Aizen had ascended to his throne at last.
The once-fallen Dragon Empire now had its king again — and not just any king. The man who had battled the Dragon King himself now ruled, with Lyra at his side as queen and wife.
The coronation was unlike anything the Green Continent had seen in centuries. Dragons of all shapes and colors circled above the capital, their roars shaking the mountains, while the human cities that had sworn allegiance to Aizen lit the night with emerald firework bursts.
Two rulers, bound by love and strength, now guarded the continent. With their combined might, the Green Continent's enemies knew that victory in war would no longer be easy — perhaps no longer possible.
Yet, in the quiet corners of the world, something older than kings and queens stirred.
---
The Demon King's Revelation
Far away on the Dark Continent, deep within a citadel carved into black stone, the Demon King studied an ancient tapestry. It showed two creatures locked in eternal combat:
A black-and-gold dragon so vast her wings blotted out suns — the Bakunawa, a being said to drift through the void of space, a destroyer of worlds.
And before her, a silver-and-sky-blue serpent whose coils could crush continents — the Leviathan, dwelling in a hidden dimension inside the living planet itself.
The demon scribes whispered the old prophecy:
"When the Leviathan stirs, the Bakunawa will awaken. When both awaken, they will seek the destruction of all that breathes."
In the Primordial Era, they had been inseparable — soulmates of unmatched power, the Bakunawa a woman and the Leviathan a man. But tragedy had torn them apart. Each believed the other had stolen what they most loved, and so they fought… not only across the world, but across dimensions and galaxies, their rage collapsing stars and unmaking lands.
Only one being had ever been able to stop them — the nameless Black Creature that spoke in Signatures, an entity so ancient that even gods feared its presence.
The Demon King knew why this mattered now.
The Leviathan's prison dimension was close — far too close — to the Dark and Sand Continents. If it woke, the Bakunawa would sense it, and her arrival from the far void would follow.
And when the two met again… nothing would survive.
---
The Demon King's Plan
His crimson eyes glowed as he turned from the tapestry. Angels — the Divine Being's chosen — had always been his kind's greatest enemy. Their very presence weakened demons, stripping away their strength.
"If the world falls into war," he thought, "the divine will bleed. And in the chaos… I will burn her people to ash."
Aizen's name came to his mind, and his lip curled.
The king who had defeated him. The mortal who had humiliated the Dark Continent's pride.
If he could turn this brewing chaos to his advantage, Aizen would be swept into the storm — and perhaps crushed by it.
---
The Black Creature Watches
In the silent reaches of space, a presence drifted — the Black Creature that spoke in Signatures.
It hung far from any world, yet its gaze was fixed upon a sleeping titan: the Bakunawa herself, her colossal body floating in the void, scales glinting black and gold.
She slept without sound or breath, but the stillness was deceptive.
The Black Creature thought in its strange, wordless tongue:
★¿«₹∅Π√♦
The meaning was simple: "I will not try to wake you."
And then, deep within its being, so faint it might have been imagined, came a slow whisper — a voice without sound:
Mother.
---
(END of chapter 40)