Artorius no, the thing puppeting Artorius' body lifted its head and spoke to him in his mind. "So you are the one who killed my grandson." The words were calm. They were not an accusation. They were a statement of fact.
Artorius felt his own memories dragged forward against his will, illuminated by a cold, impartial light. An egg. A dragon of fortune that he intruded upon its home. A desperate fight at the beginning of everything. Blood. A final roar cut short.
The Luck Dragon. The first life he had taken here. The realization hit him like rot in the stomach. "Oh," Artorius whispered, though the sound never reached the chamber. "That… that was—"
"Yes." The voice interrupted him gently.
"He was young. Reckless. Brilliant. He thought fortune would always favor him."
A pause. "It would have. Until it met you."
Artorius' claws trembled. Not from fear. From something worse. Guilt. But also he just realized how other fucked he was. This was not going to end well at all.
Noxiris recoiled midair, wings flaring. His void-dark eyes widened, pupils collapsing into nothing. "…You," the Void Dragon said slowly. His voice lacked its earlier amusement. "That voice."
He stared at Artorius as though seeing past flesh, past scales, past soul. Recognition dawned like an eclipse. "You are—"
Artorius' mouth curved into a smile that was not his. "Zytherion." The name struck the chamber like a hammer to the spine of reality. Veins convulsed. Sigils inverted. The Heart spasmed as if attempting to flee its own existence.
Noxiris' wings faltered. "The Probability Dragon," he breathed. "The corpse-sovereign."
"Dead? Yes. Gone? No." Zytherion's presence expanded. Artorius felt his consciousness pushed gently, kindly to the side, like a child ushered behind a curtain. He was still there. Still watching. Still feeling.
But he was no longer in control of his own skin. Zytherion turned his attention fully upon Noxiris. "Tell me, child, why was I not able to take control of you?" The question carried no anger. Only curiosity.
The Void Dragon shuddered. For the first time, Artorius could see genuine fear in its face. "What do you mean?"
Zytherion tilted Artorius' head, studying the Void Dragon as one might examine a flawed equation. "You were to be the perfect vessel for reincarnation but for some reason it did not work out. And now here you are your own person. Isn't spectacular."
A chill ran down Artorius as it clearly did for Noxiris as he saw it recoil back. "I'm what? Your new lease on life!
A sound like quiet laughter rippled through Artorius' bones. "Well put. Yes, why do you think you are here? Deep within my corpse."
Silence stretched. Then as if it all clicked for Noxiris he snarled. "You stole me." The accusation cracked through the chamber, raw and unrefined. "You stole me from her."
The Heart pulsed violently. Artorius felt his stomach twist. "…What?" he whispered to himself watching this all on fold as if it was a tv show.
Noxiris' wings spread wide, void energy bleeding off them like smoke. His composure shattered, revealing something younger beneath the immortal shell. "My mother," the Void Dragon hissed. "Her clutch. Her egg." His eyes burned into Artorius' face. "You took me before I was born."
Artorius' breath hitched and Zytherion did not deny it. "Yes." The calmness of the admission was unbearable. "And I had paid the ultimate price for it." A part of Artorius was horrified to find out that he was now possessed by a child kidnapper but it was like was so far removed from everything he couldn't even produce the feeling.
Noxiris screamed. The sound tore through layers of space, shredding sigils, collapsing probability scaffolding. Void surged outward in an uncontrolled wave as the young immortal blooded dragon's rage finally broke free of restraint.
"I WILL UNMAKE YOU."
He lunged. Reality folded inward around his charge, annihilation blooming in his wake. The possessed Shadow Dragon, the Sand Dragon, the Infernal Dragon, the Phantasmal Dragoness all moved with him, drawn by his fury like iron to a star.
Artorius felt fear then. Not for himself but for them. "Let me take over," the voice of the probability dragon echoed in his mind, not that he really had a choice in it. However he was worried that his body would collapse just as it did when he had the Snow Dragon Lord running amok.
"Don't worry," the Dragon Emperor chuckled. "I will be extra careful with this interesting specimen." Artorius didn't know what to say, not only was it reading his mind but he did not like the tone it had near the end.
The Void Dragon came like the collapse of everything, rage made manifest, annihilation compressing into a singular intent. The space between them died first. Distance ceased to exist. The Heart screamed as its light tore themselves apart trying to reconcile what was about to happen.
And Zytherion simply stood. Artorius felt it then something ancient straightened its spine inside him. Something that had once ruled outcomes instead of reacting to them. "This child," Zytherion said calmly, using Artorius' voice as if it were a ceremonial instrument, "needs discipline."
The Void Dragon struck. Nothingness slammed into Artorius' body with enough force to erase him many times over. Void claws passed through chest, neck, and soul in the same instant. The laws of reality shrieked as they were violated, overwritten, ignored.
