Dorian felt as if he was full to bursting. A torrent of energy flooded into his veins, absorbed directly into his soul. This energy boiled and sloshed about, incredibly potent and strong.

When Dorian absorbed something, what he absorbed was essentially the life energy or stored energy of something. He couldn't absorb a raw magical attack, for example, in part due to the volatility of its energy, or the energy of a living creature.

But the placid, still, and ownerless energy of an artifact or a dead creature were fair game.

That said, it was possible for him to absorb too much energy to safely take in. When that happened, the excess energy would shed off him, sloughing off his body like cascading light.

'After absorbing 972,094 points of energy, your soul was unable to bear any more strain. The rest of the excess energy has been shed to avoid damaging your soul.' Ausra's voice rang out in his mind.

'Evolving to 4th Growth S-'

'Evolving to 5th Growth Stage.'

–

-Grakon – Growth Stage: (5/5) Grakon Great Elder –

Growth Progress – 208,882/0-

–

It cost him more than 750,000 points to fully evolve the last two Stages of his Grakon bloodline. As a Lord Class bloodline, the amount of energy it took to mature was ridiculous, but understandable.

With that, however, Dorian's body blurred and transformed. His physical form expanded slightly as he released his Condensed state. A small line of scaled spikes formed on the back of his body, while his muscles bulged even larger. He stood an intimidating 3 meters in height, full of ferocity and might.

In terms of raw Energy level, he was now stronger than his Black-Scaled Rage Dragon form.

That said, a dragon was still a dragon. The size and raw physical might of his draconic form meant that even if his strength in his Grakon form was doubled, his draconic form would still be stronger. Energy levels could only convey so much.

A rule of thumb some Wizards went by was that, of the more dominant breeds of the Dragon Race, a single Dragon could take on at least 10 Wizards of the same strength, or dozens of warriors. There was a reason the Draconic Tribes ruled over thousands of world despite being so few in number.

'Expand Ability gained!'

–

Ability: Expand

The signature Ability of the Grakon race, unique to them. This allows a Grakon to absorb energy from the environment, manipulating the natural laws of the universe to vastly increase their size. This increase in size scales their physical strength and endurance, greatly increasing their physical might.

–

As all of this information rushed into Dorian's mind, he felt the excess energy continue to flow off his body, giving him a fierce, almost heavenly appearance.

"Ahhh." He let out a deep breath as his vision became clear.

He blinked several times, looking out in front of him.

The barrier had completely disintegrated. His eyes now showed him a vision of empty, abandoned farmland, scattered with trees and random bushes or overgrown plants. He spotted a large house and barn in the background.

More directly, however, Dorian came face to face with another being.

A man of some sort wielding a long, glowing bow, dressed in the faded clothing of a hunter. A man that was giving off a Kingly Aura, one that threatened to crush Dorian and knock him away.

–

Species: Demonic Human (???)

Class – King Class (Early)

Maximum Energy Level: 632,221

–

'DESTROY HIM! NO DEMONS ARE ALLOWED TO SURVIVE! THEY MUST BE EXTINGUISHED IN TOTALITY!'

The voice in Dorian's head exploded with an overwhelmingly loud yell that threatened to send him stumbling.

Dorian blinked, his mind reeling.

'Where did…?'

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

As Leader's vision cleared, his instincts fired up.

An urge he had not felt in a long time swept over him. An urge to escape immediately, a warning that he was in extreme danger. All the years he had spent in training, slowly mastering the Law of Pride, growing his Soul Spell Matrix, made clear one thing.

The being before him was an extremely powerful one. And the air it gave off as it looked at him was one of pure, vitriolic hatred and wrath.

It was clearly the Inheritor of Wrath he had sensed.

(A/N – Decided to capitalize Inheritor for clarity, going forward)

And it seemed he had annoyed the Inheritor by appearing.

'It destroyed that barrier just by touching it? Oh god, what level has it reached?!' He thought, his eyes bloodshot.

'Pride's Aura: Super State activate!' Without hesitation, Leader immediately jumped into one of his strongest states, drawing upon his mastery of the Law of Pride.

The Law of Pride was a complex Law that was extremely difficult to understand. Roughly 80 years ago, when Leader had been a mere child, an orphan living on the streets, he had made a discovery of an inheritance containing information about this obscure Law in an abandoned chapel.

He had gone on several journeys, including to one of the ancient sites of the Demon race, deep in the lands of the Shade Commune. Through this, he had developed his strength and knowledge, becoming one of the Inheritors of Pride.

The rainbow Aura that surrounded Leader condensed, clinging tightly to his body. The air around him whipped back and forth as the energy directly began to flow into him, vastly increasing his physical strength.

The 'Super State' of an Inheritor of Pride. His strength, defense, and speed were all vastly increased. In addition, his physical presence became overwhelming. He became a virtual Embodiment of Pride, a simple glance from him containing the weight of a thousand kings.

WHOOSH

He locked eyes with the Inheritor of Wrath, holding his bow at the ready.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Dorian locked eyes with the strange hunter in front of him.

Immediately, he felt as if a colossal weight had slammed into his head. This weight carried with it an unstoppable force and was completely unexpected, catching Dorian entirely by surprise.

So much so that he was immediately knocked unconscious.

His eyes rolled up in the back of his head, and darkness took him.

As his body was about to collapse, however, something strange happened.

His body tensed up. The air around him seemed to shiver, slightly.

He froze.

Slowly, Dorian opened his eyes.

A pair of dark, cold eyes full of ancient pain and wisdom.

Eyes that did not belong to Dorian.

"Ahhh." The being in control of Dorian's body took a deep, satisfied breath, his entire body shivering.

"I have returned."

The world around the being seemed to be flowing in slow motion as he looked around, and then down at himself.

