Chapter 68: I Am A Dragon [2]

Louis’ Fantasy Heart trembled. The dragon roared triumphantly as the explosion engulfed most of the Fantasy Heart’s Domain. Since everything was already a wasteland, no further damage was done.

“Impressive. To think your ability to Visualize and Manifest has grown this powerful,” Niflheim said. “If only you could become even stronger, this creature might one day become real…”

“…What do you mean?” Louis asked.

“Starting at the Third Step of Sword Breathing, and if combined with other Methods, the power to Manifest your Soul’s Visualization becomes possible. But that is something you cannot do right now. Don’t even dream of achieving it anytime soon.”

“Tsk. You tell me incredible things only to say I cannot do them… but thank you for the information. Now, I hope that—”

CRAAASH!

It was not over. The skies split open, and a gigantic hand composed of countless green vines and red eyes descended, reaching for Louis with terrifying intent.

His dragon roared and clashed against the colossal hand, wrestling fiercely. It unleashed powerful dragon breaths, claw strikes, biting attacks, and tail whips in a desperate effort to stop it.

Yet the hand, forged from compressed Consciousness, was overwhelmingly strong. It distorted Louis’ Fantasy Heart, weakening his mind and resistance once more.

“Nnngh?! No…! I won’t yield! Never! I will die if I must, but I will NEVER yield!”

Louis bled from every orifice as he smiled defiantly. His power surged unexpectedly. His Visualization suddenly pushed back, for a fleeting moment, the Grievance’s Hand and his Manifested Dragon stood on equal footing.

That brief equilibrium was enough to buy time until help finally arrived from the outside world.

FLASH!

A blinding stake of pure Soul Essence pierced through. Louis instantly recognized the essence—it belonged to someone very dear to him.

“Catrise’s Soul Weapon?!”

The golden stake struck the hand and burned it from within, then plunged deep into the center of Louis’ Fantasy Heart, flooding it with the radiant, holy light of his mother’s magic.

An ocean of holy light washed across the entire wasteland. Louis watched in awe as the Fantasy Heart Domain began to transform beautifully. The desolate ashes gave way to an ever-growing garden of white lilies, his mother’s favorite flowers.

The Essence of his Mother’s Legacy poured into his Fantasy Heart without him realizing it, cleansing everything like a purifying sea. The wasteland vanished, replaced by a blooming garden, and…

The light enveloped the Grievance’s hand, halting its advance and giving Louis the chance to counterattack. He leaped toward his Dragon Manifestation’s head and slowly merged with it, vanishing inside and taking full control.

“S-So this is what it feels like! This feeling of endless power…!”

Louis could not hold back his tears as they streamed down his face.

“It looks like someone is helping you from outside!” Niflheim called out. “If we can destroy this Consciousness Fragment from both outside and inside, it will die for certain!”

Niflheim swiftly flew to the dragon’s claws. Louis gasped as he gripped the legendary sword forged from Primordial Ice, conjured by the Dragon King himself.

“Niflheim, are you sure?”

“In that form? It is definitely possible.”

“…I see.”

Louis smiled bitterly, realizing that to truly wield Niflheim, he would need to fully attain his True Dragon Form, an impossible challenge, a ridiculous Fantasy he could never stop chasing.

Thus.

“—!!!”

The Grievance unleashed a soul-wrenching shriek, shaking the Radiant Sea of Holy Light conjured by Catrise’s giant stake-shaped Soul Weapon piercing Louis’ Fantasy Heart.

It was now or never. Before it could free itself, Louis had to end it here and now.

He closed his eyes.

His Aura surged. Sword Energy rapidly shaped into a silver serpentine dragon that coiled around Niflheim, shocking her.

“Even your Sword Energy takes the form of a dragon! What kind of obsession is this?”

Niflheim had been surprised again and again by Louis’ accomplishments.

She hated to admit it, but at this point, she had begun to like him—just a little.

