Chapter 1920

'What a ridiculous monster...!'

Braham unexpectedly stood alongside the Old Dragons and didn't have time to organize his thoughts. It was because he was immediately on the defensive.

The weapon thrown by Chiyou was flying through dozens of layers of magic circles. The magic circles, built by the Old Dragons themselves, were destroyed with just the barbaric and primitive act of 'throwing.'

Chiyou's weapon broke through Braham's hastily erected shields one after another, losing momentum before stopping only five centimeters away from Braham's face. This was possible because the power was greatly weakened while piercing through Raiders' magic circles.

[This hurts my pride.]

Raider's eyes gradually cooled down as he watched the weapon return to its owner after destroying the magic circles. Gold eyes that seemed to have collected and filled with all the gold that existed in the world—it felt cold, just like metal. The chill gave Braham the illusion of being chilled to the bone.

Nevartan and Chiyou were intertwined. Nevartan's claws took advantage of the gap in which Chiyou was empty-handed and knocked on Chiyou's self-defense.

The divinity rising from Chiyou's body was even stronger than a dragon's Absolute Defense. It only shook like a wave after being hit by a giant claw and showed no signs of being destroyed. It would appear invincible even in the eyes of most Absolutes.

Of course, Braham wasn't someone to quickly talk about invincibility.

The God of Wisdom—his wisdom, visualized as an infinite library in his mental world, was like a great sea. He was already devising ways to target Chiyou's self-defense from various angles.

However, Raiders was the one who got the answer first.

A Gold Dragon—the rumor that he was the wisest among the Old Dragons, who awakened to providence from the moment they were born, was true.

The moment Raiders activated a certain magic, Chiyou's divinity shook like wildfire. Eventually, his self-defense was shattered. Nevartan's claws dug into Chiyou's back and waist, inflicting deep wounds.

'Did he integrate magic into the flow of divinity?'

Braham had a vague understanding of Raiders' tactic.

A structure that arose when Chiyou's divinity formed the framework of his self-defense. Raiders created the exact same structure using magic power and overlaid it over Chiyou's self-defense. It was magic power imprinted with hundreds of dense destruction spells. It caused a series of destruction in response to the flow of divinity.

At this point, he didn't even feel the need to shoot a Breath. There was no reason to rely on intuitive attacks when magic alone exerted significant power and was highly usable. It was the inherent greatness of magic.

The golden scales caught Braham's eye and he realized that Raiders was just as ridiculous a monster as Chiyou.

'...I already knew this.'

Braham felt like he had fallen to the wrong place in another world, but this actually made him become calmer. He quickly controlled his confused mind and cast magic. It was a chant intended to replicate the magic of Raiders, which was like a miracle. He didn't copy it based on flimsy speculation. As long as it was magic, the God of Magic could understand and reproduce it perfectly.

[...Hah?] Nevartan, who had been attacking Chiyou in succession, glimpsed the restored self-defense skill. This made him admit his own mistake. The cost of the failed attack was high. He would soon allow a deadly counterattack to hit him...

Just as he was thinking this, Chiyou's self-defense skill was broken again and the future changed. Chiyou's left arm, which held his weapon in reverse as he tried to counterattack, ended up bent in a strange direction. It was caused by his self-defense skill disappearing the moment Nevartan's tail fell toward him.

"...This is more than I expected." Chiyou's arm was quickly restored as he shifted his attention to Braham. The power to force a proper competition was making this possible for Chiyou.

"Cough, cough!" On the other hand, Braham was writhing in pain. Tens of thousands of cracks were occurring in the mana core, the heart of a magician. The pain was so great that thinking was impossible. He bent over and coughed up dark red blood. It was as if he was about to vomit out all the blood in his body.

It was the price of denying the strongest Absolute—the backlash from intervening in the Martial God's divinity wasn't at a level that a transcendent could withstand. If it wasn't for his status as a god or his direct descendant body, there was a 100% chance that Braham would've died immediately.

"Shi...t..."

This person of a noble bloodline couldn't care about his reputation and screamed out profanities. He hated himself for not feeling something strange when he saw that Raiders didn't use this magic continuously. Of course, he felt more joy than that.

Raiders became aware of it. [You deserve to be in this battle.]

It was unconventional for an Old Dragon to discuss being qualified with a subspecies. The moment Braham became aware of this face, he realized a chance in himself. The quality of his magic power itself had increased. Rather, the term evolution was correct. It felt like the mana of the atmosphere was absorbed with every breath and transformed into a completely different substance every time it was tempered in his body.

"......"

Braham's red eyes became even more transparent. His face, which had been distorted due to the unbearable pain, became calm. A wild rush of inspiration isolated his mind from reality.

[I think it is better to kill him now.] Nevartan, who was pushed back after exchanging dozens of blows with Chiyou, spoke without hesitation. He was about to engulf Braham in one bite and swallow him.

[Chiyou comes first.] Raiders calmed him down.

It wasn't pleasant to see Grid's right-hand man step on the threshold to becoming an Absolute when he was hostile to them, but... it was a situation where the enemy of an enemy was an ally. If they wanted to improve the odds against Chiyou, it was right to maintain this relationship for the time being.

Nevartan obediently agreed. Braham was starting to harbor some ominous potential, but this potential was only a possibility. He was still insignificant compared to Chiyou, who was acting as a natural disaster right now.

