CHAPTER 36: 'Who Killed My Dragon?
'TOR'S SIDE
The world was already burning before the Ape moved.
Blue soul flames clawed up from the cracked earth as though the ground itself had begun to exhale hatred. Sand melted into blackened glass. The air warped, thick and heavy, carrying the stench of scorched essence and something older, something feral. The Ape stood at the center of it all, its massive frame hunched and trembling, ghostly blue eyes locked onto Tor with a fixation that bordered on madness.
It roared.
The sound rolled across the battlefield like a physical force, flattening loose debris and shattering what little silence remained. The Ape beat its fists against the ground again and again, each impact detonating soul flames outward in violent pulses. Even the earth recoiled, splitting and buckling beneath the assault.
Tor stood within the chaos, unmoved.
The flames licked at him, parted around him, died against the invisible geometry of his spatial shield. Ash drifted past his face. Heat pressed down on him like a collapsing sky.
He did not blink.
Seeing this, the Ape's rage twisted into something sharper. Its body blurred.
It vanished.
Even trained eyes would have failed to follow its movement. One moment it stood roaring in the inferno, the next it had already crossed the distance, its massive form launching upward as the burnt earth shattered beneath its feet. The jump cracked the ground like thunder, fragments of molten stone spiraling outward.
At the same time, the archer resumed firing.
Arrows screamed through the air, each shaft wrapped in condensed soul force. But Tor's spatial shield had already shifted. Dark matter threaded through it like veins of living night, and with only a single archer remaining, the arrows struck the barrier and lost cohesion, their power collapsing into harmless fragments before they could even reach him.
Above, the Ape descended.
Its body cut through the air like a falling mountain, all four limbs extended, its shadow swallowing Tor as it dropped at a velocity approaching the speed of sound. The pressure alone crushed the ground beneath, forming a shallow crater before impact even occurred.
Tor raised his hand.
Dark matter flowed, reshaping itself instantly into a sword.
He blinked.
Space folded.
Tor reappeared above the Ape's exposed back, suspended in the air for a fraction of a second that felt infinite. The creature had not even realized it had missed.
"Naive."
The word was soft. Almost bored.
The sword moved.
Not once. Not twice.
Several times.
Each slash was precise beyond reason, lines of absolute darkness tracing paths so thin they barely disturbed the air. Tor finished with a kick, his foot connecting with the Ape's massive spine and driving it downward.
The Ape hit the ground with a sound like the world breaking.
A crater exploded outward, dust and debris launching skyward. When the tremor finally settled, the Ape lay face-down in the center, its body eerily intact. No blood spilled. No wounds were visible.
Only trained eyes would notice the truth.
The cuts were there.
They were simply too perfect.
Tor landed on the edge of the crater, his boots crunching softly against fractured stone. The archer continued firing for several seconds longer, arrows streaking uselessly toward him, until realization finally set in.
The archer froze.
Tor turned his head slightly and looked at the immobile figure.
"So what are you gonna do now?"
The archer did not answer.
Without warning, it turned and fled, sprinting madly toward the distant clash where the cloaked figure was still fighting the old man and the guard captain.
"Coincidentally," Tor said, already walking after him, "I was also headed in that direction."
He had taken only a few steps when the ground behind him shook.
A roar tore free from the crater.
The Ape burst upward, leaping out in a frenzy of shattered earth and flame. Its body twisted midair, landing heavily behind Tor, the impact sending shockwaves through the battlefield. Its face had changed.
It no longer resembled an Ape.
The dragon's influence had surfaced fully now, its features elongated and distorted, blue flames leaking from its eyes and mouth. It reared back and unleashed a torrent of soul fire toward Tor's back.
Without turning, Tor raised a hand.
The spatial shield, infused with dark matter, unfolded behind him, intercepting the flames. They crashed against the barrier and dissipated, leaving nothing but scorched air.
"It seems," Tor said calmly, "my swordsmanship is too good."
He could tell.
The cuts he had made were so thin, so refined, that the Ape's body could regenerate effortlessly by drawing on the dragon essence possessing it.
The Ape did not pause.
It lunged forward and threw a punch, its massive arm tearing through the air, aiming straight for Tor's head.
Tor turned.
In the same motion, the dark matter sword appeared in one hand while the other formed a shield. He swatted the Ape's arm aside, redirecting its momentum, and stepped in.
The sword pierced the Ape's chest.
The blade slid in smoothly, as though entering water.
Before the Ape could even roar, Tor activated Devour.
The world seemed to hold its breath.
The dragon screamed.
Its corporeal form became visible for the first time, writhing within the Ape's body as it tried desperately to detach itself. Blue flames surged violently, essence flooding outward in an attempt to escape.
It was useless.
Tor did not chase.
He pulled.
The dragon's essence tore free in screaming strands, collapsing inward as Tor consumed it directly. No refinement. No tempering. No patience.
In seconds, it was over.
Silence fell.
The Ape's body collapsed lifelessly, its frame empty, its borrowed power gone. Tor withdrew his sword and walked away.
As he did, his aura shifted.
It became aggressive. Tyrannical.
Dragon essence coursed through him raw and unstable, its will pressing outward because it had not yet been incorporated into his own power.
Tor did not slow.
TORI'S SIDE
The guard captain lay broken against the ground, blood staining his armor. The old man wasn't much better, his breathing ragged, his stance barely holding.
The cloaked figure laughed.
"Hahaha! What did you say?" he sneered. "If you could injure me, you can kill me? What a joke. I will make sure you suffer hell so you would understand the difference in our power."
Before anyone could respond, the archer's corpse stumbled into the area.
The cloaked figure froze.
Something had been severed.
A scream tore from his throat as his connection to the dragon was cut off entirely.
"WHO DARES—" his voice cracked with fury and disbelief. "Who dares kill this young Lord's pet?! I will definitely capture your soul and use it as a meal to placate my anger!"
The guard captain and the old man could only watch.
Tori, standing at the edge of the battlefield, smiled faintly.
TORI'S SIDE
The cloaked figure's rage detonated.
His aura exploded outward, pulverizing the ground around him. His eyes burned with savage madness as he grabbed the archer corpse by the head. The skull burst apart, and he ripped the soul free.
The soul wailed.
He devoured it.
Unsatisfied, his gaze shifted.
"You," he said, locking onto Tori. "You have the strongest soul here."
He advanced slowly, bone sword gleaming. "If I eat her soul, it should be enough to let me escape from the monster that is coming."
Tori did not move.
Her stillness made him uneasy, but her silence convinced him she feared him.
He stepped closer.
Someone cleared their throat behind him.
No—he felt an aura.
A familiar one.
The cloaked figure turned.
A boy stood there.
Calm. Silent.
Blue soul flames coiled around his body, dragon aura leaking from his skin. His eyes glowed the same blue that had once belonged to the dragon.
It was that aura that had blinded him.
"KID!" the cloaked figure roared. "Who killed my dragon? Why did you absorb its energy?!"
His killing intent flared violently.
He still could not believe it.
That dragon ghost had possessed nearly one-third of a real dragon's power.
Tori watched silently as the inscriptions on Tor's bracelet shone, the blue flames around him slowly weakening.
The monster had arrived.