[No more PC left. We're fully stocked up on the necklaces now and ready to start selling. Also, your name is everywhere right now—a lot of talk about your ten duels tomorrow]
Ali read the message from Jacob while standing silently in his back garden.
'Good,' Ali thought, eyes scanning the horizon absently. 'With the profit from the necklaces, I'll be able to complete the summoner set—or, if not that, find another piece of gear that enhances my base power. Something with synergy.'
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, shutting off the outside world in a single exhale. The duels tomorrow would begin at sunrise and carry on until just two hours before sunset—ending just before the grand gate opening.
Ali entered his Spirit realm.
A jarring shift occurred, like a dream within a void, and suddenly he stood inside the familiar grey-white mist of his inner world. Here, everything was quiet—but not peaceful. This was not a realm of serenity.
"Bahamut," Ali called aloud, his voice echoing through the fog like a war drum.
He raised his hands slightly as he channeled all five points of Spirit at once, the energy vanishing instantly into the gate of dragons opposite him—the ancient gate carved with roaring serpents and smouldering flames.
The gate shuddered.
For a heartbeat, nothing moved.
Then the fog churned like a storm, and from the distance, a heavy cloud surged toward him—dense, black, and crackling with violet currents. It moved with the inevitability of a tidal wave.
ZZZZZZZZZZ
A streak of violent purple energy arced through the black cloud like lightning inside a storm. Then, slowly, like an eye waking from ancient slumber, the cloud split open—revealing a monstrous reptilian eye that pulsed with malevolence.
It was enormous—easily twenty meters across—with a burning purple iris and a vertical black slit that seemed to look through not just Ali's form, but into the truth of him.
The moment the eye opened, the realm shook with intensity. Hatred, hunger, and an ancient, primal terror poured out of it, flooding every inch of the Spirit realm like a tidal wave of pure emotion.
And yet, Ali stood at the centre of it all, completely unmoved.
"Why did you take so long to call for me?" The voice of Bahamut didn't speak in words. It thundered directly into Ali's skull like a cannon blast of thought, too loud, too overwhelming.
Ali winced. "Lower your voice," he muttered, glaring up at the eye. "Or I'm sending you back."
A pause. Then, softer now, like the grinding of old gears, Bahamut spoke again.
"I forgot."
Ali folded his arms. "I've got questions. You're going to answer them."
The massive purple eye narrowed slightly in what could only be amusement. "I can see your pond is larger now… I can stay longer."
A faint violet glow began to bathe the realm in a surreal, magical light—casting tall shadows that didn't belong and making the fog look like ghostly fire.
Ali got to the point. "I've acquired a summoner's glove. It lets me summon two dragons at equal strength using a single exchange of Spirit. I want to know the limits. How many dragons can I have active at once? How long do they stay?"
Bahamut hummed, a low thrumming rumble that caused the very mist of the Spirit realm to vibrate.
"That glove is a rare artifact. With it, you've gained a tool of immense potential," Bahamut said. "But as for how many of us you can control… that is not as simple as a number."
The massive eye glanced toward the ancient dragon gate towering behind Ali.
"It all starts with your soul. Your soul created this gate—it is the bridge between your Spirit realm and my world. It is powerful, yes. Very powerful. But not limitless."
Even Bahamut sounded impressed.
"To simplify," the ancient dragon continued, "your soul can handle calling all of us. But your Spirit pool can't pay the price. Worse still—your Spirit realm itself would collapse if overwhelmed. Too many dragons at once would rupture the fabric of this place and, by extension… kill you."
Ali nodded slowly. That tracked with what he'd guessed.
"The current limit is three," Bahamut finished. "Three dragons summoned at once, regardless of their power. But as your Spirit deepens… that number will rise."
Ali frowned slightly. "Less than I hoped for."
"Less than you dreamed, perhaps," Bahamut rumbled, "And know this—once summoned, the dragons will remain until you send them back or fall in battle. They can evolve with you… especially mine."
The eye glowed brighter, casting deep indigo light across the realm.
"Mine grow through consumption. Feed them everything. Let them gorge on power, blood, Spirit. Accept the hunger. Surrender to it, and I will reward you. Feed the need—and I will—"
A wave of killing intent erupted from Bahamut's eye.
The realm screamed.
Ali gritted his teeth as his knees buckled slightly. His head throbbed with a sharp stabbing pain, as if hot nails were being driven directly into his skull. The pressure of it cracked through his thoughts like thunder.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ali roared, grabbing the sides of his head and forcing the dragon's influence back.
Bahamut immediately fell silent, his oppressive aura vanishing from Ali's Spirit realm in an instant. The great dragon's eye blinked once and then trembled—not from fear, but from something far worse for a being like him: submission. Ali's control over it's action started…
'This contract… it binds me too tightly,' Bahamut thought as he floated high above in the swirling violet mist. His monstrous pupil tracked Ali below. 'He will accept my power, whether he chooses it or not. It is inevitable. Nobody resists the truth of darkness forever.'
