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Pain.
That was the only thing I could feel.
He was in hell. Physically and literally in a hell... no, it wasn't a hell, it was... Gehenna .
Gehenna
Ese nombre fue dado por la familia Zeus y Hera al piso 70. El piso más profundo y probablemente el último piso de la mazmorra.
Gehenna was the site of the greatest battle that history will ever know. It was at the same time the greatest victory and the most tragic defeat in human history.
On the mortal side, two sister families fought side by side until the end. For the cause, the Zeus and Hera families united, forming an army of 400 mortals, each and every one of them exceeding level 4. Overall, it was the most powerful fighting force that ever existed.
And yet, only one soul came out alive.
There was no such thing as arrogance, the adventurers, despite having defeated Behemoth and Leviathan , had a deep respect towards the master of the sky, that being known as the One-Eyed Black Dragon was the greatest aspiration that humans and gods could want.
But the greatest of evils was not equal to those two, this dragon did not do justice to their stories. The dragon that caused Albert Waldstein 's death was too powerful.
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POV...?
The air was filled with overwhelming pressure.
I remember when we arrived... no one dared to take a step, the atmosphere was terrifying, the dragon WAS the biggest thing we had ever seen. We stood there for a minute, the dragon totally still, as if there was no danger at all. Its body coiled, calm, eyes closed in a sea of fire.
The descriptions in books didn't do him justice... he was gigantic, so much so that we couldn't see where his body ended.
The terrain was barren, volcanic soil wherever you looked, burning winds permeating the air. Even with the Falna , everyone felt uncomfortable with the environmental conditions.
A scorching heat radiated from the dragon, as if it were composed of fire.
Our people wasted no time, orders were quickly sent by the regiment leader and at the same time the captain of my family, the one known as the Empress of the Hera family, using her skill led over each and every one of those present.
The orders were long but boiled down to one thing: attack.
Finally, the first movement occurred. A girl from the Zeus family, one of the many faces within the family. I don't remember her name, I don't remember her face, I don't know her level and perhaps I will never know , this woman was from the Zeus family . They didn't know anything beyond her affiliation, but, she was known for her magic.
In the many family clashes we had, even someone like me was defeated by magic: .
The woman was blonde, her eyes were like mine, red as blood, but hers were much duller. She looked directly at the dragon and finally sat down on the ground. Immediately a man was at her side, with golden armor and a shock of blue hair and eyes of the same color, the captain of the Zeus family was there, Maxim was with her. The empress and 2 adventurers passed by and continued the assault.
I watched helplessly, and anxiously, I was impatient, my hands tightly gripping my swords. Those nearby might have felt similar feelings. Maxim , the captain of the Zeus family was staring at the blonde-haired woman on the ground.
I, for my part, could not take my eyes off the captain of my family, the Empress entered that burning wasteland with her red hair waving in the wind, as if she were a burning fire.
A whisper came out of my mouth: " Lysandra ..."
At one time, she was my enemy, she was my ally, my friend, and also... a mother.
She had her orders, I had mine, so I could only watch as that woman drew her weapon as she headed towards the beast.
In the distance he could see a beautiful red sword that burned as if it were a sun, its heat obscured the light of the entire floor that we could not find and while he prepared to lower his sword.
The dragon opened his eyes.
The Empress drew a trail that cut through the dragon's wing. And so she did, an explosive wave occurred upon contact. Blood flowed, from here, from this place where I was, I could see the attack in all its splendor, the result was a wound hundreds of meters long in its belly.
The Dragon's roars seemed incredulous, it was at this moment that that disaster of nature saw us as enemies.
The men who followed Lysandra did not waste any time. They were chosen for a reason, in this world where there were no such things as instant movement or teleportation , their existence was an exception to the rule.
Roger and Regulus . They were two twins with black hair and blue eyes, the gods did not like many of these brothers, the reason for this was because they violated one of the rules of this world.
Lysandra 's attack .
