Chapter 268: Snatching from the Tiger's Mouth
“Expecting these extensions of Chaos to abide by an Order’s Pact? What a joke.”
Kai Xiusu smirked inwardly, though his expression betrayed nothing but eager anticipation—his greed for Strength laid bare, unhidden, unmistakable.
The phantom form dissolved from the Astral Void, collapsing into ash-like embers, leaving only the watchful eye of Heaven’s Judgment Dragon to monitor the scene. Kai Xiusu fully reasserted his will, returning to his True Form—now standing before the Stellar Prism in the Prime Material Plane.
“I’m not signing any Pact.”
“But I’m not letting go of Karex’s Corpse either.”
“Then let’s take a risk. While the Seal still holds, let’s stage a snatch from the tiger’s jaws.”
Kai Xiusu locked his gaze upon the shimmering Stellar Prism, his eyes alight with the thrill of a high-stakes gamble.
Jezarslak, the demon, was not ready to break the Seal. Not yet. If he had been certain of keeping Kai Xiusu trapped, he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths—sacrificing a priceless Divine Corpse just to lure him into a so-called Collaboration Pact.
But the Lord of Vengeance, imprisoned for ten thousand years, had grown overconfident. He’d revealed his hand too soon—forgetting that Kai Xiusu still had one final move: the table flip.
“Then let me witness,”
“the so-called Wrath of the Demon.”
A cold, feral grin split Kai Xiusu’s face.
As the Dragon Sorcerer wrenched reality with his will, Arcane Radiance flared, and space itself trembled. The rare and potent spells—Immortal Scales, Graceful as a Dragon, Aerial Maneuverability, Energy Scales, All-Seeing Eye—flooded his massive Dragon body, amplifying his form to its peak.
Kai Xiusu folded his wings tightly, forcing his way through the shimmering, starlit portal of the Prismatic Pool—an effort that strained every fiber of his being.
The Red Dragon plunged through a ribbon of iridescent light, traversing a distance beyond perception, arriving at last in the profound depths of the Astral Void.
A realm of pure thought. The Silver Void between all true planes.
Yet even material beings could exist here.
“Too bad I never found the Stellar Projection,” Kai Xiusu mused, “or I could’ve minimized the risk even further.”
He gently flapped his wings, quickly adapting to the near-zero gravity of the Stellar Realm. With Aerial Maneuverability guiding him, he mastered the art of flight—drifting like a comet through the endless dark.
“Kai Xiusu… you’ve finally come.”
“My most perfect Collaborator. Sign the Pact.”
“You’ll share in endless Strength. Become the Founder of the New World.”
The demon’s voice whispered from afar—faint, insidious, weaving through the silence like a serpent. It curled around the Red Dragon’s ears, tempting him into the deepest abyss.
Kai Xiusu surged forward, wings beating like a crimson comet, streaking across the void. In mere breaths, he covered nearly a kilometer. The distant floating island came into view—its jagged silhouette framed by starlight, and there, suspended midair, stood Jezarslak—his skeletal frame trembling with anticipation, like a condemned soul granted the promise of absolution.
The Pact, forged from Abyssal Currents, danced in the void—alive, writhing, welcoming its contractee with a hunger that felt almost sentient.
But Kai Xiusu reinforced his Mental Barrier, resisting every whisper, every lure.
He did not approach the demon.
Instead, he accelerated—wings flaring, igniting a trail of red flame behind him. The Red Dragon shot past the bound demon, straight toward the colossal, mountainous corpse of the dead dragon.
“N—no—!”
“Kai Xiusu! What are you doing?! Don’t you remember our agreement?!”
The demon’s form shuddered violently. His eyes blazed with an infernal fire—Revenge incarnate.
The entire floating island trembled. The Astral Void itself warped, forming a vast, chaotic face from swirling Chaos Mist—eyes like black holes, mouth gaping in rage.
“REVENGE—”
“DESTRUCTION—”
“CHAOS—”
The voice roared across the void, seeking to consume the Red Dragon in its maw.
Kai Xiusu tightened his wings, pushing harder. He spared a mocking glance over his shoulder.
“Who said I was going to sign any Pact?”
“‘Demon’s Contract’? To me, it’s a joke even more absurd than ‘Devil’s Conscience.’”
He charged through the Chaos Mist, unyielding. Sulfur-scented smoke coiled around his body as he plunged into the still-ancient corpse of Karex—the World Cleanser.
“Here it is. Karex.”
Kai Xiusu exhaled deeply.
The Red Dragon, over a kilometer long, had been dead for tens of thousands of years. Yet standing before it, Kai Xiusu felt an overwhelming, oppressive pressure—something primal, born of Bloodline, Heritage, Essence. His wings trembled uncontrollably.
His target: the Heart.
He couldn’t carry the entire corpse back to the Prime Material Plane.
Though every part of the Divine Corpse was priceless, the true treasure lay within—deep inside the chest cavity, a pulsating organ fed by countless Basal Vessels, still faintly vibrating with a fraction of the dragon’s former Bloodline Strength.
The Heart of Karex.
“Kai Xiusu! You’re throwing your life away!”
“You’ve rejected my Great Bestowal! You’ve chosen your own annihilation!”
A colossal form of Chaos surged from afar—the vengeful Revenant Demon, unleashed from the Seal, pouring forth his fury like a flood. The sheer might of an Abyssal Lord, even restrained, was beyond mortal comprehension.
Kai Xiusu knew—his time was running out.
The demon had been sealed for ten thousand years. Even so, his power was nothing Kai Xiusu could hope to match.
“ROOOOAR—”
The Dragon Crystal embedded in Kai Xiusu’s chest flared with Spines-eye light. Porous Organs on his body vented white smoke. A column of blazing white flame erupted from his maw—so intense it scorched the air.
