SSS Class Infinite Regression: Ascension of the Mad Dragon Prince Chapter 24: Ashen Wyrm [2]

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"The First Sinner War...?" Louis wondered. Information from the lore William had read flooded his mind as though he had just finished a book on the subject. "Oh, that..."

"There were two, both short but devastating to the planet’s surface," his father explained. "The first occurred when Nine Suns created the Binding Crucible after crushing the combined military forces of China, Korea, and India... The second happened in Africa when the Abyssal Mother transford the entire continent into the Weeping Nest."

"How awful," Louis sighed. "And to think such entities have now set their sights on our Kingdom... Why can’t that woman mind her own business?"

"I don’t know. Her goal doesn’t seem to be rely creating her own Fantasy Realm," Gustaf replied. "Whatever the case, please step onto the platform, son," he instructed, activating the console. "I’ll begin with a passive scan. It shouldn’t even bother you."

Louis complied, standing tall as the rings began to rotate around him, each glowing with a different hue. His Aura responded instinctively, flaring with iridescent light before condensing into a dark spiral that hovered just above his heart.

"Initializing Spiral Resonance Matrix," Gustaf muttered, fingers dancing across the console. "Let’s see what you’re hiding, Ashen Wyrm..."

The chamber dimd. The rings pulsed, their energy reaching Louis and prompting his Spiral to react with its own powerful pulse.

Then—

FLASH!

A surge of black-gold light erupted from Louis’s chest, disrupting the rings and causing them to malfunction abruptly. The machinery groaned. Runes flickered. One ring cracked.

"Damn it!" Gustaf cursed, slamming the failsafe. "It’s resisting the scan—no, it’s feeding on it?!"

"W-What’s happening?! Ngh! You said it wouldn’t hurt!" Louis growled. "You lied to !"

"Wait, Louis! I didn’t lie—I just didn’t know your Spiral would react this way!" his father exclaid.

Louis gritted his teeth, his body trembling as the Hollow Spiral expanded. The air in the laboratory grew still. All light vanished. Gustaf and Louis found themselves suspended in a pitch-black void.

"W-What is this place?!" Gustaf looked around frantically. "A Fantasium Domain?! No... this is Psychic Power?! A Mind Domain that infiltrated my head without noticing! Louis! Louis, are you— Ah!"

And then he saw it.

Gustaf’s eyes widened as sothing erged from a spiral of ashes floating above his son’s chest.

Louis’s Spiral revealed a coiling wyrm-shaped silhouette within. Its eyes opened—eight of them—each staring into the lab, into Gustaf, into the world.

"...It’s sentient?! This isn’t the Incarnation, is it?" Gustaf asked desperately.

"Go...! Go back!" Louis roared, seizing the creature and forcing it back inside his Fantasy Heart. He vomited blood.

Then the darkness vanished. Louis and Gustaf returned to the lab as if nothing had happened. Louis even realized he had not actually vomited blood.

"What the fuck was that...?" Louis muttered, annoyed. "Y-You made that thing co out of ...!"

"No, Louis, you don’t understand!" his father said urgently. "That thing is inside your Spiral...! It’s almost like so kind of sealed entity..."

"Sealed entity?!" Louis repeated.

"Whenever soone awakens a Spiral, they hear verses whispered into their minds by sothing else—sothing we’re still trying to identify, though most believe it’s the Spiral Voice itself," Gustaf explained. "But that’s beside the point. When you heard that voice, what did it tell you about the Ashen Wyrm Spiral?"

"...! T-That’s..." Louis quickly recalled the entity’s words.

{The Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm}

["When the First Dragon died, its soul did not ascend—it coiled inward, forming a Spiral of ash and mory. Those who walk its path do not live. They persist."]

[A forbidden Spiral born from the corpse of a dying world-serpent. It is the only Spiral that begins at death and spirals inward, not upward. Each tier is a descent into deeper taphysical hollowness, where the soul is slowly devoured by the Spiral itself. Yet, paradoxically, this devouring grants power—if the bearer can retain identity long enough to reach the Spiral’s core.]

[You have beco the {Ashen Heir}, born of dragon fla and human fragility. Fated to beco the {Fate Bearer}’s antagonist, you instead seek to rewrite the Spiral itself. Each death you suffer feeds the Spiral but also reveals a deeper truth. You cannot awaken your dragon powers because they were sealed by the Spiral itself—until you reach its core.]

"It’s..." Louis hesitated to reveal the truth but ultimately decided to share it. "Well..."

When Gustaf heard what his son described, he was utterly awestruck. Never had he encountered a Spiral born from the corpse of a dead entity, a "world serpent" or whatever it was. Moreover, this Spiral promised that at Tier 0, within its Core, Louis would finally gain his rightful Dragon Form.

"Louis, your Spiral isn’t just anomalous. It’s a sealed entity. A Fantasium-bound consciousness," Gustaf said. "I don’t know how else to explain it... We’ll need to analyze the data we managed to capture. Luckily, the scan worked to so degree."

