Chapter 82: Dragon King

The entire space before me vanished in a world of white and azure. As my vision slowly adjusted to the glare, my glasses compensating by darkening my lenses, I could barely make out the frozen form of Ragios.

Even his superheated flames had been frozen solid. It was only natural. My ultimate ice spell had plunged the temperature to negative 273.15 degrees Celsius. At such temperature, all atomic movement was halted. Not only that, the targets also suffered molecular damage, their forms slowly crumbling away into nothing.

Of course, I doubted Ragios would die so easily. Even if he got hit by my ultimate ice spell, as a dragon he had an incredibly tenacious physical constitution and possessed high resistance to magic. That said, magic was one of the more effective tactics against dragons, given their size and strength, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was slain outright by my Absolute Zero.

If that happened, then it was a pity, but it also meant that Ragios was only at this level and therefore not worthy of becoming my subordinate. I wasn't callous enough to kill off subordinates who were weak, but if he was stupid enough to challenge me despite not possessing the necessary strength, then he only had himself to blame.

Crack!

"Ho…impressive."

I watched as the ice around Ragios cracked. The Dragon King burst out of his frozen tomb in an eruption of superheated flames, his magical resistance allowing him to survive the deep freeze. Not only that, he was even preparing a counterattack.

His jaws yawned wide and he unleashed another dragon breath that incinerated the space between us, vaporizing ice. Instead of evading, I raised Nocturne and conjured another wave of Absolute Zero. The air of negative 273 degrees Celsius chilled the flames and rendered them ineffectual, turning them into eerie frozen sculptures.

Ragios shook the fragments of frost off his massive body, but I could see that he wasn't able to completely free himself from the ice. Crystalline patches continued to stubbornly cling to parts of his body, incapacitating his movements and slowing him down.

Even so, he lunged at me, his tail whipping out at supersonic speeds and shattering ice everywhere. This time, I ducked under the deadly appendage because I knew I couldn't simply freeze it in position, not even with Absolute Zero. Moving with a speed and grace that belied his immense bulk, Ragios whirled about to slam a claw down upon my position. I practically danced away, spinning about to slash his limb and draw blood, which froze the moment it was exposed to the chilly air.

Under such extreme temperatures, Ragios's armored scales had turned brittle, breaking apart easily upon impact from my two swords.

"Huff…"

The Dragon King turned about, trying to track me. His breaths came out in gusts of fog and I noted that he was heaving, as if he was having difficulty breathing. The absolute cold was reaping quite the tremendous toll on him.

Flames erupted along the spines on his back and tail as he attempted to warm the surroundings, but to no avail. -273.15 degrees Celsius wasn't something you could simply dispel by sparking a fire. At least not on this scale.

"This is stupid!" Ragios complained, trying to pulverize me with his claws and tail. I easily evaded his attacks, which had been slowed by the cold. Unlike the fire dragon, I was uninhibited by the extreme cold that I had caused, probably because I was an ice mage. "Why can't I hit you?"

"Why would I let you hit me?" I retorted before countering with another couple of swift slashes. Crimson fountains of blood spurted out and Ragios staggered with a roar of pain. He lashed out again, but I was quick to dodge his hasty retaliation.

"What the hell is this spell?!"

Did he seriously not know of the ultimate ice spell, Absolute Zero? Well, if he didn't, I saw no need to enlighten him. Not until the battle was over, anyway.

Snarling, Ragios continued to hammer away at the frozen ground, sending up chunks of broken ice. I dodged and weaved through the huge fragments while making use of my Absolute Zero once more. Ragios fell back, stunned, when he was enveloped by another azure wave of mana. He tried to break free, but within seconds, his entire figure was entombed in ice.

I was about to close in and deliver the finishing blow – a strike to his neck that might possibly decapitate him and end this duel once and for all – but my instincts screamed danger. Without thinking, I hurled myself to the side, conjuring a snowflake shield to protect myself.

And a good thing I did so, because the next second, Ragio's figure exploded. Like a supernova, a colossal conflagration engulfed the ice and instantly melted it. His blazing silhouette stomped out of the melting ice and he unleashed another stream of fire.

"Damn." I clicked my tongue and infused my snowflake shield with mana, withstanding the tremendous torrent of fire. The shield buckled and gradually melted, but it endured long enough. Ragios slowly ceased fire, panting heavily.

Clearly his strength had been greatly sapped by Absolute Zero. Not only that, I noticed that there was something different about his fire this time.

"Cyan flames?"

Ragios was now wreathed in a cyan inferno. Flames not orange or red but a deep shade of cyan. The stream of fire that he had directed toward me previously shared the same color.

"The ultimate fire spell," Ragios crowed despite his ragged breathing. "Honestly, I don't really like using this because it costs so much mana, but you have forced my hand. I'll admit, young vampire, you are truly a worthy foe."

"Cyan flames are the hottest fire that ever exists," I acknowledged, feeling perspiration drip down my face – and it wasn't from just the heat. "And if that's the ultimate spell, then it must be Supernova?"

The counterpart of Absolute Zero for fire spells, Supernova was the ultimate fire spell. No wonder he was able to break free of my ice so easily.

