Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Noele the Noble Spellsword stared at the towering figure before her. She saw the glistening red scales— the golden eyes like treasure. It cast a hulking shadow over her. Standing at hundreds of feet tall, even when hunched over. Draped by a pair of glorious wings protruding from its back, and a set of black horns sat atop its head like a crown.

It was a dragon.

Never in Noele’s wildest dreams did she ever think she was going to meet a dragon. They were legendary creatures— scarcely ever seen in Laxo. More plentiful in the elven continent of Drazyl, but still considered a rare find. They were strong and mighty. Great and terrible. An adult dragon could grow up to a hundred feet, yet this dragon standing before the blonde girl was even larger.

And the reason was simple: it wasn’t any ordinary dragon— it was an Elder Dragon.

Nearly extinct. A relic of the past. Elder Dragons were but a fable from Noele’s childhood. A story that she paid no mind. Like the tales of angels and demons. Or the stories of Vacuos long ago, when the continents were one, and its people enslaved, ruled by a dark evil.

There was said to only be five Elder Dragons left alive in this era. Each of them having gone to hiding in each of the continents, except for one who’d flown to the sky, never to be seen ever again. And arguably the greatest of them was known as the Glorious Terror of Mount Arkais. The King of the Crimson Flame. The Wisest Sage of the World System.

Grat-ra’zun. The Great Rakaarzun. One of the highest-leveled creatures in all of Vacuos. A being of majesty and might. Here he was, looming over Noele. Straight from myth. A piece of legend. And he was... prostrating with his head on the ground.

“Please,” Grat-ra’zun begged, looking at Amelia with pleading eyes. “You can have my hoard. My treasures. Anything you want— just please don’t kill me!”

Noele pinched her cheek as she walked up to her mentor. “...this is all a dream, isn’t it? I must’ve hit my head fighting that Goblin Lord and I’m imagining all this at a [Healer]’s ward in a comatose state.”

“I am no fool,” the Elder Dragon said as he raised his head. “I know when I am outmatched. Even my dragon’s pride will not let me struggle foolishly in a hopeless battle.”

And as he spoke, Amelia glanced back at Noele. The blonde girl blinked, seeing the face her master wore. A confused look. An uncertain expression.

For the first time ever, Amelia was just as lost as her student. She scratched her cheek, murmuring. “Uh, what do I say...?”

Meanwhile, Grat-ra’zun continued, puffing out a smoky breath. “I have battled you with my greatest magicks— my grandest Skills! Yet, nothing has come close to even harming you, fair [Warrior]. I cede my lair to you. I only ask that you spare me, for I still have a myriad of responsibilities to oversee.”

He bowed deeply as he finished. Amelia looked at Noele for help. But the blonde girl just shrugged.

“I guess you should spare him?” Noele suggested.

Neither of them had any intention of killing the Elder Dragon in the first place, so saying it felt counterproductive. But when faced with Grat-ra’zun pleading for his life, it felt like it needed to be said.

Nodding, Amelia took a step forward, and the Elder Dragon flinched. But the brown-haired woman just cleared her throat.

“We, uh, spare you?” Amelia said uncertainly.

Grat-ra’zun blinked. He stared at her in shock for a second, then he heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank Arrak’tun. I may carry out my duties for yet another century. I thank you, merciful [Warrior], for sparing my life. I owe you a mountain of debt.”

“Thanks, I guess. But it’s not really necessary.” She scratched her chin. “I mean, we weren’t going to kill you anyways, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

And the Elder Dragon paused. He blinked at her. “What?” he asked.Witness the debut of this chapter, unveiled through Ñôv€l--B1n.

“Yeah...” Amelia shook her head. “We’re just here to ask you a few questions.”

Grat-ra’zun’s jaw dropped, revealing the insides of his ferocious maw. Slowly, he raised his head. He rose to his feet, and Noele backed up nervously. But he just stared down at the two little humans with wide eyes.

“You— WHAT?”

His roaring voice echoed in the cavern as Noele recoiled, covering her ears.

—--

“Well, I wouldn’t necessarily describe breaking into my lair, destroying all my traps, and humiliating me in battle as ‘humble’,” he interrupted her again.

“Very well.” She gritted her teeth, carefully choosing her next words. “We’re... here... because—”

“Could you hurry up?” Grat-ra’zun tapped a claw impatiently. “I haven’t got all day.”

The blonde girl pursed her lips, and he caught himself. He tilted his head, thinking aloud.

“Actually, I do have all day. But I would rather not waste time—”

“Fine!” Noele said exasperatedly as she gestured towards me. “Amelia is an otherworlder, but she can’t connect to the World System!”

I raised an amused brow, watching the Noble Spellsword snap at an Elder Dragon. Grat-ra’zun drew back. He glanced at me curiously.

“You’re an otherworlder?” he asked.

“I am,” I said simply.

The dragon nodded slowly. “You... you’re certainly dressed like one, indeed. And that immense power... I have met only one other otherworlder who has overwhelmed me as you did. That explains your... wait—”

His eyes widened. Grat-ra’zun leaned forward, blinking.

“You’re not integrated into the World System?!” he exclaimed.

“Yes, that is what Noele literally just said.” I gave him a flat stare.

“Impossible. Everyone who enters Vacuos is automatically integrated into the World System. And how else would you have achieved your strength if not for reaching a high level? Unless—” He stared at me in horror. “Were you summoned by the Voidal Worshippers?”

“Who?” Noele blinked.

But I narrowed my eyes. That’s...

Grat-ra’zun murmured to himself. “Wait, what are they called again these days? They keep coming back no matter how many times you wipe them out. Are they the... Harbingers of a New World? The Forsaken Paragons? No, that’s not right— ah, yes. The Sect of the Abyssal Thorns.”

The dragon snapped his fingers with a nod. He seemed proud of remembering that for a moment, before suddenly his face darkened. His gaze bore down into me, and my eyes flickered. I could sense his killing intent as he spoke in a booming voice.

“Answer me, Amelia. Because if your allegiance is truly to the Void, then I will have no choice but to eradicate you or die trying.”

Noele backed up, caught off-guard by the sudden change in the dragon’s demeanor. But I didn’t even flinch, nor did I reach for my weapon. Instead, I held Grat-ra’zun’s gaze.

“My allegiance is to myself,” I said without fear. “I do not care for the Void or the abominations that lurk its darkness.”

“And how can you prove that?” the Elder Dragon asked as smoke breathed out from his nostrils.

I shrugged casually. “Because I spent the last ten years of my life fighting against the Void. That’s why.”

“That took Grat-ra’zun by surprise. “What?”

“I can prove it, too. Watch—” I brought my hand out as both Noele and the dragon watched. I reached for an invisible wall. My fingers pressed into something that wasn’t there. And I peeled back the world itself.

The Elder Dragon’s jaw dropped as I tore a hole into space itself. A rift that broke through the very fabric of Vacuos’s reality. One that opened up to darkness. A chaotic space. A broken world. The Void itself.

Both Noele and Grat-ra’zun peered into the portal, wide-eyed, as I unfurled the curtain of Vacuos, revealing to them the Fractured Realm.