"The idea of being able to make free choices is imaginary in your case. No matter what you do or think you will do, it'll still be no different than the Arthur before you, the Arthur who already lived through the two cycles and joined with 'us'.

You can will what you want but you can't will what you will."

The man chuckled as he saw Arthur's puzzled expression. He clasped his hands and intertwined his fingers, leaned closed, and said.

"Let me make it easier to understand. In the near future, you'll be bringing something to someone but it'll end up into a mass slaughter. At that moment, you might think everything proceeded in accordance with your judgment but, nay, the reason it happens is because it was meant to, quite literally. The things occurring within the cycles are forever unchangeable, and, of course, there might be slight changes but, ultimately, they won't affect the 'ending'."

"So you're saying I'm basically a puppet?"

��No, you're the puppet master, the one who controls how this flows. It's your sense of judgment and choices that cause this and that and it's quite difficult to change the future because your character, at least now, is stubborn so your choices, or perhaps mistakes, tend to repeat themselves."

****

The frightening adult Black Dragon roared, shaking the whole golden royal castle. The master of the Fallen God Clan, Ram Su, along with fix other long-bearded robbed elders appeared around Arthur. Dangerous golden sand rose in the air and started spinning around the dragon but it was quickly blasted off by an unstoppable wave of Telekinesis. In fact, Ram Su and the other five old men were sent flying away too, the royal castle and its all ancient and majestic glory was nowhere to be seen. As it was hit by a meteor, the place was stripped naked and turned into a mass of rubbles, but there was an area which remained unscathed.

Arthur opened his bottomless fang-riddled mouth and spat the famous [Dragon's Breath], filling the sky with a sea of transparent half-black half-red flames. The flames, like a tsunami, cascaded on Ram Su but the latter was more than prepared as he took out a pyramid-like yellow treasure and pulled its sharp tip, causing it to start emitting a faint golden shine.

The ground rumbled and all the ground united together, forming a dome-like wall which fully resisted the dragonic flames.

Seeing this, Arthur moved his massive body and violently slammed it against the dome, not forgetting to unleash lightning bolts and Dark Magic. The dome was quite resistant, however, Arthur's combination of several ultimate attacks caused the thick sandy defense layer to shatter, revealing the clan master and the pale-faced elders.

Arthur's eyes emitted a purple beam which bound the elders, causing half of their lower bodies to turn into stones. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning as the parasite followed with [Thought and Effect], using the monstrous invisible force to crush the elderly, literally turning them into a mist of blood.

Ram Su was luckier than the rest as the pyramid treasure formed a smaller sand dome which seemed stronger and unaffected by the Telekinesis. Before Arthur could attack again, two other protectors intercepted him, they wielded long spears and were particularly strong.

The faster one stabbed its weapon at Arthur's left wing, which was bigger than the moving statue. The big spear did strike the wing but it wasn't able to rip it apart as the latter unleashed ominous black flames, forcing the protector to jump back. The second protector angled itself for a direct attack but that only made it Arthur's main target.

A blue, unnoticeable light emitted from the dragon's eye, it enveloped the protector and severely slowed its movement, almost freezing in mid-air. Then, the black dragon opened its abyssal mouth and spat a black fireball, which hit the statue like a meteor and flattened it on the ground.

The dark magic flames weaken the targets and have a burning effect too so when the protector was struggling to get rid of the flames, two other fireballs, equally as large but this time dark red, crashed into it. The poor statue turned into cinders within five seconds.

Everything was supposed to be proceeding smoothly for Arthur, however, all of a sudden, he felt his body plummet to the ground. He retaliated with Telekinesis and Dark Magic but it was futile as vast quantities of Sand covered his body, wrapping around every inch of his body and infiltrating it.

Not wanting to further ruin the black dragon's body, Arthur transformed into a black leopard, he was covered in green lightning. The animal roared and zigzagged with insane speed, dodging the moving and floating sand while making its way toward Ram Su, who was controlling the sands with the use of the pyramid.

A tree-sized hand made of golden sand sprung from the ground and tried to attack the leopard but the latter just passed through it as it became an untouchable wraith. A deafening screech caused Ram Su to stagger and block his ears, the small pyramid was letting an unpleasant regular alarm the closer Arthur got.

When the wraith was just a couple of meters away, the pyramid unleashed a blast which forced Arthur out of his non-real current host. He became an unseen blinding blob of light, which was his soul, he felt an agonizing pain but managed to bear through it and change his appearance before he's attacked again in this vulnerable form.

A three-meter tall praying mantis with all limbs in the form of a curved black scythe made its appearance. Its six eyes were focusing on Ram Su, who poured his Astral Force into the Pyramid, which was actually another Zen Treasure that belongs to the Fallen God Clan.

