Dragon King: Throne of Demons and Gods-Chapter 196: Act IV, Scene IV: The Abomination Ascends
The King's helm turned, cracks glowing under it. His voice rolled through the broken platform.
"You may have forgotten who I am."
The whole place trembled. Another blast ripped the platform apart into giant stones. Gravity pulled everything inward like a swirling, the debris spinning like it was falling into a black hole.
Puppets and fragments tumbled with it.
Aurus jumped from rock to rock, sword in hand, eyes locked on Bel. His chest tightened. The Demon Lord was falling, cut from shoulder to thigh, his body split.
So easily… defeated? Him? A Demon Lord?
Bel's body spun in the pull of the void, the halves starting to drift apart. Aurus's eyes widened in disbelief.
Then, a sound.
Thump.
A huge heartbeat echoed. The wound glowed faint purple. The halves pulled back together, sealing until even the scar was gone.
The King's eyes glowed white with confusion as he watched Bel's body heal.
Bel blinked, straightened mid-fall, twisted. His wings spread wide as he steadied in the air against the pull of gravity.
A purple haze poured off him, swirling in a storm. He straightened there, scythe in hand, whole again.
Even he was confused, but not by his regeneration, not yet. That slash had come without warning, slicing through him like he was paper despite his defensive stats were immense.
He glanced down at his body, flexing his fingers. No pain, no weakness. If anything, he felt... stronger.
So how did he got cut like that?
A faint glow caught his eye.
Name: Belzerion
Race: Dragon
Title: Lord Ravager
Class: Demon Lord
Level: 103
HP: 132,000 / 142,000 → 142,000 / 142,000
MP: 180,000 / 180,000
Stamina: 144,633 / 145,000 → 145,000 / 145,000
EXP: 1,474,302 / 3,500,000
The stats filled rapidly, climbing like a heartbeat accelerating.
Bel watched, intrigued. This wasn't normal regeneration; it was far faster, deeper than anything he expected.
Until now, he thought he needed his pure dragon form to achieve this level of recovery. To see it happen in his human state was a revelation. He was strong, really strong, even more than he thought.
He stretched his fingers, feeling his energy surge through his cells, faster, sharper. He was stronger than moments ago, without even trying. But how?
The wound had triggered something, a forced evolution in his body's resilience? Or perhaps the Authority of Destruction feeding back on itself, turning injury into fuel.
One of his passive abilities might be the key, but he'd lost count of how many he had. The only certainty was that he emerged stronger post-regeneration.
A faint smile curved his lips as he processed this, a rare crack in his cold demeanor.
He looked up at the fractured sky, the swirling void above the crumbling platforms.
That attack hadn't come from the giant obsidian form before him. No, it had descended from above, like an instant slash carved into reality itself.
The obsidian giant was a vessel, the true threat lurked in a deeper layer.
A voice resonated from above, echoing through the void. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
"Ah, such toughness. The Ravager lives up to his name. But this resilience... it's a curse for you, isn't it? Now you'll endure every agony I inflict, every layer of torment peeled away slowly. How terrible... I'll savor breaking you."
Bel's gaze swept the battlefield, his expression calm, cold, emotionless, as always.
The voice was the King's, no doubt, but amplified, woven into the fabric of this dimension.
Regulus hovered nearby.
"Bel!" Regulus's voice cut through. "You're... fine? How? That slash... it cut you in half! How did you recover from that?!"
His ghostly eyes widened, darting over Bel's unscathed form.
Bel's smile widened slightly, a spark of excitement flickering beneath his icy exterior.
"I'm as surprised as you are," he admitted, voice low. "Something's changed. My body is evolving faster than I expected."
He flexed his hand, the thrill of battle was stirring, warming the cold detachment that usually defined him.
"Now I'm really impatient to see what I can do."
Regulus nodded, still stunned.
"Y—yes... with your regeneration... it should be possible. If we can keep pushing the King, he might make a mistake and,"
Aurus, clinging to a floating rock, slashed through a new wave of puppets, his breath heavy.
His eyes flicked to Bel.
"Demon Lord!" he shouted. "If you're truly fighting for us, don't waste time! Focus on the King, I'll handle the distractions!"
