NOVEL WEB Special Side Chapter 2: Strength
Special Side Chapter 2: Strength
The strongest of dragons gathered around in the skies, they could feel a foreboding pressure on their very souls. It could be described as extremely hostile and very intimidating, whatever was coming towards them was an opponent they couldn’t face head on with one on one tactics they had to work together to defeat this incoming foe even if it meant that their lives were going to be extinguished from this world. It was safe to say that they were on their guard, but what they expected did not come in the form of a dragon. It was a single humanoid figure walking slowly towards them, they created footholds in the air. This in of itself was abnormal considering how much mana was needed to achieve this, the person who was approaching their location was something to not trifle with.
“『Kneel』”
A single command sent all of them crashing down from the sky where they flew straight into the ground below. What manner of authority did this person have over them, she descended from the sky in a free fall one of them lifted his head up and opened his mouth up with a rising beam of light escaping from within.
“How useless”
This individual cuts through his breath attack and through him as well leaving behind nothing but chunks of meat neatly sliced in orderly fashion. They were the royal guards who stood before her and the Dragon Emperor. Immediately from mere guessing they knew who this person was, it was the daughter of the Dragon Emperor Mallevs, Shen.
“How many years has it been since I left? 350? 250? It shouldn’t matter now. I have returned to reclaim what belongs to me, you are free to try to either stop me or aid me. It doesn’t matter in the end neither would it bother me if I slaughtered all of you here.”
She spoke like a tyrant who had already acquired the power she needed, that is what made Shen all the more terrifying to speak up against. She had real power, power that was not easy to gain nor procure through magical mine means. The aura she held was by far more impressive than her father’s at this point. Mallevs would be proud of her if he were to see the level of authority she held against them. But they were dragons their pride was as high as the sky was, it was obvious what they were going to do. Even the candidates who had flown around in the air had already escaped to the mountain palace Mallevs called home.
“『Release』”
They all attacked her attacked her at the same time, they were unrelenting in their assault and were rather swift given their massive bodies. The following moments were the last they were going to experience as they were just as fast as their brother’s death. Shen leapt up into the air just as their claws and tails struck in the same place that she was standing on a few moments ago, she landed on the horns of one of the royal guards stabbing his head causing his body to freeze over within seconds. She kicked off one of his horns which flew like a bullet towards the head of another royal guard dragon passing through his skull and him falling to the ground with a loud boom with a small quake happening within that singular event. The horn bullet splintered into a thousand more which blinded the pair who shielded themselves with their wings from them.
In their defense they never anticipated that a breath attack could hit them in the form of a slash, neither did they expect it to utterly destroy their bodies in a way they didn’t even register their own deaths. Shen nodded in her handicraft, the past her would have struggled against these losers. She knew she had surpassed them in strength a long time ago but she wanted to test herself in terms of strength, sharing Yukiyo’s Gluttony skill she devoured their bodies using a shadow jaw which further increased her stats and levels to a sufficient amount. The seed that she was given now started to throb with anticipation. The rain started to set in as if to wash away the shame that she felt when she was banished from this land, once she ate this there was no going back.
“I will pay you back in full. My years of training and suffering, your rejection of my ideals and existence”
The required amount of levels for her to swallow this Seed of Nidhogg had been met as Shen stared at the ominous eye shaped seed that pulsed like it was alive. All of the memories of her life started to play back to back in a series of flashes as Shen opened her mouth and put the Seed of Nidhogg inside swallowing it. She felt a surge of pain spreading across her body, she couldn’t bear how excruciating it was. It was as if she was experiencing her defeat from her father numerous times over and being stabbed by countless spears from all sides. In all accounts Shen had died and was reborn within a single moment, her body exploded into a pillar of light that was visible from a kingdom away. The light faded and what was left in its place stood Shen the same as ever but different. Shen smiled as she snapped her fingers with a heavy shower of rain immediately occurring within that single moment. It was as if the violence of a great storm had arrived on the door of the Dragon Emperor. Shen had taken up the mantle of Storm Dragon God taking her first steps towards her father’s throne.