In the split second after the attack, Roger moved forward as fast as a Lv 6's speed would allow. A familiar scream filled the field as a magic circle appeared in the pool of blood that had formed, covering the target and moments later, a pool of blood settled on top of the nameless woman.
The blood almost fell to the ground, until a chant echoed across the battlefield, a perfect sphere was formed with the monster's blood.
At the same time, Lysandra spoke words that I and several of our people feared.
-RUN!-
A thunderous roar exploded in his mind.
The voice echoed in the ears of all the soldiers. There was general panic, dozens and dozens ran as far away from the dragon as possible.
From the dragon's mouth, that roar turned into an all-encompassing electrical attack. A devastation that only lasted a second but at least 30 of us were disconnected from the thought link.
30 of ours, probably the newly promoted Lv 4 ones, died in this attack.
Like the vast majority in both families, these soldiers or adventurers could have conquered a country on their own, fought for days to defeat armies. But compared to this mythological beast, they were just ants who dared to challenge a giant.
I let out a sigh and a groan at the same time, we lost our people, but the communication link with the Empress was still intact, and the red sphere composed of blood was still in the air. The fallen were friends and comrades in arms, but it was not the time to regret.
The woman beside Maxim didn't care about the hell that was happening, there was no such thing as care because Maxim was by her side. With each second that the chant continued and her voice grew louder, the dragon noticed them.
A tremor occurred the moment the dragon dug its claws into the ground. The black dragon began to open its mouth wider and wider. Small particles began to appear around it. The voice left my throat as it dried up, and I and every mage on this battlefield immediately noticed it and turned pale. One of the mage at my side fell to his knees as tears welled up in his eyes. He said the words that I, in my daze, was unable to say: "P-particles of concentrated m-mana."
Each of those blue and red mana particles joined together in his mouth forming a sphere that began to shrink. I desperately searched my surroundings, Lysandra had to get out of there, looking towards Maxim I found her.
Next to Lysandra was Regulus , but Roger was nowhere to be found...
"Wizards, listen..."
I repeat, we were not prepared at all.
In addition to Lysandra , Maxim shouted orders into the connection, that shout full of orders that helped bring order came from a heavy weight that helped keep it from being chaos, His voice helped calm the Zeus family as only their leader could do.
The sphere began to shrink, what was the size of a house shrank to that of a large sphere. One of the mages quickly passed the information to everyone, when the mana condensed like this, it reached a critical point, similar to a Will-o'-the-wisp but raised to astronomical amounts.
To everyone's dismay, the dragon ate the sphere and then: "Ready wizards!"
A shockwave was released from within him, so powerful that he could only see the wave of magical light that lashed out with the power to demolish mountains.
A platoon of magicians filled the air with mana, each one sending it to a single point, concentrating all the magic on that man who had the ability to stop this attack.
All the mana went to Maxim . That man, together his palms and with a last look at the nameless woman who held the sphere of blood in the air said: Aegis
A wall formed in the air, it was thin, almost transparent, it shouldn't be able to support, but those who had already witnessed this wall before sighed with certainty.
BOMB!
The shockwave nearly knocked us all down.
When the smoke stopped, Lysandra and Regulus appeared beside me .
At this moment she was grateful that Regulus was here, if it weren't for him, Lysandra wouldn't be moving so fast, it was thanks to him.
designated 3 points where he could move instantly. My fist clenched as I thought of the other brother, Roger failed, allowed him to move objects, it was what allowed him to move the Dragon's blood to the nameless woman.
My eyes met Lysandra's , seeing me she sighed, "Hold on a bit, Maxim 's wife is almost done."
My eyes returned to the most important element in this conquest, our weapon to finish off that beast, we couldn't do the same thing we did with Leviathan or Behemoth , Zald and Alfia 's life had been shortened by those actions.
I nodded in frustration, "But if you let me go-"
Her glare made me stop, "No, that option is ruled out, remember who the leader of the family is. Not you, not Alfia and not Hera either, I'm in charge here." She turned her back to me and with said, "-The second stage begins, Kamikazes, your turn-".
