The boy and Zuko stood together, facing Varm.
Varm wasn’t an ordinary tiger.
He was immortal.
A creature capable of destroying entire realms within a frighteningly short amount of time.
Yet despite his overwhelming power, the boy and Zuko possessed one crucial advantage.
Varm was weakened.
He had spent countless years sealed away and bound in chains.
That imprisonment had taken an enormous toll on his soul, and most of his abilities remained sealed.
Even weakened, however, Varm was still terrifying.
The battle continued.
The ground shattered beneath their feet, while the sky itself became riddled with countless holes created by the destruction.
Varm staggered backward.
He lifted his head and released a furious, defiant roar.
Zuko’s eyes suddenly widened.
“It’s time!”
He looked toward the boy.
“My spell is ready!”
Large illusory chains erupted from the void once again.
They wrapped around Varm’s massive neck.
This time, however, the boy seized the chains with both hands, keeping the enormous tiger restrained and distracted.
Zuko moved.
A silver knife appeared in his hand, its blade etched with complex runes that seemed to shift beneath the light.
He sprinted up the chains.
Then he leapt.
Zuko landed on Varm’s head and drove the silver knife directly into the tiger’s skull.
For one brief moment—
Everything went silent.
Then—
A blinding purple light erupted from Varm.
The light illuminated the entire Minor Realm.
The volcanic wasteland disappeared beneath the radiance.
The boy shielded his eyes.
Then the light slowly faded.
Silence returned.
Zuko lay exhausted on the ground.
The boy collapsed to his knees, completely drained.
He slowly raised his head.
His eyes widened.
Standing before them was no longer the gigantic black tiger.
Instead, a tiny black tiger stood in the wasteland.
Golden stripes ran across its small body.
Zuko chuckled weakly.
“Subjugation completed.”
The baby tiger suddenly opened its mouth.
A bronze key emerged from within it.
The key emitted a faint red glow.
Zuko’s exhausted expression immediately turned excited.
“Ah, yes…”
He reached toward it.
“At last.”
His eyes gleamed.
“The first key.”
The boy smiled.
For the first time in a long while, hope began to take root within him.
His chances of escaping this broken place had just increased dramatically.
Meanwhile, in the First Dragon Realm
A sea of flesh covered the ground.
An army of dragon men marched forward to confront the invasion.
Above them, drakes and wyverns clashed with mysterious red, ghastly creatures that filled the sky.
The battlefield stretched endlessly.
Chaos consumed everything.
And floating above it all was a single figure.
A white-haired youth.
He wore a calm smile.
An aura of despair radiated from his body, spreading throughout the realm like an invisible plague.
Meanwhile, in the Third Dragon Realm
Lady Nova gritted her teeth.
“Vile bastard…”
She raised one hand.
Five ever-changing lights immediately appeared before her.
The first light spoke.
“Yes, Lady Nova.
We see the slaughter that is happening.”
Lady Nova narrowed her eyes.
Her voice became dangerous.
“You lazy fucks!
Why won’t you stall for time?”
One of the lights responded calmly.
“With all due respect, my lady, this isn’t anything new.”
The light flickered.
“An invasion happens.
Our realm is destroyed.
We create a new one…”
It paused.
“And then that one is destroyed again.”
The light dimmed slightly.
“It is a cycle that is dangerously close to becoming inevitable.”
Lady Nova clenched her teeth.
She knew they were right.
“Fine.”
Her eyes hardened.
“I’ll just do it myself.”
Lady Nova clenched her fist.
Then she forced herself toward the First Dragon Realm.
The Draconic Angels had deliberately remained hidden from the public eye.
The reason was simple.
They were too incomprehensible.
Their true forms were not meant to be witnessed by ordinary beings.
Because of that, they had sealed themselves away within the Second Realm.
But Lady Nova had succeeded in breaking through that seal.
And now—
She was returning.
The white-haired youth suddenly looked toward the sky.
He sensed something.
Reality split apart.
It was as though the universe itself had been forced to obey some greater cosmic command.
A vast ocean of white light poured into the First Dragon Realm.
From within that radiance—
Lady Nova emerged.
She descended like a goddess.
But what greeted her eyes was something strange.
A white-haired youth was dancing.
He stood upon a platform made entirely of flesh.
Lady Nova tilted her head.
For a brief moment, she didn’t understand what she was looking at.
Then it hit her.
A wave of despair washed over her.
The dance.
It wasn’t merely a dance.
