Talent Awakening: Draconic Overlord Of The Apocalypse - Chapter 538: The Conviction You Gave Me Part Two

“I lost count of the number of rookies I led to their deaths. I didn’t even know most of their names. None of them even got the sort of graves Gius, Rheam, Trad, and Makavil got—and they died brutally!”

He paused for a moment, tears gathering in his eyes, only for them to evaporate from the heat radiating off his body.

“I didn’t want to live after all that… All those lives on my shoulders, because of my arrogance, foolishness, and poor leadership. There were days I thought about ending it all, because what was the point of going on when everything that mattered to me was gone? Pride, dignity, self-worth—all eroded.”

He drew in a shaky breath, his eyes glistening in the cold light of Yuuto’s aura.

“But then… you were there…”

“You were the one who pulled me out of that pit. You taught me to stand when I couldn’t. You told me there was always something worth fighting for, even when the world gave you nothing back. You were the one who showed me that sometimes, even when it hurts, even when you’re broken, you keep moving because the moment you stop, you’ve already lost.”

Ren’s voice grew stronger, even as it cracked with emotion. “You told me that giving up was the greatest sin a man could commit. And back then, I believed you with everything I had… because you believed it too.”

He clenched his good hand into a trembling fist, his flames flaring weakly but defiantly. “That’s why this hurts so damn much. Because the man who saved me… the man who taught me how to fight for something greater than myself… is the same man I now have to fight to stop.”

His fists clenched, his broken arm shaking violently from the effort. “It hurts… more than any wound you’ve given me, sir. Because you’re the one who showed me how to be strong. You’re the one who showed me what it meant to fight for things beyond myself.”

Ren’s eyes glistened faintly in the silver light. “So if I have to fight you until my last breath to remind you of the man you once were… then that’s what I’ll do.”

Yuuto’s expression shifted just barely—his jaw tightening, eyes flickering with something buried deep. For the first time in centuries, his resolve faltered, if only for a fleeting heartbeat.

“You still… don’t understand,” Yuuto said softly, his voice quieter, almost pained.

Ren’s flames flickered erratically as he straightened, his gaze burning with defiance. His voice was hoarse.

“No… it’s you who doesn’t understand, sir. And I’m willing to go to any lengths to make you understand.”

Beside him, the air warped and twisted unnaturally. A swirling black portal materialized, its edges jagged and pulsating like a living wound in space itself.

Yuuto’s eyes widened as Ren reached into the void, his fingers closing around something within. Slowly, he drew out a small, pitch-black pill that seemed to drink in the light around it, wisps of red mist curling faintly from its surface.

Yuuto’s expression broke for the first time, his molten eyes widening in genuine shock. “An Ode of Darkness…?”

Ren’s silence was answer enough.

Yuuto’s voice thundered with urgency, far louder than before. “Ren, don’t take that! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Ren’s grip on the pill tightened as he glared back at Yuuto. “I know exactly what I’m doing. And if you’re unwilling to listen to reason, you’ve left me no choice but to resort to these means.”

For a brief moment, Yuuto’s composure cracked completely. He gritted his teeth, his aura exploding outward in a desperate surge. The silver light radiating from him grew so intense that the snow around them disintegrated instantly, his wings flaring to their full span.

He thrust his claws forward, his mana compressing to an impossible degree as he attempted to lock the space around Ren in stasis, forcing time itself to still.

But nothing happened.

Yuuto’s eyes widened further as he felt his power fizzle the instant it touched Ren. The oppressive silver aura broke against him like water against a cliff.

From Ren’s body emanated an ominous, writhing haze of black and red smoke. The armor he now wore—its surface jagged and pulsating with malevolent energy—seemed to twist the air around it, nullifying Yuuto’s authority over time itself.

“You…” Yuuto muttered, horror dawning in his expression. “That armor… it’s not just cursed. It’s devouring the very laws that bind reality.”

Ren held Yuuto’s gaze, his face set in grim determination as he slowly raised the pill toward his mouth.

“If this is what it takes to stop you… then so be it.”

Yuuto surged forward in a blur of silver light, claws outstretched, desperation finally breaking through his calm veneer.

“REN, STOP!” he roared, his voice echoing through the ruined courtyard.

But Ren was faster. He tossed the small black pill into his mouth and swallowed without hesitation.

For a split second, nothing happened.

Then Ren dropped to his knees, clutching his chest as if his heart were being crushed from the inside. Black veins spiderwebbed across his skin, his flames snuffing out completely before erupting back to life—darker, heavier, their color shifting from bright orange to a violent black and crimson.

Yuuto froze mid-step, his eyes wide with dread. “No… no, you fool…”

The ground around Ren cracked violently as an oppressive aura poured out of him, suffocating and unnatural. The black and red armor fused tighter to his body, jagged runes igniting across its surface as the menacing smoke thickened, spreading outward like a living plague.

Ren’s head lifted slowly. His eyes, once burning with fiery conviction, now glowed with a sickly crimson light that seemed almost inhuman.

Yuuto’s claws trembled slightly at his sides. “Do you even realize what you’ve just done?”

Ren staggered to his feet, wll his previous wounds healing rapidly. “I’ve done what you forced me to do,” he growled, his voice deeper, layered with distortion.

A blast of blackened fire erupted from his body, warping the snow into steam and leaving molten scars in the ground.

“You refused to listen, Guildmaster,” Ren said, his tone cold, almost detached. “So I’ll make you listen… even if it means becoming a monster to stop one.”

Yuuto’s silver wings spread wide, his expression torn between anger and grief. “That thing inside you will consume you! The Ode of Darkness doesn’t give power—it takes it. Every second you fight, you’re giving yourself away!”