Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner - Chapter 453

Chapter 453: Beyond blood

Arthur threw a casual punch at empty air. His towering shadow mimicked the motion instantly, its massive fist sweeping toward Noah like a wrecking ball demolishing a building. The displacement created wind pressure that knocked loose stones from the walls and made the air itself groan under the strain.

Noah dove aside, his enhanced reflexes barely fast enough to avoid the primary strike. But the shadow’s backhand was already coming around in a follow-up that covered the entire space where Noah could have dodged.

Fingers the size of baseball bats caught him across the shoulder, launching him across the chamber like he’d been hit by a speeding truck. The impact compressed his armor plates and drove the air from his lungs in an explosive gasp.

[-120 HP]

[Health Points: 2,740/3,520]

Noah hit the far wall hard enough to spider-web the ancient stone. His armor absorbed what it could, but the tremendous force still left him seeing stars and tasting blood. He rolled desperately as the shadow’s foot came down, a crushing stomp that would have flattened him like an insect.

The floor exploded into a crater of pulverized stone where his head had been a split second before.

“This is what real power looks like,” Arthur said, walking calmly forward while his shadow loomed behind him. “Not clever tricks or fancy techniques. Just force that can’t be argued with or reasoned away.”

Noah came up running, his Void Striders carrying him across the chamber in desperate evasive patterns. But Arthur’s shadow was impossibly fast for its size, massive hands creating sonic booms that knocked Noah off course even when they missed completely.

[Void Absorption – Activated]

Noah tried to drain energy from the shadow construct, but his ability found nothing to grasp. The Executioner’s Shade wasn’t made of energy he could steal or redirect. It was Arthur’s will given physical form, as solid and real as granite but infinitely more flexible.

A massive shadow fist caught Noah’s shoulder in what should have been a glancing blow. Even that minimal contact hit like a freight train loaded with concrete.

[-80 HP]

[Health Points: 2,660/3,520]

Noah rolled with the impact, using the momentum to change direction and close distance on Arthur himself. Fighting the shadow was impossible—he needed to disrupt its source.

He began moving in circular patterns around the chamber, building speed with each revolution. Dark chi flowed from his core, parasitic energy that fed on the violence and bloodlust saturating the air. The technique was dangerous to use, corrosive to his own body, but it offered power that normal chi couldn’t match.

At the same time, normal chi reinforced his muscles and bones, preparing his physical form for the devastating technique he was about to attempt.

Arthur seemed to recognize the building energy signature and began his own preparation. Lightning gathered between his fingers while flames danced around his other hand. Shadows flowed around him like liquid night while blood began orbiting his position in complex geometric patterns that defied physics.

They were both building toward finishing moves that would decide the fight.

Noah’s technique completed first. Dark chi merged with void energy in a brilliant red, white and purple combination that violated every natural law. The parasitic energy stemmed from Arthur’s accumulated bloodlust, growing stronger by consuming the very hostility directed against Noah.

The attack erupted from Noah’s fist like a miniature black hole wrapped in red lightning. Void energy carrying dark chi that had consumed the chamber’s ambient violence, turning Arthur’s own murderous intent into a weapon against him.

Boooooooom!!!!!!

Arthur met it with everything he possessed.

Lightning, fire, shadows, blood, and hastily reformed metal flowed together in perfect harmony. four different bloodline abilities unified into a single technique that blazed with the accumulated power of centuries. The attack was a masterpiece of combined forces, each element enhancing the others in ways that transcended their individual limitations.

The collision tore the chamber apart.

The fortress’s foundation stones cracked under pressures they were never designed to withstand. The shadow dome above flickered and wavered as competing energies tried to tear it down from within. Reality itself seemed unstable in the space between the fighters, caught between Noah’s matter-unmaking void and Arthur’s reality-rewriting power.

The explosion lit up the chamber like a second sun being born, then collapsed inward as void energy tried to erase the very space it occupied.

When the devastation settled and the dust cleared, both fighters were on their knees.

Arthur had managed to reform Excalibur from gathered shadows, but he was using the blade as a crutch to keep from collapsing entirely.

His armor constructs had dissolved completely, leaving him in shredded clothing that revealed dozens of bleeding cuts. Blood ran from his nose and ears, and each breath came as a labored gasp that was a clear sign of internal injuries.

Noah was in equally dire condition. Excaliburn’s tip rested against the cracked floor, the mythic sword the only thing keeping him upright as his vision swam with exhaustion and pain. His Knight Grace armor looking severely damaged as multiple screens in his field of view flickered with damage warnings, and warnings of operating at severely reduced capacity.

[Health Points: 1,875/3,520]

[Void Energy: 8,000/24,000]

They stared at each other across the ruined chamber, two fighters who had pushed themselves beyond mortal limits and found themselves surprisingly well-matched. Steam rose from their bodies as superheated blood cooled in the chamber’s recycled air.

“I haven’t put this much effort into a fight in centuries,” Arthur said, his voice hoarse but carrying genuine respect. “You’re everything I hoped you would be when she told me about you Noah Eclipse. ”

‘She? Lyra?’ Noah considered for a brief second.

Noah spat blood and managed a pained smile. “You’re not exactly what I expected either.”

Arthur struggled to his feet, shadow blade trembling under his weight as he used it for support. “But this has to end. We both know it.”

Noah forced himself upright, void energy flickering weakly around Excaliburn’s edge like a candle flame in a hurricane. “Yeah. I agree.”

