ABSOLUTE POWER
A Tensura Alternative: The Rise of Yuuki Kagurazaka
Chapter 4: Birth of the Fifth Dragon
The Puppet Nation of Jistav had changed considerably since Yuuki's last visit. The streets bustled with activity, merchants hawking their wares, and dark elves moving about with renewed purpose. But beneath the surface vitality, Yuuki could sense the undercurrent of fear that permeated the nation.
The Chaos Dragon's seal was weakening.
From his position on a rooftop overlooking the main square, Yuuki observed the arrival of an unusual troupe. Colorful wagons rolled into the city, each adorned with bells and banners that proclaimed them as the "Moderate Clown Troupe"—a traveling entertainment group that had gained some fame across the Western Nations.
But Yuuki's enhanced perception, augmented by Ahura Mazda's All of Creation ability, saw through the facade instantly. These weren't simple entertainers. Hidden among the clowns were individuals with considerable magical power, and their desires—visible to him through Mammon—betrayed purposes far more sinister than mere performance.
Cerberus agents, Yuuki realized with mild interest. Probably here on orders from one of the other Heads. They're investigating the Chaos Dragon disturbance.
He made a mental note to deal with them later if they became problematic. For now, they were irrelevant to his true purpose.
Yuuki turned his attention toward the massive forest that lay beyond the city—specifically, toward the sealed cavern that contained one of this world's greatest tragedies.
The Chaos Dragon. Gaia. Milim Nava's beloved pet, killed two thousand years ago and resurrected in a corrupted, mindless state. A being of such catastrophic power that it had taken the combined might of multiple Demon Lords to seal it away.
And Yuuki intended to claim it.
Not as a weapon, though that would have been the obvious application. No, what Yuuki sought was something far more audacious: he wanted to restore the Chaos Dragon to its original state, to resurrect the True Dragon that Veldanava had created as a gift for his daughter.
And then he would make it his.
"You're insane," Kagali said, materializing beside him. The spectral figure had been unusually quiet since Yuuki's return from his "retreat," still processing the enormity of what he'd done to Masayuki.
"I'm ambitious," Yuuki corrected, his eyes fixed on the distant forest. "There's a difference."
"The Chaos Dragon is a force of pure destruction. Even if you could somehow purify it, what makes you think it would serve you instead of Milim?"
Yuuki's smile was sharp. "Because I have three Ultimate Skills specifically suited for this task. Mammon can absorb and claim anything I desire. Sariel has authority over life and the reincarnation cycle. And Ahura Mazda can create, modify, and reshape reality itself at the fundamental level."
He activated All of Creation, his perception extending across miles to analyze the seal around the Chaos Dragon. Ancient magic, layered carefully by Guy Crimson, Milim Nava, and Ramiris herself. It should have been impenetrable.
But Yuuki could see every weakness, every point where the seal's structure had degraded over two millennia. To his genius intellect and Ultimate Skill-enhanced comprehension, it was like reading an open book.
"More importantly," Yuuki continued, "the Chaos Dragon isn't just a mindless beast. It's a corrupted True Dragon—one of only five such beings ever created by Veldanava himself. If I can restore it to its original state and establish a Soul Corridor..."
"You'll have a True Dragon bonded to you personally," Kagali finished, their spectral form flickering with alarm. "That's... that level of power is—"
"Necessary," Yuuki interrupted. "Rimuru has Veldora. A True Dragon sealed within him, providing endless magicule reserves and ultimate-level power. If I'm to compete with him, to eventually surpass him, I need equivalent resources."
He stood, Truth materializing in his hand. The god-grade weapon seemed to resonate with his intentions, eager for what was to come.
"Besides," Yuuki added with dark amusement, "imagine Milim's reaction when she discovers that her precious pet has been resurrected and bonded to someone else. The chaos alone will be worth it."
That night, under cover of darkness, Yuuki made his move.
The seal was located deep within the forest, in a cavern that leaked miasma and corrupted magicules like an infected wound. Dark elves had built warning markers around the area, and local legends spoke of terrible curses that befell anyone who ventured too close.