Bel didn't respond. To him, Aurus was too easy to read.
So, basically fight for me while I'm watching? Good thing I can always recover endurance.
They were three enemies here, he decided that he shouldn't trust the old man. And it didn't matter anyway.
Right now, he had a new purpose.
The voice's taunts, the battlefield's chaos, the surge of his own power, it all fed a growing fire within.
His draconic blood boiled, his multiple powers whispering at his core. Mastered through countless battles, they begged to be unleashed on his biggest challenge yet.
This wasn't a dungeon's boss; it was another Demon Lord, his equal.
The void above twisted violently, cracks widening like veins pulsing with a new pulse of energy.
Reality warped. Time slowed again.
Hundreds of puppets materialized mid air, multiplied, raining down in endless waves, twisted forms of armored knights, spectral beasts, and demons.
The obsidian vessel reconstructed, its cracks sealing with black threads that wove new armor. Phantom hands, dozens now, descended from the sky, each palm glowing white.
Aurus braced on his rock, sword glowing as he slashed through the nearest puppets. He leaped to another fragment, analyzing the chaos.
"Does this guy master only one type of attack?" he muttered.
Regulus floated closer to Bel, his hands forming seals.
"He's unleashing more power. I can sense his presence spreading... He's everywhere in the void. Let me mark them." A white glow enveloped his fingers. "I'll support you, and I'll expose him. So please, try to survive for the time being."
Bel nodded once, his expression still cold.
Survive? He would do better than that. He bolted forward, his speed tearing space, leaving purple afterimages. The Void Orb in his grip morphed into a scythe, its blade glowing with violet energy.
He sliced through a wave of puppets, each cut leaving a delayed violet scar that erupted in lightning bursts seconds later.
Shards of bone and thread exploded outward. A phantom hand slammed down; Bel twisted mid-air, his bldy absorbing the impact. This time, his defenses played their role.
The hand cracked under the pressure, but another followed, clipping his side.
His arm exploded in a spray of blood and bones, but the wound sealed instantly, flesh knitting with purple glow.
He felt stronger. It wasn't an impression, it was in his veins.
Regulus acted at the same time. As a red slash from above hurtled toward Bel, he quickly raised his hands, a seal forming on it.
[Radar]
The slash bent and warped, turning into a wave of energy that spread outward, only to find nothing. Regulus grit his teeth, frustrated.
Bel turned the Void Orb into a spear, his instincts guiding his moved, telling him that this was the way.
It was like a sleeping memory. He raised it, then lowered his arms, hurling the spear upward into the sky.
It burst high above, shattering into a storm of lightning. The bolts rained down, falling with crushing force, ripping through the puppets in great numbers and blasting the void with thunderous explosions.
The King growled, the voice everywhere.
"Insolent thing!"
Time slowed further, the world freezing like molasses. Even the puppets hung mid-leap; debris floated, static.
Bel's movements dragged, but with his Mantle of Ruin, he was protected from the external control of the King's power.
He pushed through, slower at first, but progressively faster. Regulus, linked to him moved with him.
"Doesn't work... Nothing works. Sorry, I need more time. Bel, I need you to keep drawing it out."
"Do what you have to do. Leave the rest to me." Bel said without looking at him, and then he went back into the fight.
Aurus froze in place, sword half-raised. He couldn't move freely, but his mind was fully conscious.
"How is he moving? Does he also have a sort of immunity? But... His is on another level... I can't even move..."
It was both horrifying and impressive; he didn't know about Regulus, so from his point of view, Bel was dismantling the King's playbook alone, regenerating from blows that would end legends, nullifying attacks in an instant.
Bel tanked another slash, his chest splitting open in a gory cross. Purple blood sprayed, ribs exposed, but it reformed in a heartbeat.
His lips twitched. Not annoyance. Enjoyment? He shook it off, cold logic prevailing. The Void Orb became a greatsword, wreathed in shadow.
He swung, shadows coiling like serpents, devouring puppets swallowing everything on contact.
The King unleashed a barrage: invisible threads lashing like whips. They pierced Bel's wings, tearing them ragged.
He plummeted, but regenerated mid-fall, wings mending stronger, veins glowing. A grin crept onto his face, small, but there.
