Chapter 1428: Change
Nyssara was buried beneath the collapsed earth while countless tons of shattered stone and black soil pressed down on her position.
The battlefield trembled from the aftermath of the impacts as dust and debris continued rolling across the wasteland.
Deep beneath that destruction, Nyssara slowly opened her eyes and felt a sensation she had not experienced in an extraordinarily long time.
Worry. The emotion irritated her immediately.
For ages beyond counting, she had existed as one of the most powerful cosmic beings in existence. Entire worlds had fallen before her, civilizations had vanished beneath her shadow, even among cosmic entities, there were very few who could genuinely threaten her.
Yet now she found herself pinned beneath rubble while wounds throbbed across her body and pain continued spreading through her flesh every time she moved.
The oath was becoming a far greater problem than she had anticipated.
At first, accepting it had seemed amusing. She had wanted a proper fight. She had wanted limitations. She had wanted to experience something other than effortless victory.
Now she was beginning to regret how casually she had agreed to those restrictions.
Blood trickled down her arm as she pushed aside broken stone and looked up.
The moment her eyes rose toward the sky, she saw five enormous shadows descending toward her position.
The giant boulders filled her vision.
Each one measured several meters across and radiated unmistakable Dragonborn power. Golden cracks spread across their surfaces while dense Earth Magic reinforced every layer of stone.
They were no longer simple boulders. They had become weapons carrying the power of a Dragonborn.
Nyssara’s expression darkened. "Tch..."
She gritted her teeth. Genuine anger surfaced inside her chest.
She had been careless.
Instead of carefully examining the consequences of the oath, she had rushed into it because she was excited.
Now that mistake was coming back to punish her. The restrictions weakened her far too much and prevented her from accessing the overwhelming strength she normally possessed.
Darkness erupted around her.
Dozens of clones instantly appeared while black energy gathered around her sword. The copies rushed forward together and raised their weapons in preparation for the incoming attack.
A moment later the first boulder struck.
The impact annihilated several clones instantly.
The second followed. Then the third fell.
Explosions erupted one after another as the gigantic projectiles tore through her defenses.
The clones shattered like glass and dissolved into fragments of darkness together with their black swords that broke apart. Her defensive barriers collapsed.
Nyssara swung her own sword and managed to split one of the boulders apart.
The victory lasted less than a second because the remaining projectiles smashed into her position again.
The Earth Magic contained within them proved far stronger than ordinary stone had any right to be because it was Dragonborn power that reinforced them, allowing the boulders to withstand her attacks far longer than expected.
The impacts buried her beneath another wave of destruction.
The dead world erupted.
A colossal crater formed while shockwaves rolled out in every direction.
Far away, Eccar threw back his head and laughed.
"Now that’s what I’m talking about!"
Erend continued observing carefully through the telepathic connection while his eyes remained fixed on the center of the devastation.
"I think we need to completely destroy her body."
"I think so t—"
Eccar never finished his sentence because without warning, a massive eruption of black energy exploded from the crater.
The entire battlefield shook violently.
A pillar of darkness shot into the sky, waves of pressure spread. Even distant undead creatures froze in place.
Nyssara emerged from the center of the destruction.
She rose slowly into the air while black sparks danced around her wounded body. Blood still covered portions of her skin and several injuries remained visible despite her regeneration.
But the expression on her face had changed completely. The amusement and the playful attitude had vanished.
Her glowing eyes stared at the three Dragonborn with a cold intensity.
A small smile appeared. A dangerous one.
"It seems," Nyssara said quietly while dark energy continued swirling around her body, "that I underestimated you three far more than I should have."
The atmosphere immediately changed.
Erend, Eccar, and Aesa felt that something about Nyssara had changed.
She suspended high above the battlefield while black sparks drifted around her wounded body like fragments of a dying star. Her golden eyes continued staring at the three Dragonborn below with the dangerous smile.
For several moments nothing happened. The wasteland fell strangely silent as if the dead world itself was waiting.
Then darkness began gathering around her.
It was not ordinary darkness. It looked like space itself was folding inward. Black light twisted around her body, countless star-like points appeared within the growing mass.
The surrounding air distorted violently and waves of pressure spread across the wasteland.
Erend’s expression immediately hardened. "She’s changing."
The transformation began.
Nyssara’s humanoid body dissolved into countless fragments of black light and cosmic energy. Her limbs stretched unnaturally before multiplying into dozens of enormous appendages.
Her torso elongated and twisted into a colossal serpentine shape made from darkness and stars.
Entire clusters of black lights swirled beneath her surface like distant galaxies trapped inside her body.
The transformation was incomplete because the oath prevented her from fully revealing her true cosmic body.
Even so, the creature that emerged was huge.
Her new body stretched across hundreds of meters of sky. Dozens of massive limbs floated around the serpentine body. Black starlight flowed endlessly across her surface.
No head formed at the end of the body. Instead, a big black eye opened.
Golden rings rotated within its dark center while her cosmic power leaked into the world.
The moment it opened, the atmosphere changed.
Aesa immediately felt her body tense. Eccar’s grin disappeared. Erend narrowed his eyes.
Pressure descended upon the world.
The frozen wasteland cracked beneath it. Mountains of ice shattered. The approaching undead creatures stopped moving entirely.
Far above, the enormous eye slowly focused on the three Dragonborn.
Nyssara’s voice emerged from every direction at once. "You wished to see more of my power. Then allow me to show you."
The pressure intensified again.
The three Dragonborn felt as though they were standing before a genuine cosmic being now.
Erend didnt waste time. He exploded, and transformed.
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