(Veldanava POV)
I looked down at the magic projection in front of me and sighed. My student was currently in the battle of his life against the clone body of my youngest brother. I had, of course, known about the disturbance in Soma the moment it occurred, and was even planning on going to the location in order to help subdue the threat.
As strong as Alaster is, and despite the fact that Velzard and Velgrynd were there, the evil dragon in front of us was nothing to scoff at. Its aura matched either of my sisters, however, its destructive power was incomparable to the two. If it wasn't for Velzard constantly weakening its attacks with her Unique Skill [Envy], then I doubt the barrier that contained their fight would have survived the clash.
I also noticed Rudra attempting to get close and get a few licks in, but he was stopped by Velgrynd for his protection. I smiled at that. 'My students sure are fearless.' I thought.
"What an abomination," Feldway commented from beside me.
I turned to my right and looked at him. The leader of the primordial angels was already in full armaments and had summoned the other six to his side. Noir and Guy were also in attendance and itching to get into the fight.
"Ke-fufufufu! Veldanava-sama. If you were to give me the order, I would gladly dispose of this beast alongside Alaster." Noir chuckled his evil chuckle.
"I hate to admit it, but he is right, my lord!" Feldway added on. "A disgusting creature such as that attempts to mirror the form of our loving god. Unacceptable!" He muttered to himself.
Guy stood nearby with folded arms and an amused smirk on his face. "My oh my, it seems that that friend of mine is in a pinch. Can't finish the fight himself." He smirked in sadistic amusement. "How can I let someone who defeated me in the past continue this pitiful display? Please send me, Veldanava."
I looked at all of my battle-hungry subordinates and at my friend and partner Guy. Feldway and Guy were as strong as Alaster was now, especially after Guy got that new and powerful Unique Skill of his, however, I was a bit apprehensive about sending so much power there. It seemed unnecessary.
"No, I've already sent Dagruel there to keep the damage down and Ramiris is there to give magical aide if it comes to it. I don't mind if you all go to spectate, however, leave this battle to the people who are there. They will never grow if we are constantly rescuing them." I stated.
Everyone nodded in acknowledgment of my order. "I think Alaster is strong enough as it is. Do we really need to let him 'grow' any farther?" Guy commented.
I smiled back at him. "Alaster isn't the only one there who has room to grow you know."
He raised an eyebrow at my response, seemingly not understanding completely. I smiled and changed the magic projection to show a beautiful young elvish woman with white hair and red eyes. She was currently coordinating with a number of soldiers and civilians.
"This woman is one of Alaster's closest friends. She is quite strong for a being with no direct connection to us and is on the cusp of awakening herself. I've even given up [Sariel] a moment ago in case she has the potential to evolve it when she does." I said.
"That worthless- Veldanava-sama, you would give up part of your power for such a woman!?!" Feldway asked, questioning my choice.
"Of course. I was the one to create the Skill and it's a part of my power, but there is no point in holding onto that power when someone else could use it. I could give up all of my Skills and still be stronger than everybody here." I stated, bragging a bit before swapping back to the screen.
The next image was of Rudra. "This one is feisty. He is stronger than Alaster was at his age and has more potential than him too. He is also much more ambitious and hopeful. He said he would show me a world where everyone could live together happily, so I decided to put my trust in him. This is the perfect chance to see if he'll become strong enough to live up to that promise." I said, swiping to the next image.
"He's too arrogant and prideful," Feldway commented, but I ignored his remark.
Images of Lilith, Sylvia, Sarion, and Lucia then appeared. "In addition to Rudra, these four have amazing potential. I made a mistake of trusting Twilight too much with the future of this world, however, between Alaster and them, I feel like the world will be left in good hands and be able to prosper without me." I said, looking slightly longingly at Lucia.
Guy snickered. "The way you phrased that makes it sound like you're going to die."
