Chapter 42 - Chapter 42- When Heroes Break

Helios watched the dragon rise. Umbrazor's colossal form tore free from the ruins, black flames pouring off its body like living shadows. Its wings stretched across the night sky, blotting out the moon. Its mana wasn't just powerful, it was suffocating, ancient, crushing. And one thought forced its way into Helios's mind: "I need help." He hated that thought. Despised it. But looking at the dragon, feeling its mana rip the air apart, he knew the truth: If he fought this thing alone, he wouldn't leave a single scratch. He would die. But Helios had made a promise long ago, a promise he wouldn't break, even if he died on this battlefield. Even if he was alone. Fight for the innocent. Fight so the weak can rise. Fight because someone has to. Helios's hands trembled as he stared into Umbrazor's burning eyes. Fear tried to crush him. To freeze his legs. To choke his breath. He forced a smile anyway, a shaky, crooked, human smile. "Alright… Stage 2." He rolled his shoulders, exhaling. "Let's do this." He sprinted forward. That's when he saw something horrible. On the dragon's neck. Fused into its flesh, dangling like a parasite, was Belanor. From the waist up, the High Priest protruded from the dragon's scales. His forearms were melted into Umbrazor's neck, his ribs fused with black flame. His head twitched violently, eyes rolling in opposite directions. His mouth hung open in a silent scream. Then the dragon's throat bulged. Helios's stomach dropped. The scales along Umbrazor's neck glowed a hellish violet, swelling with pressure. Helios skidded to a stop. "Oh no." Umbrazor exhaled. A torrent of black flame surged across the ground like a tidal wave. Helios turned and ran with everything he had, but the flames were faster. A stray tongue of fire grazed his hand. Helios screamed as his flesh ignited in cursed fire. These weren't normal flames. They clung. They spread. They fed on mana. He slapped at them, rolled, tried to smother them, nothing worked. The flames only burned brighter. Panic began to rise. Then he saw it. Behind the fallen podium. A shattered basin. The remaining holy water. Helios dove for it, thrusting his burning hand into the shimmering liquid. Steam blasted upward as the black fire shriveled, cracked, and died. Helios gasped, staring at his steaming hand. He found it. The one thing that could extinguish Umbrazor's flames. Only holy water. He looked up at the beast looming above him, Belanor's mangled torso fused into its neck, the cursed dragon's eyes glowing like twin voids. Helios wiped the water from his hand, flexed his fingers, and muttered: "So that's the weakness… good." He tightened his grip on his sword, legs shaking not from fear, but from resolve. Umbrazor lunged before Helios could even settle into his stance. WHAM!! A colossal wing smashed into him, sending Helios tumbling across the shattered cathedral floor like a ragdoll. He slammed into broken pillars, skidding to a stop with dust and blood clinging to his skin. He barely had time to inhale before the dragon's tail whipped down, BOOM!! The impact cratered the ground inches from his head, the shockwave flipping him violently. Helios rolled with it, coughing, trying to stand, but Umbrazor was already above him. A scaled fist the size of a wagon smashed him into the wall. Stone exploded outward. Helios staggered out of the debris, clutching his ribs. His vision blurred. His breath ragged. Umbrazor's voice rumbled through the ruin, layered and abyssal: "YOU… ARE NOTHING." Helios raised his sword just in time to block a descending claw, but the sheer force blasted him backward again. His fingers went numb. His bones shook. Umbrazor didn't fight like a beast. It fought like a wrathful god. It struck again. CRACK!! A horned headbutt sent Helios crashing into the ground. A kick folded his stomach. A wing slammed him sideways, flipping him three times before he hit the rubble. Helios forced himself to stand, shaking, blood dripping from his mouth. And then, through the haze, he saw it. Belanor. Still fused into the dragon's neck. Still conscious. Still smirking through the pain. Helios growled. He had one chance. One opening. He gripped his sword in both hands, mana flaring. "I CAN STILL TAKE YOU DOWN!!" He sprinted forward, every muscle screaming, every breath burning. He leapt. He swung with everything he had, aimed right for Belanor's exposed torso. But Umbrazor reacted instantly. Its blood surged outward from its scales, twisting, hardening, solidifying into a crimson, bone-like shell over Belanor's body. A shield made of living blood. Helios's blade struck it. For a heartbeat, everything froze. Then, SNAP!! Helios's sword shattered in his hands, breaking cleanly in half. The force of the recoil blasted him backward, skidding across the stone. He stared at the broken blade. Umbrazor