While his lords ran wild, Helios continued on his fiery rampage.
As he spewed arcs of white flames from his three massive heads, he decimated the area in front of him for thirty kilometers.
The signature flames of the dragon king easily reduced anything they touched to ash within only a mere second. Whether it was a person, wildlife or even a building, it made absolutely no difference in the end.
As time went on, Helios’ flames became more and more intense, an indicator of his growing rage and frustration.
Is this all that he has left in this world?
Burning down meager enemies who can’t even begin to defend themselves?
Were there no more challenges?
The years he spent embroiled in glorious battle now seemed like a distant memory as he looked at the field of smoldering ruins before him.
Disappointment and utter boredom began to cloud his ancient mind.
A man like Helios lives his life with the singular desire to get stronger.
In that sense, one could say that he was not much different from his grandson.
But while Abaddon strives for strength so that his family might be safer, Helios does so out of a deep-seated need to overcome his own inner weaknesses.
Even though Helios was born a dragon, he learned a millennia ago that such a thing meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Other races may have been born with weaker bodies and powers, but despite that initial disadvantage they were more than capable of closing the gap between them through hard work.
So that meant he had to work even harder.
His presence, his power, his victory, they all had to be utterly overwhelming.
Helios was over 7,000 years old, yet he’d only been dragon king for 900 years.
In seven millennia, he devoted himself to making sure that there was no area he could be surpassed in.
Raw power, magic, weaponry, wealth, he’d long become a master of them all.
He did not realize that in doing so, he would be depriving himself of the experiences he treasured the most.
When you stand at the pinnacle of your reality, nothing else even comes close to exciting you.
There is no one left in this world to give Helios the high he feels upon spending several days and nights in battle against an enemy that is equal or even his superior.
But there is one thing that Helios was counting on to grant him purpose again.
There is a secret that the world does not know about the sixth stage of evolution.
There actually aren’t any conditions to evolve past that at all.
Upon reaching the sixth stage the demigods are gifted with a vision from the mother goddess.
She gives them the knowledge to ascend, as well as explains the possible repercussions.
The process of becoming a god is highly volatile and even one as powerful as Helios is not guaranteed to successfully become a true divine being. The chances of his soul surviving the rise to godhood was only a mere thirty percent.
But the dragon king was not afraid, he alone was the one who was meant to stand above all.
The only reason he had yet to attempt the ascension is because of his angelic daughter, Yara.
Upon becoming a god, the memory of Helios will be pulled from the minds of everyone in this world who is not at the demigod level.
That meant she would no longer remember her father and he would likely never be able to see her again.
That fear had given him pause for a great many years as he did not know if he could part with the one thing in this world he considered to be a treasure.
But lately, he had begun to see things differently.
Seeing the way Yara had matured made Helios realize that maybe he would not have to say goodbye forever.
His daughter’s conviction was less fiery than his own, but it still burned just as bright.
She would not be bogged down in this world forever.𝑜𝚟𝔩xt.𝒞𝐌
He was absolutely certain that there would come a day where she too would join him in the realm of the gods.
But before that, he had to ascend himself.
And there was one last thing he wanted to do in this world before he left.
‘Hurry now, boy…’
It had been centuries since he’d been anxious for a battle like this.
He knew it would take time, but he was certain that one day he and Abaddon would come to blows.
The way his grandson’s strength increased so drastically was unlike anything he had ever seen and he shuddered with excitement when he envisioned how strong he would become.
At the appropriate time, he would seek his grandson out and they would have to settle once and for all who most deserved the title of dragon king.
How long would their battle take?
Hours?
Days?
Weeks?
Would one of them die in the battle?
He was not certain, but he knew for sure that it would be the most invigorating time of his life.
More thrilling than when he clashed with his missing rival, Dagon Sanguine.
More bloody than when he killed the former dragon king and took his throne as his own.
‘Such a glorious battle…. it will require a fitting stage.’
Suddenly, Helios thought of a way to make this chore of punishing the witch queen much more enjoyable.
Helios’ body flashed with a bright golden light.
He suddenly dropped from the sky in his human form. and crashed into the earth below with a bang.
The dragon touched a hand to the cracked earth beneath him and envisioned his desired outcome.