"Is that all you have? I had very high expectations for you," Artorius asked with disappointment in his tone. As that outcome of him being torn apart was erased as it never happened. "Let me show you what true power is!" That is when Zytherion took over completely and his consciousness simply… went dark.
There was no smooth transition. No fading. No comforting abyss. Artorius was pushed off to the side. And yet from time to time he still saw. Not as a body. Not as a mind. But as fragments of awareness flickering across an ocean of something so vast he could not see the end of it.
He saw himself or rather, the thing wearing him reach out and call forth the Sword Dragon's blade as it skidded across the Heart's floor. The blade screamed as if in fear. The weapon seemed to know what now held it.
Artorius felt his grip close around the hilt. The Void Dragon collided with him again, joined now by the others. Sand howled into existence, compressing into blades and storms as the Sand Dragon attacked from every angle at once, erosion weaponized.
Infernal fire followed and shadows tore free of the walls as the possessed Shadow Dragon struck from impossible angles. The Phantasmal Dragoness screamed a chorus, ghostly copies swarming forth.
They should have won if they were not facing an old monster now puppeting his body. "So Chance is all you have? Well let's work with this!" Zytherion moved. And then Chance wobbled. Not wildly. Not desperately. Precisely.
Artorius saw things no mortal mind should witness. Probabilities weaponized into chains. Outcomes dragged screaming from the future and executed in the present.
Noxiris' attacks did not miss. They were removed from history. Zytherion struck the Void Dragon not with force, but with correction. "You exist," Zytherion said calmly, "because I failed once."
Sandstorms unraveled as their source was severed from consequence. Infernal fire guttered as its claim to dominance was cut cleanly in half. Shadows screamed in pain as they were sliced and diced into. Phantasmal copies collapsed as Zytherion reached into the space between outcomes and ended it.
The Void Dragon reeled back.
Zytherion stepped forward. Each step rewrote probability behind him, collapsing paths so nothing could follow. "This," he said, turning his gaze fully upon Noxiris, "is what you lack." He raised the sword. Not only to strike but to also teach them all.
Artorius watched as the old dragon called upon the Words of Power he had known. He combined them: fire, crystal, and light. Each word resonated through his mind, through his body, through very part of his being. Normally they had been potent, isolated forces but together, unified by Zytherion's unmatched will into one, they became something new. Something terrible.
Nova.
The word was more than sound. It was a decree. It was the birth of a force that could unmake anything. Light and crystal burned into every crevice, every molecule, every spark of energy. Fire erupted not just across the floor but within the walls, within the air, within matter itself.
The chamber groaned. The Heart convulsed as they all felt the great explosion of a newborn star unfold. All his mind could do at this awesome display of power was reel back in terror.
When he came to, he saw Zytherion was unopposed. The Heart was ruined. The upper portion was just gone and the army could look in. The Royal dragons lay broken or dead. And Noxiris was gone. Artorius' awareness coalesced slowly, painfully. He felt himself pulled back toward his body, like a soul dragged through shattered glass.
The world snapped into focus. He stood amid devastation. The Shadow Dragon lay broken nearby, breathing shallowly his last. The Sand Dragon was crushed into inert dunes. Infernal fire of the smith dragon lay smoldering without will. The Phantasmal Dragoness was nowhere to be found except for a poodle of ectoplasma left of her.
And the Void Dragon… he was gone. Artorius staggered back as he got inundated with many messages.
You have slain[Royal Shadow Dragonling — Level 41]
You have slain[Royal Infernal Dragonling — Level 42]
You have slain[Royal Sand Dragonling — Level 42]
You have slain[Royal Phantasmal Dragonling — Level 39]
Congratulations! You have leveled up. Race: [True-Blood DragonMen] → Lv. 36
Congratulations! You have leveled up. Archetype: [Leader] → Lv. 36
Stat gains: +1 INT, +1 WIL, +1 CHA
Congratulations! You have leveled up. Class: [Storybook Squire] → Lv. 36
Congratulations! You have leveled up. Race: [True-Blood DragonMen] → Lv. 37
Stat gains: +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 DEX, +1 Per, +1 CHA
The sword slipped from his fingers. He fell to his knees. He looked at what he had done to be exact it was this ancient dragon puppeting him but how did not have any part in it when he was the one getting the exp.
Zytherion remained. Not fully withdrawn. Still vast. Still present. "Ah," the ancient consciousness said with something like satisfaction. "That child fled. Clever. He had a few tricks left after all."
Artorius inhaled slowly, forcing air into lungs that felt too small for the moment. When he finally lifted his head, his eyes were sharper and haunted, but focused. He knew he shouldn't be messing with such an ancient being, but he couldn't help asking, "Why are you still here?"
He recalled when he let in the Snow Dragon Lord after it had unleashed great devastation it was gone but the Probability Dragon Emperor for some reason stuck around. This was not great news at all.
A quiet chuckle stirred behind Artorius' thoughts, deep and distant, like stone shifting beneath the world. "I am here for the long ride."
