Chapter 240: Becoming the Ruler III
"Did you really think authority meant anything against me?" Shubh purred, her voice reverberating across existence. "I am beyond your rules, little dragon."
The Dragon King charged.
Their battle escalated.
Xel'Zirath's flames clashed against Shubh's abyssal void. His claws met her eldritch tendrils. His divine might struggled against her incomprehensible existence. Each impact tore through dimensions, sending shockwaves rippling across the cosmos.
The Dragon Continent suffered under their war.
Oceans evaporated. Mountains crumbled. The very sun trembled, caught between their clashing forces.
Yet, slowly… Xel'Zirath began to falter.
His flames dimmed. His movements grew sluggish.
Shubh's presence was devouring him.
"You fought well," she murmured, appearing behind him, her clawed hand pressing against the back of his head. "But you've lost."
With one final push, she slammed him into the ground.
The entire continent quaked. The land split apart. A shockwave spread across the world, shaking even distant lands.
The once-mighty Dragon King lay defeated.
Breathing heavily, his body shattered, his golden glow flickering weakly.
Shubh hovered above him, victorious.
She extended a hand. "Bow before me, Xel'Zirath. Swear fealty, and I will grant you power beyond your wildest imagination."
For a moment, silence reigned.
Then, slowly… the Dragon King lowered his head.
He had been defeated.
And now, he belonged to her.
"Good, little dragon. Now, give me your crown," Shubh said, her voice laced with amusement.
The Dragon King bowed his head, and from above him, a crown of the starry night materialized. It shimmered like the cosmos itself, filled with the authority of the Dragon King. The crown slowly lifted from his head, floating toward Shubh.
But midway, she stopped it.
She tilted her head, observing the celestial artifact. Then, she put it away.
"You don't want to become the King of Dragons?" he asked.
Xel'Zirath hesitated. Silence stretched between them before he finally added.
"...I have ruled for eons. I thought my fate was sealed. But you..." His golden eyes narrowed. "What is your purpose?"
Shubh smirked and shook her head.
"This isn't for me. This is for my lord," she declared, her voice unwavering.
The Dragon King studied her for a long moment before finally bowing his massive head again.
"Then, who is your master?" he asked, his voice carrying a strange reverence.
Shubh chuckled.
"You need not concern yourself with that. Just keep doing what you were always doing. My lord has no desire to take your title or rule over dragons directly. He merely requires your loyalty and tutelage in the ways of the dragons," she explained.
Xel'Zirath remained silent for a moment before nodding. "Then I shall remain the Dragon King in name... while acknowledging that your lord is the true ruler in the shadows."
"Good. That's exactly how it should be," Shubh said with a satisfied smile.
With her mission complete, she turned and soared once more into the sky, heading toward her next conquest—the Dark Continent.
The Divided Land of the Dark Continent
The Dark Continent was an eternal twilight land, where the sun never truly rose, and the skies remained in a state of deep dusk. Here, three great species ruled in uneasy tension—the Dark Elves, the Vampires, and the Werewolves.
The land was locked in a constant cold war.
The Werewolves despised the Vampires, viewing them as parasites that fed on the weak.
The Vampires saw the Werewolves as nothing more than savage beasts lacking civilization.
The Dark Elves distrusted both factions, choosing to rule from the shadows, manipulating events from behind the scenes.
It was an endless cycle of conflict—one that had persisted for thousands of years.
But things were about to change.
For Shubh-Niggurath was coming.
And she had no intention of leaving without taking the Throne of Darkness for her master.
***
The air grew thick with mana as Shubh descended upon the Dark Continent. Black mist trailed behind her like an ominous omen. Her presence alone distorted the sky, warping the eternal twilight into an unnatural void.
The moment she entered their domain, the three ruling factions sensed it.
The Dark Elves, attuned to the flow of mana, felt a disruption so powerful that their ancient seers collapsed from the sheer pressure.
The Vampires, who thrived in darkness, recoiled as they realized that this was a darkness deeper than their own—one that did not nurture but devoured.
The Werewolves, known for their primal instincts, felt something so alien and eldritch that their alpha beasts howled in fear rather than fury.
Within minutes, war horns sounded across the entire continent.
Three legions, each commanded by their respective rulers, gathered on the battlefield, standing at the border of their territories. It was the first time in centuries that they stood together, but this time, their enemy was not each other.
