Beyond The System
Chapter 186: Ultimatum

Smoke hung in the air, thick and acrid, the trees around us blackened with scorched streaks and burned bark. My ears rang, a high, constant buzz vibrating at the base of my skull. When I turned my head, the world tilted slightly, but I caught sight of Griffith dragging Thea backward, her leg riddled with thick, jagged splinters of broken wood.

Blood ran from a wound just below her hairline, not gushing, thankfully, but steady enough to make the injury obvious. And yet, her eyes were still locked forward, fixed on the serpent. Focused somehow.

Griffith didn’t look much better. And if I had a mirror, I probably wouldn’t like what I’d see either.

Where’s Elric?

I scanned the field, but he was nowhere in sight. Only the serpent remained motionless above us, its massive body faintly rippling with each breath. Is it injured? Maybe. There was a tremor in its frame, subtle but there. The damage we’d done still marked its scales: flakes missing, lines scratched across its face, and... was it panting?

Do snakes pant?

Focus. I probably have head trauma. My fingers and toes felt tingly, and that pressure behind my eyes… Yeah, something wasn’t right. Seriously, where the hell is Elric when you need him? And I often—

Peter, get up! Luna’s voice cut through the haze, sharp and sudden.

I forced myself upright, staggering before finding balance. Something in my knee clicked, the kind of feeling that was more awkward than painful, but wrong in that deep, instinctive way.

Why isn’t it attacking? I asked, narrowing my gaze. The serpent didn’t move. Not with that distant indifference from yesterday, this was different. It was frozen in place, locked on me, hatred pouring from its eyes like steam.

Peter, Wyrem started, voice tight. Take it down. Kill it if you must. Don’t hold back. Luna’s poison seems to be working.

A familiar voice broke through.

“Dude! Get over here!” Elric shouted, suddenly near Thea and Griffith. “Hurry up!”

How the hell—No. Wyrem was right. If we left now, we’d never get another clean shot. That thing was already a nightmare at baseline. If we gave it time… we might never beat it at all.

I turned back to it. It was still staring.

It blinked once, waiting.

I took a step forward. Thea shouted behind me with the same words as Elric, but I already knew—we couldn’t leave now. This fight had to end here.

As I moved, into the heat. It swelled around the creature, the air warping with it, creating faint shimmering mirages. My gloves reformed on instinct, summoned to my hands just as the serpent’s body began to glow.

Its mouth opened. Deep inside, a glow started forming, bright and unstable.

But I didn’t stop. I trusted the others would move too. Griffith surely saw. Elric and Thea too, had to have noticed the state of things. The wounds on the beast were clear.

And Luna and I could both see the change in control of the gathering energy in its maw.

Chaotic and Unstable. Maybe the poison was hitting hard now, o the power was too new. Could be a mix of both.

A bolt of lightning tore in from the left, but the creature twisted, taking the hit and still charging its breath. Its eyes never left me. Around it, golden blades danced like flies, some bouncing off disjointed, flickering red barriers—less elegant than before, but still effective.

It’s attacking, Peter, Luna warned, her tone edged with urgency. That energy’s peaking.

Every hair on my body stood on end. My skin prickled, senses flaring wide as the world seemed to drag into slow motion. From the back of its mouth, a slow, massive, beautiful in a terrifying way, column of fire erupted.

I have to move.

The word wasn’t conscious. The primitive survival instincts built into my genetic code from birth screaming at me. I dove, but not fast enough. The wall of flame was coming for me.

Earth surged upward, a barrier of stone shooting between me and the blaze. Griffith. It gave me just enough time. Just enough to not be turned into a human puddle.

With it came a full view of what that fire had done.

The earth wall wasn’t just scorched but half-melted. The rocks it had pulled from the ground bubbled at the edges, their surfaces slick and weeping molten trails that dripped downward, hissing against dirt and burning grass and leaves alike.

But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

Power surged into my gloves, the claws stretching out once more, hungry to strike.

The serpent’s body heaved, sluggish in the aftermath of its own attack. It flicked its tail at me. but slower than before. It was weakening.

I jumped, twisting midair, as the coordinated rhythm of my companions flared to life around me. Lightning arced wide. Blades spun tight. Each move precise, honed to avoid crashing into one another or me.

A spear flew past, striking a red barrier just ahead. Then daggers followed, three bouncing off, but the fourth struck true, shattering the shield with a cracking pulse.

And I struck.

Kreeii!

Its screech cracked the sky as my claws sank into an exposed wound, frost already spreading across the torn muscle. I released the Blasting Wave instantly, the force exploding inside the gash.

But my palm was just short, and Luna couldn’t release the rest of the toxins.

