Chapter 170

Zairiel

We were shifted, circling… My stars were a little brighter, since I’d eaten at grandpa’s house. He gave me a full compliment in a damn cup… while Narru only pulsed his threat.

He looked like a crock-mawed drake as I did, except… Honestly, I was lean and fit. I was muscular, while his body was round, more crock shaped…

But I’d been out here fighting every day, and he relaxed on his ass stealing Time’s energy. I don’t even know why he tried,. It’s locked, and when I kill him, I’ll return what he took.

I don’t need it if it doesn’t belong to me.

He’s conserving his energy… and I need to be careful. I may have the size, but I’d never fought another Realm Eater, just countless other gods.

“Submit and die.” He sneered.

“You *know* that’s not happening. For the crimes of attempting to usurp, star stealing, and conspiracy to murder your peers, on the authority of the Infinity King, your sentence is trial by combat.”

“So, if I win, I’ll live.” He said as if he were thinking.

“Naturally.” Said Time. “I am not below such a trivial thing, but you will be banished.”

And likely drained of all his powers…. But I didn’t say anything. Gods and Realm Eaters are the same on this one: no god will tolerate another on their territory, that won’t fall in line.

No King would keep a subject who tried to gain enough power to overthrow them… Time is the one who *made* him. He could literally have unmade him, and this fight never happened…

But he’s using me to prove a point… He’s likely home streaming this in the night sky on his tiny farm world. Sure enough, I saw Ziri’s ball form filming. I waved.

“Cocky.” He snarled.

“Naturally.” I said casually. “If I die or not, I’m not the one who put a target on my own back.”

“Fuck you.” He sneered. “I did what any dragon would do, when their old, decrepit leader doesn’t lead.”

“You’re only talking shit.” I rolled my eyes. “If you could take him, you wouldn’t have hidden in the corner bubble to protect your sorry hide.”

“You know nothing.”

“I know you wouldn’t hide behind my future wife.” I said a little annoyed as we flapped in the circle. He was still sizing me up, but there was nothing to size. He knew he was going to die, that Calaxious himself buffed me for this.

This is literally a formality, a dangerous one, but a show all the same.

I have a feeling this fight is going to be Short, and give me the last upgrade I need…. I don’t know WHY I feel like I’m incomplete… but I know that I am.

And for him to be so arrogant as to think he had a chance at peace after this, he was mistaken. But ironically, I’m being saved from his fate in a way. After all, under my father I could never grow.

We headbutted, and the shockwave of such a clash would have popped the bubbles around us. I blocked his slow, but fully charged cosmic claws. Our hands interlocked, and since we were equal, the only thing to stop such rending claws was my primordial bite.

I ate a piece off his neck on accident, and he snarled, teleporting back. Blood filled my mouth, and I made it clear that I wasn’t fucking around. He looked surprised.

“I see you’re not as green as I thought.” He hissed.

“I’ll take the compliment, and your head.” I said making a ‘slit throat’ gesture with the back of a clawed thumb.

He moved backward, planning something.

We teleported some distance away from each other, and breathed a stream of pure energy while flying in a perfect circle. Round and round we went, since I could only guess he was trying to make me run out first.

We ran out at the same time.

We are exactly equal… The explosion blew us both back, but I recovered faster by thinking to teleport instead of flap.

Our blows were matched, punch for punch, snap for snap. Any real damage done could be nearly instantly healed, except for the primordial breath. One touch and I knew it would vaporize my flesh, but the same went for him.

“Ziri, protocol 33-B!” he shouted after I got him one good time in the chest. 

I loaded my claws with such concentrated magic, and I know that hurt the way he made tiny planets from his blood. Those stray solar systems are doomed out here, but they’re just rock worlds and lifeless suns.

\[I’m sorry, only authorized Realm Eaters may use this console.\] she said smugly. Ziri has an attitude… but I wouldn’t be a cheat and subjugate him like a fucking coward.

“You won’t even fight with honor.” I hissed.

He clapped his hands and summoned a scythe, while I summoned my sword.

I didn’t know I could do that as a dragon, but with muscle memory, we clashed.

Our blades clashing made new universes, and they were encased in Time’s magic to protect them.

He tried doing a fancy tail slap, and I cut off the end of his club tail. My sword ate it instantly…. And my stars glowed a bit more.

