Chapter 2435: The Beginning Of The End [16]

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After finally locating her, Drake seized Helena and fled Oberon’s relentless pursuit.

"Almost there! Hold on tight, Helena!"

"Uncle! W-What the hell is that thing?!"

"A monster. Don’t look at him!"

"GIVE ME...! THE GIRL! HER POWERS...! I NEED THEM!"

Oberon and Uroboros roared in unison, their psychic onslaught hammering Drake’s back. He was too focused on escape to conjure another Unique Skill in that crucial second.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Nnngghh!"

"Uncle! Y-You’re slowing down!"

"C-Calm down. It’s okay! Uncle’s here, Helena! I won’t ever let go of you again! I’m so sorry for dying...! I...!"

"You don’t have to be sorry about anything. It was an accident! None of us could have predicted it... But still, it was my fault, not yours."

"What?!"

"I forced you to come along. I said you were spending too much time in your room... I just wanted to spend time with you because, as I grew up, you became more distant... I’m sorry... If I hadn’t dragged you on that mountain trip, none of this would have happened..."

Helena began crying on Drake’s shoulder. He glanced down, heart aching.

"I’m sorry, Helena... I thought that when you became a big girl, you found your uncle cringe or old-fashioned... I didn’t want to annoy you... I was wrong, I guess..."

"Uncle..."

"Once this is over... let’s spend time together, like uncle and niece, all right?"

"Y-Yeah!"

Helena wept, pressing a kiss to her uncle’s massive dragon head.

Her powers flared, surging with psychic energy.

"You know, Uncle? I’m not a normal girl anymore!"

"Eh?!"

TRUUUM!

"GRUUUAAAHH?!"

Oberon screamed in agony as an invisible telekinetic force slammed into him, hurling him hundreds of meters away and flattening his body like a pancake.

"Amazing, Helena! You...! Are you the strongest Esper or something?!"

"I think the girl in the sailor uniform is stronger, but I’m probably second best, hehe!"

Helena giggled, her long brown hair whipping in the wind as her bright blue eyes blazed with psychic power.

"COME BAAAACK!"

Oberon’s furious roar echoed from below as they neared the surface of the Soul Ocean. His monstrous form twisted into something utterly abominable.

Yet Drake pointed his hand downward, fusing his power with his niece’s.

"Let’s go, Helena!"

"Yeah!"

RUMBLE!

A gigantic sphere of concentrated energy formed, striking Oberon with overwhelming force and driving him deeper.

"NNGGGHHH...! NNGAAAHHHH!"

BOOOMMM!!!

Oberon screamed again, plunged to the bottom of the Soul Ocean in a cataclysmic explosion. Drake and Helena finally burst free, emerging from Oberon’s twisted, aberrant body.

"NGUHHH?!"

Oberon and Uroboros howled in twisted pain as they lost a vital core of their power. The Psychic Abilities Uroboros had granted Oberon weakened by over seventy percent.

Across the battlefield, everyone witnessed Oberon’s agonized scream. He plummeted from the skies, crashing into the ground. His body pulsed in torment, large chunks crystallizing and falling away. Regeneration failed him—flesh grew in surplus, forming pulsating tumors everywhere.

But above all, the girl cradled in Drake’s arms drew every eye. Lucia and Chris recognized her instantly.

"H-Helena?! Oh my god, it’s her!" Lucia cried.

"Helena! Jake would be so happy to see her...!" Chris said. "H-How did Drake save her?!"

"It’s simple," Skadi replied calmly. "He entered Oberon’s body and soul and pulled her out."

"For that, he created something beyond even Venerable Techniques—a Unique Skill!" Belle said in awe. "But that Oberon bastard isn’t dead yet!"

"At best, he’s weakened," Augustus noted. "But that’s more than anyone has managed before! Drake’s finally dealing real damage!"

"But what else can we do?! I feel useless!" Surtr growled, staring into the distance.

As they watched the scene unfold, Drake gazed at Helena. Her body was fully restored. Despite being parasitized and merged with Uroboros and then Oberon, Drake’s Unique Skill had separated her body and soul completely.

As a result, he recreated her form in perfect condition. She was back—stronger than ever, with even finer control over her Psychic Abilities.

Though she emerged naked, Drake swiftly used the power of Creation to manifest a simple white dress over her body. It was made from his own scales, offering solid protection.

"There you go. Feel better now?" Drake asked gently.

"Uncle! You saved me! I can’t believe you’re a super awesome dragon now!" Helena laughed through happy tears. "Is this a dream? One thing after another—from the zombies to everything else..."

"The zombies... Right! What about your parents?!" Drake asked, worry surging.

"I don’t know..." Helena sighed. "I’m sorry... I was caught when I was away from home. I haven’t contacted them since. All phone signals went dead or something."

"I see. That’s rough," Drake nodded. "We’ll find them, don’t worry. For now, Helena, I need you to go somewhere safe. This is too dangerous. That man is—"

"Oberon, right? Yeah. I’m getting a flood of memories now, Uncle. I saw everything—who he was, what Uroboros was," Helena said gravely. "Even after you separated them from me, fragments remain... mostly memories, and something else."

"S-Something else?" Drake asked, alarmed.

RUMBLE!

"YOUUUUU!"

Their conversation shattered as Oberon’s body erupted from the ground, growing uncontrollably.

"YOU...! YOU DID THIS TO MEEEEEE!"

His monstrous form writhed in agony. Fleshy tendrils sprouted everywhere. His Immortal Body had glitched, producing endless surplus flesh instead of proper healing.

"I will...! I will achieve my dream no matter what! This world must end! Fantasy must end, so the universe can heal from humanity’s sins!"

Oberon screamed. His humanoid figure emerged from the mass as it grew into a grotesque tree of flesh, bones, scales, and monstrous forms.

Dragons, titans, beasts, humans, elves, dwarves, ice giants, fire giants, mountain giants, beast-kin, vampires, and more sprouted from him, merging and shrieking.

Bone branches covered in pulsating flesh and scales pierced the ceiling. Huge roots burrowed into the ground. Everyone realized Drake needed help.

Oberon had become a monster over a kilometer tall—and still growing, corrupting the land with spreading roots.

Miasma consumed ground and ceiling alike. Black puddles spread through Vanaheim’s forests, Alfheim, and Midgard’s mountains.

"He’s trying to destroy the world with his own body now?! I sense miasma everywhere!" Hel cried in panic. "We cannot allow this! Death Dragons, destroy the roots! Do not let him breach Helheim’s crust—that’s where Yggdrasil’s roots lie!"

"RAAAAAHHHHH!"

The Death Dragons roared, charging the fleshy roots and attacking with everything they had. Yet they barely scratched him. Even their death powers proved useless as Oberon regrew endlessly and struck back.

"BEGONE! DON’T YOU DARE STOP ME!"

Thousands of crimson eyes opened across his body, firing hundreds of crimson beams. The rays bombarded the Death Dragons, driving them back and severely wounding several.

"You monster! Before you harm my children, you’ll face me!"

Hel surged forward, her four maws unleashing dozens of dragon breaths. Massive holes exploded through Oberon’s body amid bursts of nether and phantasmal flames.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Yet Oberon grew a gigantic muscular branch and punched her away with devastating force.

BAAAM!

"Damn it! Where are my sisters?! How long will they delay?!"

As Hel and her children roared defiance against Oberon’s ever-expanding form, a voice thundered from above.

"Don’t despair! I’ll bring them here now!"

Drake’s divine presence shone. Rainbow light bathed Hel and the Death Dragons.

"For now, rise, my family!"

With a voice full of authority and deep love, Drake unleashed his power.

"{Primordial Dragon King System Art}: {Unique Skill Creation: Primordial Dragon King’s Divine Blessing}!"

FLAAASH!

A divine blessing enveloped every dragon, even Hel. The rainbow spark Drake had shared with his closest allies flowed into every Death Dragon’s soul.

"Now, roar!"

Hel’s heart pounded with surging emotion, her love for Drake intensifying. She roared alongside her children, unlocking power they never knew they possessed.

"ROOOOAAAARRR!"

RUMBLE!

Helheim itself trembled. The Death Dragons’ black scales gleamed, turning golden, then crystalline with rainbow light. Small crowns of golden light adorned with colorful jewels appeared above their heads.

Their power skyrocketed. Their auras gained a special property, allowing them to wound Oberon. Claws sliced through his body, turning severed pieces to white ash.

"Incredible!"

"What is this power?!"

"The Dragon King has blessed us!"

"With this...! We can do it!"

"Mother!"

The Death Dragons watched Hel transform too. Already a Primordial, Drake’s blessing restored her to peak form. Her body rejuvenated, turning golden, then rainbow and crystalline. Her roar echoed through the Underworld.

"My children! Our Dragon King has granted us great power! Let’s not waste it!"

"RAAAAAHHHH!"

The Death Dragons charged, burning, slicing, and tearing Oberon’s roots apart, inflicting real damage at last.

Yet they only covered part of his colossal form. It wouldn’t be enough.

Drake had anticipated that.

Drawing on Logi’s and Hermes’ powers, he willed them into existence through Creation, the System, and his other Laws.

"{Primordial Dragon King System Art}: {Unique Skill Creation: Interdimensional Teleportation Gate}!"

No need for Dungeon Gates. With a single thought, he spent Primordial Essence. Dozens of rainbow gates opened, formed from Divine Dragon Spirits of every color.

RUMBLE!

Dragons from across the world—living and dead—stepped through. Even those fallen, like Ran and her Sea Dragons, or Muspel and her Fire Dragons, manifested spiritual bodies in the Underworld where souls roamed freely.

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