lowered its head, black flames steaming from its maw. Belanor's warped voice echoed through the dragon's throat: "You… cannot touch me." Helios's eyes widened. He stared at his father's sword, shattered. Snapped cleanly in half. Everything slowed. Umbrazor's massive claw descended toward him, and Helios could only sit there on his knees, unable to move. His vision blurred. His breath shook. The same words echoed in his mind: "Was it worth it…? All this grief? Am I addicted to the suffering…? Was it worth it?" The question repeated again and again, each time louder, sharper, crueler. Was it worth it? Was it worth it? WAS IT WORTH IT!? Tears spilled down Helios's cheeks as doubt crushed him: Doubt in himself. Doubt in his strength. Doubt in the very identity he had forged. Just as the claw reached him, CRACK!!! A thunderous snap shook the air. Helios looked up through the blur of tears. And saw Halo standing before him, blade in hand, the dragon's severed claw falling behind him. Bow landed a moment later, slamming a devastating punch into Umbrazor's face, forcing the massive dragon to recoil. The two stood between Helios and death. Halo turned… and looked down at Helios. His expression twisted in disgust. "So this is my rival," Halo muttered. "The man who claims he'll change fate, kneeling before a stronger foe, weeping like a child." Helios clenched his jaw. "Shut up, Halo. You don't understand. You don't understand what I just lost." Halo's face twisted with fury. He punched Helios so hard that Helios fell backward, coughing and crying. Helios choked on his own breath, voice cracking apart. "I… I can't stand myself!" he cried. "I talk big! I act like I'm someone important, but when it matters, I'm useless! I never do anything right! And yet I open my mouth like I'm the strongest one here!" Tears poured down his face as he gripped his hair. "Who am I kidding!? I'm a fool! An empty shell pretending to be a hero! There's NOTHING in me, no greatness, no strength, NOTHING! And deep down… I know it!" Halo growled, and punched Helios again. And again. And again. Each punch landed like punctuation, the words ripping out of Halo in ragged fury: "So what now, Helios!? You're angry? Broken? Embarrassed? That's all it takes to shatter you!?" He seized Helios by the collar, hauling him close, his breath shaking with emotion and rage. "I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to return what you gave me." Halo's voice trembled, not with weakness, but with a pride that had been shattered and rebuilt a thousand times. "I was raised for battle. Forged in arenas, shaped by war. Every victory, every scar… I earned them. I'm a gladiator. A Fulmo. My whole life, I believed I stood above the weak." He slammed Helios's head into the rubble with a sharp crack. "People hear my family name and freeze. They bow. They step aside." Halo's fists quivered as he stared down at Helios, fury warring with humiliation. "But you… YOU didn't flinch." His voice grew low, raw, honest. "Helios. Lion D. Helios. Your hands, your ordinary, unpolished, stubborn hands, took everything I built and tore it apart." He swallowed hard, eyes burning with pain more than anger. "I lost because of you. Me. The warrior groomed from birth to never fall." He let go, letting Helios drop. "My whole identity crumbled the day you beat me. Not the scars. Not the pain. But the truth." Halo stepped back, standing tall despite the chaos around them. "I will NOT live my life trailing behind you. Not as your shadow… Not as your second." Halo extended a hand. "So stand, Helios. Prove to me again why I chose you as my rival." His voice dropped into a cold challenge: "Or stay on the ground crying like a wounded animal… and watch me surpass you with the power I've now discovered." Helios lay there for a moment, staring at the shattered pieces of his father's sword, listening to Halo's breath still trembling with rage. Then… he laughed. Not a broken laugh this time, a tired, honest one. He wiped the tears from his eyes, forcing himself to breathe. "You're right, Halo…" he whispered. His voice cracked, but not from fear anymore. "…You're absolutely right." Helios planted a hand on the ground and pushed himself up, wobbling, bruised everywhere, but standing. He faced Halo. No anger. No excuses. Just raw truth. "You're right to hate that version of me. The one who talked big but froze when it mattered." He clenched his fists. "But I'm done being that guy." He stepped forward, placing a hand on Halo's shoulder. "If you chose me as your rival… then I better act like someone worthy of that choice." Bow landed beside them with a heavy thud, cracking his knuckles, eyes locked on Umbrazor gathering dark flame. Halo scoffed, but a hint of a grin tugged at his lips. "Took you long enough to say something smart." Helios smirked back. "Yeah, well… somebody had to keep