Chapter 313: The Dragon Emperor (2)

The moment Louis stepped into the black aura, he was overwhelmed by an unbearable agony.

“Ugh!”

This wasn’t physical pain; it was a torment inflicted directly upon his soul.

The black aura relentlessly repelled and attacked Louis’s soul, wounding it with each assault.

Yet he endured.

He had to endure.

I must destroy Kaiders’ soul.

If Kaiders fully settled into the prepared body, there would be no way to defeat him. But if he could be eliminated before that, all future calamities could be prevented.

In truth, it’s the only way.

With this resolve, Louis endured the relentless torment, following the black aura’s guidance upward through the dark domain.

Before he knew it, he had arrived inside a colossal cavern.

Louis instinctively realized this was the deepest part of the body prepared by Kaiders.

As if to confirm his suspicions, Kaiders’ voice echoed through the chamber:

“Well, we’ll just have to see how things turn out. I don’t particularly feel like losing,” Louis grinned, baring his teeth.

At first glance, he might have appeared brimming with confidence.

But his true feelings were far different.

Stranded alone in the heart of enemy territory, he knew better than anyone how overwhelmingly unfavorable the situation was for him.

Yet he couldn’t afford to lose.

As always, he had to fight tooth and nail to survive.

He had forced that reassuring smile, merely to steel himself.

“Come at me!”

With that brief challenge, the final battle erupted.

As the dark aura surged toward his face, Louis twisted his head aside.

Fsssh—

But he failed to dodge completely, sustaining a gash.

Louis gazed impassively at the spirit blood gushing from the gash.

How long has it been?

Pain had long since vanished from his eyes.

Since when have I been like this?

The final battle deep within Kaiders’ artificial body had been grueling, leaving Louis utterly exhausted.

Everything’s a complete mess.

Time, direction—everything here was utterly chaotic.

Moreover, the murky darkness of the depths was gradually eroding Louis’s mind.

Yet, enduring these adverse conditions, Louis had continued his struggle against Kaiders.

It felt as though he had been battling Kaiders for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.

Pssh.

Another attack struck true, this time causing spirit blood to gush from his left shoulder.

Already, spirit blood, shimmering with pure white particles, was blooming across his entire body.

If he continued to let this spirit blood flow unchecked, the very foundation of his existence might be at risk.

But there was no time to heal his wounds.

Even in the span of 0.01 seconds, relentless attacks continued to rain down, each threatening to end his life.

Pssh.

Another wound opened on Louis’s body.

Fury blazed in Kaiders’ eyes as he watched.

How much time had this fool wasted?

He had been deluded into believing he could kill Louis instantly.

The man continued to survive, overcoming precarious moments one after another.

A chilling coldness flickered in Kaiders’ furious eyes.

No choice.

He couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

Even if it damages my soul somewhat… I must eliminate that brat at all costs.

He couldn’t allow such a volatile element to reside within the body he was preparing to ascend as a god.

Just once.

A single, irresistible, overwhelming force to crush him.

Even if it disrupted his plans somewhat, it was better than enduring further interference from this pest.

As if responding to his resolve, the depths of Silver Flower Castle stirred.

At Kaiders’ chilling declaration, the darkness of the depths surged toward Louis.

Faced with this onslaught, Louis could only utter, “Ah…”

Seeing the darkness converging like a colossal tidal wave from all directions, Louis’s figure froze.

A hollow emptiness settled in his eyes.

Is this the end…?

Why have I struggled so desperately to survive until now?

Faced with an inescapable catastrophe, Louis abandoned all hope and accepted his fate.

As death closed in, his life flashed before him like a fleeting slideshow:

His journey after becoming a holy dragon.

His second sleep device.

The arduous journey back home after his forced departure.

And the countless connections he had forged along the way.

The life review, which had been replaying Louis’s current life like a flickering lantern, now began to unearth memories from his past life.

The image of him dying from illness, clinging to his phone as his only link to the world.

The days before his illness, when he lived each day frantically, just trying to make ends meet.

As the memories from both lives flowed to their end, a clear voice cut through his fading consciousness:

“Wake up, Louis!”

“Are you just going to give up like this?”

The voice, initially faint, grew stronger, becoming a radiant light that pierced the darkness consuming Louis’s mind.

“What was it that drove you to fight so desperately to survive?”

My reason… for trying to survive…

The voice calling his name snapped his closing eyes wide open.

“I… I just wanted to survive… to eat well and live comfortably.”

There was no grand reason, no noble cause. He simply wanted to live a good life.

But the world kept forcing death upon him.

With a muttered curse, his fading will surged back to life.

At the same moment, a small, firefly-like light appeared in the darkness.

Lotberia, who had followed Louis into the deepest depths, had finally reached him. Now that Louis had regained consciousness, she conveyed her will to him.

”…Lotberia.”

With those words, a small golden light was absorbed into Louis’s body and vanished.

And then…

Crack—.

The black tidal wave completely engulfed Louis’s physical form.

Witnessing this, Kaiders muttered under his breath, “It’s over”

This was the end for Louise, the troublesome brat who had annoyed him.

And the only being capable of opposing him had just vanished.

Now, nothing in this world could stand in his way.

Now I will fully… reign as the God of this world.

His voice was brimming with excitement and joy.

As he spoke, his soul began to merge with the darkness, completing the final step of becoming one with the ultimate body he had created.

Kaiders had finally taken that final step toward his ultimate goal: to become the God of this world.

