The One King

After Andor and Caesar intervened, four Divine Ascenders clashed in the skies above the Central Continent.

The battle was no longer merely a confrontation between four individuals.

It had become a natural disaster raging above the heads of millions.

Every time their auras collided, the heavens trembled.

Every time their techniques clashed, the earth shook.

The effects of the battle spread throughout the continent, causing earthquakes that brought buildings crashing down, storms to gather in the skies, and hurricanes to form over the seas surrounding the Central Continent.

In cities and villages, people rushed into the streets in terror.

No one understood what was happening.

Only moments ago, their lives had been proceeding normally.

And now...

The sky had transformed into a sea of storms, while the earth resembled the scene of the world's end.

A man staggered as the ground shook beneath him.

"What is happening?! Why is the earth shaking like this?!"

A woman screamed while clutching her child.

"Save us!"

An old man looked toward the sky with trembling eyes.

"This isn't an ordinary earthquake..."

A young man asked:

"Then what is happening?"

The old man raised his trembling hand toward the heavens.

"The great ones... they are fighting."

One of the men cried out in panic:

"Four Divine Ascenders?!"

Another swallowed nervously.

"Could the gods have become angry with us?"

Some people then fell to their knees.

"O gods, have mercy on us!"

"Protect our children!"

"Don't let this hell continue!"

In another village, a man shouted:

"Why are we being punished?! What have we done?!"

A man beside him replied:

"I don't know... but if they keep fighting, this continent won't remain the same!"

In the sky, after hundreds of clashes, the situation began to change.

Azrael was retreating.

Blow after blow.

His draconic body was terrifyingly powerful, and his combat experience was immense, but he was fighting three Divine Ascenders whose cultivation levels surpassed his own.

Azrael was at the First Level of Divine Ascension.

Jonathan Ashbourne was at the Fifth Level.

Caesar was at the Seventh Level.

And Andor, the Lord of the Heavenly Council, was at the Eighth Level.

As time passed, the difference in strength became increasingly obvious.

Azrael collided with Andor's attack, only for Jonathan to strike him from the side while Caesar blocked his retreat.

BOOOOOM!

Azrael was sent flying dozens of meters backward.

He stared at the three of them.

Then he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He smiled.

But behind that smile lay a terrifying coldness.

Azrael thought:

Three Divine Ascenders several levels above me...

His eyes narrowed.

Even my current draconic body won't be enough.

He looked at the three men.

Very well... it seems the time has come.

Suddenly, his aura exploded.

BOOOOOOM!

Azrael launched an all-out assault.

His axe swept toward Andor.

Then he twisted his body and unleashed an attack toward Caesar.

In the next instant, he struck Jonathan with a wave of draconic energy.

The three were forced backward simultaneously.

Azrael seized the opportunity.

He shot upward into the sky.

And suddenly...

His body began radiating an intense black-purple light.

Andor's expression changed.

He felt a primal sense of danger.

"This feeling..."

He raised his hand.

"We cannot allow him to finish whatever he's doing!"

A massive long-range attack erupted from his hand.

At the same time, he used his other hand to resist Azrael's previous attack.

But...

He was too late.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The black-purple light dissipated.

Silence descended.

Something enormous appeared in the middle of the sky.

A black dragon.

A colossal body that dominated the horizon.

Two enormous wings.

Black scales reflecting the purple light.

Two eyes burning with a terrifying aura.

The dragon hovered proudly in the heavens, then raised its head.

Suddenly...

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOO!

Azrael's roar erupted.

It wasn't merely a roar.

It was a tremendous sonic storm that swept across the continent from east to west.

Mountains trembled.

The seas churned.

Even the beasts within the forests froze in place.

People raised their heads toward the sky in terror.

"What was that sound?!"

"It's... a dragon!"

In the sky, Azrael opened his enormous jaws.

Black-purple energy began gathering within his throat.

The sky around him darkened.

Then his voice echoed throughout the continent:

"Destruction Breath."

FWWOOOOOOSH!

His throat ignited with black-purple flames.

Andor retreated.

Caesar's expression changed.

Jonathan muttered:

"That attack..."

Andor shouted:

"Defend yourselves!"

They immediately unleashed their defensive techniques.

Andor raised both hands.

"Heavenly Council Art — Eighth Heaven Dome!"

Eight enormous golden barriers appeared behind him.

Caesar raised his sword.