This time, they united against a single entity—Shubh-Niggurath.
Shubh also sensed it as she change her flight mid way , going towards the location, she sensed the strongest presence living on this continent.
After another hour..
Shubh landed at the center of the battlefield—a desolate, ruined wasteland where countless battles had been fought. Her black tendrils slithered from her back, her horned crown pulsed with abyssal power, and her abyssal green eyes glowed with eerie amusement.
Before her stood the Three Monarchs of the Dark Continent:
Sylvara Nightshade, the Queen of the Dark Elves, dressed in obsidian robes that shimmered like the void. She wielded the Staff of Eternity, an artifact capable of twisting space and manipulating fate.
Lord Sanguis Dracul, the Ancient Vampire King, clad in a blood-red cloak. His aura carried the weight of thousands of years of immortality and endless slaughter.
Fenrir Bloodfang, the King of Werewolves, a monstrous behemoth standing over 10 feet tall, his body overflowing with raw, unfiltered primal energy.
Sylvara narrowed her piercing violet eyes. "We do not know who you are, but your presence alone is an insult to our dominion. Leave now, or we will show no mercy."
Shubh grinned.
"Mercy? Oh, how cute."
A pressure unlike any other fell upon the battlefield.
The sky above split open, revealing an abyss of writhing black tendrils and thousands of abyssal eyes blinking in unison. The ground beneath withered and cracked, as if the land itself was recoiling from her mere existence.
"It seems, she is saying she is here to dominate us" Vampire King said as he cracked his neck, his beautiful face morphing into grin, " An I bet her blood can make me more powerful" he said rushing at her.
Dark Elf Queen didn't said anything instead raised her staff.
Sylvara Nightshade struck first. She raised her staff, twisting space itself as thousands of shadowy blades materialized, hurtling toward Shubh at blinding speed.
Shubh did not move.
Instead, she extended her hand.
A black vortex formed in her palm, and the moment the blades touched it, they were devoured into nothingness.
Sylvara's eyes widened. "Impossible…"
Before she could react, Shubh appeared behind her, whispering into her ear.
"I've already seen through your tricks, little elf."
Sylvara's entire body froze, as if the concept of movement itself had been taken from her.
Before she could even break free, Shubh had already moved on to her next opponent.
Lord Sanguis Dracul moved with inhuman speed, appearing above Shubh in an instant.
His crimson blade, forged from the blood of a thousand sacrifices, came down with the force of a collapsing sun.
But Shubh simply smiled.
She opened her mouth, and the very concept of his attack was devoured before it could reach her.
Sanguis's face twisted in disbelief. "What…?"
"Did you really think your little blood tricks would work on me?" she mocked, appearing before him in an instant.
She touched his forehead, and in that moment, the Vampire King felt something he had never felt in thousands of years—fear.
A nightmare of endless, eternal hunger filled his mind. A darkness beyond even vampirism.
The great Vampire King screamed.
And Shubh moved on to the last one.
Fenrir Bloodfang had not attacked.
Unlike the others, he had sensed something deeper—a primal, instinctual warning that even the strongest of beasts felt when confronted with something they could not comprehend.
"Smart little dog," Shubh mused.
Fenrir growled, lowering himself into a defensive stance. "What are you?"
Shubh grinned wider, revealing rows of endless teeth.
"I am the end of all things."
The werewolf lunged forward, his claws infused with moonlight, aiming to tear her apart.
Shubh let him.
His claws tore through her form—only to find that there was nothing to tear apart.
She wasn't physical.
She wasn't even real in the way they understood reality.
Before Fenrir could comprehend his mistake, Shubh's tendrils wrapped around him, lifting him into the air.
She leaned in. "Join me, little wolf, or I will show you what lies beyond the abyss."
The werewolf shook violently, his instincts screaming at him.
And finally—he submitted.
With all three monarchs defeated, the battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
The legions who had once stood ready to fight dropped their weapons, falling to their knees.
The Dark Continent had been conquered.
Shubh floated above them, her presence looming like a cosmic nightmare.
The crown of darkness materialized before her—a fusion of elven wisdom, vampiric immortality, and werewolf ferocity.
She reached out, grasping it in her hands.
But instead of wearing it, she turned around, holding it toward the empty sky.
"My lord," she whispered, "this belongs to you."