Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert Chapter 596

Chapter 596

“Chaos Dragon Reikas!”

Grinding her teeth, Tesserina observed the fierce clash happening high above.

Among dragons, Reikas faced outright rejection.

There existed no distinct breed known as Chaos Dragon. Yet, Reikas earned that title due to his nature teetering on pure chaos.

He claimed no friends or foes.

His own interests were all that counted.

To fulfill his whims, the fate of everyone else held no significance.

Myriad creatures got caught in the wake of Reikas’s cravings and met their doom, including fellow dragons.

Dragons traditionally avoided injuring their kin except in cases of bitter rivalry.

Violating that code brought punishment from fellow dragons.

Proud dragons from Kurayan enforced this custom with ironclad discipline.

Reikas stood as the sole rebel against it.

Just for irking him, he slaughtered three dragons.

This act branded him the dragons’ arch-nemesis.

His survival stemmed from unmatched might.

When Kurayan fell, Reikas bolted first.

Other dragons lingered to let Kurayan’s inhabitants flee ahead, but he prioritized his own skin and escaped solo.

Thus, unlike Tesserina, Reikas reached Earth unscathed.

In contrast, numerous dragons couldn’t reach Earth and vanished with Kurayan.

Tesserina herself escaped at the last second after staying behind.

Exhaustion left her gravely wounded back then, leading to a profound sleep that allowed a parasite to seize control.

“I figured he was hiding in some remote slumber… never imagined he’d be this active.”

Boom! Boom!

Like the apocalypse unfolding, blinding lights erupted nonstop across the heavens, accompanied by thunderous blasts.

The barrage of strikes proved utterly dominant.

Tesserina couldn’t predict how long Zeon might withstand Reikas.

She fully grasped the immense strength wielded by Zeon, the Sand Mage.

Still, victory seemed uncertain against Reikas’s terrifying prowess.

Reikas held the title of mightiest dragon after Krasias.

The tide could turn instantly.

Yearning to aid Zeon, Tesserina found herself pinned by Arisedon’s crumpled form on the ground, struggling for air.

“Damn it!”

Arisedon’s state was beyond ruinous.

His body lay shattered and mangled, breaths coming in ragged gasps that hinted at death’s door.

Despite the World Tree’s energy, his injuries refused to mend and only grew dire.

For this reason, Tesserina channeled every ounce of power into restorative spells.

Yet Arisedon’s breaths faded ever fainter.

“Snap out of it! Arisedon.”

Tesserina bellowed at the top of her lungs.

Her words might have pierced through, as Arisedon weakly pried open his eyes to meet hers.

His oversized pupils, dwarfing human ones, lacked any spark of life.

—Tes… serina.

“Pull yourself together! You planning to die just like that?”

—I’m sorry.

“Don’t spout weak nonsense. You’re the World Tree’s guardian.”

—Guardian?

“That’s right! Chosen protector of the World Tree. So you must defend it, right?”

—The power gap is immense. He’s way beyond me.

“Power gap? Nonsense! Nothing like that exists. Your will is shattered, that’s all. Were you ever this feeble? Never!”

—Kuuuuh!

Tesserina’s sharp words roused Arisedon; he cried out and raised his head briefly before crashing it back down.

Thud!

—It’s over for me, Tesserina.

“Over? You quitting because of this? See for yourself! Just look!”

—Look at what?

“Over there! The World Tree. The High Elves…”

Arisedon’s eyes followed Tesserina’s outstretched arm to the World Tree village.

Distant as it was, the World Tree and High Elves stood sharp in his vision.

As World Tree guardian, barriers never clouded his view.

His gaze captured the World Tree teetering unstably and the weeping High Elves.

These were the beings under his watch.

Upon accepting his role as World Tree guardian, he vowed to shield the World Tree and High Elves.

That oath granted him the name Arisedon.

Arisedon, guardian of the World Tree.

Repeating his name inwardly triggered a profound echo from his core.

—Arisedon!

—Guardian!

The spirits detected that vibration and chorused his name together.

Scores of spirits, Liri of Brielle among them, breached the barrier and soared to the downed Arisedon.

Each spirit bore the High Elves’ fervent hopes.

Rustle!

The World Tree rustled its boughs as if urging the spirits on. Radiant light specks then drifted like fog from limbs and foliage.

These glowing motes trailed the spirits, alighting on Arisedon’s form.

In that instant, indescribable warmth flooded Arisedon.

Born as a serpent, he had...

The Great Cataclysm transformed him into an Imugi, yet that marked the end of his changes.

All others dreaded him and stayed far away.

Nevertheless, he never considered himself isolated.

A snake's nature was just like that.

Rather, a grand ambition burned within him.

To cast off his serpentine shell and ascend as a dragon.

No one ever informed him of this.

Upon turning into an Imugi, the knowledge came to him instinctively.

An Imugi could ascend to dragonhood through endless training.

Thus, he cultivated relentlessly. Yet his progress stalled, leaving him as an incomplete being in the end.

Later, encountering Zeon led him to become a guardian linked spiritually to the World Tree.

Despite further evolution beyond an Imugi, Arisedon intentionally distanced himself from the High Elves.

Attachments to them might obstruct his cultivation, he believed.

Brielle stood as the sole exception.

