Guild Wars

Kuro charged forth with a barrier of his own Destruction Energy covering his body, planning to break through the veritable torrent of opposing energy that was being sent down by the older Black Dragon.

However, having the indomitable will to push forward despite the difficulties ahead was certainly nice and definitely made for cool TikTok phonk edits, but in reality, it could only take one so far.

Kuro struggled to make progress beyond the 50th platform, which he reached rather rapidly by burning up his energy. As might be obvious, only Lucitian and Lucitera among Draco's children had the Chaotic Eternal Bloodline with 100% capacity unlocked.

For all the other children, they suffered from the same problems Draco did when he only had 99%, which were the limitations of energy and maximum power. While the energy recovered really fast, it was nothing compared to the consumption needed to maintain his barrier.

Nearly 100% pure Destruction Energy was truly tyrannical for non-Origin Gods. Even a True God at the Supreme Rank would likely be melted down into paste under such a barrage, much less a Rankless youth like Kuro.

Every platform over 50 was like a normal human lifting a 30 kg rock up a large step while fatigued. The strain and effort involved were severe, but Kuro bore it with a straight face, his mind dead set on achieving what he wanted.

His father had always complained that he was too cold and serious and should be more casual. However, Kuro knew that he preferred to be this way because it granted him the resilience to bear with moments like these.

By the 65th step, Kuro was like a dead dog struggling to take a single step towards the bow of water. His wings flapped incredibly slowly while his eyelids drooped, their fierceness not diminished at all despite his fatigue.

At the 75th step, he could not even take a step forward and floated down onto the platform, struggling to even maintain himself while standing. His barrier was so weak and fragile, looking like it could shatter in the next second if he didn't divert every single bit of his remaining focus into it.
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In the end, he could only maintain this state of being frozen on the spot without conceding by falling into a slump, which lasted for a good 5 minutes that felt like an eternity to Kuro until the wave of Destruction Energy from above suddenly stopped.

Surprised, Kuro looked up to see the eyes of the older Black Dragon shining, showing a deep look of approval.

"Not bad, kid, not bad at all. You have the basic drive of a Black Dragon to never give up, and your Destruction Energy is surprisingly pure for someone your age. You have a bright future ahead, and our Dragon Race could use a qualified fellow like you as our leader. You pass," he said in a deep voice before laying down once more.

Kuro only had the time to make a small nod of respect before he was whisked away into a new area, one that was similar to where he had been previously. There, the statue of the first king appeared before him in the void, with its features more lifelike than in reality.

Its eyes flashed as a voice entered Kuro's mind, full of surprise.

"What, you actually managed to pass? What is that bastard Desvo doing? Didn't I tell him to suppress you to death?"

Kuro's expression darkened rapidly, and Igneus seemed to realize that he had spoken aloud.

As such, he quickly added, "Ahem! Good job, young one! You are definitely limitlessly talented for being able to pass such an… impossible… test. However, this next one is not one that can be passed through brute strength and luck!"

Before Kuro could demand answers, he was whisked away once more, this time appearing at the peak of a huge mountain, flying a few hundred kilometers above it. Looking down, he could see that this mountain was humongous, starting from the earth and piercing into the sky itself.

Even with the added benefit of looking from above, the mountain was like a huge black crater surrounded by endless greenery that extended into the horizon, denoting the grasslands surrounding this natural feature.

From his point of view, he could see that the entire mountain was filled with huge caves that were about twice or three times his size. Apart from that, there were more than a few dragons coming to and from these caves, but most of them were lesser draconic species.

Before Kuro could check further, four dragons flew up to the sky to meet him, their faces showing respect and reverence.

"Young King, why are you out here? Please come back and help us resolve the issues at hand!" a male dragon with golden scales spoke in a refined manner, being a rare Gold-Element Dragon.

Young King? Him?

Kuro was confused for a bit until he saw a prompt appear before him.

｢System to Immortal Descendant Announcement

The objective of the third segment has been set. You must resolve the three catastrophes of the Scattered Dragon Race as the incumbent Young King. The degree of resolution needs to be at least 80% effective as the original solution.｣

Kuro understood that this must be a realm taken from history like the first one. As such, he nodded to the Golden Element dragon and followed them down to the peak of the mountain, where a hole that led to a voluminous cavern existed.

Within the hole were many pure-blooded dragons of different elements seated casually on various beddings, being served by lower species dragons and half-dragons. When they saw Kuro come down, there was not much respect in their eyes compared to the four aides who came for him, and they didn't even stand up to greet.

