Chương 46: The True Power of the King and Queen of Frostbane

Hrymdra smiled at Elizabeth and gave a firm nod.

"The curse is completely gone now that the boss has been defeated and the nightmare nest destroyed. But those hands remain… Lord Louis, Lady Mirai, do you believe you can take them down with our help?" Mirai and Louis stared at the giant hands as they merged into a tall, slender alien-like creature forged from hardened black obsidian. Countless red eyes and fingers covered its form, while screaming heads with long tongues dripped miasmic venom.

Its skull-like head, also carved of black obsidian, held a single glowing red eye at its center.

"Fufufu… Fuahahahahah!" Valthorak burst into loud laughter.

"What sort of joke is this?! Do you truly believe you can stand against me, you lowly humans?! Don't make me laugh! Seriously, don't make me laugh! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Humans?" Louis raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, we're far from that," Mirai said, her brows furrowing. They gently set Elizabeth down beside her great-grandmother, whom Louis had healed in an instant with his power.

"You fool…" Nifl sneered, her voice laced with dark amusement.

"You now face our strongest members—the mightiest beings in this universe aside from our Divine Dragon King. You have already lost."

"Hah? What is this stupid old lady even talking abou—" And then it happened. It was too fast for Valthorak to even register. BOOOM!

"GAAAH?!" A massive hole tore open on his left shoulder. In the same breath, a majestic white dragon emerged from nowhere, moving with such blinding speed that it seemed to stop time itself.

"W-Wha…?! WHEN?!" Before Valthorak could comprehend that a so-called lowly mortal had wounded him, a dark figure surged from his left—a giant demoness with countless arms and wings. She kicked him through dozens of mountains. CRAAASH!

"Gaaahhh?! What is happening?! How did they…?! These mere… lowly mortals…?!" Valthorak crashed into a deep crater amid the shattered peaks. Gasping for air, he coughed up black blood as his wounds burned with forces he could not easily suppress: White Flames of Primordial Time and Demonic Flames of Primordial Chaos. The flames devoured at his Conceptual Physique with terrifying strength. Two shadows then loomed over him. Only then did he recall Nifl's final words before their assault had blasted him away.

His entire body trembled. They were the strongest beings of this universe. The entities the Nightmare Kings called "Dimensional Guardians" during their conquests across dimensions. The King of Frostbane, Louis—the Celestial Heavenly Ash Dragon King. The Queen of Frostbane, Mirai—the Abyssal Demon Queen of Entropy.

"Hah… Hahahaha…" Valthorak laughed.

"I see now. When that fool died in this dimension, it was against you. You entities who wield power beyond the Force of the Cosmos. True Cosmic Monarchs…" Valthorak's central red eye widened in genuine shock for the first time since his manifestation. His obsidian body shuddered as the white flames on his shoulder and the chaotic flames on his torso refused to die, gnawing relentlessly at his very concept.

"…You… You are the ones who killed my subordinate in this backwater dimension?!" His voice, once mocking, now burned with rage and dark delight.

"The ones who forced the Nightmare Kings to notice this insignificant universe!" Louis hovered calmly above the crater in his majestic white dragon form, radiating primordial time and heavenly ash. His mere presence made the surrounding space feel heavier, as if every second stretched and decayed beneath his authority. He said nothing, he was a man of few words. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Mirai floated beside him, her countless ethereal arms and twisting chaos wings resembling dark butterflies. Her smile was sharp and terrifying.

"Insignificant? How rude. This is our daughter's world. We tend to be quite protective."

"SHUT UP!!!" Valthorak roared and surged upward, his obsidian body expanding rapidly. Hundreds of red eyes opened across his form as nightmare tendrils exploded outward, each one capable of corrupting entire ley lines.

"Arrogant fools! Even if you are True Monarchs, I am a Nightmare King! My true body still sleeps beyond the Veil, but this avatar alone is—" He never finished. BOOOOOOM! Louis moved. Or rather, the very concept of movement bent around him. In one instant he hovered above; in the next, he had already pierced straight through Valthorak's chest, leaving a gaping tunnel of white flames that aged and reduced the nightmare flesh to drifting ash.

Yet Valthorak twisted his body like living slime, catching the weapon at last. He finally saw it clearly: a beautiful, gleaming golden spear pulsing with immense primordial and reality-warping energy.

