Destruction of the Slane Theocracy!

Floating alone at an altitude of 500 meters, Aurelius gazed upon the beautiful, glowing area below.

"This is the beginning of ruin!"

Whispering with a sinister smirk, his blood-red eyes shimmered with malicious glee, and a grotesque smile stretched on his face from ear to ear.

However, he knew it was still too early for him to step in personally.

"I'll have to summon my children."

With a swing of his arm in the air, he activated his magic, causing the air around him to change in an instant—the light atmosphere grew heavy, and the world's natural order began to twist under his influence. 

A dark red aura blossomed around him, and his bloody eyes glowed even more intensely as he chanted:

[Super Tier Magic: Gates of Armageddon, Doom Dragon Legion]

This super-tier magic, capable of summoning the highest-level dragons possible, opened a massive portal in the sky, unleashing a myriad of majestic, magical circles. Through this portal, an uncountable number of huge shadows presented their true form.

"My children," Aurelius called.

-Kraaaaahh!

One by one, as if in response, the dragons opened eyes of various colors and let out monstrous roars. Numerous dragons, each tens or hundreds of meters long, filled the skies above the Slane Theocracy's capital.

"I want nothing more than the destruction of this nasty place." 

Aurelius grinned, stretching out his arms.

"So go. Show your true worth. Let me hear the cries of these arrogant humans… Swallow this beautiful place, shining like a jewel, into the waves of destruction, despair, and chaos... Run amok."

With that command, all the dragons roared in unison and began their descent from the sky.

—Raaaarghhh!!!

The roar of countless dragons announced the end of the Slane Theocracy.

*****

Boom-!

The dragon's breath hit the ground hard. Buildings exploded into pieces and turned into nothing but rubble and ash. The land became a fiery pit, as if a volcano had erupted right in the middle of the city.

In an instant, the brightly lit streets turned into hell, bathed in red and filled with blood and corpses.

"Mom!!"

"Someone save me!"

"Run!"

"—AHHHHH—"

Screams of terror and pain echoed everywhere. The Slane Theocracy, which was peaceful just moments ago, was now a battlefield on fire.

The guards who rushed out to help were crushed instantly under the dragons' massive feet. To fight back, the Holocaust Scripture and Ashendust Scripture members were sent in. But what they saw made their blood run cold.

Countless dragons filled the sky, and the streets were in chaos. A man who appeared to be a member of the Ashendust Scripture spoke in a trembling voice.

"Oh God."

He wasn't given the chance to even say anything else, because not even a second later, he, along with everyone else, were crushed under the massive claws of tens of meters-big dragons.

Bang!

A few members who barely survived tried to flee, but even they were trampled mercilessly, leaving their bodies mangled beyond recognition.

These dragons, the apex predators of their kind, were each a natural disaster capable of destroying a nation on their own.

So when multiple such creatures appeared simultaneously at that moment, the Slane Theocracy was instantly pushed to the brink of extinction.

Floating amidst the large shadows, Aurelius surveyed the destruction with delighted eyes.

"Well done, my children. Run wilder!"

Hearing those words, the dragons became even more vicious.

A sudden chill ran down everyone's spine, and they instantly looked up at the sky. As they saw the white-haired man floating in the sky amidst the legion of dragons, ordering them, they realized almost instantly that the white-haired man was the leader of the dragon legion. 

Even the soldiers, who had come to the battlefield to defend their country, felt a wave of despair wash over them at his sight.

Instinctively, they knew that no matter how they attacked, they couldn't defeat him, a being that had transcended human boundaries.

—Attacking that man would be a futile effort, leading only to a meaningless death.

This thought ran through the minds of the Theocracy soldiers like a haunting whisper.

Regardless, their fear only excited the dragons. As if to prove this, a huge jet-black dragon next to Aurelius opened its mouth wide.

In an instant, the air around it compressed and began to expand rapidly. The temperature soared, and the surrounding air exploded in a wave of destruction.

—Quaaaaang!!

It was truly a catastrophe.

The breath of black flame—a series of disastrous blasts—engulfed the soldiers. No screams were heard, because everything was annihilated on the spot by the black flame that shot forth like a ray of light.

Without giving anyone even the chance to react, the area was razed to the ground, and the streets were littered with corpses. Severed limbs, decapitated bodies, torsos split in half, lower bodies detached, and skeletons charred to the bone—it was a grim and horrific sight.

