Ember Dragon

Chapter 854 Doomsday and the Emperor

As Felipe shouted, Kazul merged with the five-colored phantom in the sky, and the two figures exuding a terrifying aura gradually overlapped.

The ancient red dragon's ferocious and enormous body exuded a noble dignity unique to true gods. A magnificent five-colored crown seemed to condense on its head, and the phantom of Tiamat appeared behind it.

"Roar--"

Kazur raised his head, opened his blood-red maw, and let out a furious roar that shook the heavens. The sound spread rapidly from him, stirring up ripples of dust.

In an instant, the dragon worshippers and priests in Sunset City all knelt on the ground, praying with empty eyes and chanting ancient dragon language poems.

"When the wings that hang from the sky cleave through the twilight, the ancient tyrant breaks free from the dungeon!"

"The long river of lava that rolled in His throat burned the crowns of the gods to ashes!"

"A pulse rises from the depths of the scorched earth—a new era is stirring within the ashes!"

Kazul flapped its wings, and the cloud of ash above its head spread rapidly at an unimaginable speed, covering hundreds of miles in just a few breaths, like a world-destroying behemoth that swallowed the entire world.

Not only on this battlefield, but throughout the entire Seleucia region, spanning thousands of miles, terrible disasters occurred everywhere.

"God."

"The end of the world has truly come."

In this despairing darkness, people's cries, wails, and calls seemed so faint.

The earth groaned, roared, and shattered.

With violent shaking, the ground was ripped open with deep, bottomless gashes. Crimson magma raged forth from these massive wounds, carrying the scorching aura of burning everything, flowing wantonly and devouring the land.

As the lava meandered through the landscape, houses melted like wax, stone towers collapsed like withered grass, and life was reduced to charred outlines in an instant before being swallowed up by the scorching torrent, leaving no time for even a cry of despair.

Hundreds of miles away in the cities of Seleucia, the earth finally tore open its wounds, and scalding lava gushed out, engulfing the cities like a raging river. Towers, licked by the lava, twisted and collapsed like melting wax.

The ashes, like an endless shroud, had already completely enveloped the sky, extinguishing the daylight and leaving only a thick, inky darkness.

The next moment, the sky also cracked open, and countless burning meteors plummeted down, tearing through the air and crashing down on the earth with a roar—the earth was smashed into huge craters, flames suddenly rose up, and thick smoke billowed and spread.

That dark red light was nothing more than the stagnant blood flowing from the earth's wounds, reflecting the tragic scene of being swallowed up.

"Divine punishment! That's divine punishment!"

"The rumors of the apocalypse are true! We have angered the gods! The old era is about to end!"

"Kneel down now! Only those who accept the seal of the great five-colored dragon queen can survive this apocalypse."

The once glorious Cathedral Square has now become a vortex of despair.

People ran blindly through the streets, pushing and trampling each other amidst the sulfurous fumes and ash-filled air, all in an attempt to escape this hell.

The air was scorching hot; each breath felt like swallowing a red-hot knife, the burning pain shooting from the throat straight to the depths of the lungs.

Hoarse cries and dying moans, mixed with the deafening roar of collapsing buildings, intertwined to create a frenzied chorus of apocalypse.

In the chaotic crowd, a mother tightly hugged her child. Scalding volcanic ash fell on the child's face, causing the child to scream in pain. The mother wiped it away in vain.

In a corner of the city, the ragged old priest Patrick collapsed to his knees amidst the rubble, uttering hoarse sobs.

His once pristine holy robe is now stained and grime-covered.

Patrick clutched the Sun Emblem hanging on his chest with both hands, futilely raising it towards the sky completely sealed off by thick smoke and ash, his voice broken and shattered: "Why? Why is this happening?"

"Gods, have you truly abandoned us? Great Lord of Eternal Radiance, we were once your devout flock! Answer me, even if it is only a glimmer of light..."

In response, only another "flame of divine punishment" swept across the sky, crashing down in the distance and completely obliterating a towering clock tower, leaving only rising flames and even thicker black smoke.

