Chapter 309: Choice

Back on the ground, sprawled in a sorry state as pain wracked through its body, the dragon struggled to get back on all fours, one of its wings slacked down weakly by its side, bruised and dislocated.

Ash felt shame, fury and... fear.

That human, what was he? How could he exude such overwhelming might? And also what the hell was this draconic presence brewing across the plain?

The dragon racked its mind, overloading its limited intelligence, wondering how this battle had shifted from facing against a singular human to battling what seemed to be a dragonic hybrid.

Ash had sensed it, right at the moment before the raging tide of force swept it away, it felt the brewing presence of something colossal, something humbling. Something that made its blood go cold in fear.

The dragon finally rose, its head peeking out of a deep valley-like crater of its own making.

By this point the entire area was unrecognizable, cracks of gleaming crimson riddled throughout the plain, furious reactions of toxic gases raging in the atmosphere, causing sudden destabilizing explosions in random sequences.

In simple words, the underground world had become chaotic and destabilized, with thick lava currents welling up through the foundations; it wouldn’t be long before this very location had no solid ground left at all.

"Brother, hold on, both Blaze and Ignis are on their way, you will see help soon," a voice thundered out of the void.

"Atherion..." Ash hissed weakly, "You’re nearby, I could use your help, I’m not sure how things will go before the others arrive."

Ash’s disposition was broken, the terrifying presence he had felt had scared him shitless, at this point it was evident that if care wasn’t taken death wouldn’t be far from its future.

And though it hurt its pride it had to admit that humans were scary!

"You know I can’t do that brother, I have to stand guard at the temple, that’s my duty, if you can endur-" Atherion tried to explain before being cut off.

"Hold on my ass! Have you seen my foe? Have you felt his presence? If you did you’d know there’s no holding on against that!" Ash thundered in fury.

This bastard brother of his had awakened him to face such a monster, and refused to show his face himself, why wouldn’t the dark dragon be furious? By this point the dragon would have fled if it could, but right now its wings were no good.

Running on all fours? It was better if it sat and recuperated enough strength to fend off the inevitable arrival of that human, it wouldn’t get far that way after all.

Silence reigned, leaving Ash to bathe in the sound of its ragged, heavy breaths, and just when it thought his brother had abandoned him, Atherion spoke.

"There is a way I can help you..."

Ash remained silent without response, that grim tone... it never equated good news.

"But it will come at a cost..." Atherion finalized.

Ash’s eyes narrowed, there it was... but in the end did it have a choice?

"Speak!" Ash growled...

Atherion remained silent for a few more seconds, before speaking up, relaying two words, "Reverse Scale..."

The moment Ash heard those words its dark slits tightened, and its heart shook, understanding the full context behind those words...

"B-but the elder forbade-" Before the dragon could muster an argument its words were cut off...

"The Elders are dead!" Atherion thundered. "We are the ones tasked with the responsibility of restoring the might of our race! Even if they were here they wouldn’t object!"

Ash’s snout snarled, its face twisting into a dark scowl, "But that would cost me my sanity..."

"An insignificant sacrifice in the grand scheme of things, once the ritual is complete and our glory is restored your gold dragon lineage shall rewrite every error," Atherion whispered, his words growing increasingly convincing, but Ash still struggled with the decision.

After all this was an act he was raised to dread, an action he had seen those who had taken it fall straight into the irredeemable depths of madness.

Atherion’s eyes tore through the void, catching sight of a silhouette, it warned, "You don’t have much time to choose wisely, brother..." With that, every trace of his presence vanished, he was gone.

Leaving Ash conflicted and hesitant, it could either face off against Seth and see if it could stall long enough for reinforcements, or it could follow Atherion’s advice and see where that took him.

Both options weighed heavily on the beast, but just like Atherion had warned, it didn’t have time; it could sense the dreadful presence of the human looming.

...

Soaring through the skies, Seth’s eyes flickered as he processed through the series of text he had seen and changes he had undergone.

He could feel the herculean might thrumming through his veins, and the sinister bloom of dark essence ever flowing through his pathways, the most shocking of the changes were his stats...

_____________________

[Name: Seth Duskreaver]

[Race:???]

[Rank:???]

[Class: Jack Of All Trades]

[Class:-]

[Profession:-]

[Attributes:]

Strength:???

Speed:???

Defence:???

Intelligence:???

Vitality:???

Essence Unit:???

Will:???

______________________

No numbers at all? It was as though the system couldn’t quantify his stats or something leaving Seth even more confused then there was his skill slots which had vanished leaving something else in its place.

_________________

[Skill Chain Slot 1/?:]

Infinite Surge (???)

_________________

Seth didn’t even know where to begin, he could only piece together from reading the system prompts that he seemed to have tapped into a force someone of his rank wasn’t supposed to interact with yet.

And the only reason this was possible was because of... "Origin Soul."

Once more this term had been mentioned, this unique feature he seemed to bear, but still didn’t know what it meant or what it stood for.

Plus there was this, his eyes honed on the flashing bar of text flickering dimly at the corner of his vision...

[Warning! Further Draconic Transformation will be Activated in... 2m:31s]

Just as Seth was immersing himself in processing through these mysteries, something shook in the distance, a cold feeling washed over the plain, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Something was wrong? Sensing this, his wings pushed him further, catapulting him through the void, faster, streaking over the horizon in a blink, arriving at the location of his foe.

Hovering in the air, Seth scanned his prey from above and noticed something was different about this guy.