Yuuki walked past all of it without concern.
His Anti-Skill constitution, now fully integrated with Ahura Mazda, nullified every defensive spell and curse automatically. The miasma that should have corroded his flesh simply dissipated on contact. The warning barriers designed to turn away intruders failed to even register his presence.
At the cavern's entrance, Yuuki paused to examine the seal more carefully. It was a masterwork of magical engineering—Guy Crimson's spatial manipulation, Milim's raw power, and Ramiris's fairy magic all woven together in perfect harmony.
Two thousand years ago, this seal would have been absolute.
Now, it was merely formidable.
"Ahura Mazda," Yuuki intoned, activating his Ultimate Skill. "Analyze and deconstruct."
All of Creation processed every aspect of the seal simultaneously. Information Particles that made up its structure, the flow of magicules maintaining it, the conceptual framework that held the Chaos Dragon contained—all of it was laid bare before Yuuki's enhanced comprehension.
Then, with surgical precision, he began to dismantle it.
It wasn't a crude breaking or overwhelming of the seal. That would have triggered alarms across half the continent and brought Milim herself down on his head within minutes. Instead, Yuuki carefully unraveled specific threads of the magical construct, creating weak points that would allow him passage while maintaining the illusion of integrity.
The process took three hours of intense concentration. Even with three Ultimate Skills, even with his genius intellect, this was delicate work that required absolute precision.
Finally, a gap opened—barely large enough for Yuuki to slip through, and carefully positioned to avoid triggering the seal's alert mechanisms.
He entered the darkness beyond.
The cavern was massive, easily the size of a small city. And at its center, wrapped in chains of condensed magicules and bathed in suppressive light, lay the Chaos Dragon.
Yuuki had seen descriptions in ancient texts, heard stories from those old enough to remember the catastrophe. None of it had prepared him for the reality.
The creature was immense—easily a hundred meters long, with scales that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Multiple horns crowned its head, each one radiating corruption and malice. Its eyes, when they opened to fix on Yuuki, glowed with an unnatural crimson light that spoke of endless suffering and rage.
This wasn't a living being anymore. It was a wound in reality, a mistake that the world itself wanted to forget.
And Yuuki was going to make it his.
The Chaos Dragon roared, and the sound was like reality itself screaming in pain. The chains holding it began to crack, two thousand years of accumulated fury surging against its bindings.
Yuuki didn't flinch. Instead, he activated both Mammon and Sariel simultaneously.
"Desire Manipulation," he commanded, and Mammon's power lashed out like invisible tendrils. The Chaos Dragon's rage, its pain, its corrupted instincts—all of it was fundamentally driven by desire. The desire to destroy, to spread its suffering, to make the world feel the agony of its existence.
And Yuuki could manipulate desire itself.
The threads of Mammon wrapped around the Chaos Dragon's consciousness, finding purchase in the twisted knot of emotions that drove it. Carefully, precisely, Yuuki began to redirect those desires. The need to destroy became a need for relief. The drive to spread corruption became a yearning for purification. The rage transformed into a desperate hope for release from suffering.
The Chaos Dragon's thrashing slowed. Its roars became confused, pained whimpers.
"Hope King Sariel," Yuuki continued, layering his second Ultimate Skill on top of Mammon's influence. "Mental Domination."
Sariel's authority over life and hope allowed it to touch the very essence of living beings, to influence their fundamental will to exist. Yuuki used this power not to control the Chaos Dragon's actions directly, but to impose a single, overwhelming desire:
Peace.
The creature wanted peace. After two millennia of torment, trapped in a corrupted state between life and death, it wanted the suffering to end. And through Sariel's influence, Yuuki offered that peace—on his terms.
"That's right," Yuuki said softly, approaching the now-docile Chaos Dragon. "I can end your pain. I can restore what was taken from you. All you need to do is accept my help."
The dragon's eyes, still glowing crimson but now lacking their earlier malice, fixed on Yuuki with something approaching desperate hope.
"Greed King Mammon: Absorption."
