SSS-RANKED Awakening: Supreme Fate-breaker System

"You're a being revered as a god—" her voice cracked, "—and yet here you are… afraid of a boy who's only hours old?!"

Silence followed.

Then—

He laughed. The Dragon Emperor chuckled. Low. Contemptuous.

"You don't get it, do you?" he said softly. "No matter how well you try to hide it… I know everything."

He raised a single hand.

The air around Draeven and Aephyra crushed inward for a moment—like the world itself had been denied to them.

"You can mask it. You can hide him. You can seal his presence, cloak his talent, bury his fate under illusions and divine scripts… but it changes nothing."

"He's still your child."

"Born of the Eternal Pyre and the Devouring Void."

"A child with a sovereign soul… unfated… untethered to the world's laws. A child beyond destiny. His birth was heaven's mistake and all these are heaven's efforts to make up for its mistakes. Do you truly think someone like that can be allowed to live?"

Silence.

Not even the void dared stir.

Draeven's jaw clenched so tight it cracked.

Aephyra's flames exploded in silent defiance, twisting skyward with divine fury.

Aephyra's legs weakened under his pressure, but she did not fall. Her fire surged again, reacting to her emotion, rippling with wrath and maternal defiance.

They'll tried to resist him, but it was useless... But the Dragon Emperor only stared down at them

"So, what now?" Aephyra whispered bitterly. "You'll erase him because he might threaten you someday? Because you're afraid of what he could become?"

The Dragon Emperor's voice returned—quiet, unwavering. He didn't deny it. There was no need to.

"Yes."

"Because I've seen it."

"I've seen Heaven's prophecy... the consequences if I don't take action."

Those words struck harder than any blow.

"Heaven's prophecy?" Draeven and Aephyra's brows furrowed slightly. But for Draeven, it went deeper than confusion—his heart sank. He had always believed he had some semblance of understanding when it came to Heaven's will. Mediocre, yes. Incomplete, of course. But now?

Now he realized— He didn't understand Heaven's will at all.

"How did you get prophecy from Heaven?" he asked, voice low, almost disbelieving.

But the Dragon Emperor only sighed. His tone dropped colder.

"Alright. Enough probing. This is as much as I'll allow you to know."

"Drop the act."

"If you have any methods… use them."

At that moment, Draeven and Aephyra's expressions changed. The pretense fell away like shattered glass. They were never foolish enough to face the Dragon Emperor unprepared. They had made plans. They had contingencies.

Because they knew—before anything else could be done, before they could truly defeat and kill the Dragon Emperor—they had to first break free from the Dragon Emperor's control. The Progenitor's Curse.

The power of the Dragon Emperor's bloodline—often referred to in hushed tones as the Dragon Progenitor bloodline—was not simply authority. It was dominion.

A law etched into the fabric of draconic existence.

It didn't matter if a dragon was ancient or newly hatched, strong or weak, noble or wild. Once the Dragon Emperor willed it, every being with dragon blood would feel their soul shiver… their knees weaken… their instincts bend in obedience.

It was absolute.

A vampire progenitor's dominion over their kin? That was child's play compared to this.

Where progenitor vampires could control the minds and bodies of their bloodline, the Dragon Emperor's control went deeper—into the essence, into the origin of the dragon race itself. It wasn't just mind or willpower—it was ancestral law.

The blood of all dragons, no matter how diluted or mixed, was rooted in him. A divine branding. A curse and crown in one.

He didn't need to lift a finger. With but a thought, he could make even the mightiest of Dragon Sovereigns kneel. Even if a dragon resisted with every ounce of power, their blood would betray them, choosing the Emperor's will over their own.

And this law didn't care about morality. Or justice. Or circumstance. It simply was.

The terrifying truth was… if the current Dragon Emperor were to die, a new one would be born at random among the various royal bloodlines. No one knew who. No one could predict where.

But once born, that dragon would carry the Progenitor's Mark, and Heaven itself would cloak them in divine protection until they matured—until they ascended.

Assassination attempts? Impossible. Schemes and sabotage from other dragons? Futile.

If the plot originated from a dragon, directly or indirectly, it would fail—guaranteed. The curse of the heavens would unravel every plan, turn every ambush into disaster. Even manipulating other races was pointless, as long as a dragon's intent was behind it.

It was divine protection, as unyielding as fate itself. A curse and a safeguard granted by the heavens.

Like the plot armor of a destined protagonist—but one enforced by the laws of the universe.

And so, over the ages, even the proudest dragons learned. They stopped trying. They bowed their heads and bore it—because to rebel was to be cursed.

But the internal politics of the dragon race never ceased. If anything, they adapted. Every time a Dragon Emperor was born, the royal family from which he emerged would rise to dominance. They would guard the child with their lives, ensuring his identity remained hidden. Their loyalty wasn't just out of reverence—it was survival. Because during the reign of their Emperor, they would reign supreme.

Over time, rumors grew. Whispers in the old courts. That the Dragon Emperor was not many… but one. The same soul, reincarnated again and again.

Each time born anew, but destined to reclaim the throne. And once they matured… they began to remember. Ancient memories. Past lives. Lost knowledge.

That's why the Dragon Emperor was always so vast in wisdom, so terrifying in mastery. He wasn't just a ruler. He was the continuation of every Dragon Emperor before him, a legacy that transcended time.

A being sharpened by countless lifetimes. A being whose very existence made war with the Dragon race impossible.