Rise of the Devourer-Chapter 4Book : — Dragon’s Breath

Vion walked through the hall she’d been pointed to, feeling an unusual nervousness tighten in her chest. Her existence had been so restricted for so long that walking around in public like this felt surreal. Thankfully, nobody recognized her—but even so, she found herself more anxious about being seen than about the upcoming trial itself.

To her surprise—and mild relief—she spotted a familiar face in the crowd and hurried over.

“Oh, hey! Is that the Pri—”

Vion slapped a hand over Seraphina’s mouth, her eyes narrowing as she growled under her breath.

“Shut up,” she hissed.

Seraphina blinked wide-eyed, and only when Vion was sure she wouldn’t shout the “P word” again did she slowly pull her hand back.

“Sorry! I forgot that it’s a secret and all,” Seraphina said, grinning sheepishly. “Anyway, you’re in this hall too? Wait, hold on—I never actually thought about this before. Why are you taking this test? I didn’t think someone of your… stature would have to. Couldn’t you just, I don’t know, ask the king to give it to you?”

Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.

“No. And I wouldn’t even want to ask,” Vion said firmly. “That would be wrong—and cheating. It would demean a trial that has existed for centuries.”

“Right, right. I forget people care about stuff like that,” Seraphina said, shrugging. “If I were you, I totally would’ve done it. All I care about is what kind of magic I can use and the benefits I get from a title like this. Well—actually that’s not a major concern. My real goal is the Vault.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured,” Vion said with a small smile.

The mage was odd, but predictable in a good way. Vion had been worried about who she might run into here. Not everyone got assigned to the same hall, after all, and some faces would have made things… complicated. Seraphina, on the other hand, was practically a stranger—but one who knew about her. That made it easier not to hide, and eased some of her tension.

“So what have you been up to, Secret Prin—uh, I mean… adventure things?” Seraphina asked, catching herself.

Vion sighed, suppressing another growl. “Something like that. I’ve been busy with… secret things.”

“Sounds very secret. Nothing you can tell me? Any interesting magic? New books? Ooh—do you guys have a secret library?”

“No. At least, I haven’t been to one. There might be one. I could ask, if you want.”

“Oh yes, please! I’d love that! I’ve been looking into it—Kingdom of the oldest Drakonians and all, surely there’s a hidden archive or something! But I couldn’t find anything. It’s been so hard to look for the grimoires I need. I mean sure, there are shops, but it’s not the good stuff, you know?”

“Alright, I’ll ask. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll ask.”

“Thanks!” Seraphina grinned. “So… anyone else coming to this hall?”

Vion glanced around the chamber. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Yeah, I think it’s just us. Aurelia and Valeria got sent to Hall 3. I was sent to Hall 1—alone, apparently. I think Noah’s in Hall 2. I was worried I’d be here by myself, so I’m glad you’re here.”

“Yeah… I’m glad too,” Vion replied softly.

“Actually—I’ve been meaning to ask you something. You know, back at… what was it? Draken Steaks? When you proposed to Noah… were you actually serious?”

“Of course I was serious,” Seraphina replied at once. “I wouldn’t say something like that lightly. I don’t understand why everyone thought I wasn’t.”

Vion felt her heart skip. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that answer—but she was definitely worried.

“I was totally serious about wanting to have magical babies with special powers so I could experiment on them,” Seraphina continued. “And it’s not as bad as it sounds, okay? I’m not that callous. I mean, jeez—if I’m spending months creating a child, then obviously I’d be careful not to break it. But just think about it! Do you know how rare it is to find opportunities to study unique bloodlines? And with how Noah’s body is literally infused with magic—imagine the research potential! It could advance my work by decades!”

“Oh,” Vion said. “So… magic is the only reason you would do that? Nothing else at all?”

“Well—why else would I propose?” Seraphina asked, frowning in confusion.

“Because…” Vion paused. “You like him?”

Seraphina made a face like someone had just told her to eat something horrible. “Ew. No. Gross. The only things I like are books and magic. People? I tolerate them. I have zero interest in marrying anyone or getting into a relationship. Honestly, I find the whole thing kind of disgusting. No, I just want little magical babies I can safely run experiments on without the world freaking out.”

“…Right,” Vion murmured, smiling faintly. Predictable. But it was a relief nonetheless. Part of her had still been uncertain, especially after her dream. Hearing this made her feel… lighter.

“That’s good,” she said. “That’s… good.”

