Savage Awakening 488. Exploding Golems (IV)

A/N: Sorry for the late chapter, folks!

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That universe came at him again—it was like a portal to another world, a great vastness of Earth and Grass and Stone Law. An avalanche of hostile might.

But this time, he charged straight into it.

Bore down with Overlord Annihilation Charge.

The collision jarred him for just a second. And sure enough—it felt like running face-first into an avalanche; the kind that could run through galaxies—a true universe of stone- and earth-Laws blasting him, wrestling him down. Flooding him head-on.

But he charged it with so much momentum this time, he surged clean through. Fighting step by step until he drew face-to-face with the Golem.

Then they went toe-to-toe.

Zane rammed it with a hammer of a fist. The Golem clocked him upside the head in return—and when it struck, he could feel that full world’s worth of weight on its side; like he was being struck by an otherworldly force. Even a glancing blow would’ve broken most True Gods, to say nothing of a full-on smash like this.

But with his body—with that Ten Million Year Bone lighting up like a pyre in his soul—he knew he could take this.

So he just bellowed and gave it everything.

Threw caution to the wind. He wasn’t trying to fight the smartest fight right now. He was trying to push everything he had to its limit.

Smash after smash shuddered his body. At the same time, chunks of gemstone and gravel tore out of the world, blasted to dust, going up in furious red…

Then he worked the Concept.

And sheer power began condensing in his hammer.

Every fist came harder. Heavier and heavier; the explosions ever-brighter until it looked like the giant it was meant to be.

Red streaks raced toward his hammers; you could see in those countless streaks the way energy raced in, charging up—

More of that Golem broke off with each blow.

But not fast enough.

Warning!

Health under 75%

A pillar of an arm caught him to the side of the head, sending him stumbling—another slammed into his chest, shuddering his heart. Again and again it pounded him. Soon half his ribs were shattered and blood flowed free from his gritted teeth.

It had caught him three or four times to the head then. It was starting to try to knock him out. This was actually a relief—it had worked his body pretty bad, but he could eat blows to the head a lot easier. His face was quite hard to break. He could bite down, weather the storm, and keep on swinging.

…Still—he was starting to really feel it.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Stone exploded off his head, drawing blood.

Bones shattered. Blood flew. Zane threw himself straight at that avalanche, gritting his teeth—tried using force to meet force.

But in the end, he was the one who staggered first.

That Universe was starting to weigh on him.

The longer he fought in it, the more it was starting to steamroll.

He kept throwing, and throwing, and throwing—but he just didn’t have enough pure power. Power in the rawest, explosive form. It was a problem he wasn’t used to having.

But if he didn’t solve it fast….

The Golem let out a groan. And the gems on its back seared emerald.

Mountains rumbled into being right above him. Just a great chain of pure, hardened Stone, Earth, and nature, shining with essence—

He was too deep in now to get out. He could only brace himself, set his jaw, and take the blow.

There was a massive crashing. Silence.

The Golem inspected the ruins.

Then it all began to shake. Streaks of furious red breaking out—all that rock exploded away, leaving one man standing there, bloodied badly, heaving, staggering badly.

Warning!

Health under 50%

His head was still pounding badly. Another few of those mountain bashes and even he couldn’t stand back up anymore.

If he wanted to seize the fight, something deep in his gut told him it had to happen now.

With that, Zane roared—and went for broke.

Chains shattered down his physique—and with that, he gave it one last charge.

A furious haymaker finally brought the Golem’s onslaught to a halt. It gave him just a moment’s respite. By now the thing was hitting him so hard it was wiping out 5% of his Health with every hit. He just couldn’t sustain this.

But at the same time, a heat began to build in his fists.

He felt that Red Giant Law thickening on his knuckles—could feel all that heat flickering as he rammed in more essence—so much light was streaking in now it looked like the rays of some mad sun, streaking in reverse. Streaking toward an ever-brightening core…

He still needed more.

It clocked him so hard in the head he almost went over. He spat out blood, staggered, but stood.

Then he forced in one last burst.

In that moment, a Concept flashed before his mind.

A Concept in the great tankards he’d seen standing in the capital of Dara. A Concept seared into his mind when he’d traveled to the reservoir at Three Yin Mountains and the great gorge of Juve—twenty years of hard study and practice, of exploding golem after golem, all leading to this. A thousand thousand visions of that final breaking point. Shining in his soul.

Coalescing to a single moment.

Zane’s eyes went gold. And he understood.

Concept Learned!

The Concept of Nuclear Fusion

The moment he broke through, the explosions went ballistic—building like a wave of cresting gold-black light, screaming with Destruction—

Zane punched, and a bomb went off.