Louis exhaled slowly, his voice low. "I guess I always knew the origin of my Spiral wasn’t normal. At the sa ti, I didn’t want to reveal what it was... Maybe I feared a reaction like the one you just had." He sat down, lost in thought.

"No, son, it’s fine," Gustaf said quietly. "I’m not saying it’s necessarily bad, but... that thing could potentially be so kind of Grievance."

"Grievance?" Louis asked.

"Even now, fifty years after the Dinsional Convergence, after the Dinsional Labyrinth appeared, after Anomalies erged from Fantasy Worlds, after Entities manifested from Dinsional Rifts, and after Sinners began being born across the globe... we still don’t fully understand what Fantasium truly is," Gustaf said. "However, we do know one thing: Fantasium is not rely a substance. Every particle acts as a gate to an alternate dinsion, a plane we’re still working to na. And that dinsion, that plane... it is very much alive."

"...!" Louis recalled what the entity within his soul had said about Fantasy being a cancer upon the Universe, slowly destroying it. "...What?"

"It is as I said. Grievances are... for lack of a better term, fragnts of the purest form of Fantasium—of this living Dinsion, or sothing," Gustaf said, shaking his head. "Your Spiral... how did you awaken it?"

"...It’s complicated," Louis replied. "I absorbed so of the Resonance Heart’s power while I was dying... and then I obtained that power. My wounds healed, and I heard that verse."

"I see... You were dying?!" Gustaf panicked for a mont, quickly taking so pills and drinking his coffee. "Haaa... You really make your father go crazy with worry, Louis."

"...I’m sorry, but I don’t regret my decisions, father," Louis said. "I did what I needed to do..."

"I know..." Gustaf shook his head, lighting a cigarette to calm himself before sitting down. "So... that thing could be a Grievance. And now Grievances... I suppose you don’t know much about them, right? To most people, they’re worse than Entities. But the difference isn’t only in strength. What turns an Entity into a Grievance is its connection to the Dinsional Labyrinth, to the Fantasium Dinsion, and... to Emotions."

"...Emotions?" Louis raised an eyebrow.

"Most Grievances weren’t born from nothing. So erged from the destruction of entire worlds. Others were once soone—an Alien, an Anomaly, or sothing—that transford into a monstrosity after their Mind, Soul, and Heart were shattered," Gustaf explained. "There are so many variables, but each is unique, even more so than ordinary Entities."

"So you’re saying the Ashen Wyrm is a unique Grievance holding an inconsumable power?" Louis asked. "But why did it choose then?"

"Maybe you were the most compatible. I don’t know," Gustaf replied. "Spirals aren’t usually like this... and it stated it was dead, right? Perhaps your Fantasy Heart resonated with it. This isn’t the typical ’chosen one’ scenario. I would have preferred a hundred tis over that you had awakened a known Spiral so I would know how to handle it..."

"It’s fine," Louis said, standing up. "I guess you... did what you could. Nonetheless, you will still make that equipnt you promised, right?"

"I will work on it," his father nodded.

"Speaking of equipnt, I would like to et the Kingdom’s Royal Blacksmith, the one chosen by my mother years ago," Louis said. "I want to commission sothing from him. I have the Resonance Heart."

"So you wanted to et Sir Dorfus?" Gustaf asked. "Ah, I an... it’s not impossible, but it’s also not easy."

"What’s wrong, father? Don’t tell you’re afraid of that dwarf?" Louis asked, raising an eyebrow. "I need a new weapon, a personal weapon I can truly call my own. I’m tired of using garbage that breaks after a short ti. I want a special Artifact that I can later link to my Soul, possibly with the potential to evolve into Soul Gear as well."

"Hah, you’re asking for a lot, my son," Gustaf said. "Sir Dorfus is a very busy man... Don’t misunderstand, he loves his work, but I would say that’s the only thing he loves."

"Your little scan just put through a lot of pain, so how about you make up for it and introduce to that gentleman?" Louis asked with a smile. "Maybe your son will forgive you if you do."

"I guess I can’t decline now," Gustaf said, rolling his eyes. "Okay, let’s go."

Gustaf stood, brushing ash from his coat as the lab’s lights dimd behind them. "We’ll take the direct route. I’ll send a request to the Royal Armory, but Dorfus doesn’t respond to titles or bureaucracy. If he doesn’t like you, he won’t forge a damn thing... I know it sounds ridiculous, but your mother appointed a man like him to that position."

Louis smirked. "Then I’ll make him like ."

"Or you’ll make him hate you more," Gustaf muttered, tapping his wrist console. "He’s stationed in the Deep Forge, Floor 94. You’ll need clearance, and I’ll have to vouch for you personally."

As they left the lab, both entered the elevator and descended dozens of floors for several minutes until they reached Floor 94. The Fantasium-lined walls gave way to reinforced alloy and ancient stone. The air grew thick with heat and tallic dust.

