"The Leyline Flower, fused with a dragon's primal origin, huh?"
Akuto glanced toward the Dragonspume and saw straight through its nature at once.
Just as the God of the Bible's lore described, Dragonspume gathers the essence of dragon veins and dragonkind—an emblem of the earth's might.
"Hm? You have some insight."
Tannin hadn't expected Akuto to grasp Dragonspume's essence in a single look.
"Current Red Dragon Emperor, Akuto—to what do I owe the honor?" Tannin asked bluntly.
To most nobles of the Underworld, Akuto's Leviathan identity outweighed his Red Dragon Emperor status.
But to a Dragon King like Tannin, Akuto's identity as Red Dragon Emperor mattered far more.
After a brief greeting, Akuto cut straight to the point:
"Lord Tannin, I've come to borrow the Dragonspume Blossoms in your care."
"Dragonspume… Impossible."
Tannin refused without the slightest hesitation.
"Why?" Akuto asked evenly.
"For the future of dragonkind."
"…"
Akuto shook his head. He'd already guessed as much. If anything, it only told him Tannin's horizon was too narrow.
Seeing Akuto unconvinced, Tannin elaborated:
"Dragons require Dragon Apples to live. Since the great shift of heaven and earth, lands fit to grow them have shrunk drastically. This patch of the Underworld is one of the few I could turn into my own domain."
"Dragonspume is my preparation for a successor."
"If something befalls me, if my territory shrinks the moment I fall, then I must cultivate a dragon strong enough—title Dragon King level—to inherit my rank."
He was already being generous, laying his reasons out in full.
Akuto's face remained calm. As expected—this was how Tannin thought.
"I see. Then, Lord Tannin—how long have you been cultivating this Dragonspume?" Akuto asked.
"Five hundred years."
There was a trace of pride in Tannin's tone.
In his view, spending centuries to raise Dragonspume—doing so much for dragonkind—was worthy of praise, even from himself.
…
"What if I said I have a way to raise ten Dragonspume in ten days? Would you entrust your blossoms to me for a while?"
"Mm?"
"Ten in ten days? Are you mocking me?"
Hot air jetted from Tannin's vast nostrils—he was genuinely offended.
What did this youth take five hundred years of effort for?
Ten blossoms in ten days? Is this some wholesale market?!
"I'm not joking. An ancient tome records a special method—leveraging the Boosted Gear to cultivate elixirs."
Of course Akuto couldn't say he'd found it in the God of the Bible's knowledge vault, so "an ancient tome" would have to do.
"What tome? Written by whom? Verified by whom?"
"If it isn't ironclad, there's no way I agree." Tannin's stance hardened.
"…"
Akuto fell silent.
He couldn't say it came from the God of the Bible.
In ancient times, the God of the Bible had considered raising Ophis and Great Red, hoping they'd surpass the Dragon God wall.
Refining and purifying Dragonspume had been part of that plan.
It failed. Mere bloodline-boosting couldn't complete that ascent.
Once the truth was clear, God refined the dragon-bane toxin Samael.
Samael wasn't that strong—below Lord-God class—yet it carried dread power that countered all dragons. Even Dragon-God-class Ophis found herself helpless before it.
Now, in the entire world, only Akuto knows Samael's true purpose.
Samael wasn't forged to slay dragons—but to evolve them.
If Ophis and Great Red could withstand Samael's "venom" and coexist/fuse with "Dragon-Slayer," they would climb one more floor beyond.
To unify utterly opposite powers is itself an extremity—and the signpost of a new future.
Akuto alone knew God's method—and planned to prove it in the days ahead.
…
He estimated that even if he produced a precise "ancient tome," Tannin would question its authenticity.
Because in Tannin's mind, he was the authority on Dragonspume.
A self-styled academician never likes being corrected by a freshman.
Only, the truth was the exact opposite.
By now, with the God of the Bible's knowledge, Akuto was the professor; Tannin's path was a bachelor's—at best, a for-profit one.
"Tannin, what you cannot trust… is a junior like me. Isn't that right?" Akuto sighed.
The words had barely left his lips when Tannin snapped back, impatient:
"Obviously."
