Chapter 243: The Sound of Death

    Late Evening - Early Winter : Northeastern Bahamut

    -

    *clink* *Crunch-CRACK-FWOOOSH* The scales on the dragon''s face shattered like clay as my tail sent him flying into the crowd of dragons a couple hundred meters away.

    "Now, where was I?" The air turned cold as I shifted my gaze back toward Holcyon.

    He immediately paled from fear.

    "How about you tell me about that god you worship?" My expression slowly turned crazed as I loomed over him.

    He immediately looked toward the crowd, as if to look for someone.

    But that wasn''t the answer to my question. *tap-CRUUUNCH* His paw crunched like a bundle of sticks as I stepped on it.

    "AAGH!" He immediately grit his teeth as his expression turned angry. "You b-bastard!" He stuttered as he pushed through the pain. "You didn''t even let me answer!"

    I calmly lowered my head next to his, so he had to look into my eyes. "Maybe if you didn''t look to signal someone in the crowd, I would have given you more time."

    *cRaCkLe* "Ack..." He gritted his teeth again as I put more weight onto his paw.

    "Now, how about you start with their name?"

    "W-why would I tell that.. to a dead man?" A smile slowly crept onto his face as he spoke.

    I almost wanted to laugh. "You can''t be serious, right?" *CRACKLE* His shin broke like a twig as I moved my paw forward. "You really think someone can save you here?"

    "TCH-... Bastards like you.. who refuse to open your eyes.. will always fall to the strong."

    A smile quickly came to my face as I noticed his confidence. "You better pray your god personally comes to save you then." *cRaCkLe* A bloody mist appeared over my head before small pieces of flesh, bones, clothes, and the shattered remains of a metal sword fell to the ground around me. "Because I can guarantee no one else is strong enough."

    His face paled before my attention turned to something else. *ding-cling*

    Looking toward the noise, I saw a golden band rolling off my body from the human I had just killed.

    On the band, there was an insignia I had come to know quite well recently. -The Holy Kingdom...-

    The moment I thought of the name, over a dozen more people with their presences concealed dashed at me. -Humans really are overconfident... No matter the world...-

    But even though the divinity spread through my body faster than light, it still wasn''t quick enough. *tink-VWOOOOM-BAAAAAAAANNNNNGGGG*

    The Elder Hall melted instantaneously before the shockwave sent the molten rock hurtling into the town at an astonishing speed and sank the whole area into a crater.

    *fwoooossshhh-crackle-blub* Air rushed through the area as it eagerly tried to find equilibrium within the blazing plasma.

    *pft-splat-thump* Almost falling over, I caught myself with a haze filling my mind. -I''m.. alive...-

    My reserve had barely one percent of what it did just a single second ago, and my body felt like it was on fire.

    But oddly enough, as the haze started to clear, I felt confident I could make due. -To throw me like that.. that god must be tethered to a physical body nearby...- *crackle-thump* *thump* *thump* Quickly recollecting myself, I slowly made my way out of the crater and met eyes with Holcyon and the figure with him.

    This time the god''s body had the clear form of a man in archaic-looking armor, and I could even partially see his expression.

    He simply stood there, paralyzed with wide eyes, as I walked out of the crater with a smile slowly creeping on my face.

    But that was when he vanished from where he was and appeared next to me without uttering a word. *vwwooop* A glove of divinity formed around his hand as an invisibly small string in the air seemed to supply him with the mana to make use of it. -A.. tether?-

    *WHAAAMMMMM* The molten crater exploded the moment his hand hit me, sending a huge shockwave into the town and causing the whole area to sink further into the ground.

    It was a hit that I expected to do a number on me.

    But I stood there with a crazed expression after having my head only recoil slightly. "To think you''d willingly show me your tether!"

    His eyes instantly widened with fear as I looked over toward two ancients who had ceased their fighting and were staring at me.

    "To think a god can form a tether with a dragon!" *FWO-CRAAAACKKK* I instantly vanished from where I was before appearing next to the ancient named Erpo. "Sorry to interrupt!" *Fwip-CRAACK-VWOOOOM* Driving my paw into his side, his bones and scales shattered as if they were never there, before causing a violent explosion of mana as his reserve ruptured and shredded his tether with the god *CRACK-FWOOOOOOOSH*

    Seeing the dragon hurtling toward the horizon well past Mach, I darted back to the god, who now had a massive chunk of his body missing. "You know! Killing gods is pretty fun!" The glow between my scales turned bright blue instantly the moment I aimed up at him.

    His eyes widened as he sat there, seemingly unable to move. "SKULD YOU LYING WHOR-" *FLASH* An instantaneous flash caused the night sky to turn white before a beam that absorbed and annihilated everything followed it. *BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*

    The noise echoed through the area countless times faster and farther than sound as the beam stretched into the sky like a beacon.

    Even dragons over 500 kilometers away could hear and see the beam with ease as it stretched toward the stars before turning bright once more and illuminating the world like a rising sun.

    The deep and chilling noise that countless dragons heard that day quickly earned it a name that would become known all throughout Bahamut, before the news of what happened could even spread.

    It became known as the Sound of Death.