章 1: Prologue - End of Magic Era
In the middle of the Neloron continent, smoke and fire were as far as the eye could see. The skies were filled with dust and the sun lost its presence a long, long time ago.
It was a war. A war between the worlds, a war between Gods and Demons.
The ground of the battlefield was drenched in blood and the remains of warriors from both sides. It was not a quiet day, it was never quiet.
On the outskirts of the great plain, the conflict and suffering were unending. Dark beasts devoured everything in their path. With claws longer than a human arm they tore the poor souls asunder.
Above the battlefield, in the skies, an even greater battle was taking place. Flashes of light, followed by earth-shaking thunder were a common daily occurrence.
Pieces of land, the size of mountains, floated in the sky. Every time there was a flash of light, a mountain in the sky would shatter and the molten remains would rain down on the battlefield.
In the skies, High Elves and Herculean Dwarves fought against High Demon Generals. With the unending magic spells from the High Elves, the Dwarves had a relatively easy time battling Demons.
One by one, the High Demon Commanders fell from the sky, in pieces. Against the unending barrage of Divine Swords and Divine-rank magic spells, they had no hope of holding the line.
Over recent years, the Demons and their beasts slowly retreated and the Allied army slowly advanced. It was all for his day.
In the distance, a giant, purple portal was surrounded by High Demons. From it came an unending army of beasts and monsters that had only one order: Kill! And kill they did. They killed every single person, be it human, elf, or dwarf, it did not matter to them.
There was no mercy no matter the age or gender. Although, it was usually better to be a male. They would get just torn to pieces and devoured, granting them a quick death. Many females weren't that lucky. Not when the beasts had, apart from an insatiable hunger, also an unending lust.
Ear piercing screams of their victims were enough to give even the brave men nightmares for life.
Now it all came to this day. This dark day, when blood flowed in rivers, was the day when the nightmare would end.
The Gods in the Allied army pushed forward, killing Demons faster than the portal could replenish. The target was already in their sight. Just a few more minutes and they would be able to destabilize the portal, and the invasion would end.
Just as a smile showed itself on the lips of a High Elf, the sky shook and a roar, that could shake your soul, came from the portal.
"No…" that High Elf whispered, with horror on his face. He knew what that roar meant.
Indeed, as the roar spread across the battlefield, a giant head slowly emerged from the portal. Black scales and giant horns shined as they reflected the fire on the ground. The whole being slowly emerged, first, it was the head, then the long neck, followed by a muscular torso with wings, and lastly an insanely long tail.
"A dragon!" Now it was a Herculean Dwarf that screamed, his voice completely different from normal and full of fear. It was high-pitched, something impossible for a Dwarf to do. And yet, he did it.
Less than fifty combatants were left in the sky, the hopes and dreams of ending this nightmare completely shattered with the Black Dragon's roar.
This was the highest form a Dragon could achieve. A body like a mountain and scales harder than diamond, and Fire magic, stronger than any other.
"How is this possible?! A being of this power cannot pass through the Firmament!" another High Elf screamed.
An old High Elf, seemingly their leader slowly spoke, "Calm down and observe, it is not a true Black Dragon. He is infinitely close to it, but not quite yet."
All were startled at those words and observed the monster by themselves. Indeed, just as the old man said, the dragon did not yet go through his last metamorphosis. There was still hope.
As they were just secretly celebrating the discovery, the Black Dragon opened its giant maw and a collum of flame scorched the ground.
The flames went for a dozen kilometers before they lost their destructive power and turned, the before muddy grounds, into molten rock.
Every single being, be it monster, Demon, Elf of Dwarf, all turned to ashes before they even knew what happened. The last thing they saw was a black mountain walking out of the portal, a second later they were already gone.
"This beast! It doesn't even care about its allies!" The remaining Gods flew higher to avoid the scorching temperatures.
"This power! Even if it's not a true Black Dragon yet, we are no match for it like this."
The old Elf listened to the words of his kin and ultimately came to a decision. "We will have to use the World Breaker…"
When the other High Elves heard his words they were stunned into silence. They did have the same idea for just a second, but they quickly disregarded it.
The World Breaker was a spell that transcended even the Divine rank. To cast it successfully they needed at least fifty High Elf Elders, and they barely had thirty. Casting it like this would be suicide.
Even the brave Herculean Dwarves trembled at the thought of that spell. However, they did not dare to speak.
"Ancestor! We cannot use this spell, it's too dangerous! Not to mention that we don't have enough Elders to cast it, even if we did, we would have no way of controlling it. And if it goes out of control, this world will disappear!" a High Elf finally couldn't keep quiet anymore and spoke what was on his mind. It was not just him, everyone present had the same thoughts.
"Our brothers and sisters died, to give us this chance! Millions of innocent souls, crushed below the hooves of these monsters! The least we can do is to give it our all!" the old man roared at the High Elf Elder.
The High Elf Ancestor extended his hand and on his palm appeared a golden ball. He then slowly spoke, "Whether or not we can control the World Breaker is irrelevant. Our world is dying and if we don't do something quickly, there will be no world left to protect anyway."
