CHAPTER 263: CHAPTER 263 - FREED

Lucien moved.

The instant the ritual barrier fractured, he surged toward the opening...

...and made it less than ten steps.

The air detonated.

Three figures crashed down before him. Stone exploded outward as their feet struck the ground.

Nephralis.

Their flames burned tighter now.

"You’re not passing," one said coldly.

"Not while we still breathe."

Lucien stopped.

He could feel it immediately.

Even suppressed, their bodies were terrifying.

Celestial-realm flesh was forged in places where space itself tore apart, where void turbulence shredded lesser existences. A body that could survive that... would not shatter from brute force alone.

Lucien exhaled.

Divine energy folded inward. It wrapped his limbs, sinking deep into his muscles and bones.

His aura sharpened.

"Then I’ll break you," he said calmly, "properly."

The first Nephralis struck.

A flame-reinforced fist screamed toward Lucien’s head...

...but Lucien slipped sideways in a blur.

His palm slammed into the man’s ribs.

BOOM!

The impact detonated inward and he was sent flying.

Blood sprayed.

The Nephralis repositioned himself. He skidded across stone, coughing violently.

He... was still alive and intact.

Lucien grimaced.

"Figures."

•••

Behind Lucien—

CRASH!

Marie’s stone golems slammed into the Varkhaals like siege engines.

The shadows tried to retreat...

...but there was nowhere to go.

The orbs of Sanctus Lumina still lingered.

Shadow teleportation failed.

A Celestial-realm senior stepped forward. His blade blazed with suppressed radiance.

SCHNK!

The strike cleaved straight through a Varkhaal’s torso.

Its body convulsed once... then collapsed.

"One down," the senior growled.

The remaining two staggered back. Their shadows frayed and their bodies cracked, unstable.

Marie laughed.

"Run then! Let’s see how far you get without your tricks!"

Marie activated her cheat.

Pillars erupted beneath their feet.

At first, the pattern seemed chaotic...

...but then it became clear.

Blind spots.

The battlefield itself had been rewritten.

Earth bent to her will.

And the Verdant Veil members noticed the opportunity instantly.

•••

Back with Lucien—

Vines exploded from the ground.

"Now!" Eirene’s voice rang out.

Emerald bindings snapped tight around the Nephralis mid-motion.

Lucien didn’t hesitate.

He summoned his greatest weapon.

The air rippled.

Morphis answered his call.

The weapon flowed into his grasp, reshaping...

...into a massive mace.

Lucien swung.

BOOOOOOM!

One Nephralis was launched like a meteor, slamming into a cage wall.

Chains screamed.

Lucien pivoted and swung again.

Divine energy surged into the blow...

...but this time, he whispered a second command.

"Decay."

The mace crashed into another vine-bound Nephralis.

His flame armor rotted instantly.

Laws unraveled.

The man screamed as decay gnawed directly at the principles reinforcing his body.

Still... he lived.

Barely.

Celestial flesh refused to die easily.

Lucien clicked his tongue.

"Tough bastards."

So he didn’t stop.

Again. And again. And again.

The mace fell like a judgment.

"UG—STOP—!"

The Nephralis’ pleas dissolved into wet silence.

What remained was no longer a body... just pulp.

A cube drop shimmered into existence and vanished as it was auto-collected.

Lucien finally exhaled.

"That killed him."

Just then—

His instincts screamed.

The chamber had gone eerily quiet.

Lucien turned.

The ritual area flared.

The hole he had created earlier was already sealing. The runes knitted themselves together, reforming with terrifying speed.

Lucien’s eyes sharpened.

But worse—

He felt it.

A presence stirring.

"No."

He lunged.

The remaining two Nephralis tried to intercept...

...but Eirene slammed them down.

Roots erupted upward.

Vines crushed, bound, pinned.

Verdant Veil members surged forward, teeth clenched, holding the line.

"GO!" one shouted. "We’ll hold them!"

Lucien didn’t argue.

He reached the barrier and placed his hand against it.

Decay surged outward.

The runes blackened.

They crumpled. Then vanished.

The barrier peeled away like dead skin.

Inside—

Six figures remained.

Nephralis and Varkhaals alike.

They were thinner now. Hollow-cheeked. Their essence was being drained... funneled directly into the Red Dragon and the Dark Shade.

Lucien stepped in.

"I’m ending this."

Morphis flowed again reshaping into a scythe.

For a heartbeat—

Lucien looked like a grim reaper.

Then—

The world screamed.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR—!!!

The Red Dragon roared.

The sound ripped through the chamber like a divine verdict.

Everyone, Lucien included, was hurled backward.

Cages shook violently. Chains snapped taut.

Even the ritualists were flung like dolls.

Lucien barely caught himself.

But it wasn’t over.

His instincts screamed again.

The Dragon... inhaled. Hard.

The air vanished.

Everything was dragged forward.

Celestial-realm seniors slammed weapons into the ground, anchoring themselves.

Marie raised walls of earth, teeth clenched.

"Hold—!!"

The Verdant Veil survived behind her barriers.

Eirene stood firm as emerald light anchored her like roots into the world.

