Chương 56: Chapter 53: Battle Between Nightmare Kings

The bulky titan, Krag'Thul, the Mountain Eater, cracked his neck with a sound like grinding tectonic plates. His obsidian armor pulsed with stolen gravitational force, each spike a miniature black hole that devoured light and hope alike. Beside him floated the skeletal horror, Nyx'Varak, the Winged Despoiler, whose hollow sockets burned with necrotic violet flame. Black feathers molted endlessly from his wings, each one transforming into screeching raven-shaped shades that circled the castle like vultures.

"You reek of weakness, Valthorak," Krag'Thul boomed. His voice shook the webs covering the castle walls.

"We felt the tremor across three layers of the Abyss. A piece of your soul was torn out and still burns. Pathetic." Nyx'Varak's jaw clacked open in a silent laugh. The sound arrived a second later as a chorus of dying screams.

"The Ice Dragon dimension was supposed to be easy prey. Instead you return missing a hand and leaking power like a gutted worm. We have decided to ease your suffering. Permanently." Valthorak's new blade-arm twitched as the souls trapped within it howled in unison. A low, wet chuckle bubbled up from his thorax. In the Nightmare Dimension, powerful beings preyed on one another whenever the chance arose.

Although the Nightmare Kings maintained a relatively peaceful treaty of non-aggression, that peace shattered the moment one of them showed weakness. Valthorak himself had taken part in the gutting of other Kings before. Whenever one sustained wounds they could no longer heal, the rest would gather like vultures to devour him and claim a piece for themselves. Now these two Nightmare Kings, usually seen as slightly weaker than Valthorak in the power hierarchy, dared to come here and knock on his door.

They intended to devour him and seize the strength needed to rise in the Nightmare King ranks. Glancing at the white flames burning his fragmented soul beside him, Valthorak sneered. There was no better time than now to test how potent these flames truly were, even if he controlled them only partially.

"Two vultures circling a 'wounded' lion. How original." He flexed his many legs, the fresh nightmare metal groaning as it settled over his thinner true body.

"Come then. Enter my nest if you dare. I will show you exactly how 'weak' I have become." With a casual wave of his remaining clawed hand and showing no fear at all, he shattered the castle's barrier. It broke like glass, shards exploding outward in a storm of razor-sharp darkness. Though the two kings found his lack of fear suspicious, they considered it might be nothing more than an act to scare them away while he was truly wounded. They exchanged a silent glance and nodded.

It was better to strike now than to hesitate. It was now or never. There was no way Valthorak could have recovered so quickly after all, right? The two kings charged without hesitation. Krag'Thul came first, slamming forward like a living meteor. The ground beneath the castle warped and collapsed as he activated his Domain, Crushing Abyss, multiplying gravity a thousandfold. Entire sections of the obsidian structure folded in on themselves. Nightmares screamed as they were pulped into paste. CRAAASH!

Valthorak simply stood there, unmoving, as the crushing pressure slammed into him. His new armor creaked under the strain but held firm. Then he smiled.

"Truly impressive, little Krag. I still remember when you were just a small Nightmare Lord shaped like a black beetle. Who was the one that let you live after you tried to steal my treasures?" Valthorak laughed.

"?!" Krag'Thul sensed something was wrong. Valthorak remained completely unfazed, showing no trace of pain. Could it be that he had truly healed himself already?

"You will be my perfect guinea pig." RUMBLE! A single pulse of white flame erupted from the scar on his Nightmarish Soul floating beside him. The borrowed Reality flames, still not fully refined and carrying echoes of Louis's will, ignited along his blade-arm. With a single, simple thrusting motion that did not even reach his distant foe, the laws of the Nightmare Dimension stuttered and warped for a fraction of a second. BOOOMMM!!! Krag'Thul's right shoulder exploded.

The black hole spikes protecting it collapsed inward, imploding violently as the white fire rewrote the very concept of "indestructible armor" into "kindling" inside him in an instant. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"WHAT—?!" The titan roared in disbelief. He clenched his sharp fangs beneath his heavy armored mask, infused energy into his remaining arm, and swung a fist the size of a mountain toward Valthorak. Fury burned in his eyes as he compressed his gravitational power for a direct, all-out strike.

"Ah, you're still going for it… fine." Valthorak met the attack with his blade-arm. The clash released a devastating shockwave that tore through space, shattering the dimensional expanse around them and sending both kings skidding backward. Nyx'Varak seized the opening and dove from above like a falling guillotine. His wings spread wide, unleashing a torrent of Soul-Rending Crows.

Millions of spectral birds surged forward, each one capable of tearing through memories and soul essence, the very lifeblood of Nightmare Beings. In response, Valthorak opened his maw and inhaled. The crows, the darkness, and even fragments of his own damaged castle walls were sucked into the spiraling abyss of his stomach dimension. He crunched once, twice, then exhaled a devastating beam of mixed energies. Stolen soul matter fused with flickering white flames shot straight into Nyx'Varak's ribcage.