“Louis Drakeheart! You are an insane man. You are foolish. And you are reckless… However, I no longer see you as unworthy. If you ever attain the power… I wouldn’t mind lending you my strength—even a small fragment of it.”

“I am grateful for such kind words, especially from an Ancient Legendary Weapon like you, Niflheim! Then…!”

Louis and Niflheim became one. Blinding pale light and azure frost converged as the giant silver dragon roared, charging forward and slashing through the hand with all their combined power.

For this moment, Louis fed his delusions to their absolute limits and manifested the impossible—because he was within his Fantasy Heart’s Domain.

“Dragon King’s Divine Blade Art.”

“First Form.”

All of his insanity, madness, delusions, and emotions poured through his sword in a single, overwhelming strike. Louis roared as his Fantasy Heart beat faster and faster, responding to his unbreakable determination.

“Ascending Heavens!”

SLAAASH!

An attack born from a crippled man’s delusions, his insanity given form, split the skies within his Fantasy Heart. The Grievance’s Consciousness, which had tried to consume his heart, was…

Utterly destroyed.

Louis’ dragon form slowly crumbled into ashes, falling into the desert below. His hands trembled as joy flooded him, he had, for the first time, experienced what it truly felt like to be a dragon.

“Next time, it will be the real deal.”

His fists clenched tightly as Louis slowly felt his Consciousness regain control of his body.

♢♢♢♢

“Louis…! Come back to your senses already!!!”

Mirai cried tears of blood as she battled a Louis consumed by the Grievance, his body completely covered in countless vines. Her friends lay on the ground, bleeding and unconscious, unable to contain him any longer. Catrise poured everything she had into the stake embedded in Louis’ chest, clenching her teeth in desperation.

Mirai swung her blazing claws, only for metallic vines—born from Louis’ Sword Energy and Spiritual Energy, to intercept her attacks, deflecting them before whipping across her body, leaving deep, bleeding wounds.

“Nnngaaaah!”

Yet Mirai refused to give up. The more she bled, the more her true power surged. Her rings slowly reached their limits as her limiter began to break.

“I won’t give up on you! Never…!”

Louis remained encased in a coffin of dark green vines studded with golden spikes, eyes closed, immersed in an endless dream.

But his mouth kept muttering incomprehensible words.

“The Gardener… is here… He… shall… make you all… into beautiful flowers… The Gardener is here… He is here… The Gardener… Emerald Moon…”

“What nonsense are you talking about?!”

Mirai kicked him down, only for countless vines to erupt like spider legs and scuttle away. She chased him relentlessly, striking him again and forcing him to stumble across the dry, purified soil.

“I won’t let you take him!”

Mirai spread her wings and descended like a meteor, clashing against Louis with all her strength. Her flames burned the vines, but they regrew endlessly.

“Gardener is your name, right?! Get out of his body!”

With furious fists, she pummeled Louis’ body, burning more and more vines even as they pierced and tore through her skin with every strike.

Mirai struggled, but the Grievance proved far stronger.

Countless vines whipped her relentlessly, nearly shattering her bones. Her skin shredded, blood covering her entirely until she was stained deep red.

“Aaaagh!”

Mirai collapsed, crashing into the ground, gasping for air. Her hands trembled as she stared at Louis’ calm, sleeping face while his mouth muttered words he would never speak.

Bloody tears streamed from her crimson eyes as she watched the Grievance slowly approach her. Its crimson gaze tried to erode her mind, but it failed every time.

“Grievance… you…!”

“No…! I am not…! I am not like you!” Mirai screamed. “I don’t steal bodies, and I don’t kill people because I find it amusing! I am not a monster! I…! Give him back! Give Louis back to us… give him back!”

As Mirai screamed, something deep within her resonated.

In her moment of greatest despair.

When everything seemed truly lost.

When she was at her weakest, bleeding so much that the soil beneath her turned dark red.

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

Her Delusional Dream—her Fantasy—began to manifest through intense heartbeats.

