The Dragon of Dreams

Chapter 256: Suffocation of Emotion

Late Afternoon - Mid Evening : The Scar, Southwestern Holy Kingdom (The mountain)

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- Amphitrite Ouranós ~

*Crunch-FWOOSH* Myles leapt into the air the moment he hit the ground after catching Hel's blade in his mouth, but our eyes simultaneously went wide the moment we saw that she was still firmly holding it. -SHIT!- Panic set in immediately

*FWOOOSH* I immediately flapped my wings and darted toward them, hoping to knock her away.

But I was far too slow. "~To think my son was killed by someone so weak!~" Her mocking words and bottomless confidence sent a chill down my spine as she ripped the blade from his mouth and slammed the hilt of it into his face, shattering every scale and bone in the vicinity. *CRUNCH-CRRR-WHAAAAAAAM*

But Myles was not one to go down so easily. *BAAAAAAANG* The moment he hit the ground, a mountain of debris was hurled into the air, and the ground quaked as if wailing in pain, but he stood firmly. -Now it's my turn!-

Accelerating once again, I appeared behind Hel in an instant.

*FWOOSH* She didn't even seem to know I was there even as my mana-coated claws, each bigger than her body, loomed over her head, but it gave me hope. -If Myles can land a hit here, I might be able to finish her off!-

*WHAAAAM* My claws felt like they hit an unbreakable rock as they hit her head, but now wasn't the time to let my emotions waver. *CRAAAACK* Instantly hurling her to the ground countless times faster than sound, I looked at Myles and saw him already darting through the dust cloud that covered the ground. -Perfect...-

*VWOOOM* To follow him up, I hastily activated the artifact on my ankle which immediately covered my paw in a dark black cloud, and darted down after her as well. *FWOOOSH*

But as I approached, and Myles got close enough to nearly put Hel in his mouth, I saw her blade disintegrate before appearing in her other hand, directly over Myles' head.

Time felt like it stopped at that instant. My mind started racing, desperately trying to think of a way to save him, but there was nothing I could do but watch in horror.

I was simply too slow.

*VWOOOOOOM* A deafening mana ripple from Myles desperately trying to save himself met my ears as her blade slammed into his nose.

Without knowing any better, one would think it was an attack Myles could take. Her human-sized blade couldn't reach anything vital, after all.

But both Myles and I knew it wasn't that simple.

Collisions of divinity were not to be trifled with.

*CRUNCH* The moment her blade smashed through the broken scales on his nose and collided with his divinity, every scale and horn down to his hind legs shattered instantaneously, and the air beneath his body turned opaque as if solidifying.

The scene unfolded so fast that I normally wouldn't have had much time to react, but at that moment my mind raced with such urgency that it felt as though time itself had slowed down, prolonging my agony as I powerlessly watched the gut-wrenching scene.

But after what felt like an eternity, there was a spark; a spark that lit the fear, sadness, and pain that clouded my mind into an unfathomable blaze.

That was the moment time began to flow once more.

*VWOOOOP* Gripping every particle of air within my aura, I locked my eyes onto Hel and hurled myself downward. *FWOOOOOOOSH* I was moving so fast that I practically teleported down on top of her before setting the tip of my claw in the center of her back.

Finally sensing me, her sword vanished, and the center of her body blackened and hardened.

But it was exactly what I wanted. -Now eat this you stupid bitch!-

An indescribable black light formed at the tip of my claw as it touched her body, but it disappeared a moment later.

*pop*

In an instant, the ground I could partially see through her body vanished, replaced by an unfathomable wall of white light, while the area around my claw was wrapped in ineffable darkness.

The recoil was immense, immediately spreading through my body (via divinity) before the artifact blew itself apart, gouging the flesh around it and shattering my leg in the process.

But I was far too angry to even recognize what I was feeling.

All that mattered at that moment, was that everything in front of me would vanish.

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM* The indescribable noise echoed through my mind endlessly as my subconscious panicked to try and calm me down, but it wasn't until the blinding light faded to reveal a hole coated in magma, nearly 30 meters wide and over a kilometer deep that the endless blaze of rage I felt finally started to suffocate itself.

But my panic was far from over. "MYLES!" Darting over to his limp body as it fell to the ground I threw myself under him and dashed a few hundred meters away in an instant.

*CRUMBLE-PSHHHH* The ground behind us started to collapse inwards as I finally set him down, before immediately flooding his head and chest with mana. -Please.. please.. please.. please.. please...-

I found myself begging the world to show some kind of sign of life as I looked through his body, but my indescribable expression only darkened.

His blood and aura were still, and his shredded muscles were relaxed, but the most painful to see.. was that his mind was silent.

I felt as if my whole body had been paralyzed as the fiery rage finally ran out of fuel.