All present gulped when they saw the gold ball in his hand.
"The Soul Devourer!" the High Elf Elder nervously looked at the old man. "Ancestor, you don't mean to use that thing…?"
"Silence you fool! We are lacking people to cast the spell and this is our only option left. All of you, come! Connect your Souls to it." He threw the ball into the air, but it didn't fall, just floated there on the spot.
He was the first to bring his soul out of his body. It was like a shining white giant, that looked just like him. The giant extended his finger and touched the gold ball. Then he removed his finger and returned to his body.
A strand of the soul was left connecting the old High Elf Ancestor with the gold ball. Then he moved his gaze across the rest of the High Elf Elders. Some of them sighed, but still brought out their souls and connected them to the gold ball.
The Ancestor then turned to the Dwarf King, a similarly old man with a bushy white beard. He respectfully bowed and spoke, "My friend, I never asked you for anything, but on this dark day, I ask you to help me once."
The Dwarf King laughed. He knew the Elves were preparing to die today. The Soul Devourer could temporarily strengthen their souls, but the price was high. Even if they somehow managed to survive, their souls would be damaged and they would probably need centuries to recover.
"Speak, my friend, what do you need?" the Dwarf King Smiled.
The Elf Ancestor spoke in a serious tone, looking straight in the Dwarf's King's eyes, "Distract the Dragon for five minutes, that's all I ask."
The King laughed self mockingly and shook his head in sorrow, "Five minutes? I will try my best and give you three. If you survive this day, take care of my kin."
The old Ancestor nodded and said, "You too…" Then he turned around and called the golden ball back. Every High Elf Elder connected their souls to the Soul Devourer. They had faces full of unwillingness and sorrow, but deep down in their eyes, there was determination.
The Elf Ancestor cut his finger and a few drops of blood flew out and landed on the Soul Devourer. Many strange symbols appeared when the blood landed. The souls in every single person expanded as it was filled with immense power. A silver glow appeared around every High Elf.
The Dwarf King looked in sorrow at the land scorched land below him. The whole conversation seemed long, but in reality, only seconds have passed from the moment the Black Dragon appeared.
"Men! Prepare for the greatest battle of your lives! We will protect the High Elves to give them time to cast the World Breaker! Spare no expense! Take out your greatest treasures and give it your all!"
As the King spoke to motivate his warriors, a giant battleaxe appeared in his hand.
"The King's treasure, The Mountain Splitter," some Dwarves gasped, but then they too took out their strongest weapons. Swords and axes appeared one after the other. Each of them so beautiful it could take your breath.
The King took out a few dozen potions and threw them to his soldiers. "Each of you, take one potion and get ready. Today we will sacrifice our bodies and souls for the motherland! Bring down that ugly lizard!"
The warriors each grabbed one potion and drank it. Not even a second later, their skin turned black and it cracked. Under it, there was glowing red blood. It appeared as if they turned into a raging volcano that was ready to burst.
That was the Overload Potion. The highest grade of the Berserk rank. Similarly to the Soul Devourer, it sacrificed life for a short burst of immeasurable power.
"Cast your Enhancements!" The King roared with bloodshot eyes. Immediately after that, he cast the spells on himself, "Titan's Power! Giant Body! Lightning Speed! Red Sun Armor!" The Mana inside his body surged and in a flash, he grew to the size of over five meters. The aura around him grew as well, slowly turning crimson.
The space around his body started to distort and steam, mixed with blood that escaped his pores.
One after the other the rest of the Herculean Dwarves grew and their auras expanded. After the finished transformation they charged like madmen at the Black Dragon.
The Dragon noticed the fluctuations of magic that were happening above him, but he did not pay them any attention. Only with the sudden surge of power from above did he lift his head to observe.
Twenty Herculean Dwarves, with their King in the front, charged down like meteors. They each landed on the Dragon's back with all the strength they had.
The shiny black scales cracked and split apart under the impact and boiling blood spewed forth. The Black Dragon roared in anger. The wounds could be considered only scratches on his giant body, but just the fact that he was injured by these lesser beings, was enough to enrage him.
The Dragon shook and a hurricane was formed around him. These winds carried the energy many thousand times greater than a normal hurricane. A single grain of sand carried enough energy to penetrate even the strongest armor.
The Dwarves were blown away, each with different degrees of damage.
The Dwarves were amazing blacksmiths and they had the strongest, magically enchanted armor, on the continent. Even so, they suffered wounds just from the dist and sand carried from the wind created by the Black Dragon.
If they didn't have Red Sun Armor magic, they would probably get torn to dust. Ultimately there was no time to rest. The Dwarves charged at the Dragon again, with no concern for their lives. They used their Divine Earth magic to block the winds as they attacked.
Mountains grew from the ground below and then flew to the sky to serve as their shield.
In the meantime, the High Elves prepared themselves to cast the strongest spell in their existence. They all stood in a circle with the Soul Devourer floating in the middle.
