CHAPTER 129: THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

XENON WINGATE

PRESENT DAY

Five minutes, and finally, the thick smoke from the explosion of the planets and a magical cathedral faded. Both the projectile and shielding magic was completely obliterated, and the throne room is now nothing but a huge crater at the center. At the ceiling is our ultimate enemy: Ampherius Deo, floating like a god descended from the heavens. He looked at us with his cold crimson eyes.

“Still alive, huh? You two are quite persistent.” He muttered.

I coughed three, four, five times. My body is heavy, but I still tried to raise myself up. Serena is also here beside me, and I can see that she is also struggling to move her body. That explosion from the planets is certainly giving us a dire situation. Only one planet got through our defenses, and it did this much damage. I can’t imagine if we take the full force of his magic head-on.

“Gah… Hah…” I muttered. I looked beside me and saw the exhausted face of the woman I love. “Serena, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Xen… Don’t worry about me.” Serena gave a weak smile.

I looked at my shield plate, which is now at 0%. Serena also got her shield plate depleted too, from a hundred to zero. That attack is considered a one-hit-death for us if only we did not have such a device protecting us. However, even with such armor, the attack did considerable damage. Both our battle suits are tattered, and there are bruises and cuts at random parts of our bodies.

If the enemy repeated that attack, we’d surely be dead. We don’t have enough magical energy to shield us from other planetary bombardments.

“This fight is worthless.” Ampherius Deo said as he slowly descended from the ceiling towards his throne. He sat back on his comfortable seat and rested his face on his fist. “Mere mortals can never destroy a god. It’s time for you to vanish completely.”

Suddenly, nine planets materialized around him once again. But for some reason, he did not indiscriminately launch it towards us. He stopped, and closed his eyes, as he mutters something he sees from the other side.

“My Elder Ancientech Dragon has finally made landfall. The human emperor and his five-headed dragon are no longer combat-effective. Your flying ships are now running for their survival. Thousands of lives are vanishing as we speak.”

Serena gritted and clenched her fists. She doesn't like what is happening to the Elysian people. A person who is lawful good as her would not take this as nothing. She’s grieving for justice, for the lives who have lost in this war.

“If only I can do something… If only I had the power… Those poor souls would be…” Serena cried to herself.

A flashing thought came to me, giving me a revelation to win this fight.

“We can do something. We have the power. The souls who have died would never be in vain.” I smiled at Serena. 

“X-Xen…”

“If we are fighting a god, then we have to become stronger than gods ourselves,” I said,

“Xen! You don’t mean…” Serena’s jaws hung while staring at my carefree eyes.

“Yes. We have to use it. Our Dracaryx.” I made a gentle head pat to my dragonoid.

“B-But that is…” Serena started to unleash tears from her eyes. Those water droplets from her eyelids look like diamonds that ran through her cheek. “Xen, if you use our Dracaryx… You will…”

I will die. 

My heart will completely stop the moment Dragonis Empyrio Quinella fades. This is the fate that I cannot evade from. This is the curse I have carried ever since I was revived by the woman I love back in Vanilla City. And this is the atonement for my sins for taking up justice unto my own hands. I have killed Cheng, Trystgade, and Eldritch, and this is the price I have to pay for doing such horrible things. I know I will go to hell. I know those three are waiting for me there. It’s just a matter of time before I see those demons in the afterlife.

My heart is destined to stop in less than a month anyway, so there’s no hurting if I make my funeral a little bit early.

It wouldn't matter for me if I do this ultimate sacrifice.

“This is the only way, Serena.” I slide my hand towards her cheek and wiped her tears. “My life… is a small price to pay to save the people of Elysia.”

“Xen…” 

Serena and I made the longest stare, eye-to-eye, we had on our perspective of time. When my cute underclassman and lover saw the determination in my eyes, she finally understood why I have to do this. The message that is stored deep in my heart has successfully relayed to her by the use of our heartbeats.