Yuuki placed his hand on the Chaos Dragon's massive head, and Mammon's power surged forth with absolute authority. This was greed in its purest form—the desire to claim, to possess, to make something external a part of oneself.
The energy of the Chaos Dragon began to flow into Yuuki.
It was excruciating.
Two thousand years of accumulated corruption, rage, and suffering flooded into his spiritual form. The magicules alone should have torn apart a lesser being, and the corrupted nature of the energy was like acid burning through his soul.
But Yuuki gritted his teeth and endured, using Sariel's authority over the life cycle to filter the incoming power, and Ahura Mazda's All of Creation to comprehend and process every aspect of what he was absorbing.
Hours passed. The Chaos Dragon's massive form began to shrink as its energy was systematically drained. What had been a hundred-meter monstrosity slowly reduced, becoming smaller and smaller as Yuuki claimed every ounce of its power.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of controlled agony, the absorption completed.
What remained was a small dragon, no larger than Yuuki's arm, its scales dull and gray, its body emaciated. This was Gaia's original form—the pet dragon Veldanava had created for Milim, stripped of all corruption and power, reduced to its fundamental essence.
And floating within Yuuki's soul, compressed into a sphere of condensed energy, was the entirety of the Chaos Dragon's accumulated power. Two millennia worth of magicules, corruption, rage, and suffering—all of it now his to command.
But Yuuki wasn't done.
"Hope King Sariel: Soul Purification."
He turned his attention to the small dragon before him, specifically to its damaged soul. Gaia had died violently, been resurrected imperfectly, and spent two thousand years in a corrupted state. Its spiritual and astral bodies were shattered, held together only by the corruption that Yuuki had just removed.
Sariel's authority over the reincarnation cycle allowed it to touch souls directly, to reshape them according to the natural order. Yuuki used this power to carefully, meticulously repair every damaged fragment of Gaia's soul. He mended the spiritual wounds, sealed the astral body's cracks, and restored the connections between different aspects of its existence.
Then came the most delicate part.
"Creation Lord Ahura Mazda: Memory Manipulation."
Using Ahura Mazda's power to manipulate Information Particles, Yuuki accessed the dragon's memories directly. What he found was heartbreaking—endless cycles of pain, confusion, rage. The memory of death at the hands of the elven kingdom. The twisted resurrection that had robbed it of its true self. Millennia of mindless destruction, always aware enough to suffer but never enough to understand why.
Yuuki erased it all.
Not destructively, but carefully—like a surgeon removing diseased tissue while preserving healthy flesh. He kept only the earliest memories: playing with a young Milim, being created by Veldanava, the simple joy of existence before tragedy struck.
Everything else—the pain, the corruption, the trauma—was deleted from the dragon's memory.
What remained was a blank slate, almost. An infant consciousness with only the faintest echoes of what it had once been.
"Now," Yuuki whispered, feeling the massive sphere of absorbed Chaos Dragon energy pulsing within his soul. "For the resurrection."
He activated all three Ultimate Skills simultaneously.
Mammon provided the raw power, channeling the absorbed energy back into Gaia's purified form. Sariel guided the reincarnation process, using its authority over the life cycle to ensure proper rebirth. And Ahura Mazda oversaw everything, its Life Creation ability reconstructing Gaia at the fundamental level.
The small gray dragon began to glow.
Its scales shifted from dull gray to brilliant azure blue. Its body, previously emaciated, filled out with healthy muscle and vitality. The horns that had been twisted and corrupt reformed into elegant curves. Its eyes, when they opened, were no longer crimson with rage but golden with innocent curiosity.
This wasn't the Chaos Dragon. This wasn't even the pet dragon that Gaia had been before its death.
This was something new, yet ancient. The original True Dragon of Earth, as Veldanava had intended it to be—unspoiled by tragedy, uncorrupted by violence, pure in its elemental essence.
The dragon—no longer than fifty centimeters in its current form—looked up at Yuuki and chirped. The sound was surprisingly adorable coming from a being that was, fundamentally, one of the five most powerful entities ever created by the Creator God.
"Welcome back to existence," Yuuki said softly. "I'm going to call you Velgaia. Do you accept this name?"