He looked almost afraid for a moment, and I used that to get him.

“AH!” he screamed. That Hurt. He lost only a finger, but it took much longer to grow back…

While he freaked out a moment, I realized that this is probably his first fight against a Realm Eater too….

There are only 4 at a time to live here… and they were commanded not to fight.

I also realized in this split second, that my body was using that new energy to charge some kind of body change…

Seeing him turn from black to red, taught me something, but I wasn’t sure what.

As Narru did so, he looked like heated iron.

“Your tricks make you look desperate,” I said, dodging barely.

He got faster, and I didn’t know how to do whatever this was. I should have known he’d have a trick or two up his sleeve, but I had an idea too.

“If you can’t even summon your inner ki, you can never defeat me!” He laughed, breathing primordial energy in a beam that would blind any mortal.

It is every magic.

Every fire.

Every physical attack… all at once. It’s everything he can do all at once, and the color of it was mostly red, so this was mostly destruction magic….

I dodged his glowing red slashes, that ripped through the fabric of Infinity. It could be fixed later, but I could see the layer below us… the invisible barrier that kept the places separate was intact.

I returned a blue pulse to correct it… He doesn’t care if he ruins this corner; does he care about his family, children, or creations?

Does he even realize that if he defeated me this way, that he’d pop the corner in the aftermath of such unstable magics flying around? Foolishness…

Greed.

“I will not let you have a fucking tantrum.” I growled.

I’d never growled so fiercely… I felt that come from the hole in my throat… It made him hesitate.

“Your threats mean nothing if you cannot *use* them.” He hissed.

If we keep this up, I might win this for nothing. I headbutted him, then on the bounce off, blew a hole in his left ear. The idea was good, but I missed. I wished I hadn’t. He’d regrown his tail, and in my moment’s hesitation, he slapped me in the back of the neck with his club tail.

He broke it, but that’s easy enough to heal. It was risky to do such a move too, since it lopped off a good portion of his tail.

It was removed by my jagged, crock scoots on my back, and they pulsed from the energy of his blood….

That was kind of new. They pulsed red in sync with my heartbeat, and I could feel… stronger for it.

He came in for a punch, and I opened my maw.

He tasted… like collard greens and turkey neck. I clamped closed, and twisted my body around.

Huh… realm eaters taste like soul food. Why didn’t he taste like that before?

I didn’t hear his banter, since all I could hear were drums… no... It was my heart. It pulsed as I felt hot.

On fire.

My body began to reforge itself… and there was nothing  Narru could do to stop it.

The edges of my scales became dark purple, while the interior stars glowed.

I didn’t know what was happening, but he tried his damnedest to stop me. His scythe slashed me, but it healed so quickly, that it kind of just went through me without doing any damage.

“Nooo…. NO!” he growled. “You Will Not Stop My Ascension!” 

His fire breath fueled me… and he didn’t stop until he noticed my smile.

I guess this is the ‘ki’ thing he was talking about.

I thought to condense myself to my small, human-sized form, but put all that energy into the blade…. And I could tell it was a *good* idea.

I don’t think Realm Eaters realize that their size can concentrate their powers… maybe only I know this.... and Time.

I kept my black, purple-edged wings out, and with a single flap, I cut him in half. I could barely hold onto my own sword, a very part of me. It was made with me, being part of my very soul’s makeup, yet I still had to use all my grip.

All my focus… I felt like the first time I miscalculated my strength, and got burned by the very sun I tried eating.

Holy Shit.

“This is nothing!” He said coming at me while halved, being unable to reattach his lower section. His claws were still sharp, but with the swing of my sword the arm was gone. If I didn’t use both hands to control that swing, it could have gone anywhere.

Then I beheaded him.

“This is still NOTHING! I can-”

“Be silent.” I said cutting his head in half. I converted it to pure energy and ate it, which left his body floating around.

And it was silent... Infinity… there is a stillness here that is almost soothing, well, when you’re the one who rules it now.

\[Update: Lord Zariel, House of Calaxious, rank increase: Rank 2 of 4.\] beamed Ziri.

Sweet.

“Change the color of the orbs to fucking purple.” I said calmly…. There was no battle high… only stillness.

\[Update: Quadrant color: {purple} now online.\]

I used magic to gather his body and turn him into what he tasted like…. Just like Time’s recipe book. Heh… I wondered was this his plan all along.