SSS Rank Sword Mage: Awakening Starts with Weakest Mana Affinity-Chapter 111: Bagu’s Hatred For The Vintergards

And then the cocoon began to crack. It split with a sharp, bone-deep KRRRRRAA-THUM, like metal screaming, like stone collapsing.

The mantras pulsing from inside became unbearable, echoing through our bones, our teeth, and our souls.

Lines of radiant fissures raced across the milky shell, glowing veins of crimson, gold, and pitch-black mana intertwining like a living nebula.

Bratan staggered back, barely steadying himself.

From within, a voice—layered, multi-tonal, distorted—rumbled: "—you dare... interrupt my ascension—"

The cocoon exploded outward.

A shockwave of divine mana flattened the trees, pulverized boulders, and sent half the mages to their knees as they struggled to hold the barrier intact. Even the reinforced air wall Lord Zedd created vibrated violently, its surface warping from the sheer force.

And then, out of the cocoon, Bagu... emerged.

He was no longer the Dragon they had fought before. Not even close.

What stood there before us was a towering, multi-limbed figure, covered in black crystalline scales veined with molten gold. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This form felt like something that had stepped out of a myth written only to terrify both children and adults alike.

A grotesque mix of dragon, arachnid, and godly aberration.

His wings were now jagged, blade-like membranes. His torso had grown a second ribbed chest beneath the first—each housing multiple hearts that beat in staggering rhythm. And his head... his head was crowned with writhing tendrils of mana, like horns splitting and re-splitting infinitely.

From where I stood, the look of despair on everyone’s faces couldn’t have been more obvious.

Then he breathed—just once—and the air distorted, folding in on itself like gravity had been snapped in half.

And that was when it happened.

A thunderclap—BANG! BOOM!—burst from above as a massive air-fist slammed straight down onto Bagu’s skull with impossible force. It cracked the ground beneath him like a meteor strike.

"What—?! When did— Bratan?" I choked out, unable to follow the blur.

He had waited for no command.

Bratan had already launched himself skyward the moment the cocoon burst, it felt like he had gathering every shred of power he had left—and he brought it all down in one single, devastating punch.

As the dust settled, we saw the result.

Bagu’s scales—thick as armor plate—had indeed felt the impact. A crater of fractured crystal and golden cracks spread across the side of his head.

But Bagu recovered instantly.

He slowly lifted his head, eyes blazing with raw, divine disbelief.

"You... touched me?" he said, almost offended.

Bratan skidded back, boots carving trenches in the shattered earth.

"Well, my lord... that didn’t work," Bratan coughed out, shoulders shaking as he tried to steady himself.

Lord Zedd didn’t look away from the regenerating wound. The golden cracks were already sealing shut, stitching together like molten veins hardening back into perfection.

"His regenerative abilities are a problem," Zedd muttered. "A serious one."

Morgana materialized beside them in a flash of flame, her expression grim. "Killing Dragons are usually difficult, but this one is indeed different. I’ve never seen such a transformation before. That form will be a massive problem," she agreed. "That hit should’ve taken his head clean off."

Bratan spat blood, wiped his mouth with the back of a trembling hand, and exhaled shakily.

"That monster... might actually be a god," he muttered, voice ragged. "So this is what killed the High Magus."

He let out a strained chuckle. "Heh... guess the old saying’s true. Seeing really is believing."

Morgana stepped forward, eyes still burning with that unnatural reddish glow.

"God, dragon, beast—none of it matters," she said, voice low and trembling with fury. "Right now, I want his head. Bagu the Sound Dragon... I will kill you."

Bratan gave a weak, breathless chuckle.

"You’re letting the bloodlust take over," he warned. "Fight it."

"Leave me with my problems," Morgana snapped back without looking at him. "Besides... we need every edge we can get to kill that monster."

"Father... where’s Astraya?" I tugged at his sleeve, the rising panic in my chest cutting through the chaos.

"Astraya is safe," he said quickly, though his eyes never left the battlefield. "But escaping this place..."

He didn’t finish the sentence—and that told me everything.

How are we going to leave here alive?

The question hammered through my skull.

Think, Astraga. Think.

A sickening crack echoed through the clearing as the dragon-aberration pivoted. Its many eyes—shifting, shrinking, dilating in unnatural patterns—didn’t settle on Bratan.

Didn’t settle on Morgana.

Didn’t settle on Lord Zedd.

They locked onto us—my father and me.

For a heartbeat, confusion froze me.

Why?

