Part I — The Fallen Demon King
My feet touched the ground.
THUD.
The battlefield had finally gone silent.
Ash drifted lazily through the air.
Smoke rose from the countless craters surrounding me, carrying the faint scent of burned earth, blood, and demonic energy.
I slowly walked forward.
Step.
Step.
Step.
My mind, however, was nowhere near the battlefield.
I was replaying the entire fight.
Every movement.
Every exchange.
Every mistake.
Every moment where I had nearly died.
I went through the battle again and again, searching for anything I might have missed.
That dragon had been stronger than I expected.
Much stronger.
His body.
His bloodline.
His instincts.
His combat experience.
Everything about him had been forged for battle.
And I had learned a great deal from him.
Prime Instincts had also reached a new level during the fight.
Not because I had suddenly mastered it.
But because I had finally stopped trying to control every instinct inside me.
I had let them move.
Let them react.
Let them hunt.
Yet I had remained myself.
That was the part that mattered.
Eventually, I arrived before him.
My eyes fell upon the fallen Demon King.
He was still unconscious.
Yet—
My eyes narrowed.
His bloodline energy was still raging inside his body.
It flowed through him like an overflowing dam.
His vitality was even more terrifying.
Despite the injuries he had suffered, his body was already repairing itself.
Slowly.
Naturally.
But it was recovering.
This was one of the most terrifying things about Neraphyx.
As long as you weren't dead...
You could recover.
If I hadn't devoured the energy surrounding this area, his recovery would have been even faster.
Unfortunately for him, there was almost nothing left for his body to absorb.
I had already devoured practically everything within miles.
Still, his vitality remained astonishing.
His bloodline energy was too powerful.
I stared at him for several seconds.
Then I raised my hand.
My palm faced him.
Energy gathered.
Movement.
My instincts reacted instantly.
Someone was watching me.
From far away.
I could feel their presence.
Calm.
Controlled.
Yet beneath that calm was something else.
Fear.
Anger.
Sorrow.
Helplessness.
I ignored it.
For now.
The presence wasn't strong enough to threaten me.
And if they intended to intervene...
They would have done so already.
Besides—
Why chase a rat when a Dragon was standing right in front of me?
My attention returned to the Dragon.
His shattered scales had already begun sealing themselves.
They weren't fully healed yet.
That would require more time.
And more energy.
I had no intention of waiting.
A small sphere of energy began forming above my palm.
Lightning crackled around it.
The distant presence suddenly became more agitated.
I could feel their intention becoming clearer.
They wanted to stop me.
But they couldn't.
BOOM!
I released the energy.
The sphere shot toward the unconscious Dragon.
The figure watching from afar clearly expected an attack.
But—
That wasn't what happened.
The energy entered the Dragon's body.
His injuries immediately began healing faster.
His vitality surged.
His bloodline energy stabilized.
I had given him energy instead of taking his life.
The distant presence went completely still.
I smiled faintly.
Just as I suspected.
My energy had changed.
Ever since arriving in Neraphyx, even my spiritual energy had begun carrying traces of my altered bloodline.
It was different from the energy I had possessed in Zeraphyx.
More violent.
More primal.
More compatible with this place.
Perhaps even more useful.
I glanced at my palm.
Interesting.
I wondered what would happen if I gave this energy to someone else.
Would their body change?
Would their bloodline react?
Or would it simply destroy them?
I pushed the thought aside.
That was a problem for another day.
For now...
I had another guest.
I turned my head toward the distant horizon.
"Come out."
My voice carried across the wasteland.
"Come out..."
I smiled.
"Wherever you are."
"I can already sense your presence."
Silence.
I continued.
"As you can see, I have no intention of killing him."
My gaze returned to the Dragon.
"In fact..."
"I want to recruit him."
The surrounding air remained silent.
I could have simply teleported to the hidden figure.
But what would that accomplish?
Neraphyx wasn't Zeraphyx.
Here, nobody was automatically your friend.
The figure's energy signature resembled the Dragon's.
But their strength was nowhere near his level.
A subordinate, perhaps.
Or someone connected to him.
I couldn't be certain.
So I waited.
Instead of forcing the matter, I turned my attention back to the fallen Demon King.
I closed my eyes.
The System had always provided me with enormous amounts of information.
But I had never bothered reading everything.
Why should I know everything when I didn't need everything?
I only searched when something became necessary.
This time...
I needed answers.
My consciousness entered the System.
I searched for information regarding Dragons.
Their bloodlines.
Their abilities.
Their evolution.
Their potential.
Their weaknesses.
Their hierarchy.
Both in Zeraphyx...
And Neraphyx.
Most of the information was already familiar to me.
But I needed something more specific.
Something about this Dragon.
