Chapter 723: The Demon Lord and the Dragon

[Choose a core for Fusion: Juvenile Sunken Kraken]

[Fusing you with Juvenile Sunken Kraken...]

When Luke stepped out of the black mist, he didn’t look entirely like himself anymore.

The darkness clung to his body like it had a will of its own, shaping itself into shadowy armor and thick, living cloth that shifted in layered folds. Black tentacles formed from his back and shoulders, some looking like cloth, others like rigid armor plates. Even Luke’s horns were wrapped in dark protective plating, as if the fusion was adapting every detail to his body. The kraken’s power ran through his muscles, pulsing under his skin like a second heart.

Luke lifted his face toward Lucien. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

The voice that came out of him was anything but normal. It was spectral, deep, distorted, like it had crawled up from the bottom of an abyss.

Lucien tightened his grip around the ice swords, but forced a smile.

“I don’t know what the hell you did to yourself, but it doesn’t change anything.” He raised both translucent blades, cold enough to make the air hiss around them. “You still can’t even crack my blade.”

Luke charged. His burst of speed was so violent the sand exploded under his feet. The kukris swept in from both sides, and Lucien blocked with confidence, still smiling. The smile vanished the instant the blade shattered. For the first time, Lucien looked at Luke like he was seeing him. Chunks flew in every direction, glittering in the air before raining down across the beach. For one heavy second, neither of them moved.

Luke tilted his head.

“You’re right. I didn’t crack it. My bad.” The spectral voice carried a cold edge of sarcasm. “I broke it.”

Fury twisted Lucien’s face. He conjured another sword and attacked. Luke answered at once, and the kukris broke both ice blades like thin glass. Lucien backed away, summoning more weapons, trying to keep pace, but every strike from Luke destroyed a fresh sword.

He made another.

Luke broke it.

He tried again.

Luke broke that one too.

He raised his hand, the next blade barely forming before it split into fragments.

Lucien’s retreat stopped being tactical.

It became survival.

“Look at you. Pathetic.” Luke took another step, black tentacles thrashing behind him. “You’re not parrying. You’re getting cornered.” He spun one kukri between his fingers. “Grip your weapons properly.”

That was the trigger. Lucien screamed and shot into the sky with one violent beat of his wings. Ice began pouring off his body in waves, condensing in the air until it formed a massive breath. Then he opened his mouth and unleashed a freezing blast at Luke, a full-force dragon breath.

Luke ran. Not away. Straight at him. The blast hit him head-on.

And failed.

The horn cut the magic. The cloak dulled the ice. The Juvenile Kraken armor swallowed what was left. Lucien’s dragon breath became almost meaningless.

Luke dropped the kukris mid-sprint, jumped, and grabbed Lucien in the air. The first punch hit the man’s face hard enough to make his wings flap out of rhythm. The second made him lose altitude. The third ruined any chance of recovering. Luke kept punching until they both crashed into the sand.

He landed on top of Lucien and started hammering his face without stopping.

“Beg!” Luke roared. “Start begging!”

Lucien opened his mouth and fired another ice blast point-blank. Luke was forced back for a moment, and Lucien used the opening to take off again, beating his wings in desperation. He didn’t get far. Luke jumped with the cloak’s power, reached him in midair, and grabbed his wings. Rage seized his whole body. With one brutal pull, he tore Lucien’s wings apart and hurled him back down onto the beach, then dropped after him with a punch that sank the man’s body into the sand.

“This is how I’m going to tear through your fucking kingdom!”

Luke grabbed him and threw him into the trees. Lucien slammed into a trunk with a violent crack, but before he could fall, Luke was already on him. He seized him by the hair and ran, dragging his face across the ground, using his body to smash through trunks, branches, and anything else in the way. When Luke finally threw him aside, he jumped and came down on him with both feet, crushing him into the dirt.

Then he went back to punching. “Beg!”

Lucien spat blood, his face twisted by pain and pride. “No...”