The Grievance stepped back in surprise, sensing something awakening within Mirai.

Something immensely sinister.

“Aaahhh…! AAAAAHHHHH!”

Mirai screamed in agony and pain, rising to her feet while gasping for breath.

Her chest itched unbearably, deep inside her ribs, right where her heart lay.

The itch was so intense she could not contain it.

With her claws, she tore open her own chest and seized her beating heart.

“GIVE… HIM… BACK…!”

Her eyes twisted with madness as she devoured her own heart right there.

“—?!”

Even the Grievance—the Gardener of the Emerald Moon—seemed shaken by what she had done.

It made no sense.

Consumed by wrath and the desperate need to save the man she loved, Mirai embraced her own insanity and formed a Fantasy Heart.

Thus.

Her Spiral of Madness was born.

“Awaken…! DEVIL!”

RUMBLE!

And the Protagonist’s First Incarnation—Devil—manifested.

From darkness, blood, and suffering, an eternally burning flame from purgatory surged through her aura, rapidly taking shape.

The figure, forged from infernal flames, materialized as a slender form of red and black metal clad in a completely red suit.

A pair of long black demonic wings pulsed with fleshy tendrils and countless eyes that looked in every direction, constantly moving.

Its face was shaped like a laughing demon, crowned with long black horns adorned with red jewels.

“Ahaha… Gyahahahahaha!”

Accompanied by devilish laughter, the First Incarnation of the Spiral of Entropy—Devil—was born.

“Incarnation… Spiral…! Spiralwalker!!!”

The Grievance finally understood what it faced. Resentment filled its guttural voice, as though it had once encountered beings of this power, carrying Spirals born from Madness within their Fantasy Hearts.

“Give him back…! GIVE HIM BACK!”

Mirai roared. The Devil laughed maniacally as her claws rushed toward the Grievance, slicing through its vines while the Devil cut through its Consciousness, severely weakening it.

“—?!”

The Gardener gasped, stepping back and attempting to flee with Louis’ body, only for a pillar of infernal flames to erupt from the ground, blocking its escape. It turned west, rushing toward the swamp, but a giant zombie emerged from the miasma, roaring furiously.

“W-Where… do you think you’re carrying Lord Louis?!”

Zorba had awakened, vomiting blood as he cloaked himself in Miasma to push his Necromancy to its absolute limits. Hecatoncheires—cleaved in half—still had its upper body intact. It swung its fists downward, slamming the ground and halting the Grievance’s retreat.

Turning in the opposite direction, the Grievance saw a glowing azure light charging straight toward it. A freezing sword strike pierced one of its limbs, encasing it in ice before shattering it into countless pieces. The plant creature tripped and rolled across the ground.

“Haaa… Haaa… Don’t you dare take him… away!”

Anastasia had miraculously risen again. Using her Sword Breathing to regulate her body’s energy and substitute blood loss with Ki, she gripped her sword tightly, infusing it with her Sword Technique before thrusting forward.

“—! Insanity…”

The Grievance found itself surrounded by three insane individuals, all raised by Louis. They did not hesitate to risk their lives if it meant saving their Lord, the man who had given them new purpose and hope.

“GIVE HIM BACK!!!”

They roared in unison. Their attacks struck the Grievance simultaneously, tearing apart most of its vines and freeing Louis’ body.

And then, at that moment, as the vines began to gather once more to seize him—

FLASH!

A brilliant white light erupted from Louis’ chest. A tremendous attack shook the heavens and cleaved through half of the remaining Corrupted Field.

All three were bathed in the light but remained unharmed.

The overwhelming strike split the sky. The Miasma burned away into ashes and scattered.

A familiar voice echoed.

“I’m sorry for taking so long, everyone. I’m back.”

All three stared in disbelief as Louis opened his eyes once more, glowing with golden light.

His Aura had subtly changed. Its wavelengths now resembled those of a gigantic dragon.

“Your majesty… I knew you would make it…”

Catrise smiled faintly and fainted.

—–

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