Now, you're probably wondering. You keep dying. But you come back alive. Doesn't that make you immortal? Doesn't that make you an OP main character? Well, yes and no. See, all Dragon(Dukes) have a soul which is separate from the body. Not to be confused with Spiritual energy. See, if the body of a Dragon(Duke) is attacked by regular means, the soul remains unharmed. The only way to harm the soul is by using Spiritual energy. Now here's where the fun begins. If you attack purely with spiritual energy, the body won't be harmed. That way, the soul has a catalyst to rest in and heal (being the body.) Now the reason why released Spiritual energy (Aura) can harm the body is because only when freely released, Spiritual energy can morph with its surroundings and attack the body and soul at the same time. Though, killing someone through the use of Aura alone, no matter the difference in power, is near impossible, due to the will to live imbued in the fusion between soul and body. Though, obviously, it can be weakened.
Then how do you kill a Dragon(Duke)? There are a few ways. To name a few: You can either kill the body with a big enough wound for the soul to be squeezed through. Then, you can attack the freed soul with spiritual energy. Then there is another, more popular way. See, normally, Spiritual energy can only dwell in living beings. The reason only Dragon(Dukes) typically have it is because most other life forms can't take it. See, given that Spiritual energy is harmful to the soul, beings that don't have a separate soul will eventually subconsciously mix the Spiritual energy with their soul and perish from it. Though there are exceptions to this rule, I will not go too in depth about this.
As I said, spiritual energy can only dwell in living beings. There are some exceptions though. The ones that are most commonly known among the common folk are mana crystals. Okay I know this is a lot of information but stay with me. If certain requirements are met, Spiritual energy can be converted to mana. If you separate parts of your soul and mix it with Spiritual energy, mana can be gained. I will go more in depth about the process later on. Mana crystals are basically catalysts to store mana and so technically Spiritual energy as well.
The other one is singing silver. Singing silver, otherwise referred to as crying silver is a steel created from dragon blood. Fresh Dragon blood contains Spiritual energy, and stones and steel that stay in contact with the Dragon blood over a long period of time gain the ability to store Spiritual energy as the aftermath. The reason it's called singing- or crying silver is because, if touched, it makes a sound resembling a person singing or crying. The volume of the sound depends highly on the amount of mana stored in the silver.
Now, mana crystals aren't exactly suited for combat. There are, unsurprisingly, exceptions, but the main "thing" used to combat Dragons is crying silver. It can be smithed into swords. The reason most people don't know about it is because it is rarely found, and if it is, it's often not approached because of the sound it makes. But, given that it is a sword that can store and release Spiritual energy, it can directly harm Dragon(Dukes). If you remember, the first time I met Fafnir, he held a shining sword at my throat? That was crying silver.
Now, I had no such sword, and added to my lack of Spiritual energy control, I had no way to efficiently fight Dragons. Or Dragon Dukes. Or Incarnations. Or the Ruler Of Dragons. Yeah, I was pretty powerless. And sleep deprived. I hadn't slept in ages. But I couldn't sleep. Whenever I tried to not think about anything or put my mind at ease, I would remember what happened where I'm from. Though, I was better off than Fafnir.
After trying countless times, I managed to squeeze his past out of him. If you remember correctly, I merely woke up and saw everything destroyed. It was horrible. I don't want anyone to have to live the same fate as me. However. Fafnir was different. He saw with his own eyes how the Ruler Of Dragons manually slaughtered and tortured and burned everyone he knew, loved. He saw their last moments, he heard their screams in agony, their yells in fear. Though, for some reason, he didn't know why, he had survived. He had looked his father in the eye when he was ripped apart. But Fafnir wasn't weak like me. Directly seeing everyone get massacred lead to him awakening prematurely as a Dragon Duke, before he even entered the portal to the next world, unlike any other Dragon Duke. Fafnir had killed the Ruler Of Dragons that day. Not for good, though. It was only one of many times the Ruler Of Dragons had died. There was no portal created that day. Fafnir had destroyed the Ruler Of Dragon's body before that timeline could end. See, whenever a timeline ends, a warp gate or portal gets created to the next timeline. Fafnir continued growing in power in his own timeline which should be impossible, trying to find the Ruler Of Dragon's real body. He didn't know back then that there was no such thing as a real body. He killed the Ruler Of Dragons thirteen times before his timeline ended and he moved to the next world.
Now, said next world was not the one we are in now. It was my whole world. However, given that Fafnir had already become a Dragon Duke, no curse was formed when he entered the portal. Instead, his power grew, exponentially. That was why Fafnir was so incredibly strong. This was the third world he lived in. Now, there are some older Dragon dukes than himself, but most go crazy and become dragons if they live that long. Fafnir was an exception through and through. I just didn't know why he hadn't eradicated the Ruler Of Dragons yet. He definitely had the power to do so. I didn't know what he was waiting for. We did get closer, but I still couldn't understand what was going on in his head. He was weird all right.
I got ready for another sparring round. It went like it usually goes. He killed me in a single strike. Sparring was all we had done in the last couple of months, but there was no improvement. Basically zero. Not quite, but still kind of zero. I was doing my best alright, but It just wouldn't work. It didn't click. That was, yet, anyway. Because everything was going to change in an instant.
My body was lying on the floor, my soul was flying around, waiting for my body to heal. There was nothing I could do when I saw someone emerging from the shadows. He was a tall, handsome man. Red eyes. Black hair like my own. He was wearing some sort of suit and tie, with a red shirt. He wasn't releasing his Spiritual energy, but I knew. I felt his presence. I felt my soul collapsing. I knew, the second that just the tiniest bit of spiritual energy would be released, my should would be absolutely shredded to pieces with no traces left. I was confident that I was going to die there. I didn't know what he was doing there, but he was there. Right in front of me, The man I hated most out of all the people in this universe. He looked at my collapsed body and smirked. Then he looked over to Fafnir.
I needed to get back into my body. My exposed soul wouldn't survive this encounter for a split second. I needed somewhere to hide. Otherwise, I would die, right there, by the hands of the Ruler Of Dragons. I managed to force my soul back into my dead body, and it was just on time. I saw the disturbed, hate filled eyes of Fafnir looking at the Ruler Of Dragons. Then, they Both released their Spiritual energy on full blast. I passed out. I felt pain. Pure, unstoppable pain. Unbearable pain. All I could think about was the pain, pain, pain. Suddenly, I felt a friendly Aura surrounding my body. I assumed the Aura was coming from Fafnir. Even now, he was still trying to protect me.
Suddenly, I felt my vision fading. All I could see was blurry, a clash between red and grey spiritual energy, flattening the environment all around them. I could barely see what was happening. I saw the two of them moving insanely fast. Their movements made the air heat up. Fafnir's clothes started burning off of his body. I couldn't think. I wanted to help. I couldn't. I was dead. My body was gone. My soul was floating in the air. If the friendly Aura wasn't surrounding it, it would collapse under the pressure, instantly. Suddenly, Both their Spiritual energies faded. I saw the two of them standing in front of me. I didn't see what had happened. Until I did.
And I blacked out. Sort of.