In the end, Raiders and Nevartan re-established a formation that took the shape of protecting Braham.

The one who was protected by two Old Dragons—it had never happened before. Even Grid, the Dragon Knight, had never worked together with two Old Dragons at the same time.

Therefore, the world watched Braham.

Was it angry because of the truth that couldn't be hidden due to the eyewitness called Chiyou?

Black clouds gathered in the sky and thunder struck. To Braham, it sounded like a heartbeat.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The momentum of the magic power evolving in real-time was too strong. His organs and mana core were repeatedly pounded, shaking his entire body. It was proactive and violent, as if trying to modify the entity called Braham to suit its own taste and use him as a host.

Braham knew that this was the most important moment of his life.

Would he be swept away by the rampaging magic power and reduced to a mindless monster or would he firmly step foot on the threshold of an Absolute...? From here on, it was purely a matter of capability.

Meanwhile, the battle between Chiyou and the Old Dragons was becoming fiercer.

Chiyou felt Braham's magic power becoming stronger in real-time. He couldn't control his high expectations and ran wild with excitement. He swung his weapon with a smile that grew increasingly deeper despite his self-defense being repeatedly destroyed by Raiders and receiving new wounds from Nevartan.

The occurrence and recovery of rounds happened dozens of times per second.

Every time, Chiyou's divinity was clearly and steadily being consumed.

The speed at which Raiders cast his magic was also slowing down. A dragon's magic power was infinite and he could cast magic non-stop, but the magic that smashed Chiyou's self-defense caused the caster tremendous pain every time it took effect. As the number of uses accumulated, it consumed a level of physical strength and mental strength that even an Old Dragon couldn't ignore.

Still, he couldn't rest. He created new magic in real-time and deployed it according to the situation in order to assist Nevartan. If Nevartan was to be compared to battle gear, he was like a spear.

Every time he unfolded his wings and spread them wide, he shot straight forward and tore Chiyou's body apart. He continuously dealt pain to Chiyou that far exceeded the pain felt by Raiders.

Finally, dozens of overlapping Breaths hit Chiyou in the face and Chiyou didn't move for several seconds like he was dead. By the time his half-smashed head was fully restored, he was repeatedly seriously injured by the pincer attacks from Raiders and Nevartan.

The dragons were created to deny the God of the Beginning, Rebecca—therefore, their innate qualification to 'kill a god' was strengthened every time they threatened Chiyou.

[Will it last over two days?]

[It seems like that is the minimum time. It is a task that is completely overturning the structure of magic power, so it is natural that it will take time.]

[He will be accompanied by a pain that the mental strength of a subspecies can't bear. Is there any chance of a failure?]

[It is high.]

From a certain point on, Raiders and Nevartan were waiting for Braham to join them. The moment Braham woke up after his evolution, there was hope that the three of them could destroy Chiyou together.

Of course, in reality, the feasibility was low. The moment when Braham came back to his senses could be three days later or 30 years later. The fight was likely to be decided before that. It didn't matter whether Chiyou was destroyed or the Old Dragons were defeated. Either Raiders or Nevartan would have to rest for over 100 years. It was a credible calculation based on knowledge and sense.

[I will kill him if he gets it wrong.] One of Nevartan's dark claws was pulled out. It flew on its own and aimed at Braham's head as he was in a daze. Even if a full-fledged cooperation was achieved, Braham would eventually have to be killed. Nevartan had no intention of sparing Braham. He planned to kill and eliminate any variables as soon as they appeared.

It happened the moment when Raiders nodded...

[...What?] Nevartan's eyes widened. If he had been polymorphed into human form, it was certain that his face would've paled. It was the same with Raiders. They felt it at the same time.

Trauka's heart was destroyed.

They could tell because they were all Old Dragons. A visceral sense of loss came over him.

[We can still save him.] Raiders made a quick judgment and activated his power. Chiyou's time was rewound back by 0.1 seconds as he dug into Nevartan, whose shoulder was cut because he revealed a brief gap. He moved a few hundred meters away.

[Kuek...!]

Nevartan groaned in pain, but didn't miss this golden opportunity. He immediately activated Teleport. The destroyed coordinates corresponded to the place where Trauka's heart was destroyed.

Flash!

It happened as magic power enveloped Nevartan's huge body...

[......!]

Raiders eyes shook. He immediately noticed that the structure of the magic Nevartan had activated had changed. The magic power that should've originally transferred Nevartan to another place instead caused a physical collision.

It hit Nevartan's scales with all its might and took the form of a spear. It was the aftermath of Teleport being transformed into Disintegrate. This meant that the magic that had been activated was changed midway.

Someone actually intervened in the magic activated by an Old Dragon. Moreover, it happened in a split second.

[What is this...?]

Nevartan sensed something incomprehensible and couldn't understand the situation. He didn't even have time to understand it. Chiyou approached before he knew it. He was busy blocking and dodging the continuous swings of Chiyou's weapon.

[...Braham Eshwald.]

Raiders' cold gaze left Chiyou for the first time. The figure engraved on the golden pupils was Grid's number one apostle. It was the image of Braham, whom he thought would wake up decades later.

"From this moment on, magic is mine." Braham roughly wiped the blood from his eyes and nose before sweeping back his sweat-soaked hair. The silver hair stained red here and there completely changed the impression he gave off.

"Let's all die here together."

The way he talked arrogantly suited him very well.