Ali stood at the centre of his realm. His left eye had gone entirely black, a dark void with no pupil. Black veins branched across his skin like the roots of a dead tree, coiling around his torso, shoulders, and arms. The surface of the realm quaked slightly beneath his feet, the very foundation of his Spirit reacting to his anger.
"Don't ever do that again," Ali growled, his voice deep and distorted with fury. "Or I swear to you—I will never call your name again. Do not test me, lizard!"
The final word struck like a lash. Even for a being as ancient and cruel as Bahamut, the insult landed.
There was a long silence… then, to the utter absurdity of the moment, the dragon answered not with fire or scorn, but with humility.
"I got carried away," Bahamut said, his thunderous voice now low and subdued. "Forgive me."
And there it was, the ancient dragon of darkness, one of the strongest beasts in existence and one of the strongest in the Dragon hall just apologised to a human, that was unthinkable….
Ali didn't respond. He simply continued to breathe. He hated pain. Not just the physical, but the kind that clouded the mind, dulled the edge, stole clarity. And what Bahamut had done—flooding his spirit realm with killing intent—was one of the most unbearable tortures he'd ever endured. He had survived the worst pain torture could offer. But this was something else…
After a long moment, Ali spoke again—calmer now, but with residual venom under his breath.
"I've been borrowing the power of your leader," he said. "The fire…Do you know anything about it?"
Bahamut took his time before answering. "I've seen it through your summon," he finally replied. "It is… the most destructive force you could ever wield from the Dragon Hall. It's not meant for mortals. If I were to offer you one piece of advice…"
A pause.
"…it would be this: find its rhythm. Only then can you control it. Only then can you survive it—and unleash it to its fullest."
Ali narrowed his blackened eyes.
The giant eye in the sky closed, and once again, the thick, dark cloud consumed Bahamut's presence. It swirled once more into the fog of the Spirit realm and vanished without another word.
Ali stood in the silence.
'He said he had time, then wasted half of it trying to brainwash me,' Ali thought bitterly. But Bahamut's final words rang in his mind like a whisper inside a storm.
Rhythm.
'Then it's about control… not just power output, but tempo. Maybe if I move the flames through my body at a precise rate—steadily, in a loop—they'll last longer. Won't rupture my organs. Might even trigger something else… a new reaction.'
He opened his eyes.
Back in the real world, Ali stepped out of his meditation and onto the grass. With a smooth motion, he drew up his hood, shadowing his face, and strode through his house toward the front. There was no time to waste.
He arrived at the training field. The light cast long shadows across the field as other players went through their drills. Ali headed straight for the receptionist desk.
"I'll take ten hours," he said, already opening his interface to pay.
But before he could, the woman behind the desk stopped him.
"Administrator Toto has issued a directive," she said politely, bowing her head. "All services of the training field are free of charge for Player Ali."
Ali blinked. His brows lifted slightly in surprise. 'The greedy little monster's being generous?' he thought. Still, he wasn't about to question a free deal.
Without another word, he nodded and walked toward the high-barrier section. The field shimmered with a familiar blue dome, and within it stood a single indestructible dummy at the far end—waiting.
Ali warmed up slowly. He trained with the inverted spear of heaven, spinning it in arcs around his body, letting it whistle through the air and testing different chain lengths for speed and precision. His muscles moved like steel cables, flowing with purpose. Every movement was exact.
Half an hour passed.
Finally, he felt it.
His Spirit pond was full.
Ali released the spear into his inventory and closed his eyes.
He didn't hesitate.
"Power"
The gate cracked open.
FWOOOM.
The cosmic flame poured into his body. Instantly, his skin glowed faintly from within as the burning current of power threaded through his muscles and veins. His breath caught. It wasn't pain—yet. But it was hot. Alive.
He focused hard—his entire willpower centered on the energy beneath his skin.
'Too slow… pick it up.'
He accelerated the flow of flame through his arms.
'No, now it's surging—too fast! Slow it back down… steady… again…'
He repeated the process. Three times.
Trying to find the rhythm.
Trying to tame the wild energy moving through his nerves like a storm of knives.
Then—he lost control.
The fire erupted from his palm in a beam of white-hot destruction. It hit the dummy with a violent blast that shook the barrier around him.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire training zone shuddered. A crater of charred, cracked sand now surrounded the dummy. The air was still trembling, heatwaves distorting the view like rippling glass.
Ali's arm—seared and steaming—hung limply at his side.
Not there yet.
'Too much fluctuation… the margin for error is razor-thin,' he noted grimly. 'To master this, I'll need to control the flame's speed, direction, and pressure—across multiple body parts at once, moving in a loop…'
He took a breath.
'Easy.'
Ali smirked and summoned his spear again, sweat-less and unwavering, ready to train until his Spirit filled up again.
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I just finished writing chapter 279 and it's one of the most brutal ones yet, I might have even went overboard, can't wait for u guys to see it
Please donate some of your power stones, it would help my ff massively.
Five chapters ahead of webnovel on patreon.com/Rondo312