I clenched my fists at that damn name, being a sacrifice... such a nasty strategy...
The mages nodded, the air filled with mana, each support mage redirected mana to the mages who had attacks capable of hurting the dragon, with the same devotion and battle spirit they attacked with everything, the mages opened their eyes in a daze when the dragon did not flinch, it was not because of the difference in power, even something so powerful should be hurt by curse type magic or those whose conceptual manipulation nullifies size. The adventurers at their side nodded at what they saw and launched into melee, the information was essential.
Each of the different elemental attacks collided with the dragon's scales only for their magic to be nullified by the creature's skin.
Truly powerful adventurers leapt out and unleashed devastating attacks, striking and slashing in all directions so that the damage would disappear. Some did real damage but it disappeared as quickly as it came.
Nothing we threw at him was enough, he had magic immunity equivalent to a Juggernaut , the regeneration of a Black Goliath and... they had never faced a monster that had such lethality, not even an irregular Balor came close to unleashing attacks so powerful.
The cursed creature was gigantic, no, gigantic is an understatement compared to what they saw, it was monumental. On the ground and with its wings outstretched it could have been the size of all of Orario .
"Only physical attacks can hurt him, so will the nameless woman be able to achieve it?" I said out loud to myself.
My gaze went from one side to the other.
"My brother's wife is called Maria Mertel ..."
" Huh ?" I looked at Regulus strangely, we had never spoken, while I was one of the executives of the Hera family, he was one of the many in the Zeus family, only highlighted by his unique ability.
"I loved Maria, but my love for my brother was even greater. She was such a pure woman. Her dream was to have a family. She insists on taking care of a small church and sometimes she takes care of children on the streets. I have warned her that Dedalos Street is dangerous, but she insists and goes to those orphans and feeds them and keeps them safe." Regulus brought his hands to his face. "I can feel it. Today I will be reunited with my brother. This is the end of the road for me."
"That-"
"Golden Boy , let me finish." He held my shoulders tightly, his blue eyes desperate.
I bit my tongue and nodded, this was a declaration of death, it was a farewell.
"Sometimes at night I have visions, for a year I have had the same dream, my brother is lost in a storm and I am consumed by the sea of fire,"
"That won't happen-" Regulus clamped his hand over my mouth. Before I could even let go, Regulus fell to his knees.
"The pawns fall with me, the queen succumbs to the fire, and the great shield is broken by the metal blades that rain down from the sky, the pack dies and- and- and- the white lion will see the dawn again, but if you do not take care of the new pack and neglect the new generation you will lose everything again."
"REGULUS" I screamed loudly, saying such a thing, my friends, my family are fighting.
I was about to say more until Lysandra turned to us. She placed a hand on Regulus ' shoulder , with a reassuring smile she said, "Don't tell me the end, my dear friend. I don't want to be tied down by something as banal as fate, the people under my command are dying, I just sent my men to die just to increase the chances of winning. Until the very end, I will do my best to prevent it. And I need you, even if your prophecy is true, please, will you lend me your strength for one last time?"
With her red hair flowing, she reached out her hand. Regulus took Lysandra 's hand and turned to me.
"Maria Martel is her name, you decide what to do with it." He said before they disappeared. I turned my head towards Maxim and the nameless woman, next to them were Lysandra and Regulus .
Lysandra said a few words to Maxim that I couldn't hear, in the end, Lysandra 's sword burst into flames again.
The dragon kept his eyes on her, never losing sight of her, the dragon's body began to change, his eyes changed color to white and steam came out of his mouth.
Regulus put his hands on Lysandra 's back , and they both disappeared. The dragon didn't care and shot out an icy breath that overshadowed the heat in the entire floor. Possibly, that icy breath was the dragon's attempt to extinguish the flaming flames on Lysandra 's sword . Seeing them appear on the ground at the dragon's feet, I feared for my captain and Regulus .