“Yep! Totally agree. People are messy—and not in the fun “let’s learn their secrets” kind of way. In a bad way. Magic is much nicer to work with.”

Before they could continue, the invigilator entered.

She was a female Drakonian soldier, clad in a regulation combat uniform. She stepped into the chamber, her eyes sweeping across the gathered participants before she looked upward.

“Good. Looks like all of you are here. Those who aren’t can try next time,” she said curtly. “My name is- it doesn’t matter, most of you will be disqualified here. I’m your invigilator for this trial. I don’t want to waste time, so I’ll keep it short.” She raised her arm, fire flaring around the arena as she continued. “The first 25 to clear the trial and reach the other end qualify and move on. When I give the signal, you may begin.”

Loretta climbed one of the raised observation stands, then lifted her hand.

“Three…” the woman said, as everyone erupted into a frenzy, taking their positions at the starting line.

Vion followed, heading to the front after some pushing. A moment later, Seraphina followed behind her.

“Two… one… Go!”

Flames erupted, and chaos followed as the crowd surged forward.

Vion and Seraphina shot ahead. Vion reached out with her senses—and the dragon flames obeyed. They didn’t burn her. They listened. Fire swirled around her body and bowed to her will, parting with reverence as she passed. It wasn’t true dragonfire, she realized… but it responded to her all the same.

A grin touched her lips. There was no way she’d be stopped here.

Power surged in her veins, and she shot forward like an arrow. Through walls of fire, torrents of flame—nothing touched her. The fire bent out of her path, and in moments, she stood on the other side of the arena.

The invigilator blinked, clearly surprised, but said nothing and turned back to the rest of the test-takers.

Then Seraphina arrived, seconds later.

A swirling shell of water surrounded her, constantly turning to steam under the dragonfire. But she controlled even the steam, forming a protective air pocket to keep her water barrier intact. She followed the same path Vion had carved, adjusting her spells to match the terrain.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Seraphina huffed. “I was supposed to be the flashy one! How did you move the fire like that? It wasn’t even your spell!”

Vion turned, smiled slyly, and pressed a finger to her lips.

“…It’s a secret.”

***

Aurelia looked around her chamber, seeing the multitudes of people participating. It was mostly drakonians, as it was supposed to be. It would be weird if it wasn’t. But there were still a bunch of different adventurers from all sorts of places—and some she couldn’t even quite place.

Valeria stood next to her, inspecting the crowd in much the same fashion. Aurelia glanced at the woman beside her. It really hadn’t been all that hidden that Valeria was interested in Erwest, but given their trip to the Weibern forest and hills, she hadn’t really gotten a chance to ask about it. Honestly, she wasn’t the type to prod. She’d been with multiple different teams before, and she never bothered digging into anyone’s personal matters or stuff like relationships. After all, it wasn’t any of her business, and she preferred to stick to herself.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

But this felt different somehow. I mean, it was Erwest they were talking about here. Not to mention, she had never truly been this close to a team before. It wasn’t the same as the last two or so different groups she’d worked with for a couple of months at most before leaving. Now they had been together for a year—and through some, no, a lot of stuff at this point. So some amount of curiosity made sense to her.

Glancing to the side, she wondered how to approach the topic before deciding that subtlety wasn’t her forte and just going in.

“Hey, so you and Erwest, huh?” Aurelia said.

Valeria looked back at her, then gave her a smile. “Yep. What about it? Don’t tell me you—”

“No, no, no, no, no,” Aurelia cut her off before the woman could finish. “No, gods, no. I would rather have Helion take me.”

Valeria laughed. “He’s not that bad if you get to know him.”

“That’s the thing—if you get to know him. We’ve been together for a while now, and it still feels like he refuses to open up to us. Honestly, I think if it wasn’t for Noah and whatever mission his church gave him, Erwest would leave in a heartbeat.”

Valeria hummed. “You’re wrong about that, actually,” she said. “He doesn’t show it—and I know that very well—but he’s come to care about you guys in his own ways. He wouldn’t leave you. Though he does justify it as duty and whatnot.”

“Really?” Aurelia asked. “That surprises me somehow. I wouldn’t expect that out of Erwest. To him, everything is business.”

“He does try to make it like that, but no, he’s human as well. And unfortunately for him, he does get attached—no matter how hard he tries not to. You guys have grown on him. The entire reason he puts on the stoic act is because he doesn’t want to grow too close—because he doesn’t know how to.

