Reborn as the Last van Ambrose

The entropy field collapsed instantly as Jiaolong spun toward the source of the commanding voice. Through the chamber’s entrance came five figures.

Ao Run led them. Beside him strode Ao Qin, the Dragon King of the South Sea, his scales a deep volcanic red. Ao Shun followed, ice crystals forming in the air around his body. But it was the two figures behind them that made Jiaolong’s expression shift to annoyance.

Bi’an and Suanni—his own brothers, sons of Ao Guang like himself, but uncorrupted by Mo Xuan’s influence.

"Brother," Bi’an said. His voice carried deep sadness beneath its strength. "Look what you’ve become."

Suanni’s lion-like mane rippled with golden fire as he surveyed the chamber—the fallen corrupted dragons, the awakening Dragon Emperor, and Jiaolong himself standing amid the chaos. "Father sent us to bring you home, Jiaolong. He’s been waiting for you to come to your senses."

"Home?" Jiaolong laughed, but the sound held no humor. "There is no home! Not while the realms continue to tear themselves apart with petty politics and territorial disputes. I’m fixing everything—can’t you see that?" freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Ao Qin stepped forward, his volcanic presence making the chamber’s temperature rise noticeably. "By awakening a power that was sealed for good reason? By corrupting yourself with Mo Xuan’s influence?"

"Mo Xuan is a tool," Jiaolong insisted, but Grim noticed a flicker of uncertainty in his black eyes. "A means to an end. When the Dragon Emperor awakens, I will absorb his power and I will judge this broken world and remake it into something better."

"And you believe you can control what happens next?" Ao Run asked. "You believe the corruption flowing through your veins won’t influence that judgment?"

Above them, more chains crashed to the chamber floor as the Dragon Emperor’s awakening continued to accelerate. The colorless mana flowing from the egg had intensified, creating visible currents in the air that made everything they touched shimmer.

"I don’t need to control anything," Jiaolong replied, dark energy beginning to gather around his claws again. "I just need to ensure the ritual completes. I will handle the rest."

Suanni’s golden flames flared brighter. "And if he decides that your corruption makes you a threat to be eliminated?"

For the first time, doubt truly flickered across Jiaolong’s face. But it was quickly replaced by the same consuming determination that had driven him for fifteen hundred years.

"Then I’ll accept that judgment," he said. "But I won’t let you stop me from taking what’s mine."

The battle erupted without further warning.

Jiaolong struck first, "Abyssal Corruption: Void Strike" aimed not at the most powerful opponent, but at the most vulnerable—Grim, who was still struggling to recover from the entropy field.

But Ao Shun intercepted the attack, ice magic erupting from his claws to meet Jiaolong’s corruption head-on. Where the two energies collided, the very air crystallized into patterns that were both beautiful and terrifying.

"Bi’an, Suanni—protect the human," Ao Shun commanded without taking his eyes off Jiaolong. "He may be helpful later."

The two brothers moved to flank Grim’s position, their combined presence creating a barrier of light and fire to keep Jiaolong’s corruption at bay.

"You think numbers will make a difference?" Jiaolong snarled, his form expanding further as more corruption flowed into him. "I’ve had fifteen hundred years to prepare for this moment!"

"Abyssal Corruption: Dimensional Storm!"

The technique that erupted from Jiaolong was unlike anything he had used before. Reality itself began to tear in multiple directions simultaneously, creating a chaotic maze of void-rifts that crisscrossed the chamber. The Dragon Kings found themselves separated, each having to focus on avoiding the tears in space rather than coordinating their attack.

Ao Qin responded with volcanic fury, lava erupting from the chamber floor to create barriers against the dimensional tears. "Molten Sovereignty: Pyroclastic Shield!"

But Jiaolong adapted quickly, his corruption flowing into the lava and transforming it into something that glowed with sickly dark light. "Everything you use against me only makes me stronger!"

Ao Run attempted to use his illusion magic to confuse Jiaolong’s targeting, but the corruption allowed the mad dragon to see through deceptions that should have been impenetrable. "Celestial Wisdom: Thousand Truths!" The technique that created dozens of false versions of himself was immediately countered by Jiaolong. "Abyssal Corruption: Truth Devour," which consumed the illusions and fed their energy back to him.

"He’s right," Bi’an called out as he deflected another void strike with his tiger claws. "The corruption is adapting to everything we throw at it. He’s becoming stronger with each technique we use!"

Indeed, Jiaolong was moving faster now, hitting harder, his corruption field expanding with each exchange. What had begun as a battle against overwhelming odds was becoming a stalemate, then slowly tilting in the corrupted dragon’s favor.

Suanni’s golden flames managed to sear away patches of corruption from Jiaolong’s scales, but the dark energy simply flowed back to fill the gaps. "How is this possible? Father said the corruption had limits!"

"Your father," Jiaolong panted, dark blood running from several wounds that were already beginning to heal, "doesn’t understand what Mo Xuan has made me into. I’m not just corrupted—I’m evolved!"

But even as he spoke, something was happening that none of the combatants noticed. In the corner of the chamber where Grim had slain the corrupted dragons at the beginning of the battle, the pooled dark blood was beginning to move.

The corruption that had abandoned the dead dragons’ bodies was coalescing into something more concentrated. It formed patterns that seemed almost like runic inscriptions, and occasionally, shapes that might have been reaching hands or grasping claws.

The pool grew larger with each drop of corrupted blood that Jiaolong lost in the battle. Whatever was forming in that corner was feeding on the conflict, growing stronger as the battle raged.

But the Dragon Kings were too focused on their immediate opponent to notice the gathering darkness behind them. Even Grim, still recovering from his near-defeat, had his attention fixed on the incredible display of power being unleashed between Jiaolong and three of the most powerful beings in the sea realms.

"This has to end, nephew," Ao Shun said, ice beginning to form around his massive claws. "Before you destroy everything our family has worked to build."

"Everything our family built is already broken!" Jiaolong roared back, his next attack coming with such force that it cracked one of the chamber’s massive pillars. "I’m just honest enough to admit it!"

The battle intensified, but in the shadows, the dark pool continued to grow, waiting for its moment to reveal what Mo Xuan’s true plan had always been.