The breath rose above the burning ground and froze for about a kilometer around. The cold reached as far as our regiment.
Suddenly, the sky lit up, as if the sun itself had come to this place.
Lysandra appeared in the sky, I searched for Regulus with all my might and what I saw made me loathe the current orders, I can't move yet, not with all that has been sacrificed. Powerless, I can only watch helplessly as Regulus ' frozen body shattered before his body fragmented and turned to dust.
The icy breath, although it covered a considerable area, only touched the surrounding ground, the kamikaze perished and Regulus as well.
Tightly, ever tight, I clenched my fists as I watched Lysandra ascend and attack the dragon. Again the sword descended but this time the flames shone brighter than ever, with one slash one of the dragon's wings was reduced to charred flesh.
The dragon's roars filled the entire floor, Lysandra was still in the air, her sword was broken, it could not withstand the power of Lysandra 's flames and now Regulus was gone, he would not escape in time from the dragon's colossal attacks. And as he descended, the dragon's body began to emanate steam from all over its body. The steam stopped and in moments, the dragon's body ignited on fire.
I couldn't help but shout " Lysandra !"
-I leave it in your hands, Maxim -
The last order was given.
Even in midair, his eyes met hers.
-Be a good boy-
Lysandra closed her eyes and shouted "
Two titanic waves of fire collided.
I watched in silence but I didn't have the courage to look away, I saw it all until the end. I could see how every atom of Lysandra 's body caught fire, her magic destroyed her own body and she turned into a star.
His fire surpassed even the dragon's flames.
"Get down on the ground-!" I heard in the distance before the explosion was released.
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When I opened my eyes again, a large amount of ash flooded the surroundings.
" Lysandra ..." I can't sense her, the communication was cut off, I can't know how many fell.
I looked back and my heart broke.
The squads behind me disappeared, no one who wasn't Lv5 or higher could withstand the explosion.
It was as fast, effective and simple as an extinction.
From the beginning, this natural disaster has thrown elemental attacks at us so great that if we were on the surface the maps would have to be redesigned.
But this, that damned wave of fire charred hundreds of our people, the damned dragon could breathe fire, it was never mentioned in any legend, not a single mention or allegory about it. The closest is a quote from the Dungeon Oratoria that says: The great forest, Kaios , became a great desert, Kaios . After the passage of the dragon
A quote from a text has never been clearer to him.
At some point in his life Hera-Sama told him about the previous creation of the gods, she never told him what their names were, although she called them lizard, she only told me that in the end they became capricious and went against the gods, as a result a god threw a rock wrapped in fire at them. She called it a meteorite and what happened to those beings she called .
Extinction
He wondered if this would be similar.
He walked over a small hill and looked out over the field.
"There... will be time to cry... there... will be time." I closed my eyes, took a breath and moved.
I fixed my eyes on the red sphere in the sky, and my eyes came back into focus. " Maxim is still alive." I sighed as I made my way towards them. A couple of jumps were enough to advance hundreds of meters to them.
I approached and could see them, the nameless woman was still in the same position, but this time she was singing, I looked to her side, the reason for so many deaths was to give this woman time, next to her Maxim looked tired, although he has a perfect defense, the dragon's attacks were devastating.
And his magic consumed too much mana.
I approached Maxim , grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up: " Lysandra and who knows how many of our people have fallen, tell me, Maxim , even if she finishes, will it be enough? That thing nullifies magic attacks, how do you think-"
GONG!
He blinked.
GONG!
He turned pale and the cold ran through his body
GONG!
My words died in my throat as my ears heard the chimes, I turned my gaze and saw the giant silver bell above the dragon.
"N-NO!"
I screamed unheard, begging the person behind this to stop, if she used that magic again...
Brrrrr
Me and Maxim fell to the ground, a shock wave was unleashed, my ears shook, my hands went to my head trying to stop the pain.
The sonic attack mixed with the dragon's agonized screams.
Alfia would die.
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That's my last clear memory, the anger was unleashed on me and everything is more blurry from there.