The High Elf Ancestor slowly started the chant, "Born without mother, you grow without father, in the darkness of space…"
The rest of the High Elves quickly joined and chanted, "…consuming forever, devouring stars…" As they chanted, the space around the Soul Devourer started to warp and a massive amount of Mana flew from each of the High Elf Elders.
The amount of energy was so massive that it started producing light and gravitational ripples.
The Black Dragon finally noticed something was wrong. When he looked at the massive amount of Mana in the sky, pouring into a single point, even he felt dread.
"Damn ants! Burn!" The dragon roared and another column of flame shoot from between his sharp fangs.
Mountain, after mountain, blocked his way, each melting in seconds. Then the Dwarf King roared and attacked, "Your opponent is me, you stinky lizard! Moonfall!" The Dwarf King flew up into the sky and then increased gravity around himself to fall down much faster.
His Mountain Splitter shined as he poured Mana into it. Like a meteor he landed on the Dragon's head, breaking one of his horns.
The dragon roared in pain, spewing scorching flames everywhere.
"Attack!" the remaining Dwarves lifted their mountains once more and smashed them at the raging Dragon. The mountains of stone collided with the black scales and broke apart like they were balls of soft dirt. They did not even draw blood.
Still, the Dwarves did not despair and instead threw themselves at the raging beast. One after the other they burned in the flames and turned to ash. But before their death they each struck the Dragon at least once, breaking his scales and skin with their weapons.
"…ruller of the galaxy, destroyer of worlds, the mighty World Breaker! A life for a life, take what is mine and grant me a wish!" As the magic chant ended, the space around the Soul Devourer warped and collapsed. There was just a black dot left.
The souls of everyone present left their bodies before cracking apart and getting sucked in that black dot. The only one left standing was the old High Elf Ancestor.
His skin cracked and his soul split apart, but he gritted his teeth and grabbed the black dot. As soon as he did that, his hand warped and got compressed, getting sucked in the small black dot. He did not have much time left.
He moved as fast as lightning and arrived before the Black Dragon in the blink of an eye. He then took out his sword before cutting off his own hand at the shoulder and kicked it towards the Dragon. The black dot now already started collapsing the space around itself, and the arm was gone in less than a second.
Faster and faster it started devouring the mater around it. First air, then dust, then slowly the insanely hard dragon scales. They broke apart as if they were made of brittle sand.
The Dragon roared as he felt the pain in his chest. He looked down and his eyes enlarged in horror as he screamed, "A black hole!" He wildly looked around until his eyes landed upon a weak old man. "You!" He breathed fire as he roared.
"Hahaha, false Black Dragon, no matter how strong you are, you will perish under the strongest devouring force in the universe! Your arrogance and your greed were your downfall, now die!" the Elf Ancestor laughed and covered himself with a magic barrier to resist the flames. Ultimately it did not last long before the barrier started to crack.
The old man sighed and watched the dragon be devoured by the black hole. He already lost that little control he had over it at the beginning.
"Aah! Curse you!" the Dragon roared when he found out that even his strong body was useless against the pull of a black hole. "Even if I die, I'll take this world with me!" The Mana inside the Dragon surged and he turned his long neck towards the portal and roared, "Mana Void! Take it all!"
"Nooo!" the old man's eyes enlarged when he heard the Dragon's command. The purplish-black portal enlarged and earthquakes could be felt across the planet.
The Black Dragon roared in mad laughter, "You might have beaten me, but your Mana is ours now! Haha, foolish Elf, you should have accepted our superiority, instead, you brought upon your own demise!"
The Dragon was then slowly torn apart among his mad laughter. That was to be expected, but the old Elf was horrified for a different reason. There came a suction force from the portal, a suction force that targeted his soul.
All the Mana in the surroundings also started to flow towards the portal, even the massive amount of Mana that sustained the artificial black hole was slowly extracted. The black hole collapsed when the Mana sustaining it was gone, and all the matter inside it exploded in a flash of energy, like an atomic bomb.
The surrounding one hundred kilometers were leveled like a mirror. Dust and debris flew outward as a giant cloud rose to the sky.
In the next few moments, across the entire planet, every single mage felt their Mana disappear. No matter who it was, they lost the ability to cast magic. Those on the top of the food chain that had massive amounts of mana in their bodies directly exploded from stress.
Tose weaker only sustained serious injuries or went mad. Humans, however, the weakest of them all, only felt a slight headache.
In the upcoming days and weeks, the entire structure of civilization collapsed. The magic was gone and the ruling High Elves class died. It was chaos. Wars and destruction ensued soon after and the whole world was plunged into the Dark Age.
The Great Era ended, and with it, the wonders of magic.
クリエイターの想い 
GoldenShadow
GoldenShadow Yes, I know, the prologue is quite long, but don't worry, the rest of the chapters will be much shorter, somewhere between 1000 - 1700 words. (Half of the Prologue)
The first few chapters start off slow, but it will soon become more interesting, so give my story a chance and leave a review if you like it :)
If you would also like to support my work and get early chapters, consider visiting my P[+]atreon page:
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Cheers~
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