The dragon chirped again, and Yuuki felt something profound occur. The act of naming, in this world, carried weight—it established bonds, granted power, created connections that transcended normal relationships.
You have named the True Dragon of Earth: Velgaia
The world itself seemed to acknowledge the declaration, and Yuuki felt his magicule reserves drain significantly as the name took hold. But more importantly, he felt something else forming between him and the newly named dragon.
A Soul Corridor.
It started as a thin thread of connection, barely perceptible. But as Velgaia accepted both the name and the one who had given it, that thread strengthened, widened, became a permanent bridge between their souls.
Through the Soul Corridor, Yuuki could feel Velgaia's innocent curiosity, its fundamental nature as the embodiment of Earth itself. And in return, Velgaia could sense Yuuki's overwhelming desire for power, his cold calculation, his willingness to do anything to achieve his goals.
The dragon should have rejected him. Should have recoiled from the darkness in Yuuki's soul.
Instead, it chirped happily and nuzzled against his hand.
Because to Velgaia, recently reborn with barely any memories, Yuuki wasn't a monster. He was the one who had ended the suffering, who had given it new life, who had named it and established a bond.
He was, effectively, its parent.
And then the final transformation occurred.
The massive sphere of Chaos Dragon energy that Yuuki had absorbed—energy that he'd been carefully containing within his soul—suddenly rushed toward the Soul Corridor. But instead of entering Velgaia, it began to crystallize around the connection itself, forming something new.
Ultimate Skill Acquired: Earth King Velgaia
The sensation was overwhelming. This wasn't like acquiring Mammon or Sariel, where he'd claimed existing Ultimate Skills. This was the birth of something entirely new—an Ultimate Skill born from the connection between a True Saint and a True Dragon, empowered by two millennia of accumulated energy.
Yuuki gasped as knowledge flooded his consciousness, as new abilities integrated themselves into his being.
Earth King VelgaiaSub-Skills:
Gaia Summon - The ability to summon Velgaia to his location instantly, regardless of distance or dimensional barriers. As long as the Soul Corridor existed, the dragon could appear at Yuuki's side in an instant, ready for combat or any other purpose.
Gaia Restoration - The ultimate insurance policy. Through the Soul Corridor, Yuuki and Velgaia maintained perfect backups of each other's soul data. If Yuuki was destroyed, Velgaia could reconstruct him completely. If Velgaia was destroyed, Yuuki could resurrect the dragon using Ahura Mazda and Sariel. To permanently kill either of them, an enemy would need to destroy both simultaneously—a feat that would require overwhelming, godlike power.
Gaia Magic: Genesis - Access to the primordial magic of Earth itself. This wasn't elemental magic in the traditional sense, but authority over the planet's fundamental properties:
Gravity Domination - The ability to manipulate gravitational forces with the same ease others breathed. Yuuki could crush enemies under planetary-level pressure or make himself weightless at will.
Mineral Creation - The power to create any mineral or metal instantaneously, including God-Grade materials like True Adamantite. Walls, weapons, armor—anything that could be made from earth could be manifested in seconds.
Life Manipulation - Control over the fertility and vitality of the land itself. Yuuki could transform battlefields into lush forests or reduce them to barren wastelands with a thought. He could accelerate or halt plant growth, control the spread of disease through soil, and manipulate the very foundations of agricultural civilization.
Yuuki stood there in the cavern, Velgaia perched on his shoulder, feeling the weight of his new power. Four Ultimate Skills now resided within his soul: Mammon, Sariel, Ahura Mazda, and now Velgaia.
And bonded to him through an unbreakable Soul Corridor was a True Dragon—albeit an infant one, still developing, not yet aware of the full extent of its potential.
But it would grow. They would grow together. And when Velgaia reached maturity...
"We're going to reshape this world," Yuuki whispered, gently stroking the dragon's azure scales. "You and I together, we're going to create something perfect."
Velgaia chirped in response, completely innocent of the dark ambitions driving its new partner.
