CHAPTER 446: CHAPTER 446: THE UNDEAD RISES

Fascinating, the drake’s alien intelligence processed. The light-blessed mortal achieved temporary apotheosis, while the shadow-fire entity was completely unmade. This level of power exceeds our initial assessments.

Through methods that transcended normal communication, the drake transmitted its observations across impossible distances. Images, sensations, and tactical assessments flowed to where other dragons waited in distant lairs, each piece of intelligence adding to a growing understanding of the capital’s true defensive capabilities.

The infernal knight’s destruction was complete, it reported. But the divine transformation required significant energy expenditure. The mortals are vulnerable.

Suddenly, the scout’s nostrils flared as its enhanced senses detected something new. A presence approached from above, something that carried the stench of death and corruption so powerful it made the drake’s predatory instincts scream warnings of immediate danger.

From beyond the golden dome, something massive descended through the morning sky. Wings that blotted out clouds, a form that radiated necromantic energy so potent it made reality itself recoil in disgust.

The undead elder dragon had arrived.

****

From the sky above the capital, the massive undead elder dragon descended with wings that seemed to devour light itself. Its corrupted form radiated necromantic energy so powerful that even the Sun Empress’s divine domain began to waver and flicker like a candle in a hurricane.

This wasn’t the clean death of battle or the natural entropy of time, this was corruption given physical form, an abomination that violated every natural law and cosmic principle. Where living dragons embodied the primal forces of creation, this thing represented the negation of existence itself.

Elara, still weakened from channeling Gods’ Wrath, struggled to her feet as she felt the oppressive presence settling over the capital like a suffocating blanket. "I have nothing left," she gasped, her connection to the Sun Empress flickering like a dying flame. "I can’t support her transformation anymore."

The Sun Empress, recognizing the existential threat approaching her people, raised her hands skyward despite her exhaustion. Divine power gathered around her as she channeled the last of her strength into protection rather than destruction. A massive sun shield materialized over the capital, a dome of pure solar energy designed to protect her subjects from what was coming.

My people, she thought with fierce determination. Whatever the cost to myself, they will not suffer for my battles.

The undead dragon opened its maw and released something far worse than fire. This was corruption given breath, not mere necromantic energy, but a force that rotted the very concept of life itself. Where it touched, living things didn’t just die; they began to question their own existence, to doubt the fundamental principles that made life worth living.

The Empress’s shield held against the initial assault, but cracks began forming almost immediately. This wasn’t just a physical attack, it was a philosophical assault on the nature of existence itself.

"I need help," she whispered, her divine strength wavering under the conceptual wrongness of what she faced.

Suddenly, another sun shield layered over the first, identical in structure but emanating from a different source. The Sun Empress’s eyes widened in shock and recognition.

"Impossible... who could replicate my solar magic?"

David turned to see Seraphina landing beside him, her enhanced magical understanding allowing her to deconstruct and rebuild even divine techniques through pure analytical brilliance. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she strained against forces beyond normal comprehension, but her newfound abilities made the impossible merely difficult.

"Master, I’m here," she said through gritted teeth. "But even with my enhanced understanding, I can’t hold back an elder dragon indefinitely."

David’s mind raced through tactical calculations, searching desperately for solutions. His chaos-devouring ability might work against the undead abomination, but the creature was massive, powerful, and actively hostile. His current power level, even enhanced by recent victories, made him feel helpless against such a scale threat.

We’re completely outmatched, he realized with growing dread. This thing operates on a level beyond anything we’ve faced.

Two sun shields held back the corruption breath through sheer determination, but both Empress and Seraphina strained visibly under the immense pressure. The undead dragon continued its assault with patient malevolence, and everyone present understood that this protection wouldn’t last much longer.

****

Without warning, the scout drake clinging to the capital’s walls was torn apart by forces that seemed to come from the fabric of space itself. Not destroyed by the undead dragon or any recognizable attack, but simply... unmade, its form disintegrating at the molecular level as if reality had decided it no longer belonged.

As the scout drake’s essence scattered, its destruction created an unintended consequence. The creature’s connection to its distant masters, severed so violently, tore a rift in dimensional space. The tear widened like a wound in reality, revealing glimpses of somewhere else entirely, a realm where true dragons ruled according to laws that predated mortal civilization.

Through the dimensional gateway stepped two figures with casual authority that made the air itself seem to hold its breath in anticipation.

Luzara stepped forward, her presence announcing itself before her voice ever could. The sweep of crimson and obsidian silk trailed behind her, whispering against the ground like the hush of wings in the dark. Golden armour, etched with curling patterns, clung to her form in deliberate artistry, neither purely ceremonial nor entirely practical, but something far older, as though forged to command reverence.

Her horns curved back in elegant menace, framing a face both alluring and dangerous, while elongated ears betrayed the bloodline that set her apart from mortals. Eyes, deep and ancient, glimmered with a knowing light as they lingered on the ruined cityscape. She did not recoil at the broken shields or the writhing abomination—she regarded them instead with the detached curiosity of a predator studying prey, or perhaps a queen observing pieces on a board she already intended to win.

Behind her, something far more massive began to emerge through the gateway.

Bahamut, the Tyrant of Wrath, stepped into reality in his full draconic glory, a magnificent creature with deep crimson scales that seemed to burn with inner fire. His massive wings spread wide, displaying intricate patterns of orange and red that flickered like living flames. Multiple horn-like protrusions crowned his head in a regal display that spoke of authority earned through eons of existence, while his long, serpentine tail coiled with predatory grace that promised swift death to anything that threatened his interests.

"Someone dealt with the infernal creature efficiently," Luzara observed with professional interest, her voice carrying harmonics that existed across multiple dimensions. "The technique used was... comprehensive. Interesting."

Both true dragons immediately focused on the undead elder dragon still assaulting the capital’s shields, and the disgust and rage in their expressions was unmistakable. This necromantic perversion of their kind was an insult to everything they represented, a violation of natural law that could not be tolerated.

An abomination, Bahamut’s thoughts radiated with dragonic fury. A mockery of what we are, twisted into something that serves entropy rather than creation.

"This is dragon business now," Luzara stated with calm certainty, her voice carrying the weight of absolute authority. "Whatever games the lesser races were playing ends here."

Below them, the exhausted Sun Empress felt the pressure on her shields suddenly lessen as the undead dragon’s attention shifted to the new arrivals. David, Seraphina, and even the scattered citizens throughout the capital looked up at the two figures hovering in the morning sky and felt the overwhelming presence of beings that operated on scales beyond mortal comprehension.

We’re insects, David realized with a mixture of awe and terror. Insects witnessing titans decide the fate of nations.

Bahamut’s eyes blazed with fury as he looked upon the undead dragon, his draconic pride offended at the deepest level by the creature’s existence. When he spoke, his voice carried the weight of wrath itself, giving a bestial roar that shook the foundations of the capital and made every living thing for miles understand they were in the presence of primal force given consciousness.

"Mortals have been playing with forces beyond their understanding," he declared, his words carrying the authority of natural law. "Time to restore the proper order."

The sky above the capital had become a battlefield between forces that existed beyond mortal comprehension, and everyone below could only watch in awe and terror as gods and dragons prepared to reshape the world according to their will.