The Dawn of a Clash-Fragment ⚭

As Lysandros appeared in front of him, Zalkaroth burst out laughing. Hah! Hahaha!

«A dragon toy of time? You are only an insignificant curiosity. The world of Thanar has seen the birth and death of eons. Do you think you have mastered what Lord Thanatos has been teaching us for millennia?»

— Lysandros (mockingly): «And despite all this time, you are here, sent like obedient puppets. Your god must be very desperate.»

CLANG! A furious Zalkaroth wielded his abyssal spear, but before it could strike Lysandros, the dragon made a careless move. The spear disintegrated, it was reduced to temporal dust.

— Lysandros: «Really? A spear? Tsk! I have seen weapons capable of erasing dimensions. You... Do you come with that? Pathetic.»

BOOM! Zalkaroth was angry and summoned a torrent of demonic energy that broke through Lysandros' time barriers. But the dragon was still laughing.

— Lysandros: «Ah, a little resistance? Hah! Amusing. Let's see how long you can hold out.»

He held out his hand, and the clock above the battlefield made a THUD. Each hit reduced a part of Zalkaroth's existence.

Meanwhile, on another front, Arelon confronts Lieutenant Khral'thar.

Khral'thar: «Do you think you can compete with me, dragon?»THOOM! He raised his titanic axe.

— Arelon: «You talk too much for someone who will soon no longer exist.»

With a quick gesture, Arelon released a wave of entropy that hit the lieutenant. Khral'thar screamed as his body began to dissipate, "Aaaaargh!" but he reconstituted himself by defying total obliteration.

— Arelon: «Fascinating. But entropy never gets tired.»

In the throne room, Volmeryn still watched events with his unwavering confidence.

— Volmeryn: «Zalkaroth thinks I'm passive... But this is just the beginning. Get ready, demon emperor. When the king enters the dance, even the gods tremble.Hmhmhm…»

«With my power, I can defeat a god.»

[System: Quest Activated: Demonstrate that you can breathe without bragging for 5 minutes.]

Volmeryn : « Shut the fuck up system. »

One after the other, the dragons advanced and placed themselves in front of Volmeryn. Everyone bowed their heads respectfully, although some did so with visible reluctance.

Lysandros, the first to speak, pronounced the words of the oath of a noble:

«I, Lysandros, dragon of time, recognize Volmeryn Vorthyx as my rightful ruler. By this oath I swear fidelity to his cause and to his kingdom. My mastery of time will only be in the service of his glory, and my wings will rise only for his triumph.»

SHIIINK! The rune of time flared briefly before extinguishing with a resonant hum.

Nethrath: «You want an oath? TCH! Let me ask you a question: what do I gain from this story? I'm not an idealist.»

Volmeryn: «I don't need obedient soldiers, but wise advisors. Prove to me that you can think better than me.»

Nethrath: «Hmm... HEH! An interesting proposition. All right, let's see if you're worthy of my loyalty.»

Nethrath's rune ignited with a chaotic swirl of flickering light before settling into the stone.

Eirlys: «Why should I trust you? All the bosses I followed used me as a weapon and then gave up.»

Volmeryn: «You're not alone, Eirlys. I know the weight of guilt. But together, we can find redemption.»

Eirlys' life and death rune swirled as it settled in the stone.

Sepharon : «If you betray me, I'll destroy you... HRRRN! but I want to believe that you are different.»

Volmeryn: «I don't think it will be possible to destroy me. But don't worry Sepharon, I'll do my best to be a worthy ruler.»

The rune of Sepharon burned a bright yellow before disappearing into the stone.

Arelon: «Do you think I'm going to follow someone just because they beat a dragon? I don't prostrate myself to anyone anymore, not after what has been done to me.»

Volmeryn: «If you're so confident, prove it. If you beat me, I won't impose anything on you.»

Arelon: «You're going to regret this arrogance.»

THUD! BOOM! The clash of their powers sent shockwaves through the stone circle, but after a few seconds of relentless attacks, Arelon was forced to his knees.

«Okay, I'll follow you. But don't think you've earned my respect.»

CRACKLE! Arelon's rune blazed defiantly before succumbing to the oath's light.

With each oath, there was a specific rune linked to the dragon's essence that swore allegiance in a burst of light marking the acceptance of their oath by the ancestral forces.

The celestial plain that had been the scene of the clashes between dragons and demons had been transformed into a landscape of chaos.

In another location on the battlefield, Nethrath faced Lieutenant Thrazar. The abyssal flames around Thrazar burned the air.

Thrazar: «Dragon, you may be the embodiment of infinity, but you will know the end by my flames!»

Nethrath: «Insignificant spark... To try to challenge me is to sign your own absurdity.»

Fwoooosh: Thrazar channeled a wave of abyssal fire, it was a black and scarlet flame so dense that it shattered the void around them. The projectile flew with a whooomph! by hitting Nethrath in the chest in a titanic explosion. BOOOM!

But through the ash and smoke, Nethrath appeared unharmed with a mocking smile on his lips.

Nethrath: «A nice firework, demon. Perhaps you would have more success entertaining mortals. Is this all that your god Thanatos has taught you?»

Craaaack — Nethrath opened his dragon wings by bending the laws of gravity and time. Spheres of light appeared around him in a wuuuum, and each of them contained divergent realities. He took a deep breath and then he released a shoooooom breath! which reduced an entire section of the battlefield to an absolute vacuum.

