Dragon King: Throne of Demons and Gods
Chapter 154: Heirs of Ruin

Chapter 154: Heirs of Ruin

The inside of the dungeon was a dead, twisted wilderness.

Trees stripped of life and stone spires rising from cracked ground. Before Bel and Novaria, a jagged cliff gaped open like a scar.

The air changed the moment they stepped in the area. It thickened like fog and hummed with unstable energy.

Novaria’s breath hitched. Her senses, sharpened by draconic instincts, exploded with input.

She could smell the beasts ahead, earth, blood, damp fur. She could hear their claws dragging over the rocks. Her whole body tensed.

"This place isn’t normal," she whispered. Her voice was low, eyes sharp. "There are... Hundreds of them. They’re hidden..."

Bel said nothing. His eyes scanned the terrain, black roots, cliffs, stone bridges that led to nowhere.

Without warning, he raised his hand.

The ground shook.

A massive quake rolled outward. Stone splintered. Then, the monsters charged.

Fanged creatures leapt from the shadows, twisted wolves, horned lizards, chimera with mismatched limbs.

They were monstrous, but their way of moving and the fact that so many were hidden nearby confirmed to bel that they had a good level of intelligence.

But it mattered too little here.

He shot a beam of fire, carving through their frontlines.

An explosion followed, blasting them back. Thunder roared from above, black clouds had formed, tearing the sky with lightning, before they cracked down like spears.

He was like a walking storm. Fire, lightning, brute force. Each physical contact was deadly. He touched one beast, and it disintegrated into ash.

Novaria fought too, but her sword felt heavy in the skin of a beast. Her movements were good, but slow and not powerful enough.

She hesitated. One beast struck her side, and she crashed on a cliff.

"Damn it," she growled, pushing herself up. A beast lunged.

Before it could reach her, Bel turned and shot a frost blast. The creature froze midair and shattered on the cliff.

She clenched her teeth, standing. Watching him tear through enemies lit something in her chest. Not fear... shame, and frustration.

She had evolved. She had changed. And still...

Still, she felt weak beside him.

No, she thought. Not anymore.

Her flames began to spark. Her legs bent, but her thoughts bent deeper.

In her mind, she saw her old self, a younger Sienna standing quietly behind Dusteria, Will, and Crest.

A shadow without direction, always chasing, never leading. She hadn’t become a knight because it was her dream, but because Will had done it.

She followed his path, wanting to be near Crest, hoping to mean something to someone.

That had been her goal: not to live for herself, but to support others, to be useful because she had nothing else.

But now, the image of her old self flickered like smoke. The girl who had no purpose had burned away.

Now she had power. Now she had purpose. Not borrowed, not questioned. Something she really wanted.

Was that really different? Yes, because this time, ’she’ wanted it. ’She’ wanted to be a sword, but a sword that could talk.

’Her’ will was finally real. She wasn’t anyone’s shadow anymore. And even if she still served, it was no longer because she lacked a path. It was because she chose this one.

She remembered Will’s cries, Crest’s helplessness, Dusteria’s broken body. All the confusion, all the fear.

But now... she burned with clarity.

She clenched her fists, fire gathering around her arms, eyes glowing.

"I’m not her anymore!"

Now, she believed in something: herself, Novaria, the fire of the Dragon King.

She jumped. The ground cracked, flames surged.

With a roar, a sound not human, but draconic, she spun her blade, sending fire across the battlefield. Monsters shrieked, burning alive.

Bel fell back, caught in the blast, but unaffected, he smiled.

Minutes of intense battle passed, then, the silence returned. Only charred corpses remained face to the two dragons.

Novaria dropped to her knees, breathing hard, hands shaking.

[Novaria has reached Level 3]

[Trait Gained: Final Wyrm]

[Trait Gained: Lindworm’s Ascendance]

[Skill Slot Unlocked – You may grant a new skill to Novaria]

Bel’s eyes narrowed as he read the notification. His expression stayed calm, but his mind turned sharp.

"I can grant her a new skill," he murmured to himself. He hadn’t expected that. This was better and faster than expected, for her first try.

Was that the effects of Bond?

