Ashen Dragon-Chapter 1242 - 275: Apocalypse and the Emperor

Accompanied by Felipe’s shouts, Kazuul merged with the five-colored shadow in the high sky, and the two figures exuding terrifying auras gradually overlapped.

The ancient Red Dragon’s grotesque, massive body exuded a nobility unique to a true god. A luxurious five-colored crown seemed to form on its head, and the stance of Tiamat appeared behind it.

"Roar——"

Kazuul raised his head, opened his bloodied maw, and let out a mighty roar that quickly spread from him as the center, stirring up dust like rippling waves.

In an instant, the Dragon Worshipers and priests within Sunset City knelt to the ground, their eyes vacant as they prayed, reciting ancient Draconic verses.

"When the wings extending to the sky rip dawn and dusk asunder, the ancient tyrant breaks free from his earthly prison!"

"The molten river rolling within his throat will blaze the gods’ crowns into ashes!"

"A pulse emanates from the scorched earth’s depths—the new era pulsates endlessly within the ashes!"

Kazuul flapped his wings, with the ashen clouds above his head spreading at unimaginable speed. In just a few breaths, they covered hundreds of miles as if a world-consuming giant beast devoured the entire world.

...

Not only on this battlefield but throughout the entire Seleucid Region, terrible disasters were happening everywhere.

"Gods..."

"The end surely has come..."

In this desperate darkness, people’s cries, wails, and calls seemed so faint.

The earth moaned, roared, and shattered.

Accompanied by violent shaking, the ground split open deep, bottomless fissures. Raging red magma erupted from those giant wounds, carrying the scent of burning everything, flowing wantonly, devouring the land.

As the lava meandered, houses melted like wax, stone towers toppled like dried grass, and life turned into charred silhouettes in an instant, swallowed by the hot torrent, leaving not even a wail behind.

In the cities hundreds of miles away within the Seleucid Region, the ground finally tore open, and scorching magma poured out, devouring cities like turbulent rivers. Under the licking of the lava, the tall towers twisted and collapsed like melting wax.

The ash was like an endless, boundless shroud, tightly wrapping the sky; daylight extinguished in an instant, leaving only thick, ink-like darkness.

The next moment, the sky cracked open, countless burning meteors plummeting down fiercely, tearing through the air, smashing into the world — the earth was pounded into huge craters, flames soared suddenly, and thick smoke spread turbulently.

The dark red light was no more than clotted blood flowing from the earth’s wounds, reflecting this lurking tragedy.

"Divine punishment, it’s divine punishment!"

"The doomsday rumors are true! We’ve angered the gods! The old epoch is about to end!"

"Kneel quickly! Only by worshipping the great Five-Colored Dragon Queen can we survive this apocalypse."

The once-glorious Holy Hall Square has now become a vortex of despair.

The crowd blindly fled through the streets, shoving and trampling each other amid the sulfurous mists and the pervasive ash, all to escape this purgatory.

The air was scorching hot, every breath like swallowing a heated knife, burning from the throat deep into the lungs.

Hoarse cries, dying wails mixed with the thunderous collapse of buildings, intertwined into a frenzied doomsday chorus.

Amid the chaotic crowd, a mother clutched her child tightly, scorching volcanic ash landing on the child’s face, causing the child to cry out in pain while she futilely tried to wipe it away.

In a corner of the city, the tattered old priest Patrick crumpled and knelt among the rubble, emitting hoarse sobs.

His once-clean sacred robe was now marred and filthy from the ash.

Patrick clutched the Sun Holy Emblem hanging from his chest tightly in both hands, raising it futilely toward the sky sealed by thick smoke and ash, his voice shattered beyond repair: "Why? Why is this happening?"

"Gods... have you truly abandoned us? O great Lord of Eternal Radiance, we were once your devout flock! Please respond to me, grant us even a sliver of light..."

Responding to him was merely another "Flame of Divine Punishment" that sharply streaked through the sky, crashing in the distance, completely obliterating a tall bell tower, leaving only the soaring flames and even denser black smoke.

The last glimmer of light in his eyes extinguished, his hands fell weakly, the Holy Emblem dropped into the heavy ash, immediately buried—the god he had devoted his life to had utterly abandoned him at this moment.

The nobles’ ornately decorated carriages, embellished with family crests, now seemed like clumsy iron coffins, making no headway through the chaotic crowds.

A corpulent noble was jostled off the carriage, rolling into the filthy mud and ash.

The gold embroidered dress was torn, and the ring set with a large gemstone was nowhere to be found. He waved his hands futilely, emitting sharp yells akin to slaughtered livestock, unbecoming of his status:

"Peasants! Move away! Do you know who I am? I am the Duke’s son—!"

"Move away!"

Yet in this apocalypse, order had utterly collapsed, and no one paid the noble any heed. Ash-smeared, suffocated, and fear-distorted faces numbly rushed past him, fleeing forward.

His badge, once a symbol of power, had been trampled by a dirt-stained foot, deeply embedded in the muddy ash.

And beneath a precarious broken wall at the edge of the square, Anna curled her body.

She shielded her young daughter Leia tightly in her arms, using her body as a fragile barrier against falling stones and burning winds.

"We’ll survive..."

She murmured meaningless comforting words repeatedly, her voice trembling as if deceiving herself.

Leia’s pale little face was buried deep in her mother’s tattered collar, each difficult, weak breath carrying the scent of ash.

Anna could feel the breathing of that small body in her arms growing ever weaker. She lowered her head, futilely trying to wipe the thick ash from the child’s face with her tattered sleeve.

"Don’t be afraid, Leia, mommy’s here..."

Anna’s voice was so weak it was like a sigh, "Look, it’s almost dawn..."

She lifted her head, gazing up at the ever-ashy sky, yearning for a miracle that simply did not exist.

Silent and pervasive, the ash kept falling.

The small life in her arms, once her source of endless warmth, was turning cold and stiff.

Only the ash continuously settled, on the child’s serene, sleep-like, lifeless face, and in the mother’s arm that quivered silently from sorrow.

In the distance, the crowd was also being buried in ash, ashen corpses piled haphazardly all over, the entire city seemingly devoured by this blackened aftermath.

...

On the battlefield, the officers and soldiers of the Allied Forces were equally plunged into deep despair.

Sky Battleships were shot down by meteors, trailing smoke as they plummeted from the sky, crashing to the ground, with explosions igniting towering flames.

People futilely shot arrows into the sky, cast spells, but they could not approach Kazuul, still a thousand meters high amidst the encircling fire clouds—this powerful ancient Red Dragon was like a true scourge, unassailable and undefeatable.

Hundreds of rockets ascended from the ground, pouring densely upon the ancient Red Dragon like rain, yet they were torn apart by a fierce flamestorm hundreds of meters away, unable to get any closer.

The Empire’s magic-guided legion, along with the Dragon Pact Warlocks, unleashed several large Ninth Tier Spells, interwoven beams of light, massive meteors, and freezing ice cones continuously assaulted the ancient Red Dragon, but they were easily extinguished by the divine power radiance surrounding it.

No matter how hard these spellcasters tried, it was but a mortal’s futile effort, unable to harm a being so close to divinity, one about to transcend the Material Plane.