Yuuki spent the next several hours carefully reconstructing the seal, making it appear as though nothing had disturbed it. He used Ahura Mazda's Object Creation to forge false residue of the Chaos Dragon's presence, maintaining the illusion that the corrupted beast still slumbered in its prison.
By the time he was done, even Guy Crimson himself would be hard-pressed to detect the deception without extensive investigation.
As he emerged from the cavern, dawn was breaking over Jistav. The city was beginning to stir, completely unaware that something world-changing had occurred in the nearby forest.
Velgaia remained perched on Yuuki's shoulder, invisible to normal observation thanks to a simple application of spatial manipulation. The dragon seemed content to simply exist, occasionally chirping and nuzzling against Yuuki's neck.
It's strange, Yuuki thought as he walked back toward the city. I expected to feel triumph, satisfaction, the rush of claiming another massive power. But instead...
He looked at the small dragon, at its innocent golden eyes and cheerful demeanor. For just a moment, something that might have been genuine affection flickered in Yuuki's chest.
Then he crushed it ruthlessly.
Sentiment was weakness. Velgaia wasn't a pet or a companion—it was a resource, a weapon, a stepping stone on his path to absolute power. The fact that it was adorable and innocent was irrelevant. When the time came, he would use the dragon just as he'd used Rimuru, just as he'd consumed Masayuki.
Nothing mattered except the vision. The perfect world he would create through absolute dominion.
"Come on," Yuuki said to Velgaia, his voice carefully neutral. "We have work to do. This is just the beginning."
Back in his temporary quarters in Jistav, Yuuki began documenting his newest acquisition. His Enhanced Thought Acceleration allowed him to process the full implications of Earth King Velgaia while simultaneously planning his next moves.
The Soul Corridor with a True Dragon was unprecedented for someone who wasn't a Demon Lord. Even Rimuru's bond with Veldora was somewhat different—Veldora had been sealed within the slime, a prisoner turned ally. But Velgaia was genuinely bonded to Yuuki by choice, by the naming, by the resurrection itself.
"This changes the power balance significantly," Yuuki muttered, making notes in his coded journal. "With Velgaia, I have access to True Dragon-level magicules. The restoration ability makes me effectively immortal. And the Genesis magic gives me tactical options I didn't have before."
He tested Gravity Domination on a small scale, making a book on his desk suddenly weigh as much as a boulder. The wood creaked but held. Then he reversed it, making the book float as if in zero gravity.
"Perfect," Yuuki smiled. "This will be especially useful against flying opponents or for creating localized zones of impossible weight."
Velgaia, meanwhile, had curled up on a cushion and fallen asleep. Even True Dragons, apparently, needed rest when they were infants.
Yuuki watched the sleeping dragon for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he turned his attention to his broader plans.
The Moderate Clown Troupe was still in the city, and his agents reported they were asking questions about the Chaos Dragon seal. Probably sent by one of the Western Nations' factions, maybe even remnants of Mariabell's organization that hadn't yet realized their leader was dead.
"I should eliminate them," Yuuki considered. "Can't risk anyone discovering what really happened to the Chaos Dragon."
But then a better idea occurred to him.
"Or I could use them. Frame them as the ones who disturbed the seal. Create a false trail that leads investigators away from the truth." He smiled wider. "Yes, that's much more elegant."
He spent the next hour crafting a careful deception—using Ahura Mazda to create false evidence, Mammon to plant suggestions in key witnesses' minds, and his own genius to weave a narrative that would satisfy any investigation.
By the time he was done, the official story would be: The Moderate Clown Troupe, working for an unknown faction, attempted to break the Chaos Dragon seal but failed. The seal held, the dragon remained contained, and the perpetrators fled before they could be caught.
No one would ever suspect that the Chaos Dragon was gone, resurrected as an infant True Dragon bonded to Yuuki Kagurazaka.
"Perfect," Yuuki declared, satisfied with his work.
A knock at the door interrupted his satisfaction. "Lord Yuuki? It's Damrada."
Yuuki quickly dismissed his notes and gestured for Velgaia to remain hidden. "Come in."