I didn't respond for a moment before signing and shaking my head. "That's impossible you know. I'm a True Dragon. We don't die but... well. I guess I've never tried it out." I stated.
"Yeah well, knowing you, you'd reincarnate yourself is a strange flashy manner, even with your memories somewhat erased." Guy chuckled. The others seemed a bit nervous at our conversation but I chose to ignore them.
I chuckled. "Yeah. Might reincarnate myself as a human in another world or something."
"Well, either way, I hope you don't die on us anytime soon." Feldway interrupted, trying to wrap up our conversation.
I looked back at him with a soft smile. "Worried I'd abandon you?" I asked.
His slightly worried face was quite funny to watch. Feldway saw my look and turned his face away with slightly red cheeks. "I just got a bad feeling talking about this topic, that's all."
...
(Rudra POV)
I was in over my head. I knew it from the moment I felt that Dragon's presence. It was so strong it could shatter even my soul in a single, glancing blow. Power radiated off of the malevolent deity, yet I couldn't back down. He had hurt Grynd. My friend and younger sister to my mentor. I saw Alaster and his wife Velzard fighting the beast from far away as I made my way closer.
Just one hit. Just one was all I needed to feel satisfied.
Then the attack came. The monster roared to the heavens, shaking the sky and earth in its infinite fury. Bolts of Red Lightning shot out from its unfolded wings and struck the ground around me. Loud explosions engulfed my body, yet I was quickly shielded from the heat by a large set of beautiful red scales which engulfed my vision. I couldn't tell what was happening at that moment, but it seems Grynd protected me from a large explosion using her body as a shield.
When she finally unraveled me after a while, I saw that she was covered in large burn marks and many wounds. She automatically transformed into her human form and fell on top of me. I felt soft pillows press against my face as we both fell backward. After coming to, I found my hands cupping and sinking into, the amazingly soft flesh of her boobs.
Everything else in my mind was blown away and I felt the world become drowned out. My face went red immediately but I didn't panic and very slowly pulled away from them, despite wanting to fondle them more and more.
"Thank goodness your alright." I heard the weak voice coming from above me. I looked up to see a bruised and battered face staring back at me with love in their eyes. I gulped before sitting up, still holding Grynd in my arms as she sat on my lap. I brushed some of the hair out of her face and looked into her eyes.
"You protected me," I said in a bit of a daze.
"I wouldn't let the man I love die." She commented.
I didn't know how I was supposed to act after hearing that so I simply smiled at her with my trademark fearless smile. "Yeah, I know," I said.
I wanted to yell and scream in my head at how lame I sounded there, but Velgrynd didn't seem to care too much and pulled me into a deep kiss. I felt her tongue enter my mouth and I instinctively began to fight back against her, fighting for dominance.
After a moment of kissing which felt like an eternity, we both pulled away to catch our breaths. "Damn. Now I REALLY need to kill him for messing up my woman." I thought aloud, to which Velgrynd chuckled a bit.
Embarrassed at my outburst, I turned my head away. It was only then that I noticed the devastated landscape that surrounded us. Everything nearby was dead and reduced to ask. The castle, which originally sat atop a forested tall hill closer to a mountain in size, was completely obliterated, along with most of the hillside. Not a single tree or bush survived the attack and even the ground around us was scorched. Its surface was colored in grey ash making I look like a grey sand dune rather than a former forest.
I felt a shiver run down my spine. 'What was the creature that did this!?! How can something like that possibly exist!?!' I yelled in my mind.
There was a low grumble from the center of the hill. The beast looked to be unharmed and even pleased with its work. I felt it lock eyes with me for a brief moment. It was terrifying. Its aura was so intense it could be visibly seen warping the air around it, radiating like heatwaves on a stone surface with small sparks of red lighting crackling around it.
I began to shake in fear.
'There's no way we can beat that thing!' I thought, however, that's when I saw it. The white-haired man approached the beast.
