The footsteps of Walfos and Asmodeus began to resonate throughout the place, they unlike the half-dragon did wear some kind of footwear and the sound that this made when making contact with the ground generated a lot of echo to the point that it could become annoying.
The interior of the mountain palace had nothing to envy to any other, on the outside maintained the aesthetic of the mountain range that conformed it, but inside it was truly sublime in addition to having unparalleled proportions, the corridors were exaggeratedly wide and the ceilings absurdly high, truly gigantic creatures moved about that place.
At the feeling of being so little Walfos could only feel emotion, what he saw now looked more like fairy tales, being totally honest, the young man had not especially enjoyed his short stay in that world, Especially by the destructive monsters he had seen, or by seeing that even incompetent magicians who were supposed to guard an area were surely capable of throwing a fireball and causing a disaster, in their clear world.
But thoughts of repentance were of no use, right now the young man was like Jack, he had not climbed the mountain with beans, but with a carriage and was quite sure that when he arrived at his destination he would not see a giant from which to flee and which he would have to face in some way or another, rather he would have a blow of reality, But for someone who longs for reality to resemble their fantasy worlds it was okay to let go, even used the stealth properties of his suit to stop making noise with his footsteps and concentrate more.
Before the sudden silence caused by the no longer audible footsteps of the young man the half-dragon turned worried, on the other hand Asmodeus decided to levitate, if his lord wanted to stop making noise it would be for something, so he did not want to bother him.
—Is anything wrong? Is anything not to your liking?—asked the half-dragon of purple scales.
—Not really, this place is huge, with sense it is, so having to listen to the sound of our steps repeatedly disturbs the natural environment of the place, I just wanted to stop affecting it—He responded with ease and looking directly into the eyes of the half-dragon.
—Oh I see, it is a very nice sign of respect, since as you will see we do not possess the footwear to which you are accustomed—Uttered the half-dragon with a small smile.
—Naturally, just as neither the bear nor the lion depend on any other weapon other than their claws or teeth, you should not depend on objects that you can naturally overcome, it would only be annoying and force you to adapt, therefore it is better that you act as you please—He explained with kindness, before these words the half dragon made a small bow in response and continued with his escort.
—One thing, you don't need to turn around—He said quickly to prevent his path from being further delayed—Could you tell me your names?
—Excuse us gentleman—Said one of the half-dragon—But I don't think we'll meet much more, are you sure you want to hear them? We are not so important—He explained with solemnity and bitterness.
—From the morning dew to the most brilliant and imposing development of an ecosystem there is not a single part that should be excluded, as long as it fulfils its function, your usefulness is constant in one way or another, So I want to hear your names—He metaphorically praised their work.
—Very well—Said the half-dragon—I am Nerdrada, my companions are Kajgian, Plesnan and Reicrares—He announced at the same time that he pointed to his companions to identify them with the names.
Before this scene Asmodeus trembled in silence, drowning a laugh from the depths of his being, what a pleasant spectacle, they had only a few minutes in the place but the young man was already forging a respectable figure for those escorts, The art of tainted kindness is able to persuade others to have an excellent image of yourself, for the devil who had not seen anything like it for a long time, that was priceless.
With all the factions together you can't do that kind of thing since everyone only looks to be the new leader, they don't care about each other, plus the very members of your faction will be loyal to win or will betray you to try to win, so there's no scenario where you can develop that kind of skills in such a natural and pleasurable way.
—Is something wrong?—Plesnan asked.
—Not really, I just want to continue—Asmodeus replied with a calm tone of voice.
—Oh yes, excuse me—He said to then increase his pace, his companions did the same and both Walfos and Asmodeus accepted this change gladly.
With the passage of a few minutes the group finally arrived at the ritual room, this was presented of course with a gigantic size and enormous pillars, but that did not matter, the center of attention was at the center of the room, there rested the corpse of Drahjsda and forming a cross were four objects around him, there was also a huge chandelier above him that was caught in flames as well as a circle drawn on the ground, the dragon was within him clearly, the drawn circle was of various colors, thus forming a rainbow, the curious thing is that this was not only aesthetic, since the white color released cold as well as the green poisonous gases, the red flames, the blue sparkling flashes.... A sight for sore eyes.
