Talent Awakening: Draconic Overlord Of The Apocalypse - Chapter 531

Capítulo 531: Rotten Means, Hollow Ends

Ren’s breath misted in the cold air as he stared at Yuuto.

The man before him… no, the being before him, no longer looked like the Guildmaster he knew. His presence felt older now — deeper, heavier. The silver horns, the ageless glow in his eyes, the way the snow itself avoided him… it was all too real.

He looked like something born before memory.

“…So,” Ren muttered, voice hushed. “You’ve been a dragon. All this time?”

His hands curled slightly at his sides.

“Does Lady Aiko know about this?”

Yuuto let out a faint chuckle — dry, bitter, almost nostalgic.

“She’s my daughter, Ren,” he said quietly. “Of course she knows.”

Ren blinked, stunned. “Daughter…?”

The wind whipped between them, but he barely noticed. His mind reeled.

His jaw tightened. “Is that why you’re supporting Alister? Is he supposed to be some kind of… Dragon King? Is that why you have no choice but to obey him?”

Yuuto said nothing.

Ren took a step forward, eyes narrowing.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” he said, his voice rising. “If he’s forcing you to do something against your will — just say so! If we brought the entire guild together, if we stood beside you, we could—”

“Ren. Stop.”

Yuuto’s voice wasn’t loud, but it struck like a hammer.

Ren froze.

Yuuto’s eyes were colder now, not cruel — just tired. Tired in the way mountains erode and stars collapse.

“Do you know how you look right now?” Yuuto asked. “How you sound?”

Ren didn’t answer.

Yuuto stepped closer, his cloak whispering across the snow.

“You sound naïve.”

There was no venom in his words. No scorn. Just a quiet, exhausted truth — the kind that comes from living too long and watching too much die.

“You think this is something that can be solved with faith… with hope? That if you just believe hard enough, fight bravely enough, sacrifice loudly enough… everything will end up being fixed.”

Yuuto’s gaze didn’t waver.

“Take it from me,” he said quietly, “that’s not how the universe works. Change isn’t some righteous crusade. It’s an unrelenting wave — and only ruin awaits those who try to stand against it. But those who dare to ride it? They soar higher than the rest.”

He took another step forward, silver eyes glowing faintly.

“You think Alister is just a power-drunk child, don’t you? That he’s suddenly decided to wreak havoc on humanity for his own gain?” Yuuto’s voice dropped lower. “Is that really what you believe?”

Ren’s fists clenched. His voice cracked with fury.

“If threatening to wipe out anyone who doesn’t bow to him isn’t tyranny, then what is!?”

Yuuto sighed.

Behind him, his wings unfurled — massive, silver-scaled, and radiant with silver mana. The force of their emergence kicked up a storm of snow around them, momentarily cloaking the ruined courtyard in swirling white.

“I asked you last night, Ren,” Yuuto said, “if you were the one who had watched your loved ones die — again and again — would you still choose to protect strangers over those who’ve stood by you? Over those you owe a personal duty to?”

Ren stared at him, stunned, chest heaving.

Then he shouted.

“What the hell kind of analogy is that!? Have you gone mad!?”

“Because that is exactly what Alister has gone through!”

Yuuto suddenly shouted — a break in his calm, his voice laced with something raw.

Ren flinched, not from the volume, but from the certainty in Yuuto’s voice.

“What are you talking about?!” Ren snapped. “That doesn’t make any sense! How old is he? You make it sound like he’s some ancient being that—”

“—That’s because he is.”

Yuuto cut him off.

Silence. At first, Ren thought Yuuto was joking, but the intensity in his gaze suggested otherwise.

The wind howled across the ruins, but even it seemed to hesitate at that statement.

Yuuto’s gaze burned now, molten silver behind pale lashes.

“That man you call a fool… has seen more pain than you or I can even fathom.”

He stepped forward again, wings folded tightly behind him, snow parting around his feet.

“You think you know suffering, Ren?”

“You think you understand pain?”

He paused.

Then said — slowly, grimly:

“Try saving the people you care about… the people you love… millions of times. And failing. Every. Single. Time. Watching them scream for your help as they bleed out. You promise to save them, and you watch as you fail to fulfill that promise — over and over again. A time will come when you start to forget who you are. You subconsciously suppress all those memories, discard them even. But as you do, you lose parts of your soul, your strength — more and more of yourself.”

He paused, then continued.

“Until you awaken anew — a different person, every time.”

His voice broke slightly on the last word. Not loudly — but enough that it sounded human. Enough that Ren’s anger faltered, if only for a breath.

Yuuto’s voice shook as he stepped closer, eyes burning now — not with rage, but with something far more dangerous.

“You want to call him a monster? A tyrant?”

He exhaled sharply, bitter frost curling from his breath.

“Then I guess we’re all tyrants, Ren.”

His fists clenched at his sides, silver scales faintly glimmering beneath his sleeves.

“Because I can guarantee you — I’d burn the world to ash if it meant the people I love could stay by my side forever.”

The wind whipped between them, but Yuuto’s voice only grew steadier — more raw.

“Let them call me an abomination. Let them curse my name.

If it meant I could see their smiles every day…”

His voice cracked.

“…Then so be it.”

A tear slipped down his cheek — shining like a falling star against his ancient face.

“I would commit unthinkable atrocities if it meant… I wouldn’t end up… alone.”

His wings trembled faintly behind him.

“Again.”

Yuuto’s tear had already vanished, vaporized by the cold wind. But the storm in his eyes hadn’t.

“The lives of millions be damned to hell, Ren,” he said quietly. “Alister is giving them a chance. If they choose otherwise…” his wings flared slightly, “…then so be it.”

He turned away, the snow parting in silence before his feet.

“Now send me back.”

Ren stood there — trembling. Not from fear. But from the weight of what he’d just heard.

He gritted his teeth.

The wind tugged at his cloak.

And slowly… flames began to curl around his fingertips.

“…I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

His voice was quiet. But there was no hesitation.

Yuuto stopped mid-step.

His head turned.

“What did you say?”

Ren’s eyes glowed with a fire he hadn’t let burn in years.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said, eyes burning. “And two rights can’t justify a wrong.”

Yuuto’s expression faltered slightly.

Ren took a step forward, fists clenched.

“If a pure goal can only be achieved through vile means… then it was never pure to begin with. And if so-called good actions inevitably bring about suffering, then they are not good. They are rotten.”

“If what you said is true… if you truly believe that millions of lives mean nothing — that their only value lies in whether or not they serve your pain…”

He raised his hand. The flame grew brighter.

“…Then I don’t care if you’re a god, a dragon, or the first star that ever fell from the sky.”

He dropped into stance.

“I’m not letting you go.”