A chilling roar of pain echoed from Brix as the serpent's venom surged through his body. The bloodlust that had infused the attack seeped into him, spreading like wildfire through his veins. Before he could even react, the serpent released its grip and coiled back around Stiles's form, vanishing into his skin as though it had never existed.
The world fell into a brief, eerie silence.
Vix, Brix, and the other dragons stood in stunned silence, their eyes wide with disbelief. What they had once thought to be a mere mortal had just proven that he was something far more dangerous.
The dragons soared high into the sky, their wings beating with terrifying force, and in unison, they opened their massive maws. The air seemed to crackle with power as torrents of destruction poured from their throats—ice, lightning, flames, water, violet wind, shards of earth, and a spiraling vortex of stars. The raw energy from the blasts converged, all directed at the single figure standing below them.
Stiles, undaunted, stood in the center of the chaos. The moment the wave of energy reached him, a massive circle of blood pulsed outward from his body. The ground trembled as trees and rocks around him splintered and collapsed, obliterated by the sheer force of the circle's expansion. The blood circle twisted and morphed, shifting into an ancient spell of summoning.
From within the circle, a presence so dark and powerful emerged, it seemed to steal the light from the world around it. A dragon of death appeared, its body wrapped in the chilling embrace of necrotic power. Its eyes were pure black, the irises a piercing silver that gleamed with unrelenting malice. Its scales were a beautiful shade of grey, like polished stone that seemed to absorb all warmth. A heavy, suffocating aura radiated from the dragon, sending ripples of fear through the air. The blood serpent, shot up from the death dragon's body, its jaws opening wide to consume the energy raining down from the dragons above. The serpent's fangs dug deep into the blasts, devouring all of them whole. The lightning crackled in its maw, the flames smoldered into ash, the ice turned to steam, and the water evaporated as if it were nothing more than vapor.
The death dragon let out a deafening roar as the magical energies from all eight dragons wrapped around its body, spiraling and twining in a dazzling display of power. With each element merging, the dragon's form began to shift. The violet wind wrapped around its wings, causing them to shimmer with ethereal energy. The shards of earth surrounded its claws, turning them into jagged talons. The flames licked along its spine, while the ice crackled along its tail. The water and lightning combined with the spiral of stars around its chest, coating it in a display of all eight elements, turning the dragon into a force of destruction.
Its eyes gleamed with the power of the elements, its body now a creature of impossible strength, imbued with the full fury of the dragons that had attacked it.
Stiles, standing calmly amidst the chaos, raised his hands. The blood serpent, now fully empowered, slithered back to his side as the death dragon roared again, a sound that seemed to shake the very foundation of the earth.
Riven watched with a twisted smirk, his gaze fixed on Stiles as he harnessed the power of Bloodshed. "So, this is what I could never achieve..." The dark realization hit him, a bitter laugh slipping from his lips. "This kid has surpassed me..." he murmured, his voice dripping with venom, before his laughter turned cold and distant.
"Bloodshed... the principle is the weakest. That's true, at least when you're first learning it..." Riven's grin widened, a wicked, malevolent glint in his eyes. He paused, letting the words settle before continuing, the weight of them suffocating the air around him.
"But what was never recorded in the tome of blood, the true nature of Bloodshed is that it's not about where you begin—it's about how much blood it consumes. The more blood it collects, the more it feeds—on emotions, memories, and even the kills of past users... until it transcends. Until it becomes an unstoppable force. That's the true nature of Bloodshed. A principle that can only grow stronger the more you kill."
Riven's grin darkened as he savored the twisted truth. "Kill... for strength."
Vix was the first to speak, his massive eyes widening as his voice carried both recognition and disbelief. "A dragon cloaked in the darkness of night... eyes like twin stars that pierce into one's soul… the one who gives death a physical form." His voice grew heavier. "The Banished conqueror of Death… the one casted into the void, forsaken by all, removed from every book of existence."
The Death Dragon let out a roar so deafening and filled with malice that it seemed to shake the very air. The ground trembled beneath its power, and with each terrifying note of its cry, the trees around it twisted and withered, their leaves turning black before falling to the ground in ash. The grass was scorched, its once-vibrant green turning to a deathly brown as the very life in the surroundings was drained away by the raw, oppressive aura of the dragon's roar. The sound was not just heard—it was felt, a force of nature that's capable of unknown tragedies.
The Dragon of Stars, Nebula, lunged forward, a streak of celestial light aiming to crush the death dragon beneath its colossal form. But before impact, the death dragon's body pulsed with a dark, ominous glow. In an instant, its massive form vanished, replaced by that of a man standing effortlessly beneath the falling behemoth. Nebula crashed into the earth with a thunderous impact, sending shockwaves rippling through the battlefield, yet its target remained untouched.