'What is he doing!?! We have to escape first and then think of sealing it away again at later date. There is no way we can fight it!' I thought.
That's when it happened. Alaster and the beast began their clash. I watched on in awe as the two dueled. Alaster seemed to have the upper hand for most of the fight until the dragon rolled off of a ledge I couldn't see and fell out of my line of sight with Alaster giving chase.
I was gobsmacked. Here he was, a normal human being just like me, facing off against that monstrosity and winning. That's when it happened. An image of myself, shaking in fear at the mere sight of the creature flashed through my mind. I brought my hand in front of my face. It still twitched and shook in terror.
'Is this me? Am I shaking!?!' I yelled in my mind, disgusted with the mere thought. I had looked death in the face and blinked whereas Alaster charged headfirst into it and began to beat it to a pulp. 'Which one of us stated they wanted to change the world? To make everyone happy, and vowed to their master to become strong enough to do it, even if it meant fighting the whole world to do it?'
I clenched my fist, furious at my weak self. It wasn't physical weakness, no. I was weak of heart and spirit. I nearly broke at the sight of an enemy stronger than myself. I looked down. Velgrynd was sleeping soundly in my arms. I turned around and noticed many people on the other side of the barrier, still running around in panic and terror. Some prayed to god asking for salvation while others cursed him, asking why this was happening to them and what they did to deserve this.
I imagined my own homeland. The people who trusted me and were counting on me to eventually lead them. I thought about Lucia and how she needed me to keep her safe. If I fell, then surely this monster would kill her too. I looked down at Velgrynd who slept quietly in my arms. She clearly trusted me to protect her when she passed out.
So many people were relying on me right now. I couldn't be the weakest link. For the sake of my dream, for the sake of my loved ones, I promised myself that I would never show this weakness again. That I'd always strive forward. Until the day I brought peace to the world as I promised to Veldanava. Until the day I could stand beside the likes of Alaster. I promised to never back down again or to shake in fear of my enemies!
I felt my body fill with power, however, my consciousness briefly faltered and I nearly found myself asleep, but I pushed through the sleepiness. Thankfully, after a moment, the weary spell faded and my body was now full of energy and power like I've never felt before.
I unsheathed my blade. "I don't think I'm going to lose now, but first..." I looked down at the sleeping Velgrynd. "I have to get my woman somewhere safe."
.~.~.~.
Lore Bit: Veldanava isn't suicidal or anything, but he knows he has started to catch feelings for Lucia and wants to live with her. He saw how happy Velzard was with a human companion and he wanted to experience that for himself, as love was a new feeling for him. He knows that True Dragons are immortal and will lose most of their powers when they procreate since he was the one to create the rules for the world and its system so he was contemplating having a child and, after a while, dying to get it back.
Lore Bit 2: Rudra is still very young at this time and weaker than when he would have canonically met Guy. While he is still clearly arrogant, he has his slightly timid side that he is trying to overcome. Think of this as him growing up from a Masayuki-like figure into the canon Rudra but still hasn't completed the transition fully. That's why he hesitates and feels frightened by Ivarage but inspired by Alaster. It's also why he got the lucky pervert moment and was so distracted by Velgrynd's boobs, since that seems to be the only thing he was good for in the Volume 19 fight against Feldway.
Lore Bit 3: Velgrynd is a lot weaker than Velzard, so she was knocked out by the same blast, though she isn't critically injured.
Lore Bit 4: I didn't mention this in the other chapters but I guess I should do so here as to not confuse people about the next chapter. The Ascension Festival is like the Harvest Festival but for Chosen Heros. Instead of all the monsters under the Demon Lord getting a gift, all of the Hero's Companions get one.
In this case, Rudra's companions are all of the important people around him, like Lilith, Lucia, Evelyn (even though she is only an acquaintance) Sylvia, Sarion, Velzard, and Velgrynd. Alaster didn't get it because he doesn't look at him as a companion and as a goal to strive towards.