Chapter 144: Whisper of the Night (Part 3)
At this critical moment, Kai Xiusu’s golden irises flashed with an unnatural light.
“No.”
“It seems… there’s still another way.”
Even a Living Shadow, even across separate planes, could not resist Mental Damage—and this was the only method Kai Xiusu had that could affect it.
With that thought, Kai Xiusu roared without hesitation:
“Foul Shadow Dragon!”
“Queen Tiamat watches over this!”
Mortifer laughed openly. “The favored of the Dragon Queen? Every Red Dragon claims that title. It seems pride and arrogance are the common flaw among Red Dragons—even you are no exception.”
His voice turned icy.
“Abandon your pitiful, mortal arrogance. Submit to the Great Transformation. Embrace the endless shadow!”
“I shall grant you Immortality.”
Mortifer did not pause in his ritual.
The space around them trembled violently—the Wails of Plane Space Tremble in Fear echoed as the Prime Material Plane instinctively rebelled against the intrusion of shadow. Yet under Mortifer’s overwhelming spell, even the laws of reality bent, if only for a moment.
Kai Xiusu locked his gaze on the Shadow Dragon’s spectral form, instantly shattering the Mental Barrier within his mind and conjuring the Terrifying Illusion of the Five-Headed Dragon.
He stared unflinchingly into Mortifer’s ashen-gray eyes, his golden pupils blazing with intense Arcane Radiance.
Whoosh—
The illusion pierced the veil between realms, tearing through the Prime Material Plane and striking directly at Mortifer’s True Form, deep within the Shadowmire Abyss.
【The Terrifying Vision of Tiamat】
Roar—
Mortifer’s eyes widened in shock as a colossal dragon—nearly a hundred meters tall—materialized before him. Its monstrous wings blotted out the sky. Even the Shadow Dragon could only look up in awe.
It was a nightmare made flesh—the Union of Body and Spirit. A five-headed dragon, its short, thick limbs supporting a grotesque, monstrous body. Each neck and head corresponded to a different colored dragon, their hues completely covering the necks and flowing like bands into the front of the body. The colors—fire, ice, acid, lightning, poison—each emanated from its respective maw.
Its back and rump merged into three swirling bands of gray, blue-green, and purple, which then coalesced into a thick, muddy brown tail. Its underbelly and limbs faded from white-green into the same hue as its upper body.
The sight sent a chill through Mortifer’s soul.
—That was Mother of Monsters, the Five-Colored Dragon Queen, the Enemy of the Gods… Tiamat.
“How… is this possible?” Mortifer whispered, dazed.
Seven hundred years ago, when he was still a common black dragon, he had built a crude altar in the dark swamps of his nest, offering his treasured iron coins to the Dragon Queen. As a member of the Five-Colored Evil Dragons, Mortifer had dreamed endlessly of earning her gaze, of receiving her personal favor—of tasting the ecstasy of divine blessing.
But she had never answered.
Back then, he was a skeletal, emaciated beast, ranking only slightly above the white dragons in the hierarchy of the Five-Colored Dragons.
Eventually, he could no longer resist the temptation of power. He cast himself into the embrace of the Shadowmire Abyss, transformed into an immortal, undying Shadow Dragon.
Now, Mortifer trembled—whether from fear or fury, he could not tell.
The five-headed dragon above him stared down at the world with cold indifference. Fire, ice, acid, lightning, and poison poured from her maws in a relentless torrent, unleashing her wrath upon the land.
“No… no! This can’t be real!”
“Damn it—this is an Illusion!”
Mortifer was no novice. A master of spells for over a millennium, a Legendary Spellcaster capable of Nine-Ring Spells—he recognized the flaw in the vision, even in his turmoil.
The illusions of fire, ice, acid—though vivid—had no real effect on him. To his ancient, hardened Spiritual Soul, forged in the depths of eternal darkness, such six-tiered magic was nothing more than a whisper.
Yet a deeper dread stirred within him.
A common young Red Dragon… even a True Dragon Mage… how could he possibly wield such a spell?
That level of Divine Illusion… could he truly be the Dragon Queen’s chosen?
His fear was not unfounded.
Shadow Dragons were despised throughout the dragonkind. Outcasts. Enemies of the realm. They abandoned their noble bloodlines, embraced the darkness, and became abominations—pitiful shadows, beneath even the Five-Colored Evil Dragons in status.
Gold Dragons, driven by justice, hunted them down relentlessly, gathering their kin to eradicate every last one—erasing the shame of such creatures from dragon history.
To kill one who might be the Dragon Queen’s chosen was to court the wrath of a god.
“Damned Red Dragon…” Mortifer faltered. His incantation of descent stalled.
He did not wish to provoke a divine being. But the illusion had tricked him—something he had never endured in a thousand years. The humiliation burned hotter than any shadow flame.
He wanted to tear the Red Dragon apart.
“Are you truly that… one?” Mortifer’s spectral form loomed over the Red Dragon, eyes narrowed, searching for any hint of deception in his expression.
Kai Xiusu sensed the hesitation. He knew that now was the moment to act—more confident, more arrogant, more like a true divine emissary. Only then could he fool this ancient monster.
So Kai Xiusu stepped forward, meeting Mortifer’s gaze without flinching, his voice dripping with disdain:
“Wretched, despicable Shadow Monster—dare you truly understand the weight of what you face?”
“Can you bear the fury of Queen Tiamat?”
The words struck deep.
Mortifer’s pale, ashen eyes flared with suppressed rage, burning with the cold fire of the abyss.
“Damned Red Dragon…”
“Damned Prime Material Plane…”
That brief hesitation was enough.
The Repulsive Force of the Plane surged against the Shadow Dragon—out of place, unnatural, utterly foreign to this realm. The spell of descent shattered.
He had already gathered thousands of Shadow Souls. His centuries-long plan was not in vain. He had no reason to risk drawing the ire of a being of godlike power.
With a final, venomous stare at the Red Dragon, Mortifer’s ashen eyes gleamed with malice.
“The barrier between worlds has been pierced by the souls of thousands.”
“This land now bears the Mark of the Shadowfall Abyss.”
“One day… I will return. And you will not be able to protect what you hold dear.”
Coldly, he spoke.
Around his massive, spectral form, multiple swirling vortexes formed. Spatial Repulsion tore at his projection, forcibly ejecting him from the Prime Material Plane—dragging him back into the dim, lifeless depths of the Shadowmire Abyss.
(End of Chapter)
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