The Black Dragon (3)

The human world, in the Northern Region, Yndroval Mountains, inside a large cave.
The air inside the giant cave was stuffy and smelled of sulfur. Black stalactites and stalagmites towered around the vast cave.
A Demon with dark grayish skin stood before a black dragon.
"Are you the Black Dragon who stopped the war one month ago?" asked the Demon.
The black dragon remained silent, not answering.
However, its eyes already clearly showed hostility.
"Leave."
The Demon remained standing calmly. He was not in a hurry. His sharp eyes observed the dragon, looking for gaps, searching for signs of weakness or response.
The silence of the cave became Amon's first negotiation field, a test of patience against this ancient creature.
After some time, Amon spoke up. His tone was calm, yet possessed undeniable authority. "Dragon. I come not as an enemy. My name is Amon, and I bring an offer." Amon waited, giving time for his words to seep into the silence.
However, he got the opposite result.
The air suddenly felt heavier and the space around began to distort.
Oxygen should also have become difficult to breathe, but because Amon was a Demon, he was completely unaffected.
Instead, Amon also tried the same thing.
He spread miasma from his body.
As a high-level Demon, he had the ability to continuously emit miasma from his body.
That miasma could rot and kill any living creature instantly, and the troops from the Holy Empire also needed holy protection to ward off the effects of that miasma.
However, as he expected, the dragon was completely unaffected.
"This dragon is strong enough to kill Lorveth, Archdemon-level miasma is like ordinary oxygen to it," he thought.
When there was no answer, a slight change was visible in Amon's posture. He showed no annoyance, only a calculation adjustment. "The world is changing. You who have lived for centuries must feel it. The old order is collapsing. New powers are rising. I offer you a place at the peak of that new order. If you are on the side of the Demon God, we will give you anything you desire."
Amon paused again, his eyes never leaving the dragon's motionless silhouette. He did not underestimate this silence. He knew, creatures like this could not be persuaded with empty promises.
"Join me," continued Amon, this time with slight emphasis. "My legion will be your tool. The power we will seize together will surpass anything you have ever imagined, even in your long sleep."
Still no response. Amon let out a barely audible sigh. His patience was wearing thin, not because of wounded pride, but because time was a precious resource. He had offered power and alliance. Now, he needed to test the limits of this creature.
Without uttering a word, Amon's hand moved quickly. A blood-red magic circle appeared in the air, summoning a pair of giant dark ether claws. Those claws lunged toward the dragon, trying to tear its scales.
The dragon remained silent until the last second.
Just before those claws hit it, its large and powerful tail moved with lightning speed, striking both dark claws until they shattered into pieces, becoming magic dust. The dragon's eyes remained closed.
Amon raised a thin eyebrow. A reaction without opening eyes. Interesting.
This time, Amon focused his magic on elements. A dense black ice storm suddenly filled the cave, wind howling carrying sharp crystals that struck the dragon's body like thousands of needles. The cave floor froze in an instant. However, ice that touched the dragon's body immediately cracked and melted, leaving no trace.
Amon did not stop. He immediately took the next step.
Blinding purple light radiated from his hands, forming an energy vortex that spun increasingly faster.
That energy ball shot toward the dragon's head with force that could destroy mountains.
Just before hitting its target, the dragon opened its eyes.
Deeper and colder purple light emanated from its pupils. Without visible physical movement, that purple energy ball seemed to hit an invisible wall and shattered into light fragments that disappeared.
Amon was silent for a moment, analyzing.
Attacks that were enough to cripple or kill any creature, even high-level demons, had no effect whatsoever. He had seen enough. This silent negotiation had ended.
"Well, I think that's enough—"
The dragon took a breath. The air around its mouth began to distort, its color turning pitch black. Cold, ancient, and frightening energy gathered quickly.
Amon felt an aura different from ordinary magic, a more fundamental power.
"It still wants to continue this?"
Without hesitation, Amon created layered magic shields in front of him, pure energy forged with the will of an Archdemon. The shield radiated light that challenged the darkness beginning to emanate from the dragon's mouth.
Then, the dragon exhaled its breath.
Primordial darkness shot forward. Light inside the cave was sucked into it. Amon's first shield cracked and shattered soundlessly.
The second vanished just like that. The third and fourth followed at the same speed.
Amon, although surprised by this tremendous power, did not panic.
'Fortunately, I had already made preparations for a situation like this.'
That primordial darkness breath hit the place where Amon stood. The breath hit his body, making it wither and blacken.
After that, his body vanished without a trace.
***
In the Demon world, eastern region of the Zholm kingdom, Amon awakened on the throne of Zabi city's palace.
His breathing was slightly ragged, he had managed to escape. He needed time to process and reorganize his strategy. Perhaps recruiting that dragon was indeed not a good idea.
