Outside the void, silence reigned.
Where Leon once stood, a perfect sphere of darkness had taken his place, it was a black do that pulsed faintly, swallowing the light around it like a living shadow. The floor beneath it humd, with faint ripples spreading through the marble as though the do itself had weight beyond the physical.
Emperor Alexander Arman, ruler of the human domain, conqueror of a thousand battles found himself stunned. His expression, usually unreadable, flickered with sothing rare: confusion.
’What in the world... is happening?’
He knew what the process was supposed to look like. When soone bonded with Nigg’erite, the ore would instantly adapt to its wielder, its structure reshaping into whatever weapon best suited them. The process was clean, quiet and almost graceful. The material was prized precisely because it required no forging or manipulation, only will.
But what he saw now was sothing else entirely. The orb hadn’t transford. It had devoured the air around Leon, creating a do so black that it looked like a tear in space itself.
’This has never been recorded before,’ Alexander thought, eyes narrowing. He had witnessed countless weapon bondings, so even with powerful beings, but nothing even remotely like this. His mind raced through possibilities: interference, corruption, resonance instability, but none fit.
A dangerous thought crossed his mind. ’Should I intervene?’
If this phenonon was unstable, Leon could be in danger. Yet... even the emperor couldn’t sense what kind of power he was dealing with. The energy radiating from the do wasn’t chaotic or violent, it was ancient. Dense and Alive.
One wrong move could shatter the process or even tear Leon apart.
He clenched his fists, gaze hardening. ’No. Not yet. If I act blindly, I might do more harm than good.’
Behind him, Commander Markus watched in tense silence, his face pale but disciplined. To his left, Racheal and Adrian exchanged uncertain glances. Their confusion was written plainly on their faces, but beneath that confusion lingered worry, especially in Racheal’s eyes.
She couldn’t tell what exactly was happening, but she could feel it wasn’t right. The air was heavy, thick enough to breathe. Even Adrian, usually calm under pressure, found himself inching closer to the emperor, as though proximity could offer clarity.
Alexander’s expression didn’t soften. He could see the questions in their eyes, the fear that sothing had gone wrong. For a brief mont, he almost explained, but then he caught himself. He didn’t know enough to give answers.
Instead, he watched.
Minutes dragged on like hours, the do flickering faintly with faint, smoky ripples of light that seed to crawl along its surface.
Finally, the emperor exhaled. His voice, low and steady, broke the silence.
"I can still sense the boy’s presence within," he said. "His life force remains intact."
The relief that washed through the room was quiet but visible. Still, Alexander’s gaze sharpened, erald eyes glinting with resolve.
"But at the first sign of harm," he murmured, "I will intervene, no matter what it takes."
And so, an emperor, a commander, an elf, and a soldier stood together in the presence of that impossible black do, waiting in tense silence for whatever would erge from it.
****
Inside the do, agony tore through Leon like lightning through flesh. His body convulsed under invisible pressure, veins of molten light crawling up his skin as if the ore itself was burrowing into his soul. Every nerve scread. Every heartbeat felt like a hamr against steel.
His thoughts fractured under the weight of the pain. He couldn’t form words, only half-ford fragnts flickered in his mind.
’What... is happening...?’
Above him, the ancient voice of Originus trembled. Its presence, once calm and boundless like the stars, now quivered with confusion.
’This isn’t right.’
The dragon’s voice echoed within the void, its planetary pupils expanding in alarm. ’The process should be seamless. The bond must never cause pain... So why is it hurting him?’
It searched through the endless sea of mories it carried, millennia of bonds, of wielders, of chosen ones and found nothing like this. The fusion between Nigg’erite and a being’s essence was supposed to be pure, harmonious. But with Leon... the ore was fighting him.
Then, realization struck. Originus’s vast eyes dilated in shock.
’How could I have overlooked such a thing...?’
Leon wasn’t simply human anymore. Nor was he rely a primordial. What now stood within the do was sothing entirely new a being whose very existence defied the order of Pandora. In its eagerness to connect with soone of such boundless potential, the dragon had ignored a crucial truth.
’He is no longer bound to this world’s essence...’
Originus’s voice dropped to a whisper that shook the void. ’Could it be... because deep down, he no longer belongs to this realm?’
Leon’s existence was an enigma, part mortal, part sothing unrecorded. A reincarnated soul, carrying the essence of another world within him. The bond wasn’t rely connecting to a spirit, it was colliding with two realities at once.
The ancient dragon’s tail coiled, its vast form trembling. ’If this continues... ’ it thought bitterly, ’I will be responsible for ending a life that could have reshaped creation itself. I cannot bear such a sin.’
It prepared to intervene, to sever the bond before the boy’s life burned away.
But then, through the haze of pain, Leon’s voice broke through, raw and defiant.
"Don’t... do anything!"
Originus froze. The boy’s aura, though flickering, blazed with willpower so intense it silenced even the ancient.
’Such... will?’ the dragon thought, its tone shifting from alarm to awe. ’He’s being torn apart and yet he resists?’
"Stop!" Originus thundered, its divine voice shaking the do. "If we continue, it will kill you!"
Leon gritted his teeth, forcing the words out between ragged breaths. "Then I’ll die either way."
The dragon’s gaze widened, those enormous eyes reflecting the image of the boy standing amid agony, unbroken.
’What... have I done?’ Originus whispered.
For the first ti in countless eras, the Ancient Dragon of Creation felt fear,
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