The star-like dragon in the sky opened his mouth, a bright, flickering darkness gathering inside. The sight of his allies retreating below held him back momentarily, their understanding of his intention clear in their hurried movements.
Vesuvius waited, his throat itching with pent-up energy. At last, the land before the gate cleared, and he released his wrath. A pitch-black beam, pulsing with blindingly bright golden and purple flames, descended, drawing a line to the gate.
The center of the beam was a void of utter darkness, surrounded by a dazzling halo of radiant energy, like the accretion discs around a black hole. The beam's core devoured everything in its path, while the surrounding flames scorched the air and land.
The moment the burning darkness struck the gate, it expanded rapidly, tearing stones from the ground. The beam carved a swath of devastation, pulverizing and incinerating everything within hundreds of meters.
The fossilized mountains groaned under the assault, their surfaces cracking and smoldering. However, due to the mountains' ancient strength, they stood firm.
As Vesuvius stirred his domain, the destructive forces miraculously washed gently over his minions, sparing them while annihilating their foes. His allies continued their retreat unscathed.
Amid the smoldering crater left in the wake of the dragon's breath, a single dwarf walked out. His metal armor was melted and fused to his body, yet the hammer in his hand remained intact. The divine energy within him continued to grow, his form flickering with an unnatural light.
For a moment, he stood motionless, then the power within him peaked as he moved again.
To Vesuvius' perfect sight, it was evident the dwarf was moving like someone else. 'Could it be that the god has taken him as his vessel?'
It wasn't the first time he had seen something like this. He remembered when the dragon god had taken over a mortal soldier.
"This is the end, dragon. Today, you will learn why we, the new gods, are destined to surpass you, relics of the past!" The ground cracked beneath the dwarf as he shot into the air with terrific speed, the hammer in his hand glowing brightly, aiming straight for the dragon high in the sky.
Vesuvius didn't waste even a second, feeling the immense power imbued within the divine weapon. A flicker of doubt crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. This was not the time for hesitation. The world warped, and instantly he reappeared further away, the temperature around him rapidly increasing.
In the meantime, the first shockwave, rippling with divine energy, surged toward Vesuvius with an unstoppable force.
Vesuvius, despite his confidence, felt the raw power emanating from the dwarf's attack. The stars and black holes around him, rekindled with immense energy, shuddered under the approaching onslaught.
Vesuvius braced himself, his form glowing brighter as he poured more power into his defenses. The constellation magic surged, celestial objects aligning to form a barrier of intense gravitational and thermal energy. The space around him warped and stretched to dissipate the incoming force.
The barrier cracked, and Vesuvius roared in defiance, his body engulfed in a fiery halo. He channeled the energy from the crown on his head, infusing his form with more divine power.
The shockwave struck like a battering ram, slamming into Vesuvius with immense force. He felt the pain deep in his bones, the sheer impact shaking him to his core. The dragon hatefully opened his throat, spitting out his prepared breath attack toward the dwarf, his ears still ringing from the impact, and his armor littered with cracks.
As Vesuvius unleashed his breath, it was as if the cosmos itself had torn open. A beam of absolute darkness, fringed with searing tendrils of golden and purple flames, erupted from his maw. Everything around—the stones, stars, black holes, even the mana and divine energy—collapsed into the breath.
The entire dragon's cosmos vanished, sucking, and burning within the breath, revealing again the mountains outside. Only momentarily, as all the light vanished almost instantly.
The beam tore through space, a burning hole of annihilation that devoured all light and matter in its path. The temperature dropped to freezing points instantly as all the energy was sucked out of the environment, then soared as the flames ignited the air, turning it into plasma.
The roar of the beam was a deafening cacophony, leaving the dragon to grin at the scene.
The breath attack reached its target almost instantaneously, tearing holes through space. The sheer force created shockwaves that leveled the ground. Trees were uprooted, stones were pulverized, and the earth was stripped bare for dozens of kilometers, leaving only the dragon's servants untouched.
However, even amidst this display of overwhelming power, Vesuvius felt a creeping unease.
'What was he doing?' Vesuvius thought, a chill running down his spine. He didn't believe the shockwaves were the main point of the dwarf's actions; he was sure there was some further agenda behind them.
(AN: Damn, why do I feel like those battles are becoming weirder and weirder as the scale of the power increases? Also, I think this is the perfect oportunity for the noob to return :D)