Chapter 184: BATTLING KING OF THE SEA
The underwater battlefield of Atlantis churned with chaotic energy, the ocean currents swirling violently as the clash between Flameborn and King Oren reached its climax. The Trident’s devastating blast had torn through the water, a golden streak of mana-infused power moving at thrice the speed of sound, leaving a trail of boiling bubbles and distorted light in its wake. The surrounding coral spires trembled, their bioluminescent glow flickering in the turbulence, as if the very ocean mourned the escalating violence.
"Eclipse Dominion," Flameborn declared, his voice a cold, resonant growl that cut through the depths, his glowing eyes locked onto King Oren with unyielding menace.
[◈ Eclipse Dominion
Where its wings unfurl, light dies, casting realms into twilight. It summons eclipses at will, cloaking entire worlds in a shadowy veil, empowering its bloodline while sapping enemies’ strength, leaving them vulnerable and disoriented, their senses dulled by the oppressive dark.]
In an instant, the vibrant underwater city of Atlantis was swallowed by absolute darkness, as if the sun itself had been extinguished. The world was blanketed in an unnatural eclipse, every trace of light, whether from the distant surface or the glowing flora, vanished, leaving only an oppressive void. The bustling avenues fell silent, merfolks pausing in fear as the darkness seeped into their senses, dulling their perception. The castle’s golden halls dimmed, their radiance snuffed out like a candle in a storm, casting long, eerie shadows that seemed to writhe with intent.
Under this eternal night, Flameborn felt his power surge exponentially, his obsidian scales pulsing with a faint, otherworldly glow as the eclipse amplified his bloodline’s strength. Each beat of his heart thrummed with divine energy, his presence growing more formidable in the suffocating dark.
"What is this?" King Oren muttered, his regal composure cracking as his brows furrowed in alarm. The eclipse’s twilight sapped his strength, his movements growing sluggish, his trident’s glow dimming as the oppressive darkness weighed on his very soul, leaving him disoriented in his own domain.
[◈ Nocturnal Apex
During nightfall, or beneath the moon’s glow, his might multiplies exponentially, scales hardening into unbreakable barriers, breath intensifying into cataclysmic forces, soul blazing with divine power. Every heartbeat in darkness strengthens its presence, making it a god under the stars.]
Flameborn’s passive ability, Nocturnal Apex, fueled his ascent, his scales hardening into an impenetrable fortress, his breaths crackling with cataclysmic potential. The darkness was his domain, and he was its unchallenged sovereign, each moment under the eclipse making him more godlike, his aura radiating a palpable menace that stirred the surrounding waters into restless eddies.
"Moon’s Pact!" Flameborn roared, stacking another strength-boosting ability upon himself, his voice echoing like a celestial decree, preparing to unleash his full might against the faltering Atlantean king.
[◈ Moon’s Pact
The moon bends to its will. Waxing or waning, it empowers allies with strength or curses enemies with weakness; a full moon marks unstoppable ascendance, while a new moon births silence and invisibility, cloaking the dragon in mystery.]
Empowered by his layered abilities, Flameborn moved with predatory swiftness, vanishing into the patch of darkness beneath his feet in a flicker of shadow, only to reappear directly above King Oren, his wings tearing through the water with a low hum.
Boom!
King Oren was sent hurtling through the water, unable to react in time to the ambush, his body crashing into a coral pillar with a resounding crack, fragments floating lazily in the disturbed currents. The eclipse’s shadow had rendered him vulnerable, dulling his reflexes as Flameborn’s Umbra Gateflight reached its zenith.
[◈ Umbra Gateflight
Every flap of his wings tears rifts in reality, allowing the dragon to vanish into shadows and reappear across galaxies, carrying armies within its wake, unseen and unstoppable, a phantom of destruction.]
Under the eclipse’s veil, Flameborn became a silent assassin of the night, the cast shadows allowing him to materialize anywhere he desired, his movements unpredictable and lethal. The court attendants watched in stunned horror, their faces pale in the dimness, as their king struggled against the young dragon’s relentless assault.
King Oren rose unsteadily from the rubble, his strength ebbing further under the eclipse’s oppressive influence, his golden hair disheveled, his crown askew. "You are stronger than I—" he began, his voice strained.
Boom!
Flameborn didn’t grant him the chance to finish, emerging from a shadow behind Oren with terrifying speed. His maw opened wide, unleashing a compressed breath of Abyssal flames, a torrent of unquenchable fire that roared through the water, defying the ocean’s attempts to smother it, its dark intensity scorching the very currents.
At the last moment, King Oren conjured a shield of water, the barrier shimmering faintly as it narrowly deflected the flames, though the sheer force of the blast sent him flying backward, his body tumbling through the water.
"Urgh!" Oren groaned, blood spewing from his mouth, staining the water crimson as he struggled to regain his footing.
Anticipating Oren’s trajectory, Flameborn had summoned a jagged spike of earth, shrouded in darkness, from the seabed at the precise point where the king would land. The spike impaled Oren through the chest, pinning him in place, the water around him clouding with more blood as he gasped in pain.
Flameborn materialized before the impaled king, his glowing eyes boring into Oren with a menacing intensity. "Next time, you’ll learn to control your mouth," he snarled, extending his claws, ready to deliver the killing blow and end the Atlantean king’s defiance once and for all.
"Hahahaha. Good. Very good. I’ve never had a battle this interesting. Perhaps for the first time, I might truly go all out," King Oren said with a bloodied smile, his voice laced with exhilaration despite the fatal wound, his eyes glinting with a warrior’s fervor.
"Dominion of the Sea!" Oren bellowed, his voice resonating like a tidal wave, commanding the ocean itself to rise against his foe.
The very waters of Atlantis turned hostile, their pressure intensifying to crush Flameborn, pinning him down with the weight of an entire ocean concentrated upon him. The force was suffocating, as if the planet’s seas had coalesced into a single, vengeful entity intent on grinding him into submission.
The spike impaling Oren was forcibly extracted from his body, the waters swirling to aid their king, sealing his wound with a shimmering layer of mana-infused liquid that glowed faintly in the darkness.
Brzzzttt!
Oren stretched out his hand, his trident humming as it flew back to his grasp, vibrating with raw power. The weapon seemed alive, water swirling around it in spiraling torrents, its prongs glowing brighter as if infused with the ocean’s wrath. Tattoos depicting the deep sea’s currents materialized across Oren’s body, their intricate patterns glowing with an otherworldly aura, lending him an almost divine presence.
"From our confrontation, it seems you are a three-star god, the strength of three worlds combined. Impressive, but against someone like me, with the strength of eight planets, you are outmatched. Especially on a world of water. Your only fate is death or submission. So, I’ll give you one last chance: submit to me or die," King Oren demanded, his voice commanding and absolute, his trident raised like a judge’s gavel.