Luke drove his head into the sand, yanked him up by the hair, and threw him into the air. When he raised his hand, two enormous spectral tentacles erupted from his body, moving like they were alive. They struck Lucien in midair, crushed him, and slammed him back into the ground. Every time he tried to get up, the tentacles hit him again.

“Beg!” Luke shouted.

He pointed his hand and activated another kraken power.

[Maelstrom Dominion]

Ten gigantic spectral tentacles rose around him. They spun with savage force, dragging wind, sand, and water with them. The earth trembled. The beach began splitting under the pressure of a monstrous whirlpool forming with Luke at its center, pulling sand, trees, and the shallow coastal waters into a growing vortex.

Lucien staggered to his feet. Wings of ice crystal sprouted from his back, fragile, improvised, desperate. He tried to take flight. Luke only pointed. The ten spectral tentacles shot toward him in the air.

“Let me go!” Lucien screamed.

They crushed him and slammed him into the ground. Luke ran to him and activated another skill.

[Leviathan’s Embrace]

He grabbed Lucien from behind, locking him in a crushing embrace. The strength of the kraken’s tentacles flooded Luke’s arms, amplifying every muscle, every squeeze. Lucien’s scream tore out of him, followed by the dry sound of bones giving way. When Luke released him, Lucien collapsed into the sand. His spine had broken.

Something inside Luke smiled.

"Kill."

Luke answered with [Spectral Roar]. The kraken’s roar tore out of his throat and swept across the beach like an invisible wave. The sound was so loud the ocean itself seemed to tremble. Lucien, lying on the ground, tried to drag himself toward the water.

“My legs!” he howled, his voice shredded by pain.

Lucien touched the shallow water at the edge of the beach.

Luke stepped on his back. “I broke your legs so every time you look at me, you have to look up.”

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He crouched and started punching him again.

“Trying to disqualify yourself, huh?”

"Kill."

“Lucky for me, this water belongs to the [Abyssal Zone]. Doesn’t count as a disqualification.”

Luke kept hitting him.

“Beg!” His fist came down again. “Come on. Fucking beg!”

“I beg!” Lucien screamed. “Let me live! Please, let me live!”

“Please?” Luke hit him harder. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

"Kill."

“I’m going to enjoy breaking that shitty face of yours.” Luke grabbed Lucien by the hair, forcing him to meet his eyes. “Then I’m coming for the rest of your family, you bastard.”

Luke’s head started to ache.

"Kill."

The world around him lost all sound. First the ocean vanished. Then the wind. Then even his own blows. Only that deep voice remained, repeating inside his skull.

"Kill. Kill. Kill."

Darkness swallowed everything.

"Kill... kill... kill..."

Two white eyes opened in the void.

"Kill them all."

Luke blinked. When he snapped back to himself, he was facing Lucien. Lucien had lost consciousness for a few moments, or maybe Luke had blacked out for a second. He didn’t know. All he knew was that his kukris snapped back into his hands through magnetism, and a heartbeat later, the blades were pressed against Lucien’s throat.

"Kill..."

Luke froze.

“Stop!” The voice came from behind him.

Someone landed behind him. Wings dissolved into the air. Curtis Rhiannon staggered across the beach, covered in blood, his entire body marked by battle.

“Don’t do it, Luke Moon.” Curtis took another step, raising one hand. “Don’t kill Lucien Rhiannon.”

Luke pressed the blade against Lucien’s throat.

“I came to make a deal.”

“A deal?” Luke laughed without humor. “Now you want to negotiate?”

“For the record, I didn’t kill the two guys who attacked me.”

“And you think I’m supposed to believe a word you say, you son of a bitch?”

“Yeah, probably not.” Curtis drew a deep breath. “But believe this much: I’m on your side.”

“On my side?”

“I’m Allison’s friend. More than that.” He hesitated for a second. “I’m her cousin.”

“Coming from you Rhiannons, that doesn’t mean much.”

Luke released Lucien. Spectral tentacles rose around his body, growing as he walked toward Curtis.

