Somehow the Central Continent seemed already aware of his motives.

And thus, they send their testing pawn without delay.

"Theodore, your training is complete. Go,kill the Dragon Emperor. Do not fail God Ascalon!"

-

On that day, the sky above the Western Continent had become a bruised expanse of swirling violet and oppressive gold, like a canvas of atmospheric tension.

Below, in the sprawling cities of the newly integrated territories, the teeming millions did not go about their day.

They stood on rooftops, leaned out of windows, and gathered in town squares, their eyes glued to the celestial display above.

The flickering holographic screens that usually broadcasted trade quotas and agricultural edicts were now tuned to the high-altitude sensors of the Dragon Empire.

​The image was terrifyingly clear.

​Adonis Kingsbane stood in the center of the firmament, his feet resting on a platform of solidified shadow. He did not look like a man; he looked like a conceptual flaw in reality. His black armor swallowed the light of the setting sun, and his eyes were two pinpricks of absolute nothingness that seemed to judge the worth of the world with every blink.

​"So," Adonis’s voice rumbled, "The Central Continent has finally sent its answer. I expected an army, or perhaps a divine visitation. Instead, they send a boy with a borrowed sword."

​Opposite him, hovering on wings of pure, blinding radiance and full holy armour, was Theodore.

The training he had undergone in the hidden sanctuaries of the Central Continent had stripped away the last of his youthful softness.

His jaw was set, and his grip on the legendary blade Ascalon was white-knuckled. The sword hummed a low, mournful tune, its edge glowing with the collective hope of a billion people who refused to kneel to the Dragon Throne.

​"I am not here as an answer, Dragon Emperor," Theodore replied, his voice amplified by the Sword Soul residing within his marrow.

"I am here as a consequence. You have turned the world into a ledger. You have traded the souls of men for the efficiency of machines and the cold comfort of ether-arrays. I am here to remind you that some things cannot be calculated."

​"Haha...." Adonis let out a short, dry laugh. It was a sound of genuine amusement that chilled the hearts of everyone listening.

"Logic is the only true mercy, Hero Theodore. You speak of souls, yet you stand there draped in the power of a Sword Soul that was forged from the sacrifice of a thousand predecessors. You are the very thing you despise: a tool of the elite, sent to preserve a chaotic status quo. You are an error in my system, and I am the ultimate debugger."

​Theodore didn’t wait for the final word. He moved with a speed that defied the laws of physics, a golden streak that cut through the violet clouds.

Buzzz!

Ascalon descended in a vertical arc, like a pillar of holy light that threatened to split the atmosphere in two.

​Adonis didn’t move until the blade was inches from his brow.

With a casual flick of his wrist, a barrier of dark mana materialized, refracting the holy light into a thousand harmless shards. The shockwave of the impact cleared the sky for fifty miles in every direction, sending a thunderclap across the continent that shattered windows in the cities below.

​"Hah, Is that the extent of your conviction?" Adonis asked, his voice still bored. "You strike with the power of hope, but hope has no value. It has no density. It is empty, dear Heor. They are easily dispersed."

​"Then feel the power of justice!" Theodore roared.

Whoosh!

​He spun in mid-air, his movements becoming a blur of golden geometry. Each strike of Ascalon was faster than the last, creating a web of light that boxed Adonis in. The golden energy began to burn away the violet clouds, momentarily giving the people below a glimpse of a different sky.

​Adonis parried the blows with nothing but his gauntlets.

"Justice is a human construct designed to comfort the weak. The universe only recognizes power and the will to exert it. You fight for a world that died the moment I stepped onto the Dragon Throne."

​Theodore’s eyes glowed with an intense, burning gold. He felt the Sword Soul within him screaming, demanding that he push past the limits of his mortal coil. He pulled the sword back, its length extending until it was a hundred-meter-long blade of concentrated sunfire.

​"Ascalon! Final Decree: Heaven’s Ruin!"

RUMBLE!

​The massive blade descended. It was a strike meant to end a war, a blow that contained the refined essence of every Hero existed.

