Death is, in fact, a new beginning. The genesis of another kind of life. When a flower withers, it leaves behind a fruit. When the fruit ripens, it holds a seed. When the seed falls to the earth, it will sprout once more.
"Dra... gon... Dragon of Light!"
"Mon... Mondusath! Mondusath!"
"I am Mondusath, the Dragon of Light, ruler of Uynting, sovereign of dragonkind, guardian of the Light!"
"Have I... returned?"
"No. Not yet. The vessel is not yet mature!"
"Why has this happened?"
"It is the ants... two pitiful little ants. They have disturbed me!"
"Heretics who profane the Dragon of Light must be destroyed... destroyed..."
.....
In an unknown space, where the true Dragon Mausoleum lay hidden, an ancient dragon soul stirred from its slumber, only to drift back into a hazy, mumbling sleep.
"Heâs awake!"
The Lunar Serpentâs voice suddenly erupted in the mausoleum hall, startling Alexander.
"Whoâs awake?"
Alexander could hear the pure shock and terror in the serpentâs voice. The spirit swordavatar trembled, its tip pressing a fraction deeper into the Lunar Serpentâs skull.
"Answer me!"
A thick killing intent condensed around the blade as Alexanderâs voice turned colder than ice.
"The being who sealed me! I just felt the Azure Mirage tremble! It is the sign of his awakening!"
the serpent explained frantically.
"But... the trembling has stopped. It seems he has fallen asleep again! I hope your friends can fight their way through the Azure Mirage quickly, or none of us will escape!"
The Lunar Serpentâs voice was laced with regret. If it had just stayed silent, perhaps it could have avoided this calamity. Then again, the three intruders were its only real chance at freedom.
In fact, Alexander had already tried to contact Leonidas and Orion on the Survivorâs Platform, but ever since their avatars had entered the other realm, they had been too caught up in combat to check in. Even their true bodies had no idea what was happening to their artifacts.
Deep within the Temple, The Plaza of Light.
The moment Orionâs Deathly Soul-Reaper arrived, it was finally discovered.
"An evil heretic from the abyss must be judged by the Light!"
A sword of pure, radiant energy coalesced in the void and slashed down viciously at the Deathly Soul-Reaper. Orion felt the will within that bladeâan absolute intent to sever all darknessâand for a moment, it felt like he was facing a mighty, impossibly powerful god of light.
But when the Deathly Soul-Reaper raised its scythe to block the attack, the feeling the sword gave Orion was... off.
"Wait, this isnât right."
Orion was no stranger to the power of Light; in fact, his memory of it was crystal clear. During the fight for the Spring of Life in the Emerald Dream Realm, he had experienced the light of the demigod Valthor up close. The feeling had been even more potent when Valthor merged with the laws of the Emerald Dream Realm itself.
The light radiating from this Dragon God Phantom felt... impure.
And that feeling wasnât limited to its power. Its very form was strange. The more Orion looked at it, the more jarring it became. The Dragon God Phantom had the upper body of a dragonkin, but its lower half was a long, serpentine tail, much like the Lunar Serpentâs. And sprouting from its back was a pair of huge, fleshy wings, like those of a standard dragon.
"Why does this thing look like a total chimera?"
The Deathly Soul-Reaper reacted instantly. After a quick teleportation, it swung its scythe. A giant phantom of the scythe appeared in the void and cleaved through the Dragon God Phantom.
The phantom blade met little resistance, slicing the creature in two at the waist. But there was no spray of blood, no cry of pain. The Dragon God Phantomâs severed body simply swirled like mist and seawater before seamlessly reconnecting.
"Hold on... this aura... is it a body of faith?"
Orion could scarcely believe his own theory. A powerhouse at the arch lord level or above would almost never deploy their body of faith unless it was a life-or-death struggle. The body of faith was their foundation, their ultimate backup, the very thing that allowed them to start over from scratch if their physical form was destroyed.
"No, thatâs not quite it either!"
He could sense the aura of a faith-body, but something was still deeply wrong.
Just then, the Dragon God Phantom attacked again.
"Lightâs Radiance!"
The phantom in the plaza raised its greatsword of light, and ten thousand beams of white energy shot forth, bathing the Deathly Soul-Reaper in a painful glare. But the pain was only momentary; it didnât linger.
Gradually, Orion finally understood what was wrong. The light being unleashed by the Dragon God Phantom wasnât pure. It was mixed with a strange energy, one that didnât do much damage to his Deathly Soul-Reaper avatar. An energy that was, in fact, faintly familiar.
"This power... this power... could it be Lunar Power?"
he realized.
"Yes! This is the exact same energy I felt when I was inhabiting the Lunarfinâs body! That means the bulk of the Dragon God Phantomâs power is coming from the Lunar Serpentâs siphoned energy!"
Sudden clarity washed over him as the pieces clicked into place.
"Holy shit. Heâs using a tiny remnant of his body of faith and powering it with Lunar Power to create a whole new body."
Having seen the truth, Orion had the Deathly Soul-Reaper swing its scythe with renewed purpose. If these cosmic energies had alignments, then Lunar Power and the Deathly Soul-Reaper were on the same teamâboth belonged to the side of shadow and darkness. In other words, the Lunar Power couldnât do much harm to it. The real threat was the small, residual amount of pure Light, which was a direct counter to the Deathly Soul-Reaper.
SWISH!
The scythe cut through the Dragon God Phantom again. But the body had no physical substance; it was a construct of Lunar Power. The scythe was just dissipating that energy. This was a war of attrition. To win, Orion just had to exhaust all of the Lunar Power that made up the phantomâs body.
He suddenly regretted not giving the Flame of Will trident to his Deathly Soul-Reaper. With the tridentâs powerâwhich was specifically empowered to counter Lunar Powerâhe could have finished this massive phantom off much faster.
"And you call that Light?" Orionâs thoughts were projected through the Deathly Soul-Reaper, a cold, mocking voice filling the plaza.
"Light represents hope. It warms all beings, nurtures life. It brings color to the world, gives birth to justice, kindness, and beauty. And your âLightâ? It just hides in this empty, false world, leeching someone elseâs power to survive on borrowed time."
"Your Light is a fraud. A pathetic fake."