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.»
Sepharon set off with a whoosh! by deploying a wave of divergent thoughts that distorted the battlefield. Clang, Crack ! Vorrak's chains twisted 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.
— Sepharon (calm): «Look, Vorrak... it is not your chains that break you, but your spirit that breaks itself.»
Vorrak forced himself to resist the grip of illusions. His mind was solid but the images projected by Sepharon were intense. His physical pain was mixed with mental pain. His chains tightened with a scream, but he managed to free them in a shattering KLANG ! .
Furious, Vorrak summoned the ultimate power of his mutilated body: a brute vortex . A BOOM, followed by an explosion of energy, disturbed the space around him. The chains became whips of destruction that moved at unimaginable speeds, beyond time and space, aiming directly at Sepharon.
Sepharon, however, would not let himself be touched. Chlak ! With a simple movement of his thought, the chains stopped in mid-run in a brutal and were suspended in space. vrrrrrrr ! Then in a mental burst, they transformed, twisted and turned against their master. Sepharon manipulated the chains as extensions of his own mind.
— Sepharon (soft voice): «Your spirit is your own cage, Vorrak. And every thought, every memory, brings you back to pain. Look at yourself, you're already destroyed.»
In a last ditch effort, Vorrak tried to free himself but his mind was paralyzed. Craaaack. Sepharon, with a simple mental movement, erased the existence of his chains, shhhnk, his mutilated body and his will itself. Fwooom. Vorrak's soul dissolved into a whirlwind of thoughts where every fragment of his consciousness was devoured by the infinity of the mind. Whiiiiirrr...
Sepharon: «You were already lost before you even started, Vorrak. Thought, after all, is the key to destruction.» Thoom.
Lysandros, on his side, stood in front of the demon emperor Zalkaroth, still smirking.
Lysandros: «So, Zalkaroth, what do you plan to do? Your lieutenants are dead, your army annihilated. Need I remind you that even your existence will not escape me? »
— Zalkaroth: «Poor fool. Do you really believe that this victory belongs to you? »
Before Lysandros could respond, whoooosh ! a dark energy was coming out of Zalkaroth and darkening everything around him.
The other dragons who had triumphed over their opponents gathered around Lysandros.
— Arelon: «He doesn't play anymore. He tries to call something... beyond himself. »
Sepharon: «Obviously, when you can't fight alone, you have to cheat. Classic. »
— Nethrath: «It doesn't matter what he invokes. Infinity transcends all things. I will stop him. »
But Zalkaroth was no longer responding. A figure black as nothingness, sssstt began to emerge from his body. The laws of reality were distorting around him and the dragons felt a restlessness.
— Eirlys: «He calls the ultimate abyss, grrooooaann!. »
The five dragons exchanged glances. They understood that such an invocation required a combined response.
— Lysandros: «You know what to do, it won't be without risk, but we have to eradicate this threat.»
Zalkaroth (fused with the void entity): «I am the ultimate destruction. None of you can stop me. »
Lysandros (smiling): «And yet... you tremble. You may think that we are weak, but we are going to shake your precious Absolute Nothingness. »
Arelon was projecting a wave of destabilizing energy that caused cracks in Zalkaroth's dark structure. Krrrk...
Arelon: «Without a stable structure, you will not survive your own power.»
Eirlys focused his life energy on regenerating his allies while neutralizing a massive attack from Zalkaroth. Fwush...
Eirlys: «If we have to fall, you will fall with us.»
Sepharon manipulated the thoughts of the void entity that created a terrifying illusion in his mind. Sssssh...
Sepharon: «Look at yourself. Even a cosmic entity can feel fear. »
Nethrath bent the space around Zalkaroth by trapping him in a temporal prison. Craaaaack...
Nethrath: «Your very existence is suspended. It's time for you to disappear. »
The dragons joined forces by launching a combined attack that created an explosion that shook several stars. BOOOOOOM... Zalkaroth, though weakened burst out laughing. Hahaha...
Zalkaroth: «Pitiful. You have only delayed the inevitable. »
Lysandros: «He resists... but we weaken it. »
Sepharon: «This thing is not human. We have to break it in a different way. »
Nethrath: «We've blocked its regeneration, but it won't be enough! Volmeryn told us to restrict our powers not to destroy worlds, it might be difficult without it. »
It was at this moment that a flash of energy crushed the entity. Zzziiiiiinnnng... A voice echoed in the sky:
«Enough.»
Volmeryn had appeared, he was descending from a sky levitating.
Volmeryn: «System, analyze this enemy.»
[System] :
[Analysis: This enemy is... big. Very big.]
Volmeryn(laughing) : «Thank you for this analysis worthy of a blind poet.»
With a simple gesture, he imprisoned Zalkaroth fused to the entity of the Void in a conceptual cage crushing his essence under infinite gravity. CRAAACK...
[System Notification: You have reached level 50 in the kitchen.]
Volmeryn: «I'm fighting, not baking cakes, it's not the time for that! »
Zalkaroth screamed in pain and his fusion shattered under Volmeryn's unimaginable power.
«I gave you a chance to withdraw, Zalkaroth. But you dared to challenge my subordinates. »
His lieutenants had been annihilated, the demonic army had been reduced to nothing, and Zalkaroth was left alone, reduced to a shadow of his former self.
— Volmeryn: «Return to the abyss from which you came, and never leave again.»
With a last crack snap! Volmeryn erased Zalkaroth not only from existence but also from memories and dimensions.
Lysandros bowed to Volmeryn with a satisfied smile on his face:
«Always a pleasure to see you interven.»
— Volmeryn (amused look): «If you had done your job properly, I wouldn't have had to intervene.»
Sepharon (burst out laughing): «Oh, come on. We did pretty well, didn't we? Hahaha... »
— Eirlys (suitor): «Apart from the fact that we almost caused the destruction of several universes in space with not even ten percent of our power... Yes, we did well. »
Arelon: «This fight... was only a prelude. »
Nethrath : «Every time, it seems more intense. But we acted together. »
Eirlys : «It's more than a victory. Zalkaroth was just a pawn. The real challenge is ahead. »
— Volmeryn: «Rest. It's just a battle. The war against others kingdoms has only just begun. You have shown remarkable courage and power. Without your efforts, this abomination would have already consumed many universes. »
And in the silence that followed, the dragons realized that their duty was not done. But for now, they were savouring their victory, aware that the universe must still be shaking before their power.
Volmeryn: «The legend of the Absolute Void does not end here. The reality of Zalkaroth was just a reflection of what lies behind the veil. It is only one link in a chain that will lead us to an even greater challenge, in the world from which they come, which is called Thanar. »
After the defeat of his subordinate Zalkaroth, the avatar of Thanatos from the Thanar world watched Volmeryn and the other dragons spoke through a magic bubble with amusement and curiosity:
«So you decided to venture to my house? My Thanar world is far more hostile terrain than you can imagine. It will not be a simple journey, but an ordeal that could forever change our understanding of the balance of the worlds. »
CHAPTER ENDED.