Chapter 194: The Core of Darkness
>>Draegon
The sky cracked with thunder, not from weather, but from the sheer violence unfolding below.
My wings beat strong, slicing through the clouds, circling high above Reagen’s monstrous, abyss-born form. The air stank of charred bark and oozing rot. Beneath me, his bloated body hunched and glimmered with shadows made solid, an abomination of tendrils and tar-like skin.
But I could see it.
The weakness I had worked to exposed.
Beneath the grotesque layers of flesh, embedded in the center of his back, half-glowing, half-pulsing, the core. Obsidian black, ringed with red veins that slithered across his body like roots searching for life. It shimmered like molten glass, corrupted and vile.
My wings snapped back, and I dove.
Faster than the wind. A shadow streaking through the sky.
I folded my claws in close, fire humming in my throat, and just as Reagen turned to track me with those abyss-filled eyes-
I struck.
My claws tore into his back, shredding through corrupted flesh and muscle. He screamed, not in pain alone, but in fury, like a beast dethroned.
His massive arm swung back, catching my side. I grunted, wings struggling for control but I’d already done it.
The core was exposed.
It throbbed like a second heart, pulsing with raw abyssal energy.
I flapped my wings hard, gaining height once more. I turned in the sky and angled down again. This time, I didn’t hesitate.
This was it.
With a roar that shook the heavens, I drove my claws forward, and ripped the core clean from his body.
Reagen screamed, a sound not meant for mortal ears. Darkness spilled from his wound, thick and violent. His form staggered under its own weight, tendrils writhing like serpents in agony.
With the core in my claws, I shot upward into the sky again, wind tearing at me as the burning orb hissed in my grip. I rose higher and higher until the forest and the battlefield below looked like a patch of moss.
Then, I stilled in the sky.
Wings spread wide. Muscles taut. Core in my claws.
It pulsed angrily, fighting me even now. A corrupted heartbeat in my palm.
I brought it close, eyes narrowing.
And I opened my mouth.
Fire.
A beam of draconic flame ,hot enough to melt stone, ancient enough to burn magic, poured from my maw and surrounded the core. It hissed and trembled, cracks beginning to slither across its surface.
But it didn’t break.
Damn it.
I roared again and increased the flame ,pushing deeper, stronger, putting more of myself into it.
And then
Pain. Sudden and brutal.
!?!?!?
How was it possible? I was too high up in the sky
My body jolted violently as something wrenched me backward.
I whipped my head down.
Reagen.
The bastard had jumped. Like a beast unchained, soaring through the air with nothing but wrath in his eyes. One massive hand wrapped around my tail, and with a howl of rage, he yanked me down.
Hard.
!!!
The world blurred.
Sky, trees, dirt,
Impact.
I crashed into the earth like a meteor.
The entire forest quaked.
Trees shattered like twigs. The ground split. Debris flew in every direction. A crater opened beneath me, and for a moment, everything went silent, but only for a moment.
I roared in pain, my wings trembling and ribs cracked. But...
I still had the core.
It throbbed between my claws, more unstable now, the cracks widening, leaking shadows like poison.
I didn’t wait.
Right there, broken, buried, bleeding , I breathed fire again.
A deep, roaring flame. One that shook the earth. I focused everything into it, eyes narrowed through the pain, scales scorched and battered.
From the corner of my vision, I saw him , Reagen, charging toward me like a juggernaut. Rage and darkness incarnate.
But I didn’t stop.
I gritted my fangs, summoned the last of my might, and tightened my claws around the core.
More fire. More pressure.
Crack.
Crack...
And then, with a sound like glass shattering beneath a mountain, the core burst.
Reagen was almost upon me,
But his eyes went wide
His monstrous face twisted in horror as the abyss inside him screamed. I saw how he kept running towards me still even though the core was gone.
He reached me, arm stretching out. I jumped to the side but he didn’t change his angle.
Reagan fell to the ground. His body slammed into the ground with a thundering crash, limbs twitching and seeping black vapor.
The world had gone quiet.
Smoke curled from the crater around me, tendrils of steam rising into the air where the corrupted core had just been obliterated. My lungs heaved, each breath like fire in my chest. My wings drooped at my sides, heavy and torn. My claws trembled with lingering adrenaline.
I didn’t move at first.
I needed a moment.
The fight had been too long. Too brutal. My bones ached, scales charred.
So I stayed there, in my dragon form, crouched low, chest rising and falling like a wild drum. I stared at Reagen’s body.
Waiting. Watching.
Something didn’t feel right.
The forest was too still.
The air too thick.
I rose, slow and wary. Smoke rolled off my body in waves. My claws scraped the earth as I took a step forward... then another... eyes locked on the twisted wreckage of Reagen’s form.
One more step.
Almost to him now.
Then it happened.
Lightning-fast. A blur of black and red, and suddenly a hand shot up from the ground and wrapped around my throat.
!!??
Before I could react, Reagen, half-burned, bleeding, somehow still standing, surged upward and slammed his full weight into me.
My eyes widened.
His grip was crushing, a vice of darkness around my throat. I snarled, flaring my wings, but his strength had returned, no, evolved. Abyssal veins pulsed across his body. His eyes glowed, deeper and darker than before.
"You really thought that was it?" he hissed, voice guttural, inhuman. "You thought breaking the core would end me?"
His teeth were bared. Blood, black and red , dripped from his jaw. His body was torn, ribs exposed, half his chest caved in, but he still moved like a god.
I thrashed, claws slashing toward his arm, but the shock had cost me seconds.
Reagen grinned, twisting his grip tighter. "I told you I was stronger than anyone you’ve ever fought before, stronger than any monster in the abyss.
I growled, wings flaring wide to shove him back, but he didn’t budge.
