The Decisive Battle
Dragons are the strongest creatures alive. No one can deny that fact. Yet even dragons cannot escape one inescapable truth: they are living beings. No matter how tough their scales, how powerful their bodies and minds, or how vast their magical abilities, all of it becomes meaningless before the limits of mortality. Even with the longest lifespan among all creatures, death could never be avoided.
“Die nicely, you damn dragon brat!”
Right now, Bagan was bringing death to Palamus before his lifespan could run out. With the abilities he had gained upon rising again, Bagan overwhelmed the Gold Dragon. What he had once thought was a “new trait” based on black mana actually granted legitimacy to every action he took. For example—
“Release!”
Whoosh!
Bagan unleashed the mana he had stored up, no longer bothering to hide his original trait, Release, and aimed it straight at Palamus. Mana fired like a laser. He applied legitimacy to it. Normally, there would have been a limit to how far Release could shoot, and it never would have reached Palamus. But Bagan imagined a laser, and that imagination became the justification that forced it into reality, turning the blast into an actual laser that struck the dragon. In terms of imposing force, it was somewhat similar to Dragon Words. Of course, Bagan could use this force without consuming mental energy, and as long as he had enough black mana, he could do it endlessly.
Thud!
Palamus’s massive body made him an easy target, so he could not easily dodge Bagan’s attacks. Eventually, the laser pierced his scales. He might have avoided it before, but his body had grown far more wretched than before. Even a Gold Dragon nearing the end of his lifespan could not keep everything intact. Though his scales still shone brilliantly, their strength and the speed at which he circulated mana were nothing like before.
That only made Palamus struggle harder.
“You are nothing more than a being I created! Die quietly!”
He had apparently abandoned any thought of stealing Bagan’s body. It made sense—there were plenty of replacement bodies in the basement. Even if there were not, he could simply make another. Because of that, Bagan had to endure the dragon’s increasingly violent rage.
“Death Storm!”
As expected of a 9th-circle existence, Palamus casually unleashed a spell that combined multiple attributes. Insane! The sight of a Gold Dragon creating and casting an 8th-class spell with nothing more than a shout was terrifying, no matter how old he was. A powerful cloud mixed with black lightning formed on the basement ceiling and immediately targeted Bagan.
Crackle! Boom!
Countless bolts of black lightning rained down as if Bagan’s body had become a lightning rod. There was no dodging them. This was not lightning in name only—it was real lightning. It was no different from summoning a natural disaster. Had anyone ever seen lightning and dodged it with their eyes? The very idea was absurd.
Crackle! Boom!
The attack fell before the sound even reached him. Prediction was impossible. Taking it head-on was not an option either. Bagan used Absorption, empowered by legitimacy, to swallow the entire 8th-class spell. He had to pour even more legitimacy into it because he could not simply catch falling lightning with his bare hands.
‘Absorb every attack aimed at me.’
Thanks to that, Bagan felt his black mana rapidly draining with each absorption and grew anxious.
‘Even with this power, I still cannot win?’
Bagan finally understood exactly what kind of existence he had prepared himself to fight. He had been confident in words and thoughts, but facing the dragon in person made it clear—the opponent was nothing less than a calamity.
That was when a voice called out.
“Lord Bagan, I will assist you as well. I cannot forgive him.”
It was Barret. Bagan turned his head toward the voice and saw her. She was preparing to cast magic with both hands, her will fully manifested. Her hair had turned red, and rings of fire formed around her. Bagan recognized it instantly.
‘That’s the Blessing of Flame.’
As someone with the Trait Finder ability, Bagan knew almost every trait that existed. He might not understand the power he himself wielded, but he knew every detail of well-known traits like hers. What surprised him more than the fact that her trait was the Blessing of Flame was that she possessed a trait at all.
Many people in Pangea had traits, often called divine blessings, even if they were not players. Most simply lived without ever realizing them. Those who did awaken their traits became extraordinary individuals because of them. Just like Barret.
