Vildra cracks into a hundred thousand pieces. Then the air around her fractures as well. The cracks stretch out, piercing the magic circles, growing across the ancient spells, wrapping around all of the dragons. Then everything shatters into tiny 2-dimensional fragments, each shifting ever so slightly out of place.
Everything within a kilometer around Vildra is now stuck in a shattered world. A panicked dragon tries to run. As they move, their fragments drift further apart, shattering further, until there is nothing left. Apollumin watches helplessly as several more dragons break apart into empty, white space.
Then the edges start to collapse. Each fragment folds into another, remaining perfectly flat. The empty space they leave behind is jarringly white, space devoid of any shape or color. Pure nothingness.
Apollumin ignores the screaming, the crying of his former allies. They're moving too much, guaranteeing their deaths. Not that he can do any better. He has been shattered, and it would only be a matter of time before his fragments get folded of evaporate. Though he shall die happy. Vildra is just as shattered, if not more so. This spell shall kill her as well.
He finds it ironic. This battle was supposed to eliminate the greatest threat to dragons. Now there would be no dragons left to enjoy the victory. Maybe the hidden forces behind them would see this as a draw. Maybe it is a victory. In the end, he wouldn't find out who was pulling the strings, nor who was behind Vildra.
"I'd like to make a deal"
A deep, ancient voice invades Apollumin's mind. He hesitates.
"What do you want? Who are you?"
"I shall give you the power to survive. All you have to do is fulfill one small promise."
"What kind of power? What kind of promise?"
"I want you to promise not to interfere with Vildra and her family."
Apollumin resists the urge to gag. Rage fills his decaying heart. His wings are getting folded.
"Fuck this. I won't play your stupid game anymore. I shall take my fate into my own hands, even if that's all that shall remain of me. I will not go quietly, nor will I let you control me any longer!"
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It is quite difficult to earn the title 'weakest dragon lord'. To be a dragon lord, you must have some sort of strength that is at least comparable to another dragon lord. To earn the 'weakest' title, you have to be undeniable weaker than everyone else. Apollumin earned it by sealing away his strength. He used it to hold back most of Megados. Thanks to his sacrifice, only half of a continent was ruined.
Of course, he could undo the seal, regain his strength. But doing so would unleash Megados. A mass extinction which the dragons would not survive. But now it doesn't matter. Now, Apollumin no longer cares.
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Apollumin's body grows. Lost muscle and fat and vitality regenerates, fueling euphoric pain. His fingers fall apart, fragments fading. Scales tear apart, triangles lost to the folding. There's not enough mana to fuel his rebirth, but he cannot care.
Mustering every bit of power, he casts the only spell that might save him. 'time reversal' mana coalesces around his palm, ready to burst out and send everything back in time. And then it shatters into millions of pieces. The broken world was not undone. Apollumin stares in disbelief at the white void where his palm was. The shock hides the pain from his lungs folding into his heart.
And then the shockwave brakes him into nothing.
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"...what? What kind of game does he think I'm playing? I'm trying to save... never mind. I guess everything works out in the end. I haven't felt this much mana in so long! Hopefully it'll be enough. I'll leave the rest to you, Asmodeus."
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Before there were dragons, there were angels and demons. Before angels and demons, there were gods. And before even the gods, there were titans. Outside of the rules of the world, titans cared not for magic, shaping the world with their own power and skills. They were born from the corpses of asteroids and moons and planets, and their deaths seeded the continents as they now are.
Yet, when this planet dies eventually, a titan shall surely emerge. Or maybe, one has already been born, and is simply slowly growing. Maybe, its growth spells doom for the planet. Or, just maybe, they will signal a new age.
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Aesmo has felt mana sickness before. It was like drowning in dry air, swimming in stone, flying through ice, crawling on fire. What annoyed her now was that it was happening at the worst possible moment. Liberos told her what spell Vildra casted. And she was not going to let Vildra die.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The other Esmos seem to be luckier than Aesmo. They aren't in complete paralyzing agony. Aesmo wasn't dumb. If they were going to do something, anything, then they needed to work together. Slowly but surely, the Esmos gathered together.
It was as they gathered that Aesmo realized something had changed. She was bigger than everyone else. And she was still growing. She grew hungry. She didn't have enough mass for the sudden growth. There were plenty of dragon corpses on the ground, but they were at the base of the mountain, several kilometers away. Aesmo couldn't go that far.