"I've cultivated Dragonspume for five centuries. Even if you read some 'ancient tome,' you wouldn't have more practical experience than I do."
On paper, it sounded reasonable.
Unfortunately, the world doesn't always bow to "reasonable."
"Haa—" Akuto exhaled, his gaze turning resolute.
"If you refuse to believe me, then I'll speak to you in the dragon's tongue."
"Oh? The dragon's tongue?"
At that, Tannin's already fierce eyes grew keen and predatory.
"Akuto brat, are you saying… you want to fight me?"
"No. Not a 'fight.'"
Akuto shook his head.
"I'll show you, with facts, that in both Dragonspume cultivation and personal might, you are not as strong as you think."
"Nothing more."
[Welsh Dragon — Balance Breaker!]
[Balance Breaker — Boosted Gear Scale Mail!]
Verdant aura speared the sky. Crimson armor snapped into place over Akuto in an instant.
…
Under the pressure of Akuto's terrifying dragon aura and spiritual force, Tannin's Dragon-King-class oppression buckled and fell away.
"Th-This… This is—God-class ki beyond Super-Maou! How—?"
"To reach God-class with just Balance Breaker means the Sacred Gear wielder's base must already be Maou-class—and not the lower strata!"
"…Send flowers…"
"How long since you awakened, brat? How could you grow this fast?" Tannin's huge draconic pupils were about to pop. What a joke—he'd barely awakened, and already God-class? Where had this monster come from—?
What shocked Tannin next landed like thunder.
Vwooom—
Buzzzzz—
Within Akuto, devil power that bore myriad laws became the foundation.
Xian-qi (immortal energy) served as both source and guide.
Holy light and dark light—mutually opposed—reached perfect balance.
As they cycled, a trace of chaos steamed forth.
Balanced and primed to fuse, light and dark condensed into a dusky-gold sphere that breathed chaos.
Guided by white xian-qi, the sphere extended downward; the devil bloodline that bore all ways reached upward.
If holy light is sacred and dark light is fallen—then fused in first contact, they are the Light of Chaos.
Meanwhile, the devil bloodline that the Mother of Devils Lilith ushered into the world's rules is the Dark of Chaos itself.
The world was chaos—then touched devils, and chaos birthed dark.
The Child of the World was sanctity's extreme—devolved into angels—then extended into fallenness extreme.
…
From "fusion of all ways" and "harmonizing yin and yang," two roads named Chaos unfurled, pointing Akuto forward.
To integrate opposites is the necessary path to transcend the world.
Back then, God refined the "Toxin of Samael" precisely to extract the ultimate counter to dragons.
Had fate and future not been rewritten to target Him, God might have walked a similar road.
Now, leveraging the system trait—no power within the Host ever conflicts—Akuto completed research into the Chaotic Confluence path, a work normally reserved for peak Lord-Gods to touch and Dragon-Gods to perfect!
…
He suppressed the light bloodline just a fraction, balancing it against his devil bloodline—and wove every bloodline within him into one!
Crack—
The shackle of "mere God-class" shattered like glass.
Without using Juggernaut Drive, using only Balance Breaker, Akuto smashed the Lord-God barrier.
Sacred Gears have stage caps.
In the default state, a Gear tops out at nearly Maou-class; to truly wield Maou might, you must develop Balance Breaker.
The same ceiling binds Balance Breaker: at best it reaches nearly Lord-God—i.e., God-class. To break into Lord-God, you normally unlock Juggernaut Drive.
By bursting the Balance Breaker ceiling outright, Akuto reassigns all the "breakthrough fuel" that Juggernaut would have burned—directly into elevating his base—letting him pierce deep into Lord-God height!
"Tannin—whether I take on the task of preserving dragonkind or not…"
"As a Dragon King, your vision is far too narrow."
"You don't have to believe me. I'll make you believe—with power and truth."
"Those five hundred years—you did waste them."
Shing—
In the next breath, Akuto flashed before Tannin.
Boom—!
Camel Avatar descended over him. With a single Divine-Domain Kick, Akuto booted Tannin straight into the sky—dozens of kilometers up!
…
(End of Chapter)
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