Chapter 944: A Mental Limiter
Arthur had genuinely expected that the moment he and Rishia stepped onto Floor 6, they’d be ambushed without warning.
But to their shared surprise, nothing awaited them when they arrived on Floor 6.
Passing through the doors at the rest area led them straight to the entrance of a massive castle, and after scanning the entire structure, they detected no presence inside whatsoever.
They pushed the doors open and walked in, maintaining their detection abilities in case traps had been set, but none revealed themselves.
"It’s so quiet it’s suspicious," Rishia said, her eyes drifting toward the paintings of dragons lining the long corridors of the castle.
"I know, right?" Arthur agreed. "Knowing Wyndella, I thought she’d flood this place with hordes of monsters wielding the power of Creation."
"Why would you expect that?"
Rishia shot him an incredulous look at his statement, and in response to her question, Arthur sighed.
"Wyndella seems hell-bent on forcing me to confront existences who wield the power of creation head-on, even though I’d rather NOT directly engage enemies who wield my greatest weakness.
Fighting them indirectly with tricks and methods the ’honourable’ type would call ’underhanded’ just makes a lot more sense."
He turned to her and asked, "Or would you directly engage someone who wields the power of Light? A Light so pure it can banish your darkness?"
"That depends on the situation," Rishia replied.
Now it was Arthur’s turn to look at Rishia like she’d said something unbelievable.
"Depending on the situation, you say? I honestly can’t understand what kind of situation would make you directly engage someone who possesses the power to counter your greatest strength. That’s as unwise as it gets."
He shook his head and moved ahead, making his way toward the large double doors at the end of the castle’s central hallway where they’d been walking.
When he pushed them open, an enormous chamber revealed itself, crowned by a high ceiling from which massive chandeliers hung at evenly spaced intervals.
The hall stretched over a hundred metres in both length and width, and directly opposite the doorway where Arthur stood was a throne atop a five-layered dais.
Just like every other section of the castle they’d explored, it was completely vacant, so empty that Arthur’s voice echoed across the vast space when he spoke.
"That’s obviously the throne of this castle’s lord," he said as he turned toward Rishia. "But it looks like they’re not home."
The moment those words left his mouth, a presence abruptly entered his perception range, and his gaze snapped back toward the throne, his eyes widening as he saw that someone was now seated upon it.
"My apologies for being late," the unfamiliar man said. "I didn’t expect you two to make it here this quickly."
Arthur and Rishia immediately went into battle mode, Arthur summoning both Lostvayne and Celestia, which he’d recently regained access to, while Rishia summoned Noctveil and drew the bow.
Their eyes locked cautiously onto the dragon seated upon the throne, his four ash-coloured horns extending from the sides of his head, with one angling upward and one downward on each side.
He possessed a large, muscular frame, short and messy ash hair, small black eyes, and a broad, flat nose, with faint facial hair resting above his lip.
"Going into combat mode immediately was wise, but you were a second too slow for my taste," he remarked, his brows creasing slightly.
Directing his attention toward Arthur, he studied the godslayer in silence for a moment before continuing, "You must be the one Lady Wyndella mentioned. The Destruction user who’s so afraid of Creation."
At those words, Arthur lifted a brow and then sighed.
"Why do y’all say the same thing? I’m not afraid of Creation. I avoid it because I’m more vulnerable to it than to any other universal law in existence, and that’s logical in every sense."
"The logic of someone ruled by fear," the ash-haired dragon replied, clearly unconvinced by Arthur’s explanation.
"You keep claiming I’m scared of creation, but I’m starting to think you’re projecting your own fear of destruction onto me," Arthur shot back immediately, lowering Celestia while pointing Lostvayne directly toward the dragon.
Both he and Rishia could feel a vast reservoir of creation energy emanating from the dragon’s body, which was why neither of them eased their combat stances even slightly despite the dragon showing no obvious hostility.
"Fear destruction?" the ash dragon said, his expression shifting to one of confusion. "What reason would I have to fear destruction?
After Destruction comes Creation. Both are simply parts of the integral cycle of existence that compose the reality we live in, so why should I fear destruction? The only choice is to overcome it."
The dragon’s words made Arthur look at him with a pointed expression.
"Overcome it? Your thoughts aren’t any different from Wyndella’s," he said, sighing and shaking his head.
"Lady Wyndella indeed shares the same opinion as I, and our opinion aligns with fact," the ash dragon replied.
"In the cycle of existence, destruction overcomes creation, and creation in turn overcomes destruction.
The power of creation you fear so much is just as vulnerable to your destruction as your destruction is to it.
It’s supposed to be only a matter of the strength of your Authority and the depth of your understanding of either concept, but from what I can see, your affinity and the power of your Authority, enhanced by your Aspect, are all above average.
With how close you are to achieving completion in the Mid-Rank version of the derivative law of destruction, your understanding of destruction is not the problem either."
Propping his elbow on the throne’s armrest and resting his chin on his palm, the ash dragon concluded, "This can only mean your issue is not physical but mental."
He raised the fingers of his left hand to his temple and continued elaborating without being prompted.
"You’ve internally decided that creation is something you should fear because it’s your weakness, and that decision is what’s holding you back.
You’ve unconsciously placed a subconscious limiter on your own power of destruction out of fear of creation, and that limiter becomes stronger when you’re facing opponents who wield the power of creation.
Creation doesn’t suppress your destruction. You suppress your own power of destruction because you fear creation far more than you need to."
"Absurd."
That was the only word Arthur offered in response to the dragon’s claim.
He’d allowed the man to speak without cutting in because the mention of integral cycles suggested he was leading somewhere meaningful, but the ash dragon ultimately arrived at a conclusion Arthur could only regard as ridiculous.
"The concept of what it means to ’see’ is absurd to a man who’s been blind his entire life," the ash dragon replied, completely unfazed by Arthur’s dismissal of his previous statements.
"It seems Lady Wyndella has drawn the wrong conclusion about you. She wants you to cultivate a seed of resistance to creation, but you already possess the necessary tools for that and are merely restraining yourself because of your conventional thinking.
Your awareness of the purity of your affinity for destruction is harming you more than helping, as it’s led you to convince yourself that creation SHOULD be your weakness, and as a result, you subconsciously impose limits on yourself."
Shaking his head with a sigh, the dragon murmured, "They say too much talent can sometimes lead to one’s undoing, and this is a prime example.
You are vulnerable to creation not only because it opposes you, but because of your conviction.
It’s fortunate I asked Lady Wyndella for permission to act according to my judgment based on what I discovered."
After speaking to himself, the ash dragon finally moved his attention from Arthur to Rishia, scanning her from head to toe before addressing her.
"You, descendant of the Lord Progenitor. You have your own issues, but those are not my concern, as the destruction user is the focus of my attention here.
Nevertheless, I will not simply ignore you."
Raising his hand, he conjured a star in his palm, its bright light causing cracks to appear on the darkness law energy coat around Rishia’s bow, and the arrow she had nocked on it disintegrated into dark mist.
Frowning lightly, Rishia activated her Umbra Authority to recreate her arrow to withstand the light, and seeing this, the ash dragon nodded to himself.
He closed his open palm, crushing the star, and then said, "Let’s simplify things. This is the final Floor of this tower, and there is only one goal to achieve."
Cosmic energy burst from his body, forming a storm that radiated outward and forced Arthur and Rishia back, and within the crackling tempest, the ash dragon spoke.
"I am before you as the embodiment of your greatest weaknesses. Creation and Light. Your goal is simple."
Rising from his throne, the ash dragon stepped forward and declared,
"Best me, if you can."
