Inside [Depiction of Nature and Society], black mist filled the air.
Yet one thing stood out clearly. A jet black divine halo hung high in the sky, cutting through the sea of mist.
The entire small world was burning. Flames of calamity raged across the land, devouring everything they touched.
At the very center of the world stood a massive cocoon. A faint glow seeped from its surface, and from within came the slow, rhythmic sound of a heartbeat.
"Who am I?"
As consciousness slowly returned, darkness filled his vision. Naohara's expression showed faint confusion.
Countless overlapping afterimages floated before his eyes, while layers of chaotic voices echoed in his ears.
As time passed, they gradually faded away.
His blurred awareness finally cleared, and a flood of memories burst forth inside his mind.
"I am... Naohara Kamiotoshi!"
Boom!
A terrifying shockwave erupted outward. The already fragile miniature world shattered instantly, exploding like a massive firework.
Standing in the vast starry void, the power of catastrophe surged around Naohara like a black tide, distorting the surrounding space. He slowly turned his head and looked into the distance.
"Still asleep... but it won't be long now."
After sensing Herohero's condition, Naohara nodded slightly before examining himself.
His human bloodline was gone.
In its place flowed the pure blood of a dragon.
Faint dark radiance flickered beneath his scales, the power of catastrophe itself.
Never before had Naohara felt this powerful.
[Dragon Blood Sacrifice] allowed its user to grow stronger by bathing in dragon blood.
But now Naohara himself had become a pureblood dragon.
That created a strange loophole.
His dragon body was growing at an unbelievable speed, far beyond anything that should have been possible.
Under the influence of [Dragon Blood Sacrifice], the process had formed a perfect cycle, like a perpetual engine.
Two hundred meters.
Three hundred meters.
Four hundred meters.
In the end, driven by [Dragon Blood Sacrifice], his dragon body forcefully expanded until it reached four hundred meters in length.
"…Hungry… eat…"
Before Naohara could examine the change further, a powerful hunger surged through him, drowning out his reason.
"Devour… food…"
The dragon opened its jaws instinctively. A terrifying vortex of devouring force erupted outward.
Space itself, fragments of land, and countless other materials were pulled toward him. Even the small worlds drifting nearby slowly began to drift off course.
The small world where Herohero rested was the first to be affected.
But in the next instant, the terrible suction suddenly stopped.
"No… not here…"
A trace of rationality flickered within the crimson dragon eyes as Naohara desperately suppressed the urge to devour.
Herohero was still here.
He had to leave.
His dragon wings tore open the void, forming a swirling spatial vortex. Naohara rushed straight into it.
...
Outside.
Naohara burst out of the spatial vortex and glanced around. Not far away, a figure came into view.
"Aureole… tell Momonga… I'll be leaving for a while…"
Forcing himself to resist the urge to devour her, Naohara quickly gave the order.
Then he tore open space again and disappeared without a trace.
...
The endless sea stretched to the horizon, calm and undisturbed.
Then, in an instant, everything fell silent.
Space was violently torn apart. Thick black mist seeped out from the rift, along with a violent aura that words like madness, darkness, or horror could barely describe.
From within the tear, an enormous eye slowly appeared.
Alongside that eye came surging black flames.
The sky was swallowed by black mist, and the sea burned beneath black fire.
Two pairs of pitch black dragon claws reached out and gripped the edges of the spatial vortex. Under that terrifying force, space crumbled like fragile paper, collapsing inch by inch.
Crack. Crack.
The void split apart, forming a rift hundreds of meters wide. A colossal figure suddenly burst out from within.
A giant dragon four hundred meters tall floated in the air. Black mist coiled around its body while dark flames flowed across its scales like a living tide.
It looked less like a creature and more like a walking natural disaster.
A violent dragon aura descended from above, forcing even the ocean below to recoil.
"Far enough from the continent... this should do..."
After sensing his surroundings, Naohara muttered quietly. A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.
The next moment.
Naohara stopped suppressing his power.
An overwhelming dragon aura erupted outward. The sea surged violently as hurricane winds mixed with black mist spread outward like a collapsing mountain.
The flames of calamity devoured everything, and the world itself seemed to wail beneath the destruction.
The giant dragon opened its mouth and inhaled.
A terrifying devouring force swept across the world.
Ocean and sky alike were pulled in. Whether it was magical energy or roaming monsters, everything was swallowed and turned into nourishment.
As time passed, the range of the devouring continued to expand.
Such a massive disturbance naturally drew attention.
On a barren island not far away, a sleeping figure slowly opened its eyes.
"A dragon?"
Suddenly, the ground trembled violently.
Crimson light burst from the earth. Thick blood colored mist spread out in waves, instantly dyeing the sky red.
A True Dragon Lord rose from below.
Its entire body was crimson, exuding the heavy scent of blood.
The Vampiric Dragon Lord looked toward the distant disturbance, spread its wings, and flew straight toward it as blood mist followed in its wake.
...
Meanwhile.
As he continued devouring everything around him, Naohara gradually regained his sanity.
At that moment, dragon blood boiled inside his body.
The previously stagnant [Dragon Blood Sacrifice] began operating on its own once again.
Endless magic power surged through him. Inside his body, a dragon crystal emitting a dim and ominous glow slowly began to form.
Boom!
Countless bolts of lightning descended from the black mist. Against the backdrop of black flames, thunder and fire seemed to celebrate the birth of something new.
Magic power, vitality, bloodline, bones. Every aspect of his body surged upward at terrifying speed until something like a restraint finally halted the growth.
Unfathomable.
Dark.
Chaotic.
A dragon aura like the embodiment of destruction burst outward, beyond measure and beyond description.
Not far away, the Vampiric Dragon Lord floated at the edge of the black mist, staring blankly at the scene before it.
"What the hell is that?"