The last glimmer of light in his eyes went out, his hand fell limply to his sides, and the holy emblem fell into the thick ashes, instantly buried—as if the god he had worshipped all his life had utterly abandoned him at this moment.

The nobles' magnificent carriages, adorned with their family crests, now resembled clumsy iron coffins, struggling to move an inch in the chaotic crowd.

An obese nobleman was shoved and fell off the carriage, rolling into the filthy mud and ashes.

His gold-embroidered robe was torn, and the ring set with a large gemstone was nowhere to be found. He waved his hands in vain, letting out a shrill scream utterly incongruous with his status, like that of a slaughtered animal:

"You lowly commoners! Get out of my way! Do you know who I am? I am the Duke's son—"

"Go away!"

However, in this apocalypse, order had completely collapsed, and no one paid any attention to the nobleman. Faces covered in ashes and distorted by suffocation and fear simply numbly passed by him and fled forward.

His once-symbol of power has been trampled underfoot by a muddy foot and is now buried deep in the grime.

Anna was curled up at the foot of a crumbling wall at the edge of the square.

She held her youngest daughter, Leah, tightly in her arms, using her own body as a fragile barrier against falling rocks and scorching winds.

We will survive.

She murmured meaningless words of comfort over and over again, her voice trembling slightly, as if she were deceiving herself.

Leah's pale face was buried deep in her mother's tattered clothes, and each difficult, weak breath carried the scent of ashes.

Anna could feel the tiny body in her arms breathing weaker and weaker. She lowered her head, futilely trying to wipe the thick layer of ash from the child's face with her tattered sleeve.

"Don't be afraid, Leah, Mommy's here..."

Anna's voice was so faint it was like a sigh, "Look, it's almost dawn..."

She looked up at the sky, forever covered in ashes, yearning for a miracle that never existed.

Ashes, silent and invisible, yet pervasive.

The tiny life that had once brought Anna so much warmth was growing cold and stiff. Only ashes fell softly, landing on the child's peaceful, lifeless face, and in the mother's arms, which trembled slightly from silent weeping.

The crowd in the distance was also buried by the ashes, and the ashen corpses were piled up haphazardly. The entire city seemed to be swallowed up by the dark embers.

On the battlefield, the officers and soldiers of the Allied forces were also plunged into deep despair.

One after another, space battleships were shot down by meteorites, falling from the sky and crashing to the ground, exploding and sending up towering flames.

People futilely shot arrows and cast spells into the sky, but they could not get close to Kazul, who was thousands of meters above the ground and surrounded by fiery clouds. This powerful ancient red dragon was like a true natural disaster, impossible to resist or defeat.

Hundreds of rockets rose from the ground, raining down on the Primordial Red Dragon, but were torn apart by the intense firestorm when they were hundreds of meters away, unable to get any closer.

The Empire's magic legions and dragon-contracting sorcerers unleashed several large ninth-ring spells. Intersecting pillars of light, enormous meteors, and extremely cold ice spikes attacked the ancient red dragon one after another, but they were easily extinguished by the divine radiance surrounding it.

No matter how hard these spellcasters tried, it was all in vain; they could not harm a being who was close to a god and about to transcend the material plane.

In Sunset City, Philippe gazed at the apocalyptic scene, laughing and crying at the same time: "Foolish mortals, give up your futile struggles! The end is inevitable! Your world is about to perish!"

At this moment, the two souls within him were completely torn apart. The soul that was King Seleucia was grieving and weeping for the coming of this apocalypse, while the soul that was transformed by Tiamat and became the Pope of the Dragon was cheering and excited for the arrival of a new era.

"Amannata above."

"Gods, how could we mortals possibly rival beings capable of ending eras?"

"Give up, we can only witness the end of the world."

The allied soldiers' voices were low, filled with despair and reluctance, but the empire's elite troops were still trying to launch a counterattack.

In mid-air, several space warships gathered together, forming an indestructible defensive array. Their shields stacked together to block the meteorites falling from the sky, while the muzzles of the elemental cannons were all aimed at the ancient red dragon high in the sky.

"shooting!"

"Bomb it down!"

"boom--"

With a deafening roar, hundreds of elemental cannons fired thick beams of light, but they still could not break through the divine radiance surrounding Kazul.

