Chapter 84: Claiming The Card Of Arcana. [Vol.1 End]

Within the Draconis Imperium, a continent ruled by dragons, an emergency meeting was being held inside the sacred hall of flames.

Ten colossal pillars stretched in the centre of the chamber, each surrounding the blue fire that burned without fuel.

Upon nine of those pillars sat dragons in their true forms.

Their bodies were like living mountains.

This was the Elder Council.

The true rulers of the Draconic Imperium.

Each elder represented their kind, revered as dragon kings.

And today, they gathered to discuss the prophecy spoken by the Seer herself.

Every Dragon King was present.

Every throne was filled.

Except one.

Ragnar, the Fire Dragon King.

He had vanished nearly a millennia ago… yet no true successor had ever risen to claim his legacy.

That could mean only one thing as the world allowed the birth of only one Dragon King for each kind.

Ragnar, the tyrant of crimson flame, was still alive.

Yet, they were not here to discuss the past… they were here to discuss the prophecy.

Sylvas, the dragon emperor, the one who commanded the dragon kings, sat on the pillar closest to the flame.

Before he could say anything about the prophecy, the blue flame within the centre of the chamber shook violently.

Sylvas closed his eyes as if communicating with the flame.

When he opened them again, his voice was low.

“Ragnar… has been killed.”

The chamber went silent.

Eight dragons, each a sovereign of their kind, stared at their Emperor in disbelief.

For if a Dragon King could fall… then so too could they.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, within Noxvalen Academy, a figure stirred from his chair.

Two obsidian horns curled back like a crown from his head.

His crimson eyes snapped open as a cold smile appeared across his lips.

The Demon King had been waiting here for the last few days with his eyes closed as if he was listening to something only he could hear.

And now, at last, he had opened them.

“Someone has claimed divinity.”

The words left his mouth casually…

… yet they made the woman before him, the principal of Noxvalen, stir in confusion.

“What do you mean, my lord?” Morvana asked carefully. “Shall I search for this… being?”

The Demon King turned.

His expression shifted into an innocent smile that felt wrong on his face.

“How could you hope to find someone…”

His voice was playful.

“…when even the gods themselves wouldn’t know where to look?”

He leaned back in the chair, his crimson eyes filled with amusement.

“He is not someone you or I can find, Morvana…”

“…he is someone only time can reveal.”

His smile turned deeper.

“There are lots of good seeds this year…”

He took a pause, his serpentine eyes narrowed.

“So, push them past their limits… those who shatter were never worth keeping.”

The words sent chills down the spine of Morvana… but she nodded.

✦✦✦

Somewhere else, within a realm of endless radiance, a woman sat on a golden throne.

Her eyes shifted colors like an aurora through the sky.

Her hair seemed like a living galaxy with every strand blinking like stars.

She didn’t move. She didn’t need to.

The realm moved according to her will with every breath she took.

But beneath that beauty was something else.

Something colder.

“The Fire Dragon is dead.”

A smile curled up on her lips even as the possibility she had shifted millennia ago failed.

“So… even I can not prevent his awakening.”

“The Heavenly Principles…” she whispered, her eyes narrowing as if staring straight beyond the realm of creation itself.

“…what games are you playing?”

The words weren’t a question.

They were an accusation.

And in the silence that followed, the realm of radiance trembled ever so slightly—like even the heavens feared being caught in her gaze.

✦✦✦

[Rael’s POV]

If you asked me what the worst addiction in the world was… I wouldn’t say alcohol.

I wouldn’t say gold.

I wouldn’t even say women.

No.

It would be one word.

Power.

And right now, with this borrowed authority coursing in my veins, I understood why.

Every beat of it was ecstasy.

Every surge was a high.

I wasn’t afraid.

I wasn’t even cautious.

All I could think about was how much I wanted to keep it. Forever.

It was a dangerous thought? Yeah. Absolutely.

But hey, what’s a man without a little dangerous thinking?

Hope is free.

Greed is free.

And right now, I want both.

I walked toward the card.

It called to me the way an Ex does after your latest spectacular failure with arms wide and lips curled, whispering: “See? I told you I was the best you ever had.”

And damn it… I wanted to believe her.

No.

I had believed for a long time.

One of my hands still clutched the dragon’s heart.

It looked human at first glance but the golden blood spilling down my wrist betrayed it for what it really was.

