It had been quite the time. Alex and his family were currently riding on top of a giant bird-like magic beast. Although, one was currently missing, Edwalt. He had went out alone, in the east, after his defeat against Rose.
They were flying at an extremely high speed, if it weren't for Jin's skill, [Guard], they would have to face the might of furious winds.
Alex looked into the distance. Currently, they were flying above a big road clearing.
They had started their journey just a day ago. After Rose and Alex were declared to have drawed, the world of the people related to the three great clans was taken by a storm. To think that a kid, a fourteen year old had drawed against one of the strongests of the three great clans, was truly an exceptional feat.
Even if Ken did not see it, he knew that people could only have two types of reactions to this situation; either they would start considering Alex to be an unusual individual—possibly to truly even be the reincarnation of the Azure Serpent himself. Or, they would start doubting Rose's strength, just how could she lose to a child?
After all, none had actually witnessed the battle and just been told about the draw. There could definitely be other types of reactions, too. But, they would just be the sub-parts of these two.
Anyway, not like Ken cared about any of these. He even planned of revealing the truth about his reincarnation to "his family." After all, as soon as the trial would end, and he gained a significant power boost, he would desert the Azure Serpent Clan.
He once even pondered about massacring the three great clans for greater power; but that was only an if.
If it was any other sane person, they would have considered themselves to be crazy on thinking about such. But, this too, also didn't matter to Ken. He knew that at the end, this world would be destroyed too, in the path of his wake.
He had chosen the path to destruction long ago. He had, very long ago, resigned himself to such utter cruelty. Sometimes, he did feel
hesitant, that what he wanted to do was wrong. But, this world was already fated to be doomed. That was enough reason. For Ken, atleast.
They flew closer to the Great Jura Forest, unbeknownst to the activity that was taking place in the direction they were headed to.
"Hey, Alex." Upon hearing someone call out his name, Alex turned to face his relatives.
A girl of slightly shorter starture than him; probably two or three inches. Stood infront of him. She had blonde hair, the same azure eyes as all members of the Azure Serpent Clan.
She glanced at the Alex who seemed to be deep in thought. Then, he shifted towards her and asked:
"Yes? Emily." Alex asked. Alex always found it awkward talking to his cousins, as he was technically an adult. He found it strange talking to little kids, although he was one too. Kinda. Maybe this was one of his only weaknesses.
Still, it was not the first time the two were talking, given that they were cousins, and had went on many missions, together. Whenever him and Emily talked, though. Alex somehow ended up giving some of his wisdom to Emily. Strangely, she seemed to like it.
"Oh. It's nothing, really. I just wanted to talk to you about, you know... aunt Rose and your battle. No! Do not misunderstand, please. I actually mean, what are your thoughts on peoples' opinions." Emily asked, slightly shy.
"Oh, so it's about that. Well... I don't really care about what people think. I don't care if they believe me to be the reincarnation of a legend, not even if they believe aunt Rose to be weak. I know how strong she is. I think aunt Rose thinks the same. When you're on a certain level, you stop caring about what people think. People always steep too low to pull someone down, no matter who." Alex expressed.
A strange, familiar, old expression appeared on Emily's face as she put her hand on her chin, consuming the words of wisdom.
'Oh. It reminds of that certain stone face back in the kingdom of... ah, I forgot. Since when did I start having such a bad memory as to forget the name of a kingdom? Or maybe something has temptered with my memories. Ah, Whatever.'
Emily looked at Alex with a slight smile:
"Thanks, Alex. It helped me a lot."
Alex looked at her nonchalantly and shrugged:
"No problem."
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. The atmosphere was taken by a sudden pressure.
Soon, terrifying, loud, and ghastly screeches filled the whole area with a sense of dread. Although, it did not really affect the humans riding on the bird-like magic beast. After all, they were in the presence of an officially recognised true Enlightened, and another one who was slowly starting to earn recognition and was supposed to be on par with the former. The others, too, were extremely formidable warriors.
These warriors were not affected by the sudden change. But, the magic beasts and animals residing in the forest, down there, seemed to be panic stricken. All started running here and there in panic. Even some mighty predators seemed to cower in fear and ran towards safety.
Somewhere far away in the sky, a tiny cloud of swirling mass of living darkness seemed to be moving towards the warriors that had dared approach a certain being's territory.
Soon, the sight of many corrupted dragons—the Sky Dragons seemed to come in view. There were around twenty of them—the appearance of twenty calamity-class monsters was a serious threat. No small nation with just a bunch of knights would be able to fend off such a threat.
Slowly, they closed in on the humans.
The seven humans, all, took on different positions—defensive and offensive.
They awaited the Sky Dragons to close in.
As soon as the Sky Dragons did close in, Rose leapt into the air and activated "[Sacrosanct!]"
A sphere of golden light encompassed Rose. Then she burst towards the Sky Dragons, a streak of light followed behind her.
Then, she slammed into one of the Sky Dragons, who immediately let out a loud, guttural screech.
SKRREEEEAAAAHHH!