“I don’t think you understand what it’s like growing up in one of the churches, especially in someone like his position. It’s not a nice place. I mean, it’s better than being on the streets, don’t get me wrong, but there’s so much competition. Everyone feels like an enemy, almost. Erwest, truly, for the longest time, has simply not had anybody—aside from the Goddess herself—to confide in. And so, he doesn’t know how.

“It takes a lot to get him to open up. He doesn’t even open up to me. The only reason we can talk the way we do is because—well, I have to deal with my own god as well. And so I understand where he comes from. I know what it’s like for him. And that allows him to talk to me in a way that doesn’t breach those boundaries he’s built for himself.

“You asked if we were together? Well, not really. Because truthfully, the thought wouldn’t have even crossed his mind. I mean, he knows what I want, but he’s just refusing to even think about it because it’s so far from what he can envision for himself.”

Aurelia fell silent at that for a few moments. Somehow that was a lot closer to her than she had ever anticipated Erwest being. She could understand the fear of getting close to someone. She still had it—even now. In fact—

“What about you and Noah?” Valeria asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“What about us?” Aurelia asked.

“Oh, please. Even I can see that you’re at least somewhat interested in him.”

“Me? In Noah?” Aurelia asked, then laughed. “No, he’s like a little brother, if anything. I feel like I have to constantly keep an eye on him or he’ll—I don’t know—jump off a cliff.” She paused. “Actually, that wouldn’t even hurt him. But he keeps getting himself into these situations and… I mean, I just feel like I have to stick around and help him, you know? That I have to watch over him to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”

“Yeah, well, most people don’t do that for strangers. Most people don’t even do that for friends, to this extent. They don’t just stick around and want to stay together like that. Have you ever considered that?”

“No. Please. No. No way.”

“Well, if you say so, it might be true,” Valeria said. “I mean, I don’t really believe there’s a lot of difference besides intentions and things like that, but… well, the one who’d know best is you. Certainly not my place to push.”

Aurelia said nothing, glancing toward the barrier separating the rest of the area. “I can hear the invigilator coming. I think they’re going to start soon.”

“Feeling nervous?” Valeria asked.

Aurelia glanced behind her, noticing from her own senses as the invigilator walked inside. A draconian man, wearing armor and carrying a rather ornate-looking spear. A strange sight in Drakonias, which seemed to value practicality over everything else.

Aurelia glanced back at Valeria. “It’s a trial containing fire. If anyone should feel nervous, it’s everybody else,” she said, as ash swirled and embers flared with heat.

Valeria smiled back in response.

In a few moments, the trial began, and the two of them rushed across the arena.

***

Noah rushed forward, fire swirling around his feet as he moved through the flames. The blistering air threatened to burn him, but his Constitution was still high enough that so long as he didn’t touch the flames directly, he was managing just fine. Erwest fell behind, a shield of golden divine light formed beneath him as he sort of skated and swerved over the fire, moving forward.

Jets of flames shot from the walls nearby, pulsing through the chamber, and Noah dodged around them, feeling their intense heat burning and making the air light enough that it almost got a little hard to breathe. Thankfully, he didn’t need to breathe that much anymore, but it was still annoying nonetheless.

Slowing down a little, Noah let himself land, using a missile and an inferno to suck in any dragon flames from nearby to keep himself from being burned. Erwest came up next to him, stopping as well as he noticed Noah.

“This feels like a trap,” Noah said, pointing towards the flying group of the lads that were now surrounded by flames, stuck in place and being bombarded by the large group of drakonians behind them that were all chaining their attacks together. Magic was being cast, skills and abilities being used as the drakonians were forced to defend.

The largest group, the one with a boy who had been teasing the other about his brother’s attempts, now stood in almost a formation, marching together. Noah took note that there were exactly 25 of them within there, just enough to take all the seats. Most of them wondered how coordinated their positioning and joining to this place had been, just what it said about the bureaucracy and the corruption potentially happening. But those were not things that he was worried about much right now.

“What’s the trap?” Erwest asked, glancing at Noah.

“Look at those walls. I am not sure, but I can feel that they’re built to focus on anyone that triggers them and trap them there. So the first one to cross becomes the first one to be stuck unless you can last through entirely,” he said, eyeing the glass runes on the chamber.

“But some of these guys are going to be our opponents in the tournament. Well, assuming we get through the second trial, but it is likely. And I wouldn’t want to show much—show off too many of my abilities just now, if possible.”

Erwest gave it some thought.

