Chapter 41: 41. The 100th Floor

Owen stepped onto the hundredth floor.

It was a throne room.

Massive and Majestic as you would expect it to be, The ceiling stretched high upwards, lost in shadows that seemed to swallow light.

Pillars lined the hall, each one engraved with the names of Dragon Kings throughout history, stretching back to the very beginning.

And At the far end, sitting on a throne, was a figure.

A dragon in humanoid form.

He was tall, easily seven feet with a presence that made him seem even larger.

Long black hair fell past his shoulders, shot through with streaks of gold that matched his eyes, eyes identical to Owen’s in color but carrying the wisdom of centuries.

He wore robes of deep red adorned with golden embroidery that depicted dragons in flight, and power radiated from him like heat from a sun as the air around him distorted slightly like it was being boiled.

But something felt odd.

The figure was translucent. Flickering. Like a hologram or a ghost, his edges occasionally blurring as if he existed only partially in this reality.

“Welcome, young heir” the figure said, his voice resonating not just in the air but directly within Owen’s chest, making his heartbeat synchronize with the rhythm of the words.

“Who… who are you?” Owen stammered as his heart pounded.

“I am just a memory. An echo left behind by the current dragon King. I am here to test those who reach the summit of the Tower of Royals, as the kings of the past have all tested the kings after them. A tradition spanning millennia.”

“The Dragon King?” Owen breathed, This was the ruler of all dragonkind, or at least a fragment of him.

“Indeed.” The figure’s expression grew more serious, “A fragment, but one that carries enough of his power to test you properly.”

The figure stood, and the Dragon Aura’s pressure in the room intensified tenfold.

Owen’s limbs nearly buckled. His wings trembled. It felt like the weight of an ocean pressing down on him from all sides, like gravity itself had decided to target him specifically.

“You have climbed the tower and learned our history. You have received the knowledge you need and have faced yourself”

Each sentence came with another wave of pressure, forcing Owen to brace himself against the floor. “But one trial remains.”

He raised his hand, and a weapon materialized.

A massive spear that was clothed with lightning.

Golden arcs of electricity crawled along its length, making the air crack and hiss.

“You must face me. A fragment of the current Dragon King’s power, but still more than enough to destroy you if you are found wanting.”

The fragment’s golden eyes bore into Owen’s. “If you can withstand me, if you can prove yourself worthy, you will evolve. You will earn the right to stand among kings.”

Owen’s wings spread wide, even though the motion sent pain lancing through his exhausted muscles.

But he wasn’t backing down. Not now. Not when he’d come this far.

“Bring it on.”

The Dragon King’s Fragment smiled, and for just a moment, he looked proud.

“Excellent.”

The fragment moved with perfect precision as he thrusted his spear forward.

His spear tore through the air with a devastating force that left trails of golden lightning that scorched the floor.

Where the spear passed, space itself seemed to tear, reality struggling to contain the power it held.

Owen dodged the first strike by a hair’s breadth, feeling the heat of the lightning singe his scales.

He countered with a claw swipe aimed at the fragment’s exposed side, but the Dragon King simply wasn’t there anymore, having moved with an impossible speed so fast it could be mistakened for teleportation.

The spear came from above, a downward thrust that would have impaled Owen if he hadn’t rolled aside. The weapon struck the floor with a sound like thunder, creating a crater ten feet wide.

Owen launched himself into the air, trying to use his mobility advantage. He attacked from above with [Piercing Dive], putting everything he had into the strike.

The fragment didn’t even look up. He simply raised one hand, and a barrier of golden light materialized, abruptly stopping Owen’s dive cold.

The impact sent shockwaves through Owen’s body, rattling his bones.

“Predictable” the fragment said, Then he swung his spear in a wide arc, and Owen barely managed to activate [Momentum Shift] to redirect himself away from the spear.

Owen landed hard against a pillar, his claws scraping against its surface as he tried to find his footing. He unleashed [Dragon’s Breath], pouring as much mana as he could spare into a torrent of flame hot enough to melt steel.

But the fragment blocked it with a barrier of golden light that didn’t even flicker under the assault.

When the flames cleared, he was completely unharmed, his robes not even tainted by the smoke.

Owen tried [Shockwave], slamming his tail into the ground with enough force to create a seismic wave.

The fragment absorbed the energy and redirected it, sending the shockwave back at Owen twice as strong. Owen was thrown backward, crashing into one of the pillars with enough force to completely chatter it.

“You’re mostly fighting with raw power” the fragment observed, walking forward calmly.

“Understandable, given your age. But power without technique is just flailing.”

Owen pushed himself up, coughing. Blood dripped from his mouth. “Then I’ll just have to get more creative.”

He activated [Sovereignty of Space-Time], slowing the world to a crawl.

But the fragment slowed time too, matching him perfectly. They both existed in the same dilated timestream now, the rest of the world frozen around them while they continued to move at normal relative speed.

“Better” the fragment acknowledged. “But still not enough.”

They fought in the distorted timestream, and Owen realized just how outmatched he was. Even with time slowed, even with all his skills, the fragment was simply better. More experienced. More skilled. More powerful.

Every strike Owen attempted was parried. Every feint was read. Every tactic was countered before he could fully execute it.

