Chapter 910: Endless Strife
"H-huh...?"
The wind howled, carrying with it the scent of ash and blood.
The ruins of the capital lay beneath the two figures, their auras suffusing the air with raw, untamed energy.
The Dragon Emperor K'arba'diel stood tall, his crimson scales glinting under the shattered sky, while Rey glared back, his golden aura flickering and pulsating like a living flame.
For the first time in centuries, K'arba'diel was injured. His severed arm hung limp in the chaos around them before disintegrating into ash.
Despite his earlier smugness, his expression was now one of alarm and fury.
"How is this possible?!" the Dragon Emperor roared, clutching the bleeding stump where his
arm once was.
Rey's voice was cold and resolute. "I told you already. You'll soon be dead."
With that, he surged forward, his body cloaked in energy so potent that the very air screamed as it split around him.
K'arba'diel barely raised his remaining hand in time, conjuring a barrier of molten light. ~CRASH!!!~
Rey's strike shattered the barrier, sending shockwaves rippling across the already desolate landscape. The ground cracked and split as waves of destruction radiated outward, leveling what little remained of the capital.
"Guh!"
K'arba'diel stumbled back, summoning another barrier to absorb Rey's relentless assault, but it cracked under the strain.
The Dragon Emperor's lips curled into a snarl.
"Enough!" he roared, invoking [Reset].
The world shimmered for an instant, reality twisting and rearranging itself. The battlefield returned to its pristine state, the ruins vanishing as if they'd never existed.
The sky cleared, the earth healed, and even K'arba'diel's severed arm was restored.
But before he could celebrate, Rey's voice rang out like a thunderclap.
"[Reset]."
The world warped again, reverting to the apocalyptic wasteland it had been moments before. K'arba'diel staggered, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"You-how can you keep-?!"
Rey wasted no time.
A blade of pure energy formed in his hand, its edge crackling with crimson and gold. He slashed downward, the attack tearing through the air with unrelenting force.
~WHOOOOOSH!~
The blade cleaved into K'arba'diel's chest, splitting his armor-like scales and drawing a torrent of dark, viscous blood.
The Dragon Emperor let out a guttural roar, his massive form crashing into the ground with enough force to create a crater.
Yet even as his blood pooled around him, K'arba'diel raised his clawed hand.
"I am the Dragon Emperor! I can not...will not fall to a mere human!"
Despite sustaining what should have been a fatal blow from an ultimate blatbamade with [Divine Weapon Creation] infused with [Perfect Divine Ray], while also featuring [World Destruction], the Dragon Emperor did not perish.
Why?
His Passive Skill [Evil Personified] prevented his existence from being erased from reality. Hence... he was immortal.
"No matter how long it takes... I will keep trying." Rey whispered.
"Zip it, vile filth!"
With a roar of defiance, Kar'ba'diel invoked [Reset] once more, this time concentrating its power on his injured form.
The damage to his body vanished instantly, his scales shining with renewed vitality. He surged upward, meeting Rey's next attack head-on.
~BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!~
Their clash sent shockwaves through the air, obliterating everything in their vicinity.
********
Days passed.
The two combatants were locked in a noststop struggle, their attacks ripping apart the land and reshaping it again and again.
Each time Rey dealt a devastating blow, K'arba'diel invoked [Reset], erasing the damage.
Each time K'arba'diel unleashed his ultimate abilities, Rey countered with his own [Reset], nullifying the devastation.
Since they both had the same kinds of abilities-with Rey having a more diverse but useless set of Skills—the fight seemed to be at a stalemate.
The battles grew fiercer, their techniques more desperate.
K'arba'diel called upon his arsenal of forbidden spells, conjuring storms of fire and rivers of
dark molten rock, but Rey met each attack with equal ferocity.
His golden blades clashed with the Dragon Emperor's chaos-forged weaponry, their
collisions creating bursts of light that could be seen for miles.
Even when the Emperor utilized the abilities of his now deceased subordinates-particularly that of the Old Dragon Lord S'ith-it was useless to Rey's similar arsenal.
It was almost like the Dragon Emperor was fighting against himself.
-An impossible task.
*************
Weeks passed.
The wasteland bore the scars of their unending battle. Mountains were leveled, rivers evaporated, and the earth itself was scorched black.
At this point, the entire Dragon Empire was in shambles. Yet neither combatant could claim
victory.
K'arba'diel's [Evil Personified] ensured his immortality, while Rey's relentless spirit and newfound powers allowed him to keep pace with the unkillable Dragon Emperor.
Their strikes grew slower, their breaths heavier, but neither would yield.
Then... Months passed.
The toll of the battle was evident.
K'arba'diel's once-imposing form now seemed worn, his scales chipped and dulled. His claws, once razor-sharp, were cracked and bloody. Rey fared no better. His golden aura flickered weakly, his body battered and bruised from the countless blows he had endured.
Yet still, they fought.
Even in his full draconic form, Kar'ba'diel could not vanquish Rey.
It all seemed so pointless... yet they continued their battle.
On and on... and on!
*******
"Haaa... haaa..."
"Наааа..."
As the battle dragged into nearly a year, the two combatants found themselves once again in
the ruined remains of the capital.
The ground was scorched, the air thick with the stench of burnt earth and blood.
Rey stood hunched over, his breaths ragged, his energy all but spent. Across from him, K'arba'diel leaned on his massive blade, his once-proud posture now slouched.
"This... is pointless..." K'arba'diel growled, his voice strained. "No matter how many times you strike me down, I will rise again. My [Evil Personified] ensures it."
"And no matter how many times you reset," Rey countered, his voice equally strained, "I will undo it. We're trapped in this cycle, and you know it."
The two stared at each other, the weight of their year-long battle pressing down on them. For the first time, there was no immediate clash, no violent exchange of blows. Just silence,
broken only by the crackling of embers in the ruined city around them.
Despite the entire battle being a year, in reality, barely an hour had passed.
The world kept resetting and reverting, so it was hardly as if any moment had actually elapsed
since the fight began.
The two were stuck in a fixed moment.
Rey could reset the world beyond his fight with the Lords to save Alicia, and the Dragon
Emperor could not revert to the death of his subordinates so he could save their lives and use
them as backup.
The two kept interfering with their respective Skills due to their overlapping abilities.
Yet again... an impossible fight.
"Is this what you want? Fighting me like this for all eternity?" Kar'ba'diel groaned, his breath
heavy. "As long as you're not the Hero, you can't break the cycle and-!"
"I don't care."
Rey's voice was clearly irreverent.
All he cared about was the death of the enemy before him—a cold and heartless approach to
achieve his goal.
It wasn't an illogical one too.
"One of us is bound to give out in the end. Our Skills run on Mana, and Mana is finite. Those
numbers might be huge... but they'll run out eventually." Rey thought aloud. "Once that
happens... you're dead."
"You'll be dead first!" Kar'ba'diel answered with a bright grin.
The two of them glared at each other and readied themselves for yet another round of battle.
This time, it would probably be the decisive round.
Then-
~SHIIIIIINNNGGGG!!!~
-Without warning, a blinding light enveloped the battlefield.