Lucien braced beside Marie.

But the ritualists—

They didn’t resist.

They smiled.

"FOR THE ANCESTOR!"

"THIS WON’T BE THE END OF US!"

They let go.

They flew.

Straight into the Red Dragon’s open maw—

—and were swallowed whole.

The Red Dragon’s aura surged.

...

Soon...

The surge receded.

Power continued to roll through the chamber like a living tide, lingering in the air long after the echoes faded.

The Red Dragon’s colossal chest expanded.

Once, twice.

Each breath scorched the runes etched into the prison itself. Molten light pulsed beneath its scales, brighter than before.

Its eyes burned like newborn suns.

Claws closed around the chains.

The dragon pulled.

The ancient metal groaned.

The runes flared violently, tightening, suppressing, and resisting.

Still—

The chains did not break.

A low, thunderous laugh rippled through the chamber.

The Storm Roc’s vast wings shifted within its cage.

"So," it rumbled in Eternal tongue, amused. "He chose that path."

The Behemoth leaned forward, its massive chains clattering.

"Cruel," it said approvingly. "Efficient."

The Titan’s eyes glowed faintly, recognition dawning.

"Even now, the chains cannot be destroyed," it said slowly. "Stillness binds them absolutely."

"Let us see what he does instead." the other Ancient Beings watched in amusement.

Behind them, the Dark Shade seethed. Its form flickered erratically with rage.

"Red Dragon," it hissed, "You devoured my descendants as well."

The Red Dragon did not turn.

"Silence," it replied. "I can revive them later."

A beat.

"And I am the only one among us capable of breaking this prison."

Another pause.

"I just required a push."

The Dark Shade fell quiet.

Not in grief. In frustration. It had wanted that essence for itself.

The Red Dragon finally moved.

But this time, not against the chains...

...but against the pillars.

Its massive tail swept outward, extending beyond the cage. It struck the colossal stone columns anchoring the restraints.

The impact did not shatter them.

Instead—

CRRRAAACK—!!

The pillars collapsed inward. Their internal runic cores imploded as though crushed by an invisible fist.

The anchors failed.

The chains did not snap.

They fell.

Heavy, screaming metal crashed to the floor as the Red Dragon rose within the cage. It was still enclosed... but no longer bound.

The Dark Shade’s presence rippled faintly with reluctant admiration.

"Stillness binds the prison," it murmured. "Not the prisoner."

The Storm Roc’s feathers bristled.

"Clever."

The Behemoth snarled.

"To think sideways while restrained—"

"That," it said, chains rattling, "is the mark of an Eternal."

Then—

The Red Dragon inhaled.

It burned a portion of the essence it had consumed.

And—

BOOOOOOM—!!!

Something detonated beneath its scales.

Magic circles erupted outward, burning themselves into the air as the dragon roared.

They had been carved directly into its flesh.

They are circles meant not to escape the prison...

...but to annihilate it from within.

Its own scales cracked and burst apart. Shards of molten crimson scattered like meteors.

And with them—

The cage shattered.

The runes of Stillness fractured.

The prison screamed.

Stone, metal, and suppression collapsed in a cascading failure.

The Red Dragon stepped forward.

Free.

Silence fell.

Then—

The ancient beings stirred.

The Storm Roc laughed openly now.

"It seems like you have long foresaw the future! To carve your escape into your own flesh," it said, "and burn it away at the perfect moment."

The Behemoth rumbled.

"You devoured your descendants without hesitation."

They were not condemnation... but praises.

The Titan inclined its head.

"Decisive. Merciless."

None of them mourned.

To beings like them, descendants were not children.

They were fuel.

The Dark Shade’s presence pulsed.

"What a crude method," it said.

A pause.

"...but effective."

The Red Dragon flexed his wings. Molten membranes unfurled as heat washed across the chamber.

"I gave them purpose," he said. "They existed to bring me this moment."

Then—

His gaze shifted.

And settled upon Lucien and the Verdant Veil.

For the first time—

The dragon looked at them directly.

The Verdant Veil froze.

Marie’s jaw tightened.

"They... let themselves be eaten."

Eirene’s fingers trembled.

"The Nephralis and Varkhaals were already evil," she whispered. "But their ancestor..."

Just then...

Lucien felt it.

Pressure.

A being newly freed, testing the world that dared exist before it.

The Storm Roc spoke again.

"Little ones," it mused. "You should feel honored."

The Behemoth snarled.

"You witnessed the rebirth of calamity."

The Titan spoke last.

"And now..."

The Red Dragon lowered his head as heat distorted the world around his jaws.

"...you stand before it."

Lucien stepped forward.

Morphis rested at his side, still shaped as a scythe.

Divine energy pulsed steadily.

Marie planted her foot into the ground.

The earth answered without hesitation.

Eirene’s vines coiled tightly around her arms.

The Verdant Veil regrouped behind them.

No one fled.

The Red Dragon smiled.

A vast, predatory curve of molten fangs.

"Good," it said. "Let me see what the new era has to offer."

The ancient beings watched.

And the world held its breath...

As Lucien raised his weapon.

The true battle—

Had begun.