My other hand held a vial holding a crimson liquid.

[The Crimson’s Tear]

A little keepsake I had scammed off my one actual ex in this life.

Romantic, right?

“Ha… ha… ha… ahhahhahhahhaa—”

The closer I walked toward the card, the harder it was to hold it in.

The laugh came crawling up my throat, uninvited.

I didn’t know why.

I just felt like laughing.

And in that moment, the sound of it felt even better than breathing.

I felt… liberated.

Like I had just slipped off a chain I didn’t even realize I had been wearing.

Three times on the way here I had stopped just to double over, laughing my guts out like some circus clown that lost the plot.

But the clock was still ticking.

Time was pressing down on me like a landlord demanding rent money, loud, suffocating and way too close for comfort.

“Pwahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahah”

My body bent as another fit of laughter followed.

Fuck… I need to control myself.

I forced myself to breathe, dragging the calm back into place as I started walking again.

My steps were shaky, even with absurd amounts of power flooding through me.

This damn laughter… it wasn’t just slipping out anymore. It was overwhelming, like some drunk friend who doesn’t know when to stop crashing on your couch.

I was close.

A few more steps.

Each step reminded me of what I had suffered in this damn forest.

The Orcs.

The moment I was swallowed by that ugly bastard.

The Hollow masks.

That disgusting, grafted hunger.

And finally… that red-scaled bastard whose name I didn’t even know.

“Fuck him—pwahahahahahahahaha!”

I raised my hands toward the card, just inches away now.

The golden glow covered me as if it was calling… greeting… bowing before me.

And without a shred of hesitation, I grabbed it.

The instant my fingers closed, the world itself seemed to hold its breath.

“I greet the ▒▒▒▒▒—”

The words weren’t mine, but they echoed within me all the same, a language not meant for mortals…

And then the shift began as I couldn’t control my laughter anymore.

I realized I wasn’t laughing anymore.

The power was.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile within the cold realm of Helheim.

Hel sat upon her throne, her gaze vacant for a moment before clarity snapped back.

She had been thinking of the Seraphic Decree… and the mortal who had dared to fool her…

…when a deep sound echoed in her mind.

It struck her so suddenly she almost lost consciousness.

Her breath stilled.

Something had been stolen from her.

She felt the shift the instant her eyes opened again.

The mortal…

His name slipped away from her memory.

His face blurred and details of his soul erased.

She reached the memory, but her own divinity denied her.

She could not recall him.

Not his voice.

Not his eyes.

Not even his existence.

The mind of a Goddess had been rewritten.

It should be impossible.

This was not one of the rewards of the Seraphic Decree.

She had denied it, had made certain no such clause could be hidden in the pact…

… and yet the memory was gone.

Not by trickery.

Not by will.

But by the Heavenly Principles themselves.

Because only they could have done this without her notice.

It was almost as if the world itself had chosen to shield the mortal…

…or perhaps it was not him being shielded at all.

Perhaps it was them—the gods—being blinded from a truth they were never meant to see.

✦✦✦

Elsewhere, within a cold obsidian hall sat a sole throne.

A being sat on it.

His eyes were pitch black and his hair were even darker like midnight itself.

Shadows twisted unnaturally toward him.

This was no mortal.

This was Hades, King of the Silent Lands.

Behind him, the hall stretched endlessly.

Every sound in this place died before it could echo.

He had felt a ripple within the laws of the world.

Someone had defied what they were never meant to be.

Death.

Still, Hades’s expression remained stoic.

Because something else shifted deeper beneath the ripples…

He could feel the world itself holding its breath.

Something… someone was awakening.

A being that even he could not see, veiled by the Heavenly Principles itself.

Hades understood what that meant.

“A new myth is being created.”

✦✦✦✦✦

Author Note:

Hey guys, Volume 1 has officially ended! 🎉

Thanks so much for sticking with me on this wild ride so far. Seriously, your support kept this story alive and kicking, and I’m gonna be shameless here (just like Rael 😅)… don’t hold back on those Golden Tickets, Power Stones, Gifts and yes, the big flashy Super Gifts too!

And if possible drop comments and reviews too.

They keep me motivated and help the story grow even faster.

Special shoutout to @KokuLock and @Superiorman552—your previous Super Gifts deserved a proper thank you, so I saved it for the volume end to make it feel extra epic ⚡.

You guys rock.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep