Chapter 2437: The Beginning Of The End [18]

-----

"{Primordial Dragon King System Art}: {Unique Skill Creation: Primordial Soul Machine Titan}!"

By forging a Unique Skill for this colossal being, its essence was redefined and amplified. Power overflowed, an aura surging that echoed every dragon fused within it.

"This is insane! I can feel all our strength as one!" Surtr roared.

"Wait, did I just become the right arm?!" Emerald protested.

"It doesn’t matter what part you are. We have to work together, idiots!" Amethyst snapped.

"Let’s goooooo!!!" Triton bellowed, caught in the rising excitement from Drake and Kate.

"Full power!" Kate commanded.

FLASH!

The titan surged forward, closing the distance to Oberon in a heartbeat.

The mechanical behemoth towered over five hundred meters tall. Its fists alone could shatter mountains with a single blow.

Together, they overwhelmed Oberon completely.

"{Roaring Dragon Fist}: {Blazing Claw Barrage}! {Windswept Uppercut}! {Earthen Fury}! {Moonlight Radiance}! {Celestial Light Flurry}! {Abyssal Cleaving Claws}!"

Dozens of techniques erupted simultaneously. Oberon’s grotesque form shuddered under the onslaught. Blazing claws tore through flesh. Windswept uppercuts pierced deep. Earthen fury summoned mountain-sized boulders with each strike. Moonlight radiance weakened him further. Celestial light seared his body. Abyssal claws ripped away massive chunks of his abhorrent mass.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

"NNGAAAAHHHH!"

Oberon screamed in agony, disbelief twisting his features. Moments ago, he had dominated them utterly. Now Drake somehow commanded this overwhelming power? It felt like utter nonsense to him.

"H-How is this possible?! Where are you drawing all this strength from?! Did I underestimate dragons too much?! You were weaklings—if not for HIM!"

Oberon roared. New bodies sprouted from his twisted, tree-like form. The dragons slashed relentlessly, severing limbs to halt his regeneration.

His humanoid offshoots, grotesquely fused together, screamed in unison. They conjured devastating magic through the staff embedded in his trunk, trapping the mechanical titan in cosmic explosions.

"We’re trapped?!" Charlotte cried in alarm as the titan endured bombardment from every direction.

"No—he’s trapped with us!" Kate countered fiercely. "Daddy’s here too!"

"RAAAAHHHH!"

Drake’s roar thundered. His fists glowed with azure and golden light. He struck Oberon’s body with all six, blasting away huge sections and shattering the god’s focus. Magic faltered. The titan burst free from the stardust cloud, swinging a glowing anchor with devastating force.

"{Thunderous Cosmic Sea}: {Stardust Nebula Anchor}!"

CRAAASH!

CRAAASH!

CRAAASH!

Three explosive strikes electrocuted and scorched Oberon’s body, ripping away most branches. His newly spawned forms couldn’t keep pace with the damage.

"I’M TIRED OF ALL OF YOU!"

He bellowed, warping reality itself. A crushing pressure descended. Everyone felt sharp agony as Oberon tried to erase their very Concept of Life.

Except for one he could not touch.

"So that’s how you do it, huh? Now I need to figure out the reverse!"

Drake’s roar echoed behind him. His fists suddenly armored themselves in massive, colorful metal drawn from his Aura, startling the elf.

"{Primordial Dragon King System Art}: {Primordial Soul Machine Titan: Elemental Dragon Gauntlets}!"

Drake repurposed the Unique Skill, manifesting six gigantic mechanical gauntlets on his own body. Each overflowed with a different element. He drove Oberon into the ground with earth-shaking force. The colossal body crashed down. Each punch unleashed explosions that made all of Yggdrasil tremble.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Across the surface, panic spread. People screamed as the world quaked like never before. Storms raged across seas. Mountains cracked. Volcanoes erupted. Birds fled in terror, seeking escape from the chaos.

"Y-YOU BASTARD! HOW CAN YOU—AAAAAAGGHHH!"

Oberon screamed as he was pounded relentlessly, flattened while struggling to regenerate. The dragons roared behind Drake, joining the titanic machine in a monumental assault. They leaped onto Oberon, unleashing the greatest display of unity the world had ever witnessed.

"Don’t give him a moment to breathe! Attack from every angle! Don’t give up! Saving our world means fighting together! We won’t succeed alone!"

Drake’s words rang through every mind. Draconic power blazed like an inferno. Oberon’s titanic form rapidly shrank, ground to bits and ashes.

All attacks converged on a single point. Drake gathered everything and brought his fists down like a unified hammer, cracking the earth wide open.

BOOOMMM!!!

A cataclysmic explosion engulfed the aberration. Oberon’s body disintegrated into nothingness. The shockwave hurled everyone back—except Drake.

Amid the smoke, he spotted something.

"Of course you’re not dead yet, you damn cockroach...!"

RUMBLE!

A wave of pure evil shook the world, pushing Drake back as far as it could. Yet it barely moved him. His body was simply too immense.

"I’m honestly amazed... To think I would return to this form... Your powers are truly mysterious. I don’t know whether to thank you or not, Dragon King."

A voice resembling Oberon’s echoed, though refined with a jester’s flair—far from the grandiose arrogance of his elven tone.

"What?!"

Drake looked down. A giant over two hundred meters tall emerged. Humanoid, with pale skin, black spiraling horns sprouting from his forehead, long purple hair reaching his legs, sharp red eyes, and black feathered wings wrapping his naked, pristine body instead of fairy wings.

No traces of dragons or titans remained—only an ancient, equally powerful divinity, perhaps even stronger.

In his chest pulsed a black crystal heart overflowing with "Evil" Energy, a force Drake had never encountered, twisting reality itself.

There stood the man, grasping his golden staff, Laevateinn...

"You’re...?!"

Drake finally understood. This was still Oberon, but also who he had been before death and reincarnation as an elf with ancient fairy lineage in Alfheim.

"That’s impossible...! How did he...?!"

"That bastard...! How?! He... revived?!"

Thor and Baldr’s spirits stared from behind Drake. They had been recovering, hoping the nightmare would end.

It had almost ended, but now stood perhaps the final obstacle.

The origin of all chaos in Yggdrasil, the bringer of destruction, the jester whose schemes nearly ended the world not once but three times.

Yggdrasil’s ultimate enemy. Drake’s true nemesis.

"Loki."

Drake’s shocked expression hardened into grim resolve as he spoke the enemy’s true name.

Oberon had merely been his second life, a disguise to hide from the Primordials while plotting the world’s destruction as a mortal.

"That is indeed my name, my dear friend. I must thank you for this. Without your strange powers, I could never have reclaimed my true, original form. I’ve shed everything that disgusted me about myself. I’ve returned to my peak, which I thought lost forever. All my attempts at new bodies were to regain this strength. And here I am."

"My own powers did this?!"

"You separated me from your niece, which also severed all other beings within me. What you destroyed wasn’t my true self but the shell—Oberon and everything he absorbed. I died long ago. Only my weakened soul remained. I reincarnated, never able to recover my body... until now! Just as your niece regained hers, I found a way. Materializing a physical body from my soul—something only the Immortal Body Unique Skill allows. The one Unique Skill I kept."

"Hmph. This changes nothing!"

Drake refused to dwell on the implications. The monster stood before him. Hesitating now would be foolish.

His powers flared. He warped reality with Creation, System, and countless laws, appearing instantly before Loki and striking.

"Heh... {Perfect Counter}"

"NGH?!"

TRUUUM!

Drake’s fists exploded on contact. All damage meant for Loki rebounded onto him. He groaned in agony, blood spraying everywhere.

"NNGAAAHHH! W-WHAT?!"

"{Multifaceted Mirrored Ego}"

Loki pressed the advantage. His body spawned mirrored versions of itself, multiplying into hundreds of thousands across the Underworld as he laughed.

"Hahah! Hahahahaha! It feels so good to wield my Ancient Sorcery again!"

His voice and laughter echoed through every clone. Drake’s eyes widened in shock. Though he could sense the real one, each clone brimmed with immense Primordial Energy.

The dragons watched in disbelief and despair. This war was far from over. They had awakened an even older, more vile evil.

"Drake! Stand up! Quickly!"

"Dragon King, this war isn’t over yet!"

Thor and Baldr helped Drake rise. His wounds refused to regenerate naturally. He forced recovery, infusing his Immortal Body Unique Skill with Primordial Essence to regrow lost limbs.

His basic Immortal Body no longer sufficed for his immensely powerful form.

This whole time, he had endured blows with sheer toughness. Now he realized immense power brought its own challenges.

"Thank you... But do you know what’s happening?! This is your brother, right?" Drake demanded.

"He is! That vile bastard has fully returned!" Thor growled.

"His Magic was the strongest among us. Only Father, with his spear, could negate it," Baldr muttered.

"His spear? Odin had such power?" Drake asked.

"He did! But his spear is gone now, isn’t it?" Thor sighed.

"It’s... I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to call it hopeless, but Loki’s magic, like our original powers, manipulates Concepts," Baldr explained gravely. "He negated your Unique Skill with his own Sorcery. His Perfect Counter Spell makes him nearly untouchable."

"Nearly," Drake replied firmly. "I just have to find a way. That’s what I do—figure things out when no one else can. That’s my role."

"Attack! Don’t let them reach the roots!" Hel roared.

The dragons answered with a thunderous chorus, unleashing dragon breaths in a storm of flames, winds, light, ice, darkness, and moonlight. Explosions echoed through the Underworld. Loki’s clones proved incredibly resilient, enduring multiple hits before vanishing in massive blasts that wounded nearby dragons.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Don’t get too close!" Drake shouted, leaping into the fray. "Stay behind me—form barriers! No, I’ll handle them! Everyone, with me!"

Drake took command, guiding the group—including the towering mech carrying his family and friends. Power surged through them as he forged new Unique Skills to bolster the dragon army and strengthen his allies.

"{Primordial Dragon King System Art}: {Unique Skill Creation: Primordial Heavenly Dragon King’s Scale Barrier}!"

Ethereal scales materialized into vast barriers, shielding the dragons from immediate harm. Drake refused to let anyone die for him. The dragons shifted to long-range attacks while Loki’s clones assaulted the defenses with magic, slowly cracking the scales.

Yet Drake pressed on, unleashing his greatest strength without restraint.

"{Primordial Dragon King System Art}: {Unique Skill Creation: Celestial Barrier Evolution}!"

The barriers transformed, taking on golden and white hues. They hardened into semi-transparent walls resembling an ancient temple, floating wherever Drake willed with a single thought.

He wasn’t finished.

"{Primordial Dragon King System Art}: {Unique Skill Creation: Angelic Dragon Spirits}!"

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

Hundreds of angelic dragon spirits burst into existence, soaring across the battlefield. They healed wounded dragons and granted powerful buffs that extended to Drake and everyone inside Fuyu.

"Hahahaha! It’s futile! You’re trying far too hard, Drake! Just step aside!"

Loki’s laughter rang out as his countless clones coordinated assaults on the barriers. Cracks spread rapidly despite the enhancements.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Tch, this is getting annoying. I can’t keep evolving them forever—they’ll shatter eventually!" Drake growled. "None of my Laws focus on barriers or protection. I should have created one... damn it!"

As frustration mounted, a figure leaped from the mech and landed beside him.

"Uncle!"

"Helena?! Get back inside Fuyu—it’s too dangerous!"

"No! Let me help!"

"But—!"

"Drake, trust her!" Lucia’s voice echoed in his mind through telepathy. "Helena is Earth’s strongest Esper. I promise."

"And what if I lose her?! I’m already risking my family—why make an exception?" Drake insisted.

"No!" Helena shot back fiercely. "My true powers only work out here..."

"True powers?" Drake’s eyes widened as her Aura erupted, warping space and time around her. "That energy..."

"The reason Uroboros coveted me—and why even Oberon mourned my loss—was this power," Helena said quietly. "Your tattoo awakened it, Uncle. This is Earth’s embodiment... the power to Negate Fantasy."

"That’s it! Oberon used that same power against me, didn’t he?" Drake realized.

"He mastered it and turned it into Magic," Thor confirmed.

"If you wield something similar, you might negate his counters and restore balance," Baldr added. "But the ultimate weapon against Concepts was Father’s spear. If only we had Gungnir—or even a fragment!"

"A fragment..." Drake’s gaze sharpened. "Andromeda, do we have any?"

"Yes! I just located them, Drake," Andromeda replied. "Here!"

Drake opened his palm, revealing small golden metal shards, including a broken white blade tip and fragments of a hammer.

"I fought a Human Venerable named Deus—your descendant, apparently," Drake explained, showing the pieces to the gods. Their eyes widened in shock. "He wielded weakened versions of Mjolnir and Gungnir. I destroyed them in battle, but these fragments were all I could recover."

"T-That’s...!" Thor stared in disbelief. "Fragments of my Mjolnir?!"

"And Father’s spear! Mere pieces, but..." Baldr whispered. "It should be impossible to reforge them without Father’s Divinity... No, it’s hopeless. No forger in this world could restore them."

"Actually, we have three—no, four great blacksmiths right here," Drake said as the mechanical titan hovered closer. "Augustus! Surtr! Rakasha! I need you!"

The three emerged from the mech and began discussing a desperate plan with Thor and Baldr—one that might not succeed but offered a sliver of hope.

"Gungnir can’t be reforged in this state, no matter the materials," Augustus analyzed through his Magitech body. "But... combining it with Mjolnir’s fragments might work. We’d need something to bind them, though. I can contribute every material I have, but even that won’t hold."

"My Heavenly Smith and its Archetype can help—I feel it," Surtr said. "Yet it still won’t be enough. The creation would likely shatter upon completion. I can’t force it into existence."

"You need something to bind it together?" Rakasha asked, glancing at Thor and Baldr.

"..."

"..."

The gods exchanged a look, understanding his meaning, and nodded solemnly.

"We’ll do it," Thor said with a resolute smile.

"Count on us," Baldr added.

"Wait—what do you mean?" Drake demanded.

"We’ve lived long lives—far longer than anyone here," Thor sighed. "We’ve experienced more than most could imagine."

"We’ve made countless mistakes," Baldr continued softly. "Not a day passes without regret..."

"Please, Drake. Let us do this," Thor urged. "We’ll become the materials for this new weapon."

"We’ll fuse our Divine Souls to form its core," Baldr explained. "That way, the creation can hold together longer..."

"If we use the souls of Primordial Gods as the final ingredients...!" Augustus stroked his metallic beard, eyes gleaming with fascination. "It could work! Though... not forever. A few hours at most, even without awakening its full power."

"Only Father could awaken it naturally," Thor said.

"But if we pour everything into it, we might force an awakening..." Baldr added quietly. "Our souls would burn away with the weapon’s power."

"You must be joking! I just met you!" Drake roared, voice cracking with anger and grief. "No! We’ll find another way! No one sacrifices themselves here!"

"Don’t be naïve, young dragon king," Thor said, crossing his massive arms. "There’s no greater honor than dying to save our world."

"It’s a world we once despised, but we’ve grown to love it," Baldr said gently. "Even those we saw as enemies—titans, dragons—became wonderful people who forgave us and called us friends..."

"For our friends... please, Drake," Thor pleaded. "Let us make a difference. Any difference at all."

-----