The ground trembled.
A terrifying shadow loomed across the sky as Reyon and Alice looked up, frozen in horror.
The Black Dragon. Methusela
Its form blotted out the clouds, wings stretching like a blanket of darkness. Its body was ten times larger than either the Blue or Silver Dragon. Black smoke hissed from its form, corrupting the very air.
Wherever that smoke touched, life withered. Grass turned to ash. Trees rotted in seconds. Even the snow, once white and pure, blackened into sludge.
Reyon took a shaky step back, eyes wide. "This one... is incomparably stronger than the previous ones."
Alice's face was pale, but she nodded. "We have to fight it with a plan."
She turned to him, eyes determined. "I'll distract it. You hide your presence and wait for an opening."
Reyon didn't speak. He simply nodded, vanishing from view. His aura faded until he was one with the cold.
Alice stepped forward.
Her hands moved in sharp arcs, forming layers of glyphs in the frozen air.
"Absolute Zero Point," she whispered.
The temperature plummeted. Even the Black Dragon's smoke stilled, the overwhelming cold gnawing away at the corrupted air. Alice condensed all that energy into a pinpoint sphere—a single concentrated ball of deathly chill.
She launched it.
The sphere hit the dragon's head.
The explosion was silent, but devastating.
The dragon's head froze completely, black smoke stilling, frost covering every scale.
Reyon saw his moment.
"Aqua Slash," he muttered.
From the air above the trees, water condensed into countless blades.
A million razor-sharp water slashes screamed toward the dragon's neck.
The frost weakened its hide—and the blades cut.
The dragon's neck was cleaved clean off.
For a breathless moment, the sky was silent.
But then—
The body shimmered.
Reyon's eyes widened. "What...?"
The next instant, the dragon was whole again. The head—restored. As if it had never been cut.
Reyon backed away. "This isn't regeneration... it's something else... but what is it?"
The dragon let out a roar that tore across the frozen plains.
It was angry. No—enraged.
A gurgling sound came from deep within its chest.
Then—
A pitch-black beam shot from its mouth.
Alice's eyes narrowed. She tried to dodge—
Her legs wouldn't move.
"What?!" she gasped. Her body was frozen in place. Not by ice
but as if her time stopped after a moment she was able to move
She barely managed to roll to the side.
The breath scraped her finger.
She landed in the snow, breathing hard. Her hand throbbed.
She looked down—
Her finger... it had shriveled.
It looked like it belonged to an 80-year-old woman. Veins bulging, skin brittle.
Then—her whole hand started aging rapidly.
Without hesitation, she drew a short dagger.
She cut off her hand.
Blood sprayed across the snow.
She froze the stump instantly. Gritting her teeth.
Reyon's pupils shrank.
"Alice... this dragon... it can control time."
He clenched his fists. "Earlier... its head didn't regenerate. It was reset to its initial state. It stopped you from dodging by freezing time around you."
He stepped closer, eyes fierce. Moreover
"That breath—if it hits you... you'll die of aging in seconds. Be careful."
Alice stood tall, face pale but determined. "Then I'll freeze it solid."
She raised her remaining hand.
"Absolute Zero Dome."
The ground, the sky, the air—all turned white.
A dome of frost sealed the dragon inside. It shuddered violently as the temperature dropped beyond survivable limits.
For a moment—it was silent.
The dragon was still.
Then—
The ice cracked.
The next instant, the ice disappeared. Not shattered. Not melted.
Just... gone. As if it was never there.
Then—
The dragon turned.
Its mouth opened again.
The breath aimed toward Reyon.
He tried to move. But time halted around him.
He couldn't even breathe.
Alice saw it.
"No...!"
She ran.
And stood before him. as the beams truck her , her body aged and vanished to ashes instantly
A flash of pitch black engulfed reyon
For a moment—silence.
Then from Reyon's chest—a symbol.
τ.
A mark glowed.
And his body vanished into the void.
Inside that void—agony.
Reyon was surrounded by endless darkness.
And memories.
Ray's death.
His family's annhilation
Alice's sobbing voice. then again all these memories continued in a cycle
Again.
And again.
And again.
He screamed, but no sound escaped.
He watched himself lose his loved ones—thousands of times.
Every time he mourned, every time he wept—the pain grew.
But after a while—
He noticed something.
Details.
Shifts.
He began to see things he hadn't before. Flashes of light. Whispers.
He began to feel as though—he had experienced this already.
The black mana was settling in his mind.
Outside—
Edward placed his hand on Reyon's forehead. His body lying still, unconscious.
Edward whispered, mana circling his palm.
"I'm injecting mana... trying to neutralize it..."
Reyon's body convulsed.
Sweat poured from his skin.
Tears streamed down his face.
Evelyn wiped them gently.
"Just what kind of memories... is he seeing... for him to cry like this?"
Serena stood behind them, arms crossed.
Her voice was quiet. Almost broken.
"The black mana... it shows your worst nightmares. Over and over."
She looked away.
"Reyon... he's been in there so long... he must have seen those memories thousands of times."
A long pause.
"When he wakes up... he might be broken mentally beyond repair."
Her voice cracked.
"I just hope... he forgets this pain." edward removed his hand and spoke he would regain consciousness in a week
Silence fell in the room.
Outside, snow continued to fall gently over as winter arrived in empire
The darkness loomed.
But Reyon... was still alive.
End of Chapter 94.