Chapter 480: Finally

He had already established the kind of outcome he wanted. Now the only question was how exactly he should go about exacting it?

And yet, just as Riley began thinking about how difficult that would actually be, along with his absolute lack of interest in sitting there assessing the life of every single person like some absolute judge he definitely wasn’t, he suddenly felt a tug.

It was almost as though something was pulling at his attention.

Not toward the beings still shamelessly spewing whatever excuses and lip service they thought might save them, but toward the colossal tree towering behind him.

Ah...

Right.

Why would he have to do it himself when there was this?

Besides, did he and Kael even need this much power between the two of them?

Especially when part of that power apparently came with the unfortunate ability to hear all sorts of things Riley really didn’t want invading his consciousness?

Kael seemed to understand what his mate intended almost immediately.

Personally, he thought Riley was already putting far too much effort into beings who didn’t deserve even a fraction of his attention.

But Kael was also a husband who knew how to satisfy his spouse.

More importantly, he was a mate who would do anything for the person who was the very reason he was still standing there.

So when the dragon lord felt that familiar pull against the immense reserves of mana he now possessed, he didn’t resist.

He simply let it flow.

Riley glanced appreciatively at his mate before turning toward the sea of beings before them.

Some were still praying.

Others were desperately thinking of ways to save themselves, while a few had apparently already accepted whatever bleak fate awaited them.

Then Riley spoke, his voice carrying clearly across the otherwise silent Wyrmfall.

"Okay."

Everyone froze.

Okay what?

What in the world was he saying okay to?

Well, the black dragon was saying okay to everything.

Okay to the fact that even with all this power, he was no god.

Okay to the fact that everyone had their own reasons for doing what they did, whether those reasons were good, bad, or simply convenient excuses they’d repeated often enough to believe themselves.

And finally?

Okay to letting everyone judge themselves.

As Riley thought about all that, everyone still rattled by that single ominous word gradually realized something was happening behind him.

Right where his family stood beneath the protection of the majestic serpent, the colossal tree stretching toward the sky suddenly began glowing even brighter.

The dense leylines forming its towering structure suddenly accelerated, mana surging through them so rapidly that the flow of energy became blindingly visible.

No one knew what was happening.

But just as everyone began wondering whether the damned thing was actually about to explode on them, the colossal tree did something none of them expected.

It began to bloom.

One flower unfurled, followed by another, until blossoms rapidly spread across the sprawling canopy. Within moments, the once-bare structure had transformed into a breathtaking sea of flowers, leaving the entire battlefield staring upward in absolute awe.

It was ethereal.

Beautiful.

But just like anything of that magnitude, the magnificent sight before them didn’t last for very long.

The newly bloomed petals began detaching from the canopy, drifting gently through the air before suddenly stretching and sharpening into straight strands of brilliant light.

Then they fell.

Like a shower of falling stars, countless glowing streaks rained down across Wyrmfall, hurtling directly toward every person present.

There was nowhere to run.

Not that anyone could’ve run in the first place when they were still firmly pinned to the ground where they knelt.

The strands pierced straight into their cores without leaving so much as a scratch on their bodies, causing each person struck to momentarily glow from within.

Naturally, everyone immediately expected the worst.

But when they frantically looked around and realized that Riley, Kael, and even the members of their family had been struck by the exact same light, a collective sense of relief swept through the crowd.

Well.

At least, for the most part...

Because that relief lasted only until the first guttural scream tore through the air.

"AAAAARGH!"

Lady Seraphyne.

She’d been intensely wary at first, but when nothing seemed to happen, Seraphyne eventually allowed herself to believe she’d survived whatever that light was supposed to do.

Unfortunately, that momentary sense of security barely had time to settle before her entire world suddenly seemed to flip, nearly robbing the red dragoness of consciousness as her body began convulsing violently and fear rapidly clouded her heart.

But such tremors should’ve been the least of her problems, because the moment darkness swallowed her vision, Seraphyne’s mind was violently hurled backward into one of the most agonizing moments of her life.

The moment she’d been separated from her mate.

