I Received System to Become Dragonborn-Chapter 1241: Calling

Erend felt it clearly now. This was the moment. He needed to summon Khepra-Ankh before it was too late.

With Zerathul’s time power still fractured and unstable, the ancient being was vulnerable enough to be fought by usual close combat means. But if that power fully awakened again, the battle would tip beyond control just like before.

Zerathul lifted his head and fixed his gaze on Erend. The tentacles around his mouth and nose flailed violently, writhing as if they shared his rage.

Black energy pulsed along his body, reacting to the cracks spreading through the rings that bound his time power.

Then Zerathul roared and surged forward.

Erend reached inward without hesitation. His consciousness plunged deep into the system, past his pain, fear, and his exhaustion. He reached for the presence he had held back for so long.

Khepra-Ankh.

The connection snapped into place instantly.

"I will come soon," the Psychopomp Dragon said, his voice echoing through Erend’s mind.

"Yeah. Hurry," Erend answered urgently, teeth clenched as power trembled through his body. "I mean it. You have to come quick."

Zerathul closed the distance in a blink of an eye.

Erend surged forward to meet him, refusing to retreat even a single step.

Fire and lightning exploded from his body as the two collided again, claws and necrotic blade crashing together in a deafening impact that tore the sky apart.

Their bodies slammed against each other, force against force, neither yielding as shockwaves rolled outward and shattered the clouds around them.

Above, the sky burned.

Far below, Eccar and Aesa hung suspended in midair.

Roots of radiant light wrapped around their massive bodies, cradling them before they could strike the ground.

Thar’Zul-Vekar had acted in time, his Magic forming living tendrils of energy that anchored them dozens of meters above the earth. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Both Dragons remained in their Dragon bodies, but the damage was severe. Blood and raw Magic energy seeped from cracked scales and torn wings, flowing down into the glowing roots that held them aloft.

King Gulben hovered nearby, his expression grim. Aurdis floated beside him, eyes wide with fear she did not voice. Aerchon, Arty, Adrien, and Billy gathered close, while Saeldir, Adrius, Sylmira, and Lysander formed a loose circle around the wounded Dragons.

No one needed to speak it aloud. If Eccar and Aesa had fallen like this, then Zerathul’s power truly stood on another level.

"I will treat them," Aurdis said, already moving.

"I will help," Sylmira added without hesitation.

The two healers reached the suspended Dragons at once.

Aurdis placed her hands against Aesa’s shattered wing and scarred body, warm healing Magic flowing steadily into the Ice Dragon.

Sylmira turned to Eccar, her Magic sinking into cracked stone scales and stabilizing the wounds.

Above them all, the battle raged on.

"How did it become like this?" Billy asked, his eyes never leaving Eccar and Aesa as healing light flowed over their wounded bodies. "Didn’t we become stronger after the Dungeon World?"

King Gulben exhaled slowly, his gaze lifting toward the burning sky.

"We are strong," he said evenly. "But our enemy is stronger. What you are seeing is a living embodiment of dark power. And on top of that, he possesses time authority. This battle was never meant to be simple."

Billy clenched his fists and cursed under his breath. He understood the logic. He truly did. Yet frustration gnawed at him all the same.

They had survived horrors in the Dungeon World. They had grown, bled, and pushed past their limits. And still, it felt like they were standing at the edge of something far beyond them.

The others felt it too. Adrien’s jaw was tight. Aerchon’s fingers twitched uneasily. Arty stared upward in silence, her eyes tracking the distant clash of titanic forces.

"We can’t just stay like this," Arty said suddenly. She pointed toward the sky. "Look at the debris."

They followed her gaze. Above them, Erend and Zerathul’s battle tore chunks of shattered terrain and condensed power loose with every collision.

Massive fragments spiraled downward, burning, cracking, and accelerating toward the battlefield below.

Arty swallowed hard but did not look away.

"My brother is fighting a monster up there. And everything falling from that fight will kill people down here if we do nothing. This isn’t the time to stand still."

"She’s right," Saeldir said, his expression grim.

King Gulben straightened, authority settling over him like a mantle.

"Alright. We move again," he ordered. "All of us will intercept the debris and protect the field."

He turned briefly toward Aurdis and Sylmira. "You two stay with Eccar and Aesa. Do what you must."

Aurdis met his eyes and nodded. "We will, father."

Sylmira gave a sharp nod as well, already pouring more Magic into Eccar’s shattered scales.

The rest rose together, their Magic igniting.

King Gulben led the charge as they flew upward toward the raining destruction, meeting the falling debris head-on while far above.

—

Up above, Erend felt himself being pushed closer and closer to the edge.

Even in his Lightning Dragon body, with speed pushed to its extreme, he could not fully keep up with Zerathul anymore.

The ancient being’s movements bent unnaturally, his position shifting faster than Erend could perfectly track. Slashes still found their mark. Necrotic energy tore across Erend’s scales, ripping pain through his body and forcing snarls from his throat.

But it was not one-sided.

Erend’s claws and lightning still struck true. Fire detonated at point-blank range. Each time Zerathul overextended Erend punished him, tearing chunks of warped flesh free and blasting black energy apart in violent bursts.

Zerathul was being hit too.

Erend did not realize it at first, but the ancient terror was struggling.

Inside Zerathul, his mind was split in two. One part of his consciousness strained relentlessly at the broken seals, pouring power and will into undoing the rings that restrained his time authority.

The other part focused solely on Erend, driving his body forward in a storm of aggression, refusing to let his opponent breathe.

That division showed.

His movements, while terrifying, lost a fraction of their former cohesion.

His attacks grew heavier and more forceful, but slightly less precise.

Then the sound came.

A sharp, echoing crack rang out across the skies.

Erend’s eyes widened as one of the fractured rings around Zerathul’s body shattered completely, fragments of distorted light bursting outward and dissolving into the air.

Another crack followed. Then another, and another.

Seal rings broke one by one, exploding into shards of Magic power that screamed as they vanished.

With each destruction, the pressure in the sky intensified. Space trembled. The flow of the battle warped, stretching and snapping in subtle, horrifying ways again.

Zerathul threw his head back and roared, the sound no longer just rage, but triumph clawing its way free.

Erend felt it immediately.

The air thickened. His movements felt heavier.

Fear surged again, sharper than before.

"His time power will fully return..."

Erend gritted his teeth and forced himself forward despite the pain burning through his body. Lightning and fire roared as he slammed into Zerathul again, driving him back with everything he had left.

Far beyond sight, the connection he had forged pulsed again.

Khepra-Ankh was coming.

—