POV Astrapolius:
The sky lit up in pale blue electrical light, the arcs of lightning dancing between the thick, impenetrable canopy of clouds.
'Annoying mortals with their stubborn nature.' The wyrm's eyes pulsed brightly with electricity as they locked onto the city of towering glass structures below. With a disdainful snort, the wyrm unfurled its colossal wings, a celestial tapestry of lightning woven into their span, stretching from one horizon to the other. The entire sky seemed to bow under their weight.
"Mortals, let your arrogant leaders be your doom." The words, heavy with scorn, resonated through the charged air.
Even though the casualties were insignificant and only involved the lower-ranking draconic species, an example had to be set—any attack against them equals disproportional retaliation.
"Your Highness, the city was looted, and our troops have retreated." The mental message resounded in their head.
Astapolius, the ancient wyrm, opened their maw, a churning maelstrom of plasma and lightning writhing within. In front of it, a massive magic circle materialized, with intricate runes pulsating with ominous energy. Electricity arced wildly across their body—wings, claws, and horns—as a living conduit of destructive power.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAbove, myriad magic rings ignited like a celestial array, their runes shimmering like stars in a dark sea. The storm domain expanded rapidly, controlling all the magic and electricity in the air.
The tremendous energy of the atmosphere gathered in their grasp.
"Repent your actions against dragonkind with your deaths." Astrapolius declared, their voice making the mortals trying to hide from their sight shiver. A blinding surge of light cascaded over the city, turning night into day, its reflection a fractured dance on the glass towers.
With a sound like the world tearing apart, the wyrm unleashed their pent-up wrath. Magic rings converged, spiraling into a vortex of raw energy and channeling a beam of searing electricity and plasma. It descended like a pillar falling from the sky, wide enough to swallow entire swatches of mortal houses.
The impact was apocalyptic and glorious—a roaring, electric tsunami that surged through the city's arteries. Buildings melted like wax sculptures in a furnace, their glass facades warping, dripping, and disintegrating. People were reduced to ash, then to nothing, as the relentless tide of destruction swept over them. Electricity leaped from metal to metal, an uncontainable plague under the wyrm's dominion like a sentient being.
From high above, Astrapolius watched, their ancient heart touched by a fleeting pang of pity. The city, more marvelous than any they had seen in their long life, was now but a memory in the electric storm's wake.
'Such a waste, but mortals can never be controlled with kindness.' They lived for long enough to see and learn how ambitious mortals were—nothing was ever enough to appease them or make them happy.
'Fear of our might is the only thing that can control them.'
POV Vesuvius:
Beneath the dragon's covetous gaze, a sea of minions scuttled across the desert, their movements reminiscent of industrious ants. Treasures glinted and shimmered in the dragon's luminescent aura as they amassed into a growing hoard.
'One tenth...' It was one of the unspoken laws of the draconic world that proved the immense generosity of dragons toward their minions: 'I will take nine-tenths, and the remaining tenth will be split between my minions.'
His attention drifted to a distant lightning column, a sign of the ancient wyrm's deed completed. He exhaled a wistful sigh.
"Pity is wasted on the dead." The female voice rang in his ears, making him look at its source. The god of knowledge masquerades as a female vampire and stands motionlessly in the desert, almost like a living statue, saying, "Their spirits merely transition, awaiting rebirth."
"And your purpose here?" The dragon's inquiry was terse, tinged with indifference, his thoughts elsewhere, unmoved by her sudden appearance.
With a graceful gesture, the goddess conjured a shimmering dark crystal."It doesn't matter. What matters is your journey toward the supermassive black hole."
'Even to the nearest black hole, the distance is vast. As for the supermassive ones? It is hopeless.' Even if he used the fastest way to move he could think of—constantly teleporting forwards as far as he could—the scale of the cosmos was like a terrifying chasm standing in his path.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"I offer assistance, for a price," she declared, floating the black crystal towards him. "Cast this into the reality's tear within the black hole's depths. Simple."
'Oh no, this smells of trouble.' Vesuvius couldn't help but worry as he thought about the chaotic nature of the god before him. He felt like the crystal wasn't simple. Yet, he refrained from outright refusal, choosing instead to seek clarity.
"What tear are you referring to?"
"Picture our reality as a stretchable fabric, resilient yet malleable. The most massive black holes exert enough force to puncture through this fabric, creating pathways beyond our infinite universe, straight into the void."
The dragon's scales prickled with apprehension at her words, sensing the unsettling intentions of the capricious deity before him.
'A breach in reality, this goddess, that crystal... It spells ominous schemes.'
"Don't be overly cautious!" The goddess laughed as if amused by his skepticism. "I am the most benevolent in our family. Think of this as a simple delivery to a... distant relative."
His curiosity ignited; Vesuvius had never encountered the progenitors of other races, like demons and angels. 'Could this task be linked to them?'
The goddess's eyes darkened, her gaze piercing as she intuited his thoughts. "Plan A has failed. The chaos that I caused was insufficient to work. It's time for a more drastic approach—to awaken the last of the five races and escalate this conflict. We will stir the hornet nest, then grab it, and finally throw it on our enemies! We might get stung, but they will get stung more!"
(AN: Dang, it took me so long to write this chapter. I couldn't get it right and kept rewriting it at least two times. I don't know, but it was hard to make this not feel like some infodump.)