Why ignore the three strongest mages here?

Why fixate on us?

What was it about that domain he kept mentioning?

A wave of divine malice rolled off his body—thick, suffocating, almost oily—like a storm given form. His wings unfurled wider, casting the entire clearing in shadow. The air convulsed around us, trembling as though the sky itself was holding its breath.

Something was about to happen.

Something catastrophic.

But instead—

His gaze swept across every one of us... and the world shifted.

His eyes—now a swirling vortex of red, blue, and void-black—moved over the battlefield like judgment itself. When he spoke, it wasn’t with a voice. It was a command, a decree pressed into our bones, crushing the air from our lungs and the strength from our legs.

"—ALL OF YOU—"

His wings expanded fully, blotting out even the last thread of sunlight. A wall of divine pressure slammed into us.

"KNEEL."

Every mage around me collapsed instantly. Some screamed. Some vomited. Some simply fell unconscious, crushed by the weight of his divinity. My father staggered, trembling wildly, trying to hold himself upright in front of me. Lord Zedd’s knees hit the dirt—blood dripping from his nose as he fought a losing battle against the pressure. Even Morgana, still suspended high above, faltered mid-air, her rising flames flickering under the divine suppression.

For some reason, I wasn’t truly affected like everyone else.

Bagu spread his arms wide, talons unfurling like blades. A storm of mana raged around him.

"You now stand..."

He lifted his transformed head—every heartbeat inside his body thundering like war drums.

"...in the presence of a GOD."

The second that word—God—left his massive maw, all momentum tracking went straight into the trash. Bagu didn’t move yet, but he didn’t need to. He was already winning.

Morgana, fueled by vengeance, was the first to commit. She dropped out of the air, coming in for a clean, diagonal slash aimed at the Dragon’s neck. It was fast—faster than anything I’d seen her do before.

Bagu didn’t dodge.

The air around him warped like heat haze over a forge. Morgana’s blade met that invisible wall and bent, arcing away in a perfect quarter-circle as though the steel had suddenly decided it didn’t want to cut him after all. The sword hissed past his neck, close enough to part a few scales, then kept going, dragging Morgana with it.

Morgana, unable to correct the momentum of her failed strike, was momentarily exposed.

That was the cue for Zedd. He blinked out of his kneeling position and materialized directly at Bagu’s blind spot, ready to unleash a point-blank Air Bomb.

In the other view, Morgana had hit the ground thirty meters away in a tumbling roll of dirt and splintered pride. Her greatsword buried itself point-first in the stone beside her.

But Lord Zedd was already in the blind spot as the mana gathered in his hand, humming with devastating power.

Bagu didn’t look back. His tail—the one Morgana had cut off, now fully regrown and crackling with divine energy—shot up and wrapped around Zedd’s waist mid-teleport.

The tail whipped up faster than the teleport finished. Coiling snapped around Zedd’s ribs mid-materialization.

Zedd’s eyes went wide with shock and pain. Before he could react, Bagu drove him into the ground head-first like a tent peg. Stone exploded outward. Zedd’s point-blank Air Bomb detonated against his own spine, muffling the explosion into a sickening thump as his body absorbed the force. Bagu didn’t even bother to look down.

Bratan roared, his face drenched in sweat as he fought the divine pressure that radiated from the transformed Dragon. He rushed forward, channeling a massive, swirling wind current into his clenched fist.

"O WIND—CREATION—FIST!" Bratan shouted, launching his desperate counter-attack.

He swung his fist, the Creation Fist glowing white. He genuinely tried to blow up the Dragon’s jaw.

Bagu didn’t step back. He intercepted the strike, raising a single, glowing index finger. He met Bratan’s powerful punch—stopping the concentrated torrent of Creation magic—and simply gripped the fist.

Bratan struggled, pulling away as it appeared he was about to lose his arm, the muscles in his neck popping, but his massive attack was held motionless, pinned with nowhere to release its force.

"I’m getting bored with all these attacks," Bagu whispered. His voice vibrated deep inside Bratan’s chest, as if the words were spoken from within his bones.

Bagu’s grip tightened. The Commander’s massive Creation Fist—glowing white, powerful enough to shatter stone—was completely useless, pinned in place by a single finger. Bratan strained, veins bulging, but the Dragon didn’t even flinch. His boredom was a statement of absolute dominance.

Then Bagu moved.

Using Bratan’s own trapped momentum, he lifted him high into the air and hurled him forward like a projectile. Before Bratan could even react, a massive sonic blast detonated behind him, slamming his body back toward Bagu at terrifying speed.