His movements seemed to stir the universal laws of creation themselves.
Every step appeared to grant him greater freedom to manipulate concepts.
His feet were light and nimble.
They gently tapped against the flesh platform.
The white-haired youth laughed like a madman.
His voice echoed throughout the entire realm.
“He never sleeps.”
His body continued moving.
“He says he will never surrender his authority.”
He spun.
“You dragons fight in light…”
Another step.
“…and in shadow.”
He smiled.
“And you are all such great favorites.”
He continued dancing.
And dancing.
And dancing.
The First Dragon Realm began to melt around him.
Lady Nova narrowed her eyes.
Then she spoke loudly.
“The good note says…”
Her voice echoed through the realm.
“He that lives by the Abyss shall perish by the Abyss.”
The white-haired youth suddenly stopped.
Silence.
He slowly looked toward Lady Nova.
His smile returned.
His face seemed almost illuminated by blood.
“Hahah…”
He laughed softly.
“What right creature would have it any other fancy way?”
The white-haired youth bowed toward Lady Nova.
Then he chuckled.
“Shall we?”
Back in the Minor Realm
The boy and Zuko returned to the First Dragon Realm.
But the moment they arrived—
They froze.
The sight before them was devastating.
Drakes and wyverns battled incomprehensible, ghastly abominations throughout the sky.
Below them, dragon men fought desperately for their lives against oceans of flesh creatures.
Zuko stared in amazement at the slaughter.
But the boy…
The boy felt something else.
A familiar terror seized his heart.
His soul ached.
Memories of the Abyss came rushing back.
His body froze.
He couldn’t speak.
Couldn’t move.
He simply stood there like a statue.
Zuko noticed.
His expression became concerned.
He looked at the boy.
Then at the creatures of the Abyss.
Then back at the boy.
“…Are you familiar with the Abyss?”
The boy didn’t respond.
He couldn’t.
His eyes remained fixed on the battlefield.
Then—
Something massive moved across the sky.
An ocean of flesh drifted through the air at terrifying speeds.
Behind it followed a vast blanket of light.
The moment the boy and Zuko saw it—
Their bodies reacted.
Blood burst from their pores.
The boy collapsed unconscious.
Zuko immediately grabbed him.
“Shit!”
He teleported away.
The ocean of flesh continued gliding across the sky.
The blanket of light followed behind it with malicious intent.
Red flesh tentacles erupted from the ocean, reaching toward the blanket of light.
Beams of light fired from above.
The tentacles were severed.
But the ocean of flesh barely reacted.
Reality split open once again.
A massive fissure appeared.
The ocean of flesh plunged into it.
The blanket of light followed.
In the Second Realm
A dark fissure opened within the endless white void.
A white-haired youth emerged from it.
A woman wearing a white tunic followed immediately behind.
Lady Nova pointed toward the white-haired youth.
The instant her finger moved—
His body exploded.
A massive wave of white light spread outward.
But the youth’s body reappeared in the distance.
Lady Nova grunted.
“You’re the scum of creation itself.”
The white-haired youth chuckled.
“Whatever exists in creation without madness and corruption…”
His smile widened.
“…will cease to exist beneath my authority.”
Then—
Everything exploded.
A sea of violence consumed the Second Realm.
The endless white void shook violently as the two forces collided.
Lady Nova raised her hand.
Countless spears of light rained down from above.
The white-haired youth took refuge behind countless harrowing flesh abominations.
The spears descended.
They tore through the flesh creatures one after another.
Suddenly—
A gigantic tentacle ripped through the white void and surged toward Lady Nova.
She barely reacted.
She simply flicked her wrist.
A brutal flash of light erupted.
The enormous tentacle ceased to exist.
Silence.
Then Lady Nova sensed something behind her.
She turned.
White-haired youths surrounded her.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
Each one wore the same mocking smile.
They began closing in, attempting to trap her.
Lady Nova opened her palm.
A miniature blue sun appeared above it.
The tiny star rapidly expanded.
Then—
She launched it into the sky.
The blue sun detonated.
BOOOOOOM!
A reality-shaking explosion rippled throughout the Second Realm.
The surrounding white-haired youths were erased in the blast.
The foundations of the realm trembled.
Then a mocking voice echoed through the endless white void.
“Alright…”
A pause.
“Let’s see.”
Lady Nova’s eyes widened.
The white-haired youth suddenly appeared directly behind her.
He leaned toward her ear.
And whispered a single word.
“Despair.”