Hoburns, the capital of the Roble Holy Kingdom, lay half-destroyed. The royal palace and countless other buildings had been razed to the ground.
Its former prosperity had long since vanished. Everywhere one looked, there was nothing but shattered walls and ruins.
Naohara stood atop the Platinum Dragon Lord's head and looked down.
The torrent of Catastrophe had swept across the entire Roble Holy Kingdom. Whether humans corrupted by Miasma or bizarre Chaos Beasts of every imaginable shape, all now lay sprawled across the ground.
The pitch-black Catastrophe cursed every living being equally.
It was resentment born from the world itself. Much like the Soul River and the Earth's Veins, it was merely another branch and extension of the same overarching system.
Only when all of these were combined could they form a complete world.
Naohara's current position was rather unique.
Having crossed the threshold of Genius, the abilities of his class [Catastrophe Dominator] had expanded further, giving rise to a new power, [The Principle of Catastrophe].
On top of that, the Dragon Race had always been favored by the world, and this worked in tandem with the effects of his unique class [World Connector].
Although he was an Invader who had descended from beyond this world, he had somehow forged an intimate connection with the world itself.
With all these factors combined, he had managed to touch upon part of this world's very essence.
The Torrent of Catastrophe, the dark side of the world.
Rather than saying Enhela had been defeated by Naohara, it would be more accurate to say that he had been mercilessly crushed by the world's malice.
It was similar to what had happened when Niles Bahamut, the offspring of the Platinum Dragon Lord, was cursed by the world at birth, only for Naohara to use a World-Class Item to block the world from targeting him.
Enhela's Kuyō Divine Right likely served a similar function.
Naohara's role had merely been to guide the world's malice and give it a direction under those circumstances.
"Huh. I didn't expect any Chaos Beasts to still be alive, much less a dragon-shaped one."
As the Platinum Dragon Lord continued flying, they reached the center of the city, where the temple had once stood.
Atop the ruins lay a dragon-shaped Chaos Beast, its body shimmering with purple light and trailing violet smoke. Its aura was extremely weak.
The Chaos Beast's scales glimmered with a mysterious purple radiance as its massive form towered over the ruins like a small mountain.
Yet its condition was clearly poor, as though it had suffered severe injuries.
Its eyes were tightly shut and its breathing faint. Bone-chilling black mist coiled relentlessly around its body, while the purple smoke rising from it grew thinner and more intermittent with every passing moment.
It was obvious that the creature was being continuously eroded by the world's Catastrophe.
Still, it was impressive that it had managed to survive this long.
Naohara had directed the torrent of Catastrophe to attack every living being within the Roble Holy Kingdom.
If it couldn't lock onto them individually, then there was no need to!
Why not simply wipe out everything at once!
Excluding the White Dragon Lord, the Platinum Dragon Lord, his Thought Form, the Minotaur Sage who had learned what was happening from his memories and was now frantically digging underground, the Clear Light Dragon Lord hiding in another dimension, and the rest of their group, there should not have been a single living creature left in the Roble Holy Kingdom.
The Chaos Beast before him was an unexpected exception.
"It's very powerful. It seems to have been left here specifically to guard that monster. That's why I was forced to delay my advance."
The Platinum Dragon Lord had already sensed something was wrong the moment the Crack appeared in the sky.
At first, he thought it was merely another aftershock, perhaps new Filth had descended and activated some unknown World-Class Item.
To deal with the crisis, the Platinum Dragon Lord immediately began investigating.
Along the way, he tried sending information to the outside world, attempted to repair the Crack in the sky with Wild Magic, and even tried leaving the Roble Holy Kingdom, but every attempt ended in failure.
That made him realize the situation was far more serious than he had initially believed.
Coincidentally, it was around then that he received Naraku's distress signal.
Believing that acting together was better than moving alone, the Platinum Dragon Lord decided to head over and join him.
However, while passing through Hoburns on the way, he was attacked by a tentacled monster. No sooner had he destroyed the tentacles with Wild Magic than the dragon-shaped Chaos Beast attacked immediately afterward.
Left with no other choice, the Platinum Dragon Lord had to deal with the enemies before him first, fighting while steadily retreating.
He conserved his Dragon Soul as much as possible while searching for an opportunity to break away.
It was during that battle that he noticed something unusual about the tentacled monster.
"Hmm... I suppose that's only fitting for the Perfect Race. Even the stronger Chaos Beasts take on dragon-like forms, though it's really just a superficial resemblance."
Naohara rubbed his chin and sighed with emotion.
Chaos Beasts.
They could technically be considered creations of Kuyō, since Enhela had summoned them through Divine Right.
However, most Chaos Beasts were relatively weak, with even the strongest generally hovering around LV40. The one before him was clearly a rare specimen.
Its level was probably somewhere around LV85+.
Although it looked like a dragon, it was not actually a member of the Dragon Race.
That much could be confirmed by the complete lack of reaction from both his class [Dragonslayer] and the [Dragon Destruction Sword] currently merging within his body.
"Should we capture it?"
Naraku asked from the side, though he already knew the answer.
"Two for the price of one. Why not? It managed to survive until I got here, and it even looks like a dragon. You could call that fate."
Just as Naraku expected.
A living specimen would always have greater research value than a corpse.
The Chaos Beast could barely be considered one of Kuyō's creations, or perhaps a derivative of one.
Not only could it be used for research, it could also satisfy Momonga's collecting habit. Its heart could even be served at the dinner table.
It definitely had value.
"Be good. Don't resist."
Under the watchful eyes of the Platinum Dragon Lord and Naraku, Naohara slowly extended his right hand.
[Reject the Cocoon of Life]
It was a defensive spell that created a Barrier living creatures could not pass through.
But this was the New World, not a game, so Naohara figured it could just as easily be used to imprison an enemy.
Magic gathered into the shape of a cocoon and swiftly descended upon the dragon-shaped Chaos Beast below.
The creature offered no resistance.
Perhaps it was not that it did not want to resist, but that it simply no longer could.
After all, it had been enduring the world's relentless malice all this time. The fact that it had survived until now was already nothing short of a miracle.
It was completely spent. Without Naohara's intervention, it probably would have died to the torrent of Catastrophe within another ten minutes at most.
[Spatial Compression]
Invisible space was crumpled and compressed like a sheet of paper, causing the enormous cocoon to shrink continuously.
Eventually, the giant cocoon stopped changing and transformed into a small, delicate, crystal-clear glass bead.
Naohara casually waved his hand, and the bead flew back into his palm as though it possessed a will of its own.
"Take this thing back and keep it in VIP Cave No. 1."
Naohara spoke casually.
Ever since the Swordmaster Dragon Lord had chosen to submit, VIP Cave No. 1 had gone a long time without welcoming a new resident.
This dragon-shaped Chaos Beast could fill the vacancy perfectly.
Upon hearing that, the Platinum Dragon Lord involuntarily shuddered, his expression turning unpleasant.
There was a very simple reason for that.
He had been the original resident of VIP Cave No. 1!
Countless terrible memories instantly flooded back into his mind.
"Now then, it's time for the main course."
The dragon-shaped Chaos Beast was only a bonus.
They had yet to claim the real prize.