NOVEL WEB Chapter 1990: Vessel
Chapter 1990: Vessel
"What a pathetic thing you are. And you call yourself a dragon? Don't you dare even step in front of me again, you're not even worth killing, weakling!"
Those words, spoken by the Venerable of Flames, the Savage Barbarian King of Muspelheim, hurt Emerald more than any wound could have hurt him.
Despite how strong he had grown, he was nothing before this monster, he was humiliated, his wings were burned to a crisp, and his claws tore apart.
His beak was crushed and shattered into pieces, his face, disfigured and half-burnt, wasn't even finished off, as the Venerable spit on his face, burning him with his own magma, and walking away after treating him worse than trash.
As he was being slowly healed, the explosion happened, and everything ended like it was right
now...
Emerald, who had finally built himself up back to a proper dragon, had fallen back into an endless spiral of nightmares and traumas, of insecurity and self-hatred.
"I was unable to save you Amehia... If it wasn't for master's family you would've died... I... promised you I would protect you... But... I am so pathetic... I am worse than trash..."
Recalling his beloved Amehia, Emerald couldn't help but feel terrible, he had almost seen her die more than once before his eyes, powerless to stop it.
He who had promised her that he would protect her and love her... That he would protect the child she now carried.
Everything was shattering apart, his own sense of self, his everything.
"I am so pathetic..."
"I'm so sorry, everyone..."
"I am so weak..."
"No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot compare to any of you..."
"You shine so brightly... and yet I am nothing but a shadow, I am beyond pathetic..."
"I am utter trash... Should I die?"
"It would be better if I died... if I disappeared. I don't even... need to exist."
"If only someone else could take my place... If only-"
RUMBLE!
As Emerald's consciousness continued falling through the endless void within his nightmares, suddenly, something outside of them began breaking into them.
"H-Huh?"
Emerald slowly regained some of his consciousness within this nightmare, as he glanced at something, a distortion within this endless darkness.
This darkness, a nightmare born from his own insecurities and his own shattered ego, began to distort itself.
A black and red colored eye appeared.
"W-Wha... What's... going on?"
And then, as the eye glanced at him...
Countless more eyes appeared, one after another, spreading through all of the darkness. "A-Aaah?!"
Emerald didn't know what to say, he didn't even know what to think anymore.
The darkness transformed, swirled around, and then became countless eyes.
The eyes glared at Emerald's consciousness, his soul.
Each eye was different, and each eye held its own pressure...
"W-Who are you?! What's going on-"
"IF YOU DON'T WANT YOUR BODY ANYMORE..."
"Eh?"
"I SUPPOSE YOU WON'T MIND US TAKING IT FROM YOU, YES?"
A voice reverberated, no, thousands of voices unified as one, as Emerald's face grew more and more desperate, the countless eyes began growing even more everywhere.
"What do you mean with- Aaah!"
And before he could even speak anymore, hundreds of arms appeared from the floor, made of the nightmarish darkness of his dreams, and countless eyes.
They grabbed his entire body, his astral avatar, his projection, his consciousness and his soul.
His sense of self, and then dragged him down into darkness, which rapidly began burning. Revealing amidst the black smoke nothing but the horrors of hell itself
"BECOME ONE WITH ME. BECOME MY VESSEL! YOU'RE PERFECT! YOUR POWER SHALL BE MINE!" "N-NO...! NOOO! LET ME GO!"
Emerald tried to fight back, as he was dragged into an endless abyss of darkness and infernal flames, he saw millions of agonizing souls within this endless spiraling madness.
"UUUAAAAGGGHHH!"
He tried to fight back, to escape, but it was impossible. He had lowered his guard, he had given up his resolve, his own faith in himself had shattered.
And so, he gave space for his worst demons to take over, the metaphorical ones and the literal demons from hell, that's it.
As Emerald felt like his soul burned through endless infernal and demonic flames, his entire body started convulsing and flaring up with flames.
The countless arms grabbing him, the countless eyes looking at him, they all dragged him down into the abyss, and began tearing him apart into pieces.
"T-This can't... be happening...! I...! What... No...! I...!"
"THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED, RIGHT?"
"A-Aaah!"
"WE WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU DESIRE."
"B-But wait...! I don't want to-"
"YOU DO. YOU'VE LET US IN, DRAGON. AND WE WON'T WASTE THIS OPPORTUNITY."
FLUOOOSH!
In that moment, the skies trembled, as the winds of the entire continent began to rapidly spiral around the skies, descending towards Emerald.
...
"E-Emerald! Hang in there!"
"He's still alive, we can... Do something...!"
Amehia and Tyrannus were constantly using healing magic and elixirs they were given to heal Emerald's enormous body.
He had taken such severe damage that it was taking a long time to be healed, his wings were still burned, and he had yet to fully recover either way...
Unlike Drake and to an extent Surtr, Emerald was a native dragon, not a reincarnated soul, without any powerful Unique Skills, his body was still frail and unable to easily regenerate.
And yet...
RUMBLE!
"E-Eh?!"
"Aaah!"
The two Lizardmen were pushed away by a gigantic shockwave that was released from Emerald's body. The aura of the young dragon changed, as they suddenly saw hundreds of thousands-no, perhaps millions of screaming demonic souls surging from him!
"UUAAAGGH!"
"GYAHAHAHA!"
"AAAAAHHH!"
"GRYEEEEGHH!"
"SHAAAAHHHAHAHA!"
The horrendous sight was something to behold, the two lizardmen were left utterly
speechless as all these souls were then infused into Emerald's body even more.
"E-Emerald!!!"
Amehia panicked, employing her Divine Druidic powers as she tried to hold him back or exorcise him from the demons with her divine light.
And yet...
BOOOM!
An explosion of black, red, and green flames erupted from his body, the winds around him
formed a gigantic tornado, lifting him.
And his eyes opened, glowing bright red. And he smirked viciously.