“Let’s do this,” I said with an innocent smile.

“Yes! We will never lose!” Serena finally pumped herself up.

The strengths of our legs and feet came back as soon as we helped each other stand up. With our hand holding each other, we savored the sensation of feeling each other’s pulses that connects our magical energies. Our heartbeats pumped with a considerably faster and stronger rate.

“Hmm?” Ampherius Deo opened his eyes and gazed towards us. “It seems that you still have an ace on your sleeves.”

“Yes.” I made a smug as I wipe the blood crawling down from my lip. “It might be true that you are a god. It might be true that you are unbeatable. But we will go beyond that and do the impossible to strike down an immortal like you!”

“We will do everything to protect the smiles of the people!” Serena cried. “We will show everyone that not even a divine being can stop the hope that is filled in the hearts of the people!”

I spread out my right hand and then slammed my palm on my chest. With such force and magical energy inserted to synchronize my heartbeats, my heart immediately halted. An endless flow of mystical force pulsed away from my core as the throne room of this place shatters into a different reality.

“Dracaryx! Activate Dragonis Empyrio Quinella!!!”

Our ultimate magic, the Empire of the Fallen Dragon Queen immediately reverted the fabric of time and space to redesign the golden brown throne room. The floor, the walls, and the ceiling were converted into platinum white, and the ruined dragon statues were reconstructed anew. The dome ceiling became much clearer that revealed ancient paintings about the history of humans and dragons. At the center of the ceiling is a beautiful painting of a Nexus Dragon that gives and shares light towards all the dragon statues around.

Our Dracaryx is alternate reality magic, which means everything in this domain is under our control. The throne room that we have made creates a Nexus Link towards each and everyone in the area, which makes us able to use magic that our enemy is capable of doing. Not only that, but all his strength, agility, and intelligence are added to us. Even the God Core has no exception.

“This mental landscape will be your grave.” Ampherius Deo said as he flexed his hand. “Yggdrasil Fall!!!”

“We will not lose here!” Serena cried as she mimicked the enemy’s hand movements. “Yggdrasil Fall!!!”

Nine planets versus nine planets collided with each other. The result is that there is a deafening and blinding explosion that echoed the place. Even with such power, the Empire of the Fallen Dragon Queen throne room did not sustain damage, not even a scratch.

“You’re wide open!” I rose upon the clouds of smoke and magically created a gigantic fork on my right hand. With my enhanced and almost-limitless energy that I got from the enemy, I launched the weapon with full force! “Trident of Atlantis!”

The trident flew with a speed matching those of a sound. As it surges towards the enemy, water whirlpool waves surrounded the long weapon. With a blink of an eye, I manage to hit the bull’s eye, or the God Core with my enhanced attack.

“Futile!” Ampherius Deo roared. Suddenly, the shattered God Core glowed and flashed white light.

“Serena!” I shouted the signal.

“I will not let you rewrite reality as you please!!!” Serena cried as she held her heart and revealed a glow that is similar to a God Core. It also created a flash of white light that overlapped each other’s brightness.

When both flashes of light faded, everything was cleaned. There’s no white smoke, and there’s no injury on the enemy’s body. It looks like the battle after we have used our Dracaryx has yet to start. It seems that the enemy is able to rewrite reality where he and his God Core did not take any damage. But even though the enemy’s purpose was a success, he noticed that something was off. He felt the weird pulsing of the core on his chest, and it gives him the feeling of uneasiness.

“You mortals…” Ampherius Deo muttered. “What did you do to the God Core?”

“Using our Dracaryx makes us able to use the abilities of your God Core too,” I explained with a smug. “By using your God Core’s reality-rewriting capabilities, we used the same divine force that would remove each other’s omnipotence.”

“That will be the last time you rewrite reality, Mister zombie god,” Serena said with a smile. “Everything from now on, every injury you sustain, will now be permanent!”