Emotions started to drain from my mind immediately, but after a short moment, I was left with despair, hatred, and regret. -Why...-

I lowered my head to nudge him as I felt my eyelids become heavy. -Why wasn't it me...-

The silence that filled the air as the dust began to settle only made my chest ache more, but there was nothing I could do but grit my teeth and weep, continuously questioning what I could have done differently, knowing all too well nothing would change.

But that was when it happened. "~So that's how you killed him.~" Hel's voice met my ears like a harbinger of despair.

And it hit my brittle mind like an iron hammer.

"~I was wondering what kind of tricks you would have to give you the confidence to fight back.~"

Feeling cracks begin to spread through my mind, I shakily looked back to see Hel floating there as if unharmed, the only difference being the significantly lessened amount of dark, hardened divinity.

But that difference didn't matter. "~What a nice expression.~" Her straight face slowly morphed into a horrifying smile as she looked into my eyes. "~Who knew such a big lizard could mourn!~"

As the comparatively small amount of remaining hardened divinity accumulated in her hand, I sat still, as if having finally accepted fate. -So this.. is how it ends...-

Memories I thought I had long since forgotten started playing in my mind as I watched her slowly approach.

They played as if to let me relive them, to be reminded of everything I had done, from my greatest accomplishments to my greatest failures...

It was a reminder of what I had accomplished; a reminder that I lived a life I could be proud of...

-AS IF!- *VWOOOM* Mana immediately erupted out of my reserve as my body tensed and my pupils dilated.

"~Hoh? Do you wish to die as well? Are you hoping to join him in the afterlife?~" She spoke as if to taunt me; as if she wanted to lure me in.

But her words failed to reach me as my reserve drained itself into my breath gland.

One by one, my senses went dark, devoting every ounce of my subconscious to preparing the spell. It was a spell that was going to leave me crippled even if I managed to survive. -But as long as I kill you, I don't care...-

I had already steeled my resolve. No matter what the cost was, I was going to kill her.

But that opportunity never came.

*vwoop-VVVVMMMMM* A beam of mana so bright it made my spell earlier look like a candle ripped past my head in an instant.

It was so fast that I didn't have a chance to react, and while it instantly melted to the top layer of my scales, it felt unfathomably cold. -H..huh?-

As the light faded, I looked toward the source of the beam to see a floating fist of divinity and a small melon-sized, black orb floating where Hel's head should have been, and a huge white fenrir floating in the air behind it.

Questions instantly started ripping through my mind, but the moment I looked into its eyes, my mind went silent, and I lost every ounce of my will to fight.

"~D-D-D-DAGR?!~" Hel's previously cold and emotionless voice suddenly turned fearful and panicked. "~HOW ARE YOU ALI-~"

*tink* Her panicked voice was cut off by an indescribable noise as the fenrir's mouth closed on the black orb.

"~AAAAGH!~"

Her cry of agony, which would have brought me bliss just a moment ago, made my mind go blank.

"~I-I-I'M SORRY! PLEASE LET ME-~" *crackle* "~AAAAAAAHHH!~"

The fenrir, seemingly walking on air, passed right by me as if I wasn't there before stopping next to Myles' body.

"~N-N-N-NO PLEASE! I NEVER TOUCHED BAHAMUT! I WASN'T ONE OF THE ONES TO DEFE-~" *CRACKLE* "~AAAGGHH!! N-N-NOO-~" *CRUNCH* Her voice ceased the instant the black sphere shattered, immediately exposing a beautiful transparent white cloud.

I could do nothing but watch in awe and confusion as a silent crackling filled the air, and countless tiny black cracks appeared within the cloud.

Somehow the noise was oddly tranquil, causing my mind and body to ease as if everything I had just experienced was a dream.

But that was when the world stopped turning.

*CRRRUNCH-BRRRRMMMMM* A colossal blast of dirt and rubble appeared behind Myles as a huge white beam blew a hole through his chest, immediately exposing a complex web of black strings with a beautiful deep blue orb at the center.

It was Myles' reserve, but I wasn't even given time to process that fact...

*tink-crackle-VWOOOOOOOM* The already cracked reserve exploded as if it had been waiting for it, triggering an unfathomable shockwave of mana that flattened the rubble-covered and turned it molten.

But almost immediately, the cloudy remains of the black sphere floating in the fenrir's mouth were moved into the hole by a black fog, instantly causing the insane surge of mana to halt.

The mana was so still for that moment that my instinct flared up; it was as if an unfathomable being was staring at me.

Even as the mana started to move again, my mind and body were simply paralyzed.

It wasn't until long after the fenrir disappeared that my mind eased enough to allow a singular coherent thought to form.

-The mana.. is swirling?-

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