The kind of bomb that rocked the very fabric of reality. That kind that released a shockwave of radiation, ripping out, destabilizing every inch of the universe it found—lashing at the Golem.

Then he connected. And this time it rocked that Golem to its core.

It shuddered—everywhere his fists landed, huge chunks erupted off in violent fashion.

Zane sensed weakness. And he executed. 

This time as they exchanged blow after blow, it was the Golem who was getting rocked, whose physique—even bolstered by that Universe, a Universe that bore down on his own—was getting obliterated. First that boulder of an arm blew off in three short hooks. Then he went for the head, trading haymakers on haymakers.

And deep in the heart of that Universe, Destruction broke through.

Warning!

Health under 25%

He went blow-for-blow with the beast until his every rib was shattered and his mouth was full of blood—until his ears were ringing, even with his new Asura’s body.

But in the end, it was the Golem-Lord that went down first.

He clocked it right to the core, saw the bulk of it shatter—then fed it a Giant of a fist that stuffed its jaw in.

That got the job done.

The Golem-Lord staggered and collapsed under its own weight.

Zane looked at his smoking fist, pleased.

He was ready for the ruins.

***

The Elders were starting to look nervous.

22 years. That was how long Haxxorax had been in that chamber.

Lasting that long spoke to his potential. The best of the First Dragons had only made it 29 years…

Haxxorax’s flesh had reached into the high Divine Profound grades by now, just by itself. To say nothing of the raw bloodline potency being pumped into his soul.

His aura already overpowering that of several Empyrean Elders.

It was yet to be seen how long Haxxorax would make it. But so far, his soul showed no signs of cracking—it stood like a plate of Origin-grade steel.

Still—they all knew when he broke, it would not be a crack-by-crack thing. He’d fracture, all at once. In gruesome fashion.

His body was wracked in pain. His statuesque frame strung tight.

His teeth were clenched, his face reddened, every vein standing out stark on his neck. You could feel the raw pain radiating from his soul in jagged waves.

A bloody vortex shone around his physique. He was being reforged in the purest of dragon’s blood. Blood that seeped through his body, into his soul…

Patriarch Azure Flame inspected his son the way a smith inspects a prized blade.

“Honored Patriarch.” It was Elder Kajax, a well-built veteran of the dragon civil wars—one of the most respected of the Elder Dragons. Scars all over his body showed the sacrifices he’d made for his kind. His bushy face was drawn in worry. “The boy’s had enough… his body cracks before our eyes. Perhaps it’s time.”

“I know my son. He won’t break.”

The Elder hesitated. “He’s flesh and bone, like the rest of us. The way he howled last night…”

Kajax quieted.

There was an intensity to the Patriarch’s gaze now.

“What is it you imagine I’m doing here?”

“Patriarch, I meant no disrespect—”

“Yet you have. You’ve disrespected me, disrespected my son.” He stepped in close, towering over him, grinning savagely. “You’ve told me, to my face, that he’s weak! Is that not so? Say it again, and I don’t need to tear you limb from limb.”

He raised his chin to Haxxorax. “He will.”

Kajax winced.

“I do not mean to create dragons like you,” said the Patriarch, advancing. “Do you imagine yourself someone important, Kajax, merely because you’ve served as a meat shield, and lived to tell the tale? You think yourself a figure worthy of legends! You must be very impressed with all your scars. You would not have them in the first place if you were the dragon you believe yourself to be. You’re a miserly creature. Soft. Lacking vision.”

His aura blasted out from him, dominating the cringing elder. He was clearly enjoying this. “The cruelest thing I can do is to deprive my son of the chance for greatness. But what would a worm like you know of such a thing?”

Silence. 

“Answer me!” 

“Nothing, honored Patriarch.” croaked Kajax, eyes clenched shut. 

The Patriarch’s grin widened. “Then fuck off.”

The Elder stumbled away.

“All of you!”

They left—leaving only the Patriarch and his son in the chamber.

The Patriarch strode slowly toward the blood. “You hate me, don’t you?” he said softly.

Haxxorax was silent. The Patriarch laughed.

“You’re still a boy, then. I expected more of you. There will come a day when you dominate this galaxy, when you realize just the gift I’ve given you—”

Haxxorax howled—a sound like a dying animal. A sound he’d tried to suppress with every muscle of his body; it had just torn out of him. That was how much pain he was in.

The Patriarch’s eyes went cold.

“…Pathetic.”  

He strode away, leaving Haxxorax alone in the chamber.

As he left, his son’s dragon’s aura skyrocketed. Blew past the Empyrean Limit, even as he writhed…