At first, the praying mantis was able to cut down the incoming sand but, soon, the razor-sharp scythes surprisingly broke down and a small amount of sand invaded Arthur's body, slightly slowing his movement and allowing a lengthy sand spear to penetrate his chest, nailing him to a nearby golden pillar.

******

A distance away, a graceful figure was watching the destructive parasite without making a move. She was Zaarae, who also held back Fariya and told her to just watch.

"Master can't compete with what seems to be a fully charged Zen Treasure."

The succubus was panicking a bit, especially when more protectors joined the fray. Moreover, another member of the clan made his appearance. He was wrapped in bandages, no different than a disgusting mummy, his back was bent and his eyes were fully white, lacking any pupils.

Additionally, sixty royal guards readied themselves and charged at the bloodied large insect, but, sadly, their fate ended sooner than they expected. They started bleeding from all their orifices then fell on the ground, deader than dead. They didn't even get to cry or know how their lives ended, it was a painless but relatively swift death.

It wasn't only the royal guards who died, more than four hundred seasoned soldiers also experienced the same fate. Radolf spared no one, for they are undoubtedly his master's enemies.

"Why aren't you helping him?"-Fariya

"Because he still hasn't gone all-out."

…

Noticing the mummy-like bald old man, the four incoming protectors, and Ram Su, Arthur clicked his tongue and spread his differently-colored and shaped wings. He returned to his human appearance, [Eternium] was activated, further boosting his stats.

He raised his arms, palms facing the left and right. Slowly, his hand balled into a fist, resulting in an invisible power to hit the four protectors. Two were crushed into nothingness on the spot while the remaining ones lost their feet or arms, basically rendered useless, or so thought Arthur.

Unfortunately, sand covered their missing parts and restored them almost instantaneously. Furthermore, the mummy vanished from his mid-air, appearing before Arthur, bandages dancing in the air, attempting to immobilize the parasite.

Long and sharp black spikes made of Dark Magic sprung from Arthur's body, ripping the bandages and pushing back the mummy. It was followed by a rain of white thunderbolts which trapped the bald elderly.

Arthur crept on the mummy and stretched his hand, which turned into a bestial purple claw.

Feeling the unstoppable devouring power of the claws, the mummy hastily retreated but Arthur opened his mouth and spoke a domineering dragonic word.

"Stop moving."

For one full second, the mummy wasn't able to go against Arthur, though when the claws were about to reach their target, an extremely thin sand wall appeared out of nowhere. Arthur dodged to the side but he lost a couple of hair strands which were cut by the side of the wall, which was inexplicably and unexpectedly very sharp.

Thanks to Ram Su's intervention, the mummy was able to retreat but only a short distance before Arthur's Telekinesis pulled him back in. Before he realized what happened, the Void Claws penetrated his bandaged body and devoured his organs.

Arthur grinned, opened his mouth, and spat deadly acid which melted the mummy's face, causing the old man to cry in agony. Arthur pulled the claws and unleashed a mass of darkness which covered the mummy, weakening him even more. The parasite grasped this opportunity and possessed the victim… a black whirlpool invaded the mummy and soon, the old man's last bit of consciousness vanished and Arthur assumed full control of the new host.

The mummy turned to the shocked Ram Su and threw dozens of bandages, which wrapped around his feet and pulled, causing him to fall. The pyramid was thrown out of the clan master's hand and before it reached the ground, it was snatched by a fast figure.

Zaarae smiled as she applied force and quietened down the Zen Treasure before looking at Arthur, who already fully immobilized Ram Su.

It took only one moment of faltering for Arthur to defeat the most troublesome opponent. The moment the small yellow pyramid was deactivated, the protectors returned to their initial position and the moving sand fell on the ground.

Midolf and Radolf appeared too, both standing next to Shen Shen, who was surprised to see the destroyed castle and the lifeless bodies scattered here and there. Her pupils shook as she saw a mummy-like figure walking toward the Empress but she soon realized that it was Arthur.

The parasite used the bandages to drag the struggling Ram Su, his appearance slowly changed into a fair-faced middle-aged man.

"There are still a couple of elders hiding."

Zaarae casually commented while sweetly smiling at Arthur, who looked at the strange pyramid in her hand.

"I'll go take care of them!"

Midolf excused himself and was taken by a gust of wind.

"Evil creature!"

Ram Su cursed at Arthur, his bloody eyes emitting such intense hatred and sorrow over the loss of his son and father, who was actually that hideous mummy.

"Shut up."

Arthur pulled the bandages, which tightened around the old man's throat, they also covered his mouth.

They can't enter Karima's tomb without the blood essence of Philos' descendant so if Ram Su died, the hope of possessing the legendary fighter will vanish.