💧🐉
A hole was created immediately by a rush of water killing four dragon emperor candidates who were chiefs of their respective dragon clans within a brief moment as Shen jumped in sliding on the onyx marble floor which was filled with such candidates. She pointed her Divine Storm at them all, she was a massive threat to their claim to the throne but they all knew they couldn’t stand a chance. She ran towards them as they all shot their breath attacks at Shen who merely dodged them by running on the walls and leaping back and forth from them, before countering of the fire breaths reflecting it back as a icy breath that freezes up the mouth of the one who fired it. She slashes through his body with immense ease before throwing her sword spins creating more swords made out of ice that cut through the candidates inside of the hallways.
“Be prepared cause I am going to make this place as mine”
Shen covers her hands and feet in ice creating ice gauntlets and boots. Her right arm starts to glow in intense blue light. The dragon emperor candidates who are at the back all see this and display great signs of fear, they scream in terror as they see what is going to happen will leave them nothing more than just statues in the wake of it succeeding. Some are begging, some are screaming, some are trying to break through the walls but it is all for naught as Shen punches the ground with ice spreading all over the hallway and freezing them in place. They could do nothing against her in this form anyway. She walked through this desolate hallway that is filled with the statues of the candidates who laughed at her failure of succeeding the throne, she names them one by one with a sense of incredible pride. Her sword is still missing which meant something that there were still dragons alive and taking their time making their presence, they descended from below with flaming claws to stab her through but Shen expects this and continues walking as her sword covers them entirely in ice swords and spears. She opens the door and even more of these Dragon Emperor’s Shadows appear from their pocket dimensions to attack her. She dodges their attacks with grace and rhythm, they couldn’t keep up with just how frequent her elegant evades and close calls are with her eyes closed even.
“Now then it is my turn”
Shen opens her eyes and produces a second sword made out of ice that she throws as she rapidly slashes the fire magic that they seem to endlessly throw at her. The second ice sword shoots throw the extra blind spot type attacks as she approaches them and slice and dice them into fine pieces. She teleports to the next shadow whom she punches into the ceiling grabbing his tail and slamming him on the floor, she slices his limbs off from his body with ease and freezes them before they touch the ground kicking them into his body. She cuts off his head and pushes herself forward, rapidly approaching the next shadow who is panicking after seeing what she did to his comrade. With a dangerous smirk on her face, she leaps from the head that crashes into the wall and makes the ice sword appear in her hand, he tries to protect himself with his physical attack negation scales but those are rendered useless as she uses both swords to slash through his chest until she comes out of the other end of his body after creating an X in his body. Several more leap into air to try to kill her whilst she is distracted by this gruesome murder she left behind, but they were too late as Shen turns around and fires an ice breath attack from her arm which tears apart from the intensity of the power released. They had been effectively turned into shaved ice from how strong it was. Shen dodges several blade like spikes coming from the captain and sprints towards him without slowing down her pace. Without any time at all the captain of these shadows is kicked through the door with little effort turning into another victim of ice shattering as he falls flat in front of the Dragon Emperor Mallevs.
“Father I have come”
“………”
He was silent just like that day, he spoke no words as he had watched everything she had done. But something was different, he had transformed into a human. A handsome old man with white hair tied into a ponytail and a feminine face, one could see that Shen got her looks from her father. He stood from his throne and started to walk down from it.
“I have fought many dragons within my lifetime, but there is none that I have faced that have supreme power like you Shen. I am proud of you.”
“That day I felt a pain I never felt before in my life, I vowed to take you down from that throne. I was to usurp your precious throne, your pride in my strength means nothing to me.”
“I see, but I will make you submit to my power nonetheless. Draconic King Overdrive”
Mallevs activated the Dragon Emperor’s Roar in its fullest potential, all would bow before him and submit to his power alone. But not Shen, she didn’t flinch and did not go on one knee for him. Because she was more powerful than he was, much to his shock she activated a superior version of Dragon’s Emperor’s Roar and along with it a new form.
