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Chapter 855: Destruction's Dragon
“King Kai Xiusu!”
“Long Live the Empire!”
“Praise the Emperor of the Ashen Flame! Praise the Great Red Dragon!”
As the towering figure emerged on the horizon, officers and soldiers of the Empire erupted into frenzied devotion, their cheers crashing over the battlefield like an endless tide. The world, once shrouded in gloom and despair, seemed to awaken—reclaimed by light, reborn with a final, flickering hope.
“At last,” Kazul murmured, slowly lifting his head. The once-cold vertical pupils now trembled with barely suppressed excitement. A deep, roaring laugh spilled from his maw: “Kai Xiusu… you’ve finally come. After centuries of waiting, the end is at hand!”
“The Queen of Monsters, Tiamat, shall descend into the Material Plane and rule supreme. And I—shall be crowned as a god.”
Kai Xiusu stood bathed in the intense heat of a blazing sun, his dragon wings slowly unfurling. His voice was cold, cutting through the air like ice: “How pitiful, Kazul. A Red Dragon of ancient blood—yet you’ve stooped to serve Tiamat’s will, turned against me. Have the fates of the Green and Blue Dragons not filled you with terror?”
“Erebus and Gorazdra?” Kazul tilted his head, a cruel smile curling his lips. “They were simply weak. Frankly… I should thank you. You’ve eliminated two rivals for me—offering their divinity as gifts. No need for me to hunt them down one by one.”
Kai Xiusu shook his head. “No wonder she favors you. That old hag’s influence runs deep—your arrogance is a direct inheritance.”
“Arrogance,” Kazul replied with calm certainty, “is the most vital quality of any dragon. As masters of the world’s future, we must tread upon all mortal beings.”
“We?” Kai Xiusu echoed, then scoffed. “I refuse to stand with your kind—Tiamat’s followers. I will not sacrifice my soul, my life, my very being, to serve a greedy deity just for the scraps of its favor. Tell me, Kazul—can you still claim arrogance now? Or are you merely a bully in the eyes of mortals, unable to control even your own actions?”
“Drakalith told you all this, didn’t she?” Kazul’s voice remained eerily calm. “My daughter… always so good at causing trouble.”
Kai Xiusu’s sarcasm hung in the air like a blade. Yet Kazul showed no anger—only a quiet, piercing gaze. “Kai Xiusu… surrender your flesh. I will preserve your soul for the New Era. You will be a steward in the Divine Realm. This is your final chance.”
Kai Xiusu laughed—cold, sharp, and utterly mocking. “Such a pitiful offer… Are you provoking me?”
“No,” Kazul said. “You cannot win. If you persist in rebellion, I will erase your soul. You will vanish—utterly, completely.”
“Then,” Kai Xiusu said, wings flaring, “let us see what happens when we settle this in blood.”
“Indeed.”
Boom—
The two semi-god-tier Red Dragons unleashed their full auras, shaking the very fabric of reality. Winds howled like dying beasts. The earth trembled. The air itself tore apart beneath the pressure of their divine presence. The collision of their powers shattered mountains, splitting the sky in two.
One half of the heavens burned with apocalyptic fire—ash and thick smoke choked the air, a realm of destruction. The other was bathed in the blinding radiance of a sun, a domain of pure, devouring flame.
The fury of these two titans ignited the heavens. Each wingbeat roared like a storm. Each strike sent shockwaves through the air, echoing over the boiling crimson lake below. Mountains groaned beneath the shadows of their passage. Even before the true battle began—only in the probing phase—everything within tens of kilometers was reduced to ruins.
Kazul studied the famed Emperor of the Ashen Flame, his lips parting to reveal jagged, sharp teeth. His golden-black eyes gleamed with unhidden excitement.
Before him stood a dragon of perfect form—youthful, powerful, of noble blood. His body pulsed with an overwhelming strength, yet it was perfectly balanced, as if a self-contained miniature plane of existence.
“An exquisite creation,” Kazul murmured, licking his lips. “Like a god’s masterpiece. No wonder the Dragon Queen coveted your body.”
He was a hunter, eyes locked on his prey—confident, eager, utterly certain of victory.
Kai Xiusu, in turn, stared back, his gaze sharp with battle intensity. He felt the challenge in Kazul’s stare—the provocation, the arrogance.
> [Lord of Magma – Kazul]
> Challenge Rating: 40
This "Lord of Lava" was indeed Tiamat’s most prized servant. Revered by the Dragon-Worshiping Church as a true god incarnate, Kazul was the most powerful dragon Kai Xiusu had ever encountered—without question.
The ancient Red Dragon stretched nearly a hundred meters in length—larger than Kai Xiusu, though less elegant. His massive frame was a testament to raw, brutal strength, every scale thick and scarred from ancient battles, as if his flesh were straining to burst through the armor of his hide. Molten magma oozed from the cracks between his scales, radiating such heat it warped the air.
Behind him, his wings exploded outward—two crimson iron mountains rising from the earth. Their surfaces were lined with jagged bone spines and deep folds, while the membranes were black as ink. Each sweep sent swirling ash cascading like a waterfall, encircling the beast in a perpetual storm of smoke.
