Chapter 431 - Side ; David Armand Perspective III 3/4: The Hero's Fall
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David felt his consciousness drift in eternal darkness. Vastrasz consciousness was trying to protect him from permanent corruption, but he seemed to be suppressed by Zudig and assimilated.
David's mind was torn apart by Zudig's powerful soul, his memories began to fragment everywhere, as they were slowly taken over by the Dragon Zombie Demigod.
David seemed to be in grieve, due to the ill of fate, he was taken over by a force that he could not even fight back against and absorbed by it.
However, he only hoped that his party and friends were to be fine.
"Blaire… Kaze… Leonia… Mother… Father… Sisters…"
Only these people were in David's mind… as it was slowly taken over.
But as he did, he remembered his fallen wives and his master.
"Perhaps I will finally meet with you again…" he muttered.
These were his last thoughts before his mind was fragmented and assimilated.
Zudig laughed, he had finally completely parasitized David's soul and also Vastrasz. It took some hours, but he had finally accomplished his main goal.
Since he was born in this world, Zudig was despised. Not even by his dragon siblings was he accepted.
He crawled through the ground, with his rotting body, he fought and survived, devoured his prey, and grew stronger and stronger… until one day, he was given a Divine Trial, a challenge made by the world.
Zudig fought against it, his rotting body was shredded into pieces, but because he was undead, he survived the pain and regenerated through devouring the flesh of others. When his Divine Trial finished, he gained powers that he had never thought possible for him.
He became a Living Deity, and as he mercilessly fought and devoured, he became a Demigod.
However, no matter how strong he became, there were always those above him, and even when the Dragon Gods 'accepted' him, he was never seen as an equal, but a misfit.
However, Zudig did not have time to think about such things, he desired strength over everything else, to trample over everyone, and to do as he pleased.
He wanted to be unparalleled in all the realms, to become supreme! A Supreme God.
But he quickly found out that Gods in this world had limitations… the thing called System that once helped him tremendously to grow stronger had become his enemy and restricted him.
He couldn't easily steal other gods, neither he could go in wars or devour other gods without being persecuted by whole pantheons. Yet he couldn't resist the temptation of some weaklings that thought that they were better than him.
When Zudig devoured the several Living Deity Dragons, including Vastrasz and the Dragon Demigod of Icy Winds. He stole their powers and divinities and became the strongest Dragon Demigod. However, he was persecuted by many, his 'siblings' wanted his death over anything else.
Exiled from his Pantheon due to the atrocities he committed, he became a Lone God, assaulting other gods and traveling through realms looking for prey to become stronger. But in every area of the world, he was almost beaten. However, he used his wits and strength to take advantage of events, backstabbed allies, and grew even stronger.
But one day, he comprehended that what he needed to break his limits and transcend as something stronger was to obtain a vessel. A mortal body that could maintain his Divine Soul.
Zudig wanted to grow strong and to trample over anyone else, to know the mysteries of Genesis, and to dominate the Supreme Gods themselves. He had set his goals clear, and no matter how much it has been since he became a Demigod, they had never changed.
Through the information he bought from other gods, he found out about David, a special mortal that was being nurtured to become the vessel of Brulzrayn, The Dragon God of Blazing Breath. A Champion that will once join alongside other mortal heroes and fight the 'Realm Menace' of the Realm of Vida.
Zudig had never enough time to involve himself in such events, he thought that blessing mortals and nurturing them was a waste of time.
But he finally saw in David an opportunity, a mortal capable of maintaining the Divine Soul of a god, and to even complement it!
If Zudig were to make him his vessel, he would be able to use certain system functions once again such as leveling up or obtaining Skills that no gods are allowed to get!
After seeing how Kireina, a being that transcended mortals yet wasn't a god, obtained such rare and powerful skills by doing things that gods could do with ease, Zudig was filled with the determination of surpassing her and obtaining all the benefits of a mortal with the strength of a god.
He was aware that Kireina was a Realm Menace and that most Gods were raising Heroes to kill him and complete the Scripted Event. And he was also aware that David was one of those heroes that would one day clash against her.
But he did not care. Zudig did not care a dime about the destiny of humanity or mortals. He decided to take over David and do as he pleased, as he had always done.
A life without regrets, doing what he wants, and killing whoever he wants, stealing whatever he desired, and devouring whatever he wanted!
He planned things carefully, he infiltrated through the dungeon that the hero was going, and possessed a worthy vessel, the Dragonoid Sage. He used this vessel to accustom himself to the mortal realm for some time, waiting for the hero while devouring the monsters that inhabited this dungeon.
Not even the gods noticed that the strange monster that was going rampant in their dungeon was a Demigod!
After going through countless trials, David finally reached the last floor, only to find Zudig devouring the last boss…
Zudig celebrated his victory and quickly took over David.
The other Gods finally realized who he was and tried to intervene, but their power was too weak compared to Zudig who had descended into a mortal vessel. These Dragon Gods Divine Realms were around the Central Continents, they were not able to exert their full power and could only appear as ethereal projections.