up with you idiots." The three turned toward the towering beast, Umbrazor's wings unfurling, black fire dripping from its maw, Belanor's twisted torso embedded into its neck. Helios exhaled. No sword. No plan. Just resolve. "Halo. Bow." Both looked at him. Helios's eyes hardened: "Let's end this." The three of them stepped forward. Together. Umbrazor roared, the ground trembling beneath their feet. Helios steadied his breath. "Thing… Malvek… Shidan… Cael…" He closed his eyes, feeling all of their lessons burning inside his chest. "Everything you taught me, I'll use it here. Right now." His voice rose in a roar: "THIS MOMENT IS WHERE I SURPASS MY LIMITS AND PUSH TOWARD A BETTER TOMORROW!" Mana surged violently. Helios dragged it into a single point in his palm, the air trembling around him. He looked at Bow. "Bow… I finally understand what you told me on the boat. This is when I… conjure the sun." Bow grinned wildly. "THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR!" Umbrazor roared overhead, unleashing orbs of floating blood that pulsed menacingly. Halo shouted: "THEN LET'S SHOW THIS BEAST TRUE POWER!" He exploded forward, lightning bursting from his body, turning him into a streak of white and gold. Umbrazor fired streams of piercing blood, but Halo weaved through every one, faster than thought. He slid beneath the cursed dragon, braced his legs, and screamed: "BOW! I'M SENDING THIS THING UP!" Halo leapt, driving a monstrous lightning slash along Umbrazor's underside. The dragon lurched several feet upward, then Halo landed back beneath it and launched again. And again. And again. Each strike bounced the dragon higher and higher like he was juggling a mountain. Halo roared: "THIS IS MY NEW TECHNIQUE, LIGHTNING COLUMN!!" Then he vanished, becoming a vertical burst of light. The collision launched Umbrazor so high into the sky that Bow met it midair. Bow's voice thundered: "POWER!!" His fist crashed into Umbrazor's face with such force that the dragon's spine compacted, ricocheting the beast across the sky. Halo landed beside Helios, grinning, but froze. Bow froze too. Because Helios was creating a sun. A tiny point of golden light in his palm… expanding with every breath… melting the ground beneath him into glowing rivers of molten stone. Helios whispered: "This… is the gift Thing left me." The sun grew massive, so hot that the cathedral melted like wax around him. Umbrazor fired blood spears that tore into Helios's arms, but Helios didn't flinch. He was too focused, too deep in concentration. He had entered The Flow, a state like The Zone, but one that amplified mana output to 120% of his natural limit. Umbrazor slammed into the newborn star, and the sun burned the dragon in half as it pushed forward. Helios lifted his hand. "Orbit." The sun obeyed. It circled him like a moon around a planet, radiating lethal heat. Helios charged. Each punch he landed was followed immediately by the orbiting sun scorching Umbrazor's flesh, boiling its corrupted blood. The intense heat caused hemolysis, destroying its red blood cells faster than Umbrazor could regenerate. For the first time… the cursed dragon was being overpowered. Umbrazor heaved itself upright, black fire dripping from its jaws like molten tar. Its wings unfurled, shaking the burning rubble of the cathedral as the trio prepared to strike. Helios clenched his fists, the orbiting sun blazing behind him like a golden guardian. Bow cracked his knuckles, his muscles swelling with magma-red mana. Halo's lightning flickered wildly across his arms, illuminating the cracking ground. For one brief moment, they stood as equals. As brothers. Then they attacked. Helios charged first. BOOM!! The orbiting sun smashed into Umbrazor's jaw, scorching away blackened scales. Umbrazor reeled, roaring as molten blood splattered across the stone. Bow was already there. He slammed both fists into the dragon's snout, knocking its colossal head back so hard its neck cracked like stone under pressure. Halo blurred behind Umbrazor in a streak of white lightning. He slashed the dragon's spine with a razor arc of thunder, sending sparks and flesh flying. The beast staggered, its corrupted blood boiling from Helios's sun and evaporating into crimson steam. For several precious seconds… the impossible seemed possible. Helios yelled: "KEEP GOING! IT'S WORKING!!" Bow smashed into the dragon's ribs, Halo speared through its wing, Helios directed the sun to burn the gaps in its armor. Their teamwork carved through the beast like a storm. Umbrazor froze. A low, guttural growl rumbled beneath its ribs, deep… ancient… hateful. The air thickened with blood-red mist. Belanor's twisted torso, still fused into the dragon's neck, jerked violently. His eyes rolled back as a voice deeper than death growled: "You insects… think you can wound ME…?" Umbrazor's wings spread wide. The