Chapter 538: The Body of Karrikex (Part 2)
"Roar——"
Cassius let out a long howl high in the air, spreading his wings as his overwhelming dragon might surged forth, standing toe-to-toe with the dark red dragon's pressure.
Flames surged in the red dragon's pupils, his massive form shrouded in flowing fire and thick smoke. His charm, beyond mortal comprehension, poured out in waves.
Metamagic: Quicken Spell!
Metamagic: Empower Spell!
In an instant, under the full power of the true dragon sorcerer, the world twisted by his will. The Weave folded and bent under his command.
Undead Scales, Graceful Dragon, Dragon's Justice, Energy Scales, Cataclysmic Dragon Eye, Protection from Energy Damage, Divine Veil, Evil Barrier—
Colors of arcane brilliance shimmered across his scaled body, turning slowly.
At the same time, the many divine spell runes inscribed on his scales lit up brightly, casting a radiant white light, making his entire body glow faintly.
Now, Cassius's spellcasting ability from his class alone reached legendary level. Combined with ancestral dragon innate casting, dominion over the elemental plane, extraordinary charisma, and powerful magical gear—
With all these factors stacked, the red dragon sorcerer's spellcasting had reached an inconceivable level. In terms of spell destructive power alone, even source-tier casters struggled to compete.
"Jezal Slak—— Taste the welcome gift I've prepared for you!"
Cassius roared at the dark red dragon and unleashed the spells he had long been preparing.
"Roar——"
In an instant, fiery meteors rained from the sky. Raging inferno storms ravaged the mountain range, and endless thunderbolts crashed from the clouds.
"Boom!"
"Boom! Boom!"
The mountains roared, the earth howled, and all of Anstica trembled under the power.
The terrifying catastrophe left the surrounding environment in chaos. The once-pristine snowy peaks turned to rivers of magma and crackling lightning, filled with boiling water and steam.
"Cassius——"
"Is this your crutch? Pathetically weak magic? Seems I overestimated you."
The hundred-meter-long dark red dragon perched atop the snowy peak raised its head, expression unchanged.
"Tens of thousands of years ago, in the war where the gods sealed me, even the residual aftershocks of battle were stronger than your cheap spells."
Jezal Slak stared at the oncoming disaster-class spells, completely unfazed. He even lifted the corner of his mouth, giving the red dragon a mocking smile.
The dark red dragon slowly spread its wide, tattered wings, like a black curtain covering the land, casting a massive shadow. Chaotic currents surged beneath its wings.
In this stance, Jezal Slak looked as if he were unfolding the wings of distant mountains—monumental.
"Shhh—"
Accompanied by a sharp shriek and chaotic wails, the tattered wings suddenly flapped, stirring an unbelievably terrifying chaotic gale.
That overwhelmingly chaotic abyssal force surged like a flood beneath the great dragon's wings, forming murky, pitch-black fog. Countless vengeful souls screamed and wailed within, chilling to the bone.
"Boom!"
The explosion echoed through heaven and earth.
In an instant, the world seemed split in two—one half a doomsday of fire and thunder, the other an abyss of chaos.
Cassius's disaster-level spells unleashed devastating energy blasts, trying to tear through the black fog.
But the power of the Abyss unraveled all order, reducing all spells to their purest state—void and chaos.
The snowy peaks were now stained black by abyssal mist, glowing eerily. Even the snow turned an unnatural dark green.
Under the dark red dragon's wings, countless winged demons emerged from the chaos, shrieking piercingly.
Jezal Slak reveled in this frenzied scene, twisting around the mountain freely, causing rocks—and even peaks—to collapse.
"Roar——"
Cassius let out a high-pitched howl, flapping his wings faster, becoming a crimson blur slicing across the sky, circling above the abyssal dragon.
He constantly unleashed searing dragon breath, bolts of lightning, pillars of fire, and radiant blasts, striking the enormous, clumsy body of Jezal Slak.
Each of the red dragon's attacks was launched with full force. Combined with ancestral bloodline and elemental dominion, each hit could kill a fully-armed legendary paladin.
Yet before those spells touched the abyssal dragon's body, they were dispersed and nullified by the chaotic membrane on its surface. In Cassius's eyes, this foe was like a walking anti-magic field.
"Roar——"
Jezal Slak bellowed, suddenly swinging his arm skyward. His claws, over ten meters long, tore through the air with crushing force.
Cassius's expression turned grim. He flapped his wings again, whipping up fierce winds, darting like a comet to dodge the strike.
As space wailed, the abyss dragon's claw slowly descended, carving a hundred-meter-long, deep gouge into a snowy mountain.
"Boom——"
The mountaintop tilted and collapsed. Heavy snow and shattered rock cascaded, burying the entire valley.
The chaotic mist spread like storm clouds, surging toward the red dragon in the sky, forming terrifying vortices.
But thanks to his superior speed, Cassius wove and twisted through the encroaching fog, avoiding the Abyss's touch.
Against the over-100-meter-long abyssal dragon, the red dragon appeared agile.
"See it now, Cassius——"
"Your proud magic is useless to me. Your struggle is paper-thin before me!
Red dragon, stop your delusions. Facing the Abyss is like a mortal facing earthquakes and tsunamis—resistance is futile!"
"Boom——"
As the earth roared, Jezal Slak rampaged through the mountains. The hundred-meter-long dark red dragon dragged chaotic mist, corrupting everything nearby.
"He is the essence of the cosmos, the beginning and end of all things, the destined fate—your grave."