The damage was ridiculous, but so was the rush. His body craved more, evolving with each hit.
Regulus spotted a swirling void pulling debris inward and acted immediately.
[Null!]
The black hole flickered, then vanished, its pull reversing into a harmless puff.
"The King's energy... it's peaking. Bel, You're doing well, keep pushing him!"
Bel bolted again, speed increasing. He weaved through slowed time, scythe morphing to seven floating blades.
They danced around him, slashing puppets autonomously while he focused on the vessel.
[Terra Genesis]
He stomped the ground, creating quake on the obsidian giant's body. Earth spikes impaled it, holding it in place.
The giant cracked, exploding in a wave of energy. Bel was caught point-blank, his body shredded, limbs pulverized, torso a ruin.
Aurus's eyes widened in horror from his frozen vantage.
But Bel reformed, haze swirling thicker. The grin widened.
"This... feels good."
HP: 112,000 / 142,000 → 142,000 / 142,000
MP: 143,080 / 180,000 → 162,457 / 180,000
Stamina: 132,471 / 145,000 → 145,000 / 145,000
His voice was thrilled, the cold mask cracking. He was alienating himself from his usual detachment, discovering a love for the chaos.
His body hardened further as HP dipped low, boosting his defense, yet everytime his stats climbed up.
The King sensed the shift.
"What must I do to keep you down?!"
He summoned waves of puppets shaped like fallen heroes, ghostly warriors with swords of light. They charged, aiming to destroy him.
But face to Bel...
The Void Orb became a morning star, crackling with lightning. He smashed through the first wave, each hit tearing, crushing and electrocuting.
A hero-puppet impaled his shoulder; he ripped it out, wound closing instantly. Another severed his leg at the knee, he hopped, regenerated, and countered with Frostfire Burst, erasing him instantly.
Regulus supported relentlessly.
"That slash incoming, Name: [Echo]!" It rebounded, striking the vessel instead. "The King's losing precision, his power is straining!"
Aurus analyzed, breath caught.
"The nullifications... it's like he's predicting everything. But how? And that regeneration... it's accelerating."
Stunned, he held back, sword ready but realizing Bel was the key.
The battlefield escalated. The King, frustrated, layered attacks: time slow combined with located explosions, phantom hands crushing from all sides.
Bel took a ridiculous amount of damages, body exploding, reforming, stronger.
Nothing stuck; no permanent scar, no lingering debuff. The King's biggest challenge, inflicting lasting harm, failed repeatedly.
Bel's personality was the only permanent change, now laced with exhilaration.
"More... Push my limits further!"
A laugh bubbled in the voice.
His form began changing: scales spreading along arms, pupils slitting purple. White dragon wings erupted fully from his back, veined with violet energy.
Sharp fangs gleamed as he bared them in a feral grin; claws extended from fingers, shredding air.
He was slowly turning into his hybrid form, embodying Dragon's Ascent fully and his alienation increased: this power, this joy in destruction, was new. He loved it, the fire within blazing.
Aurus pressed down by the pressure, anticipating. Regulus tensed, eyes wide. The King noticed, voice trembling.
"What abomination are you?"
Bel launched upward, Frostfire Burst exploding in a massive blast, blue fire and ice spreading everywhere, piercing the King's pressure wave.
He could freely use his power, his mana regenerated so fast that he didn't need to manage it anymore.
It hit the vessel, blasting away obsidian chunks. The giant swayed, cracks spiderwebbing, before crumbling again
The King roared, sending a powerful wave of energy pushing everyone down.
His roar, a pure scream of strain, was the event that Regulus was waiting for.
"... He's losing calm! You're pushing him further! keep going!"
Thousands of invisible slashes converged instantly on Bel, tearing him into ribbons.
Aurus and Regulus gasped.
Flesh flew, blood misted, but he reformed mid-air in a heartbeat, laughing quietly.
"Ha... haha."
His fangs flashed.
The King, desperate, unleashed a massive cross-shaped attack, slamming into Bel, cutting deep in a cruciform gash.
He fell, his body regenerating faster this time, wounds weaker than before.
In that instant, something clicked. Bel felt the anger in the strike, not just power, but something else, something similar to his own Authority of Destruction. His eyes widened.
"I got it..."