“Come forth! Pyros of the Blazing Inferno!”
Using the magic power enhanced by the Blessing of Flame, Barret cast a summoning spell that did not fall under the class magic system. Pyros burst through the hard bedrock of the underground, a giant of fire whose entire body was wreathed in flames.
Kuoooo!
It was not an intelligent being. It was a summon that followed Barret’s orders without question.
“Pyros! Clear a path to Palamus!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Pyros immediately moved its massive body at the command and stepped in front of Bagan. Palamus sneered at the sight of the homunculus he had created solely to serve him now showing hostility.
“How dare a lowly thing struggle so pathetically!”
The giant of flame, Pyros of the Blazing Inferno, nearly the size of a dragon itself, shielded Bagan from the Death Storm Palamus had created and made it easier for him to approach. It took the lightning and the fierce winds meant for Bagan, opening a path. Thanks to it, Bagan could conserve his black mana.
‘This alone will not be enough.’
Bagan thought about how to use the black mana he had saved and gradually closed the distance with Pyros leading the way. As he drew nearer, he resolved that this time he would end it with an attack Palamus could not ignore. But Palamus would not stay idle either. He was not the sort to be troubled by something like Pyros.
“Seeing insects like you struggle only makes my power surge! How dare you challenge a great existence!”
Bagan snorted at the dragon’s words.
“If you wanted to say that, you should never have touched black magic.”
Black magic was taboo. That held true for every living creature. Dragons were no exception. Black magic, which instantly devalued the worth of life, was something only the demonkin of the Gob Region would use.
“Did you really feel nothing when you saw Reberius?!”
Reberius, the Tyrant Dragon. The second dragon born after Palamus. He had made his lair in the Gob Region and become a source of evil. Because he had pursued black magic, whose ultimate goal was to control death, he had gradually been consumed by demonic energy, his mind collapsing until he became a mad dragon obsessed only with slaughter.
“How do you know that name?!”
Palamus was shocked that Bagan would bring up his child-like creation. Bagan had only mentioned the name to make the dragon drop his guard.
“Go. Release!!”
It was Release empowered by legitimacy. This time, the force he unleashed was not something else—it was the unique nature of black mana itself. Black mana, the raw material of black magic, could drive minds to collapse on its own. Bagan forcibly amplified that property and blasted it at Palamus.
“Kwooooooo!!”
Palamus, engulfed in black mana, could no longer focus on anything. The black mana licked at his mental strength as if devouring what little lifespan he had left, causing him agony. The effect was no different from black magic—the secret art of black magic that manipulated minds and death. Palamus was wrapped in mana so dark it was visible to the eye. He was no longer the brilliantly shining golden dragon. He had become a dragon corrupted and fallen by demonic energy.
His mind was no longer whole. On top of that, he had taken in black mana, and his already declining spirit collapsed completely.
“Kwaaaaa!”
Palamus let out a scream and twisted his body. The more he did so, the more his mind, which had nothing left to collapse, dragged him into an endless cycle of self-destruction. The once-proud Palamus began to despise even his own existence, and the more he did, the more his massive body thrashed.
Thud! Crash!
“Kuuuuaaa!”
Palamus’s tail swung wildly and struck Pyros, instantly dispelling the summon. Then he unleashed all sorts of magic, laying waste to the surroundings. They were 7th- and 8th-class spells, one after another. But none of it posed a real threat to Bagan and Barret. It was nothing more than desperate thrashing. Not an attack aimed at a goal, but the struggle of someone who simply wanted it all to end.
Then Palamus fixed his gaze on Bagan and spoke.
“This is all your fault!”
His thoughts had become one-dimensional. The sight of him was pathetic, unworthy of the title of dragon. That was how far Palamus’s mind had collapsed. Bagan took one step, then another, toward him.
“D-don’t come any closer! ‘Stop’! I said stop!”