Damrada entered, his expression troubled. "I've received more intelligence from the Eastern Empire. The situation is deteriorating faster than anticipated. Several provinces are on the verge of civil war, and there are rumors that the Armored Corps is preparing to make a move against the current... emperor."
"I see." Yuuki kept his expression carefully neutral, but internally he was calculating. The chaos in the Empire was accelerating, creating opportunities he hadn't anticipated.
Opportunities that would be even more valuable now that he possessed Rudra's soul essence.
"There's something else," Damrada continued, studying Yuuki with an intensity that made even the True Saint slightly uncomfortable. "Lord Yuuki, you seem... different. Since your return from your retreat. More powerful, certainly, but also..."
He trailed off, clearly searching for the right words.
"Changed?" Yuuki supplied helpfully.
"Yes. Changed." Damrada's eyes narrowed. "I've known you for years, and I've never felt this kind of presence from you before. It's almost like..."
The spy master's words hung in the air, unfinished but heavy with implication.
He's sensing Rudra's soul essence, Yuuki realized. Of course he would—Damrada served the Emperor for centuries. He knows that spiritual signature intimately.
But Yuuki didn't reveal the truth. Instead, he simply smiled his usual disarming smile. "I've been training intensively. Acquired some new abilities. You know how it is—in this world, you either grow stronger or you get left behind."
Damrada looked like he wanted to press the issue, but professional discipline held him back. "Of course, Lord Yuuki. If you need anything—"
"I'll let you know," Yuuki interrupted gently. "Thank you for the report, Damrada. Continue monitoring the Empire situation. I have a feeling we'll be making some moves there soon."
After Damrada left, Yuuki sat in contemplative silence. The spy master's suspicions were potentially problematic, but also potentially useful. If Damrada came to his own conclusions about Yuuki's connection to Rudra—conclusions that Yuuki never explicitly encouraged—it would be even more credible than if Yuuki had announced it himself.
"Let him observe," Yuuki muttered. "Let him draw his own conclusions. When he finally realizes what I've become, he'll have convinced himself of it naturally. And that conviction will be unshakeable."
Velgaia stirred on the cushion, blinking sleepy golden eyes at Yuuki. The dragon chirped questioningly, sensing its partner's scheming thoughts through the Soul Corridor.
"Don't worry about it," Yuuki said, gently scratching behind Velgaia's horns. "Just focus on growing stronger. That's all that matters for either of us."
The dragon seemed satisfied with this answer and went back to sleep.
Yuuki turned to his window, looking out over Jistav as the sun climbed higher in the sky. In the distance, he could sense the sealed cavern where the world believed a Chaos Dragon still slumbered. He could sense the threads of desire and ambition connecting every person in the city, all of them desperate for safety, for prosperity, for purpose.
And he could feel, within his soul, the four Ultimate Skills that made him one of the most powerful beings in existence. Mammon, Sariel, Ahura Mazda, and Velgaia—each one a pillar of absolute authority, each one a step toward his ultimate vision.
"Rimuru Tempest," Yuuki whispered to the wind. "You have Veldora, the Storm Dragon. Well, now I have Velgaia, the Earth Dragon. We're becoming more alike, you and I. Both of us gathering power, both of us collecting Ultimate Skills and Dragon companions."
He smiled coldly. "The difference is that you're still pretending to be a hero. Still trying to build your kingdom on friendship and trust. While I..."
His hand clenched into a fist. "I'm building my empire on absolute power and ruthless calculation. And when we finally clash, when this world forces us to determine which path is correct?"
Velgaia chirped in its sleep, and Yuuki felt the dragon's innocent trust through the Soul Corridor. It was almost touching. Almost enough to make him reconsider his methods.
Almost.
"I'm going to prove that monsters like me are the only ones who can truly change the world."
The wind carried his words away into silence.
And in the shadows of Jistav, the pieces continued to move on a game board that spanned continents, that involved Demon Lords and True Dragons, that would eventually determine the fate of the entire world.
But for now, in this moment, Yuuki Kagurazaka simply stood at his window with a sleeping True Dragon on his shoulder and four Ultimate Skills in his soul.
And he was content.
For now.
END OF CHAPTER 4
To be continued...