The next thing I knew I was in a desolate, burning wasteland. My head was going to explode, I was dizzy, my mind was not focused on anything.
The last thing I remembered was the dragon's dying face, I had it! His wings were cut off, somehow Maxim managed to cut off the other wing! And... Did I cut off his other eye? I don't remember, but he didn't have it anymore, he was just a blind monster now. He did it! He got it after all!
The person groaned before standing up, white locks of hair flying over his eyes, in a careless moment his wobbly legs made him fall. He was now on his knees, a lifeless face staring into his clouded eyes, he quickly stepped aside wanting to vomit, he suppressed the gags that came after, the worst part was... the pain in his chest, he knew that man. He fought with that man side by side for years.
Maxim ...
The only person alive… that was his situation, he didn't feel any pulse of life within five kilometers. He was the only survivor for kilometers. His condition was depressing bordering on pitiful covered from head to toe in wounds, what was once a shining armor lay broken. This absurd regeneration had reached its limit. It had taken him two days but he had finally won.
Poic !
Drops of blood were splashing on the ground relentlessly, the man brought a hand to his shoulder. Slowly, very slowly he touched it. Embedded in his right shoulder, a tooth the size of a leg was embedded there. A laugh would have escaped him if his situation wasn't so bad. He wished it had been a tooth, that way the dragon wouldn't have been so big, it was just a damn scale, no, not even that, it was a fragment of a scale. A third of it broke off in the fall that luckily only got embedded in his shoulder.
Poic !
The man slowly stood up.
He coughed as his throat tried to form.
" Arghh . Cough * Cough * There were more than 400 of us."
Although one of his skills allowed him to identify signs of life, he searched, moved stones and searched again and again for hours.
Captain...
He only found corpses of those who died far from the fight, everything within a 10-kilometer radius was burning, frozen, and now electrically charged ground.
How long had he been here? But a few minutes ago he was about to give the coup de grace to the-
Where! Where was the damn winged lizard!
Straining his body, the man grabbed the sword again and walked like a desperate lunatic...
Nothing.
I wasn't there.
A lump formed in his throat, an incredible desire to vomit ran through his body, WASN'T HE ABLE TO KILL THE ONE-EYED DRAGON?
All these deaths, all these people... dead. IN VAIN!
Anger brought him to his knees again, strands of white hair covering his eyes.
Plink !
Plink !
It wasn't blood that fell, it was tears shed by all those who had to sacrifice themselves.
Kami -sama..., Zeus... I screwed up. The man looked at the number of corpses, which he gathered near the entrance of the 70th floor, he was sure that half of them belonged to the Zeus Familia. The other half... were his lifelong acquaintances, the Hera Familia, his family. People he grew up with, he grew up with them, lifelong friends who are now dead.
As he searched for the last traces of nearby warmth, there he saw her, and his heart tightened.
The memory of a woman with white hair and eyes of a different color came to him out of nowhere... Alfia . The pain was a hundred times stronger, it was not his body that was dying, it was his heart that did not want to understand that the death of that woman was a reality.
HIC* HIC*
Tears blurred his vision, but there he saw her. Even wounded, he ran with all his might.
Before he could touch her, he hesitated, trembling, and reached out his hand and removed the hair that covered her face.
He fell to his knees, "You look so peaceful..."
" Alfia !" With the utmost gentleness, the man hugged her. "Please! Don't do this to me... insult me for shouting! Hit me if necessary! But... Alfia ! You said you'd be with me when Meteria 's baby was born! You promised me you'd be there for your nephew, damn it!"
Tears continued to roll down and fell on Alfia 's face , "Sister..."
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For hours she lay there, crying for her dead sister until the tears stopped coming. She held Alfia in her arms.
"When we were kids, you and Metería loved it when I carried them... you always said you didn't like it... a- a- you used to complain but you never turned away."
He felt empty as if a part of him had died.