It was truly the manifestation of hell.

Suddenly, at that moment, Aurelius, observing the devastation from above, turned his head in a direction as if sensing something and issued commands to the dragons.

"I'll leave this place to you all. I found an interesting guy, so I'll go pay him a visit."

Countless dragons vigorously flapped their wings, understanding Aurelius's instructions.

Swoosh!

Descending to the ground from above, Aurelius drew a sword that had never seen use. It was an ominously glowing, pitch-black demonic sword that materialized in his right hand.

Forged from the heart of Ashteron, one of the World Enemies in Yggdrasil, it was Aurelius's primary weapon—the Dark Heaven Demon Sword, Ashteron—a weapon reputed to be one of the strongest in Yggdrasil.

Even Aurelius couldn't help but take a pause and admire its beauty. As for the man with a spear charging towards him with a contorted expression, Aurelius simply cast a 10th-tier spell.

[Path of Oblivion]

Rumble!

The ground trembled as his sword glowed, gathering explosive energy before erupting in a single swing of his sword.

Kab-Booom! 

Thick smoke shrouded the surroundings as buildings and structures disintegrated like molecules.

A wide road, similar to a tunnel, was carved out, taking countless lives within the collapsed buildings. 

The dark red beam of light obliterated everything in its path before precisely stopping right in front of the warrior holding the spear, who was glaring angrily at Aurelius.

A man with an androgynous appearance—it was hard to tell whether he was a man or a woman—screamed.

"Who are you? What grievances do you hold against this nation for committing such heinous acts?!"

He had black hair that reached to the ground and eyes the color of rubies.

"You guys. Don't you, the people of Slane Theocracy, know me well? My name is Aurelius Nova Lucifer. Let's just call it the God of Calamity, as you name it, though officially, I am the Dragon Demon God. Ignorant fools."

The title "God of Calamity" echoed with a chilling intensity throughout the Slane Theocracy. In any other circumstance, introducing oneself as such would be tantamount to declaring oneself a psychopath.

However, the 1st seat and the soldiers behind him, who had witnessed Aurelius's power firsthand, understood that his words were not empty boasts.

In a matter of minutes, the man had mercilessly destroyed the nation and massacred innocent people. The innumerable dragons at his disposal only served to confirm his identity.

He was the legendary being feared even by the Six Great Gods.

Realizing this, the 1st seat gazed at Aurelius, his lips trembling.

"Great, great God of Calamity... Wasn't that legend merely a myth?"

Even the 1st seat, a high-ranking official, believed the God of Calamity to be nothing more than a mythical figure, because it seemed almost impossible to him that the gods, whom he revered as absolute beings, would fear a single entity.

"You may think so under normal circumstances. But that myth is reality. Before your gods descended into this world, they faced off against me in battle. Even when united, they were so weak that the fight almost made me yawn at that time, hahaha."

Aurelius taunted the Six Great Gods with a smirk, causing the first seat's expression to contort.

"Don't you dare insult our god!!"

Unconsciously, the 1st seat's body trembled, and he raised his spear defiantly.

The first seat had used every martial arts move at full power from the start. His body, strengthened to the utmost, took on an attack stance.

"Ohhh? Are you trying to take on me, the very being feared by the Six Great Gods? Truly the arrogance of the ignorant."

Aurelius chuckled, shaking his head. While he enjoyed the idea of toying with this foolish man, he had more important matters to attend to. Thus, he decided to conclude this charade without further delay.

"Come on. Today I will show that there are depths of power in this world that are even beyond your wildest imagination."

"Don't you dare look down on me. I am the 1st seat and the captain of the Black Scripture of the Slane Theocracy."

With a scream, the first seat shot out in a flash of blue, his spear held straight, aiming at Aurelius with full strength, ready to rip his heart apart.

Yet Aurelius merely smiled and extended his hand forward. The sword vanished from his hand, and then, with nothing but his index finger and thumb, he effortlessly grabbed the tip of the 1st seat's spear.

" N-No, how could it be…? Impossible!"

No matter how much force the first seat exerted, he could not even budge Aurelius's fingers.

In that moment, the true disparity in their strengths dawned upon the 1st seat, filling his heart with nothing but despair.