Walfos was surprised with the appearance of that ritual, he really imagined many ways in which it could take place, then imagined strange and magical things with dragons involved in the ritual, things like roaring or throwing their breaths in unison, but that wasn't in his schematics, anyway it was something that could happen, so you didn't have to think about it too much.
In that room were also several dragons, a total of 12, all huge but not as much as their leader and of various colors, they really looked scary, and that was really useful, sometimes to win you just need to intimidate the enemy.
—Drakdrasna and his servant have arrived—Nerdrada announced, at this warning the dragons directed their full attention to the two figures.
Walfos had never heard the word that had just been uttered, but the ability to understand all languages made him quickly understand the meaning of that word, Drakdrasna ´´The one who rules over the top´´ Walfos imagined that it must be the title of Drahjsda and as the new leader now belonged to him, the ruling part needed no explanation, as for from the top, it could be an analogy to the ability of dragons to fly, and as far as we can see, they live in very high places like mountains.
Although being accepted as a leader just for winning a duel was rather archaic and stupid, Walfos decided to accept it, after all the case of dragons was a little more special, to begin with anyone stronger than Drahjsda must have been formidable and to continue for a dragon to be strong it needs to be ancient, that implies that by force it must have some wisdom, this was still not a truly good reason, but it was the only way the young man would have a little calm.
—Welcome—Said a dragon, Walfos recognized him as one of those who had stood in front of him after his victory, a blue one.
—All right, I'd like you to explain in detail what ritual you're doing, but that would expose my ignorance, the best I can do is speed this up and investigate for myself in the castle—Thought the young—Greetings.
—We have responded because of your messengers's warning is everything ready?—The demon asked with sharp eyes, he would not like to know that they were brought to make them wait longer.
—Of course, as you can see the chandelier is on—Claimed the green dragon with whom Walfos had spoken on the outside.
—Now all that remains is for the gentleman to activate the ring—Added a white dragon.
—Okay—Accepted the young man at the same time that he was getting closer.
Under the watchful eye of everyone in that room, he raised his right hand and pointed the finger on which he had his ring toward the corpse, and from that moment he only wished that the soul of the dragon should come out of the ring, he did not know how to do magic and he had tried to use objects whose utilities were not very difficult to understand, for example his red dagger cast fire and did related things, nothing complicated, he only had to think about it, but this was different, extracting a soul sounded complicated.
Luckily the ring began to release its characteristic crimson glows at the same time that the dragons cheered that act, but the hard bliss was short, as the smoke that came out of the ring was black and not red, some dragons tried to interrupt that situation, but were stopped by their own companions who understood the danger of intervening or by Asmodeus himself who created magical barriers.
Walfos watched as the black smoke moved slowly but incessantly towards what must have been his body to then cover it as if it were a fog, beyond which the giant dragon could not be seen, the young man thought of those moments in Dracula's laughter, according to him the ring had no side effects and the ability to detect lies had not been reacted, so it had to be true, anyway he felt as if he had omitted an important part.
From among the gloom of that poisonous and corrupt mist a couple of glowing balls of fire began to become visible, they shone with the glow of the stars, the flames of the chandelier were extinguished at that moment, The circle lost its colorful colors to adopt only black and the 4 objects were consumed in purple flames until no ashes were left.
The silence was then made, the dragons afraid of emitting any noise that could disturb that ritual were paralyzed while Asmodeus dismantled its barriers to then observe also in silence and without moving.
That pair of fireballs began to rise to a great height, the smoke that covered Drahjsda began to disappear making visible the parts of his body, wings, claws, torso, tail.... As all was discovered it was found that the ritual had been successful as the dragon had risen and proof of them were those star lights that had stood beside him, were his eyes and were open, in front of Walfos Drahjsda rose, who remained the same as before, except for one small detail.
