CHAPTER 1456: FIGHT YOUR OWN NIGHTMARE

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Lucifer faced a monstrous being.

His inner demon- no, his inner dragon.

His truest, biggest, and meanest form.

But also... the embodiment of his sins, of his past, of his mistakes, the thing that, despite giving him so much power.

It held him back...

This power that he gained from it was only detrimental.

"You... You’re...?!"

"Do you truly believe you can gain "another power"?"

"You only have me."

"And we only have you."

"No...! I...!"

"Are you seriously trying to act like a hero now, when you’ve been a solitary beast your entire life?"

"Your wife and your kids..."

"Stop..."

"They died because of you."

"Because of your weakness."

"Because of your pathetic, pitiful weakness!"

"Shut up...! SHUT UP!"

"THEY DIED BECAUSE YOU COULDN’T PROTECT THEM, OH "DRAGON KING"! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PATHETIC, PITIFUL, SOLITARY BEAST! YOU WERE NEVER MADE TO HAVE FAMILY! YOU WERE NEVER MADE TO HAVE CHILDREN! YOU WERE... ONLY CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF, DIDN’T YOU?!"

"S-Stop...! SHUT UP!"

Lucifer tried to fight back, but he couldn’t, the voices only got louder, his self-hatred, his self-loathing, it was never-ending.

"Why are you getting like that?"

"Have we ever said something that was not the truth?"

"Just look behind you."

"What do you see, "Dragon King"?"

As Lucifer heard the voices, suddenly...

"L-Lu... cifer..."

"Pa... pa...!"

"Help...!"

"Help us...!"

"Help!"

Lucifer quickly turned towards his back.

His face was filled with horror.

"A-Aah...!"

The wounded bodies of his wife and his children were right there, supplicating him for help, their legs were cut, their wings torn apart, their bodies covered by countless spears and swords piercing their scales.

Not only his wife and children, but the other dragons he sworn to protect, they looked at him with agony and anger.

"You...!"

"Why didn’t you protect us?!"

"And you call yourself our King...?"

"You’re a farse...!"

"A FARSE!"

Countless draconic claws grabbed his legs, beginning to drag him into an endless sea of darkness and torment.

"I’m sorry...! I didn’t mean to...! I wasn’t aware that...! I...!"

"EXCUSES, EXCUSES, AND MORE EXCUSES!"

"WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOU ONLY GIVE EXCUSES?!"

"LUCIFER! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A FARSE!"

"KING?! YOU’RE A CLOWN!"

"CLOWN! PATHETIC CLOWN!"

"YOU HAVE NOTHING NOW!"

"YOU LOST EVERYTHING!"

"AND YOU HOPE TO EARN SOMETHING NOW, AFTER YOU LEFT EVERYONE BEHIND?!"

"I..."

As Lucifer fell into the darkness, which began to devour his very mind and soul...

He looked at the darkness and the countless crimson eyes of his inner demons, or of his inner dragon.

The pride, the monstrous strength, his fury...

It all was pointless to him now, if he couldn’t help him win.

"I still have something to fight for..."

"HAH?!"

"Something to fight for?!"

"A-And what are we?!"

"Papa! Don’t leave me!"

His wife and his children, all those he lost cried to him, trying to drag him where the darkness was.

"I... I’m sorry..."

Lucifer shed several tears.

"Even now, I carry the weight of my sins... What I did- or rather, what I failed to do... It’s all my fault..."

FLASH!

As he said that, the darkness began to grow weaker.

Light surged from the skies, as Lucifer felt his surroundings beginning to slowly twist.

Everything was beginning to become warped, changing.

"I cannot change the past..."

The darkness continued changing, as the monstrous nine-headed dragon looked at him with surprise.

"What happened... I cannot do anything about it anymore..."

He began walking away, as the darkness that tried to keep him down couldn’t drag him deeper anymore.

"But what about us?!"

"Don’t leave me!"

"You couldn’t protect us!"

As they cried to him, Lucifer continued walking.

"I know... And I’ll never forget you, nor I will ever forget my own sins, my own mistakes... What my weakness provoked."

He looked back at them.

"I love you all... And I will always do. But..."

FLAAASH!

The light behind him changed, resembling golden and white clouds.

A little piece of the darkness trying to drag him down also went towards him, merging with this light.

Turning into Nyx.

And then, another figure appeared.

Maria.

Nyx held his finger with her little hand, and Maria gently patted his shoulder.

"I still have something to protect..."

His wife, amidst the darkness, opened her eyes wide, realizing one of her doomed children...

Made it.

And then, as the light shone brightly across the darkness, she and her children were bathed in it, and so the rest of the dragons.

No longer made of darkness, Lucifer could see their faint, colorful figures.

"For that reason... I’m sorry, but I cannot go with you... yet."

He continued walking towards the light.

"I’ll make sure to avenge all of you. I will kill the Gods, and slay Odin..."

He smiled back at them.

"I’ll avenge my friend, the Demon King, and fix things."

"For that reason, I need to grow stronger, to step further outside of my comfort zone."

"To fight for those I love... That are still alive."

"I need to grasp it... this moment."

He looked in front of him, and amidst the light and darkness.

There it was.

A blazing blue and black colored ember.

"There you are... It took a while."

"DO YOU THINK WE’LL LET YOU GO SO EASILY?!"

"YOU CANNOT LEAVE HERE!"

"THIS IS A NIGHTMARE BORN FROM YOUR OWN ROTTEN HEART!"

"THE BEAST YOU FOUGHT HAD SO MUCH NIGHTMARE POWER THAT YOUR VERY EXISTENCE WAS ABSORBED BY IT!"

"WE ARE THE EMBODIMENTS OF YOUR OWN HATRED!"

The nine-headed dragons roared in unison, as they shook the entire area, Lucifer looked at the monstrous beast’s crimson eyes.

Everything was happening because he almost ended becoming a Nightmare himself!

"So that’s it, huh..."

"DIE!"

"WE’LL TAKE OVER THAT BODY OF YOURS!"

"AND WE WILL BECOME MUCH BETTER THAN YOU!"

"A TRUE DRAGON KING!"

"WE’LL BURN AND CRUSH EVERYTHING!"

"WE SHALL MAKE A NEST MADE OF MILLIONS OF CORPSES!"

"ONLY THROUGH ENDLESS SLAUGHTER FOR POWER, WILL YOU ATTAIN THE STRENGHT TO AVENGE YOUR FAMILY!!!"

The aberrant, gigantic nine-headed draconic specter roared furiously, as the entire Nightmare Realm shook.

Lucifer thought he was alone here.

But that wasn’t the case either.

As the gigantic claws of the Nightmare born from his own insecurities and self-hatred roared, swinging its gigantic claws towards him...

BOOOM!

...A giant mass of light, composed of hundreds of ghostly souls materialized, protecting him from the Nightmare’s attack.

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