The fragment’s spear found its mark again and again, opening cuts across Owen’s scales, drawing blood, driving him back step by step across the throne room.

Owen’s mind raced desperately. ’I can’t beat him with raw power. He’s too strong. I can’t beat him with tactics, he’s seen everything I can think of. I need to be smarter. I need to push beyond what I’ve done before.’

He activated [Sovereignty of Space-Time] harder, pushing his mastery higher. The strain was immense, like trying to lift a mountain with his mind. 45%. 48%. The world slowed even further around him, time becoming more and more plastic, more malleable.

50%.

At 50% mastery, something clicked.

It wasn’t just a gradual increase. It was a threshold, a fundamental shift in understanding.

He felt like he could feel time differently now. Not just slow it uniformly, but manipulate it with surgical precision.

A new knowledge of the Sovereignty came into mind.

He could create pockets of different time flows, and Implant himself into it, causing him to appear seconds into the future or past.

An idea formed.

He reduced the range of the Sovereignty’s influence and created a pocket space of accelerated time around himself, Staging it at an increase of 5 seconds per beat.

The Fragment’s eyes widened, genuine surprise flickering across his face for the first time.

Then Owen’s Form flickered from his sight for a moment and a deep slash appeared across the Fragment’s chest.

Golden blood gushed out from the wound.

Then Owen appeared again before him, Gasping for breath.

The Fragment looked down at the injury, then back up at Owen. And then he laughed, a genuine, joyful sound that filled the entire throne room.

“Magnificent! You’ve surpassed the first threshold of your Sovereignty!” The fragment’s wound began to close, golden light knitting the flesh back together, but the pride in his voice was unmistakable. “You’ve done in mere weeks what takes most dragons decades. You truly carry the Blood of Kings!”

What Owen had done wasn’t simple.

Unlike before, when all he could do was slow time, with the mastery now over 50%, he had adopted some more influence over the manipulation of the time stream and space.

The pocket space of accelerated time he manifested around himself had Dragged his existence and attack five seconds into the past, causing the effect of his attack to now appear on the dragon king’s fragment in the present.

He didn’t just move through space or matter.

He attacked time.

He didn’t time travel. He didn’t rewind time.

He attacked an event that already happened.

A delayed causality Attack.

From the perspective of the Fragment, the wound had already happened before Owen had flickered for that moment.

Now the Fragment raised his spear high, and golden lightning erupted across the throne room, not just from the weapon but from the fragment himself.

The air became charged with electricity, making Owen’s scales stand on end. The lightning arced between the pillars, across the floor, creating a web of deadly energy.

This wasn’t just an attack. This was the fragment showing his true power, the kind of power a Dragon King wielded.

Owen knew he couldn’t dodge this. He couldn’t repeat the same Manipulation of time and space seamlessly yet as it took a heavy toll on him.

The lightning filled the entire room. There was nowhere to run.

So he didn’t run.

He countered with [Dragon’s Breath], channeling every ounce of remaining mana into the attack.

His flames turned from orange to blue to white, so hot they began to warp the air around him.

He poured everything into it, all his exhaustion, all his determination, all his will to prove himself worthy.

Then the two forces collided in the center of the throne room, lightning and fire, the Dragon King’s power and Owen’s desperate defiance, creating an explosion that shook the entire tower.

The pillars cracked. The throne itself fractured. The very foundation of the hundredth floor groaned under the strain of their collision.

The explosion consumed everything, turning the world white and gold and orange.

Owen couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything but the roar of conflicting energies, couldn’t feel anything but the terrible heat and the crushing pressure.

When the smoke cleared, when the light finally faded and Owen could see again, both were still standing.

Both were battered, scales cracked and bleeding, robes torn and singed.

Both were grinning.

“You have fought well, young King.” the fragment said with pride.

His form was flickering more intensely now, the edges of his body dissolving into motes of light.

He lowered his spear, and the weapon began to dissolve into golden particles.

“You have passed the final trial.”

The fragment began to dissolve properly now, his form breaking apart into motes of golden light that drifted upward like fireflies.

But his eyes remained fixed on Owen, warm and approving.

“Remember, young one. You carry the blood. You carry the responsibility. You carry the hopes of all who came before.” His voice was growing fainter, echoing as if from a great distance. “Protect the World. Maintain the balance. And know that you do not walk this path alone. Every king who has ever ruled, every dragon who has ever upheld the mandate, they walk with you.”

He was almost gone now, just a vague outline of light.

“May the legacy of the Dragon Kings live on through you, Owen. And may you surpass us all.”

The last of the Fragment faded, the golden motes rising into the shadows above.

And Owen collapsed to his knees, utterly spent. His vision blurred as his limbs trembled. He could barely breathe.

But he had won.

He had completed the Tower of Royals.

[Congratulations! You have completed the Tower of Royals!]

[You have proven yourself worthy of the Blood of Kings.]

[You have demonstrated strength, wisdom, balance, and the will to choose your own path.]

Ding!

[Level Up!]

[Level: 20/20]

[Level cap threshold reached.]

[Evolution Requirements Met.]

[Initiating Evolution Sequence…]

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