Within the darkness, two piercing beams of dark gold—Kazul’s eyes—cut through like knives, radiating endless malice.
Unlike Kai Xiusu’s awe-inspiring, sacred aura, Kazul exuded a chilling, oppressive dread. Any life force near him would ignite without warning, burning to ash and joining the endless black smoke—another piece of the apocalypse.
Against this monstrous "Dragon of the Apocalypse," Kai Xiusu shone like a sun god incarnate.
Thump… thump… thump…
Kai Xiusu heard it—the heartbeat of the Heart of Tiamat, pulsing within Kazul’s chest. A deep, mechanical rhythm, like a machine in motion. Each beat shook the Material Plane, causing the very space around them to fracture, tiny cracks spiderwebbing across the ground.
And with every pulse, the darkness spread—devouring light, spreading the end.
This was the true terror of the Heart of Tiamat—its mere presence warped reality, destroyed matter, and crushed Kai Xiusu with an oppressive weight that made his soul tremble.
“So this is what the cultists call the ‘God of Destruction’?” Kai Xiusu thought. “No exaggeration.”
Yet, despite the overwhelming power before him, Kai Xiusu felt no fear—only a surge of battle-lust.
“Then let me witness… what strength the finest hound of Tiamat truly possesses.”
Roar—!
The Emperor of the Ashen Flame stretched his neck, lifting his head to the sky. His roar was majestic, thunderous—a declaration of divine authority. His chest blazed with radiant flame, light erupting from the cracks in his dragon crystal, pouring out the power of the Sun God.
Instantly, ten thousand beams of light shot from the sun behind him, piercing through the black ash clouds. The beams tore through the sky, blazing toward the ancient Red Dragon.
The first strikes struck distant mountains—shattering rock, melting entire peaks into rivers of molten stone.
But Kazul did not flinch. He spread his wings. The ash fell like a waterfall, forming a vast, dark barrier thousands of meters long. The beams of divine light plunged into it—only to be swallowed.
Sun God Power clashed with Destructive Divine Power. The resulting backlash tore through the land below, splitting mountains and turning hills into rubble. Scorching magma surged like rivers across the scorched earth.
Kai Xiusu narrowed his eyes. He compressed his Sun God Power to a breaking point—condensing it into countless tiny, glowing particles. They drifted toward the dark curtain like fireflies.
Boom!
The particles detonated—like a thousand supernovas erupting at once. The blast tore open the ash barrier, sending waves of churning smoke spiraling outward.
Kai Xiusu struck first.
He flapped his wings with a deafening shriek, tearing through the air. A searing thermal surge followed in his wake, a crimson lightning bolt racing toward the Ancient Red Dragon.
Kazul raised his head, spikes gleaming. His ancient pride and fury—stored for millennia—ignited in an instant. The evening glow was devoured by a more violent light.
The thick sulfuric smoke parted as their wings tore through the clouds. The two titans emerged from the poisoned storm, their bodies blotting out the last sliver of sunlight.
Sssss—CRACK!
The sound of rending flesh split the sky, drowning out even the roar of molten lava.
Kai Xiusu’s claw—sharp enough to sever mountains—sliced down toward the most vulnerable spot where Kazul’s neck met his shoulder. Scales flew like red-hot shrapnel. Boiling dragon blood erupted in a geyser. Kazul roared in agony—his scream a mix of fury and raw pain. The ground exploded beneath him, erupting in fountains of magma.
Kazul swung his wings—black, ash-choked, thrashing with destructive force. The air burned. The very atmosphere screamed. The dragon’s primal rage, awakened by pain, surged through his bloodline.
He twisted his monstrous head, jaws wide—hollow as a void—determined to drag Kai Xiusu into oblivion. His fangs sank deep into the Emperor’s wing root.
Blood flowed—hot, crimson, and fierce.
Kai Xiusu screamed—not in fear, but in the ecstasy of battle, the thrill of provocation. He didn’t retreat. He lunged forward, biting down precisely into the torn, mangled flesh of Kazul’s neck.
Within his massive maw, the dragon’s flame roared from his throat—consuming everything, intent on reducing the ancient beast to ash.
But Kazul’s heart thundered—boom, boom, boom—and from his chest burst a thick, black beam of divine light. The Light of the Apocalypse.
If it struck true, Kai Xiusu would be reduced to dust in seconds.
Roar!
Kai Xiusu snapped his jaws open—dodging with blinding speed. But the beam still grazed him. His left shoulder was torn open, along with a large portion of his wing membrane. Black, glowing eyes—like tiny stars of destruction—seeped from the wound, consuming his flesh.
The black light swept across the sky, scoured the earth, chasing Kai Xiusu like a vengeful god. It destroyed hills, turned plains to rubble. The distance between the two titans stretched to thousands of meters.
Both dragons bore wounds—yet neither faltered.
Kai Xiusu gasped, his shoulder healing visibly before the eye. Kazul, too, healed—his body, powered by the divine heart, regenerating in an instant.
But from this single exchange, both sensed the truth.
This was a worthy opponent.
(End of Chapter)
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