Primordial Soul's Rebirth

Seconds after the first attack, the skies above Melanochelys flared with chaos.

Roars split the heavens as eight legendary dragons, each strong enough to wipe out a city with a single attack, descended from the stormy clouds.

Their eyes burned with primal power as their wings darkened the sun.

'They aren't your normal fleet,' Alex muttered, standing in the clouds like an army.

[Yes. That many legendary dragons wouldn't be sent here without a solid reason.]

What Sophia said was true. A normal fleet would mostly have one or two legendary dragons. Even those types of fleets would be war-leading fleets.

But the one before them had all legendary dragons, which wasn't normal.

'Now that you mention it, this seems too much of a coincidence.' Alex squinted as he stared at the dragons closing in.

Turning toward Vilolet, Alex tilted his head. "What are the odds that this attack, right when I'm here, is a coincidence?"

It was clear what he was referring to. No one here was foolish enough not to understand.

He meant Melanochelys had a traitor in their ranks. And that traitor was working for the Dragon Empire.

"I will look into it," Violet replied as her eyes sharpened and her fists clenched.

Now that Alex had mentioned it, she could also see it.

A timely attack with more than ten legendary dragons couldn't be done without the approval of the higher-ups of the Dragon Empire.

But not everyone can meet with the higher-ups of the Dragon Empire, so the traitor must be some higher-up of Melanochelys.

After all, only power can give someone the right to speak in the Dragon Empire.

"Well," Alex, seeing the expression on Violet's face, turned back to the incoming dragons. "We can think about the traitor later."

Snap!

He cracked his knuckles and stretched, his lips moving.

"The attack is well-planned, for sure. But you know, the person who planned this made a grave mistake."

Whoosh!

He vanished from his spot, reaching right before the lead dragon, whose eyes widened in surprise.

"They underestimated me."

His words echoed in the sky as he smiled at the dragon, which tried to shift its body into a defensive position.

FWOOOSH!

A twist of his body, and his right leg came crashing down.

BOOOOM!

His kick struck the dragon's snout as the sound barrier shattered multiple times.

"GAHHH!!" The creature was hurled downward, spiraling.

Without pause, Alex moved again.

His fists blazed, one with fire, the other with ice, as he shot forward like a bullet.

CRACK! SMASH! BLAAAM!

A second dragon felt his flaming punch slam into its jaw, teeth scattering like pearls.

It barely roared before a torrent of glacial spikes erupted across its wings, freezing it mid-air.

Alex spun.

Earth magic coiled around his legs, then launched upward.

"GRAAAAAH!" Roared the third dragon, engulfing him in a torrent of lightning.

But lightning met wind.

WHIIIIIRRR!

His body flickered—faster than thought—as the air danced around him.

"Too slow."

BANG!

He struck its chest, a concussive shockwave echoing across the horizon. But then, enduring the pain, the dragon shot his attack at Alex, only to see him gone.

He wasn't there.

He was...

"Here," Alex called, sitting between the dragon's horns, his finger glowing with destruction energy, touching its head.

'Shit—' The dragon couldn't even finish its thought before its brain was disintegrated.

"ROARR!!!"

The fourth dragon, roaring, lunged from above, only to miss Alex like its friend, finding it hard to land a hit on Alex with how much space shift he used.

One moment he was here, and the next, he would be somewhere else.

"What do you think of this?" Alex smiled at the frustrated dragon as he summoned a fire arrow.

A mere fire arrow.

The dragon froze before it scoffed. "Don't get cocky, demon lord. An attack like that won't do anything—"

Whoosh!

Its words were cut short as the air whistled—the fire arrow hit it.

"Shit!" It cursed, caught in surprise.

"You know who I am, huh?" Alex muttered, rubbing his chin, but the dragon, seeing it was fine, sighed, its worry that it might be some trick waved off.

"Of course, I know. I came here to kill you—"

"Well, it doesn't matter," Alex cut the dragon off again, his hand in his pocket. "After all, you guys are underestimating me too much."

The dragon frowned. "What do you—"

But before it could complete its words.

"Boom," Alex smiled, and the next second, a sigil glowed where the arrow had hit.

FWWOOOM!!!

The sigil ignited, and the dragon detonated in midair. It was flung back, shrieking as it felt its scales shatter.

Meanwhile—

Alice soared like a crimson comet. Her phoenix-born wings blazed like a second sun.

The dragon before her, wreathed in obsidian flame, lashed out with its tail and fire.

KRAK-KROOOOSH!

