Novel Full 648 The Dragon King's Resolve
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Those years, despite the tragedies that would follow later, were the happiest days of his life, the ones filled with color and happiness, with life and a bright future, with hope and dreams…
And seeing her face now, after recalling all these years, truly filled Lucifer with a dreadful feeling of despair. Her beautiful eyes were no more, her body, as beautiful as a treasure, decayed. And even he could see her bones and rotten flesh beneath her scales and skin.
“Why?”
“Why must I face such a terrible trial?”
“Is the world mocking me?”
“After everything I’ve done to grow stronger and help those I’ve grown to love now?”
“My second chance… Was it merely given to me by fate so I could meet this gruesome sight?”
“Oh… Crystal… My beloved Crystal… Your soul screams with so much agony… Your precious soul, your innocent heart… How could they? How could they do this to you?”
Lucifer fell through an endless sea of darkness, he felt like he could not move at all. His sadness, sorrow, and regret engulfed him completely. The grief he felt was so horrendous it felt like his very flesh was being torn apart slowly by thousands of nails.
Lucifer couldn’t take it any longer, he drowned himself into this despair, which turned into a sea of eternal darkness where nobody could pull him from. And each time the painful jolt that caused a new memory to emerge coursed through his head and soul, he felt more despair, more hopelessness.
“I’ll always be with you.”
“Don’t worry, we can do this together.”
“Aren’t they cute? They’re our little treasures.”
“Dear? Can you bring more rock salt from the nearby mountain? Let’s have a feast tonight with the kids!”
“Let’s have a third child…”
“The sky tonight is so beautiful, filled with stars…”
“Your scales are so beautiful, as red as fire.”
“Don’t leave all the meat for the kids, dear! Do you want them to grow fatter? Eat something yourself as well, geez…”
“Come on, stop overthinking things, we’ll figure it out together.”
Lucifer’s face distorted in suffering, as he saw the enormous Zombie Dragon grow closer, its rotten breath and its monstrous appearance drew closer, raising its bony claws, enchanting them with Miasma and Phantasmal Flames, and about to slash through him…
“I’ll always love you.”
Her voice echoed across his mind, as for a moment, he saw her through the reanimated corpse in front of him.
“Crystal…”
“This is fine…”
“It is my fault you and the kids died…”
“I was foolish and weak…”
“It is my fault that you’re like this now…”
“Kill me… Take me with you…”
“ROOOOAARRR!”
The furious Zombie Dragon roared, its Miasma and Phantom-covered claws drawing closer, imbued with large quantities of power!
C R A A A A A S S S H H H!!!
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm
The enormous claws hit the ground, shaking the surroundings. However, Lucifer found himself unharmed, as he found Brunhild, Emeraldine, Maria, and even Partner in front of him, conjuring a powerful barrier of Holy Flames, Light and Nature, Blood, and Shadows.
“GGRRRRHHHHH!”
The furious Zombie Dragon roared angrily, as it suddenly generated several projectiles made of black crystals imbued with deadly amounts of Miasma, firing them at the barrier consecutively!
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
As the sound of the barrier slowly shattering echoed in the background, Maria rushed towards Lucifer’s surprised face, as one of her hands suddenly grew in an enormous size, slapping him!
BAAAM!
“AGGH!”
Lucifer’s eyes opened wide, suddenly snapping out of his dazzle.
“M-Maria…?!”
Lucifer saw Maria crying, as she was furious, gritting her teeth angrily! Her eyes were glowing red.
“What are you doing, IDIOT?!”
“Eh?”
“You want to die?! I’m not going to let you die!”
“Maria…?”
“I get how you feel… I understand that pain! But… you cannot just let those feelings consume you! Your life lo longer is just yours… Your life is also part of our own lives! Of mine…”
Lucifer’s face changed, his jaws opened as he realized how foolish he had been.
“Am I not precious to you?” Maria asked, tears flowing through her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you…”
“Papaaa!” Nyx flew at his side, crying as well. “Buaaaah!”
“Nyx…” Lucifer covered his face in shame, quickly cleaning his own tears. “I’m sorry… I… I lost focus.”
His Aura suddenly began growing larger and stronger as he said those words, as he glanced directly at Crystal in the distance…
“I have you all with me… I am not alone… I’m sorry.”
Lucifer’s eyes began blazing with phantasmal flames, his body quickly began growing larger and larger at the same time, his scales became incredibly hard, metallic. He grew a second pair of wings, and another red eye on top of his other three… his black horns crowned his head, as his claws grew sharper.
There was now a large red and blue jewel in his chest, glowing with a phantasmal and dark aura… Without realizing it, he had already reached max level and evolved in front of everyone. Surpassing his previous Rank!
“R O O O O A A A R R R R!”
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLAAASH!
Crack… crack…!
“The barrier won’t last much longer, she’s crazy strong! Crystal give us a break please!” Brunhild cried.
“Ugh, what’s up with the lizard, is he okay now- Eh?!” Partner was surprised when she saw the newly evolved Lucifer. “He’s HUGE!”
“Is that… Lucifer?!” Emeraldine was just as surprised.
“Y-You… evolved…” Maria was left speechless.
“Don’t worry, leave the tanking to me. Let us take her down… Please, everyone, help me bring Crystal to the afterlife.” Lucifer said, his eyes blazing with conviction. Although he held great pain over his heart, he had to shoulder it and keep moving forward.
He had too many precious things he didn’t wanted to lose now, he couldn’t possibly act childish and lost them all now.
The Dragon King wasn’t going to lose his precious treasures a second time.
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