A numb bite filled her with love. Besmo had bitten and buried her head into Aesmo, and started pumping blood directly into her. Desmo and Mesmo followed suit, biting and burying into different segments. Then another bite, and another. Each time, Aesmo felt fuller, more complete. The pain faded, the mana sickness turned to sludge, then numbness, and eventually euphoria.
Within her head, she felt all of the Esmos' mind, filled with determination, assimilating into her own. She emerged from the peak of the mountain, wrapping around three times as she crawled down rapidly. Though she was within a leg's reach to a dragon corpse, she was no longer hungry. Instead, she only had one thing on her mind. Rescuing Vildra.
Looking up, a sphere of white nothingness obscures what's happening inside. However, the fact that the sphere is still there means that Vildra is still alive. wating no time, the hundreds of minds within Aesmo runs through thousands of potential solutions. Within the same moment, a potential solution was found.
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The Esmos have always had one oddity. No matter what, their body did not hold any mana. This meant that they could not cast spells, for they could never complete a learning ritual. However, they could still make magic circles.
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Aesmo has to wrap around the mountain 4 more times before her tail finally exits from inside. Hundreds of tiny mandibles start carving her flesh, making superficial symbols. Upon biting her own tail, Aesmo's wounds light up. Mana pours in, as a new spell takes shape. The edges of the white void blackens as inky centipedes drip in from the outside.
'ouroboros; titan's domain'
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Pov Vildra
I think I understand why Repha refused to tell me what the spell was. A spell that causes everything within an area to shatter into nothing, including the caster. She was trying to prevent me from ever casting it.
Funny how my gamble at living longer resulted in my death. And based on the shouting, it's going to be painful. Unfortunately, the painkiller Aesmo gave me wore off a while ago. Yeah, that sucks. Well, at least it's all quiet now that everyone else got annihilated. A final moment of peace, I guess.
Pst
Hm? That's a strange sound. And it came from above? Damn, too bad I can't move. Wonder what it was.
Hiss~
Alright, that's strange. It almost sounds like an Esmo without a translation gem. Fuck, did one of them come in to try and save me? If they die, I really don't want that to be on my conscience. Please prove me wrong...?
That's a centipede. An inky, dark centipede. So not an Esmo? Wait, how is it here without being shattered? Oh, another one? Where are they coming from?
Ah, wait, don't touch me. I'll just break apart. I'll... not? They're grabbing the pieces and sticking them together. They're reconnecting my pieces with some sort of tar. Ugh, got some in my mouth. Tastes like rotten blood.
The white void around me fills with dark centipedes, merging and separating like bubbles of oil. Soon, I am completely surrounded by darkness. It feels warm. And just as quickly, it evaporates away, leaving me levitating, with no signs of 'aphantasia'.
I guess I lived? And considering there's no more dragons around me, the battle is over? Thank fucking god. I hope Iesmo can make a bed quickly. I'd like to sleep for a week after using so much mana.
Hey, why is Aesmo giant? and wrapped around the mountain? and glowing?
"Congratulations, you're witnessing the birth of a new titan! Hey, Rephantasia, you won't have to stay in a mind palace anymore. You'll be free like me!"
"Repha what the fuck is Nyct talking about? What do you mean 'birth of a titan'?"
"Shut up, both of you. I'm trying to deal with a hundred dragons that really don't like being test subjects."
"Oh great, I'm not late. Oh, and you survived. Seems like Asmodeus succeeded."
"Saturn, explain what the fuck is happening right now."
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"And that's the last dragon, dead."
"A shame, is it not? They had so much potential. If only the demons and angels worked together."
"If they worked together, then the dragons never would've been created."
"I guess, in the end, they were made with a purpose. And once that purpose was fulfilled, only those who changed survived. Though, I doubt only three had altered desires."
"You're just mad that so few changed. In the end, it is difficult for a creation to change without intervention."
"Yes... intervention huh? Would this have never happened had we intervened at any point?"
"Depends on when we intervened. Though I guess the answer is yes."
"Then I have no regrets."
"...You intervened?"
"Only a little. I wanted to see my child grow up."
"Technically it's Asmodeus's child, though you're their only living relative."
"You're not mad?"
"The dragons, whom I adopted, are all dead. I'm mostly disappointed."
"Well, there's still those three. Speaking of, what should we do with them?"
"Let them be. Or, if you must, treat them as that child's parents. If it weren't for Vildra, I doubt they would've ever became a titan."
"Ugh, I'm getting sleepy again. I'll be hibernating, how about you?"
"I slept well already. Instead, I'll keep watch over that child."
"Alright. Tell Nyctasia and Saturn I said good night."