I Received System to Become Dragonborn-Chapter 1220: Alone

Thar’Zul-Vekar thrust both hands forward and their power answered without hesitation.

Blinding emerald and gold Magic light surged from their body in vast streams. It was ancient Magic woven with a lifeforce older than the oldest kingdoms in this world.

Roots of radiance speared upward and branches of force blooming as they slammed into the descending dark sky, trying to halt its fall by sheer divine will.

For a brief moment, the darkness slowed.

However, a moment later the sky reacted.

The red lightning intensified and cracked violently through the clouds as the darkness thickened and pressed back.

BOOM!

The collision sent shockwaves rippling across the sky and Thar’Zul-Vekar felt it immediately.

Something slipped through the barrier of their Magic. Not the power of force they usually felt when fighting, but corruption.

It seeped along their Magic power like poison crawling through veins.

Thar’Zul-Vekar gasped as the foreign presence brushed their body. The divine bark on their body flickered and patches of verdant light dimming as a cold suffocating sensation spread through them.

Images forced their way into their mind. It was visions of themselves frozen within that sky with mouth open in a silent scream, eyes hollow and empty, bound alongside countless other tortured souls.

Fear hit the ancient god deep. Not fear of pain, but fear of becoming part of that abomination.

They snarled, roared, and forced more power outward, trying to purge the intrusion. But the darkness resisted. The corruption clung to them.

Then the sky split.

Massive black tentacles moved free from the dark clouds, each one was as thick as a mountain trunk. Their surfaces writhing.

Along their edges ran faint lines of corrupted gold, which was a power that now twisted and defiled.

They slammed downward, colliding directly with Thar’Zul-Vekar’s light.

The impact shook the world.

Roots of light shattered. Branches of force snapped apart as the tentacles wrapped, crushed, and tore through the forest god’s Magic.

Thar’Zul-Vekar was hurled backward, their body skidding through the air as their aura flickered violently.

They barely stabilized themselves. Their breaths were ragged, power surging just to stay aloft.

"No..." they whispered, shock cutting through their fear.

They pushed back.

Drawing deeper than before, Thar’Zul-Vekar forced lifeforce from every awakened forest below. Rivers of green light surged upward again, slamming into the tentacles and forcing them back inch by inch. Leaves of energy burned away the corruption where they touched, and for a moment the god reclaimed ground.

But the resistance grew heavier.

The sky pressed harder. The tentacles multiplied.

Thar’Zul-Vekar felt their strength straining. Their divine body creaking under pressure as if this pressure was meant for beings far beyond just ancient gods like them.

The name surfaced in their mind with sudden, terrible clarity. The entity was named Zerathul.

"This is his power now?" they muttered with disbelief shaking their voice.

The realization made them shudder in fear.

If this was Zerathul’s strength after absorbing Krono, if this was merely his advance not his full power ,then Thar’Zul-Vekar did not know how long they could hold. Their power flared defiantly but doubt crept in alongside the corruption.

However, the god still planted themselves in the sky once more. Roots of light anchored them and branches of light spread wide.

Even if they could not stop it forever, they would slow it. They had to.

Because if they fell before Erend and the others came back, the world below would also fall.

Then an unbidden and horrifying dark thought slipped through Thar’Zul-Vekar’s mind.

If the corruption fully took hold of them, they would not simply die. They would become part of that sky. Another frozen figure among the screaming masses, their divinity stripped away and their will reduced to endless agony.

The thought made their focus waver.

Just for an instant. But that instant was enough.

The tentacles pressed harder. Their corrupted weight crashing down with renewed force.

Thar’Zul-Vekar grunted as their Magic buckled. Roots of light bending and fracturing under the pressure. The corruption surged again. Crawling deeper along their power as if making use of the god’s momentary hesitation.

Fear tightened around their chest.

Then a voice echoed through the sky.

It was male voice. Not carried by sound, but imposed directly into their existence.

"What is this?"

The words rolled across the violent sky like a slow, heavy and absolute tide.

"Are you trying to stop me?"

Thar’Zul-Vekar’s eyes widened.

The darkness ahead of them changed. The clouds fold inward as if making space for something huge. Slowly, a face emerged from the descending sky. That face was so massive that it filled their vision entirely.

Tentacles hung from beneath its nose and jaw, writhing lazily. Its skin was dark and smooth and filled with countless golden lines running across it like cracked molten seams.

Two enormous golden eyes opened fully and locked onto Thar’Zul-Vekar.

They felt like the eyes were looking directly at their soul.

Thar’Zul-Vekar did not answer. Because they could not. The pressure alone crushed the air from their lungs and every effort was spent just keeping their Magic from collapsing entirely.

A low, amused resonance followed. "Your power is small, it cannot hold me."

The tentacles tightened again, crushing down with deliberate cruelty.

"Where are the Dragonborns?" the voice continued with curiosity and disdain. "Are they running away from me like cowards?"

Thar’Zul-Vekar clenched their teeth. Their hands shook as they forced more lifeforce outward, refusing to yield, even as cracks of dimness spread across the bark around their body.

They knew then. Without doubt. That this voice belonged to the entity named Zerathul.

And in that moment, Thar’Zul-Vekar understood something terrifyingly clear. This was not a fragment or an avatar. Not a distant projection.

This was Zerathul’s true presence pressing into the world.

And it was far beyond what they could endure alone.

If they continued like this, they would die.

If they tried to hold him back without Erend and the others, their body and soul would be destroyed, swallowed into the screaming sky forever.

Yet still, Thar’Zul-Vekar did not retreat.

Their power flared weakly but stubbornly, roots of light digging in once more as they braced themselves against the impossible weight.

They would hold the line right here even knowing it would not be enough.

—