Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 161 - 160 - Trouble Approaching and the Trial.

Chapter 161: Chapter 160 - Trouble Approaching and the Trial.

The cradle of the molten veins.

Far beneath the surface of the capital—past stone and sanctum, past charred bones and cursed sigils—there sat a chamber carved from screams and still-burning hatred.

It was a room that pulsed like a living heart, each beat echoing through demonic veins twisted into the very walls.

Here, in this darkness untouched by humans or beasts, sat the Five Eyes of the Deep.

They sat on thrones not crafted but grown—from bone, from flesh, from madness.

Each throne was a monument to their essence, and each leader of the demon headquarters radiated a pressure so vile it could curdle divinity.

No one spoke.

Not at first.

The room was shrouded in a pressure so thick that even ghosts wouldn’t dare whisper.

Then—crack.

A bone splintered. Loud. Dry. Sharp.

It was Veyron, the Bone Architect, shifting ever so slightly, his jagged form blending into his throne of skeletal wings. With every breath he took, bone scraped against bone.

Still, he said nothing.

The one who broke the silence instead was a fire without flame—a presence without self.

Theon, the Heartless Flame.

His golden mask was unmoving, fire flickering gently within its hollow sockets—yet behind it, there was nothing.

No soul. No mind. Only void.

His voice echoed as if born from inside each listener’s skull.

"Lirus. You saw it."

A question, a statement, a demand.

All at once.

The others turned to the figure at the far right, whose blindfold dripped with blood so fresh it steamed in the cold chamber.

Lirus, the Blood Prophet, was immersed to his wrists in a shallow bowl of crimson demon blood that never ran dry.

He whispered words in a language reality tried to ignore.

Until he stopped.

A shudder passed through him.

Then, his expression turned somber.

"...We lost."

His voice crawled like a centipede under the skin.

Mala, the Corpse Queen, who was sitting next to him, stirred. A stitched scowl tugged at her patchwork face.

She tilted her head, the skin on her neck tearing slightly with the motion as she peeked at the bowl in Lirus’s hands, only to see something dragonic moving around.

"Is it the dragon?" She rasped. "There is someone among the humans who can use the power of a dragon so well?"

Lirus did not answer.

Instead, he raised his hands from the blood bowl.

Symbols, glowing and writhing, slithered across his flesh. "He devoured it," he murmured. "The soul of the demons he killed. He left no one."

Even Krall, the Whispering Maw, paused its self-dialogue. The countless mouths churned quieter for just a breath. Then they resumed, whispering,

"Not supposed to be. Not meant for this realm. A crack. A glitch. A sin."

Theon remained still, flames in his mask dancing ever so slowly.

"You said there was a chance of succeeding. You were the one who wanted to give that reaper who failed twice another chance."

It was clear what Theon was saying.

He wanted to know why they failed despite all that Lirus had said.

The blood prophet tilted his head. "And it did. But he was not in the weave I foresaw. The boy who names squirrels. The boy who makes strange expressions and has the fire to burn the stars in his hands. He is... unbound."

Mala leaned forward, bits of corpse meat sloughing from her arm. "He killed a demon completely? Even its name?"

Lirus nodded.

"Not banished." Lirus breathed. "Erased. The Demon Registry of Unholy beings no longer records any of those demons’ presences. It was their true death. In this realm."

Krall whispered louder.

"Impossible. Impossible. Who is he? Who is he? Who. Is. He."

Theon’s voice boomed now.

"Can he kill us?"

Silence.

The Prophet’s expression twitched.

Then—slowly—he dipped one bloody finger into his mouth and bit it off.

He chewed.

He swallowed.

Then he strangely smiled, blood seeping from the corners of his lips.

"...Yes."

Krall stopped whispering.

Theon’s flames flared.

Even Mala stiffened.

Only Veyron spoke now, cracking every vertebra as he leaned forward.

"...Then he must be erased before he learns to walk into our home and erase us next."

Theon turned to Lirus again.

"Can you see his future?"

Lirus tilted his head again—back, then forth.

"...I cannot see him anymore."

Those words made the flames behind Theon’s mask turn darker.

"Why?"

Lirus didn’t reply for a whole minute before his lips moved. "He is changing. His existence is becoming something I cannot see."

Those words carried more weight than anything else they talked about because there was but one type of existence that Lirus couldn’t do anything about.

If Raven was becoming one of those, then this wasn’t something that could be taken lightly anymore.

Krall’s mouths began to hum with a new phrase.

"Send the blade. Send the claw. Send the tower. Send the fallen moon."

Mala’s head snapped toward Theon.

"Let us summon the Dread Legion. We need to erase him before he becomes dangerous."

But Theon raised a single hand.

They all fell silent.

"No."

The mask of gold stared into nothing.

"Send no army. Not yet. It would cost us more than one Luck Seed. We can’t waste those seeds like this. We already lost one this time."

There was another silence in the room.

Everyone waited for Theon to continue, and he did.

"We will send a demon warlord."

Lirus leaned forward. "We could only summon two of them. Two humans were wasted to bring—"

"They aren’t living beings anymore."

Mala’s voice came from the side, her mouth on her stomach speaking. "They are seeds. It doesn’t matter how many of them are killed if we can get what we desire."