It had nearly driven her insane back then.

Except this time, she wasn’t simply remembering it.

She was living it.

Again.

And again.

In reality, everything was happening at an almost incomprehensible speed, but for the woman trapped within her own memories, it felt as though she’d already endured entire lifetimes of suffering.

Each time she found him, he was ripped away from her all over again, forcing Seraphyne to repeatedly endure the same helplessness and despair that she and the others had once inflicted upon Ilyss Dravaryn when Orryn was taken.

And to think, she hadn’t even begun experiencing the repeated loss of her own children, just as countless others had lost theirs because of her dealings with Malrik.

But in this suffering, Lady Seraphyne wasn’t alone.

All across the crater, carefully buried horrors began clawing their way to the surface.

Beings were dragged into waking visions formed from their own actions, except they were no longer experiencing those events through their own eyes.

They were seeing them through the eyes of their victims.

Feeling what they had felt.

Living through consequences they’d once found so easy to dismiss when the suffering had belonged to someone else.

Riley watched everything unfold with a solemn expression, all while trying to settle the remaining mana in his own body and simultaneously checking on Kael’s condition after such a taxing yet worthwhile expenditure.

As for however much mana they might recover after doing all this, Riley honestly couldn’t care less. At that moment, there was hardly anything he could think of that would’ve been more worthwhile.

After what he’d recently experienced himself, he had a fairly good idea of how this judgment worked.

After all, even those who genuinely believed they’d lived good lives had probably hurt someone along the way, whether knowingly or not.

Then again, that was where intent mattered.

The judgment wasn’t simply digging through every mistake they’d ever made and punishing them for it.

It was coming from within their own souls.

The deeper they’d buried their offenses, grudges, and atrocities without ever truly acknowledging or repenting for them, the more difficult and excruciating the struggle to regain access to their cores would become.

In that sense, this wasn’t really Riley’s punishment at all.

It was their own.

Those who continued refusing to understand the suffering they’d caused would remain trapped within it, not because Riley had decreed some arbitrary sentence, but because their own cores, the very gifts of mana they’d been blessed with, were now demanding accountability for being tainted.

But judgment wasn’t only meant to punish.

For those who had proven themselves through the lives they’d lived, something entirely different awaited them.

Power.

While screams of agony ripped through Wyrmfall and tears of blood streamed down the faces of those consumed by their own self-made suffering, others found themselves enveloped in a warm, soothing light.

Riley looked toward them.

These were the people who made all those hardships worthwhile.

And hopefully, when all of this was finally over, they would be the ones willing to step forward and lead.

The ones who would make sure a blight like this would never be allowed to consume Eryndra again.

And then maybe, just maybe, with more people around to share that burden, he’d finally have all the time in the world to live a life meant for himself and the people he loved.

Riley Hale spared the suffering beings before them one final glance before turning toward the towering tree behind him.

Even that magnificent sight was beginning to disappear.

Its once-blinding glow gradually softened as the colossal tree sank deeper into the earth, almost as though it were burying its massive roots into the very heart of Eryndra. Its enormous branches were slowly fading from view, but beneath the still-glowing canopy, surrounded by the last remnants of that ethereal light, his family remained exactly where they had been waiting for them.

Every face carried some mixture of hopeful relief and lingering worry, as though none of them quite dared to believe the ordeal was truly over.

Riley understood the feeling.

He released a long, heavy breath, allowing the weight he’d been carrying for what felt like far too long to leave with it.

Finally.

After all the fighting, the losses, and the secrets they’d uncovered along the way, they could go home.

At that thought, the black dragon turned toward the person who had remained beside him through it all.

Kael was already watching him, quietly waiting as though he would’ve remained there for however long Riley needed.

For a few seconds, the ex-mortal simply stared back. Then the solemnity gradually faded from his face, the corner of his lips twitching before a childish, teasing grin slowly spread across them.

For all that had changed, that one ridiculously familiar expression made something perfectly clear.

Riley was still Riley.

So naturally, he made the utterly insane suggestion,

"What about this... Race you home? First one gets to top?"