"That weapon is now mine! The secret of your power!!!" he laughed, trying to wrench it free. Mirai struck immediately after. Her countless arms blurred as she danced through the Nightmare King's form, each touch unraveling his structure at both atomic and conceptual levels, tearing every molecule and particle that composed him.

"Concept-Devouring Chaotic Dance."

"Ngh?!" Entropy devoured coherence. Where she passed, obsidian crumbled into dust and dark void. Valthorak howled in agony as his body weakened severely, beginning to crumble. Still, he fought back, punching and kicking her, only for Louis to seize him from behind and impale him with dozens of rapid thrusts, carving fresh holes through his body.

"GAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Valthorak's scream shook the skies. He lunged at Louis, wrapping his tendrils around the giant white dragon and slamming him toward the ground. But their positions suddenly swapped, and he was the one who crashed into the earth.

"W-What was that…?! This is…! Impossible…! No, no, no! NOOOO!!!" In desperation, Valthorak tore open dozens of miniature Nightmare Gates around the monarchs. They were not large enough for his true body, but they spewed horrors and reality-warping miasma. Louis responded instantly. White Void manifested from his draconic body as a barrier that burned away the miasma. The horrors, giant tentacles, jaws, and worse, exploded into flames and ash before they could touch them.

"Fools! I was merely distracting you!" Valthorak thought.

"My true goal is those weaklings behind you!" He forged new Nightmare Gates in the distance, aiming at the others. Nightmare horrors surged forth, attacking the recovering dragons. Elizabeth roared and unleashed breath attacks, swinging her sword to cleave them apart, but she could not hold them all back alone. The other ice dragons rose despite their wounds, roaring as they unleashed ice breath and spells to defend themselves. Nifl, partially recovered thanks to Louis's healing, and Hrymdra acted in perfect sync.

"My dear Hrymdra, let us destroy these beasts!"

"Yes, primordial mother!" Hrymdra unleashed a cosmic frost storm that froze the gates solid, while Nifl channeled Primordial Winter to create a dimensional seal, closing the Nightmare Gates one by one. Elizabeth, Yudrak, and the rest of the Ice Dragons tore into the remaining horrors, purifying and freezing them until only ice dust remained. Meanwhile, the battle against Valthorak intensified.

Louis seized him midair, claws digging into his chest, and smashed him through dozens of mountains, hurling him across the frozen sea. Mirai teleported behind him, her blazing katana slicing through his body dozens of times as flames of entropy consumed him.

"KUAAAAGGH!" With one final surge, Valthorak's pieces regenerated and he drove his claws into Mirai's face, sending her plummeting into the sea. The resulting explosion evaporated eighty percent of the surrounding ocean, leaving a burning crater. Yet Mirai emerged unscathed. She kicked his head, launching him through the wasteland. Louis caught him again, his spear gleaming as it shattered the Nightmare King's barriers.

"Damn it…! Hah… Hahah… You bastards…! This is just… ridiculous!" Valthorak screamed, struggling to keep up with both monarchs but failing to land any meaningful damage. They were simply too strong. His form began to destabilize. Half his body had already been erased, yet he laughed maniacally even as he crumbled. Louis and Mirai hovered above him, staring down as he fell apart piece by piece. His regeneration could no longer keep pace.

"Fine… Fine! If this avatar falls, so be it!" Valthorak snarled.

"But know this, Monarchs… the Nightmare Dimension has marked this world. My brothers will come. The Devourer of Stars, the Weeping Mother, the Hollow Sovereign… they will all turn their gaze here. Especially after sensing your power! And all the souls here for us to devour!" He glared directly at Elizabeth with his remaining eye.

"And you, little shit. We will meet again. I will make sure of it when I drag your soul into the deepest layer of—" CRASH! Mirai appeared before his massive skull and slammed all her arms into the central red eye at once. Louis followed with his spear, tearing the entire body and head to shreds. With their combined power, they disintegrated his soul and body down to the subatomic level, leaving nothing behind. BOOOMMM!!!

The monstrous fragment of the Nightmare King, not even his true self, the being that had nearly overwhelmed a primordial like Nifl, disintegrated into harmless black dust, swept away by the returning winter winds. Silence fell across the battlefield. The ice dragons smiled with relief and renewed hope.

"They won!!!" Elizabeth cheered. All the dragons roared in unison.

"OOOOOHHHHH!"