“Secondly,” Noah said, and then pointed at the big group of drakonians as one spell—a fireball, rather big—shot towards the two of them. Erwest, seemingly not even paying much attention, swiveled his golden shield of light to block it.

“I also don’t like how those guys are working, and how they’re basically holding back anyone but also not moving forward. And letting others trigger the traps, so to speak, and then pulling them down as they march their way through.”

Just as Noah said that, another group—a group of four—passed through the next section, and a wall of fire erupted from the ground, encircling them and trapping them within. Ice and water blasted, but the dragon flames tore through the spells with ease, and before the group could react, the large 25 draconian squadron shot spells at them, blasting them through and taking them out. Noah even noticed one person get blinked out of the arena entirely. He assumed that was either an ability or someone—or the area—had set up a spell to take people out if they deemed that there was too much damage done.

“So what do you want to do?” Erwest asked.

“The answer is still simple. We go through first, we beat them by being faster and better, and we win.”

“Well, as much as I like the sound of that, for once I think I actually have a good idea,” Noah said, putting his hand up, showing off the bracelet from Zax that he had. “You remember our race back at the beach, and the trick you pulled?”

“That? But this place has wards Noah, the invigilator said as much,” Erwest said.

“For Zax’s spell?” Noah asked.

Erwest paused, giving it some thought for a moment, and then he nodded.

“Exactly,” Noah replied. “So, here’s the plan.”

Their bracelets flickered, as he spoke telepathically. For the first time, perhaps, he saw Erwest get the faintest of smiles on his face as the man nodded. A moment later, multiple shields flared across them. As he did that, he stopped nearly all the attacks that had started coming in their direction, as the big squadron of drakonians had noticed them just standing there.

Noah created two spectres. To one, he handed the bracelet by taking it off. To the other, he simply gave a thumbs up. The first spectre turned to shadow, floating away towards the finish line, with the big bracelet still with him, kept inside its own separate dimensional vault. The other smiled, pulled out a single mana stone, and popped it into its mouth. Then the spectre shot forward, charging right into the oncoming barrage of spells.

Beams of energy, ice shards, flames, and dragon fire all shot towards the spectre that pulled out from the barricade made by Erwest protecting them. The spectre itself began to channel Abyssal Inferno as Noah turned his use of the ability off. Fire began to surge, creating a whirlwind of flames around the spectre, protecting it from any of the attack spells but also sucking in the flames nearby.

As the spectre moved one step at a time, more and more flames began to gather together. Noah simply continued to watch as the people around the arena began to panic more and more at the sight. The spectre walked closer and closer to the giant group of drakonians, walking right up to them, nearly flickering out as its health dipped close to the bottom. And then the spectre smiled, put a hand on its chest, and spoke a single word.

“Boom.”

Abyssal Inferno was released as a torrent of black flames flooded the arena. Dragon fire mixed with void fire, turning into something unholy and abominable in existence.

Noah shouted, “Shield, now!”

Shields flared all around them, barricading them from the impact. Fire flooded the arena, tearing through the hall as for a moment everything turned dark against the black flames. The air burned to breathe and Noah saw his health rapidly dipping even behind the barricades, just from the sheer heat of the explosion.

Then he felt a signal and a smile touched his lips. A buzzing sensation filled them. Wards flew around the arena, glowing with powerful spells, and for a long second there was a tug of war before Zax’s spell won, as both Noah and Erwest teleported across the finish line, arriving at the end.

Noah watched as the flames continued to burn. The entire group of drakonians was now taken out, among others, as even the dragon flames for a moment seemed to peter out after that explosion. All those who remained took the opportunity to simply rush across, trying to race through the finish line as soon as possible, while the invigilator watching sputtered in disbelief.

“That was fun!” Noah exclaimed, smiling at Erwest, who also had a slight smile on his face.

“Oh hey, that was very flashy!” someone said.

Noah glanced sideways, to see a young human guy with dark black hair and eyes, somewhere around twenty if he had to guess, standing there, smiling pleasantly.

[Chaos Primer - Lvl 200]

“My name’s Neal,” the man said, extending his hand.

“Noah, Noah Brown,” Noah replied, shaking his hand as he looked at the guy. “How did you clear this so fast?”

Neal smiled. “Can’t tell you all my secrets, can I? But, if you beat me in the tournament then I’ll let you know,” he said, winking at him before he walked away.

Noah kept an eye on the guy. Something told him he’d meet him again.