"With Atheris being so rare, the number of people who cultivate it at all can be counted on one hand."
"It is why we are referred to as royalty."
"We are controllers of Atheris, an energy beyond Mana and Apex Energy—the true, absolute source of power in this universe. None controls it better than we do..."
"And you, young one, are one of us!"
"One of us?" Ryuk said, as he felt the entire world suddenly pause.
Then, the blue-scaled Ryuk muttered.
"Yes. You are one of us, Jade Dragons!" he declared.
Ryuk's eyes bulged in shock, and his severed body suddenly began spasming, sending blood splashing through the area. His destroyed eyes reopened, and light began flashing in them.
'I can remember!' Ryuk thought.
Immediately, the blue-scaled Ryuk turned his head behind him, looking at Ryuk's severed arm and the blood droplets all over the area, rising into the air as if they lacked the control of gravity.
"LET OUR CORPSES PILE INTO THE VERY DEPTHS OF THE HIGHEST HEAVENS!"
"WE WILL MAKE SURE IT BECOMES NOTHING BUT A BARRICADE YOU WILL NEVER CROSS!"
The roar shook to the very depths of the soul, resonating through the entire world as Ryuk paused, frozen in his tracks.
Looking around, he found himself seemingly in the far depths of the void, staring deep into the distance below, where a fearsome group stood.
They weren't human, nor would it be right to call them animals.
They were entities. Entities so ginormous their mere bodies rivaled the stars, their auras enough to bring ruin upon entire solar systems.
Scales forged from the remnants of dead stars—obsidian black with veins of molten silver and gold—pulsated like the lifeblood of galaxies.
Each face was jagged and spiked, reflecting light in fractured splinters like shards of shimmering nebulae. Some shimmered with the deepest hues of distant quasars, while others glowed coldly like frozen starlight.
Claws like sickles of dark matter, longer than mountain ranges, honed to an edge sharp enough to slice through entire worlds as though they were paper.
Every flick of their claws sent space and reality groaning, as if existence itself resisted their intrusion.
Their heads were crowned with horns of voidstones, spiraling like the arms of galaxies, their torsos cascading with the stardust of dying suns.
Their mouths were vast maws, with teeth like obsidian spears, capable of rending through the layers of planets and tearing apart the very fabric of dimensions.
When Ryuk gazed into their jaws, he saw a slight void spill out—not flame, but a breath that devoured, unmaking anything it touched.
Their eyes were like twin galaxies, swirling and burning with the fury of collapsing suns—twin supernovas staring into the infinite abyss with raw rage.
Each beat of their four wings sent ripples through the cosmic ether, visibly distorting time and space as if the universe itself trembled from their raging will.
'These... these are dragons!?' Ryuk asked in shock.
But were these dragons?
No. The more accurate description would be celestial cataclysms—a scattered, mere existence wrapped in gravity, pulling in smaller celestial bodies with each crash of their aura, their very form being too colossal to contain.
"Oh, you... Dragons!"
The voice, sounding like nails scraping against metal, suddenly resonated from a distance even farther than where the dragons stood.
Ryuk instantly jerked his head toward the sound but saw nothing but vast darkness.
His gaze couldn't pierce through it, yet he could feel the intense, deathly energy radiating forth—enough to suck away every single life force in the void.
It was a darkness darker than darkness itself!
"Will you really all give away your immortal lives just for a single soul?" the voice came, crumbling out from the intense darkness.
But the answer came swiftly when a claw swung forth with absolute power towards the darkness.
Everything in the path of these claws shattered into pieces, and its source was from a blue-scaled dragon, unlike any of the others.
This one stood behind, more than three times bigger than even the largest dragon around.
"FINE THEN! MAY YOU ALL PERISH, IN THE NAME OF YOUR DRACONIS!"
The angered and painful roar surged back out from the darkness where Ryuk's gaze barely caught a hand—its shape like the depth of the darkest abyss.
But something more echoed inside Ryuk as he stood in the depths of the void, his eyes bulging in shock, as the name resonated through his mind.
"I... I am the Draconis!"
The realization hit Ryuk like a maelstrom. The entire world and vision shattered into pieces, and in the next instant—
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
An incredibly powerful roar shook the entire golden hall, sending the hard ground lifting off into the distance.
The pillars holding the hall were sent flying back, and even the blue-scaled Ryuk's eyes dilated in shock as he felt his own foot dragged across the ground, along with flying debris pushing him away from Ryuk.
Ryuk's body floated in the air, blue light surrounding him.
"He finally awakened!" the roar of shock boomed out from the blue Ryuk's lips.
Suddenly, the entire hall fractured to echoes as the blue Ryuk's eyes opened wide at the scene of his hand ripping into Ryuk's chest.
But his face hung in intense astonishment when a horrific aura slammed into his body, sending him flying away.
He crashed into his throne, shattering it into nothing but pieces before slamming into the wall behind him, sending cracks rippling through the entire surface.
But shock continued to cover his face when he looked at Ryuk, whose entire body was covered by a cocoon of starlight-blue energy.
From within, he could hear beastly roars surging forth—like one from an insane Jade Dragon.
But soon, the light faded away, and a figure was revealed.
A figure whose very essence sent shock to the deepest spines of both Ryuks.
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In and Out_SnowySmoos