She twisted mid-flight, flame bursting from her palm. It wasn't normal fire—it was phoenix fire mixed with her original fire, burning bright red, curling like petals and plasma.

"Let me show you how real fire burns!"

She launched a barrage of burning feathers.

FWWSSH! FWWSSH! FWWSSH!

The dragon howled, its wings scorched and hide seared.

Alice dove, her whole body alight, a spear of fury and flame.

SLAAAAM!

Her punch hit its eye, then a sweep kick midair, followed by a fiery explosion beneath her feet.

The dragon crashed into the sea, screaming.

Ann, on the other side of the battlefield, blurred.

She was faster now.

Too fast to follow.

She couldn't fight in the air, but Alex gave her a pair of boots, a product from the system that enables walking in the air.

The dragon she faced slashed at where she'd been.

Too late.

Her new soul-type ability shimmered like invisible blades. She danced past every strike.

SWIP! SWISH! SCHLIK!

Invisible wounds opened across the dragon's body.

It hissed, confused, bleeding from nowhere.

Ann grinned. "Don't worry, it's not your soul I'm cutting... It's just your body."

The dragon lunged in rage, only for its wing to collapse, sliced clean.

Ann, behind it, exhaled.

"One down."

Seraphyra, on the other hand, wasn't faring well.

She screamed, dodging another fireball. Her angelic wings were trembling, and her magic circles flickered.

The dragon in front of her—massive and merciless—sneered.

"Try harder, little one. Maybe I'll yawn."

He flicked her with his tail, sending her spiraling.

'I'm too weak!' She realized, coughing blood, yet stood again, raising her trembling sword.

Her gaze found the others—Alice, Ann, and Alex—fighting with practical ease. It was as if these dragons didn't even pose a threat to them.

Alex was even handling four dragons at once.

'They aren't older than me...'

Seraphyra gritted her teeth, realizing how weak she was compared to them.

Her cheery eyes were losing their light, and for the first time, something else burned in her violet eyes.

She felt the need to grow stronger now, more than ever.

The dragon, however, laughed. "You can't even put a scratch on me."

Hearing those words, something stirred within Seraphyra; her space affinity, which had stagnated for a while, seemed to evolve.

The dragon didn't care. He lunged.

But then—

CRAAAACK!

A fist slammed into his back like a divine hammer.

BOOOOOM!

The dragon screamed, launched through the air like a ragdoll, and crashed into the empire's barrier, which shimmered and twisted around him, trapping him.

It was Barbara, controlling the barrier, crushing the dragon within it.

The dragon writhed, groaning in pain, but it couldn't move.

Alex appeared beside Seraphyra.

"Good effort," he said softly, patting her head. "But you need to take it slow. I'll handle the rest."

She blinked in shock, but he was already gone.

Three dragons, still alive but severely injured, trying to attack him, were before him, paused mid-attack.

He had frozen them in time using the temporal pause and used that moment to help Seraphyra.

'She was about to awaken her demon blood, right?' He asked Sophia, and her reply came instantly.

[Yes. But you did well stopping her. She isn't strong enough to control her power if it grows.]

Nodding his head, Alex turned toward the dragons, his eyes glowing.

He summoned fire, wind, water, and stone.

One element per dragon.

Fire to burn lungs, wind to rupture wings, water to crush organs, and earth to pierce bone.

He didn't need theatrics.

He was letting them return to the state before birth, sending them back to the afterlife.

When time resumed—

KRAAAK-KRAAAAK-KRAAAAAAM!

Four dragons fell at once, screaming as their bodies crashed like meteors.

In another corner of the battlefield, Violet battled her own.

Sunlight burned around her as her veins glowed gold. She was using the power of her sun elf bloodline to its limit.

The dragon's flames met her radiant shields.

BOOM! CLANG! FWOOOM!

She gritted her teeth. Epic-ranked, yes—but she had her blood.

She summoned a solar spear, flinging it.

KRAK!

It struck the dragon's shoulder, sending it reeling.

Still, it advanced.

Until—

A burst of blue flame joined hers.

Emberlyn appeared beside her, her glaive crackling.

"Let's take this overgrown lizard together."

Violet smiled, golden eyes fierce.

Together, they charged.

High above it all, Alex hovered alone.

Dragons screamed, fire raged, and the barrier pulsed with light, yet his coat, made of Verathian, merely rippled in the wind, his eyes steady.

Seven legendary dragons.

One man.

This was the beginning of the Demon Lord's dragon slayer legend.