​Adonis looked up, his expression finally shifting from boredom to focus.

"Very well. If you wish to see the scale of your insignificance, I shall show you."

"Chaos Expansion: The Void that Devours."

BOOOM!

​The dark ether surrounding Adonis exploded. And from the center of the violet vortex, a colossal form began to take shape.

It was a dragon, but not of flesh and bone. It was composed of Primordial Chaos, its scales like shards of a shattered universe.

Buzz, buzzzz, buzzzz...

The beast grew at an impossible rate, expanding until it reached 7777 meters in length. Its wingspan blotted out the sun entirely, plunging the Western Continent into an artificial night.

​The Primordial Chaos Dragon opened its maw, and the very air began to scream.

​Meanwhile, Theodore’s Heaven’s Ruin strike hit the dragon’s chest.

RUMBLE!

The golden light was immense, blinding, and for a moment, the people of the West thought the hero had won. But then, the darkness began to swallow the gold. The Primordial Chaos did not resist the holy light; it consumed it, drawing the energy into its own swirling mass.

​"A sword of light against the primal chaos of the beginning. You are trying to light a candle in a black hole, Theodore. Let’s settle our old debts from past life."

Theodore was confused by the term past life as he still didn’t know Adonis was Liam. But Adonis already knew.

Crackle!

​The dragon’s massive tail swept through the sky. Theodore tried to dodge, but the scale of the attack was too vast.

The tail hit him with the force of a falling moon.

"BANG!"

Theodore was sent hurtling downward, his golden wings shattered into sparkling dust.

BOOOM!

He crashed through three separate cloud layers before he managed to stabilize himself, coughing up blood that glowed with golden flecks.

​He looked up and felt the first true pang of despair. The 7777-meter dragon was looming over him, its eyes like two dying suns.

​"I will not yield!" Theodore screamed, though his voice was thin against the roar of the Chaos Dragon. "I want to live."

​"Live for whom? For The people believe in what keeps them fed and warm," the Chaos Dragon spoke, its head descending until it was only meters away from the broken hero.

"Look down, Theodore. Look at your believers."

​Theodore glanced down. On the screens in the cities, he didn’t see people cheering for him. He saw terror. He saw mothers clutching their children, staring at the screen with eyes that begged for the battle to end, regardless of who won.

They didn’t want a hero; they wanted the sky to stop falling. They wanted the stability that Adonis had promised, even if it was a cold, tyrannical stability.

​"You are a disruption, A bug in a perfect system. And bugs must be crushed," the Chaos Dragon whispered.

​Adonis, sitting within the heart of the dragon, raised his hand.

"Chaos Expansion: Gravity Well."

HUMMMMMMM!

​The world groaned as its weight suddenly doubled, then tripled.

Theodore felt his bones begin to crack. Ascalon, the holy sword, started to bend under the atmospheric pressure. The dragon’s claw, each talon the size of a warship, reached out and gripped Theodore.

​Theodore screamed as the talons sank into his shoulders, pinning him in the sky.

"Adonis! You are a monster! You have forgotten what it means to be human!"

​"I haven’t forgotten," Adonis’s voice echoed within Theodore’s mind. "I simply evolved beyond the limitations of that word. Humanity is a stage of development, like a larva. My empire is the butterfly, forged in the silk of logic and the fire of chaos. You are fighting to remain a caterpillar."

​The dragon’s grip tightened. Theodore’s golden aura flickered and died. With a final, agonizing crack, Ascalon shattered into a million pieces.

The legendary sword of the Central Continent was gone, its shards falling toward the earth like shooting stars.

​The Chaos Dragon roared, a sound of absolute triumph that was broadcast to every corner of the world. Then, with a casual movement, the dragon flung the broken body of Theodore toward the horizon.

​"Stay in the prison for now, Junior Bugger," Adonis smirmed dangerously. "We have a few interesting things to discuss before you die."

​Theodore landed on the Royal Prison, extremely confused. Only Liam used to call him by "Junior Bugger"

Could it be Aodnis was Liam’s reincarnation?

The thought chilled him to the core. He was done for.