“I’m going to beat your face in just like I did his.”

Curtis lifted both hands in surrender. “My uncle is a lot stronger than I am, so I’m assuming that would absolutely happen. But listen. I have a message from Allison for you.”

“A message from Allison?” Luke laughed, low and dangerous. “You think using her name is going to save you? No. The opposite, actually. You’re just pissing me off.”

Curtis took a step back. “You were the first man who saw her naked.”

Luke stopped. “What?”

Curtis looked like he wanted the ocean to swallow him.

“Yeah. Trust me, I hate this too.” He grimaced. “But when you found out she was a woman, you saw... way too much. Then you made a really weird comment about her body.”

Luke raised the kukri.

“Wait! Wait!” Curtis rushed, keeping his hands up. “The point is, Allison told me to say that if I ever had to interact with you. I never thought that stupid little detail would actually be useful, or that I’d ever run into you. And sorry for not talking to you sooner. I’ve got an image to maintain.”

No random person could know that. But Curtis wasn’t just anyone.

Luke narrowed his eyes. “Your queen could’ve forced that out of her.”

“Luke from Maine,” Curtis said quickly, before the blade could come down. “You’re looking for your mother, Elizabeth Moon. You have a little adopted sister named Lillian Baumann, an older adopted brother named Noah, and your adoptive parents are Clara and Martin.”

Luke’s expression hardened completely.

“Easy, easy.” Curtis took another half-step back. “I’m only saying this so you understand that I know who you are. If I’d opened with it, you would’ve been even more pissed than you already are. But the point is: you and I both know Allison Rhiannon well enough to know she’s loyal. She never would’ve betrayed you by revealing that kind of information.”

Luke stood motionless. They knew about his family.

“Listen.” Curtis lowered his voice a little. “You don’t believe me. Fine. I didn’t come here to beg for his life. You can kill Lucien, seriously. I don’t care if he dies. I wouldn’t care if every Rhiannon died today. Honestly, I’m rooting for it. And if I’m being real, I’d rather you kill this guy.”

Luke looked at Lucien, collapsed in the sand.

“But I owe Allison a favor,” Curtis continued. “So I came to help you. If you kill Lucien Rhiannon right now, there will be consequences.”

“Consequences?”

“He’s a dragon from the most powerful family in our world. And yeah, I’m a dragon too. But if you kill this dragon here, now, you’ll draw the entire family’s eyes straight to you.” Curtis pointed at Lucien. “And believe me, my new friend, at your current level, you cannot fight the Rhiannon family. The queen can’t let one of ours be killed without answering. Public image, politics, all that bullshit. So congratulations. On top of painting a target on your back, you’d send her straight after your family.”

Luke looked at Lucien’s body again. The hate still burned inside him.

“And you want me to leave this guy alive?” The question came out loaded with irony.

“Think about it. You’re smart.” Curtis nodded toward Lucien. “If Lucien Rhiannon leaves this event like this, he goes home completely defeated. A failure in front of the entire family. Instead of their anger being aimed at you, it falls on him. He loses power, prestige, and influence. Dragons eat weakness alive. You don’t need to kill Lucien to hurt the Rhiannons. Send him home broken, and they’ll do half the work for you.”

Luke stared at Curtis. “And you, a Rhiannon, are conspiring against your own family? Hard to believe.”

Curtis gave a short laugh.

“I’m a Rhiannon because I’m forced to be. I’m a bastard, same as Allison. I can’t even see the other side of my family anymore.” His smile died. “I’m a prisoner with perks.”

Luke looked at Lucien. It would be so easy to kill him right there.

“And I probably don’t have to say the event is yours,” Curtis added. “It’ll hurt them even more if you win.”

“And you’re just going to stand there and watch me take the win?” ℯℯ𝑙.

“My Rhiannon superior has unfortunately suffered serious damage, as you can see.” Curtis opened his arms, his tone turning almost theatrical. “And in the line of duty, I’ll unfortunately have to let you win because I wasted time saving his life. See how the story sounds? Pretty convincing.”

