately flew back toward the city, since his abilities were related to space and could at least protect some important people. But the most important of all, Third Princess, was at that distance from the explosion, and his heart sank.
Then he noticed something strange. The radiating light in the distance was growing dimmer and colder, so he could not help but look up. Parak also turned toward the massive radiant fireball due to the abnormality.
What followed was shock.
At the edge of the horizon, a corner of extremely deep darkness stretched out, outlining a grotesque and unfamiliar shape. Was it a pair of claws? No, it looked more like wings, though it was hard to be sure.
Then, slowly emerging from the fireball whose white light could not suppress it, the dark figure finally revealed its true identity. It was a Black Dragon. An incomparably vast shadow, expanded to thousands of meters, a jet-black Great Dragon.