This caused Kuro's red eyes to glow with malice as he roared, releasing a wave of power that caused the entire cavern to quake. Kuro was only half the size of some of the older dragons here and far below their age, but his power caused many to be suppressed until their bodies trembled.

These older dragons were shocked that the Young King had such power. Based on the historical lore of this time period, the Young King of the time had been exceedingly talented but very inexperienced and yet to grow, so they often suppressed him using such small means.

Who could have thought the fellow who usually bore it and pretended not to see would explode like this? And with so much power?

"Young King, please calm your anger!" one of the four aides hurriedly advised, being a green-scaled nature dragon.

Kuro retracted his aura and snorted before seating himself on the mound partitioned for the king, which was at the center of the room. Even though he was one size too small for it, his presence and ferocious red eyes still caused the other dragons in the room to bow their heads.

｢System to Immortal Descendant Announcement

Congratulations on resolving the Third Catastrophe of the Scattered Dragon Race, The Irreverent Legitimacy! Degree of resolution: 500%!｣

Kuro glanced at the notification as his eyes narrowed. For something to be named the 'Three Catastrophes,' it meant that there had to be either a sequence or ranking to them which could be in terms of severity or time of occurrence.

It could be the first, meaning that the First Catastrophe happened first while the third one among the three happened last, with no particular reference to their power.

Or it could be the second, where the First Catastrophe was the weakest and the third one was the strongest.

Whichever, it showed that Kuro's inadvertent action born from the violent nature of the Black Dragon was immensely important. Whether the Third Catastrophe was the strongest or it was the one that happened last, either way, it was the best one to be resolved first.

Not to mention the degree of resolution…

Kuro guessed that the original Young King must have used softer methods to resolve the situation and win the respect and trust of the noble dragons in this room who probably secretly questioned whether he deserved to be there.

However, his direct show of power and suppression was indisputable proof. For races like the dragon race, they were sophisticated enough to use technology and even pioneer magic, but they were also much more frank about their bestial instincts.

Especially in this backward era where they didn't even have a city yet. The Young King was chosen likely because of his great talent or potential, but even then, there must have been other competitors, right?

They could even be some of the dragons here or their sons and daughters. However, in the face of what Kuro displayed, all such thoughts were quashed, because this Young King was now strong enough to end all their lives if he wanted!

Strength was the original truth, and their Young King had it!

Who dared to question his right to rule?

"Young King, there is an issue with the sub-dragons. They have recently banded together to form an alliance, claiming that their treatment by superior and pure-blooded dragons is unseemly and they desire freedom as well as independence!" one of the other aides, a blue-scaled water dragon, revealed in a soft feminine voice.

"What?!"

"Insolent trash! How dare they?"

"Slaughter them! Slaughter the entire species!"

The noble dragons, who were previously docile like kittens, began roaring like crazy, their eyes bloodshot and full of primal fury. One would think that their own parents had been slaughtered, but the situation was actually more dire.

The relationship between pure dragons and sub-dragons had always been one of unilateral oppression and exploitation.

Most sub-dragons could not even bear to remain standing in the presence of pure-blooded dragons due to bloodline suppression, so where did they get the guts?

Meanwhile

, Kuro was interested because Hikari had taught him some of the basic history of the dragon race while growing up. She had once mentioned that, at a time countless millennia before she was born, there was an uprising of the sub-dragons that led to a long civil war which was barely resolved by the Dragon King of that era.

She also told Kuro that the sub-dragons actually did not like the oppression, but did not mind. After all, dragons were not like humans.

One group of humans oppressing another was weird because between the two groups there were no specific biological differences. However, between a pure dragon and a sub-dragon existed a biological gulf that separated the two species like a chasm, such that one party could literally feel physical, emotional, and spiritual pressure from the other.

As such, most sub-dragons had a mentality of 'as expected' when oppressed by pure dragons. They did not like it, but they did not necessarily see it as evil, feeling that it was the norm.

So, for the sub-dragons to do this, something had to be pushing them. From what Kuro remembered of what Hikari told him, the source was from the Primordial Devil race, the ancestors of the current Devil race.

A bunch of troublemakers who liked to incite chaos on the old main plane that was not even fully conquered or explored by the species living within, they were largely disliked by everyone but had significant power which allowed them to wreak havoc.

It was because they were caught at the end of the civil war that a race war between dragons and devils ensued, with the devil race suffering grievous losses and being forced to flee the main plane into a small world which had grown to become the Devil Realm of today.

Remembering this and thinking of his insolent older brother, Kuro's eyes flashed as he rose to his feet and silenced all the older noble dragons before unleashing a resounding decree.