Luke was silent for a moment.

Then he smiled. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Do we have a deal?”

For half a second, Luke only smiled.

Then a tentacle hit Curtis in the face.

He was thrown into the ground, and Luke advanced on him. The punches came heavy and direct, each one driving Curtis’s face deeper into the sand. He kept hitting until Curtis lost consciousness.

“That was for breaking my girlfriend’s arm back then.” Luke rose, breathing hard. “Now congratulations. We have a deal.”

He left both Rhiannons on the beach and walked toward the tower.

[People on the Island: 5]

The tsunami was rising from inside the island. Angie and Charlie had already returned to Earth. They had been disqualified. The water had already swallowed the place where they’d been.

I didn’t even get to see if they were okay.

Luke tried to see through Angie’s eyes, but couldn’t. He could still feel the soul fragment inside her, so he knew she was alive. At least there was that.

New skill limitation found. I can’t see through the eyes of someone on another planet.

Then the armor started coming apart. Not fading. Dying. It unraveled into dark smoke, taking the last of the kraken’s power with it.

[Your Juvenile Sunken Kraken Core has been destroyed]

The horns, the cloak, the demonic hands, all inactive. Luke felt empty, heavy, almost useless. Activating [Spectral Fusion] twice in less than twenty-four hours came with an absurd price. At least he’d learned one thing: the core became available again after twelve hours.

As he walked toward the tower, the voice he’d heard during the fight wouldn’t leave his head. The moment the armor vanished, it vanished too. It was like his ears had been unplugged and the world had sound again. The buzzing in his mind was gone.

That was weird as fuck. Was that the Spectral Beast’s voice?

It didn’t feel like it. Luke could feel the creature. He knew that presence. Whatever had spoken inside him wasn’t the beast. It was something being reproduced through it.

Vaelor said a Spectral Beast is born when a creature from the Void corrupts a beast. And that they’re the offspring of a dangerous monster from the Void. Was that voice from that monster?

A thought hit him. Azazel is trapped in the Void.

He had never connected those pieces before. He’d only learned the truth about Azazel later. But now, as he walked, the conclusion was too obvious to ignore. If the Void could imprison a Primordial God, then the monsters living there weren’t just aberrations. They were horrors capable of challenging gods. And one of them might have just spoken through him.

Luke pushed the thought aside when he reached the base of the tower.

“Cadmus.”

He didn’t have the strength to try jumping, and without the cloak, he couldn’t go straight up. So he started climbing the stairs.

“You’d better tell me the King’s Tomb is somewhere easy to reach.”

“If the event hasn’t moved it, then yes,” Cadmus answered. “It is on this beach, Luke Moon.”

“Good...” Luke braced one hand against the wall as he climbed. “Don’t know how much I’ve got left in me. My body feels like it weighs a ton.”

When he reached the top of the tower, he faced the red crystal.

“But it was worth it. I won the event.”

The robot came out of invisibility in front of him.

“You have my thanks, Luke Moon. I will be able to see a little of my people one last time, at least. No reward could repay that debt.”

“Sure there is.” Luke raised a finger. “Take me to the tomb and point me toward something powerful and valuable inside. Do that, and your debt’s paid.”

Cadmus was silent for a moment. “I can also help you in another way, Luke Moon. I will tell you everything about my deal with the system. The reason my planet was chosen. All of us are connected by something we share. And perhaps you and your planet may face the same great danger mine did.”

Luke frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“The Light in the Sky.”

“That’s what ended your world?”

“I hope there is still time for a history lesson.”

Luke reached for the red crystal. Then a sound cut through the air.

“Luke Mo—” Cadmus froze.

Something punched through the robot’s body. He toppled sideways, rolling across the tower floor.

A figure stood there, sword wreathed in fire. “Looks like we meet again, Demon Lord.”

Luke knew that voice.

Maxwell.

The Hero of Flame.