*BOOM*
On the outskirts of a moderately populated human village, a great explosion occurred. The explosion wiped out all living things within a 100-meter radius and alerted the humans within the village.
Due to this, an emergency meeting was called by the Village Chief, Canalis Esperanza, a former soldier from the Eastern Empire.
"This meeting will now commence," Canalis said to his small council of 5. They sat around a pentagon-shaped table with Canalis at the top.
"Have we figured out what caused the explosion?" Canalis asked the woman to his left. A green-haired woman wearing black rimmed glasses, Isabelle Gyster.
She stood up, "Unfortunately not sir. The small squadron that was sent to investigate the area stated they felt an aura of impending doom and they fled in fear for their lives."
Canalis sighed deeply, "Fastur, I want you to accompany the squadron this time." He said to a red-haired young man, who was grinning.
"If you feel something is amiss then come back to the village immediately." Canalis finished and Fastur stood up and saluted.
"Yes sir!" Fastur Esperanza exclaimed.
"Isabelle join them as well, having a mage will help considerably." Canalis ordered and the meeting was adjourned.
——
Acnologia groaned as he opened his eyes.
"Where the hell am I?" He questioned as he stood up and examined his surroundings.
He saw nothing but destruction so he expanded his senses beyond the crater.
"Humans." He uttered with hatred. He quickly fastened his cloak around his shoulders before launching off the ground with enough force to spider web it.
Acnologia crossed the 400-meter distance between him and the humans in nearly an instant, surprising the squadron.
Acnologia wasted no time and put his hand through a soldier's chest, easily bypassing his steel plate armor.
"Shit!" Fastur yelled and drew his sword.
"FASTUR WAIT!" Isabelle yelled but it was too late.
Fastur swung his silver blade faster than most humans could react.
Acnologia was no human though. He easily caught the man's blade and at that very moment, Fastur felt death loom over him.
However, before Acnologia could kill the man, a thick rope made of magicules wrapped around Fastur and pulled him back.
"WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" Isabelle roared and immediately began running with Fastur in tow.
The remaining squadron units dropped their weapons and began running as well.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Acnologia laughed maniacally as he watched the humans run. With one powerful step, he appeared in front of the retreating squadron.
"Unfortunately, escape is futile in my presence." Acnologia smiled as the humans tripped and fell while trying to stop their momentum.
"Isabelle, we have to fight! What if this guy comes back to the village!" Fastur exclaimed as he got ready for battle.
"If you don't have a weapon, leave now! Alert my father of the current situation!" Fastur ordered the soldiers behind him.
Once again, Acnologia laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU HUMANS TRULY ARE SOMETHING ELSE!" He exclaimed maniacally. In an instant, he was behind Fastur and Isabelle, facing the soldiers.
He wiped out the squadron of 20 soldiers in the blink of an eye.
"Your-" Acnologia was interrupted by a giant plume of fire barreling towards him. He didn't move an inch as the fire engulfed him.
"That should've bought us some time, let's g-" Isabelle's torso was impaled by Acnologia's arm. He flung her lifeless body to the side and stared at Fastur.
"W-What…" Fastur dropped to his knees in despair. In less than five minutes, his entire squadron and childhood best friend were killed. His soul was effectively crushed.
"How weak, where is your resolve?" Acnologia mocked before taking his head off.
"Now back to the original question, where the hell am I? That spell the woman used didn't smell or feel like ethernano…" Acnologia asked as he closed his eyes.
He could feel foreign particles buzzing around like energetic children. He willed that they congregate in his hand and immediately a ball of pure magicules was created.
"This must be the energy the woman used. I am clearly not in the same world. Is this a pocket dimension or perhaps another timeline?" Acnologia couldn't feel his connection with the Space Between Time, so he ruled out another timeline.
He tried to remember what happened after Nastu hit him but all he could really remember was a voice telling him something.
"Something about…skills…" Acnologia dug in his memory and remembered the skills the voice was telling him about.
"[Hecate, Goddess of Magic] and [Aura Synthesis]. The voice said these were ultimate skills, whatever that means…" Acnologia shrugged.
He stared at the corpses littering the forest floor and walked over to Isabelle. He took her limp arm and bit a chunk out of it. He continued eating her until 80% of her corpse was stripped of meat.
Immediately, a dark purple aura exploded out of his body.
"HAHAHAHA! THIS MUST BE THE WORK OF [AURA SYNTHESIS]!" Acnologia exclaimed as his magicules gained a considerable boost.
"By devouring other beings, I can add their strength to my own. Along with," Acnologia pointed his palm upwards and fired a plume of fire, "using their abilities."
Acnologia looked at the other corpses with a grin, "Time to eat."
———-
Canalis paced around his office anxiously. It's been hours since Fastur and Isabelle went to examine the explosion and he was hoping they were unharmed.
Suddenly his office shook violently as a powerful roar echoed throughout the whole village. He quickly grabbed his sword and sprinted outside.
"By the gods…" Canalis stared at the figure in the sky with untold amounts of dread.
A 90-meter-long black dragon with wings akin to a bird. It floated above the village, its white eyes staring at the humans below like prey.
Canalis drew his mithril sword and pointed it at the dragon.
"This may be our last battle together old friend." Canalis said solemnly to his sword. His body gained a faint blue outline before he launched into the air with extreme force.
"HAAAAHHHHH!!!" He roared as he held his blade high in the sky, aiming at Acnologia's head.
*DINK*
His attack bounced off Acnologia's scales.
"No way…" Canalis muttered as Acnologia grabbed him out of the sky.
"Pitiful." His deep voice could be felt in Canalis's soul. Acnologia tore the man in half with his teeth before eating both halves.
He then looked down at the village again and opened his mouth. An unfathomable amount of magicules began to congregate in his mouth to the point where they were visible to the human eye.
A white ball grew in his mouth as he gathered more magicules and then once it reached its limit, he fired it.
The destruction spread across the village like a virus. Everyone and everything within the explosion was reduced to nothing. All that was left of Cardinal Village was a huge crater in the ground.