The earth beneath him began to tremble and in a moment, the entire continent was undergoing a massive earthquake.
The dragon lords immediately ceased their attack on the land and turned their gazes in the direction of Helios’ aura.
Lotan : ‘ I guess the king is done playing around.’
Tiamat : ‘ Haven’t seen him do this in quite a while.’
Seras : ‘No fair! I was having so much fun!’
The witch queen and her two daughters were still inside the castle clinging for dear life onto anything that was bolted to the ground.
When Sei realized what Helios was doing, her heart immediately dropped down to her shoes. ‘H-He wouldn’t! I thought he said he was only going to make this place uninhabitable for fifty years!’
The witch queen knew that her barrier would not hold up against the oncoming attack so she was finally forced to use her last resort.
Normally, teleporting across extremely long distances like continents is not possible without the spatial affinity but as the queen of witches, Sei had enough magic to do it.
Grabbing onto her precious daughters, Sei began to mutter the ancient words and a moment later, she and her children were encased in a turquoise light, and they vanished as the first stage of Helios’ attack reduced her great castle to rubble.
As soon as the witch queen’s castle fell, that was when the true purpose of the earthquake finally came to fruition.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
All across the land, giant geysers of lava were spewing up from the earth below and devouring the surface.
Within ten minutes the luscious and vibrant greenery that Barbello was once famous for could no longer be seen, replaced by a sea of molten lava.
“Lotan.” Even though Helios was a fair distance away, that did not prevent his voice from reaching the ears of his faithful subordinate.
‘… This’ll take a bit of effort.’ Lotan thought with a sigh.
Soaring up higher into the sky, Lotan released a frightening roar that covered the entire continent in thick rain clouds.
In an instant, the sea dragon had called forth a rainstorm that drenched all ten million kilometers of Barbello’s surface.
The lava cooled immediately, and when the steam dispersed one could see a land that was molded according to the dragon king’s desires.
There was nothing but a flat, dry landscape devoid of any trees, wildlife, or buildings.
All that was left across the entire continent was the black crust that had formed when the lava cooled from the rain.
Lotan finally became exhausted from pushing his powers to such a degree and his body shrank down to it’s human appearance.
He would have fallen straight from the sky had Tiamat not expected such a thing to happen and prepared to catch him in advance.
With Seras flying a little further behind, the three lords flew towards their waiting king.
Landing on the ground, they were able to hear the low chuckling coming from the golden dragon.
“Hehehe….HAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
He turned around with a manic smile and looked Seras directly in her scaly face.
“The stage I have prepared for my battle with Abaddon is truly grand, don’t you think?”
Even though she was a dragon, it was easy for one to tell that Seras became alarmed when Helios suddenly mentioned the man she loved.
“I-It’s-“
“Stop your stammering. I have no intentions to punish you for having a relationship with him.” Helios could smell Abaddon on Seras from the moment he first saw her.
Considering his criminally unfair new appearance, Helios was not at all surprised that she had been unable to resist the charm of the former fourth prince.
Tiamat however was so jealous electricity had begun to travel around her black body. ‘He chose her?! This is unbelievable!!’
Lotan was too tired to care, but if he had more energy, he would have surely had something to say about this as well.
“You may do what you want, but you must always understand that your loyalty is first and foremost to my kingdom and I.” He warned.
Helios released a bit of his pressure and focused it solely on Seras to make sure that she understood his seriousness regarding this matter. “Do you understand? If you attempt to betray me for him, I won’t hesitate to eliminate the bloodflame clan as well.”
Even though Seras was a step away from becoming a demigod, the dragon king’s pressure was simply too oppressive.
“I understand… King Helios.” She bowed with great difficulty.
Helios released his pressure and turned back around to the dead landscape that he had created.
“You did not answer my question.” He reminded.
Seras only needed a moment to understand her king’s words and she too took a moment to gaze at her surroundings.
“Yes, my king… There is no stage more worthy of the two of you than this.”
———–
Sorry for the sudden hiatus but for those who don’t know I had to take some time because my first child was born a few days ago!
Thank you for your patience in giving me this time to support my girl and getting to know my daughter.
ALSO:
The first twenty chapters of my new book, The Fallen Vampire are now up! Please give it a read and leave an early review, comments or ideas for improvement!