They were born on the same day, to the same mother, their name, given by their father, was Bell named after the family magic that was passed down through the generations, Alfia came next, and lastly the smallest and most fragile, Meteria , was born . They were the Howls , an ancient family dating back to the founding era of Orario , and direct descendants of the hero Fulland .
Bell thought of all those cumbersome titles, now, none of those things would do now.
Every time he looked at his little sister's face, it was so unreal. She was always a supernatural person, he never imagined her like this.
Bell thought about his current state, he was injured, the bleeding had stopped, but his whole body was in bad shape, to reach the surface he would first have to climb up alone. It took them a month to get here, and who knows if he could get out.
And then he thought, what for? Everyone he knew had passed to the other side. Could he live a life like that?
A life without purpose, there was nothing left to do, he was alone. And very tired... The idea of burying the sword in his stomach was not degrading.
Before he could continue with his line of thought, something happened, something that made the fire inside him ignite with rage.
A flash, a vague memory suddenly assailed him.
Material ...
Another lump formed in her throat, that bastard who impregnated her was here too. And he too...
I'm sorry dear sister, I didn't save Alfia and I didn't save the father of your child either...
Once again his eyes opened, but this time with hope. He was not alone. Meteria was still alive. His little sister was alive.
But it wasn't time to give up, his sister was still alive. She just needed to go back. It was time to go up. And most importantly, in a few months he would have a nephew. How could he be so stupid as to forget him?! He wished he wasn't so tired that he could slap himself for being so stupid.
A thought stopped him dead in his tracks, Metería thinks that he and Alfia died. It would take him weeks to get up to the surface alone, it took them a month to get down here, and that was only because they had an army of adventurers.
"I have to go up, quickly. Meteria needs me."
One glance went to all the fallen, these were those who watched his back when he fought. His family.
Roooo
Alone, I needed to... Finish the job before returning.
His knife glowed incandescently, a light comparable to that of the sun that illuminated the entire room.
He left Alfia with Maxim , he didn't even try to look for Lysandra , there was no body to find, and Zald , he never found him, perhaps he was consumed by fire, after Alfia threw Genos Angelus on the dragon, I didn't remember much.
"N-No..." Tears began to flow again. "Warriors like you deserve a grave on the surface but, this is the best I can do, I won't let the monsters eat you or rot down here, I will remember each and every one of you. Until we meet again."
The cut occurred at the speed of light and after the flash, all the bodies disappeared.
Clarifications: Bell, Alfia and Meteria are bigothic triplets , yes, Bell is the addition there xd .
-I designated a floor limit because as I said, this is an AU story the dragon in this story was much weaker than the canon one, for a reason that is a spoiler.
The one-eyed dragon from Myth of the Twins (MOTT) will be much more brutal than this and virtually impossible, also related to a spoiler.
--Regulus and Roger are inspired by not the Cranel twins from MOTT but by Romulus and Remus, so they can get rid of the idea of brothers by stealing the other's girlfriend.
-Lysandra dies at the age of 34.
-Maxim at the age of 39.
-Alfia, Meteria, and Bell were born 31 years before Bell's canon birth.
-Bell is 17 years old.
-The 70th floor is the size of a country, Bell running at high speeds would take a whole day to get out.
-The current size of the one-eyed dragon is 5000 meters tall, with no exact estimate of its wingspan.
-The dragon's second attack is an obvious reference to a Bijuudama.
Since I killed Lili and basically spit on her entire character in MOTT, I'm going to give her a better life in this one, you'll see how.
Anyway, although MOTT is going to be my main project for now, I will also put love into this story and a later project I am planning.
Well, what am I doing starting another story when I tend to go on hiatus for months? I don't know, what I do know is that you should comment on this story with your opinions.
This is an AU, with invented things pseudo similar to canon but adapted, I know there will be inconsistencies with the timeline but I tell you, yes, and that is the point.
PS: Make sure to leave a comment, reading comments helps keep a constant update. And read my other story. In two days it will be updated . myth of the Twins . Bye