"It seems going using a clone was the right choice."
Unlike Lorveth who was hit by the breath attack while his consciousness was still in his clone, Amon left that clone body just before being hit by the ancient dragon's breath. Amon even decided to sever the connection between that clone body and his soul and original body so that the same thing as Lorveth wouldn't happen.
Although he survived, he felt a horror he had never felt before. This dragon's power... was beyond his expectations. This recruitment had failed.
Suddenly, a cold sensation pierced his spine. Not physical cold, but cold that came from a gaze. He felt a very strong presence right behind him. His Archdemon instinct screamed danger.
Before he could turn around, a giant purple eye glowing in the darkness behind him, as large as the throne he sat on. A low, deep, and echoing voice, which felt more like earth vibration than speech, sounded in his mind, "I found you..."
When that voice echoed, the entire sky above the city was bathed in blood-red light.
Clouds began to swirl rapidly, turning pitch black. Cold wind blew fiercely. Then, the sky began to crack.
Amon, feeling a bad premonition, immediately ran out of the room toward the palace balcony.
Red light lines spread like burst veins until the sky looked like a giant glass shattered into pieces.
"Impossible! The ley lines in this city are destroyed? Just how much ether does it possess?!"
From inside the gaping holes in the collapsed sky, emerged a giant black dragon head, much larger than what Amon saw inside the cave. Its scales gleamed red, and its purple eyes blazed looking directly at him.
"Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Even Lord Zauren's true form release couldn't produce such a devastating ether explosion!"
Far elsewhere, total panic broke out. Thousands of demons ran through narrow streets, pushing each other, looking for hiding places. They knelt not to pray, but to beg for mercy. "Apocalypse! This is the apocalypse!" shouted a demon while tightly hugging his child.
Ships in the harbor looked like small toys under that terrifying sky, and the demons could only stare in horror, waiting for destruction to come.
At the top of a remote tower, a group of people stared at the sky with shocked expressions. "This phenomenon... this surpasses any dimensional magic!" said one of them, his hands trembling. "He's not opening a gate. He... is tearing space and reality itself!"
"Where does such a creature come from?"
"This power clearly isn't from the shallow layer. He is a creature from the inner layer entering the shallow layer!"
The black dragon took a long breath. Air throughout the world felt heavy, as if space itself was compressing.
Roarrrrrr!
The first roar erupted, tearing the earth. The floor beneath Amon's feet, the palace, streets, land split, giant cracks appeared, swallowing tall buildings and cutting off river flows.
Amon, who managed to survive because he flew using his wings, nearly fell into the gaping chasm. He kept flying in the air, while the ground around him collapsed.
Throughout the Demon world, massive earthquakes shook the land, buildings collapsed, and mountains split.
The dragon took another breath, deeper.
ROARRRRRR!
The second roar struck the air, disrupting the structure of elements in nature. In the oceans, giant tsunamis formed, mountain-high, sweeping the land and drowning entire coastal cities.
The already torn sky now emitted purple lightning that fell incessantly, destroying buildings and remaining land around Amon.
A magic formation formed under Amon's feet. It was teleportation magic. However, at the next moment, that magic formation immediately shattered.
"World-scale ether interference?! Damn monster!"
At the remote tower, their protective spells simply exploded.
"Ah... it seems our plan to witness the birth of the Demon God has failed."
"Yes, we must immediately leave this world and prepare a new plan."
The dragon took a breath for the third time. Amon could feel terrifying energy gathering in its throat. This time, that roar was not directed at the earth, but directly at the already torn sky.
ROOOOOOARRRRR!
That third roar did not just destroy, but also erased. The already shattered sky now completely vanished, letting pitch black emptiness be seen everywhere.
All the stars that were previously visible disappeared one by one, and the world was shrouded in total darkness. Amon, who was beneath it, felt horror he had never experienced.
The stars that were previously dimly visible now disappeared. The world was shrouded in total darkness, as if the universe itself was annihilated.
In the midst of that emptiness, Amon realized that the third roar was not directed at him. That roar was a statement.
A message.
The message was very clear, "Don't bother me again."
The dragon gazed at Amon who stood below the emptiness. Then it took another breath, a final terrifying breath. This time, it exhaled it directly toward Amon.
This was not a shock wave, but an erasure. Amon felt his magic shields, which he activated instantly, shatter into pieces. He had no time to react. That breath struck him.
Amon was an Archdemon, an eternal entity. But that did not stop that breath. That breath was nothingness.
One second later, there was no more Amon there. His body disappeared, as well as all signs that he had ever existed.
That roar stopped, and the black dragon pulled its head back from the black hole in the sky which now began to close.