"AAAACK!" The skeletal king shrieked as holes burned through his ancient bones. White fire ate away at the conceptual bindings that held his form together.

"You… absorbed… my attack?!" Nyx'Varak gasped, flapping erratically.

"Impossible! W-What kind of power is that? Where did you get such flames— Uuuggh! It burns!"

"Surprised?" Valthorak asked, his voice dripping with savage glee as he advanced on all legs.

"Blame your own stupidity for what's coming, little Nyx. I am going to tear you to pieces now." He raised his blade-arm high. The white flames surged, no longer purely Louis's will but a twisted fusion of Valthorak's endless hunger and the power to impose new truths.

"Concept Rend: Eternal Devouring Veil." Reality within a hundred kilometers twisted violently. Krag'Thul suddenly found his own gravity domain turned against him. His body grew heavier and heavier until his obsidian armor began cracking under its amplified weight.

"G-Gaaaaahhhh! M-Mercy! Have mercy, Valthorak! W-We didn't know that you had recovered...!" Nyx'Varak's wings began to rot mid-flight. Feathers disintegrated into nothingness as the concept governing his wings was temporarily erased from their personal reality.

"T-This is unbelievable! Where did he get such power?! Uuugghhh!" The two Nightmare Kings crashed to the ground, snarling and wounded. They lay barely able to move among the ruins of Valthorak's castle.

"This was once a beautiful castle, and you destroyed it," Valthorak sighed, shaking his head. The white flames on his sword faded. He could not afford to wield them too long, or they would consume him as well.

"Are you planning to repay me for all the losses your little attempt at killing me has caused?"

"P-Please...! Forgive us... Great Devourer of Realms! W-We were wrong! We had sensed weakness, yet you were... as strong as ever, if not stronger!"

"We were foolish... forgive us... please... we will forever serve under you!"

"Ah, is that so?" Valthorak laughed loudly, his voice making the Abyssal Sea beneath him tremble.

"How about you repay me right now?"

"W-With what?!" Krag'Thul asked, his deep and intimidating voice now trembling. Valthorak approached him with his spider-like head lowered. His red eyes gleamed brightly as he stared at the weakened Krag'Thul, who could hardly stand.

"Give me your face."

"?!" His sharp blade pierced through Krag'Thul's throat and heart while his claw tore the face from his head. With one final motion, he beheaded him completely. An explosion of nightmare flames and miasma splattered everywhere.

"Gaaaaaahhhhaaaaaa!" Krag'Thul's scream echoed across the Abyssal Sea. Nyx'Varak, unable to fly, began crawling away desperately on all fours like a pathetic beast. However, the rapid clicking of Valthorak's spider-like legs approached even faster. In mere seconds, space warped and Valthorak appeared directly in front of him.

"Aaaahh! Please spare me! I will do anything! Please don't kill me, great king!" Nyx'Varak trembled in horror as the spider smiled. Valthorak walked toward him with a furious roar, baring all of his sharp fangs.

"Aaaaaarrgghhh!" Nyx'Varak attempted to use his techniques, but none of them worked. White flames burned away his strength until Valthorak caught him. He opened his maws and savagely bit through half of his torso, head, and wings included. He devoured them with loud crunches, swallowing as the lower half splattered blood, innards, and soul essence everywhere.

"Even eating tens of millions of souls cannot compare to the flavor of devouring my own kind," he spoke with malice. He bit into pieces of Krag'Thul's face, followed by his delicious heart and soul fragments. After he finished his meal, devouring both Nightmare Kings until nothing remained, he felt immensely powerful. His aura surged with a great wave of new strength.

"This'll do for now..." he smiled.

"But it isn't enough... I need to prepare better. To devour more... Ahh, that little girl, that half-dragon child... she possesses the powers of her two parents combined, but they guard her zealously. I cannot invade the dragons anymore. It's too obvious, but... haha, there are many seeds already spread across that large planet." His eyes gleamed brightly as he detected several seeds.

As a Nightmare King of the "Realm Devourer" Authority, he was among the few capable of more easily invading and infiltrating other realms, planets, worlds, and universes. And every little seed could be an opportunity for him to infiltrate that world. Yet it also carried the risk of being discovered. Without a proper cover, the same thing that happened before would happen again, and this time he might not step out alive.

But who would ever want to help an invader from another dimension destroy their planet and consume their own people? It was simply impossible to find a cover. He would have to—"Hm?" Or so he thought. Two powerful signals, one gold and the other deep purple, were calling for more of this otherworldly power they were benefiting from. Unaware that they were consuming the power of nightmares and an extension of his own authority, Valthorak smiled.

"Well, it looks like there are worms on that planet itself that want nothing more than to get rid of those dragons too, huh? How wonderful it is to find kindred spirits. Especially those willing to betray their own race for the sake of power and revenge... the easiest hearts to corrupt."