Kazul looked down at the aerospace warship below, his narrow, vertical pupils revealing undisguised contempt.

With a flick of its claws, pillars of blazing flame, intensely hot and carrying immense force, descended from the sky, crashing into the fleet with a deafening roar, like divine punishment.

Under the raging flames imbued with the power of destruction, the fleet's force field shield was instantly shattered, and the dozen or so space battleships exploded one after another, plummeting towards the ground.

"By Cassius!"

The empire's officers and soldiers looked up at the spaceships falling one after another from the sky, their faces filled with disbelief.

Those were space warships that the empire had built at great expense, each costing at least tens of thousands of gold coins. It was shocking that they were shot down so easily by the enemy!

Deep in the sky, the stars seemed to be shattered by some force, turning into countless burning meteorites, trailing dazzling yet deadly tails, tearing through the heavy night and crashing down on the dying earth, swallowing up the coalition forces crowded on the ground.

Each impact unleashed a deafening roar that shook the very axis of the earth. The embers from the scorched earth's entrails fell endlessly, covering everything that remained, like an endless, grand, and sorrowful funeral.

Just then, accompanied by a scorching shockwave, a meteorite as large as a small mountain hurtled toward the Allied command post.

"Be careful--"

Misha's expression changed drastically. She suddenly spread her dragon wings, stretched out her hand, and a vast amount of energy surged out. A crimson magic circle condensed in mid-air, blocking the meteorite that was about to fall.

The magic circle rippled violently as the massive meteorite exploded in mid-air, turning into countless scattered, burning fragments that fell back to the ground, killing hundreds of unsuspecting allied soldiers.

Wailing and screams filled the battlefield. People were powerless to do anything about it and could only watch helplessly as this terrible natural disaster took their lives. They felt a deep despair for their tragic fate, like condemned prisoners on the gallows.

This is what is known as "Judgment Day".

"Cassius above"

"Great Emperor of the Burning Flames! We beg you to grant us protection!"

Faced with this helpless situation, the imperial soldiers either knelt in prayer, faced north in a gesture of loyalty, or clasped their hands together, placing their hopes for victory on the supreme and noble Burning Emperor—Cassius.

Countless points of light, symbolizing the power of faith, floated up from their bodies, converging into a sacred river that flowed towards the distant horizon.

In the distant place where faith converges, a crimson light suddenly appeared in the dark sky, like a wound pierced by a sharp spear.

Immediately afterwards, the "wound" continued to expand, transforming into towering flames that surged like ocean waves, tearing through the dark sky. A dazzling, scorching fireball appeared high in the distance, casting countless beams of light that brought light to the world shrouded in ashes.

For a moment, the people on the battlefield subconsciously raised their heads, their expressions filled with excitement and joy, like drowning people grasping at the last straw.

"Is this...the sun?"

"Could it be His Majesty Amannata? It's true! It seems the gods haven't abandoned us after all!"

Praise be to the Lord of Eternal Radiance!

The Amanatha believers within the coalition immediately cheered and prayed, as if they had seen a savior.

However, Adrian, who was favored by the sun god, raised his head, his gaze deep, the firelight reflected in his pupils, and said meaningfully, "No, that is probably the Emperor of Burning."

“How could this be? Such a warm and bright sun, such benevolent divine power!” The Sun Bishop beside him quickly retorted, but his words were interrupted by another voice.

"Roar--"

A deafening dragon roar came from the sky, the sound waves causing the ashes on the ground to fly up, and also making millions of people on the battlefield feel an impulse from the bottom of their hearts and deep into their souls, wanting to kneel down and submit.

Is that a deity?
Could it be an envoy from Heavenly Mountain? Or perhaps the Lord of Eternal Radiance himself has descended?

People still looked up and saw the blazing "sun" expanding continuously, its flames completely tearing apart the dark sky. In front of the huge, burning fireball, a majestic figure was outlined.

That was also a giant dragon, its posture far more sacred than that of Kazul, the "God of Destruction," and it also released a tremendous pressure—it was none other than the Burning Emperor, Caesus!
(End of this chapter)