Bagu met him mid-air.

A brutal jump kick crashed into Bratan’s abdomen. Blood burst from his mouth as his body folded around the impact. For a split second, his eyes went blank—I swear he blacked out.

And all that force didn’t stop there.

Bratan’s broken body was sent flying straight toward Morgana, who was only just recovering from her failed strike. Her eyes widened as she realized too late—she wasn’t fast enough to dodge. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The two S-rank fighters collided violently, their bodies smashing together before skipping across the dirt, bouncing and rolling until they disappeared into the distance.

They tried to rise.

Bagu didn’t give them the chance.

Bagu took a single, slow step toward the struggling pair. The ground cracked beneath his foot, and the resulting shockwave felt like a physical hammer to my chest.

He reached down and grabbed Bratan by the ankle, dangling him upside down like a child’s toy. Then, he looked up, meeting Morgana’s terrified gaze.

"You wanted to cut my head just now. Something wrong, why are you struggling, Bounty Hunter?" Bagu’s voice was smooth, chilling.

"Move out of the way!" Zedd shouted. Immediately, Morgana lifted Bratan, and in the blink of an eye, they moved aside. I saw no interest in Bagu chasing them as Morgana made sure to put a significant gap between them. What were they planning?

Bagu returned his gaze to Zedd, ignoring the retreat. "You telling them to run is truly pitiful. No matter. Have you ever wondered why I killed the High Magus and yet never thought of killing the whole Vintergard clan?"

Lord Zedd replied, "All this talking is giving me time to build my attack. You really are stupid."

Bagu chuckled, a dry, grating sound. "I did it intentionally. There isn’t enough of it."

"Besides, build your attack. It won’t make any difference. You all die here today. I’m just waiting for something..."

"You said there isn’t enough... what? What were you asking there?" Lord Zedd demanded.

"You don’t even hate me enough to sell your soul for power. I am deeply disappointed. Revenge is good, but what good is revenge without hate?"

Bagu leaned in, his voice dropping to a seductive, venomous whisper. "Your attacks have no hatred. I thought hearing about how your grandfather died would make you at least a decent opponent. But all I see here is a man—no, a boy—just used to being called strong in the Vintergard household. I should have wiped you all out."

"Is it because of me you never thought of having a path animal?" he chuckled. "At least seeing you scared there gives me joy, little Zedd. The day your grandfather showed me to you and I saw your petrified face, I felt excited. I had never felt such a warmth before. Being scared of me gave me joy. I wanted more, but... the day I saw the hatred in your eyes for me, that... was sensational. I wanted much more. I’m addicted to your hatred, little Zedd."

"You’re a sick beast, thoroughly worthy of the title monster," Zedd grated, his teeth clenched so tight I could see blood drip from his lips.

"Good. I’m starting to feel that hatred again."

"Why do you have this twisted mindset? Why don’t you hear how you sound? You are crazy!" Father shouted from a distance. "It costs nothing to be kind! Surely they were kind to you!"

Bagu replied simply, "It costs nothing to hate, too."

Lord Zedd cut in sharply, "Mr Vulgabread, you do not reason with monsters. The moment you do, you become one: raw, untamed, and uncontrolled instinct-driven hunger."

"You think I didn’t see it from the beginning, little Zedd?" Bagu continued, ignoring Father. "The lies, the whispers, the way your family turned their backs on me the moment things got hard. I showed compassion once. I showed mercy and love. What did I get in return? Used as a weapon to commit genocide! I gave everything—my strength, my loyalty—and your family repaid me with doubt, fear, and hate.

"You called me your guardian when it suited you and a monster when it didn’t. And when I was too much to handle—too good at what I was created for—your grandfather didn’t give it a second thought to kill me when I showed a flaw."

You all wanted a perfect path animal, not understanding the scars of war aren’t only for humans to bear. And now what happens? NOW I SEE loyalty? Kindness? Family? It was all for those your family deemed worthy. So remember this, little Zedd: today you’re the hero, tomorrow you’re the monster."

Bagu turned his terrifying gaze to Morgana. "Elf girl, you fight on the path of people who began the genocide on your people. But then again, it’s only befitting for the race that started it all to begin with. How’s that curse holding till this era?"

Morgana remained speechless, visibly reeling from the venomous strike.

As Lord Zedd replied, his voice strained, "I’m sorry, but I really don’t use emotions to judge morality."