He glanced at Novaria, watching her golden aura pulse like a heartbeat. She was still catching her breath, but her presence changed, stronger, sharper.

She stared at her hands.

"What... is this?"

Bel watched calmly.

"You awakened," he said. "You’re evolving."

She blinked, a bit in awe, then remembered herself and dropped to one knee. He smiled again.

"You did well. But I think I can give you more."

Her eyes widened.

"More?"

Bel opened his system panel. A notification flashed as he selected the option to grant a new skill to Novaria.

A new menu appeared, listing all his available skills. His eyes narrowed slightly as he browsed through them, calculating silently.

"A moment like this," he thought, "can decide the shape of her evolution. I need to choose carefully."

His eyes moved over elemental options, frost, wind. All powerful, but all things she might gain on her own someday.

"If I give her another element now," he considered, "she might just stumble into one naturally later. That’d be a waste."

He paused, his attention freezing on a name.

Burning Soul.

He frowned slightly.

Burning soul? A skill? He remembered it used to be a trait, one of his oldest and most used powers.

But here, it was listed as a skill.

A skill enhancing fire-based attacks and overall stats. With chances of increasing burn infliction rate.

A slow smile spread across his face.

"Perfect."

He turned back to her.

"I’m granting you a new power. Based on your fighting style."

He confirmed the transfer, and instantly, Novaria’s aura ignited. It flared like a sunrise. Her eyes widened, gasping as she felt the surge.

"It’s like... fire inside me. It’s alive."

"It’s always alive, you are your fire. But be careful careful with this power," Bel warned. "It’s strong, but it eats mana fast. Use it wisely."

She nodded, serious now.

"Thank you. I won’t waste it."

He turned away and led the way for their next step.

Shadows lingered in the corners of his vision, small, writhing tendrils of that crept at the edge of his senses.

He frowned and came to a halt.

His eyes scanned the gloom, cold and sharp. There was something in the air.

Not from the dungeon... something deeper.

He narrowed his gaze. The pressure curled around him like smoke, and then it struck him: the feeling. He remembered it: his authority.

Bel’s expression shifted. He lifted his hand slightly, then opened his demonic system.

[Authority of Destruction ]

[Level: 1]

[Demonic Essence: 1,680/2,000]

[Destruction Army: 1 / 25]

[Domain: Not Established]

[Current Skills]

Destruction Mark

Aura of Ruin

Dominion Pulse

[Passive Effects]

Destruction Tag

Dragon Blood

Chaos Harvest

His eyes widened. The number had gone up, and a new passive had appeared.

He scrolled, never blinking once.

[Chaos Harvest: Absorbs chaos energy from battles, fear, and despair to replenish Demonic Essence.]

His lips parted slightly. The shadows, the pressure, this was the result of battle.

The fear they spread, the ruin they left. This was how he could charge his essence. Basically, the more he would fight, the more it would replenish.

That’s it... that’s how I fill it.

Behind him, Novaria paused.

"My lord? Is something wrong?"

Bel didn’t respond at once. He was still staring, stunned, letting the meaning of it all sink in.

The system, the very core of his power, had begun to evolved again, creating a new passive, or was this there from the beginning? Waiting for him to trigger it?

He blinked, then turned his head slightly.

"I just learned something important," he said quietly.

Novaria blinked, slightly worried, but his tone was calm again. She nodded, reassured.

Bel closed the system with one final glance.

He looked at her.

Her level up... did it help unlock this passive?

However, it was impossible to tell what really happened. But at least, there was now free pawns to turn into his own.

Bel summoned the Mark of Destruction to his palm.

He walked to a monster’s corpse and was about to press it, when...

[Target Deceased. No effect.]

He frowned.

"Hm... This might complicate things. Didn’t expect the living being to be literally living."

But thankfully, this wasn’t the end of his chances. Only one area remained: the boss room.

The gate loomed ahead. Twisted iron and bone wrapped the arch. Bel and Novaria entered together.

Dozens of monsters waited already, and at the far end, one beast stood taller than the rest.

It was a giant, easily twice as tall as any monster around.

Its skin looked like burned flesh mixed with melted metal, and purple veins pulsed under the surface, glowing faintly.

