Chương 95: Ouroboros

Nikolai staggered backward, his mangled body barely resembling a living creature. Chunks of his skull were missing, one arm hung uselessly at his side, and deep cuts exposed the organs beneath his crimson scales. Yet despite the severity of his injuries, his regeneration was accelerating. Slime poured frantically from every wound, crawling over the ruined flesh and holding the shape of whatever body part needed to be restored. Once the structure was complete, it hardened into bone, muscle, blood, and skin.

Nearly ninety percent of Nikolai's brain had reformed when Noah cut through it again. The Lion King cleaved across his skull, scattering half-formed tissue through the air. Noah tightened his grip as he watched the slime immediately gather around the fresh wound.

"He's getting faster," Noah realized.

"But so am I." Golden rings appeared beneath his feet.

"Just a little more." The rings detonated, launching Noah into the air. He circled behind Nikolai and aimed the Lion King toward his exposed back, intending to tear through his heart before the heretic's brain could fully recover. Flesh suddenly split between Nikolai's shoulder blades. A massive mouth opened across his spine and unleashed a torrent of flames. Noah twisted aside, stepping against another golden ring and propelling himself away before the inferno could engulf him.

He landed several meters across the arena with the Lion King raised defensively. Nikolai remained barely conscious. Half of his jaw had not finished forming, forcing his words through a mouth filled with exposed teeth and shifting slime.

"D-Damn… you…" Slime crawled across his face, reconstructing his lips and tongue as his single restored eye glared at Noah.

"Fine," Nikolai rasped.

"I'll play for keeps." Noah did not allow him another moment to recover. He raised the Lion King and swung it through the air.

"Wind Blade!" A sharp gust erupted from the sword. The compressed air crossed the arena and sliced cleanly through Nikolai's neck, separating his head from his shoulders before his regeneration could react. Noah rushed forward. Golden rings exploded behind him as he prepared another Corkscrew, the Lion King aimed directly at Nikolai's heart. If he destroyed the brain and pierced the heart before the regeneration could choose which organ to restore, the battle would end.

Then something moved within Nikolai's severed head. Tentacles burst from the exposed flesh. They were thin, wet, and covered in twisting veins, while a smaller vine-like appendage emerged from the center of the skull. A single violet eye opened at its tip. The foreign trait immediately began to decay. Nikolai's Fafnir blood rejected it, poisoning the tentacles and causing them to rot almost as quickly as they appeared. But Nikolai did not need them to last. He only needed one second. The violet eye met Noah's gaze.

Something entered him. Noah's attack stopped. His legs gave out beneath him, and he collapsed onto his knees before vomiting blood across the sand. Negative energy poured into his body. It did not arrive slowly like the fear he absorbed from the crowd. It flooded him all at once, an overwhelming tide of grief, terror, hatred, and madness. The suffering of countless lives crashed into Noah's soul faster than The Ladybug could process it.

Black spots spread across his skin in an instant, covering his arms, neck, and face. His veins darkened beneath his flesh, while blood spilled from his nose and mouth as his body struggled to contain the misery being forced inside him. While Noah fought to remain conscious, Nikolai's head reattached itself. Slime surged throughout his entire body. Bones snapped back into place, organs rebuilt themselves, and crimson scales spread across newly formed flesh. Within moments, Nikolai stood completely restored.

He threw his head back and laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha!" His voice echoed across the arena as he flexed his regenerated fingers.

"I haven't struggled for this long since I fought your father and his friends. My amusement nearly got the better of me." Nikolai smiled down at Noah.

"Good thing I kept an ace hidden." The violet eye had already rotted away, leaving behind nothing but blackened flesh before the slime consumed its remains.

"Don't tell Jackpot," Nikolai said, leaning closer.

"I killed and ate his brother-in-law to obtain that trait." Noah forced himself upright, using the Lion King as support. Golden light flowed from the Regalia and entered his body, helping him purify the foreign negative energy before it could tear him apart from within. Nikolai merely shrugged.

"Though, who cares? That brother-in-law was abusing his children." Noah coughed more blood onto the sand while Nikolai continued speaking, apparently too pleased with himself to attack.

"The descendants of Primordial Madness…" A trace of purple spread through Nikolai's restored eye.

"The Lovecraft family." His smile became unstable.

"What a wonderful collection of lunatics." The air around him began to distort as he examined his hand, almost as though expecting the tentacles to return.

"That trait is rather useful. It's the only foreign ability I possess that can activate quickly enough before the Fafnir blood poisons it." Noah's breathing gradually steadied. The darkness covering his skin receded as the Lion King devoured it and transformed the suffering into golden light. Nikolai pressed one hand against his chest.

"The taste of death…" He shuddered with pleasure.

"My own death was delicious. Watching my body fail, feeling my brain torn apart again and again…" His claws dug into the scales covering his chest as his grin widened.

"What a wonderful flavor." Then his expression changed. The pleasure vanished, replaced by anger.

"But it still wasn't enough." His claws scraped against his armor. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"It didn't satisfy me." The purple within his eye spread farther as his breathing became erratic.

"I'm still starving." His lips twisted with disgust.

"I'm still filled with it." Noah remained silent. By the time Nikolai finished speaking, the foreign negative energy had been almost completely purified. The black spots faded from Noah's face, and strength gradually returned to his legs. Nikolai's remaining eye twitched. His smile stretched unnaturally wide as the borrowed madness infected his thoughts.

