More cracks spread across Max’s Magic Soul as the pressure building within it continued to rise. He could feel it gathering around the center of his Magic Soul, pushing against the fractured outer layer until the entire structure trembled.
At any moment, it could explode, either completely transforming him or destroying everything he had spent so long building.
The pressure reached his bones, frightening him with its violence while also giving him hope for what followed.
The cracking of his Magic Soul also seemed to match the pace at which the Mana Heart was forming. Believing the two transformations were connected, just as Saelunith had promised, Max stopped resisting the pressure and allowed it to continue.
Below Max, the soldiers and people of the Imperial Court Empire watched as darkness spread across everything they had once believed belonged to them.
The mana filling the surrounding region had nearly disappeared. Trees lost their leaves before their branches dried and cracked, while rivers shrank between their banks as the magic supporting their flow vanished.
Fields filled with crops withered one after another, destroying the food meant to sustain countless people throughout the coming seasons. Even the soil had begun losing its color, turning pale and lifeless beneath the darkness covering the land.
Panic spread throughout the region as people realized that the devastation would not end when Max left. With the mana stripped from the land, nothing would recover for a very long time. Even under the best conditions, hundreds of years might pass before the region returned to what it had once been, while at worst, the recovery could take thousands.
Everything they had built upon the abundance of their land was collapsing before their eyes.
"What? You don’t like it?" Max roared, his exhausted voice carrying across the devastated region with enough force to reach the armies watching him from a distance.
Although his body was approaching its limit and the pressure within his Magic Soul threatened to tear him apart, mockery filled every word that left his mouth.
Legate Cassian Varro stood at the front of the imperial forces with his golden spear planted against the lifeless ground, watching Max challenge the empire from above.
Usually disciplined and composed, the commander of the First Golden Legion now struggled to contain his anger. He had watched Augustus kill Max in Frankindia, yet the dragon had returned to devastate the empire while its emperor was away. A vein swelled at Cassian’s temple as his grip tightened around his spear.
"You are a king, so act like one and end this madness!" Cassian shouted, his normally controlled voice carrying more anger than refinement. "Your actions will bring nothing but shame upon your lands and everyone who follows you. Who taught you to conduct yourself like this? Do I need to find your parents and slap them to death for raising a rabid beast instead of a ruler?"
Max stared down at him for several moments before slowly shaking his head. Even with the void heart suppressing most of his emotions, he could not hold back the laugh that escaped his throat.
Of all the people gathered below, Cassian was one of the last who possessed the right to lecture him about how a king should behave. The legate had helped surround him alongside five other warriors in Frankindia, participated in the invasion of another kingdom and stood beside Emperor Augustus when Max was struck down.
Yet now that destruction had reached his own empire, he spoke of dignity and shame.
"Then why did you act so high and mighty before, pretending that your empire stood above my Voidstar?" Max asked, the amusement in his voice turning cold. "Where was this honor when six of you surrounded me in Frankindia? Where was your shame while your armies invaded someone else’s home?"
Cassian’s jaw tightened, but Max did not allow him to answer.
"You were perfectly willing to watch other lands burn when you believed no one could do the same to yours," he continued as darkness spread farther across the dead ground between them. "Now you expect me to stop because you have finally learned what it feels like to stand beneath someone stronger than you."
Void spun faster around Max as another memory resurfaced from the battle in Frankindia. He remembered the Crimson Horde emperor forcing him into the mud, planting a foot against his head and grinding his face deeper into the dirt as though Max were nothing more than an insect beneath him.
Anger flared within Max, sharp enough to make his claws curl as the darkness surrounding his body became increasingly violent. The emotion was clearer than it had been in a long time, fueled by the humiliation he had endured and the knowledge that everyone gathered below had once believed they could treat him however they wished without ever facing the consequences.
"Do I need to remind you and the other two Imperial Court scum that none of you are my match?" Max asked as his darkened eyes moved between Cassian, Lucius and Valeria. "Without Augustus standing behind you, you are nothing in my eyes."
Max looked down upon them as the incomplete Mana Heart continued resisting the pull of the void beside it. The white orb remained unfinished, yet it had already become strong enough to hold its shape while the darkness beat against it, allowing him to focus part of his attention upon the three warriors below.
Lucius glared at Max from behind his shield, his usual smile gone, while Valeria kept both spears trained upon him. Their bodies remained tense, but neither stepped forward. They hated his words, yet both knew he was right.
During their battle in Frankindia, six powerful warriors had surrounded Max and managed to overpower him for a short time, yet he had adapted to their attacks and emerged from the struggle even stronger. Now, the pressure surrounding him was far more terrifying than what they remembered, while the unstable darkness responding to his anger made it impossible to predict what he might do next.
Even with Cassian standing beside them and the safety of their empire at stake, none of the three appeared confident enough to face him.
Max saw their hesitation clearly. He saw it in the way Lucius remained behind his shield, in the way Valeria refused to take the first step, and in Cassian’s unmoving spear despite all the fury tightening his face.
The same hesitation had spread throughout the gathered army. Soldiers waited for their commanders to advance, commanders waited for the strongest warriors to attack, and the strongest warriors remained motionless while more of their empire died around them.
This place was rotten from its core. Its people acted united only when victory appeared certain, but the moment true danger arrived, each of them cared more about preserving their own life than protecting the empire they claimed to serve.
"No wonder Augustus is somebody else’s dog..." Max whispered quietly enough that only he could hear.
He raised his head as the void winds gathered around him, carrying his voice across the devastated region.
"Today, I will destroy enough of your empire that none of you will dare take another step beyond these dead lands," Max declared. "If you do, a fate far worse than this will await you!"
His proclamation shook the surrounding land as the void winds carried it across the ruined fields, forcing the imperial banners to snap violently above the armies gathered below.
Something cracked deep within Max.
His void heart suddenly released a heavy beat before expelling an immense amount of refined mana. The power poured from the darkness in a violent torrent and rushed directly toward the incomplete Mana Heart, causing the white orb to tremble as every rune carved across its surface began shining with multicolored light.
The radiance grew brighter with every passing second, spreading through Max’s body before breaking through the darkness wrapped around him. White and multicolored light poured from within while the void continued twisting across his scales, making it impossible for anyone below to understand what they were witnessing.
"What is happening to him now?" One of the soldiers shouted as he stumbled backward.
"He’s shining like the sun..."
"The sun?" another soldier yelled, terror entering his voice as he pointed toward the darkness covering Max’s body. "He looks more like an eclipse!"
Cassian, Lucius, and Valeria reacted before anyone else.
"Run!" Cassian roared as he tore his spear from the ground and launched himself away.
"Flee as far as you can!" Lucius and Valeria shouted almost at the same time, turning their backs upon Max without waiting to see whether the soldiers beneath their command followed them.
The three Imperial warriors fled without hesitation, caring only about escaping whatever was about to emerge from Max. Their sudden retreat shattered what little discipline remained within the gathered army, sending thousands of soldiers scrambling over one another as they attempted to follow.
At that moment, Max felt his Magic Soul finally reach its limit.
It burst apart.
Every sound vanished from his ears, leaving the world completely silent for a single moment as his body froze in the sky.
Then a terrifying explosion ripped through him from within...
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