The serpent twisted violently, forcing me back unless I wanted to be flattened. I kicked away, but just before I fully separated, my gloves flared. A sudden, electric-red pulse glowing from the seams.

ENOUGH.

I landed hard, breath catching, stunned. Not by impact, but by the voice that slammed through my mind.

Wyrem? I called out.

What are you talking to me for? Handle the battle, he snapped back, clearly confused.

Not him, then.

The others were still fighting, still hammering at the serpent’s frame. New wounds were blooming across its scales, but it had begun to ignore them entirely. Its focus was shifting. It raised its body high, readying that same full-body slam it had used before.

Should I try? It would be a risk right now, but...

Just get ready, I told the old worm, dashed forward leaping up, and intercepted the serpent’s head as it came crashing down.

Don’t poison it, Luna, I reminded, reaching my hand forward. My fingers were coated in a blistered pink-red sheen, wet with whatever fluid was leaking from the serpent’s wounds.

But my new weapons had absorbed everything I pushed into them. My Internal Force. My Precursor Energy. My Beast Force.

Whoever had spoken wasn’t Wyrem, and there was no one else it could have been.

Either the serpent was growing desperate and screaming for itself to end the fight, or it was literally done fighting.

I let the Beast Force flow. The intention was simple. Connect Wyrem, the serpent, and me.

Everything blinked out the next second.

The battlefield vanished, replaced by a quiet and still black space. A strange void enclosed me. Two auras hovered within reach, suspended at opposite ends of a dark, compact plane.

It felt… different. This had never happened before when I wanted to talk.

“Peter?” Wyrem’s voice—a real voice—echoed from the green light to my right.

The sound shocked me. Hearing the actual voice of the self-proclaimed ancient thing living in my body stunned me more than anything. I almost jumped, but couldn’t. I couldn’t move at all.

I tried to speak. “Y—yee—yes.” The words stuttered out, dry and cracked like sand scraping my throat.

“Where are we?” he asked, honestly curious.

I tried to turn toward him. Nothing moved. My perspective was fixed, locked like a camera bolted to a tripod.

“No idea, but…” My eyes stuck on the red aura to the left. “Is that—”

“Why have you invaded my territory? I spared you, and my reward is this?!”

The voice that interrupted was high, thin, and suspicious, but it answered my question. The serpent. Though to be fair, I wouldn’t exactly call missing me with its jaws an act of mercy.

I opened my mouth, but Wyrem spoke first, booming with full theatrical volume.

“YOU DARE SPEAK TO A TRUE DRAGON’S APPRENTICE THIS WAY?!”

It was the most ridiculous, over-the-top thing I’d ever heard him say. Plus, I'm not his apprentice!

All our auras were equal here, but even still, coming right out and saying it didn’t seem to be a smart idea.

“A what?” it asked, genuinely confused. “Enough of this, release me. If you retreat now, I will let you leave in peace, but you must go.”

Wyrem chuckled. Not just smug, but more arrogant than I'd ever heard before. “You think this pathetic evolution is the peak? That you’ve arrived?” he said, dripping haughtiness. “Those sad little legs you sprouted, that unstable fire, this is merely the start.”

There was a shift. A subtle pulse in the serpent’s aura, but undeniably real. “What do you mean?” it asked, interest sparking as it briefly forgot its fury.

Wyrem didn’t rush. His voice dropped, paced like a well-rehearsed speech.

“I’m a discarded soul,” he said, “one hiding within this young man. Waiting to recover, but you… you have talent. The ability to cultivate techniques born of me—born of your own ancestors. Become my third student.”

A beat of silence. Then—

“You could fly. Truly fly. Soar through the skies with all beneath you bowing in reverence. That is your birthright.”

The red aura flickered, then dimmed slightly.

“That’s it?” the serpent asked. “I already have my own—”

“I’m sure you do,” Wyrem cut in, voice sharp and fast. “But at what scale? You wield a scrap of energy. A fragment of a single element. Fire alone? Dragons were made to devour everything. Take in all creation, and leave nothing behind.”

He leaned in with his words, the deal tightening like a snare. “I can offer that. Power without loss. Just let these children stay. No battle. No pain. You’ll be stronger than ever. Unchallenged and unbothered. You lose nothing.”

Maybe it was just me. Maybe I was biased, drawn to peace, to avoiding bloodshed when I could. But honestly? It was a good pitch.

Still, the silence stretched. The serpent didn’t answer.

So I gave my offer.

“Maybe you could kill one of us,” I said, voice dark. “Two, maybe. Leaving one survivor. But you will die.”

I took a slow breath, let it edge into steel. “Would you really trade everything away just for a few minutes in your evolved state?”

Then the serpent answered immediately once the words left my mouth.

“Fine.”