Primordial Awakening: Rise of the Legendary Dragon God

Kael's breath did not cease.

It continued—a sustained beam of annihilation pouring from his maw like the judgment of a dead god.

The black flames roared forward, not dispersing, not thinning, but feeding on the very act of destruction.

Above the ruined town, the warped sky continued to open.

One human stepped out.

Then another.

Then two more.

They emerged from the distorted portal-like fracture in reality—armored figures brimming with compressed mana, auras flaring as they stabilized themselves in midair.

They didn't even finish orienting themselves.

The black breath hit them head-on.

One who didn't have armor vanished instantly.

Another tried to raise a barrier but was too slow. His scream lasted half a second before being swallowed, his existence erased without even the mercy of ash.

A third twisted away, only for the edge of the beam to graze him.

That was enough.

His body disintegrated mid-motion, mana unraveling like mist in sunlight.

Of course, Kael's attack didn't completely destroy their armor, so the remnants fell to the ground.

But Kael wasn't focused on that, as he was feeling something else.

He could feel something deep within him stirred—no, rose.

It wasn't mana or stamina.

It was as if there was a gauge inside his body.

Invisible, instinctive, undeniable.

Every time Kael killed a human, he felt it rise within him.

And after killing some of them, he realized how much it rose with every kill.

'Five percent.'

Every kill helped him fill that gauge by five percent, and he felt like it was already somewhat filled.

And in just a second, he realized that it was his power, and the gauge was most likely a way to tell him how many he needed to kill to go to a higher level.

He could see that his stats were already SS+, which was just a step away from SSS-rank.

That was why, instead of aiming for the portal that was sending out the humans, Kael was killing the humans.

He didn't want to destroy the source of his growth.

If possible, he wanted to keep sending more and more humans like this, and maybe, he would grow strong enough to protect everyone.

So, his breath continued.

And the sky kept bleeding humans.

The sustained discharge began to spread.

Not because Kael lost control—but because the sheer pressure of the attack was warping the atmosphere itself.

Shockwaves rippled outward in layered rings, each one detonating with a deafening sonic boom.

The ruined town ceased to exist as a location.

Stone liquefied.

Glass turned to dust.

What little remained of buildings was torn apart by pressure alone, pulverized before the flames even touched them.

Farther out, trees snapped like matchsticks. The earth split, trenches carving themselves into the land as if clawed by something unseen.

Kael adjusted his wings slightly, anchoring himself to the ground.

Then he did more.

He reached upward.

The clouds above—still stained faintly black from his breath attack an hour ago—responded.

The residue was still there.

Lingering.

Waiting.

The clouds churned violently.

Then they collapsed inward.

Condensed spheres of black flame formed within them—dense, compact, and unstable.

And then they fell.

Like meteors.

They slammed down around the portal fracture, detonating on impact with silent, absolute destruction.

Humans emerging from the rift were incinerated before they could even register the battlefield.

One after another.

Another pulse.

Another rise.

Kael counted without emotion.

Ten.

Twelve.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

The gauge climbed steadily.

And then—

Something changed.

Kael's breath struck again like usual, but for the first time—

It did not erase its target.

The black flame collided with something invisible and was stopped.

A barrier flared into existence midair—vast, layered, and screaming under the strain. Circle ignited across its surface as it absorbed the annihilating force head-on.

The woman behind it screamed—not in fear, but shock.

"WHAT—?!"

Her boots skidded backward in the air as the force pushed her, arms trembling as she reinforced the barrier instinctively. Veins stood out along her neck as she poured mana into it, teeth clenched.

"WHY IS THERE AN ATTACK HERE—?!"

For a second, which felt like eternity in a battle of this level, she held.

The breath continued to hammer her defense, black fire grinding against radiant layers of protection, the collision sending shockwaves rippling outward.

Then she noticed something.

There were no voices.

No allies.

No allies—all those people who would've arrived here before her—were trying to help her out.

Her eyes flicked sideways.

Empty sky.

Below her—nothing but devastation.

Her blood ran cold.

"…No," she whispered.

Slowly, she looked forward—past the breath attack.

And saw him.

The dragon filled the horizon.

Obsidian scales reflected the dying light like polished void. Wings vast enough to blot out the sky held steady, unmoving, as if the air itself bowed to him.

