Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

“No!”

Though I could not hear the words, I shouted them anyway. I refused the power at the edge of my grasp. The Dragon snorted within, but I knew that it approved. We were one and the same, after all. The Dao Avatar was simply an extension of my own will, combined with something greater. A power more ancient than I could understand. Power with gleaming, predator’s eyes and flames behind its tongue.

However, you have to dance with the one who brought you to the ball. I had started this battle with the Tempest, and either the mountain would scatter the storm, or I would gather my strength and ravage everything I found before me. The former seemed much more likely as my bones continued to creak and crush from the pressure of the Golem Prince’s cage. The giant firebird nearby continued to increase in temperature, scaling my skin.

The darkness of a blackout took me, and I tumbled weightlessly into its inky embrace. I fell into thought, no doubt accelerated massively as I strove for a way to survive. My thoughts were coloured by the Storm Dragon which hung its impossibly large shadow over my every decision. It was impossible not to think of the armageddon of electricity and gales which tore life from the planet, difficult to see my own strength and ignore the parallels. Perhaps I was just another Storm Dragon waiting to happen, or something even worse. Maybe it would be best for everyone if I just faded.

No, I rejected my doubts.

I was not the Storm Dragon. I didn’t attempt to absorb and devour the power of a planet, I wanted to make that power mine in a different way. In fact, following in its footsteps was the opposite of what my own personal beast demanded. The Dao of the Dragon did not ask that I do as other dragons do, it told me to become as a dragon myself. Unbending, unbreaking. Unstoppable.

Badaila was a warning, one I would heed. There were forces out there that did not stand a chance against the Storm Dragon, beings and clans and organisations which had no doubt existed for millennia or more. Within the blink of an eye, everything you have can be taken or destroyed, just by the whims of such a being. This knowledge might trickle into the minds of others, but it was likely no one on Earth knew this as well as I did.

Unbending. Unbreakable. Unstoppable.

To forge my own path, through the fires of the apocalypse, that was my goal. My task. Creating a safe place for my family to live - if they lived - and for others like them, somewhere I could protect whether it be a small town, a country or a whole planet. I would take control of whatever I needed to, do whatever was required of me. Anything to produce a modicum of protection to those who needed it.

I am the Tempest, and the shelter from the storm.

My magic and Dao shook so hard it woke me up. My neck was about to snap, twisting to the left from the closing egg of rock around me. The world shook, no doubt the Firehawk Monarch voicing its displeasure as the wound I had given it. The Golem Prince loomed over me, huge and ready to drop its half-raised foot onto the shell I was forced into.

I ignored them, focusing on the power running through my veins. Guide the formation of the fixture within the inner world, I told myself. The Dao of Tempests was changing, my situation, my drive and my attitude all aligning to a perfect point. Opposition was required for growth within the System. I hoped to one day get the chance to work with my hands, taking essence from the System through creation rather than destruction, but that was a far off ideal. One that my Tempest could embody.

The Dragon, glorious, powerful and proud, did not need a partner. I would not create a second Dao Avatar to manage. Instead, I needed a source to draw from. A wellspring of power, keeping the purpose already found and vastly extending its reach. Not just peppering my other techniques with power, but a true infusion of strength straight from the primal source.

All of this happened in mere seconds, I hadn’t been blacked out for more than three. The massive leg of the Golem Prince rose higher. It was going to stamp on me. I couldn’t bring myself to care, I was already dying. I couldn’t rush this process either way, all I could do was be grateful to my Mental attribute for compressing my perception of time. It allowed me to break through.

The Dao Avatar of the Dragon flew around my inner world with increasing speed. However, no matter what the dragon was doing, its true position within my soul was at the core of the large planet. As my connection to the Dragon grew, so did the features of this inner world. As a representation of my mana pool, the massive world required nothing but fertilisation.

I felt connected to the Dao. Not my Dao, The Dao. A larger, more complex and impossibly powerful force which housed all possibility in the universe. I made the choice. I didn’t need another fire, I needed the storm. I wrapped a godlike hand around the moon of Tempest, and I crushed it. Not finished, I spread the debris of the now shattered satellite around the world of the Dragon.

Instead of a moon, trickling power to the world below from a single space, I created an asteroid field. A storm of rock in space, to protect and shower my inner world with potential. I felt the cosmos of my inner world rupture and reform as more power than ever before coursed through me. Opening my eyes, I saw that even less time seemed to be passing.

Ah, this is one of those life-flashing-before-eyes moments. I was still dying, after all, though I felt far more calm about it now. The System prompt which opened and closed quickly cemented the power within my core as mine and I nodded. Well, my neck broke, but I might as well have considered it a nod.

Dao Font - Tempests

No equal force can match the storm, but a larger Tempest can devour all. Inexorable and terrifying, yet also the primal source of life. For without destruction, there is no rebirth.