His whisper echoed across the mountains, sending all life within thousands of kilometers into shuddering despair.
The yeti in snow-cave lairs ran madly toward the chaos, and even Anstica's eagles dived into it like moths to flame, becoming fuel for the Abyss.
With the abyssal power spreading, the abyss dragon grew to nearly 200 meters, like a moving crimson mountain.
It was devouring the material plane! Jezal Slak intended to pull all of Anzeta into the Bottomless Abyss!
"This is the Abyss's true goal—mortal or immortal, all will be reshaped into a new universe, detached from order and will."
Amid screams of demise, demons' shrieks, and the earth's wails, the dark red dragon lifted its head and roared across the wilds: "Red dragon——
Submit to me!
Yield to the Great Abyss! Merge into my body and fulfill your destined role!"
The abyssal dragon opened its gaping maw, over ten meters wide. Dim yellow light flowed between its scales, and endless abyssal fog roiled at its lips.
The chaotic light suddenly erupted. Chaos fire burst from Jezal Slak's decayed throat.
"Boom——"
With a tremendous roar, a black-red fire pillar meters thick shot from his mouth, tearing the sky.
Chaos breath—and this breath was thicker and hotter than Cassius's own wildest breath attacks.
"You abyss-born mongrel—do you want to die?!"
The red dragon roared. His blood vessels lit up like fire beneath his scales. White-hot smoke and brilliant flames shot from his neck and tail vents.
All his energy channeled into the dragon crystal at his chest. Magical fission reactions raged inside, particles and arcs bursting.
And it wasn't over yet. A crimson flame—the essence of elemental dominion—appeared in his right claw. Flames of essence erupted from his back.
He wielded fire.
Element master runes glowed on his right claw. His whole body resonated with flame, and the surrounding fire heated to blazing white, even tinged with blue.
Elemental Resonance!
In an instant, his dragon crystal blazed like a sun in the night, lighting up the chaotic sky.
Intense heat waves radiated outward, incinerating everything within hundreds of meters. Snow sublimated. Rock melted. Even chaos fog dispersed.
Cassius opened his maw wide. Blinding light surged from within.
"Boom——"
The sound of the air bursting rang across the clouds.
Prime Breath!
The next moment, a blue-white flame column spewed from his throat, evaporating everything nearby.
Simultaneously, the chaos fire of the abyss surged toward him.
"Boom!"
Cassius's Prime Breath collided with Jezal Slak's Chaos Breath, intertwining and exploding in a blast hundreds of meters wide, flattening a mountain.
But chaos surged through the black-red flames, eroding Cassius's breath, unraveling his fire.
For a moment, Cassius was losing in this draconic clash. The chaos breath drew closer.
If this continued, chaos would ignite his body, awaken the chaos within, and drive him into madness—corrupted by the Abyss.
Then, it would be a duel between "Karrikex" and Jezal Slak. The Abyss would let them fight like poisoned insects, choosing its true vessel.
But—Cassius didn't want that ending.
"Abyssal puppet! You think this is enough to beat me?!"
"Roar——"
With a furious roar, Cassius's face twisted. Atop his head appeared the noble visage of the Supreme True Dragon, its silver gem glowing brightly.
Instantly, divine order surged into the fire pillar. Element resonance intensified. Destructive essence from the Fire Plane mixed in.
Cassius's breath now reached quasi-divine power levels.
Blinding motes of light burst from the fire pillar. The flame grew fiercer, infused with terrifying laws, erasing the chaos fire.
"Boom!"
Waves of annihilation exploded in midair, turning the surrounding mountains into craters.
The two dragons twisted their necks, trying to strike each other's bodies, but both anticipated it. They deadlocked.
Once again, the world split—above, Cassius's all-consuming Prime Flame; below, Jezal Slak's maddening Chaos Fire.
"Shhh—"
At the battlefield's edge, on the outermost peaks of the Anstica Mountains, a portal opened in a ripple of space.
A white-bearded elder stepped out, holding a staff, wearing silver robes, his gaze deep as the stars.
He saw the sky and froze. His face wrinkled in shock, his whiskers trembling.
"Bahamut above... What has happened to this world? What is that thing? Am I still in the Third Era? Did I get caught in a Time Dragon's temporal turbulence?"
He even doubted he had traveled to the First Era, when gods clashed and dragons ruled the land.
In his memory, only in that primal time—before he was born, before the gods returned—did such apocalyptic battles occur.
His name was Pabliceko Melward, an ancient silver dragon, elder of the Melward clan, and brother of the "Silver Wing" Oszedro.
After hearing the clan's report, Oszedro took the matter seriously but, injured, sent fellow ancient silver dragon Pabliceko instead.
Now, the crisis had exceeded anything the Melward clan imagined.
"Lord of the Northwind... A forty-meter red dragon and a nearly two-hundred-meter titan... Is this the return of the ancestral dragons?"
Gazing at the mountainous figures and feeling their annihilating aftermath, Pabliceko muttered in awe.
Now, even ancient silver dragons could do nothing. Not even his brother, the "Silver Wing," could affect this fight.
Pabliceko could only silently pray to Bahamut, that the emperor would prevail.
"Bahamut above...
Please bless Emperor Cassius with victory."
At least, in his brother Oszedro's words, the red dragon emperor—though brutal—wasn't beyond redemption.
Abyssal beings were different. For the Material Plane, they were pure parasites. Even the kindest silver dragon would purge them without mercy.