Chapter 82: Dragon Emperor's Arrival
The next second, it was all over. Silence.
But there was no joy in the eyes of Draeven and Aephyra. No relief. No celebration. Because this wasn't the end. It was only the beginning. The true battle had yet to start.
A single bead of cold sweat trailed down Draeven's brow, evaporating before it could reach his jawline—burned away by the intensity of the surrounding heat. "Now let's deal with the karmic Blood rain"
Aephyra nodded and didn't hesitate. Her hand rose.
Flame—pure, undying, and absolute—bloomed from her palm. A slow, elegant gesture, as if she was merely brushing aside a curtain. Yet, what came forth was a wave of Eternal Pyre that unfurled across the sky with devastating grace, rising to meet the roiling heavens.
The Karmic Blood Rain still poured in stubborn sheets, thick with divine judgment, trying to reclaim dominion over the battlefield.
But they never stood a chance.
The moment Aephyra's flames touched the blood rain, the world shuddered.
Fsssshhhh—!!
Each drop was annihilated on contact—no splash, no smoke. Just vanishing. Burnt not into vapor, but into a superheated, barren steam—so dry, so utterly scorched by the Eternal Pyre that it would take millennia before moisture could gather again into a single drop of rain.
It was not evaporation.
It was erasure.
The sky screamed silently as the blood rain was consumed en masse, the crimson curtain vanishing until only a scorched emptiness remained. The steam that followed—dense and oppressive—still held fragments of the karmic judgment, making the air heavy, distorting space itself.
But to Aephyra and Draeven, it was preferable.
Rain had form. Rain could fall.
Steam could be devoured.
Draeven's eyes narrowed, his hand extending.
From his fingertips, a vortex of darkness spun into existence—a formless blaze, a predator without shape.
Void Devouring Flame.
It didn't burn like Aephyra's did. It consumed.
The moment it touched the steam, it feasted. The oppressive heat and judgment in the air were sucked in and devoured, like kindling thrown into an eternal furnace. The steam sizzled, twisted, screamed… and then ceased to exist.
Ashes were never left behind.
Even air itself warped.
The two sovereign flames—one undying, one devouring—moved in perfect tandem. Husband and wife. Fire and void.
The blackened storm clouds above, infused with divine wrath, rumbled in resistance. The heavens tried to hold on, tried to cling to the remnants of their judgment.
But they had no answer to Aephyra's undying flame.
The Eternal Pyre rose higher, engulfing the clouds, wrapping around them like a serpent made of divinity. And then—
BOOM.
The clouds burst.
The heavens themselves seemed to tear open, a massive ripple spreading across the sky. The storm cloud didn't drift away. It didn't rain again.
It was burned.
Gone.
Within seconds, the heavenly tribulation—Karmic Blood Rain, storm clouds, divine wrath, and all—was erased from the world.
Silence followed.
Draeven exhaled slowly, his gaze fixed beyond the battlefield now, into the far-off void where pressure loomed like a sleeping god.
He clenched his fists. "Now… we wait for the real threat."
Aephyra's expression remained cold, but her voice was steady. "Let him come."
The Eternal Pyre still danced in her eyes. Still in control of her supreme bloodline. She was not done. And neither was the Flame Devourer.
But in the next moment, their bodies turned cold.
A creeping chill that didn't come from cold but from sheer suppression crawled over their skin, into their bones, and deeper—into their very souls. Something had changed. No—someone had arrived.
The pressure was too much, It wasn't just normal pressure. It wasn't just normal spiritual force or divine will. It was the Dragon Emperor.
His presence didn't descend with grandeur or spectacle—it didn't need to. The pressure from his mere appearance was just too much that, the flames of Draeven and Aephyra paused, not extinguished but momentarily still, as if even they feared to dance before him.
Aephyra's expression darkened. Draeven's brows furrowed, and a cold drop of sweat trickled down his brow. Every instinct screamed. Every cell in their bodies knew. He had arrived.
The Dragon Emperor. Not an avatar. Not a projection. Not a split soul. Him.
"Never thought that my gathered troupe, created especially for you two, would fail…"
The voice echoed from all directions—cold, coarse, steeped in an age-old grandeur that demanded reverence… and instilled terror. The voice was low, hoarse, ancient. It seemed to echo not in the air but directly in the mind—cold and vast and impossible to defy.
"...And so badly at that."
He hovered above the battlefield. No grand dragon form. Just a tall figure cloaked in flowing shadows, draconic eyes glowing like twin suns behind a silver crown of bone and flame. His appearance was fitting of the emperor he was, and the silence around him screamed louder than any force.
"They couldn't even exhaust much of your strength."
Draeven clenched his fists, trying to fight back against the invisible weight pressing down on them. He felt like he was sinking—like space itself rejected his existence while embracing the Emperor's.
Aephyra's Eternal Pyre flickered violently. Not from weakness—but resistance.
'How... How did he get this close without either of us sensing him?'
They had been alert—vigilant from the start. But he had bypassed all their defenses, all their senses, and appeared like a ghost from legend.
"It's useless," the Dragon Emperor said, voice calm and cold. "No one escapes my control."
"You've impressed me today—both of you. Far more than I anticipated. And it only confirms it."
His tone darkened.
"You, your wife, and most of all… your child… must be erased from this world."
Draeven's eyes narrowed, but he held his silence. He wouldn't let the Dragon Emperor see his fury.
But Aephyra— She trembled. One tear fell—not out of sorrow, but boiling wrath.
"He's just a child!" she cried, voice shaking. "What could he have possibly done to deserve your hatred?! You are the Dragon Emperor! You rule all dragons! Even without lifting a finger, your bloodline alone dominates our race!"