Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Chapter 562: Destroying Reality!

The silence that followed Elion’s final explanation was relatively short. For the first time since that whole absurd sequence of events had begun, the three seemed to have reached some kind of functional understanding. Not exactly peace, because that would be asking too much considering who was involved, but at least a temporary agreement of cooperation.

Kael continued to feel the runes pulsing slowly beneath his skin. The sensation was no longer painful, but it remained strange. It was like carrying a second layer of existence hidden beneath his own body. Nidhogg’s primordial mana circulated through the symbols created by Elion, strengthening structures he didn’t even fully understand.

Elion was the first to break the silence.

"Well."

She rested her elbows on her knees and let out a long sigh.

"It’s time for us to go."

Kael nodded slowly.

Nidhogg did too.

The conversation had naturally reached that point. The runes were ready. The initial adaptation had been completed. And, as Elion had made quite clear, they would need to visit the central domain associated with Yggdrasil directly for the rest of the process to take place.

Kael then looked at his mother.

"Are you coming too?"

Elion immediately replied:

"No."

The answer came so quickly he didn’t even need to think.

Kael blinked.

"No?"

"I can’t."

Nidhogg seemed immediately amused.

Kael noticed this.

And unfortunately, he already suspected the reason.

"...What did you do?"

Elion crossed his arms.

"Nothing particularly serious."

"That’s never a reassuring answer."

"Because you’ve known me for too long."

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"Why exactly can’t you go?"

Elion remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he replied completely casually:

"Because I was banished."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Kael looked at her.

Then at Nidhogg.

Then back at her again.

"...You were what?"

"Banished."

"From the domain of Yggdrasil?"

"Yes."

Kael continued staring at his mother.

Expressionless.

No reaction.

Just trying to process that information.

Then his brain finally found a logical inconsistency too big to ignore.

He slowly pointed at Nidhogg.

"Wait."

Elion remained silent.

Kael continued:

"She is literally a dragon that eats the roots of Yggdrasil."

Nidhogg seemed satisfied with the description.

"An unfair simplification, but technically correct."

Kael ignored the comment.

"How exactly wasn’t she banished..."

He pointed at his mother again.

"...but were you?" Elion shrugged.

A small gesture.

Almost lazy.

Like someone commenting on the weather.

"Maybe I tested some magic there."

Kael continued waiting.

Elion avoided eye contact.

Which was already an admission of guilt in itself.

"What kind of magic?"

"Experimental magic."

"What kind of experimental magic?"

This time she took a little longer to answer.

"Some explosions."

Kael remained motionless.

Elion continued:

"Maybe very large explosions."

Nidhogg was clearly already having fun.

Kael slowly closed his eyes.

"How large?"

Elion coughed discreetly.

"Nuclear magic."

Silence returned.

Heavier this time.

Kael opened his eyes again.

He continued staring at his mother.

Expressionless.

No judgment.

Without even blinking.

Just staring.

Elion held the gaze for approximately five seconds.

Then he pointed a finger at him.

"Stop staring at me."

"You detonated magical nuclear weapons within the domain of Yggdrasil."

"It was for research."

"Research into what?"

"Dimensional structural resistance."

"You blew up the World Tree out of scientific curiosity."

"When you say it like that, it sounds worse."

"Because it is worse."

Nidhogg let out a low laugh.

A genuine laugh.

Which only made everything even more absurd.

Elion immediately shot her an angry look.

"You have no right to laugh."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don’t."

"I have it because I warned you it would be a terrible idea."

Kael slowly turned his head.

"You warned me?"

"Several times."

Elion crossed his arms.

"Yggdrasil survived."

"That doesn’t improve your defense."

"It improves it a little."

"It doesn’t improve it."

The Primordial Witch sighed again.

Then she made a gesture dismissing the subject completely.

"Enough."

She pointed at Kael.

"Prepare yourself."

"For what?"

"You’ll find out."

That answer didn’t help at all.

Before he could insist, Nidhogg rose from the couch.

The entire environment seemed to react immediately.

The gigantic roots surrounding the house vibrated slightly.

Small golden currents coursed through the living wood of the walls.

The very mana of the Original Realm seemed to thicken.

Nidhogg walked to the entrance without saying anything.

Kael and Elion followed her.

As soon as they left the house, the vastness of the Original Realm opened before them again. Yggdrasil’s colossal roots stretched as far as the eye could see, forming an impossible landscape composed of living wood, primordial energy, and distances that seemed to defy any normal concept of space.

Nidhogg stopped at the end of one of the gigantic branches.

The wind of that dimension blew slowly through the golden currents scattered across the horizon.

Then she simply launched herself into the void.

Kael took a step forward immediately.

But it was too late. Her body was falling.

And then it began to grow.

First slowly.

Then too fast.

Much faster.

The surrounding reality seemed to bend as primordial mana spread throughout the dimension.

The human body disappeared.

Wings sprouted.

Scales.

Claws.

