Chapter 358: Chapter 358 : The Dragon Kings Offer

There was silence everywhere.

Then Zara moved.

She swallowed hard and forced herself to speak. “Look behind you,” she said.

Zarvok’s eyes narrowed.

He turned.

A silver‑haired boy was standing near Alicia’s fallen body.

Zarvok’s eyes widened for a brief moment. He hadn’t sensed the boy at all until now. For a creature whose perception had spanned entire battlefields for centuries, that lapse felt almost insulting.

’Unbelievable… how did he get past my senses?’ he thought. ’Is it a skill, a blessing… or something even higher watching over him?’

Alex didn’t look at him.

His gaze was fixed on Alicia—bleeding, motionless on the ground.

A pressure like a crashing wave burst from Alex’s body, sweeping across the battlefield. It howled outward like a tornado, smashing into everyone present. Dust and ash lifted from the broken streets, swirling helplessly inside that invisible storm.

Every human felt their bodies tremble, an instinctive urge to bow forcing their heads down. Armor rattled, weapons shook in unsteady hands, and even seasoned veterans felt their throats go dry.

Darkness poured from Alex’s form, swallowing the light around him as lightning cracked across the sky. The ground shook, stones lifting and shuddering under the weight of his aura.

Everyone could feel it.

Rage.

Raw, suffocating rage bleeding through the atmosphere, so dense it felt like breathing molten iron.

As Alex stared at Alicia’s broken form, he felt his reason slipping.

’She…’

He took a step forward.

’Like this…?’

His vision blurred red.

Then the system’s voice cut sharply into his mind.

[Host, this is not the time to lose control. She still has a heartbeat. Pulse is present.]

Lying on the ground, Alicia’s consciousness flickered.

Her vision was blurring, edges fading, but she saw him.

Alex.

A faint smile spread across her bloodied lips.

“I… did your job while you were gone,” she managed to whisper. “Make sure to… compensate me for that…”

A very small smile touched Alex’s face, fragile but genuine, cracking through the mask of rage for a heartbeat.

Then everything stopped.

Time froze.

The wind halted mid‑gust.

Flames and smoke hung motionless in the air. Falling debris paused above the ground. Even Serena’s outstretched hand, halfway to Alicia, froze in place.

Alicia’s body also became still—suspended between breaths.

A white aura began to radiate from Alex, overlaying the darkness like a second skin. His newly awakened time affinity flared to life. Faint, translucent figures—time elementals—flickered into existence around him, orbiting his form like shards of distorted glass.

Alex knelt beside Alicia.

He placed his hand over the gaping wound in her stomach.

Time bent.

Around Alicia’s half‑dead body, a localized ripple spread. The blood flowing from her wound coiled backward, returning to her veins. Torn flesh reknit. Shredded muscles twisted and merged, reweaving themselves.

Scars unwrote themselves.

Bones realigned.

Every cut, burn, and fracture she had sustained along the battle began to reverse.

Her body moved through its own past in seconds.

In no time at all, her skin cleared, her breathing smoothed, her pulse steadied.

Her body became whole again—as if she had never been injured.

—

A sharp clapping sound broke the frozen stillness behind Alex.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Zarvok’s voice followed, echoing through the unmoving world.

“Impressive… very impressive—for a human, that is.”

He stood outside the immediate zone of temporal reversal, a being whose power allowed him to resist its full influence. His eyes glittered with interest.

Then he casually punched the air.

Space collapsed.

Cracks spread out from his fist, spider‑webbing through the frozen world. A massive black hole formed in mid‑air, its edges writhing with twisted gravity as it began to devour everything in sight—even in stopped time.

Buildings, rocks, suspended debris—all began to stretch toward it, warping as they were dragged in. The frozen flames were pulled like ribbons of light into the void.

Alex’s eyes widened for just an instant.

At this rate, everyone would die.

Zarvok watched his expression and smiled.

“What, did you think only you possessed reality‑bending powers, boy?” he said.

The Dragon King gestured lazily toward the growing singularity.

“Now choose. If you let things continue, they will all be devoured by that black hole. Their bodies crushed. Organs destroyed. A very painful death.”

He spread his arms as if making a generous offer.

