Alaric remained focused on the Elder Dragon. He recognized the creature by its energy signature, and that worried him. It was corrupted with a foreign energy he had never sensed before. The Elder Dragon was ‘Tiberian’, the guardian of the ‘Shadow Pass’, a magical region infamous for its high probability of spawning dimensional rifts.
He recalled his brief interaction with Tiberian when he visited ‘Shadow Pass’ to seal an extremely dangerous dimension rift that threatened to obliterate the whole region. Tiberian was a sensible Dragon and kind-hearted. It doesn’t make any sense for him to attack a human civilization…unless… Alaric ignited his ‘Throat Chakra’, preparing a special incantation.
Tiberian heaved himself up from the wreckage of the destroyed mountain peak and unleashed an earth-shaking roar. His eyes were clouded and red with rage. There was no trace of sanity in them. The Elder Dragon inhaled deeply, his maw agape as tiny particles of mana swirled together in front of it. A blazing fireball the size of a golf ball formed, and in a split second, swelled rapidly to become as large as a house.
The temperature in the area soared to extreme levels. Tiberian compressed the fireball further, as its glow turned red hot and released his signature technique — Elder Dragon’s Breath. A beam of pure red energy surged towards the capital city, threatening to level it to the ground. The cultivators gasped, too shocked to release any type of defensive technique. Not that it would have mattered. The Elder Dragon had been toying with the ‘puny’ humans all this while and only now exhibited its true might.
Alaric clapped his hands sharply, conjuring a golden shimmer that blanketed the entire capital city in the blink of an eye. The fiery beam of pure destruction splashed against the defensive barrier and dissipated harmlessly into nothingness. All the cultivators erupted in cheers for Alaric and sang his praises.
Tiberian prepared for another breath attack, but Alaric’s special chant - fuelled by the power of his ‘Throat Chakra’ at full bloom - had reached its climax. He traced a cross sign in the air and quietly mumbled - “Release.” Tiberian spasmed for a moment before collapsing to the ground. A moment later, his clouded red eyes, filled with rage, turned white as he struggled to rise.
“What’s…happening? Where am I?” Tiberian groaned, turning to Alaric with a glint of recognition in his eyes.
Alaric released a sigh. Just like I expected, he was being mind-controlled. If there was a cultivator strong enough to control an Elder Dragon, it was bad news and the threat was not over yet.
“Guardian of the Shadow Pass - ” Alaric gestured towards the scene of havoc caused by Tiberian, “It looks like your age is catching up to you.” Tiberian knew exactly what Alaric implied. His willpower had degraded. It was no longer strong enough to resist being mind-controlled, and in his compromised state, he broke numerous vows.
The Elder Dragon, unexpectedly, dipped his head in acknowledgment instead of rebutting him.
“I thank you… Luminous One and beg for forgiveness due to my failure,” Tiberian blurted, “I was defeated by a creature that emerged from a rift and…”.
Suddenly, a portal tore open in the region, and out came a creature unlike anything Alaric ever saw before. It was a humanoid figure, towering over 10 feet tall that resembled a golem. However, instead of a body made of rocks, its form was composed of something that resembled liquid-metal, reflecting the scene of carnage below. A rhythmic pulse of purple energy emanated from its core, rippling through its body every second with a resonant hum.
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“It’s the same creature...” Tiberian roared as he rose to his full height ready to battle again.
Alaric didn’t need the warning to realize that he faced a truly formidable entity. He hadn’t sensed its presence before it teleported into the area. Even now, the creature didn’t emit any type of mana signature, Qi, or aura. That changed as the wave of purple energy, previously pulsing through its body, suddenly expanded to envelop the entire region.
A suffocating pressure descended upon the capital city, flooding it in purple light. Cultivators crumpled like marionettes with their strings cut, unable to endure the oppressive aura. At least, the energy behaved like an aura. Even Alaric’s skin prickled with unease, and his throat tightened for a fleeting moment. All around him, cultivators were overcome with wild fury, their eyes glowing red with rage.
He sensed the malicious aura invading his mind, attempting to seize control. Alaric traced a cross in the air and bellowed, “Break!” The oppressive aura shattered, and the color of the world returned to normal. Below, the cultivators regained their composure. The figure cocked its head at Alaric, evidently reevaluating its strategy.
Alaric smirked. It would take a lot more than that to invade my mind and break my will. The creature—or whatever it was—analyzed him just as he was scrutinizing it. Through his ‘True Vision,’ the creature’s form blazed with foreign energy—not mana, Qi, aura, prana, or even cosmic energy. It was something utterly alien. As his sight delved deeper into its essence, Alaric observed that the being had no bones, blood, or organs akin to a living creature. Tiny inscriptions—strange, unfamiliar runes—were carved into every part of its body.
With heightened focus, he perceived the creature’s outer shell giving way to its subtle body. To his surprise, the enigmatic runic inscriptions were embedded within its subtle body as well. There was no sign of chakras in its subtle body, confirming that the being was not alive. It was an advanced automaton—a construct unlike anything chronicled in any legend, myth, or grimoire known to the world.
The only energy that resonated with Alaric’s senses was a peculiar spatial energy often found inside dimensional rifts. Alaric theorized that whatever this being was, it did not originate from this world—it was a true outsider. Had it crossed through a rift from another dimension? The sheer power radiating from the construct was sufficient to destabilize any rift in the Shadow Pass. Moreover, Alaric noted that the being’s magic was powered by the special runes rather than mana, aura, or cosmic energy—a profound anomaly, as traversing rifts traditionally required the use of all three energies.
Alaric spotted Tiberian amassing a tremendous amount of mana. Tiberian released Elder Dragon’s Breath at the thing, hoping to incinerate it. The humanoid creature thrust a hand forward and released a purple beam of its own, which met with Tierian’s in a clash of thunder and explosion. Unfortunately, it was pretty clear Tiberian was not a match for the thing as the purple beam easily overpowered Elder Dragon’s Breath.
Alaric formed his golden protective barrier over the city once again to shield it from a shower of flames and residual sinister energy. He cycled the cosmic energy he’d prepared for his ascension and compressed it into his core. It seemed mana-based attacks were utterly useless against the thing.
Meanwhile, the creature screeched and released a green beam this time, which radiated far more power than before. The green ray of death widened to engulf the entirety of the mountain, consuming Tiberian whole and leaving behind a vast, empty valley stretching as far as the eye could see in the heart of the mountain range. No blood, no bones, not even smoke. The Elder Dragon was no more — erased in an instant.