"Guardian of Races — Heavenly Fortress!"

Layers of white barriers formed around him.

Jonathan planted his sword before him.

"Heavenly Sword Art — Barrier of a Thousand Swords!"

Thousands of golden swords appeared and formed a gigantic wall before him.

And in the next instant...

Azrael opened his jaws.

And roared.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A colossal breath of black-purple flames erupted from his mouth.

It tore through the sky at terrifying speed.

The eyes of the three men widened.

Then the flames swallowed them.

FWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOSH!

Everything disappeared within the sea of fire.

The flames continued forward until they struck the ground.

And in the next instant...

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A tremendous explosion erupted toward the heavens.

A column of fire and smoke rose dozens of kilometers into the sky.

The storms were pushed backward.

The entire continent trembled.

Even people in distant cities felt the shockwave.

A man collapsed to the ground.

"The world is ending..."

After some time, the dust began to settle.

Three figures emerged from the smoke.

Andor.

Caesar.

Jonathan.

The three were in a horrifying condition.

Their clothes were torn apart.

Their bodies were covered in severe burns.

Blood stained large portions of their bodies.

Caesar spoke with difficulty:

"That breath..."

He took out a superior healing potion and drank it.

His wounds began closing gradually.

Andor did the same, followed by Jonathan.

Moments later, they raised their heads.

The black dragon was still hovering before them.

Azrael looked at them with his enormous head.

Then he opened his jaws.

His monstrous voice emerged:

"You bunch of ants..."

The winds seemed to stop.

"Did you truly believe that multiplying your numbers would allow you to kill me?"

His enormous fangs appeared.

Then he released a terrifying laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The laughter spread across the heavens.

The hearts of everyone who heard it trembled.

One of the inhabitants of the continent whispered:

"What kind of monster is that...?"

Another said:

"Even his laughter makes me feel as though death itself is standing before me."

But before Azrael could descend upon his opponents...

Something else happened.

A calm voice.

A voice so calm that it was frightening.

Yet it echoed throughout the entire continent:

"I promised to help you if darkness ever consumed you, did I not, Lord of Darkness?"

The world froze.

No one moved.

Even the whispers stopped.

Andor, Caesar, and Jonathan looked in every direction.

One of the rulers watching the battle muttered:

"Lord of Darkness?"

Another said:

"Did... he say Lord of Darkness?"

Their expressions changed.

Twenty years ago...

A prophecy had shaken the world.

A prophecy that spoke of the Lord of Darkness, who would one day appear and bring death and destruction upon the world.

One of the rulers whispered:

"No..."

His eyes widened.

"Is he referring to Azrael?"

The other rulers immediately used their divine senses to search for the owner of the voice.

Moments passed.

Then they found him.

A man standing in the distance.

The Enlightened One.

The rulers froze.

"The Enlightened One..."

That man was the same individual who had foretold the prophecy of the Lord of Darkness twenty years ago.

He had also delivered dozens of prophecies throughout thousands of years.

And nearly every one of his prophecies...

Had come true.

One of the elders said:

"If the Enlightened One says Azrael is the Lord of Darkness..."

He paused.

"Then that means..."

Another ruler answered:

"Azrael truly is the Lord of Darkness."

The major powers began moving.

A group of rulers flew toward the battlefield and joined Andor, Caesar, and Jonathan.

One of them shouted:

"We will not allow this monster to destroy the world!"

Another declared:

"Even if the price is our lives!"

As for Titania...

She remained where she was.

She did not move.

She neither declared her support for Azrael nor announced her opposition to him.

She simply stared at him.

A strange feeling told her that interfering now would bring catastrophe.

One of the rulers asked her:

"Empress Titania, will you not join us?"

She answered without taking her eyes off Azrael:

"No."

"Why?"

She remained silent for a moment.

Then she said:

"Because I don't want to place my empire in the path of something I don't understand."

As for Azrael...

He remained silent.

Then he turned his enormous head toward the source of the voice.

He stared at the Enlightened One for a long moment.

Then...

It almost seemed as though a smile appeared upon his draconic face.

His enormous, razor-sharp fangs became visible.

He opened his jaws.

"Oh..."

Everyone held their breath.

"So, Enlightened One... you have decided to expose the game."

Everyone's faces turned pale.

He had confirmed it himself.

Azrael Netherval...

Was the Lord of Darkness.

And in that moment, Azrael's voice began spreading throughout the entire human world.