The force let out by the Sky dragon's screech was strong enough to cause the bird-like magic beast to cower in fear. It immediately dove towards the ground below.
Before it reached the ground, however, unbeknownst to all, a purple glow surrounded the magic beast and it immediately flew back towards the sky above.
'[Mind Control] does work, huh.' Ken thought as the magic beast made it's way back.
Between these instances, Rose had already finished the Sky Dragon, and had gone back to another.
It seemed the others could just wait and watch, until Saint Rose completed her work.
All of the Sky Dragons, though mindless, seemed to acknowledge Rose as the biggest threat. Most of them summoned orbs of lightning, and shot streaks of lightning at Rose.
While, some attacked the warriors riding on top of the bird-like magic beast. However, this magic beast was not just for flight, it was quite strong, although not much compared to the mights of the Sky Dragons who were around the lower-end of Arch-Dragons. They were a force to be reckoned with. The magic beast opened it's maw and unleashed a flame breath.
The flame breath and the lighting collided, generating black smoke. The lighting passed through the smoke and made it's way towards the magic beast and it's riders.
It streaked through the sky and collided straight into the magic beast, however a green barrier surrounding the magic beast stopped the attack.
BOOMM!
Then, a figure surrounded by blue flames flew towards the Sky Dragons at tremendous speed. All of that was happening from the start till now, all seemed so bizzare that one would just dismiss it as a dream. These two were truly one of the strongests of Three Great Clans.
Ken flew through the air as he used [Universal Shapeshift], and created a pair of bat like wings. 'Ah. It truly is a wonderful ability.'
The mass of blue flames dove between four Sky Dragons. And out of everyone's sight, stealthily, Ken activated [Mutilate.] In just a matter of seconds, The Sky Dragons were cut down. Instead of falling, the lifeless bodies of the four Sky Dragons glowed with a blue light and disintegrated into a rain of blue sparks, which were then absorbed by Ken's [Core].
Meanwhile, Rose had finished taking care of four Sky Dragons after the first one. A total of nine Sky Dragons had been slain, only eleven remained.
All eleven remaining Sky Dragons moved aside from Rose, who just flew past them.
Then, a strange phenomenon occured, one possibly not seen by the world, ever.
All the remaining Sky Dragons emanated a sudden darkness. Purple spheres glowed where the Sky Dragons' souls were supposed to be.
Then, all of them were taken by a storm of darkness and then merged into a blob of darkness, one that seemed to be alive. It moved strangely, throbbing in different areas. Then, it suddenly gained shape and the darkness subsided, flowing back and disappearing in the sky.
A massive dragon, that had a striking resemblance to the Sky Dragons from before, yet different, hovered in the sky. It was massive. Many times bigger than the ones from before. It was the size of a whole small village.
The Sky Dragon loomed above like a living calamity, its body vast enough to engulf an entire village beneath its shadow. Born from the fusion of eleven of its kind, its form was thicker, longer, and far more dreadful than any normal beast could ever hope to be. Its pale, ghostly-white scales stretched endlessly across its colossal frame, gleaming faintly like moonlit armor, while jagged streaks of black corruption crawled across its body as if shadows were gnawing at its flesh.
Its wings—once tattered and sinister—had multiplied into a vast, nightmarish canopy, each pair layered over the other, resembling torn storm clouds laced with darkness.
It's head was a crown of terror: multiple horns jutted out in jagged arcs, and its maw gaped wide, lined with rows of jagged fangs that could swallow houses whole. Black fire and static crackled within its throat, threatening annihilation with every breath. Its eyes glowed like cold, merciless stars—voids of predatory hunger that promised no escape.
Its arms were thicker than towers, ending in claws like jagged scythes, each one capable of rending entire buildings in a single swipe. Its serpentine tail, long enough to wrap around the borders of a village.
Every part of the Sky Dragon radiated dread, as if its very existence was a blasphemy against the natural order. It was not merely a beast—it was a catastrophe incarnate, a terror birthed from eleven nightmares forged into one, a monster that could drown hope with a single glance.
It gave no chance to the seven humans, opening it's wide maw as a trail of corrupted fire slowly made it's way outside.
Soon after, a beam of pure destruction escaped from the dragon's maw, the air around the calamitic dragon seemed to wrap. All around, the forest was shaking under the overwhelming pressure exerted by the dragon and it's beam of annihilation.
Giving no time for the warriors to react: the beam of pure destruction warped into a sphere and disappeared.
'What?' A single thought appeared in everyone's mind as the beam of annihilation suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace of it's presence left. Suddenly, Alex's eyes widened, it seemed as if he had realised something. He immediately jumped down the magic beast who was cowering in fear. "Run! Run as far as you can!"
No one seemed to understand Alex's warning, though.
When they did realise, it was too late.
The beam of annihilation had returned; as a sphere. It had appeared just beside the magic beast, rode by the seven humans. The mere energy exuded by the beam was strong enough to slowly corrode the magic beast's body.
Jin's barrier too, fell apart. Suddenly, All hell broke loose.
The sphere of annihilation ignited. Devouring the whole sky in it's fury.
BOOOOMMMM!