No matter if he withdrew or sealed himself away, Brielle drew near boldly, unlocking the depths of his heart.

Brielle's spirit Liri mirrored this behavior.

Unlike the other spirits who shunned Arisedon, she came close without fear and frolicked alongside him.

Those same spirits who once trembled before Arisedon now drew near with anxious faces, encircling him.

Such warmth was utterly foreign to him until now.

He pondered whether this sensation matched being cherished and worried over by others.

The strange feeling carried no discomfort.

No—it brought pleasure.

In that instant, realization dawned on Arisedon.

He wasn't the sole protector; their love had shielded him too.

—So that’s how it is. I wasn’t protecting them alone. I was being protected by them as well.

Boom!

Right then, a mighty vibration surged from the core of Arisedon’s chest.

It resembled a colossal drum hammered by a huge mallet.

Starting in his chest, the vibration rapidly coursed through his whole form.

This didn't occur only once.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Pulsing like a heartbeat, the vibration thrummed powerfully inside Arisedon.

Precisely then, transformation overtook him.

Luminescence started emanating from his slackened form.

Tesserina, in the midst of channeling healing magic, noticed the shift first.

“What is…?”

She pulled back her hands and retreated swiftly.

All the while, the glow streaming from Arisedon intensified.

Witnessing this, the spirits burst into uproar.

Incomprehensible chatter filled the air from them, though Tesserina remained deaf to it.

The transformation revolving around Arisedon proved that staggering.

Rumble!

Vast power converged upon Arisedon.

Beyond the World Tree's dispatched spiritual force, ambient mana throughout the region poured into him as well.

The overwhelming surge of mana and spiritual energy left Tesserina almost stupefied.

“This is…?”

Anticipation filled Tesserina's gaze as she beheld Arisedon.

Crack!

Fissures erupted across Arisedon’s entire body.

His surface skin ripped like fragile parchment.

Gaps formed amid his rigid scales, spiderwebbing over his full length.

“Is he shedding his skin?”

Snakes expand through molting their skin.

During the shed, their forms enlarge dramatically.

Arisedon underwent precisely that process.

Crack!

The damaged outer shell from Reikas's wounds peeled off fully, exposing the layer hidden below.

Previously, Arisedon’s scales blazed fiery red. Now, fresh skin gleamed in brilliant gold.

The spirits gaped in awe at the resplendent golden scales.

Shrrrk!

Finally, Arisedon fully discarded his old skin and lifted his frame.

His look had utterly transformed.

Enormous horns protruded from his forehead, paired with intense, piercing eyes.

Lengthy whiskers danced from his mouth's edges.

His visage sharpened dramatically, radiating greater majesty.

A lion-like mane billowed around his neck, while his elongated body extended gracefully below.

Cloaked in golden scales, his serpentine form rivaled a masterpiece sculpture.

Yet the four limbs sprouting from that body stunned even more.

Those four legs, tipped with five razor claws each, confirmed Arisedon's rise from Imugi to genuine dragon.

Arisedon gazed upon his right foreleg.

There gleamed a luminous sphere.

No explanation needed; he understood innately.

This sphere embodied the Yeouiju.

The fruit of rigorous training granting dragons mastery over storms and tempests.

Only then did Arisedon comprehend.

A Yeouiju demanded collective creation, never solitary.

It emerged as a sacred artifact born from the converged desires of multitudes, not a lone soul.

Arisedon’s Yeouiju held not just his toil, but the aspirations of the World Tree and High Elves too.

Their unified yearning—to safeguard this realm against dire threats—coalesced, bestowing upon Arisedon tremendous might.

—Kwoooooo!

Toward the heavens, Arisedon unleashed his roar.

Dry dust exploded skyward with his cry.

Changes extended beyond that.

Rumble!

Dark clouds swiftly blanketed the parched heavens.

Gusts arose, hoisting Arisedon’s form aloft.

His colossal frame, spanning over two hundred meters, ascended with the ease of a drifting balloon.

Right then, a heavy rain started cascading from the sky laden with clouds.

Ssshhh!

A fierce deluge, as though the heavens themselves had ripped apart.

Arisedon soared upward into the skies, his whole form soaked through by the rain.

Call Wind.

Summon Rain.

An ability held solely by dragons.

Arisedon was no longer an Imugi.

He had become a genuine dragon.

The sole dragon ever born on an Earth where dragons were long extinct.

The spectacle of his two-hundred-meter body twisting as it climbed the skies was beyond belief.

All beholders of the dragon's emergence quaked in reverence.

The World Tree. The High Elves.

Tesserina herself failed to quell her trembling.

Kwoooom!

Arisedon ascended without a moment's delay.

The relentless downpour offered no obstruction.

On the contrary, it bolstered his strength.

Upon attaining the remote vaults of the sky, the clashing forms of Zeon and Reikas in brutal combat appeared before him.

Arisedon drew near to Zeon.

—Zeon!

To his shout, Zeon turned his head just a bit and glanced over.

“Arisedon?”

—Climb onto my head. Let’s fight together.

Zeon refrained from questioning Arisedon's new shape.

There was no need.

Instead, with a nod, he mounted his head without hesitation.

“Alright! Let’s fight together.”

—Here I go.

Thus, the Sand Mage and the Dragon united as one and launched toward their foe.