The Nameless Heir-Chapter 59: Weak Hero

Kael tilted his head. His expression didn’t change, but something in his voice turned cold.

"Get up," he said again. "I’m not done with you."

Victor stirred.

He lifted his head. Slow. Unsteady.

Blood slipped from the corner of his mouth and ran down his chin in a thin line. It dripped off without a sound.

His face twisted—not just with rage, but frustration. His eyes burned, but his arms refused to follow.

His body was too weak to match what he felt.

Then—out of nowhere—he raised his hand. Something started burning in his palm.

A heart started to form. It was pitch black. Alive. Flickering with black flame.

It pulsed steadily, each throb wrapped in quiet flame. The fire licked at his skin, but he didn’t react.

Didn’t flinch.

He gave Kael one more look while breathing hard. Uneven. Like he didn’t want to do this, but had to—if he wanted to survive.

"Kid, you’re going to regret this," he said.

Kael didn’t respond.

"You talk too much. Do it," he snapped.

Victor grinned. The smile stretched wide across his bloodstained face. His laughter was broken, but confident. It grew louder until it turned into a sharp, uneven bark.

"Let me show you my godly power."

He pressed the burning heart into his chest. It slowly sank in, then started to merge with his own heart.

The moment they connected, it sent a jolt throughout his body.

His heart pounded hard like a drum—once, then again, each beat louder than the last.

He could feel the vibrations through the ground under his feet.

Victor dropped to his knees. Both hands clutched his chest. His arms trembled. His breath came out in sharp bursts.

He looked like he was in agony, but he kept laughing.

"I will make you beg for mercy."

Kael stood still.

His hands rested loosely by his sides. His eyes never left Victor. His stance didn’t shift.

He just watched it all happen. He let it happen.

Slowly, Victor began to change.

His body started to swell, muscle and bone cracking with each second. The first pair of massive black wings tore out of his back with a loud, wet snap. He screamed in pain—but kept going.

A long, reptilian tail slithered out behind him. His face twisted, jaw snapping open wider than it should. Sharp, jagged teeth lined his new mouth.

His jaw widened. Teeth split through the gums, sharp and uneven. His face didn’t fully lose its human shape, but it was distorted beyond recognition.

His armor snapped apart and fell away in broken pieces.

What remained was a body coated in jagged, uneven scales. Black and rough, they covered him like natural armor.

He stood taller now. Broader. Stronger.

His breath hissed out in thick streams of smoke.

Then he laughed again, his voice lower and heavier.

"Now you’re facing the dragon god."

He tilted his head back and let out another laugh, louder than before.

Kael opened his mouth slightly.

Then he yawned.

It wasn’t exaggerated. It wasn’t mocking. It just looked like he was tired of waiting.

Victor’s face twitched. His eyes darkened. The silence stretched.

Then took a heavy step forward—loud, deliberate.

"I’ll kill you," he growled.

He lunged forward and threw a jab—one clawed hand cutting through the air, fast and wide.

Kael moved his head slightly to the side. The attack missed.

Victor tried again.

And again.

But none of the strikes landed.

Kael kept dodging—without effort, without thought.

He blinked in and out of the shadows around Victor, slipping past each attack like it didn’t matter.

Every time Victor turned, Kael was already somewhere else.

Toying with him.

The more Kael dodged, the angrier Victor became. He kept pushing him further—closer to losing total control.

His expression didn’t change. He looked bored.

He looked at Victor like he wasn’t worth the effort.

"C’mon," he muttered, stepping past another wild swing. "That’s all you’ve got?"

His voice didn’t rise. It didn’t need to.

"You’re truly pathetic."

Victor growled deep in his throat.

"Shut up!" he roared.

His jaw opened wide. A rush of fire erupted from his throat.

Kael didn’t back away.

He walked forward.

Flames clung to his body, curling around him like a second skin.

But they didn’t burn him.

The shadows moved with him—wrapped tight, like armor.

Victor used that chance to push off the ground and rose into the air. Massive amounts of energy being stored in the back of his throat.

A ball started forming quickly—pulsing with red and black. It looked unstable.

Before he could release it—

Kael appeared above him.

He raised his leg—slow at first, steady.

The air around him didn’t move.

Then, without warning, he brought it down.

Fast. Sharp. Heavy.

The heel of his boot slammed into the top of Victor’s head.

Victor’s jaw slammed shut.

The energy inside his mouth didn’t escape.

It collapsed.

A muffled sound rumbled in his throat. Smoke forced its way out of his nose and between his teeth.

His body dropped from the sky. Hard.

With a violent shock, Victor crashed into the ground—smoke trailing from his mouth as he hit.

Kael landed softly in front of him.

There was a calm smile on his face.

That look—calm, collected—made Victor snap.

He roared.

His wings shot open, sending a shockwave through the field.

The air cracked.

But Kael didn’t flinch.

He moved beside him. Quiet. Fast.

His blade slid across Victor’s throat—clean and sharp.

Not deep enough to kill.

Just enough to sever the vocal cords.

Victor dropped to his knees.

Both hands gripped his throat as blood poured between his fingers.