"Dorfus doesn’t just forge weapons. He crafts Artifacts. Soul-bound, evolution-capable, Fantasium-reactive constructs. He’s the best we have. Our technology can’t even compare to his craftsmanship," Gustaf said. "In Yggdrasil, he was known as the son of the Great Onyx Hamr Venerable, a Legendary Dwarf God. He learned everything directly from his father. Benladra always said the man was incredibly grumpy and strict, so no wonder his son turned out rather... eccentric. Hah, but that’s hypocritical coming from ."

"Hm?" Louis raised an eyebrow. "Define eccentric."

"He once threw a Tier 9 Spiralwalker Agent into a slting pit for asking him to ’make sothing flashy.’"

"Oh?" Louis chuckled. "Sounds like the kind of man I’ll get along with."

The elevator rumbled through layers of reinforced bedrock until it opened into a vast cavern illuminated by molten rivers and rune-forged anvils. The heat was oppressive, but Louis barely flinched. His Fantasy Heart pulsed faintly, absorbing the ambient Fantasium like a sponge. The prince quickly realized this was a Contained Pocket Realm within the deepest layers of VPI HQ, the environnt was far too distinct to be anything else.

"There he is," Gustaf said.

"Hm?" Louis looked into the distance.

At the center of the forge stood a squat, broad-shouldered figure wrapped in a mantle of dragonhide and soot-stained runes. His beard was braided with tal wire, and his eyes glowed like embers.

He was surrounded by several workers, half Dwarves, half Fire Giants, the two races from Yggdrasil capable of withstanding this heat and enjoying such heavy labor. Many large Golems with blazing heart cores, crafted by Dorfus himself, served as guardians.

Gustaf and Louis approached. Many of Dorfus’ apprentices and disciples noticed them and bowed to the prince and the king.

But the dwarf they approached did not bow.

"Gustaf," the dwarf grunted without turning, still hamring what appeared to be a plate made from hard, Entity-derived tal. "You brought a brat."

"I brought you my son," Gustaf replied, sighing. "Louis, this is Dorfus. Dorfus, this is my son Louis. This is the first ti you two have t formally."

That made Dorfus pause. He turned slowly, eyes scanning Louis with the precision of a master craftsman. "You’re that crippled brat who couldn’t turn into a dragon, aren’t you?"

"Yes, that’s , Sir Dorfus," Louis nodded. "I want a weapon. One that can grow with . One that won’t break when I face the Church." He spoke directly, almost demanding.

Dorfus snorted. "You want a Soul Gear! Hahaha! Look at this damn brat! He thinks he can just ask to make him Soul Gear?!"

The disciples exchanged glances and laughed quietly, though they quickly fell silent under Louis’s sharp gaze.

"Is there any way for you to craft a weapon? Preferably a spear?" Louis asked, revealing sothing precious.

"A Resonance Heart?!" Dorfus’s eyes lit up with fascination. "I haven’t seen one of these in ages! They’re such rare, natural crystals, said to grow only inside the Dinsional Labyrinth or, very rarely, within Fantasy Fields...!"

"Indeed!" Louis said. "And I will give you the privilege of working with this precious material—as long as you make the spear I want."

"Heh..." The dwarf grinned, showing white teeth. "Fine! All right, ’your majesty’! I will do it... But you’ll forge it with . I don’t make weapons for cowards. You’ll bleed, you’ll burn, and if you survive... you’ll wield sothing worthy of your Spiral."

"...What?!" Louis clicked his tongue. "I don’t have ti to hamr away at stone! In a week we must depart, old man."

"Hoh, you’re one damn insolent bastard," Dorfus said. "Son of Lady Benladra or not, I won’t hesitate to smash your face with this burning hamr the next ti you call ’old man.’ Understood?"

"Understood," Louis smiled. "Then how about decrepit old bastard? Maybe stupid, arrogant dwarf? If it wasn’t for my mother, you wouldn’t even be here. How about showing so respect to her son?"

"Louis?!" Gustaf asked in disbelief. "Wait, Dorfus, he’s my son!"

"You dare speak to like you’re above ?!" Dorfus roared, his Aura blazing with imnse Mana. "What your mother did for has nothing to do with you, damn crippled child! You’re a disappointnt to your family! How about I burn that petty face of yours and teach you humility for once?!"

"How about this?" Louis countered, his own Aura surging. "Let’s fight! If you only value violence, then let’s do violence! If I defeat you, you’ll do what I say. If you win, you can take that heart from ."

"Heh... you think that just because you’re a Prince you can tell what to do?!" Dorfus growled. "But fine! Let’s see you try, little lizard prince!"

In that instant, Prince Louis Drakeheart Yggdrasil and Dorfus Onyx Hamr clashed, sending shockwaves of fla and ice roaring across the forge.

"I definitely didn’t teach him to act this way..." Gustaf facepald. "I’m sorry, Dorfus..."

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