Zudig took over David and used the dungeon core that he had already found and infected it with his Divine Soul. Although this was a taboo within Gods, he did not care! He used a mortal body to do so, so not even the system could do anything. He had finally obtained the precious loophole he desired and put all his energy into abusing it!
Stealing the dungeon of Brulzrayn, The Dragon God of Blazing Breath, the other gods had no option than to run away. It was impossible for them to win, especially if they were only ethereal projections while Zudig was present right there, even more, when the whole dungeon became his authority and he could manipulate it however he wanted.
Zudig was now in a position where the Dragon Gods could not simply fight and defeat. If they had stayed one more second, Zudig would have used his dungeon authority to entrap the ethereal projections and directly attack the dragon gods through them using his powerful Phantom Attribute Divine Techniques.
Zudig not only assimilated David and Vastrasz but made David's body completely his own. It was as if both beings had merged into one. Something similar to Kireina, with a Divine Soul and the body of a mortal.
Zudig glanced at his new status and could not help but laugh in happiness. The goal that he had worked very hard to accomplish, lying low in the dungeon and pretending to be a simple and stupid monster paid off in the end.
He was able to level up, to gain new titles and skills, and he could do even more things such as changing into classes that not even gods were allowed to.
Zudig decided to assess his new dungeon, a facility that he had never managed to own until now.
"From here, I shall rise to the top…! But even I acknowledge that I cannot do things completely alone…" said Zudig in the body of David, which had begun to slowly change.
David's body was infected by Zudig's Divinity and started to mutate. Dark scales started to cover his hands, feet, and shoulders, he slowly grew a scaled tail and demonic horns in the sides of his head.
By Zudig's influence, his hands became sharp claws and his armor became dark and sharp, raising into the Phantasmal Rank, the same being for his sword, which was now a Cursed Blade.
As Zudig infected David's body more and more, he constantly gained new skills that he had never seen before.
"Dungeon Snatch, Dungeon Area Assimilation, Divinity Devouring, Demigod's Psyche, Demigod's Physique, Phantasmagoric Demigod Aura… All these Skills! I can already feel that I am becoming even stronger than when I was a pure Demigod… Just what is this strength?"
Zudig opened a rift in space as he glanced at his Divine Realm, there, he had his original body, the body of a demigod.
"If I have Divinity Devouring after infecting this vessel with Divine Energy, then I should be able to devour my original physical body and become even stronger through Vastrasz's powers!" said Zudig.
Vastrasz had the power to obtain strength by devouring the flesh of dragons, basilisk, and other reptiles. Although Zudig had once killed and eaten Vastrasz, he did not inherit such ability, up until now, that he had assimilated his soul through David's bloodline.
Zudig did not have any time to waste, he immediately began to eat his original body voraciously, slowly sensing his strength increase by leap and bounds…
Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm of Qondress, the Dragon God of Sea Snakes and Waves, water flowed freely through an almost endless landscape.
There was a large ocean filled with hundreds of tiny isles, and each isle held large temples where different types of Dragonoid species lived in harmony.
In the largest isle, a temple constructed for the worship of Qondress by his children, the body of Blaire rested peacefully, floating over the crystalline spring water. Kaze and Leonia were glancing at her.
Sea Snake Dragonoid, children of Qondress, had gathered in here as well, the priests of every church conjured their healing magic over the sleeping Blaire, the wound in her stomach slowly healing.
"Blaire…" muttered Kaze. His handsome face showing a melancholy expression.
"It all… happened so fast… we were so powerless…" said Leonia, her eyes which were often filled with blazing determination seemed to be hollow of any light.
"The one that ruined our father's plans was Zudig, the Dragon Zombie Demigod. A terrible fiend that only desires the destruction of the world's order… It's not that you were powerless, he was a completely different being compared to you, it was impossible to stand a chance to matter how hard you trained" said a Sea Snake Dragonoid Priestess, with a mature expression on her face, she had aquamarine eyes and long azure hair, wearing only thin white robes covering her voluptuous upper human body.
"Lady Qirlin… thanks for helping Blaire to recover…" said Kaze.
The priestess, named Qirlin, waved her head.
"There is nothing to thank me for, this was all but our father, Qondress-sama will. If you ever feel grateful, give your thanks to him" Said the priestess.
"We will… Those gods had done a lot for us…" said Leonia, who a few days ago didn't even believe in the existence of gods.
"Kaze-sama, Leonia-sama, our father had called upon you," said a different priest, coming from the outside of the temple.
Kaze and Leonia glanced at each other with concern, they had never interacted with a god before and feared that their ignorance may trigger their rage… especially when they had failed to protect their Hero, David.
The two were suddenly transported to a different area in the Divine Realm, where they saw the ethereal figure of Blaire.
"Blaire-sama!" shouted Kaze.
"Is that you, Blaire?! But we saw you down there!" said Leonia.
"Kaze, Leonia…" muttered Blaire.
Suddenly, the omnipotent voice of a higher being filled the two beastmen senses.
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