Sharp spikes stuck out from its shoulders, and from its mouth, strands of hot metal hung down like fiery ropes, moving and glowing like they were alive.

Sienna smiled, walking beside Bel.

"My lord."

He smiled back.

"I know."

The monsters instantly charged.

Bel lifted his hand.

From his palm, the void orb appeared. It floated, then burst into a spinning morning star with chains, shooting forward.

It struck a beast in the stomach, tearing through and emerging from the back, spraying blood, organs, and black mist all around.

The ball then switched direction, moving like a sentient being and tearing through more creatures.

Novaria stepped forward, raising her blade with one hand. She focused on this new strength inside her, the fire she’d earned.

She closed her eyes, just for a second, and focused. Her core swelled with a surging power. Flames flickered along her skin, from the chest to the feet, then roared outward.

Her body ignited in a blaze of orange and red.

[Burning Soul]

She roared and charged.

Her blade swung wide. With each movement, she left trails of fire.

Eruptions followed in her wake, pillars of flame, bursts that caught the beasts mid-leap, walls of fire that split the battlefield in half.

She moved fast, too fast for the monsters to catch. Her fire bent the air, turning the entire corridor into a furnace.

The monsters reeled, screeching, not dead but staggered, their numbers held at bay long enough.

Long enough for Bel.

He leapt atop a monster devastated by the void orb.

"This will hurt."

He sliced his hand with the claw of his finger, then let the purple blood drip into the creature’s wound.

At first, there was no sign of change. The monster lay still.

Then...

Thump Thump

A tremor passed through its body.

Then another beat, again and again, and suddenly, it screamed.

Its eye snapped open. Its body convulsed violently, muscles twitching under the strain.

Its flesh began to shift and bulge unnaturally, swelling in twisted patterns. Purple veins snaked across its skin, pulsing like something alive.

The bones cracked as if rearranging, and the creature’s limbs bent at impossible angles.

Its roar filled the space, raw and full of agony.

But Bel wasn’t watching. He was already on the next one.

He moved swiftly, dropping another dose of his blood into a fresh wound.

The same result followed—a beat of silence, then a scream, the same grotesque transformation beginning anew.

Each creature he touched buckled, thrashed, and mutated.

Novaria held the monsters back, throwing up walls of fire to buy Bel time.

All around her, the battlefield had become a nightmare. Creatures twisted in pain, their bodies reshaping with strange, dark energy.

A thick, heavy aura rose from the ground, growing darker with every new transformation.

Then, a massive shockwave tore through the air. It exploded outward like thunder, slamming into everything in sight.

Monsters were flung like ragdolls. Bel and Novaria were knocked off their feet, swallowed by a rising wall of smoke and flying debris.

The ground cracked wide open, jagged like broken glass. Rocks split apart, dust clouded the air, and for a moment, everything fell quiet.

Only the crumble of loose stones and the faint wind broke the silence.

Then the rumble began, faint at first, then growing louder. The smoke quivered.

A huge shape moved behind the thick cloud of ash.

The ground shook again. A massive foot stomped down, sending a tremor across the floor. Through the dust, a huge figure slowly came into view.

The Boss had moved.

In its hand, it gripped a monstrous iron mace, the size of a wagon, its head covered in glowing runes that pulsed with purple energy.

It tilted its head, as if looking for them, glowing eyes narrowing.

Then, it opened its mouth and roared, a deep, rumbling sound that made the whole area shake.

"Impressive...."

The Boss froze, it stopped its war cry and looked back at the rising smoke.

"I didn’t expect someone else to use earth margic like that."

Bel’s aura spread slowly.

The monster groaned as it straightened its massive mace.

Bel’s aura expanded more, taking over the fog in a slow wave, washing across the battlefield.

Dust lifted, the smoke pulled away, revealing faint outlines moving in the haze.

He let out a slow breath.

"You’re stronger than I expected," he said. "I’ll save the next spot in the army for you."

The wind shifted. The smoke began to lift, pushed away by Bel’s aura.

"So... how about I introduce you... to your future neighbors?"

The battlefield answered with snarls and growls. The next wave was already on its way.

From within the dispersing haze, several pairs of eyes gleamed like distant stars.