Golden draconic eyes burned with ancient clarity—focused, assessing, and alive.

Majestic.

Terrifying.

Real.

Her breath hitched.

"So… this is…" she murmured, disbelief cracking her voice. "An actual—"

"STOP!" She shouted suddenly, shaking her head violently, forcing her voice through the roaring devastation. "STOP THIS—! WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING—!"

With a frown, Kael paused.

It wasn't because of the woman's words but because he realized that she was too strong to die like this.

And as his breath stopped, the world fell into a silence so deafening that it seemed to have gotten mute.

Black flames dispersed, leaving scorched air and trembling space behind.

Kael's eyes narrowed—not in anger, but in calculation.

He could feel it—the resistance, the depth of her mana, the difference. The barrier alone was something even SSS-rankers possessed… yet hers was thicker. More refined.

Then his vision shifted.

He activated his inspection, looking for her status window.

Data flooded his perception.

And his pupils contracted.

"…EX-rank."

Two levels above him, who was an SS-ranker.

SSS-rankers could be killed by surprise.

EX-rankers?

No.

He realized that even a surprise attack wouldn't work.

Above all, he was sure that an EX ranker must have a special ability, like how SSS-rankers had a natural barrier around them.

And the problem was that Kael didn't even know that.

This time, he didn't have Ragnar to explain things to him.

Kael's jaw tightened slightly as he realized that this woman was not prey but a problem.

However, before he could think more about it, as two seconds passed, the space portal rippled again.

Another figure stepped out of the sky fracture.

Male.

Human.

The moment he emerged, his instincts screamed.

He didn't relax.

Didn't speak casually.

He tensed.

"What's going on?" He demanded sharply, scanning the devastation and sensing the absence of all those who came before him.

The woman, seeing him, shot to his side instantly.

Her expression—once confused and almost harmless, which she used while trying to make Kael believe that she didn't mean harm—twisted into raw fury.

"That fucking dragon attacked me!" She snarled as she pointed at Kael, finally showing her true colors. "It killed everyone who came before me!"

His eyes widened.

"…Everyone?"

"All of them," she snapped. "Fifteen SSS-rankers. Gone."

Silence fell between them.

Then rage boiled over.

"Do you have any idea how long it takes to raise one SSS-ranker?" the man growled as he glared at Kael. "Those guys weren't even supposed to fight you. They were sent to intimidate you!"

Even the woman clicked her tongue violently. "They were told to show strength. To make you submit. Even then, they mattered."

Her gaze burned as if trying to eat Kael alive.

"And now they're dead."

Both of them flared their auras fully.

The sky trembled.

Below them, the last dragon watched—silent, coiled, golden eyes sharp.

Because he knew that tricks wouldn't work on those guys.

Worst of all, the portal was still pulsing, meaning more were going to come out of it, and Kael didn't want that.

But he couldn't attack the portal, as both of them were standing before the portal.

If he were to attack, they would block it.

The two humans, on the other hand, exchanged a glance—brief, sharp, and practiced.

Then suddenly, the portal stopped pulsing, and the man made an 'Ah' sound, as if he remembered something.

"Portal's stalled," the man muttered, informing the woman why the portal had stopped pulsing. "Mana stone's dry. They're swapping it."

The woman scoffed, her eyes never leaving Kael. "A few seconds, then. Enough."

He nodded once. "We capture it now. Alive. Before reinforcements arrive and it decides to run—or worse."

Her lips curled. "Good. I want answers. And compensation."

Their words carried no secrecy.

Kael heard every syllable.

'They want to capture me.'

His claws dug slightly into the ruined ground as his mind raced. Seconds. That was all they needed.

More EX-rankers arriving would mean containment formations and layered seals—things he couldn't brute-force through yet.

'I can't let—'

The thought didn't finish.

The man vanished.

No distortion. No buildup. No warning.

One moment, he was hovering beside the woman—

Next, Kael's vision snapped.

Space screamed.

A blade coated in violently compressed aura appeared in front of his face, close enough that the killing intent scraped across his scales like ice.

Not movement.

Not speed.

It was as if the man had decided to be there.

Kael's golden eyes widened a fraction—

—And the sword descended.