I opened my eyes for a moment.
My gaze drifted toward the distant hiding place.
The figure immediately concealed their presence even further.
I almost laughed.
Too late.
My senses were already locked onto them.
As long as they remained within my range, even breathing was enough for me to notice them.
I returned my attention to the Dragon.
Now that I was looking closely, something immediately stood out.
His scales weren't simply black.
There were red scales mixed among them.
An unusual combination.
A hybrid.
Black and red.
That explained quite a lot.
Black Dragons were infamous for their vicious nature and immense physical strength.
Red Dragons were known for their violent temperament and territorial nature.
A hybrid possessing both bloodlines would naturally inherit characteristics from both.
Strength.
Aggression.
Instinct.
Battle hunger.
It made sense.
Hybrids weren't common in Zeraphyx.
But in Neraphyx...
Strength ruled everything.
Nobody cared about ancient traditions when survival was at stake.
If two bloodlines produced a stronger descendant, then that descendant had value.
My eyes narrowed.
There was something else.
The horns.
During our battle, he had manifested them.
Then retracted them.
That was strange.
True Dragons possessed horns.
They were one of the clearest signs of a genuine Dragon bloodline.
Subspecies could possess scales.
Some could even inherit certain Dragon abilities.
But none could compare with a True Dragon in bloodline purity.
I had encountered a True Dragon in the Shadow Realm before.
Its purity had been obvious.
But being able to freely manifest and retract Dragon horns?
I had never seen anything like it.
My thoughts were interrupted.
DING!
A crimson screen appeared before my eyes.
«[Information Retrieved.]»
«Name: Vorgrath»
«Race: Velari Ignis — Red Orc»
«Divine Realm: D-4 — Supreme God»
«Laws: Abyssal Flame, Space, Metal Control, Armor Control»
«Title: Blood Tyrant»
I stared at the information.
Vorgrath.
My first defeat.
My first subordinate.
My eyes lingered on one particular line.
Armor Control.
So he had finally turned that ability into a Law.
And his Divine Realm had increased as well.
He must have been training hard.
A faint smile appeared on my face.
If this Dragon were in the Tower, the situation would be simple.
I could put him in the System Space.
Let the System handle everything.
But this wasn't the Tower.
This Dragon belonged to Neraphyx.
And he wasn't simply some random beast.
He was a Demon King.
An intelligent one.
A talented one.
And more importantly...
He had a family.
My thoughts became serious.
If I wanted his complete loyalty, his family mattered.
I hadn't forgotten what happened during our battle.
At the beginning, both of us had held back.
I had done it intentionally.
I wanted to sharpen my skills.
But why had he held back?
That question had bothered me.
Then we had started moving.
Across his territory.
Across mountains.
Across the wasteland.
Until eventually, we had crossed enormous distances during our battle.
Why?
Was he simply trying to avoid destroying his territory?
No.
That wasn't the only reason.
I spread my senses.
My consciousness expanded.
Hundreds of kilometers.
Then farther.
Much farther.
And I found it.
A faint presence.
Calm.
Deep.
Hidden beneath the surface.
And beside it—
Another presence.
Much weaker.
But strangely fierce.
Its bloodline energy burned like a small sun in the darkness.
My eyes narrowed.
An egg.
A Dragon Egg.
His child.
And the first presence...
His wife.
So that's why.
He had been moving the battle away.
Not because he feared losing his territory.
He was protecting them.
My expression became thoughtful.
If I went there and took them by force, I could probably succeed.
But what would happen afterward?
His wife could resist.
She could destroy the egg.
She could kill herself.
And even if I captured them...
I might never gain the Dragon's true loyalty.
If I left now, however, finding them later might become impossible.
This was troublesome.
My instincts whispered a simpler solution.
Devour.
Devour.
Devour everything.
For a moment, I actually considered it.
A Dragon family.
A powerful Dragon bloodline.
A Dragon Egg.
My Dragon Indestructible Physique could evolve again.
The thought was tempting.
But I dismissed it.
Physiques were powerful.
Until they weren't.
Eventually, every physique reached a limit.
Every technique had weaknesses.
Every bloodline had boundaries.
And if I simply devoured everything in front of me...
What would I actually gain?
Power?
Yes.
But power alone wasn't everything.
I had already learned that in the Tower.
I stared at the unconscious Demon King.
He was talented.
Strong.
And he had survived our battle.
More importantly...
He had given me something I couldn't obtain by simply devouring him.
A challenge.
A lesson.
A potential ally.
My instincts growled inside me.
I ignored them.
Then I looked toward the distant presence again.
A faint smile appeared on my face.
There had to be another way.
Because this...
Was only the beginning of the prize.
And I wasn't about to waste it.