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--- Major Gore and Brutality Warning ---

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Mid Evening - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut

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- Grace ~

*FLASH* The creation of a star. It's something believed to only be achievable by gods in the eyes of humans, the ultimate achievement, but while I watched the horizon burn in an unfathomable blaze, with a young dragon at it's heart, I couldn't help but want to laugh. -If I went back a hundred years and showed myself this.. I would have dismissed it as an illusion...-

Beneath the roaring blaze, the academy was hedged by vast barriers, erected to shield against the searing heat and dampen the impending shockwave. *CRACK-RUUUMBLE*

But little did they know, just above the unfathomable explosion they struggled to face was something that could erase them all before they could react. *crackle-FLASH* A power so immense that it even made a god like me shiver, to the point that when I felt Freya's presence suddenly move thousands of kilometers north, I almost felt pity. -But she doesn't deserve it...-

Faintly sensing Vasilias's presence disappear into the void, I glanced at an estate several kilometers behind me with a look of expectation, but even after waiting for a moment, I felt nothing. -Is he not going to make a move?-

Inside the estate, there was a massive white fenrir laying on a bed many times his size, seemingly asleep.

He was a monster I couldn't begin to fathom, with an identity I could only assume, but one thing I knew for certain was that he would always watch over Vasilias. Whenever something happened, he would be there watching things like an observant hawk. -So why is he now still...-

But the moment I questioned him, I instinctually faced the direction of Freya's presence. Or at least.. where it used to be. -W..what...-

It was a presence unlike anything I had ever felt, unlike anything words could do justice. Although it was undeniably weak, easily weaker than the weakest of gods, it struck a primal fear deep within my soul. It was as if I had suddenly become a small rabbit watching a hungry wolf roam an open field, not caring who could see it.

But after an instant that felt like an eternity, the presence gradually faded into nothingness, and the fear that had carved a path into my soul began to thaw like a glacier that had carved a canyon.

The next thing I knew, the presence of a god that was many thousands of kilometers east was on the horizon, and the bed where the fenrir laid was empty.

Yet neither could cause a question to surface in my mind.

As I turned back to the academy, my gaze settled on a being descending through the clouds, and after a moment, I felt the tingling fear I had just shaken begin to resurface.

At that moment, only one question endlessly echoed through my mind. -What have I created...-

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- Vasilias Ragnarok ~

*FWIP-CRRRRACK* Jolting my head to the side, my dilated pupils settled on the cloudy figure of a man as his fist was driven into the pillar of the central spire, sending fragments rocketing skyward before demolishing a massive section of the spire entirely.

*CRRRRUMBLE* The spire surrendered to gravity nearly instantly, buckling under its own weight after losing support, and after just a moment, the gazes of several ancients landed on me.

They stared down at me like a pack of coyotes that had surrounded their prey. Yet, despite being overpowered in mana, stature, and sheer number, neither fear nor arrogance surfaced within me. Instead, a raw, ravenous hunger stirred.

*CRUMBLE* "Such a pity." A large green dragon lamented as he hopped off his crumbling perch above me. "We hoped you'd stand with us. But it seems your journey ends here." *fwip* With a swift flap of his wings, he entered a dive, driving straight down into my back.

But the moment before he touched me, his life ended. *FLASH-BRRRRMMM* Firing from the tip of my wing, a blinding beam ripped down his spine, incinerating everything in its path. -Don't give me your pity.-

Taking advantage of the instant silence that followed the blast, I leapt off Poniria and slammed my claws into the lifeless chest of the professor, the newly created divinity in them slicing through their flesh with ease.

But the enigmatic god didn't give me the chance to build any momentum.

"~Such savagery. Truly befitting your god.~" *vwoop* He appeared in front of me instantly, his fist cocked in front of my face. "~Had they not killed Freya, I would have never come here. They were the ones to seal your fate.~"

*CRRRACK-WHAAAAM* His fist connected with an unfathomable amount of force, hurling me through the tower's crumbling remnants.

But I had what I wanted. In my paw, I held a bloody blue sphere interwoven with countless black threads.

It was the professor's core. The culmination of a thousand years of growth.

But at that moment, it was nothing more than fuel. *tink* Casually tossing it into my maw, I gulped it down, and without missing a beat, I leapt into the void. *vwoop-VWOOM* The core exploded nearly instantaneously, but I didn't even give myself time to absorb it before reemerging from the void just over a large red-scaled ancient.

-You must be Professor Balatos.- Not giving him time to react, I drove my paw into his spine, splintering it completely before sending the fragments through his body like the pellets of a shotgun, rupturing his reserve and hurling him into the billowing dust cloud below in one swift move. *FWOOSH*

The cloudy figure of the god below us instantly turned up to me with wide eyes, a hint of confusion visible in his conflicted expression, but before he moved, a set of massive claws clamped onto my sides, pinning my wings down and allowing a massive maw to close on my neck.