Thrazar dodged by opening a rift into the abyss and emerged behind the dragon. In an instant, he creates a flaming spear made of infernal runes and hurls it towards the dragon. Ssshhhhh-WHOOSH! The spear pierced Nethrath's right wing, and he let out a roar of pain. "GROARRRRR!"

Thrazar: «You're not invincible, Dragon. Even infinity can bleed.»

Nethrath (smiling contemptuously): «Bleeding? Oh, poor bug... This is only a remnant of my form, a mere fragment that I offer you for your arrogance.»

With a single thought, Nethrath regenerated his wing. "Shiiiiiinnnng!"

Suddenly, Thrazar found himself caught in a maze of fractal spaces. Every attack he attempted to escape was deflected against himself, and his flames dissipated into endless vortexes. "Fwoosh! CRACK! WHAM!"

Nethrath (mocking): «You are lost, little demon. How much longer do you want to play warrior? I could destroy you in one breath, but I think seeing you struggle is much more fun.»

Thrazar screamed in rage as he made a final attack. "GRRAAAAAHHHH!" He concentrated all his essence into a cataclysmic explosion of abyssal fire.

The attack hit Nethrath, triggering a flash so intense that the universe seemed to die out for a moment. "BOOOOOOM!" But when the light disappeared, Nethrath appeared intact and smiling.

Nethrath: «Admirable... but futile. You're just an ant who wants to defy a hurricane.»

In response, Nethrath used a technique called the "Flood of Eternity": it was a breath that engulfed Thrazar in a sea of kaleidoscopic lights. "WHOOOOSH! KRRRRAAAKKK!" By annihilating not only his body but also the traces of his existence through time and space.

Nethrath (watching the traces disappear): «Your abyssal flames... extinguished as easily as a candle. Return to your nothingness Thrazar. Maybe you'll be more useful as an insignificant souvenir.»

On the other side, Arelon stood above the ruins where Khral'thar was desperately struggling to reform his decaying body. "Squelch... SQUISH..." The demon's flesh fragments tried to come together, but with each attempt, Arelon raised just a finger and annihilated his efforts with a simple gesture. "FZZZZZ!"

Arelon: «Poor creature, your immortality is a cage, not a force. How many times will I have to destroy you before you understand the futility of your resistance?»

A shapeless black mass emerged from the bowels of Khral'thar, swirling around him like a storm. "WHIRRRRRR!" He launched the attack with a devastating force that distorted space into a spiral of shadows. "KRRRRRAK-THOOM!" But Arelon remained motionless, still with his mocking gaze.

— Arelon: «A physical attack? It's almost... charming. What a lack of respect towards us who are dragon gods. »

With a quick gesture he made a black sphere appear, condensed from an abyss of entropy. Vwooom. The air around them froze as if suspended by an inexorable force. Then the sphere fused fssshhh engulfing Khral'thar. The flesh, armor, and even the essence of the demon began to disintegrate, sucked into an inverted existence where all that had been ceased to be.

Khral'thar, to escape the grip of the attack, tore off a fragment of his own body with a shrawn sound to escape total disintegration.

Arelon (with a cruel smile): «Do you persist? Either. »

With a snap of his fingers, Arelon released a wave of entropy. The attack spread encompassing a radius so vast that distant stars in the sky were ANNIHILATED. BOOM!! Khral'thar disappeared with his immortality bypassed by the total destruction of his essence.

— Arelon: «Poor stars, I destroyed them without meaning for this less than nothing. They really don't measure up. I hope Zalkaroth will be more entertaining. »

On another battlefield, Erylis the dragon faced Sythranix. The demon, master of corruption and disease that turned the soil into a pestilential swamp. Splosh splosh, the black waters began to spread around them.

— Sythranix: «Look at yourself, little dragon, the life you embody is just a weakness to be exploited. Everything that lives can die and I am that death. You should have stayed with Volmeryn, prepared his meals, and bore his heirs. This is the role of a woman. »

— Erylis: «Death? Don't be ridiculous. Death is only part of what I control. And if you think that I will reduce myself to such a pitiful woman's role, you are even more stupid than I thought. »

Sythranix roared GRRAAAARGH as it launched a wave of black corruption, it was a flood of energy that tried to eat away at Erylis. But at the moment of contact, an explosion of light BOOM! repelled the attack by purifying everything it touched. Fwoooosh, the darkness was dissipating under the influence of the light.

— Erylis: «Enough played.»

She plunged her hands into the ground and whispered a strange incantation. Luminous vines rose from the ground and wrapped around Sythranix. The demon struggled, but the light seeped into him and consumed his corruption from within. He was screaming in unimaginable pain that shattered his being.

— Sythranix: «GRAAAAAAH!»

— Eirlys: «You wanted to play with death? I'll show you what it really means. »

Vrrroum!! A vortex of light appeared as it sucked in Sythranix. His scream, an AAAAARGH, disappeared while his essence was annihilated.

As for Lieutenant Vorrak who was in front of Sepharon, he exuded raw energy fueled by pain.

— Vorrak: «You're just an illusion, Dragon. My chains will break you as they have broken me.»

— Sepharon: «Broken, not by the flesh, but by perception. Your chains are just concepts that have no power over the mind. Let's see if you can control them.»

Sépharon set off with a whoosh! by deploying a wave of divergent thoughts that distorted the battlefield. Vorrak's chains twisted with clang, crack, and turned into grotesque images of his worst memories and nightmares. Each chain became a symbol of his pain, of his failures towards the god Thanatos.