CHAPTER 186: THE DRAGON OF DESTRUCTION—INEVITABLE

For the ninth time, his body was moments from becoming a smear on the battlefield. His potions were gone, but he wasn’t worried—now was the time.

He healed midway using his last elixir, which he had kept in his mouth. The dragon thought it was another fluke, but more importantly, it was too enraged. The fact that it couldn’t kill this weak human with its strength was humiliating. It was certain that the human wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer, especially after being thrown around like a rag doll again and again. Hearing Leon grunt in pain gave it twisted satisfaction.

Leon teleported fifty meters away. He couldn’t even see the dragon moving properly anymore; everything was based on prediction and spatial awareness, with even the tiniest detail registering in his mind.

All at once!

He poured all his mana into a single point, pushing past his limit, directing it toward a spot where nothing visible existed to the naked eye.

In the next moment, a massive dragon appeared in that exact place—frozen. Not because it wanted to stop, but because it couldn’t move.

The air between them warped and shimmered, as though reality itself bent under an unseen weight.

A low, groaning hum filled the battlefield, the sound of space tightening around its prey.

This is it... Now watch your throne crumble.

ROOOOAAAARRRRR!

It released a gut-wrenching roar as something inside its body began devouring it. Its massive frame started shrinking, energy bleeding away as if being swallowed whole.

Seeing the human smirking in front of it, the dragon realized it had fallen into a trap set by someone who couldn’t even withstand a single claw strike.

Rage burned hotter. The thought of being weakened to the point of not being able to deal with the human was unacceptable to this proud creature. It could never allow itself to be in such a state.

A fourth of its size was already gone... your pride is bleeding faster than your strength.

It roared with the last bit of defiance it had—ROOOOAAAARRRR!—the sound cracking the air like splintering glass.

In the next second, its entire body began to thrash uncontrollably.

Oh shit!!!

Leon’s eyes widened. Without thinking for even a second, he acted.

BOOOOM!

A massive explosion, stretching a hundred kilometers wide, engulfed the land, obliterating everything in its path.

The shockwave punched the breath from Leon’s lungs even as the portal’s edge swallowed him. Hhhhk!

The light was so blinding it burned the outline of the dragon into his vision, lingering even when he shut his eyes.

The dragon’s face twisted into a hopeless expression in its final moments—it knew precisely what the human had done.

It felt truly defeated. Tricked, overpowered, and humiliated by a being far weaker than itself. That wound to its pride cut deeper than any injury, even in its last breath.

Leon emerged from a portal, his whole body trembling with a rush of adrenaline. I can’t believe I’m still breathing. If he had been even a second late, he would have been gone forever.

The portal itself didn’t close immediately, waiting a second as time within the dimensional space adjusted. When Leon stepped back through, arriving at the exact location he had left, the sight before him made him fully realize the calamity he had just escaped.

——

Inside the entire city of Hemsurg, every single person shivered for a moment, most without even knowing why.

But the massive grey cloud of death in the sky was too large to go unnoticed.

A low, endless rumble rolled over the city—grrrrrmmm—rattling windows and making loose tiles clatter down the rooftops.

The metallic taste of the air made every breath feel heavier, as though the storm had already claimed the sky.

Even some ordinary people saw the terrifying mass of lightning above, ready to erase everything from existence. Many who witnessed the sight fainted on the spot; some even lost control of their bladders.

The most significant reaction came from Seraphine, whose worry grew to an entirely new level. She chose not to disturb him, refraining from entering the dimensional space through their mental link.

Even if she had tried, she would have been shocked.

Other than her, the new Saintess of Life from the higher domain and Aurelia also shook in shock, their bodies trembling from what they sensed.

After picking up the new candidate for the Saintess of Light, both women had decided to leave this mysterious place—the lower domain. In the higher domain, most considered it a land of lesser beings, something to be looked down upon.

That perception had only recently shifted, after news arrived of a potential candidate for the Saintess of Life—a successor to Aurelia’s own position.

Even that revelation had only distracted them briefly.

Now, their attention—and unease—was fixed entirely on the ominous presence above.

In a world that crossed the barrier of the universe.

Inside a mighty, grand throne room stretching far and wide, yet only emptiness and ancient silence filled it.

A single being sat on a throne, eyes closed for... who knows how long.

Centuries.

Millennia.

Or even more.

No one but the being itself knew the answer to that question.

His eyes fluttered open for the third time since forgotten times, and it had opened for the same reason.

They opened leisurely, revealing a cross in the middle of his pupils, like glass shattered into a million pieces — ever-shifting and mesmerizing.

The being’s entire body reacted slightly, only for a millisecond.

Beyond the walls of the throne room, the distant firmament dimmed, as though a veil had been drawn over the stars.

As the echoing voice sounded.

"A mortal who endures the scourge of Heaven’s wrath — a judgment wrought at five hundredfold the strength of the condemned — is a rarity the ages seldom witness. Such defiance is worthy of note."

"So I will witness this one’s end with my own eyes. Few earn such attention... and fewer still survive it."

With a single blink, the space before his sight shifted, revealing Leon where he now stood. The air around him trembled faintly, colors in the distance seeming to lose their vibrance, as though the world itself was holding its breath.

His voice held no warmth, only the weight of judgment. The floor quaked in slow pulses—thoom... thoom—each word sending hairline fractures racing through the vast hall.

"It is a pity... your path ends here." The words rolled like distant thunder, heavy and inescapable.

"The Heavens grant no mercy in their final judgment... they strike without balance... without fairness."

"Had you not provoked them... you might have risen... beyond even the Lords of the Universes."

"A pity... indeed..." The last word lingered in the vast silence, stretching until it seemed the hall itself swallowed the sound.