dragon inhaled. The blood mist was drawn into its lungs, and Umbrazor began to change. Every vein lit up crimson. Every scale ignited with black flame. Blood magic spiraled around its body in corrupted orbit. Wounds healed instantly, the flesh sealing with unnatural speed. Helios's eyes widened. "It's powering up!" Umbrazor's roar split the world, "ASCENSION OF BLOOD." And everything went wrong. The dragon moved faster than ever before. A wing strike shattered the ground, sending all three flying. Bow smashed through a stone pillar. Halo crashed into a wall, and Helios skidded across molten rubble. Umbrazor didn't stop. Its tail whipped around: CRACK!! Halo took the hit and dropped instantly. A blood spear shot from its throat. It pierced Bow's shoulder, pinning him to collapsing stone. The dragon turned toward Helios. "YOU FIRST." Umbrazor unleashed a torrent of black flame so intense the air itself peeled apart. Helios tried to block, tried to move, tried to summon the sun. But the heat slammed him into the molten ground, his skin burning, lungs screaming for air. The sun orbiting him flickered… then dimmed. Helios tried to rise, Umbrazor stomped down, BOOM!! The shockwave blasted Helios unconscious immediately. Bow roared in pain, ripping the blood spear from his shoulder. But Umbrazor appeared in front of him in an instant. "BE SILENT." One claw strike sent Bow crashing face-first into molten stone, the impact knocking him out cold. Halo staggered to his feet, lightning sparking weakly, trying to charge one last time, Umbrazor's tail wrapped around him like a whip. CRACK!! Halo hit the ground so hard the marble split beneath him. His eyes rolled back. He stopped moving. The battlefield fell silent. Three warriors, Helios. Bow. Halo. All unconscious. Broken. Defeated. Umbrazor towered above them, black flames swirling like a storm. Belanor's voice, twisted, layered with the dragon's, echoed in the ruin: "Now… who else wishes to defy a god?" A burst of radiant light split the sky. A man in gleaming armor appeared before Umbrazor, teleporting in so fast that the shockwave scattered dust across the ruined cathedral. A sword hung sheathed at his hip, its hilt glowing faintly with holy power. Belanor's fused eyes snapped toward him, one dragon, one human, both widening in recognition. In a dual, guttural voice, they growled: "You…" Umbrazor's flames rippled as it lowered its massive head, hatred boiling beneath its scales. "I no longer see you as a threat," Belanor hissed through the dragon's maw. "I've surpassed you. I am strong enough now to erase you… and those two wretches who has Lost Grace." The armored knight did not flinch. He placed a hand on his sheathed sword and bowed his head slightly, not in respect, but in bitter disappointment. "Then I regret ever leaving your side," the knight said. "I reported to my goddess Elyndor that you had changed… that you were behaving as a proper servant of the Light." His voice sharpened. "It seems I was wrong." On the ground, Helios's eyes cracked open briefly, blurry, exhausted, barely conscious. Through the haze he recognized the knight: the same Holy Knight who appeared in the underground temple. Helios tried to reach out… but his vision faded, and he slipped back into unconsciousness. The Holy Knight stepped forward, aura blazing like a pillar of dawn. "I should have ended you the moment you strayed from the Light. So hear me now, Belanor. In the name of Goddess Elyndor, I will correct that mistake. I will slaughter you, purge your corruption from this plane, and leave not even dust behind." Belanor's twisted laughter echoed out of Umbrazor's throat. The dragon reared back and roared, a monstrous sound that shook the ruined cathedral. A storm of black flames erupted from its maw, followed by a volley of blood magic so dense it turned the air crimson. The attacks crashed against the knight like a tidal wave, and broke. Not a single spark touched him. An invisible barrier of pure divinity shimmered around his form, untouchable, immovable. The knight didn't flinch. "Is that truly all you can do?" he asked softly. "I pity you. I expected far more strength from the one who claimed godhood." He vanished. In the blink of an eye, he was standing directly before the dragon's face, hand calmly pressed against Umbrazor's torn, blood-drenched snout. Belanor's many fused eyes widened. "You are corruption incarnate… so I grant you a fitting mercy." His eyes hardened. "Be unmade." Then the Holy Knight leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper: "Purge." A burst of radiant light consumed everything. No roar. No scream. No body. Belanor… Umbrazor… The Cursed Dragon of Blood and Black Flames… were erased. Not slain. Not defeated. Erased, their existence wiped from the world in an instant. The light faded. Nothing remained but silent air and drifting ash.