To the current Palamus, Bagan looked like the grim reaper. And in truth, Bagan wished for nothing more than Palamus’s death. Until the very end, Palamus tried to command the space to halt with Dragon Words. But with his mental strength so diminished, his Dragon Words could no longer command anything. Bagan looked at the dragon’s desperate struggles with pity. Even though he was finally defeating his enemy, he felt no joy. He had once been in a similar position himself, and he knew what it felt like to be driven to utter ruin.
“Kgh… I-if it has come to this… then dying is fine.”
He had gone mad. His mind had collapsed beyond recovery, and he no longer clung to life. Palamus’s body began absorbing all the mana in the surroundings.
Shuuuuuuu!
He was willing to die. With the last of his mental strength, his only thought was to reach death. Without realizing it, he had used black magic—Mana Drain. When a being like a dragon used Mana Drain, both Bagan and Barret had no choice but to have their mana stolen.
“…He intends to annihilate the entire area!”
He was absorbing the natural mana, Bagan’s mana, and even Barret’s mana. Finally, when he felt his power had reached its peak, he unleashed a powerful spell.
“Everyone will die!! ‘Freeze’!”
Crack!
With his final mental strength, he poured every last ounce of will into the Dragon Words. A freezing chill that could freeze everything swept through the area.
“L-Lord Bagan! Over here!”
Barret, who possessed the Blessing of Flame, was desperately holding back the cold. At her call, Bagan tried to move, but—
“I-I can’t move!”
His feet had already frozen solid. He had used up all his black mana firing it at the dragon and had none left.
“Absorb! Absorb!”
He desperately sucked in the encroaching cold with Absorption, barely holding on, but he could feel his body freezing as the temperature kept dropping.
Fwoosh!
“Lord Bagan! You have to hold on!”
Just as his eyes were about to close, Barret’s magic appeared around him. It was a warm fireball, just like her heart.
“If you do that, you’ll—!”
Bagan exhaled white breath as he looked at her. Her red hair was turning black again, and the Blessing of Flame was fading.
“I’m… fine. I am only a homunculus Palamus created, after all.”
“Who said you were fine?!”
She was a homunculus. But to Bagan, she was nothing more than a pitiful beastman abandoned by her master. She was Palamus’s servant, his enemy’s servant, yet she had been the only friend who had cared for him so deeply. Because her hair had turned completely black at the roots, she could no longer receive any power from flames, and her entire body began to freeze.
“Hold on! You have to hold on until the end!”
“Thank you… for always thinking of me…”
Crack!
“No! Power! Give me black mana!”
If he had legitimacy, he could save her. But there was no black mana left in his body. There was no way to obtain more.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
He could not waste the brief opening she had created for him. Tearing his gaze away from her frozen form, Bagan looked at Palamus. Even the dragon’s body, which had chosen self-destruction, was slowly freezing over.
“Fire!!!”
He poured every last drop of mana he had into his legs. The frozen limbs slowly thawed as powerful flames enhanced by Release shot out. Forcing his barely moving body forward, he approached Palamus.
“You crazy bastard!! What you did to Barret! And you still—!!”
Now he had no choice but to rely on Absorption. The ability to absorb mana from defeated monsters. If Palamus died, he would surely absorb an enormous amount of mana. Bagan climbed onto the collapsing dragon’s body and stretched out both hands. Palamus moved only his eyes to look at him. Everything was freezing. Even a dragon like himself should have been freezing, yet Bagan could still move. He wondered what gave Bagan such strength. At that moment, Bagan’s hair turned red, and rings of fire formed around his body. Barret had passed the Blessing of Flame to him as she died. Thanks to it, the ice melted the moment it formed. It was still a dragon’s magic, but a trait possessed special properties. In the end, whether or not one had a trait was what created variables.
Palamus watched as Bagan placed a hand on his own body, then closed his eyes.
“Now die already!!!”
Bagan forced the words out of his throat and shouted. Then—
“Absorb!!!”
He absorbed the dragon whose eyes were closed. An enormous amount of mana was sucked into Bagan’s body, and his mind spun from the overwhelming influx.