“But I am a reasonable ruler, who always thinks of the good of my people… and others,” Zarvok continued. “So I will give you a choice.”

He pointed at Alex.

“Die by my hands—become an offering for my god. In return, I swear upon my name and my god’s name that not a single person here will die. They will live, serving under me. And I will treat them… as well as I can.”

He tilted his head.

“What do you say to the deal?”

He raised five fingers.

“I’ll give you five minutes to think carefully. You can do whatever you want until then.”

Alex looked at the black hole.

Time might be frozen, but the singularity was still growing, warping even halted reality. If he did nothing, when time resumed, the pull would tear everything apart.

Darkness surged from his body again, but this time it spread across the ground—turning it pitch black, like ink swallowing the earth. It crawled beneath people’s feet, wrapping around their legs and waists, anchoring them in place against the vacuum.

Above, the black hole continued to devour.

Trees bent and snapped as they were pulled in. Ruined buildings stretched, fragmented, and disappeared into its core. Slowly, inevitably, it grew larger.

Alex glanced down at Alicia.

She lay unconscious, breathing steadily, her face relaxed. A peaceful smile lingered on her lips—as if, even in sleep, she was satisfied with what she had done. To Alex, that small, stubborn smile felt more terrifying than any wound; it was the proof that she had been ready to die here without regret.

Her hand still held her sword.

Its blade glowed like molten sunlight, its hilt adorned with ancient runes and a radiant crimson gem that pulsed like a heartbeat. The weapon radiated pressure on its own, making the air hum faintly around it.

Alex gently pried it from her fingers.

“I’ll be borrowing this again,” he said aloud.

Space molecules tightened around his body as his space affinity awakened in tandem with his other powers. The air around his hand distorted.

He slashed sideways.

Reality split.

A rift opened in the air beside him—a clean tear exposing a swirling corridor of darkness and distant light.

From inside that tear, three figures stepped out.

Azrael.

Alden.

Ethan.

Zarvok’s smile widened. “The kid has guts,” he said softly. “I’ll give him that.”

Azrael’s eyes went immediately to Alex.

He didn’t even glance at Zarvok.

He dropped to one knee without hesitation, head bowed. The pressure in the air didn’t come from the dragon—it came from the silver‑haired boy standing before him.

Alden looked around, stunned.

A deadly black hole devouring buildings.

A suffocating aura radiating from both Alex and Zarvok, making his body shake. The sky itself seemed too small to contain the clash of their existence.

“What the hell is even happening…” Alden muttered. “A few seconds ago, we were fighting Frost Giants then time froze—and now we’re moving again and suddenly we’re here?”

Ethan stood frozen, eyes wide.

He could feel it.

Time was still.

Frozen.

He stared at Alex, disbelief written across his face. ’Did he freeze time… on this scale… for this long?’ he thought. ’Even I can only manage a few seconds at best. And forget that—when did he awaken another affinity…? What kind of powers is he awakening…?’

Alex didn’t waste time.

“I’ll explain later,” he said. “First—Azrael, take the people important to us out of here. Use your army of undead. Alden, Ethan—help him.”

He slashed the air again.

Another portal opened, swirling with space energy.

“It leads to the elven empire,” Alex said. “Move.”

Undead began to surge from Azrael’s shadow, ranks of skeletal soldiers and spectral beasts rising even in frozen time. Tendrils of darkness extended from Alex’s body, grabbing unconscious or weakened people and hurling them toward the portal, shoving them through the rift with brutal efficiency.

[50 seconds left, Host.]

The system’s voice echoed in Alex’s mind.

“Damn,” Alex muttered, glancing at Zarvok and the devouring void behind him. “All right. Everybody out.”

“But there are still people here,” Ethan protested. “We can’t just—”

“Did you not hear me?” Alex said, eyes cold. “Go now, before I cut you down myself.”

Ethan opened his mouth again—

A blade touched the side of his neck.

Alden’s blade.

“Don’t try to be a hero this time,” Alden said quietly. “Move.”

Ethan swallowed, then nodded once.

They turned toward the portal, dragging survivors and ushering them through, while Alex stood between them and the Dragon King—holding back the end of the world, one ticking second at a time.

—-

A/N:

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