Horns.

An absurd amount of mass simply began to exist before his eyes.

Kael had seen Nidhogg’s draconic form before.

Or at least he believed he had.

Now he realized he was completely mistaken.

This wasn’t the same thing.

This was bigger.

Much bigger.

The creature continued to grow.

And grow.

And grow.

The colossal branches of Yggdrasil began to look smaller next to her.

Entire mountains would disappear beneath her wings.

Oceans could exist beneath its back.

Its silhouette occupied entire portions of the horizon.

The golden currents of the Original Kingdom illuminated black scales that resembled living continents moving through reality.

Kael felt the air leave his lungs.

Not by magic.

Nor by pressure.

Just because his brain simply couldn’t process it properly.

He stood motionless.

Observing.

Trying to comprehend the size of that existence.

Without success.

Beside him, Elion observed everything with absolute normality.

Which was deeply worrying.

After a few seconds, Kael finally managed to speak.

"...You were serious."

"About what?" asked Elion.

Kael continued to stare at the colossal creature that dominated the entire horizon.

"It really is bigger than a continent."

Elion shrugged.

"I told you so."

Kael remained silent. Far away, in the impossible sky of the Original Realm, Nidhogg’s golden eyes slowly opened.

Even from that absurd distance, he had the feeling that she was looking directly at him.

And, for the first time since he had met her, Kael understood why even ancient entities spoke of her with caution.

Because at that moment she didn’t look like a dragon.

She didn’t even look like a creature.

She looked like a piece of reality itself that had decided to come to life.

Nidhogg remained motionless on the impossible horizon of the Original Realm, occupying such an absurd expanse of space that Kael’s brain simply gave up trying to calculate proportions. The more he observed, the more he understood that comparing that form to mountains, cities, or continents was useless. She existed on a scale that surpassed normal references. The enormous roots of Yggdrasil seemed smaller around her. Entire currents of primordial energy circulated through her black scales like golden rivers crossing a living landscape.

Her voice reached them a few seconds later.

Not through the air.

Nor through ordinary magic.

The voice simply emerged into the surrounding reality.

Each word seemed to vibrate directly into Kael’s soul.

"Rise."

Kael blinked a few times.

"Rise where?"

One of Nidhogg’s golden eyes moved slowly toward him.

Even that single eye was larger than entire mountain ranges.

"Into me."

Kael remained silent.

Then he looked at Elion.

Then he looked back at Nidhogg.

"That’s still a very strange phrase."

"You’re dating a primordial dragon."

"That doesn’t invalidate my observation."

For the first time in several minutes, Elion let out a small, amused sigh.

It was discreet.

But it happened.

"She’s right."

Kael immediately turned his head.

"You agreed with her."

"Don’t get used to it."

Then Elion became serious again.

Her gaze fell upon Nidhogg’s colossal form.

"Are you going to open a passage directly to the central domain?"

"Yes."

The answer came simply.

Without hesitation.

Without any apparent concern.

Which immediately worried Kael.

"When you speak like that, something terrible usually happens."

Nidhogg seemed to ignore the comment.

"The Kingdom of Yggdrasil doesn’t have normal entrances."

Kael crossed his arms.

"Of course it doesn’t."

"The place exists behind the deepest layers of reality."

She continued as golden currents slowly coursed across her continental wings.

"The usual dimensional boundaries don’t reach that place."

Elion nodded slightly.

"That’s why the runes were necessary."

Kael felt the markings beneath his skin react immediately to the mention of that. Small pulses of mana coursed through his arms.

His chest.

His spine.

As if the runes were listening to the conversation.

"So how do we get in?"

This time it was Nidhogg who answered.

"I’ll clear a path."

Her tone remained completely casual.

Like someone commenting on opening a door.

Unfortunately, Kael already knew her well enough to know that it was never simple.

"What exactly does clearing a path mean?"

The silence lasted a few seconds.

Long enough for him to suspect the answer.

And correctly.

"I’ll destroy part of reality."

Kael closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath.

Then opened them again.

"...Of course you will."

"It’s the most efficient method."

"You talk about it like it’s normal."

"For us it is."

Kael looked at his mother.

She didn’t seem to disagree.

Which was deeply alarming.

"You two are a problem."

"Objectively correct," Elion replied.

"But irrelevant."

Kael massaged his forehead.

At some point in his life he had stopped reacting appropriately to phrases like destroying part of reality.

That probably wasn’t healthy.

Nidhogg then moved one of its gigantic front paws.

The simple movement caused ripples through the surrounding space.

Thousands of kilometers of roots trembled in the distance.

A natural platform formed of black scales began to emerge near their position.

Kael watched it slowly approach.

It looked like a mountain.

Until he realized it was just a single scale.

One scale.

That was absurd.

Elion gave him a light nudge on the shoulder.

"Go."

"You talk like I’m getting into a carriage."

"You’re getting into a dragon."

"This isn’t getting any better."

"Stop complaining."