“Draconic God Overdrive”
Once more the memories of her defeat began to replay more consistently as Shen was filled up with immense strength as she roared loudly transforming once more into an ice blue dragon with an icy aura surrounding her, the same size as her normal human form. Her body was covered in scale armor in a shade of blue that complimented her black sword and her aura she pointed her sword at him with a smile on her dragon face. She ran towards him as he did the same, time seems to slow down around them as they clash with a burst of power that seems destroy everything that surrounded them up that point. Now they are both in the rain within this single pose of united clash, Shen teleports backwards before bringing herself back a tad higher than him and bringing her katana Divine Storm down on his great sword. A spiderweb of cracks form beneath Mallevs as he struggles to even push back Shen, she dodges his tail and grabs it throwing him out of his precious yet ruined mountain palace and towards the zone of her banishment.
“Ironic for me to be here”
“Well eat dirt old man!”
They clash several more times, mountains crumble, entire geographies changed within the motion of their swords hitting each other and unleashing a great force of water and earth. A connected punch to Shen’s face misses which she grabs and uses to throw her old man to the ground straddling him whilst grabbing his hair and punching his face repeatedly. Mallevs kicks her away but she repositions herself in midair to land on her feet with two middle fingers aimed to his face. Slight annoyance shows on his face which makes her smile even more. He roars as he runs towards her and swings his sword horizontally with fury but she dodges that by bowing in an exaggerated manner, next is vertically but she simply dances around it before appearing behind him and kicking him. A powered blade is charged and swung at her but she simply stops it right into the dirt with her feet, she shakes her head and wiggles her index finger in disappointment.
“Old Man did no one teach you that cheap shots are for cowards, bad oldie, you should know better”
“SHUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUP!!!!”
His anger was well pronounced and it gave Shen great pleasure because this was the first time she had seen this expression on his face before. Mallevs swings his sword recklessly with Shen dodging it easily without any form of effort. He was putting his all in this just she was all those years ago, but he disrespected her in exactly the same way. Their roles were reversed, she was now in the position of immeasurable power and he was in the position of a child who doesn’t understand the balance of the world.
“My lover brought me here, without her I wouldn’t have moved on. I would have stayed exactly in the same position you left me. I thank her with all of my heart. You are going to die, I know mother doesn’t love you so she will not be sad. This is goodbye”
“?!”
Shen sheathed her sword with the air starting to turn cold, the rain froze in midair as she continued to gather power into her sword. Mallevs knowing fully well that this would spell the end of him sprints towards her.
“SHEN STOP!”
This was the first time he even said her name, he finally recognized her for the daughter that she could have been, not as a servant nor a slave but family. She closes her eyes, she sees the faces of her daughters, her unborn child who was yet to hatch out of her egg, her Fenrir sons, her students she taught in the ways of the path of strength and finally the person who made this possible, Yukiyo. They were her family, they were her everything and she would kill the very gods for them. Her determination to protect them has further resolved itself. She opens her eyes and unleashes a single attack that connects every single frozen rain droplet through multiple lines of her sword passing by, the trees, the ground, the mountain palace, everything is touched by it including her father who is stricken in pure fear for the power within her. In this frozen world of ice and rain Shen rules supreme, she walks towards him in complete silence and holds his frozen splintered face.
“I will protect them no matter the cost, I will be a better husband and lover than you ever were. You did nothing for everyone and that is why you lost. In solitude you lived and in solitude you will die”
Shen teleports from 『The Frozen World of Ice and Rain』she finally puts her katana back into its sheath causing the devastating collapse of everything within the vicinity of Dragon Emperor’s Mountain Palace. She looks back at the remains of her broken home and walks away without looking any further in the buried past. The dragons who fly past her know that she is the new Dragon Emperor, their constant roars of celebration and victory ring out throughout the world. Shen is heading back to her real home where she is loved and seen as herself, she commands the Dark Matter to teleport her to where Kuroyuki was. A dimensional tear is opened up within brief moments she is inside of the room and with her child who shows signs of her egg hatching. The first crack happened just as she had entered her room, Shen smiles and hugs the egg that has her child with Yukiyo.
“I am home sweetie, your Papa is home. I will promise you grow up with some form of common sense but even if you don’t I will protect you and make sure no one hurts you. I will love you more than my father ever did to any of us, you are me and Yukiyo’s precious child Kuroyuki. You will grow strong and happy”
The egg shakes in response which makes Shen smile in the most warm way possible.