Kael stood over him.

"How does it feel?"

Then he raised his leg and kicked him square in the stomach.

Victor’s massive body flew across the battlefield like a ragdoll.

He landed hard—but began to regenerate.

Slowly. Painfully.

"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!" he screamed, voice ragged as he forced himself into the air again.

He rose higher this time. Shaking. Desperate.

His mouth opened wide.

The sky darkened.

And then—

He unleashed it.

A beam of black and red light tore through the clouds. It was thick as fire and loud as thunder.

It split the sky in half as it roared toward Kael.

Kael didn’t flinch.

Kael planted his feet, steady and unmoving.

He raised Shadowbane with both hands—then drove it straight into the earth.

The blade struck with a sharp, heavy crack.

A split-second later, the beam of energy collided with it—roaring, violent.

But it didn’t stop him.

The impact split clean down the middle. The beam tore apart in two spiraling arcs, rushing past him like twin storms.

Wind screamed past his shoulders.

The force shook the air.

Cracks webbed out from under his boots, spreading across the broken ground.

Victor’s eyes widened.

His last effort—

Failed.

Kael took a single step forward.

"You said you hate those born with power..."

His voice was calm. Steady.

"...and respect those who earn it."

He stepped again. Slower this time. Deliberate.

"But you..."

His eyes narrowed.

"You were given a gift. And you used it to control those who are weak."

Victor didn’t reply.

Victor stood frozen. Breathing hard. Shoulders trembling.

Kael didn’t stop.

"You left behind the ones who stood by you when you were nothing," he said. His voice wasn’t loud—but it landed heavy. "They followed you. Believed in you."

He took another step.

"But then you changed. You were consumed by power."

Victor staggered back.

Kael’s eyes didn’t leave him.

"You couldn’t stand it when they wanted something different. When they questioned you. You didn’t want to lead them anymore—you wanted to control them."

His steps echoed now. Slow. Measured.

"So you did the most unforgivable thing."

Kael’s voice dropped, sharp as a blade.

"You killed the very people who lifted you up."

Victor’s fingers twitched. His jaw clenched—but he couldn’t speak.

"All for what?" Kael asked, stepping closer. "More land? More power? A crown built on bones?"

He stopped, just a few feet away.

His gaze narrowed.

"You started thinking you were more than them."

His hand tightened around Shadowbane.

"Better. Untouchable. Something divine."

A pause.

"A god."

Kael stopped just a few feet away.

He tilted his head.

Kael’s voice dropped.

Cold. Controlled.

"Tell me something," he said.

He tilted his head. Not much. Just enough to make the silence heavier.

"If you call yourself a god..."

His fingers curled tighter around the weapon’s hilt.

"...then what does that make me?"

Victor roared.

"Shut up!"

He lunged forward without hesitation.

His claw cut straight through Kael’s chest. The strike landed clean.

It passed through him.

Then Kael’s body began to break apart.

The image flickered once, then dissolved.

Thin strands of smoke unraveled from his form and drifted into the air.

It was just an afterimage.

Victor’s eyes narrowed.

He turned his head slowly, scanning the field.

But there was nothing.

Kael was gone.

Just wind brushing across the broken field.

Then—

From a patch of darkness near a fractured boulder, something began to rise.

Shadows peeled upward—slow and silent, like smoke rising from wet stone.

Kael stepped forward out of them.

His eyes glowed—a deep crimson red, sharp and steady.

Victor took a step back.

Kael said nothing at first. His breath came slow. Controlled.

Then his voice broke the silence.

"I’ll show you the power of a god," he muttered.

His fingers curled tightly around Shadowbane’s hilt. The veins in his forearm tensed.

His gaze didn’t leave Victor—not for a second.

"I still can’t control it... not fully," he said under his breath. "But since you call yourself a god..."

He lifted the weapon with both hands. The steel felt heavier than usual. Alive. Waiting.

"...this feels like the perfect time to try."

Shadowbane began to shift.

The blade rippled, warping like it was melting from the inside out.

It stretched into liquid shadow—the form unstable, wild.

Violent pulses traveled up Kael’s arms. He felt the weapon pushing back.

Red lightning cracked along the edges. It snapped through the air like veins splitting open.

Kael exhaled.

The sound was quiet but strained.

"It still hates me," he whispered.

His hands tightened around the handle as he fought to hold it steady.

"Because I killed its master."

The lightning flared again—brighter. It surged up toward his shoulders, wrapping his body in flickers of light.

The weight grew.

Kael gritted his teeth. His knuckles turned white beneath the grip.

The weapon twisted once more—

Then the shadow solidified.

Its form extended outward, curved and wide.

A scythe.

Long. Heavy. Breathing like it had lungs of its own.

Kael stood still, staring at it. The handle pulsed faintly in his hands.

He could feel it watching him.

But it was done resisting.

He lifted his head slowly.

His voice came out steady and quiet.

"Shadowbane... second form..."

A pause passed between them.

The world fell still. No—time itself stopped.

The wind held its breath. The bird froze mid-flight.

"...God slayer."

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