"The only problem…" Nikolai began laughing again.

"That trait always makes me a little crazy." Purple light twisted violently within his eye.

"Madness is so intoxicating. Like wine that never allows you to stop drinking." Noah rushed forward before the remaining madness could fade away from Nikolai. The remaining negative energy within his body flowed into the Lion King and transformed into concentrated golden light. He compressed every ounce of it along the blade's edge, strengthening Caliburn beyond its previous limit.

"Royal Arts Original—Caliburn!" Noah swung. Nikolai twisted aside at the final moment. The blade missed his neck, but severed his arm at the shoulder. The limb fell into the sand. Nikolai did not even look at it.

"An eye for an eye," he whispered. His neck stretched unnaturally as his jaws opened.

"An arm for an arm." Before Noah could retreat, Nikolai sank his teeth into his left shoulder. His jaws tore through flesh, and he ripped away a chunk of muscle before leaping back, blood dripping from his lips. Noah staggered away as pain surged through his shoulder. Blood ran down his arm and stained his clothes, though his Fafnir blood had already begun sealing the wound. Across from him, Nikolai stood completely still.

His severed arm had started regenerating, but his attention remained fixed on the piece of Noah's flesh resting between his teeth. He chewed. Then froze. The purple light within his eye erupted.

"It's gone." His fingers rose slowly toward his mouth.

"It's gone…" Nikolai swallowed.

"It's gone!" He clawed at his hair as laughter and panic mixed together in his voice.

"That taste…" His tongue dragged across his bloodstained lips.

"That horrible taste." The disgust that had followed him for centuries—the flavor of his family's blood and the sensation that no food or drink had ever managed to bury—had vanished.

"It disappeared," Nikolai whispered. His breathing became frantic.

"Your flesh covered it." A smile spread across his face. Then vanished just as quickly.

"No." Nikolai grabbed his throat.

"No, no, no…" His eye twitched violently.

"It's back." The foul taste had returned. He had experienced only a few seconds of peace, but those seconds had been enough.

"For one moment…" Tears gathered in Nikolai's eyes as he laughed.

"For the first time in my entire life, it was gone." He stared at Noah. Hunger overtook every trace of amusement.

"So if I eat all of you…" His regenerated claws dug into his face.

"Will it disappear forever?" Noah held his injured shoulder as his blood slowly sealed the wound. He watched Nikolai with growing unease.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Nikolai's breathing grew heavier. His gaze no longer carried the playful cruelty it had before. Only desperation.

"No more games." His body began to tremble.

"I don't care about having fun anymore." His bones cracked loudly beneath his flesh.

"I need to kill you." The crimson scales covering him began to darken.

"I need that taste." His frame became thinner and more elongated.

"I need it!" The draconic wings on his back withered and disappeared. His horns sank into his skull while his tail stretched farther behind him, becoming black, slick, and serpentine. The scales across his body turned pitch-black and lost the thick, armored appearance of a fire dragon. His new form was lankier. More reptilian. Built not for overwhelming power, but endless adaptation. Nikolai's fingers elongated into thin claws as a grin split across his distorted face.

"Would you like to hear a fun fact?" Noah raised the Lion King.

"A truly wonderful fact," Nikolai continued, his voice trembling with madness.

"I am a Primordial Monster." The crowd fell silent.

"Not a distant descendant like you." His long tail coiled across the sand.

"I tasted the Forbidden Fruit itself." The purple glow within his eye merged with a bottomless black.

"That fruit transformed me into the Black Dragon. I remained that way until The Doctor restored my humanity." Noah's grip tightened around the Lion King.

"Normally, when someone becomes a Primordial Monster, they lose their human name," Nikolai explained as his body continued to twist.

"The name of the monster replaces it, and that title is inherited by every generation that follows." His scales rippled as though every cell within his body was constantly trying to reshape itself.

"Just as the name Fafnir has been carried through your bloodline." The arena trembled beneath the pressure flowing from him.

"So allow me to properly introduce myself." Nikolai spread his arms.

"The Primordial Evolution." His black tail curled around his body before biting into itself, forming an enormous circle behind him.

"Ouroboros." The air around him distorted. His body seemed unable to settle upon a single shape, every cell constantly mutating in search of something stronger. Noah stared at the creature before him. Nikolai had finally abandoned Walter's traits. He had abandoned the mockery, the games, and every limitation he had willingly placed upon himself. This was his true power. His full hunger. His complete malice. Noah released his injured shoulder and lifted the Lion King.

"Fine." The butterfly marking upon his wrist began to glow.

"No more holding back." Golden light spread from the tattoo and flowed along his arm.

"You're finally showing me everything you have." The mark burned brighter.

"So I'll do the same." Noah could already feel the strain gathering within his body. The power Lux had granted him was immense, but he could maintain it for only five minutes. That would have to be enough.

"I only need to end this before the time runs out." Golden butterflies appeared around him. One. Then dozens. Then hundreds. They filled the arena, circling Noah as divine light poured through his veins. The darkness stored within his body stirred, but instead of harming him, it bent beneath his authority. Noah raised his glowing wrist.

"I invoke the divine right bestowed upon me by the God of Hope." The butterflies settled upon the Lion King.

"As her apostle…" Golden light and black suffering spiraled together around his body. Noah smiled.

"Ability Activate—Calamity Eater!" The arena disappeared beneath a storm of golden wings. Ouroboros faced the Hero. Evolution faced Hope. And both monsters prepared to devour the other.