The silence after devastation was worse than the battle. The Sword Dragon rose slowly from the wreckage, one wing hanging limp, scales fractured and scorched white along his flank. Blood, dark, heavy dripped from his jaw and spattered against the floor. Yet his eyes were sharp.
The Sword Dragon studied him, gaze flicking briefly to the gaping wound in the Heart's shell, to the scattered corpses of Royal Dragons, to the devastation carved by him. "You should not be alive."
Zytherion stirred again. "He fears you," the Emperor mused. "End this."
Artorius clenched his claws until they trembled. "No. I'm not letting you take over again."
A pause. Then Zytherion chuckled, deep and ancient. "Very well. Kill him yourself."
Artorius exhaled sharply and stepped forward. "I fulfilled my part of the oath that you made me sweat. If I recall I was to help you come to the heart of the corpse."
Silence stretched. The Sword Dragon's claws closed and opened. "And in doing so," he said coldly, "you allowed something to awaken through you that will soon take over you."
Artorius flinched but said nothing. The sword dragon took a step forward. "You are a danger." Another step. "An anomaly." Another. "An abomination." The blade flew towards the sword dragon and into his claws which he pointed right at Artorius' heart.
"You should be put down." The words struck harder than any blade. Artorius felt something twist in his chest not fear, not anger, but a deep, weary agreement. "Are we really doing this?" he asked quietly.
The Sword Dragon did not answer. He only moved. The sword swung at him. Metal screamed as the blade came inches from Artorius' throat, Sharpness carving a wound into space itself. Artorius barely twisted aside, feeling the cut of reality brush past his scales as the air hissed angrily where it had been severed.
He leapt back, wings snapping open. The Sword Dragon pursued instantly. The floor surged upward into jagged spines. Veins hardened into steel. Dust crystallized midair into razor shards. The entire chamber became a killing field shaped by his Law. Artorius raised his lance. The Sword Dragon struck. Sharpness met Chance.
The two of them fought and from the corner of his eye he saw the remaining dragons in the chamber from the Psychic, Twilight & Dawn, and Ocean dragons watching their fight without interfering. Beyond them the opening led to the vast field where the army stood who were also watching their duel unfold.
The sword came down. Artorius rolled, the blade cleaving a deep trench through the Heart's floor where he had stood. Metal spikes erupted from the walls, snapping shut just behind him. They met his crystal spikes that held them in place.
They were both spent from their fight with the void dragon but they still gave it their all. However it was his lance that gave in first. The first weapon he found in this place in which he won through an honorable duel broke.
It could not stand the might of the sword which seemed to be made of a much higher material. Seeing he was weaponless, the Sword Dragon lunged again to end this. Artorius gambled everything he had on Chance.
A fallen crystal slab detonated down at precisely the right moment, knocking the sword off-line. A collapsing artery wall gave Artorius cover as the many metal spears slammed into where his skull had been a breath earlier.
"You're gambling," the Sword Dragon snarled.
Artorius smiled, "Well that is just life."
The Sword Dragon unleashed everything. The chamber bent inward as metal surged from every surface, a cathedral of blades collapsing toward Artorius in a perfect execution.
Artorius spoke. "Fire." Heat ignited everywhere at once. "Crystal." The chaos locked mid-detonation, structure imposed, forming impossible lattices of geometry. "Light." Radiance flooded the construct, absolute and blinding.
The Sword Dragon's eyes widened. "Nova." The word detonated. A newborn star bloomed between them. Metal vaporized. Sharpness screamed and failed. The Sword Dragon was hurled backward, armor shredded, scales glowing white-hot as the chamber groaned under the force.
Standing in the midst of the further ruined heart which at this point there was nothing left of it. He watched as somehow the Sword dragon got up, its body was a ruined mess. He saw its flesh underneath beneath its face and its body was even worse.
Still he straightened with effort, forcing his broken body to obey one last time. He looked at Artorius, not as an enemy, not even as a judge but as one warrior acknowledging another. "Let's end this."
Artorius raise his broken lance. He did not prepare a skill or word. There was no need. He simply inclined his head, the smallest gesture of respect. They moved together. No roar. No grand ability. Just a single, decisive motion two figures crossing paths in a heartbeat. Artorius felt resistance for the briefest instant, then none at all.
He stopped and turned slowly. Behind him, the Sword Dragon took one final step.
"…So," he murmured softly, almost kindly. "That's how it ends." His body fell to the ground with his lance in his chest. Metal slumped into inert matter. The blade clattered to the floor. Artorius stood over the corpse. Behind his thoughts, Zytherion hummed with approval. Artorius dropped to his knees, surrounded by ruin, knowing there would be no absolution waiting at the end of this path.
You have slain[Royal Sword Longling — Level 43]
Congratulations! You have leveled up. Archetype: [Leader] → Lv. 37
Stat gains: +1 INT, +1 WIL, +1 CHA