Chapter 21: War Cry of the Abyss
The sky collapsed. The earth cracked open. From the center of a battlefield still soaked in blood and ruin, a massive fissure emerged, radiating blackish-purple light that pulsed like a living vein. The Gate of Hell, sealed for thousands of years by the power of the ancestors and angels, now stood open—not by magic, but by the will of destruction itself.
Both human and demon armies halted, frozen in terror as an aura beyond comprehension—cold, heavy, and deep as a black ocean—swept across the field. Even the sun seemed to hide, as if afraid to gaze upon the presence descending from the gate.
From within the swirling black mist, a towering figure emerged—glossy black horns, a giant's body draped in a cloak of darkness. His eyes glowed blood red, and every step shattered the earth beneath. The demon generals—Mor'grath, Vel'Setar, and Zaar'Thurel—fell to their knees simultaneously, bowing in absolute reverence.
Baal had descended into the world.
"It has been too long," Baal murmured, his voice echoing not through the air, but through the soul itself. He stepped toward Duke Malefic, who lay wounded. With a single wave of his hand, the duke's injuries slowly healed, but the dark aura around him grew twice as thick and dangerous.
Baal turned—and his gaze locked onto Xebec, who still stood, his body scorched and blistered from the previous battle, yet unyielding. Blood trickled from the corner of Xebec's mouth, but his eyes burned with fire.
"I remember you," Baal said, approaching slowly. "You are the child of the mortal shell of Ardanox... but I sense something different within you…"
Xebec could barely stand, but just as he prepared to respond, his body trembled, breath caught. The world around him fell silent. In his mind, he heard an ancient, majestic voice:
"It is time, Xebec."
A white light burst from Xebec's body. From deep within his soul, Ardanox, the Ancient Dragon King, awakened and possessed him.
Xebec's body transformed. His wounds began to heal. Silver-white scales spread across his skin, and his eyes reflected an ancient light no words could describe. The demon generals, once bowing in reverence, now stepped back in fear.
Baal narrowed his eyes. "You… Ardanox… Daring to meddle in the mortal world again? Is this the beginning of a war between realms?" he roared.
The sky trembled.
Xebec—now possessed by Ardanox—spoke with a layered voice, both his own and the dragon king's combined, "If that is what you seek, then war shall come."
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Flashback: The Era of Emptiness
Long ago, before the world was divided among humans, demons, and dragons, there was only one vast continent under an eternal sky. At its center stood Ardanox, the White Dragon King, ruler of the human realm and guardian of the light of the mortal world. Opposing him, from the deepest rift at the edge of reality, rose Baal—the embodiment of pure darkness, sovereign of the Hell Realm.
They were the two poles of ancient power: Ardanox with Lumen Veritas, pure light that cleanses all corruption, and Baal with Tenebris Originum, an eternal darkness that no ordinary light could overcome.
They clashed in the War of the Void Era—a time when the world was young and the laws of reality unstable. For a thousand days and nights, they destroyed each other, tearing apart the earth, the sky—even time itself.
But the world could not withstand their power.
The angels, gods, and guardian spirits intervened. In a final act to save the world, they sealed half the powers of Ardanox and Baal, imprisoning their full potential. As a result, Ardanox lost his dragon form and became a mortal man, falling among the enslaved humans and falling in love with a pure-hearted slave woman.
From their love, the Kingdom of Phillipe was born—a realm founded on unity and the abolition of slavery. Ardanox ruled as its first king under the name Philostran I. But after his death, the kingdom fractured from power struggles among his descendants. From that split, other great powers arose, including the Holy Empire of Ari, which separated from Phillipe.
Meanwhile, Baal—trapped in the Hell Realm—secretly extended his influence into the mortal world. He gifted shards of pure darkness to greedy humans, who would eventually found House Malefic. Those shards became the source of the Malefic Taboo, a dark power so dangerous even angels sealed it.
For centuries, the Malefic bloodline refined that power, becoming the natural enemy of the Holy Empire's sacred light.
But Baal wanted more.
He ordered the founders of House Malefic to discover a way to break the ancient seal and restore his full power. They tried every dark method—blood sacrifice, demon contracts—but failed.
Until... they discovered that a descendant of Ardanox still lived: Bastian, Xebec's younger brother, who unknowingly inherited the white dragon's blood from their mother's lineage. That was why Baal and House Malefic were so obsessed with him.
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Back on the Battlefield
White lightning split the sky as Ardanox, within Xebec's body, stepped forward to confront Baal.
"This world is not yours, Baal," Ardanox's voice boomed. "You forfeited your claim when you chose the eternal path of darkness."
Baal chuckled darkly. "And you chose weakness—love, humanity, sacrifice. Look at what it brought you: a shattered kingdom, children killing each other."
Meanwhile, Baal's generals and the wounded Duke Malefic slowly stood again. Malefic now radiated dense shadow, his body like thick fog consuming light.
Tristan von Ari, the Archduke of the Holy Empire, severely wounded by Malefic's light-consuming power, could only crawl across the ground.
Xebec, barely conscious and burning from within, still stood. The light of the white dragon and absolute darkness clashed on a crumbling battlefield.
The battle between two ancient beings was about to begin again—not just to decide the fate of a continent… but of all realms.