The dragons watched this stunned and Asmodeus couldn't help but writhe, this time visibly, and laugh quietly but psychotically from where he was, the dragon had returned, but now instead of being a red dragon he was a black dragon, even his aura had changed.
—I have returned—He affirmed, at least his voice had not changed.
—Yes, I can see it—The young man replied somewhat surprised by his change.
Drahjsda spread his wings at that time and released his characteristic roar, the dragons in the room were somewhat relieved to see that he was still the same, at least as far as mind was concerned.
—Any idea of what happened to this guy? I need answer fast—Asked the young man trying to keep nerves of steel.
—Is it serious?—Rebuked in the form of a question Zalieus, silence was his answer.
—It's long to explain, but don't worry, when you're at a more convenient time we'll tell you—Dracula said.
—So now don't run away looking for answers, you have a dragon in front of you and it's looking at you—Taramot sentenced.
After the words of the Lord of Death, Walfos quickly turned his attention to reality and responded to the Drahjsda's gaze, it really had nothing to do with the look he had shown him on the outside when he roared with a desire to fight.
—Can I hear your name now?—He asked at the same time that the glow in his eyes was dimmed, he had calmed down.
—Walfos—He announced, the other dragons could also hear him as he echoed in the room.
—May I ask my name?—He asked remembering the words of Walfos, those in which he told him that he might change his name.
—I didn't really intend to change it, but since your whole being looks different, it would be a mistake to try to identify you as before...—He explained thoughtful—Níðhöggr.
The draconic public was surprised at such a name, they had never heard anything like it, just as the pronunciation of it did not resemble the way they had to pronounce in their language, Asmodeus was only curious, would that name mean something in concrete?
—I will accept it humbly—He sentenced before the eyes of his own—But I have to say something.
—What is it?—He asked, the young man expected me not to ask him anything about magic mechanisms or the ring, it was already a miracle that he had accepted such a defeat.
—We dragons give names according to our ancient language, there are few who can speak it well, but we resort to this to give a meaning to each of the names, in my case-
—The Red Emperor—Interrupted.
—It is surprising—The dragon admitted at the same time that the others were astonished at the young man's knowledge of his ancient language—Since you know he will understand that I would like to know, does this name have a meaning?
—The name I've given you, is how you know the dragon that bites the branches and the trunk of the tree that holds the worlds, it's a rather mythological entity and whose goal means destruction, but it's a black dragon, so in the absence of its presence, I want you to be the one who destroys the foundations of the reality of those who oppose, you don't have to destroy the world, just adapt it—He seriously sentenced, mythology was a good source of names.
—I think it is more than I deserve, to be compared with a dragon capable of biting that supposed tree, in truth it must be much bigger than me, I do not think it will grow much more—He said reflecting on its size.
—The greatness lies not only in the size of the body, its obtaining is something complicated, even impossible, that is why to surrender or think about how far you are from it does not serve anything, walk your way as best you can, if you see that you reach the end then expand it, it will be when you stop thinking about anyone else and when you only dedicate yourself to improvement that you will understand how much you can grow, beyond anything, the size that the spirit can reach cannot be measured.
—¡Then so be it! He roared with emotion, now more like his previous behavior, but well, nothing could be done—Call out the other dragons! It is necessary to give a announcement!—Before these words the dragons that had listened with interest the conversation accepted the proposal with enthusiasm.
All the dragons left the room quickly with the now black dragon and Walfos went outside with Asmodeus, now he was upset, but he couldn't do anything, he wanted to leave already there, I really didn't want to see the newly appointed Níðhöggr explain to his people that he had basically lost and now they had a new leader and how he had gotten into a ring and now he had changed the color of his scales, it seemed that his dream of leaving the territory of the dragons to do something that interested him more was still distant or maybe he just wanted some time for he to think and reflect on what he wanted to do.