He looked up at the damaged dome above them, then back at Arthur’s expectant face.

“Nyx,” Noah called out, his voice carrying a finality that made Arthur’s eyes narrow with a strange mix of surprise and perhaps, apprehension?

“Ascend.”

A purple rift tore open in the chamber’s ceiling, reality bending around the spatial tear like fabric stretched to its breaking point. Red mist began pouring through the opening, thick and billowing like smoke from some primordial forge where gods crafted their weapons.

Then came the roar.

Deep and primal, a sound that spoke of fire and fury and power beyond mortal comprehension. The roar rolled through the chamber like thunder, promising that something vast and terrible was about to join their fight.

The red mist cascaded downward in torrents, filling every corner of the chamber until visibility dropped to mere inches. The air grew thick and oppressive, saturated with draconic energy that made both fighters’ skin crawl with primal recognition. Arthur’s grip tightened on his shadow blade as he stared up at the growing rift, but the red fog had swallowed everything.

[Special Buff Activated: Brothers in Arms]

[Damage Amplification: +35%]

[Damage Resistance: +25%]

The chamber fell eerily quiet except for the whisper of settling mist. Arthur couldn’t see his hand in front of his face, but he could sense the massive presence descending through the rift. Energy signatures beyond anything he’d felt in decades pressed against his consciousness like a weight.

Then the ground began to tremble.

Something enormous landed with earth-shaking force, claws digging furrows in the stone floor. The sound of massive wings folding echoed through the red haze, followed by the scrape of scales against rock as the creature shifted position.

A rhythmic whooshing filled the air—wings beating with deliberate, measured strokes. Each wingbeat created waves of pressure that pushed against the red mist, slowly dispersing the concealing fog. Arthur raised his free hand to shield his face as the displaced air washed over him.

The mist began to clear in expanding circles, revealing glimpses of something that made Arthur’s eyes widen with genuine surprise.

Nyx rose from his landing crouch like a nightmare given flesh. The Red Death Dragon had scales a body built for destruction, each plate gleaming like polished armor. His wingspan stretched nearly wall to wall in the confined space, membranes between wing bones glowing with internal fire. Red spikes ran along his spine, and his eyes burned with the fury of molten lava.

The dragon’s chest began to expand as he drew breath for what could only be a devastating attack.

A weird sound started building deep in his throat—not quite a growl, not quite a roar, but something far more ominous. The Magma Bomb technique was charging, volcanic fire building in Nyx’s chest until the scales along his throat began to glow cherry red.

Arthur had been staring at the magnificent creature with what could only be described as pure awe.

Dragons were rare these days, and Red Deaths rarer still. But as he watched Nyx prepare to unleash destruction, Arthur simply smiled.

His eyes suddenly shifted from their normal color to brilliant yellow, pupils dilating until they resembled those of a predator. Arthur raised one hand toward the charging dragon and spoke a single word with absolute authority.

“Heel.”

The effect was immediate and devastating.

Nyx’s building roar cut off mid-breath. The glow in his chest flickered and died as the Magma Bomb dissipated harmlessly. The great dragon’s legs buckled, and he collapsed onto the stone floor with a crash that shook dust from the ceiling.

Arthur’s smile widened into something far more sinister as he glanced at Noah’s shocked face. “You’ve seen only four out of the original seven families’ abilities,” he said conversationally, though visible effort made his voice strain. “Did you really think that was all I could access?”

Arthur’s hand trembled as he maintained whatever hold he had on Nyx. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his breathing became labored. The technique was clearly costing him, but his control remained absolute.

Noah’s mind reeled. “No, no, no. This can’t be happening,”

No one could command his summons except him. As much as he’d found Nyx and Storm as eggs, they were bonded through the system itself. The connection was supposed to be unbreakable.

But as Noah watched in growing horror, Nyx slowly turned his massive head toward him. The dragon’s eyes, normally burning with red fury, had turned absolutely white. No fire, no recognition, no trace of the bond they’d forged through battles together.

This was Arthur’s influence. And Noah was the target.

“Really, it shouldn’t be possible,”

Noah tried to convince himself even as dread crawled up his spine. The system had bonded them. Nothing should be able to override that connection.

[CRITICAL SYSTEM WARNING]

[EXTERNAL OVERRIDE DETECTED]

[SUMMON: NYX – COMPROMISED]

[HOSTILE FORCE APPLYING BRUTE MENTAL DOMINATION]

[SYSTEM PROTOCOLS UNDER SEVERE STRAIN]

[RESISTANCE STATUS: SUMMON AUTONOMY vs EXTERNAL CONTROL]

[OUTCOME DEPENDENT ON INDIVIDUAL WILL]

The system’s warning confirmed Noah’s worst fears. Nyx was being brute-forced into compliance by something that predated digital bonds and cosmic connections. This was raw, primal dominion over draconic minds—the kind of power that had made the seven original families legends in the first place.

Arthur groaned with the effort of maintaining control, his yellow eyes never leaving Nyx’s form. The beast taming abilities of the First original family, the Marrick bloodline, were clearly taxing even his considerable reserves, but they were working.

Nyx’s nostrils began to smoke as he locked eyes with Noah. The dragon’s gaze held no warmth, no recognition, only the cold calculation of a predator sizing up prey. Wisps of gray vapor curled from his nose with each breath, a warning of the fire that could come at any moment.

The chamber fell silent except for the sound of three beings breathing—two exhausted fighters and one dragon caught between loyalties that went deeper than blood.

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