The white light surrounding Xebec slowly turned golden-silver. His eyes turned pure white, and the voice from his mouth was no longer his. It was a deep, resonant sound like the roar of ancient ages.
"Enough, Baal. You have sown destruction for far too long."
Baal, just having revived Duke Malefic with a sliver of his core darkness, froze. The demonic aura tensed. Demon troops, once roaring with victory, now fell to their knees under the overwhelming pressure radiating from Xebec's body.
"You... Ardanox... You're truly still alive… inside a human child?" Baal muttered in a mix of rage and fear.
Xebec—now Ardanox—stepped forward. Each step cracked the earth with radiant fissures, erasing darkness. The wind halted. The once-black sky quivered, intimidated by an ancient power that should never return.
"You stole my soul once, Baal. Now I've returned to reclaim what's mine."
Explosions of memory burst in Xebec's mind. In his inner vision, he saw glimpses of Ardanox's past:
The Void Era. A world filled with ruins.
Ardanox, in his white dragon form, clashed against Baal's true form—an entity of layered darkness like swirling dimensions.
Their battle tore the realms apart, and in the end, both lost half their strength.
Ardanox fell into the human world, took human form, and fell in love with a slave woman who fought for equality. From that, he founded the Kingdom of Phillipe.
"I let mankind live in peace. But you, Baal, sowed destruction through House Malefic."
Baal let out a low laugh.
"And now that seed is ready for harvest. You know why I sought you, Ardanox? Because the only way to regain my true form... is to kill you before you are complete."
Xebec trembled. Inside, Ardanox warned:
"Your body cannot contain all my power for long. But… I can give you enough strength for one strike. Choose wisely."
Xebec took a deep breath, chest rising and falling. His wounds still burned. But behind him, the human army looked to him. Tristan lay gravely injured. In the distance, Nanea returned from the Empire of Ari with the holy sword battalion, still too far to help.
"I am not just Xebec... I am a dragon's heir, the blood of Phillipe, and now... the bearer of humanity's hope!"
The sky cracked with the roar of two ancient forces. Absolute light from Ardanox exploded against Baal's swirling black mist, like an apocalyptic vortex.
The world braced to witness a true clash between primordial light and eternal darkness.
The sky shattered in silver and purple. The ground between them—Xebec, glowing with Ardanox's aura, and Baal, fused with the Gate of Hell's power—melted into a bottomless chasm. Troops from both sides fell back, forming a tense, silent circle.
Baal glared with blazing demon eyes. His laugh echoed across the heavens.
"Look at you, Ardanox. Hiding inside a fragile human boy. Is this your mercy to them?"
Xebec, breathing heavily, gripped his sword—now sheathed in absolute light. In his eyes—Ardanox's and Xebec's united—there was no hatred, only resolve.
"I believe in their hope. In the love you mocked. In the strength born from sacrifice."
Suddenly, Baal raised his hand. A wave of darkness, shaped like a spinning disc, surged toward Xebec at lightspeed. But Xebec raised his sword and slashed… the air.
Yet that slash cut through the darkness, tore the sky, and halted the vortex before it could touch the ground. The Absolute Slash—Ardanox's ultimate technique, usable only once when the human body is near its limit.
Baal screamed in fury. "YOU STILL HAD THAT!?"
Wasting no time, Baal fused his demonic power with the taboo force of the recovering Duke Malefic. Pitch-black mist formed wings, horns, and a tail of energy—Baal transformed into his true form: The Abyss Sovereign.
Ardanox within Xebec murmured:
"Your body can't endure much longer, Xebec. But if you believe… I can give you full control—with the risk of losing your soul..."
Xebec closed his eyes. In his mind, he saw Nanea, his sister, running into the battlefield with Archduke Tristan. He saw his people, who believed in him. And finally, he saw his father—King Phillipe—dying at the hands of Grand Duke Theral, for his sake.
"I'm not afraid of losing my soul… if it means saving this world."
In an instant, Ardanox's aura merged fully into Xebec. His body began to crack under the ancient power's pressure—but in the next moment, he transformed.
Radiant wings burst from his back. Silver scales covered his arms and chest. His hair turned golden-white. He was no longer just human—he was Ardanox Reincarnate.
Baal and Xebec (Ardanox Reincarnate) clashed. Their collision devoured sound, light, and reality. Shockwaves hurled everyone away, even demon generals fell to their knees, their bodies breaking just from witnessing the impact.
Duke Malefic, trying to help Baal, was repelled by the holy sword of Archduke Tristan, who arrived with the Holy Sword Battalion from the Empire of Ari. Behind him, Nanea screamed as she saw her brother's body blistering.
"Brother… don't die… I haven't—!"
But Xebec did not retreat. He gripped his sword—now transformed into Eterna Lux, the final weapon that only appears when the white dragon fully merges with its heir.
The final battle began.
With a dragon's roar, Xebec pierced Baal's defenses and drove Eterna Lux into the demon's chest. Light and darkness exploded into one.
"I SHALL RETURN…!" Baal roared before his body shattered into fragments of dimension and was drawn back into the closing gate of hell.
But Xebec's body fell The severe wound left her nearly unconscious. Nanea charged through the battlefield, holding her brother's body in her arms as she cried. Archduke Tristan stood beside her, sword ready for the last remaining enemy.
The sky was clear. But this victory... came at a high price.
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To be continued..