It was not merely a voice.

His words carried hatred and resentment that had accumulated over countless years.

The heavens trembled.

Even the storms seemed to stop for a moment.

Then he said:

"I am Azrael Netherval, the child abandoned by his family..."

Lilith froze in the sky.

Her eyes widened.

She couldn't even breathe.

"...and condemned by the world as a bringer of evil and destruction..."

Tears began gathering in her eyes.

"...and branded with the name of the Lord of Darkness..."

Her lips trembled.

Then Azrael's voice resounded throughout the world:

"Today, I declare war upon the entire human world."

An eerie silence descended.

A man in one of the cities whispered:

"War... against the entire world?!"

A woman clutched her child tightly.

"But why? What did we ever do to him?!"

Azrael continued:

"I will make the inhabitants of this world, whether human or otherwise, young or old, taste from the cup I was forced to drink from."

People gasped.

An old man whispered:

"He wants revenge..."

A young man shouted:

"Against everyone?! Even the innocent?!"

Then Azrael's aura erupted.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"I will crush the mountains..."

The mountains trembled.

"...I will evaporate the seas..."

Enormous waves rose across the oceans.

"...I will make the heavens and the earth weep blood."

His black-purple aura exploded across the sky.

The world trembled.

Elsewhere, Lilian had completely frozen.

Tears flowed endlessly down her face.

She whispered in a voice barely audible:

"I'm sorry..."

Then she placed a hand against her chest.

"Azrael..."

His words had shattered something inside her.

She finally understood that the pain he carried was not an illusion.

It was real.

And it ran deep.

But before she could process what had happened...

Azrael's voice echoed once more.

"Baran."

The rulers froze.

They looked at one another.

"Who is Baran?"

"Is he speaking to someone?"

Then...

Silence.

Suddenly, a terrifying old voice echoed throughout the world.

A voice unlike anything humanity had ever heard before.

"At your service, O 'Greatest Beneath the Heavens.'"

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

A tremendous sonic wave swept across the continent.

Mountains trembled.

Rocks were thrown into the air.

Even some powerful cultivators felt a chill run through their bodies.

A terrified man shouted:

"What was that voice?!"

Another said:

"That was only one person's voice..."

Then he swallowed nervously.

"How can the voice of a single person do this?!"

As for the rulers, their faces paled when they heard the title.

The Greatest Beneath the Heavens.

One of them whispered:

"Did Azrael just call himself the Greatest Beneath the Heavens?"

Another replied:

"No... the one speaking to him is addressing him by that title."

An old man stared toward the heavens.

"This isn't ordinary arrogance."

His gaze remained fixed on the sky.

"This man speaks as though he already owns the world."

Then Azrael's voice resounded:

"Prepare yourself, and let all the armies march."

The heavens trembled.

"Anyone who does not submit beneath our wings..."

A cold smile appeared upon the dragon's face.

"...and accept eternal servitude..."

His aura intensified.

"Shall perish."

A terrifying silence descended.

Then Baran's voice returned, this time filled with unmistakable excitement:

"Your will is my will..."

A brief pause.

Then his voice thundered:

"And your wish is my command!"

In the next instant...

Enormous portals began appearing across every corner of the world.

One in the Northern Continent.

Another in the Western Continent.

Then in the South.

And in the East.

In cities, wildernesses, mountains, and plains.

BOOOOOOM!

The portals opened one after another.

And from within them...

Massive armies emerged.

Endless armies.

Black banners fluttered across the skies.

Enormous war beasts.

Warriors clad in armor and armed with deadly weapons.

Vast numbers of creatures poured forth to carry out the will of the existence who had called himself:

The Greatest Beneath the Heavens.

In the cities, people raised their heads as they watched the portals appear.

One man whispered:

"They're... everywhere."

Another said:

"Then it wasn't a threat..."

His body began trembling.

"It was an order."

A man screamed:

"Run!"

Another shouted:

"Where?! The portals have appeared everywhere!"

And in the sky, the black dragon continued hovering above the Central Continent.

A black-purple storm raged behind him.

Dozens of Divine Ascenders stood before him.

And beneath his feet...

An entire human world was beginning to realize that a new era had begun.

An era in which Azrael was no longer merely a participant in a tournament.

Nor merely a Divine Ascender.

He had become a name that would shake the entire world.

Azrael Netherval.

The Lord of Darkness.

The Greatest Beneath the Heavens

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