"Just as I foresaw. Grakon, Titan, a variant Rage Dragon. Everything for my return has been obtained, all I need to do is reach the treasure I left behind on Magmor. The emotions and mission I imbued were enough to temporarily awaken my awareness." He frowned after a moment,

"But my memories… there seems to have been some type of deviation from the future I planned? Multiple deviations? Is this your doing, Arthur? Or is it you… My love…" As he was struggling with his thoughts, the presence that was controlling Dorian's body abruptly looked up.

Staring at the demonic human that was standing right across from him, wielding a faded longbow. The human was rapidly backing away now, jumping backwards as it notched an arrow made of light and pointed it at him.

A look of pure rage donned on Dorian's face, one that was incredibly menacing. The air around the being twisted, darkness manifesting.

"A Demon…" His hands shook just slightly before returning to normal.

"My Soul Spell Matrix is only at the Lord Class and I can't access the Absolute, not unless I want to risk soul dissolution… But did you think I couldn't handle a mere Early King Class Demon..?" He whispered to himself quietly.

"Ability activate, Condense. Ability activate, Expand." He activated two Abilities simultaneously. Raw energy flowed into his veins, both trying to expand and condense his body at the same time.

The being in control of Dorian's body merged these two twisting energies perfectly, as if he had done this multiple times before.

"Abilities combine."

'New Ability gained: Perfect Body.'

A faint hint of confusion washed over the being controlling Dorian's face as he heard a voice speak in his head, naming the Ability he had just combined to create.

"Ability activate, Perfect Body."

The two combating energies fully merged, imbuing every inch of Dorian's body.

His size neither increased, nor decreased. The air around him did not distort. The rampant energy flooding near him fizzled off, leaving behind a simple, adult Grakon standing calmly.

He smiled viciously.

"Suffer my wrath."

His body vanished, moving so quickly it seemed to teleport.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"Suffer my wrath."

'Oh dear.' Leader's first thought was one of panic and anger. Anger at himself for feeling fear, panic as he realized how severely he had miscalculated.

"I am virtually a living Embodiment of Pride, Heavens be damned! If I am to die, I will die on my feet, not my knees!" He roared aloud, his eyes alighting.

"Empyrean Shot!" He had loaded an arrow made of pure energy onto his Ruler's bow. Without hesitation, he launched this arrow now, blasting towards the Wrath Inheritor. The impact from firing the attack was colossal, one that sent him flying backwards. He had yet to fully master the technique.

The Inheritor had charged at him with incredible speed, blasting forward with precision. Even with his enhanced perception and skill, he could only barely catch a glance of the warrior. His movements were incredibly odd, some type of strange Mystic Martial Art. His feet seemed to cling to the ground, enhancing his already fast movements.

Despite that, Leader was still an experienced and powerful fighter. A genius, by most standards.

WHOOSH

His Empyrean Shot was his strongest technique. It was an attack of devastating power, one he had created through his development.

It centered around shooting a projectile at such a fast speed that it entered a state of hypervelocity, moving around 3,000 meters per second. Such an impact was devastatingly fast and nearly impossible to dodge.

He had experimented thousands of times with different materials trying to achieve this state, the hallowed level of hypervelocity, for dozens of years and failed. One day, he had the idea of forming his shot from energy itself.

It took years and years of practice, and eventually he found that he could only sustain such a powerful shot if he used a bow that was incredibly durable, and capable of firing an arrow made of pure energy.

Hence, he spent a dozen years learning Summoning Magic, to the point where he could create, from the ether, the Ruler's Bow.

Years later, he successfully managed to fire a projectile that had reached hypervelocity, and began his journey to rule his own planet.

Leader's arrow shot forward at so fast a speed that even his own eyes could not follow it. The shot zeroed in on exactly where he had seen the Wrath Inheritor running, his body a blur.

While normal fighters might be unable to track the Inheritor's movements, Leader thought, his eyes full of relief, I can at least see them.

tink

BOOM

Before his eyes, Leader saw the impossible.

The Wrath Inheritor seemed to have predicted the arrow he had fired at it, one that moved far too quickly for anyone to reasonably react to it, breaking into hypervelocity.

In the instant before the arrow was released and then hit, the scaled figure of the Inheritor raised his arm slightly while stamping down with his feet, assuming a martial stance.

He then twisted his hand slightly.

And deflected the shot as it hit him.

"That can't be…" Leader's body flew backwards as the force of firing the shot launched him back into the air. He soared nearly three hundred meters high into the sky, and over a thousand meters backwards.

Leader landed down hard, cracking the earth as he landed in a section of actual, used farmland. His body flopped and skidded to a stop not far from a farmhouse. He threw up dirt and debris, startling a small group of chickens.

He twisted to his feet, holding his bow at the ready as he turned and stared south.

WHOOSH

A figure blurred into existence before his eyes. A figure whose every movement showed off pure grace and undeniable skill, walking with no wasted movements. Perfection.

A figure completely unscathed.

In the background, an enormous explosion could be seen, slowing rising in the distance. The result of his Empyrean Shot, a thousand meter wide explosion of fire and heat as the energy from his hypervelocity shot expanded, desolating the landscape.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The shockwave from the explosion hit him now, sending him to his knees.

"That isn't possible…" He muttered again, his eyes at a complete loss.

"Ahhhh!" A girl's screaming voice rang out as a milkmaid rushed from the farmhouse, looking at the explosion in the distance in terror.

"Not bad for a warm-up strike. Do you have anything better, or is that it?" A cold voice emerged from the figure as it stalked forward, stopping a few meters in front of Leader with a small smile.

It held its hands out to the side,

"Well? I'm waiting."

Leader looked on, his arms trembling.

.

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