A Failed Hero's Voyage Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Beginning of a End

Read chapter 4 of A Failed Hero's Voyage by churro on NovelPedia.

Atherius’s eyes widened slightly as a violent wind tore through the chamber, the air itself trembling under the pressure of what was about to unfold. He moved at once, leaping backward and landing dozens of meters away just as Mordor’s body began to change. The emperor’s robes split apart as something vast emerged beneath them. Crimson scales tore through the fabric and spread rapidly across his form like living armor, shimmering with a faint inner glow that radiated heat strong enough to bend the air and distort the light around him. Mordor grew relentlessly, his frame expanding with unnatural force as his arms lengthened and thickened with overwhelming strength, curved claws forming at their ends while his spine arched and stretched with deep, grinding cracks as his true shape forced its way into existence. Atherius watched in silence as, for the first time, his expression shifted, not to fear, not to concern, but to disbelief, and something sharper still, excitement. But the transformation did not slow, and the chamber could not contain it. Within moments, Mordor’s rising form struck the ceiling, the stone groaning under the pressure before fractures raced outward in jagged lines, until the mountain itself finally gave way. With a thunderous collapse, it shattered, and the dragon burst upward through solid rock as though it were nothing more than brittle glass. Atherius reacted instantly, propelling himself out of the collapsing chamber and blasting across the valley before landing lightly upon the grass below, only a short distance from the towering corpse of Xerasius, which still stood in silent defiance of death. For a moment, he simply watched as the mountain trembled violently, fractures spreading across its surface like lightning, splitting stone and tearing the peak apart. Then a massive crimson arm tore through the summit, followed by a spiraling horn, then another, and another, until the mountain erupted outward in a violent surge of destruction. Rock and debris were cast into the sky as something colossal forced its way free. The Celestial Dragon revealed himself. Mordor rose from the shattered peak like a god ascending from the earth, towering over the landscape at hundreds of meters tall, his presence dwarfing even the surrounding mountains. Four immense horns spiraled around his head like twisted crowns, black as onyx yet burning with crimson energy that pulsed and shifted unnaturally, as though they were not fixed but alive, subtly moving in a way that defied logic. Behind him, six enormous wings unfolded, and when they spread, they consumed the sky itself, the air quaking beneath their sheer scale. Mordor lowered his vast head, his glowing crimson gaze locking onto the lone figure below, Atherius. A slow breath passed through his long, elegant snout as smoke curled outward and heat gathered within him, before he rose onto his hind legs and spoke. His voice was not merely sound, but force, shaking the heavens as it thundered across the battlefield “Is this what you wished to see?! Will this form suffice, young hero?!” Atherius smiled as he lifted his gaze, studying the dragon, not just his form, but the power within him. What he sensed was beyond measure, “immense” was an insufficient word, for even the greatest arcane constructs of humanity, mage towers capable of sustaining entire kingdoms, would amount to nothing beside even a fraction of the energy Mordor produced in a single heartbeat. This was not mere power. This was excess. A true monster. Atherius spread his arms wide as though welcoming the challenge. “That will be more than enough!” he called. Above them, the dragons circling the sky erupted into deafening cries, their roars echoing across the heavens as they beheld their emperor’s true form, exultation, reverence, fury all woven into their voices. Yet Mordor’s expression shifted as he glanced upward, subtle and brief, but unmistakable. Atherius noticed it immediately, a flicker of hesitation, a mom