Talent Awakening: Draconic Overlord Of The Apocalypse
Chapter 465: • The Heart of The Storm Part Two

Chapter 465: • The Heart of The Storm Part Two

Alister faced the Emperor, his long black coat swaying.

Slowly, a wave of heat began to rise from his body.

A golden glow sparked around him, then erupted, enveloping his body in a radiant, pulsating aura that seemed to drink in the dungeon’s crimson mana.

His form began to change, growing larger, muscles rippling as white, black, and gold scales surged across his skin, encasing him in a draconic carapace that pulsed with energy.

Horns sprouted, curving upward with golden edges that gleamed like molten gold.

Massive wings tore from his back, their golden membranes thrumming, drawing faint wisps of the red mist into their folds.

His teeth sharpened, tusk-like fangs glinting, and his eyes narrowed into glowing, golden slits.

A strange, spiky halo appeared above his head.

This was his new combat form.

⫷『Notice: Draconic Rage activated. All stats +100%.』⫸

Alister glazed his claws, then threw back his head and roared—a primal bellow that shook the ruins, sending shockwaves that pushed back the red mist, clearing the entire city.

The ground quaked. The ruins were leveled. The air vibrated with his aura’s might. Driven had to use his embedded sword just to stay on his feet.

The Emperor was pushed back several feet, but he too managed to hold his ground.

But in that moment, the air—the same one he had been breathing all this while—suddenly felt heavy... unsettling. It was as if an invisible weight was now pressing upon him.

He gazed back at Alister. The Dragon Lord looked every bit as majestic as he was terrifying.

But beyond that—

There was this look in his eyes that gave off this...

This vague yet very tangible feeling of being pinned down.

It was beyond that feeling of a predator gazing at its prey—it was more like a god gazing down at an ant as it struggled to comprehend the concept of fire.

It was utterly crushing.

It was as if those eyes had threatened to deliver ruin, annihilation, and death.

No... it wasn’t a threat.

It was a promise.

There is this saying among beings who live long enough to truly understand life and all its mysteries:

"You can instantly know a person by the look they have in their eyes, for the eyes are the gateway to the soul... and the soul never lies. It remembers pain, harbors truth, and echoes the weight of every decision made. In that single glance, you see not who they pretend to be, but what they truly are—monster, martyr, or monarch."

And so one could tell capability from possibility, speculation from certainty, and hopeful delusions from painful inevitability.

The Emperor’s breath hitched.

For the first time in centuries, a flicker of fear crept into his heart.

Alister took a step forward, and the very earth beneath him cracked, golden veins of light spidering out from his feet. The pressure grew, suffocating and immense, like the judgment of an ancient god.

Alister then spoke in a low, mocking growl.

"Brace yourself."

The Emperor snarled, thrusting his staff—the crown spinning—as a wave of crimson tendrils lashed out, blood and mana twisting violently.

Alister moved—faster than sight—a golden blur so swift the Emperor’s gaze couldn’t follow, his aura sucking in the tendrils’ energy mid-flight, weakening them. In an instant, Alister appeared before the Emperor, his scaled hand clamping around the creature’s fleshy skull with bone-crushing force, his claws glowing.

"Seems you weren’t able to keep up," Alister said. "How unfortunate."

With a casual flick, Alister hurled the Emperor skyward like a broken toy, tearing through the sky like a meteor. The massive creature crashed through a crumbling tower in the far distance, debris exploding outward, blood spurting from his cracked exoskeleton.

The Emperor’s staff fell, clattering uselessly, as he slammed into another structure, coughing blood.

He managed to get to his feet.

He slowly lifted his trembling hands to his face, gazing down at them with widened eyes.

"W-what is this... this shuddering feeling?" He was truly curious. It had been thousands of years since he was last human. He had long since stopped feeling emotions toward anything. Only two feelings had ever stayed with him: loss and anger.

But this one was new.

Different... and overwhelming.

Suddenly, Alister appeared in the distance, his aura flaring, each step leaving golden cracks on the earth.

The sight of him made the Emperor tremble visibly.

He roared, thrusting a hand upward, summoning a reddish-black beacon from the hole in the sky, its chaotic energy aimed at Alister.

But Alister’s aura flared, causing the energy that blasted downward to not even touch him.

The Emperor staggered backward, disbelief etched across his mutated features as the divine storm of reddish-black energy fizzled inches away from Alister’s form. The golden aura around the Dragon Lord didn’t just protect him—it rejected the attack outright, as if even chaos itself bowed before his power.

"No... No!" the Emperor hissed, voice trembling with primal confusion. "That’s not possible!"

Alister stepped forward once more, golden cracks widening beneath his feet with each impact of his heel, as though the very world strained under the weight of his presence.

"Possible?" Alister echoed, voice calm but laced with venomous amusement. "I am the Lord of Dragons. You would be a fool to believe your preconceived understanding of possibility will apply to me."

He vanished again.

The Emperor’s eyes widened. He couldn’t see it. Couldn’t sense it.

"Behind you."

The whisper was like a voice inside his head, and before he could turn, a thunderous blow crashed into his side. His entire torso twisted unnaturally as he was launched like a broken comet, tumbling through the shattered remnants of a cathedral wall. Sacred murals and stained glass exploded into dust.

He crashed into the earth, coughing up more blood, ichor spilling from his mouth.

Alister didn’t give him time to recover.

In the blink of an eye, he was there—kneeling beside the fallen Emperor, talons gripping the ancient being’s face, hoisting it upward as he spoke.

"But then again, you are the fool of an emperor who reduced his world to a putrid wasteland, so perhaps wisdom isn’t the only thing you lack."