Then, twin trails of fire erupted from his neck and tail. The Dragon Crystal blazed with inner fire, and the outer edge of the flame began to flicker blue—sign of a temperature beyond mortal comprehension.
But the flame struck the corpse’s dull scales—and deflected.
Even after ten thousand years, the body remained intact. Its material form was too dense, too resilient, for mere mortal fire to destroy.
“Damn… even Extreme Breath feels like tickling.”
He felt the demon’s presence closing in. Kai Xiusu gritted his teeth—then made his decision.
Instantly, every Basal Vessel in his body began to glow. Light pulsed beneath his skin, forming root-like tendrils that stretched outward. Energy surged into the Dragon Crystal.
The Porous Organs at his neck and tail erupted in a storm of white fire—so intense it lit up the void.
The Dragon Crystal erupted in a violent magical fissure. Light and jagged arcs of energy tore through its core, sparks flying wildly. The crystal blazed like a miniature star in the void.
A shockwave exploded outward. The air shattered. Dust spiraled across the floating island in a ring of debris.
Then—silence.
A single, devastating beam of blue-white fire tore from Kai Xiusu’s maw.
[Primordial Breath]
The inferno struck the corpse with unmatched fury. This time, the ancient scales cracked—then split. The massive body groaned as a colossal fissure tore through its chest.
“Huff… huff…”
Kai Xiusu gasped, his body glowing faintly, smoke pouring from every pore. He was on the verge of overload—but he didn’t stop.
He plunged his claws into the wound, tearing it wider. His fangs ripped through thick, petrified flesh.
“Ssssshhhhraaaak—”
The chest wall tore open. And there it lay—pulsing with flame-light, still trembling—the Heart of Karex.
The size of a small city. Thirty meters in diameter. Larger than any Red Dragon of this age.
“This… is Karex’s Heart.”
Kai Xiusu exhaled a plume of white smoke, his golden eyes blazing with fervor.
“Kai Xiusu! You’ve betrayed me!”
“You will burn in the Abyss’s fury!”
The demon’s form arrived—Chaos Mist coalescing into a monstrous hand, reaching to seize him.
But Kai Xiusu was already airborne—Graceful as a Dragon in Flight, his reflexes beyond mortal limits. He dodged with ease—though the Chaos aura tainted his spells, making them unstable. Even the All-Seeing Eye shattered under the infection.
“This… is true Abyssal Power.”
“Must leave—now.”
The Red Dragon dove into the corpse’s chest, dodging the demon’s strikes, slashing through dead, lifeless veins with claw and fang.
At last, the Heart—glowing with ancestral power—detached from its blood vessels and fell free.
Kai Xiusu wasted no time. With Willpower Warping Reality, he cast:
[Greed Sack]
A bag-like Force Field formed behind him, expanding rapidly. He seized the colossal Heart and began dragging it.
“ROOOOAAARRR!”
With a roar, Kai Xiusu strained every muscle, wings flaring. He lifted the Heart—larger than his own body—into the air.
Thankfully, gravity in the Stellar Realm was negligible. Otherwise, even a Red Dragon’s strength would have failed under such a burden.
With every ounce of effort, Kai Xiusu soared upward—reaching a hundred meters in height.
“Foolish Mortal!”
“You have no idea what it means to enrage an Abyssal Lord!”
The demon’s hand reshaped into a black spear—thrown with deadly precision.
But as the weapon struck the air just before impact—the moment it should have pierced Kai Xiusu—a scale on his flank shattered. A golden, luminous membrane flared to life, enveloping his entire body.
Immortal Scales—deflecting the decisive strike.
In that fleeting moment, Kai Xiusu surged upward—breaking free of the island’s gravity.
He soared past the floating rock, leaving the demon’s spectral form raging on the surface.
“Goodbye,”
“no… farewell, Jezarslak.”
“I’ll remember your… generosity.”
Kai Xiusu, battered and bleeding, dragged the Heart through the final stretch—into the radiant Stellar Prism’s coordinates. He plunged into the swirling, starlit passage of the Stellar Vasculature.
The Red Dragon vanished into the light.
---
Stellar Realm — Karex’s Floating Island
The demonic silhouette dissipated. Only Jezarslak remained—suspended, skeletal, eerily calm.
“Of course. The smartest fish always bite the last bait.”
He spoke softly, lifting his head.
“Hmph. Not bad, Red Dragon. I did expect greed—but not this level of audacity.”
His eyes followed the fading trail of Kai Xiusu, then drifted toward the endless Chaos beyond the Stellar Realm.
A twisted smile curled his lips.
“But… I haven’t finished speaking.”
“Mortals say Karex was mad. That’s why the Madness-Infused Void Corridor is endless, filled with howling winds.”
“But isn’t that… just the whisper of the Bottomless Abyss? The dream of the void?”
“Kai Xiusu… the mark of Chaos will etch itself into every scale of your body. It will flow through your veins. When you grow strong—when you rise—I will harvest the fruit.”
“I wanted you to drown in the dream of Strength. To surrender easily. But you chose a harder path. One where your very form might not survive.”
He raised his skeletal arm into the void—then clenched it, as if grasping something unseen.
The Iron Chain rattled.
“This is fate. Spanning the cosmos. You cannot escape.”
“Dragons… are still just mortals who don’t understand World Law. Should I praise your cleverness… or mock your foolishness?”
The void remained empty. Silver streams drifted through the dark. Faint glimmers of light flickered—unknown radiance. Lonely floating islands drifted—some might be ancient beasts of the Stellar Realm, others the shattered remains of Divine Beings.
(End of Chapter)
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