However, the moment their massive teeth met my scales, their grip on my body went limp. *fwip-CRRUNCH* With a fierce whip of my tail, I blew apart their ribcage and sent an immense shockwave through their body, sending it into a momentary state of shock before turning over and gripping my claws into their paws.

Seeing the crazed look in my eyes, their eyes widened, but they wouldn't have been able to run even if they had the time. *BANG* Moving their entire colossal body to the side with a bit of antimatter, I lined them up with a separate ancient, readying a spell in the air next to us and opened my mouth. *BRRRRMMMM* The devastating beam devoured the pair effortlessly, leaving only a resilient mesh of divinity and their prized mana cores intact.

But before I could retrieve them, a sharp pain ripped through my chest, and my scales shattered like dry clay. *CRACK-FWOOSH*

The next thing I knew, I was in freefall, descending with the force of a meteor. *flash-WHHHAMMM* The remaining section of the spire's main pillar exploded into molten debris as it attempted to catch me, caving in the basement below and launching debris up through the dissipating clouds of dust to shower on the surrounding city.

When I finally came to a stop, I found myself sprawled amidst a cauldron of molten stone, my mind foggy, and my thoughts consumed by an insatiable hunger that neared starvation.

I needed mana, but my continual use of it only made things worse until, eventually.. the strained thread holding my consciousness together finally snapped.

*sizzle* Silence enveloped the night instantly, broken only by the occasional hiss of water reacting with molten stone stemming from damaged runes buried amidst the ruins.

After a moment, the curious heads of dozens of dragons began peeking over the rim of the crater, and shortly following, the deputy finally landed around me with the few remaining professors.

But the only one to get truly close to me was Poniria. *Thud-splash* Landing over me with a mix of contempt and satisfaction, she raised her paw into the air before smashing it down onto my exposed head. *CRUNCH-WHAM* The magma launched into the air like water from a geyser before sending ripples dancing across its molten surface.

"It's truly baffling that such chaos stemmed from a single being... A young dragon, no less." Retracting her paw, she overlooked the surrounding dragons and fixed her posture. "But while we may grieve for a prodigy's fall, we cannot falter!" She paused as she amplified her voice with magic. "There will be more onslaughts like today! And now that we have been forced to bear witness to the consequences of our lack of preparation, we must not be lax in seeking strength!"

The mood of the dragons throughout the academy quickly started to lighten as she spoke, their fear dissipating with her words.

"Are we so weak to fall at the hands of a mere dog?! NO! Today, we may have stumbled, but tomorrow, we shall stand firm! Tomorrow, we will begin our push for strength! TOMORROW, WE SHALL-" *CRAAACCKLLEE*

A deafening crack echoed through the instantaneous silence as a plume of bone fragments, chunks of flesh, and a cloud of blood stretched into the sky.

The countless onlookers ready to cheer with newfound vigor from Poniria's speech found themselves frozen in horror as her torso was instantaneously blown to bits.

*crackle* *SPLASH* As what was left of her body collapsed into the magma, my unconscious body slowly stood up before using a small amount of mana to guide her exposed core into the magma next to me.

And before anyone could realize it, the core was in my grasp. *tink-VWOOOM*

A sudden, explosive surge of mana erupted outward, but as quickly as it expanded, it was drawn back as if to be consumed by an insatiable vortex.

However, amidst the paralyzed onlookers, one figure remained active. "~Tch... How needlessly resilient...~" In an attempt to finally finish me off, he appeared over my head, driving the blade of his massive greatsword into the top of my skull. *fwip-CRACK-WHAAAMMM*

But rather than slicing cleanly through it, his blade smashed through my skull and came to an instantaneous halt, launching the surrounding pool of magma into the air and slamming my body into the ground.

He instantly hesitated with shock. "~My blade that can cut through divinity.. was.. stopped?~"

But although his hesitation was brief, by the time his gaze shifted from his sword, I was nowhere to be seen.. with only a peculiar circular void in the rubble where I once laid.

"~W..where did he-~"

Countless onlookers were overwatching the academy at that moment, but none of them could have anticipated what they were about to witness. *FLASH-BRRRRRRRRRMMMMM*

In an instant, the very heart of Atlas was devoured by an unfathomable column of light, its heat so intense that what it failed to instantly incinerate, it reduced to molten sludge all the way to the very boundaries of the academy.

To them, it was the incarnation of destruction. The visualization of death.

But little did any of them know it was the signal of a new era.

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