The God he had longed for so long!

Just as everything seemed to be within his grasp…

Sparkle.

In the empty, dark space, a small golden light appeared.

Initially no larger than a thumbnail, the light rapidly expanded, soon coalescing into a colossal form.

What?!

Kaiders roared in fury, his long-awaited final moment shattered by this intrusion.

Kaiders’ enraged darkness surged toward Louis once more, several times larger than the tidal wave that had swallowed him moments before.

But…

Kaiders’ darkness crumbled like a sandcastle against the golden light emanating from Louis.

Shocked, Kaiders’ heart plummeted.

An ominous premonition settled in Kaiders’ chest.

Meanwhile, Louis had fully reverted to his dragon form within the golden light. Yet his appearance had subtly changed.

Golden stripes now traced the dorsal line from head to tail, the gold harmonizing with his white scales to lend him an air of mystical grandeur.

Moments later, Louis opened his eyes.

A golden concentric circle appeared around the outer edges of Louis’s wide-open purple eyes.

His gaze locked onto Kaiders, who stood beyond the darkness.

Kaiders felt a chill run down his spine as Louis’s eyes fixed on him.

That can’t be possible…

Though he denied it inwardly, he realized:

The young dragon he had once dismissed as a mere fledgling…

No, it’s impossible!

Had transcended another realm and reached ‘perfection’.

Do not interfere with meeeeee!

Kaiders roared, and the darkness, driven by its master’s will, surged endlessly toward Louis.

But it was all futile.

Without Louis lifting a finger, the darkness crumbled like sand the moment it approached him.

And in the end…

M-move! Move, I said!

The darkness defied Kaiders’ will, like a mouse cowering before a cat.

Terrified of Louis, the darkness refused to obey Kaiders’ commands.

At that moment, Louis took a step forward.

“I used to wonder how this webtoon would end…”

Clunk.

Another step.

“Now I couldn’t care less.”

Clunk.

And the final step.

“Because this is the ending I want for this webtoon.”

If the ending isn’t predetermined, then I’ll decide it myself.

As those words left his lips, a brilliant white light erupted.

Louis calmly uttered a single phrase.

“Perish.”

His voice resonated with a deep, profound power.

Click.

The Law reacted accordingly.

Click.

The world began to warp under the influence of Louis’ Word Spirit.

Zero’s Domain of the Four Attributes.

It signified the recreation of Law, and its power reacted to every word and action of Louis.

The supreme realm of governing the world through words alone.

Louis resolved to call it this:

‘Dragon Word.’

Thus, the first Dragon Word was born, and its sacrificial victim was Kaiders.

The power of the Dragon Word began to disintegrate Kaiders’ soul.

Kaiders vanished rapidly, from his feet to his head.

Scattering without leaving even a speck of dust, it was truly complete annihilation.

Until only Kaiders’ face remained, barely clinging to existence.

His muttering, as if denying reality itself, became his final will.

Louis gazed indifferently at Silver Flower Castle, the legacy left by the First Dragon King who had sought to become a god before his death.

He issued another command:

Fueled by successive Dragon Words, Silver Flower Castle met the same fate as Kaiders.

Ssssh.

Cracks began to appear across Silver Flower Castle, which had been built over countless eons from the remains of dragons.

Simultaneously, a hole pierced through the ceiling of the deepest chamber, allowing a thin ray of light to illuminate Louis.

As the cracks spread rapidly throughout the entire castle, Louis added another command:

Psssht.

Silver Flower Castle dissolved into shimmering particles of light, scattering into the air.

High above the world,

before the eyes of every human and demihuman across the globe,

the shimmering particles descended like snow, settling upon the earth.

And then…

“Huh?”

“What is this…?!”

People all over the world began to realize a truth they had long forgotten:

Dragon King Kaiders and Mahyeol.

And the truth about Lotberia, the demonic dragon once feared as the worst of his kind.

Beneath the falling snowflakes of light, Kaiders’ twisted truths and lies were finally dispelled.

This was Louis’ tribute to Lotberia, who had sacrificed himself.

And Maha.

The vanished Silver Flower Castle, its light scattering as Louis descended to the ground.

“Louis…?”

“Louie?”

“Our Louie?”

“Teacher?”

With tears in his eyes, Louis greeted those who watched him:

“I’m back!”

Even amidst the radiant swarm of light, Louis’ brilliant smile pierced the hearts of all who beheld it.

On a day when the world was shaken by upheaval…

The day the dragons, long vanished from sight, reappeared, and the colossal Silver Castle transformed into a dragon before everyone’s eyes.

People declared that the end had come.

But the colossal Silver Castle, which had heralded the apocalypse, vanished in a blaze of light, extinguished by a being who had appeared alongside that radiance.

This supreme entity showered the seasons—spring, summer, fall, and winter—with snow-white, luminous eyes.

He restored to the world truths long concealed and even lifted the Blood Bonds that had bound the dwarves for generations.

Every soul in Evan bestowed upon this supreme being, who had set the world right, a single, unique title:

Louis the Dragon Emperor, hailed as the Emperor of all Dragons.

And Louis, the Dragon Emperor, revered by all, now…

“What shall I do today?”

…was living happily, enjoying the simple pleasures of eating well and living comfortably in the world he had saved, fulfilling his original goal.

Survival Guide for a Terminally Ill Dragon - END

Thank you for all the love and support you’ve shown me.