[Reverse Scale]
Located beneath a dragon's neck, the Reverse Scale is a crescent-shaped scale roughly the size of a palm.
This scale is rather unusual. Anatomically, it sits directly between the dragon's heart and throat, making it one of the most vital parts of its body.
As such, the Reverse Scale serves an extremely important protective function.
At the same time, it is also one of a dragon's most sensitive areas.
Dragons strongly resent outsiders touching it. In more serious cases, doing so can provoke them into a rage and trigger an attack.
That was where the saying, "A dragon has a Reverse Scale. Touch it, and it will rage," originated.
It was often used to describe a person's inviolable bottom line and similar things.
The concept of the Reverse Scale originally came from the Eastern Dragon setting of his first incarnation.
Although Yggdrasil's lore classified the true form as a standard Western dragon, the setting still gave him a Reverse Scale.
That was not particularly strange.
Borrowing elements between different cultures was extremely common.
For example, a game called Monster Hunter that he had played during his first incarnation had Ancient Dragons with something vaguely similar.
Another classic example was the connection between the phoenix and the immortal bird.
And according to a common Western storytelling principle, giving a powerful creature a weakness so that a weaker being had a chance to defeat it against overwhelming odds was exactly the sort of thing people loved to see.
So there was nothing unusual about borrowing the concept.
...
On the ground, Naraku was using his own blood and the Platinum Dragon Lord's blood to draw a ritual altar.
Behind Naraku, whether human, Zern, or members of the Demihuman coalition, everyone wore the exact same expression. Devotion and awe.
They closed their eyes, lowered their heads, and silently prayed to the Gods they believed in.
Their lips moved faintly, as though voicing the deepest desires and fears hidden within their hearts.
With every breath, faint strands of golden light slowly rose from their bodies, intertwining like delicate threads before quietly spreading outward.
Death was undoubtedly the best catalyst.
When people truly felt death drawing near, deep fear would surge into their hearts like a tide.
And that fear would, in turn, give rise to countless fantasies within them.
Thus, praying to the Gods became their final source of spiritual support, causing their previously restless thoughts to grow increasingly pure.
The scene closely resembled Naraku's first meeting with Enri.
Back then, when her life hung in the balance, she too had devoted herself completely to praying to the Gods.
Now, everyone was doing exactly what Enri had done then, without the slightest hesitation or even needing a reason.
The moment Naraku proposed the idea, everyone immediately acted on it, displaying astonishing efficiency.
Because right now, it was the only thing they could do.
In only a short while, the countless strands of golden Power of Faith had gathered into a mighty torrent.
More importantly, because of the extreme devotion in everyone's hearts, the quality of that Power of Faith was extraordinarily high. The power contained within it was enough to make anyone take notice.
In the words of the Six Great Gods, this stuff was probably pure as hell.
However, perhaps because their beliefs differed from one another, while the quality of the Power of Faith was exceptional, its inner core was also extremely mixed and chaotic.
Not useful enough to consume, yet too valuable to throw away.
If the Six Great Gods were here, they would probably think exactly that.
For Naraku, however, this was not a difficult problem to solve.
By relying on the Wild Magic mastered by the Platinum Dragon Lord, he could absorb the Power of Faith while filtering out the chaotic thoughts mixed within it, extracting only the purest essence at its core.
Once the altar was complete, Naraku and the Platinum Dragon Lord moved to opposite ends and sat cross-legged.
They closed their eyes and focused.
One dragon drew in the Power of Faith flowing from all directions, while one man quietly began chanting an ancient incantation.
A jet-black crescent-shaped scale gradually emerged from the Platinum Dragon Lord's body.
The scale gave off a faint glow, almost as if it were alive. Under Naraku's control, it detached itself from the Platinum Dragon Lord's chest and slowly floated toward the center of the altar.
Just then, an urgent shout rang out.
"Hey! Are you done yet?!"
Immediately afterward, a figure was blasted through the air like a cannonball and crashed heavily near the altar, smashing out a massive crater.
Amid the flying dust, the battered Minotaur Sage crawled out of the crater, cursing nonstop.
Meanwhile, the White Dragon Lord and the Clear Light Dragon Lord at the very front were also struggling desperately to hold their ground.
Despite fighting with everything they had against Enhela, they still found themselves overwhelmed.
The Minotaur Sage groaned inwardly.
The situation with Enhela was far more complicated than they had expected.
After exchanging blows with him, the Minotaur Sage could say with certainty that Enhela had become noticeably stronger than during their first battle.
This was not some illusion caused by the Minotaur Sage growing weaker. Enhela had genuinely become stronger, and the difference was obvious.
This so-called Kuyō Creation was practically the perfect embodiment of a certain saying.
[What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.]
The Minotaur Sage felt that if this kept up, he was going to end up as handmade beef balls!
Every muscle and bone in his body was screaming in pain, as though he were about to fall apart.
Back during his gaming days, he had only been an ordinary Player who bought a monthly pass and rarely spent money on Cash Shop Items.
Although his inventory contained several precious Resurrection items, they were not free of consequences.
Because they were not Cash Shop Items, each use brought a certain degree of negative effect.
Just thinking about the possibility of losing levels because of Resurrection made the Minotaur Sage feel miserable.
Aaaah!
All he wanted was to live peacefully in this New World, coast through life, and enjoy himself along the way. Why did it have to be so damn difficult?
"Give me one more minute!"
Naraku answered the Minotaur Sage without hesitation.
Then he shut out everything happening around him and focused entirely on the ritual.
The [Genius] class changed, transforming into the New World's unique Divine System class, [Apostle of Naohara].
Immediately afterward, another class, [Ruler of Wisdom], also transformed into [Catastrophe Dominator].
A Divine System Magic Caster.
The core principle of this class was that its power came from the God worshipped deep within the caster's heart, allowing them to borrow that God's power to perform all kinds of miraculous magic.
At that moment, deep within his heart, Naraku was carefully forming the image of the true form.
"Alright. I'm going in."
Seeing Naraku's aura fluctuating violently, the Minotaur Sage hardened his resolve, raised his giant axe, and charged back into the fight.
If they managed to survive this crisis, then he could at least say he had gone through a life-and-death ordeal alongside them and forged a deep bond in the process.
Even if his identity was exposed, surely his fellow countrymen from the Sorcerer Kingdom would show him some consideration because of that bond and not make things too difficult for him, right?
With that uneasy thought in mind, the Minotaur Sage threw himself back into the fierce and brutal battlefield without looking back.
Meanwhile, Naraku continued racing against the clock.
He was a thought entity of the true form and possessed the true form's spiritual essence.
His current body, meanwhile, had been constructed from human blood, within which flowed the blood of the true form from his earliest days as a Dragonoid.
As the son of the Dragon Emperor, the Platinum Dragon Lord possessed exceptionally pure Dragon Blood.
Then there was the true form's Reverse Scale.
As a safeguard placed upon the Platinum Dragon Lord, it not only contained the power of Catastrophe, which could annihilate the Platinum Dragon Lord's Dragon Soul, but also carried a portion of the true form's soul.
Spiritual essence combined with soul would form a complete Soul.
When human blood and Dragon Blood fused together, the power of Catastrophe would reveal its essence as magic and harmonize with the Divine attribute.
Then, through the Power of Faith and its miraculous ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, they could trace everything back to its origin.
And then... recreate the true form as he once was!
"One Soul shall guide the light, and one Soul shall guide the darkness, turning the impossible into the possible."
"O Demon Dragon of Catastrophe, shatter the shackles sealing the cracks of this world and bring destruction upon my enemies!"
At last, the final stroke was complete.