Effect: Will Attribute +200, Will Attribute +25%, Fortitude, Speed & Mental Attributes +30, Fortitude, Speed & Mental Attribute +15%

Even a snapped spine couldn’t stop what was coming, however. I did not take control of the Dao in the area, I became the Dao in the area. My entire body overflowed with power, but I did not stop the river. The energy in use was immediately replenished. If my quick arithmetic was correct, I had just jumped from less than 500 effective Will, to exactly 1000. My mana recovery had undergone a leap of incredible magnitudes.

I knew Tempest Form was not enough for me to break out of this prison, but I activated it in preparation while I gathered power. For two hundred metres, I snatched control over the air with Air Manipulation, using it to throw the Firehawk Monarch into the mountain. It struggled as I pressed down on it hard. No bird could fly if the sky itself refused them.

And, oho boy, did I refuse.

The dangling boot of damocles dropped, but not in time. Alongside the massive amounts of mana I was already pouring out with my two skills, I gathered even more. Powering the most unholy and revenge-filled Blast I could muster. The change to my Will attribute came with more control than I knew what to do with, so I lashed Mana Bolts from everywhere I could, dozens of them appearing in the air around and firing straight at the claimants.

“Blast!” I screamed, still deaf, but not caring either way. A powerful explosion tore apart the final arena, sending the Golem Prince flying backwards like a ragdoll. Rock was flung in every direction, including huge pieces of shrapnel into the Firehawk Monarch. In Tempest Form, I didn’t have lips but if I did they would have been snarling. This fight would have been easy if it was just a one on one.

Rather than give the bird the change to recover and get revenge somehow, I took it down first. “Fire needs oxygen to burn,” I whispered, ripping away the air and dousing the flames instantly. I had created a vacuum earlier, lower on the mountain, but this one was larger enough to cover the entire Firehawk Monarch. Not forgetting the main benefit of removing air resistance, I charged and fired another, truly final Blast. The attack took the almost piteous bird in the underside of its beak.

I hadn’t meant to annihilate the thing’s whole head, flaming crown and all, but honestly? It might have been the only way. Familiar kill energy seeped into my bones and bloodstream to which I was so grateful. The adrenaline and euphoria of the stat boost I had just got was wearing off. That tiredness I had felt at the start of the fight had doubled. I tapped the dead claimant once before turning to finish off the Golem Prince.

“You’ll get everything.” My Blast had taken off its falling foot, up to where it’s shin would be. Thrown back into the large spire it had entered the battlefield from, I simply stared at it while my hands grew heavy. Dense mana collected in both of my hands and I took a deep, calming breath now that the air around me was back to a normal temperature.

I was so sure I wouldn’t get the chance to do this…

“Spirit…” My wrists pushed together, blue energy gathering in my hands, I beamed a smile while charging up my laser. The Golem Prince’s leg was reforming at a rate visible to the naked eye, the elemental absorbing the rock it sat upon through its body. The pink rock underneath looked raw, and I even saw toes form before being covered in the more solid armour of a boot. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t quick enough to stop me.

“Gun.”

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And so the other claimants fell. Unsurprising, given their bestial nature, but disappointing all the same. There was no benefit to hunting a creature a Grade beneath me, but if the golem had managed to evolve into a king, then it might have been an interesting battle. If the Firehawk had kept the human busy on the mountain then maybe the prince would have had time.

“No matter,” I spoke, taking every chance I had to practice with the human tongue. I shattered the mana shard keeping watch over their battle as the human tore the mountain asunder, Golem Prince along with it. The peak of Cloudslash Horn did not survive, tumbling to the rock below. “To tear down the pinnacle…”

I mused, well aware of how dreadfully human the action was. Theatricality was going to be important in the upcoming conversation. “I’ll give the human some time. A few days of rest after this would be within reason.” I dipped my finger into the cool water, the molten metal at my fingertip solidifying. I hissed as my mana was syphoned to create the new observer. Spy Shard was a simple technique, but I felt discomfort at my maximum mana pool being limited while they were in use.

“Flutter on, little shard.” The near invisible fragment sped away towards the population centre, at my direction. Once it reached the target, I would know what the human’s movements were from now. Portioning away some mana is a small price to pay, I reminded myself. I followed the shard’s path to the open window and sat at the ledge. Of all the quirks of humanity, housing was one I agreed with.

My body clattered wonderfully as I settled into the window. While humans used mud, brick or wood to build their domiciles for the most part, I had found a fantastic vehicle with a house attached. A few alterations with Metal Manipulation later and it was my own private sanctuary. A sacred place for the creatures around, and directly on top of the wondrous grade two resource.

The field of blades went on for more than a kilometre around, and was growing. The human would find out about me soon, whether I introduced myself or not. Humming, a sound like a pipe organ, I simply waited. Three days would be enough, and then?

“Well,” I chortled, my razor wire throat tingling like a bell, “then everything changes once again.