He was covered in scars—deep, jagged reminders of a past etched into his very flesh. His long black hair draped over his shoulders, his clothes seeming less like fabric and more like a curse, bound to his skin as though woven from suffering itself. A scar cut across his left eye, while more ran along his exposed hands. Yet, despite his transformation, the overwhelming presence of his mana had not wavered in the slightest.
Nebula rose from the crater it had created, shaking off debris before opening its vast maw. From within, a torrent of stars surged forward, each one a blazing embodiment of celestial fury. The death dragon's human form remained unmoving as ghostly skulls materialized around him, their hollow eyes burning with an eerie glow. A dark energy erupted from the air itself, forming a barrier that absorbed the incoming stars. The moment they collided, their brilliance faded into nothingness—reduced to ash, scattered and forgotten.
The man exhaled slowly, his breath deep and measured, as if savoring the very air of the mortal world. When he spoke, his voice was soft, yet each word carried a weight that defied comprehension.
"My… what a sight this is."
With every syllable, the life around him withered—the trees curled inward, their bark decaying into dust, the grass blackened and shriveled away, and the very ground beneath his feet seemed to pale in response to his presence.
The dragons exchanged glances, unspoken understanding passing between them. One by one, their colossal forms shimmered, shifting into human figures. Though their mana dimmed slightly in these forms, their presence remained suffocating, raw power radiating from each of them.
They cast another look at one another—no words needed. A silent nod, and in the next instant, they moved as one.
One of the eight surged forward, gripping the death dragon with monstrous strength before hurling him skyward. The air cracked from the sheer force, his body sent hurtling into the skies.
Another dragon had already positioned itself above, waiting. The moment the death dragon reached its level, a devastating kick slammed into him, a strike so powerful that when he crashed into the ground, the impact sent a deafening shockwave through the land, carving a massive crater into the battlefield.
Before he could even recover, flames erupted in the distance.
Brix appeared in a blur, his hands wreathed in roaring fire. He caught the death dragon mid-motion, gripping him before unleashing a point-blank inferno that engulfed his entire body. The searing explosion illuminated the battlefield, turning night into day for a fleeting moment. With a final, brutal motion, Brix hurled him aside like a broken doll, sending him crashing through the air before his body slammed into a massive tree. The wood groaned under the force before splintering, shattering upon impact.
A sudden gale tore through the battlefield—Zyphir, Dragon of Violet Wind, surged forward, his form nearly vanishing in the violent gusts surrounding him. Before the death dragon could recover, Zyphir twisted his body mid-air and delivered a devastating spin-kick, a storm of razor-sharp winds erupting from his strike. The moment it connected, the sheer force sent the death dragon skidding backward, the ground beneath him torn apart as the winds ripped trees from their roots.
Before he could regain his footing, an earthen wall erupted behind him—Terros, Dragon of Earth, had already anticipated his trajectory. With a single stomp, jagged pillars of stone shot out like fangs from the earth, forcing the death dragon to rebound forward—straight into an incoming surge of water.
Mira, Dragon of the Tides, flicked her wrist, a massive wave crashing down upon him with the weight of an ocean. The moment it struck, she clenched her fist, twisting the current into a crushing vortex, dragging him under and spinning his body violently before launching him into the air once more.
High above, Nebula, Dragon of Stars, was already waiting. Her hands shimmered with celestial energy, a spiral of glowing stars forming around her as she clasped them together. With a commanding gesture, the constellations around her collapsed into a singular point—a miniature star burning with unrelenting energy. She slammed the star straight into his chest. The sheer power behind it launching him back toward the battlefield like a meteor crashing to earth.
Cryos, Dragon of Ice. His expression was calm—merciless. Without a word, he extended his hand, and in an instant, the air around the death dragon froze solid, encasing his entire body in an unbreakable prison of ice.
As they all gathered together over the crater in the ground, the Death dragon's body laid frozen in ice as they had just pummeled him until death.
"For having such a big history... he was quite weak." Brix said releasing a small laugh before the others joined in.
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I'd like to take a moment to let you all know that this will be the end of this novel. I won't be continuing to write it, and I sincerely apologize to those who have been following and enjoying the series.
Thank you for your understanding and patience. There are a few reasons why I've decided to cancel both this novel and my other webnovel, Reincarnation Tale: The Villainous Princess. The main reason is that writing chapters every day for two different series has taken more out of me creatively than I expected. Additionally, there is another novel currently in the works that has been demanding the majority of my time and focus when it comes to writing. I have also ran out of motivation for both of these series so I may return to properly finish this... one day.
I do also apologize for the abrupt ending but I wrote this on the day I uploaded each chapter... so I am sorry again but I might come back and finish this as I have more plans for this webnovel but who knows honestly.
– NexMotions