"Ready to admit defeat, young vampire?" Ragios sneered. "You've proven your strength. It'll be a waste to kill you in this duel."

I couldn't help but smile and shake my head.

"You think I'm going to lose just because you also have an ultimate spell to counter my ultimate spell?"

"Hmph." Ragios snorted. "If you still have any trump cards left to play, then show your hand already. Don't waste any time."

"You're no fun at all." I sighed dramatically, but I obeyed and held up Blood Angel. The crimson aura that shrouded its blade leaped outward and expanded, almost like flames. Tendrils of blood dripped away and crawled about me, growing at an exponential rate.

"That's…?!" Ragios's eyes widened in horror.

"Divine Ascension," I intoned. "Night of the Bloody Armageddon."

Within the next moment, white was replaced by red. The ice was all stained with blood. Having switched from one element to another, I had transformed the mini-world that surrounded us into a blood barrier.

"It's useless!" Ragios growled. "With my Supernova, I'll just burn all this blood away!"

"Perhaps," I conceded. "If it's just the Armageddon Blood Barrier, your Supernova would certainly be able to overwhelm it."

Just like how Silvia's Absolute Zero was capable of nullifying Virginia Wolfe's Armageddon Blood Barrier.

However…

When Ragios unleashed his cyan flames to burn away the corrosive blood, I swung Nocturne. White and azure beams of mana lanced out and collided with the superheated inferno, momentarily freezing it. Admittedly, Absolute Zero was on par with Supernova, the two ultimate spells ultimately cancelling each other out and turning it into a zero sum game.

Unfortunately for Ragios, Absolute Zero wasn't the only spell I was casting.

"Ugh!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ragios howled when my corrosive blood splashed into him while his cyan flames were occupied with my azure ice. He writhed about, his body engulfed by a titanic tide of acidic blood, his scales melting away to reveal bone.

Toppling over, he bellowed in pain as he vanished under the wave of blood, with only his head not submerged. One of his wings, hissing and revealing white bone under the ravenous blood, rose weakly to break the surface – and he flapped it in a gesture of surrender.

"You…you win," he croaked. "I have lost."

He then bowed his head in submission. I watched him for a few seconds before nodding.

"I accept your surrender," I declared and dismissed my Armageddon Blood Barrier. In front of the dragons and my allies, all of whom bore witness to the outcome of the duel, I raised Nocturne into the air. The black blade seemed to drink the sunlight, the black blade glittering like the void. "As agreed, from today onward, you will be my subordinate, Ragios, the Dragon King."

*

After the duel, we immediately treated Ragios's wounds. I had inflicted near fatal injuries on the poor guy and he required emergency treatment. Fortunately, there was an elf who specialized in healing magic and she hurried forward to cast it.

While she healed Ragios, I turned to the rest of the dragons.

"Any of you wish to challenge me for the throne?" I asked.

The massive dragons exchanged glances with each other, remaining silent for a few seconds. One by one, they shook their heads and bowed their huge frames, demonstrating their compliance.

"Ragios might be cocky, but he has proven himself to be the strongest among us," one of the dragons spoke up, one with jade scales. He glanced at the humbled Dragon King before turning his emerald gaze back to me. "If he cannot beat you, then none of us can."

"As promised, we are now at your command," a dragon with pearly white scales declared. "The Dragon Legion will recognize your authority as the new Demonic Emperor."

"Thank you." inwardly, I sighed a breath of relief. That duel against Ragios had taken a lot out of me. Truth be told, I couldn't afford another duel right now. Casting both Absolute Zero and Night of the Bloody Armageddon had drained me of almost all of my mana. I was on the verge of collapsing. Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep.

I was barely able to keep my eyes open.

"Great job."

I turned around and spotted my allies approaching me. Eleanor was nodding at me in approval, her hands on her hips.

"You actually defeated the Dragon King, even without the use of a lake."

"Of course!" Stryker chuckled. "The outcome was never in doubt!"

"That was an impressive victory, my lord." Claude bowed his head, looking awed. Beside him, Silvia nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You did well."

Only Lindley remained expressionless, but he was a lich lord, so I didn't expect him to display any emotions. Stella continued to look worried, and I could see the immense relief written all over her pretty face. Larson shared Claude's awe, looking amazed at witnessing the duel between myself and Ragios. Kelvin and the kobolds were howling in delight, while the orcs grunted and stomped their feet to show their approval. The elves were more dignified, applauding politely, while the dark mages kept their expressions concealed beneath their hoods. But from their body language, I could see that they were overjoyed by my victory.

"Well, I guess it's time we return to…uh, negotiate the terms and organize the legion." I turned back to the dragons. Then I glanced at poor Ragios, who was still receiving magical treatment from the healer elf. "We'll wait for your Divine General to recover from his wounds first, though."

It still hadn't sunk in, but now that I thought about it, I had successfully taken command of four Demonic Legions. A third of the famed demonic legions that ruled over the Demonic Empire, and two of them being the most powerful of the twelve. Dragons and vampires. That was one hell of an army.

"Yes." A black dragon with scales the color of night reared up. "But before that, our liege, there is one gift we wish to present to you."