Lirus paused, then nodded, leaning back on his throne.

Theon said nothing for a long while.

Then, "Send a warlord. If his group and the boy remained there, kill them all."

The chamber fell into silence once more.

They wanted to kill Raven no matter what.

They couldn’t let him become any more dangerous than he already was.

Meanwhile, Raven, oblivious to the demons’ scheme, was facing a trial in his head.

The moment Bren had died, for the first time, Raven had felt rage—his blood boiling with something purer than hatred—the world seemed to pause.

It wasn’t that he had never felt rage before.

However, those moments weren’t as intense as this.

Because the other moments were friendly anger—today, he realized what rage was.

However, before Raven could understand what was going on, he found himself in a new place.

The inner world.

A single flame flickered into existence within his chest.

Then—

Everything collapsed.

He found himself standing on a field of stars, barefoot, surrounded by burning constellations that whispered.

Each whisper came from a soul that had once walked the world.

Human. Beast. Demon. Spirit.

All of them were now ash within the Dragonfire.

Above him floated a ring of black-gold flame.

Within it was an eye—slitted, ancient, and endless.

[The Trial of Soul Embers Begins here.]

[You have reached the gate by understanding the nature of feelings. Now—understanding again is what you must do.]

[Do you comprehend what it means to bear a dragon’s soul?]

"...Probably not," Raven muttered. "But I’m sure you’re about to beat it into me."

Even with all of his knowledge of the plot, he had never heard of anything like this.

The eye blinked.

Then, the first wave hit.

..............

Phase one—The Knowledge Flame.

The stars lit up around him—and exploded.

Each blast flung a memory into him. But they weren’t his.

They were ancient. Alien. Beyond comprehension.

A dragon seeing its children die across millennia.

A dragon burning its own wings for the sake of others.

He saw a dragon becoming something divine, then killing itself to undo a mistake.

Thousands of lifetimes. Trillions of feelings.

However, unlike what one would expect, Raven didn’t feel much from them.

It was as if he was watching movies at a very high quality. That’s all.

"Is this... it?"

He tilted his head, unable to understand how this was a trial.

’It feels more like entertainment.’

The eye above flickered as if shocked.

[...Why aren’t you on your knees?]

’Huh?’ Raven turned toward the eye. "Why do you feel more like a real entity than an automated trial?"

That question made the entity above pause; then, the eye glinted, as if scanning Raven, and the next instant—

[You have already touched the powers of a true dragon...]

The voice sounded stunned, and soon the eyes narrowed.

[You can go on to the next trial.]

..............

Phase Two—The Soul Forge.

A massive forge appeared beneath Raven the next moment.

Golden fire poured from nowhere.

At its center was an anvil shaped like a dragon’s skull.

Raven’s soul was dragged toward it.

[Reforging requires sacrifice.]

[How much of your current self are you willing to burn away?]

Raven frowned.

The fire was already licking at his childhood memories. His humor. His pain. His humanity.

"I won’t burn the parts of me that laugh," he spoke in defiance. "Or care. Or name squirrels. Or bully Rufus. Those are all my memories."

The forge hissed.

[Weakness.]

"No," Raven said coldly. "They are my anchor."

He took a deep breath—and guided the fire instead of letting it consume him.

He chose what to burn.

He burned his fear. Doubt. Resentment.

But he kept his foolishness. His loyalty. His strange, stupid need to make dumb faces during death battles.

The golden fire obeyed.

Slowly, his soul began to reshape.

..............

Before Raven could see his soul completely forged, a shadow appeared behind him.

It was a great, wingless beast with a throat of stars.

The final test.

[Devour it.]

"...What?"

[If you cannot devour another soul, much stronger than yours—if you cannot accept its truth without being lost—then your evolution ends here.]

It lunged.

Fangs of pure void clamped down on him.

Raven did not dodge.

He let it bite.

Then, he bit back.

The two souls merged mid-consumption, swirling violently. Screaming memories, warring instincts. Ancient dragon fury clashing with the boy who once named a squirrel ’General Nutpunch.’

For a moment, it seemed he would lose.

But in that chaos, Raven laughed.

"I devoured a snake when I was a toddler! It doesn’t matter if you are a bigger one. You’ll meet the same fate."

He devoured the shadow with his soul’s own fire.

He was determined to make it out of this.

..............

Soon, the field of stars went silent.

The dragon was devoured while the eye above absorbed it all.

[You... are an anomaly.]

The voice spoke while Raven remained seated near the forge.

"I get that a lot," he replied without moving or opening an eye.

There was a low rumble which felt like a chuckle to Raven before the voice spoke again.

[You will succeed.]

"I know."

Raven’s reply was instantaneous.

After that, however, there was silence.

That was until Raven spoke.

"Who... are you?" He asked, but the voice remained silent as if contemplating.

[I can not answer that question.]

"I had a feeling you would say that," Raven sighed, but before he could say anything else, the voice added.

[However, I can tell you that if you continue to walk the path you are walking, we will meet.]

"...I see."

That was all Raven said before the surroundings fell silent.

[Now, I must go.]

With those words, the eye closed, and Raven, still devouring the soul of the dragon, realized that he was alone in this space now.

For how long, he didn’t know.