Targaryen Who Turned Dragon

Rhaegal displayed the dominance of a true dragon, crushing and burning anyone who resisted. Meanwhile, Aerion simply watched from atop.

Unfortunately, the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique is limited to only three uses. Ever since Prince Xisu was resurrected, the King of Hell no longer releases any souls. I did plan on bringing back several other people but that was swiftly halted. The backlash was also growing at an absurd rate when it came to my life span.

"I wonder who the real King of Hell is." Rotias chuckled.

Hmm, could it be you? If I remember correctly, the book did say that you were the God of the Underworld.

"Well, I was until someone else took my place. It seems that the person who replaced me is being rather cheap, haha. If it's not my replacement, then perhaps it's someone of an even higher status."

Someone higher than an Ancestral God? Huh, I know where this is going.

"It's either the current Lord of the Underworld does not wish to release any souls or that your eyes can only use that technique thrice. There's plenty of souls in the afterlife so it's unlikely that this Lord is unwilling. Therefore, it's more than likely to be your eyes being limited to three uses of that technique."

"Even though you hadn't died from those uses, you should have noticed that your lifespan shrunk greatly as well," Rotias added.

Aerion nodded, slightly regretful. He didn't want to admit the truth. After the two weeks of rest, he did feel refreshed but his body simply wasn't as perfect as before. Scale regeneration was much slower and his profound energy reserves were smaller. He couldn't reach peak performance even if he tried, he was a lesser version of himself. It was as if a greater part of him had been taken away with each rebirth, this was especially true with Xisu's case.

"The King of Hell requires something to rejuvenate them, after all, and he takes it directly from you. Short term wise, you should be fine but long-term wise, it's not looking good for you. You probably have around two years left, heh."

Two years!?

Aerion's eyes widened as Rotias said that. It was worse than he had ever expected.

"The Brahma Heaven God Emperor did not do much to lessen your life span and Ying'er's mother was a slight decrease. You probably went from a good two hundred thousand years to about a hundred and fifty thousand in terms of life span which wasn't significant to you. But, upon bringing Xisu, the King of Hell took far more than last time. The amount seemed unnatural but that's beside the point."

"Even if you amass many more breakthroughs, you still only have three years. That's the best-case scenario, of course."

...

"Your only hope is the Primordial Seal of Life & Death, little dragon, and it just so happens to be in the possession of the Brahma Monarch God Realm. That way, your little lifespan shouldn't be a problem as long as you have it on you."

It only stops ageing... will I ever regain my true self, that's what I wish to know.

"Your fire needs to be alighted once more, you need to be reborn. So I'd say the True God Realm should be enough to regain most of what that King of Hell had taken away. Only three uses and it takes most of your life span, hmph, what a trash ability to have. Not only that, but you also used it to bring back three mortals. Even worse, you did it all for your mortal women and not yourself. As an Ancestral God, I could've blinked once and any minor god below the Creation God Realm would return to life. The Transcendent Being would question my decision but that was the only true consequence. Heh, so this is the pitiful mortal life."

... I must attain the Primordial Seal of Life & Death at all costs.

The Emperor.

Aerion dismounted off Rhaegal and started to conquer the Eternal Heaven Realm on foot. The first person he laid his eyes on was a late-stage Divine Master who had been causing some problems for Rhaegal. He opened Silver Calamity and activated Phase 4.

I'll be relying on you, Rotias.

"Fine by me."

Aerion's hair turned black as he made use of Rotias' Darkness profound energy and walked closer to the Divine Master.

"Acknowledge me as your Lord."

The Divine Master bowed without much hesitation. "Yes, My Lord!"

"Follow."

Aerion walked past him and started to make the Eternal Heaven Realm his by mere domination. The army following him grew swiftly as he took the core of the Eternal Heaven Realm in just a couple of hours. Upon growing tired, he would simply substitute his lost profound energy with the profound energy of his followers.

Xisu had already beaten his middle-stage Divine Master combatant while Aerion's paths sorted out everything around him.

"It seems that I am, indeed, slightly rusty. Why do you seem so glum all of a sudden?"

Aerion looked to his left. "It's nothing much. We will spend a month here to consolidate power and increase your cultivation strength before spreading north. You will go and accompany the Star God Realm's forces while I take the northern High-Rank Star Realms on my own."

"Very well." Xisu nodded.

"Unfortunately, your plans will have to be cancelled, Aerion Targaryen."

A cold voice seemed to have frozen the surrounding area still.

A formation was made instantly, covering about ten kilometres of space which wasn't much to a Divine Master Realm cultivator. In fact, it was insignificant and could be covered in no time whatsoever.

"No running today, haha."

Five figures floated above Xisu, Aerion and a group of Divine Masters from the Eternal Heaven Realm. With a single wave of the hand. all of them but Aerion were sealed in ice instantly. Aerion observed the five figures and felt a deep wave of dread rush over him.

These five... they are all Ancestral Gods!

"They have already remade their bodies and regained an even greater portion of their divine power, even more than I have." Rotias sighed. "We are outmatched here while Surge and Naeron have created a formation from their divine power which forbids any type of dimensional tears. Your World Teleportation Portal will not be able to activate unless this formation is destroyed. In essence, you cannot escape from this battle. Surge and his formations... damn him."

They probably predicted that I'd go to the Eternal Heaven Realm at one point and simply waited. Being Ancestral Gods, it should not be hard to hide their aura. They all ranged in the second and third stages of the Divine Extinction.

Naeron landed in front of Aerion, his medium-lengthed golden hair swaying wildly as he approached him. His red eyes gazed at Aerion, not leaving his figure for quite a while.

"What happened to his lifespan? It seems so thin that even a second of life might just be enough to kill him."

Surge shrugged. "Probably some forbidden techniques which he should have not used. Mortals do strive to do the impossible and must be punished once they accomplish such feats."

Nexus smiled. "No matter, we will replace him with a reborn Aerios soon enough. It's better not to waste time with his dying avatar and proceed to the real thing. The Transcendent Being does keep his promises time and time again so it is unlikely that he would lie about such a matter. We are all agreed on this, yes?"

Helia, Surge, Naeron and Vena (especially Vena) had no complaints at all. Naeron seemed a little bit unsure about the Transcendent Being a trustworthy person.

"I'm still here," Aerion announced, rather grandly. "Unless you've forgotten? Thi-"

"You lack the strength to oppose us, avatar." Vena froze him still. He could not move a single muscle.

"Hmph, I don't believe in bullying the weak. He should be given a fair chance to win his freedom and live on." Naeron stated. "Aerios is the one who gave him the inheritance in the first place so he shouldn't be written off so easily. He chose him for a reason."

"Hmph, a fair chance?" Helia chuckled. "And what could that be?"

"Hmm, a duel, perhaps?" Surge smiled. "Isn't that what you love most, Naeron?"

"Yes, a duel to decide his fate should be good enough." Naeron nodded.

"A duel against the God of War... hahaha." Vena coldly laughed. "A brilliant idea!"

Suddenly, Aerion could move once more. The ice had disappeared and he was free as a bird in a cage... because of the formation, of course. He gnashed his teeth in anger as it had been a very long time since he had been humiliated to such a degree. His entire body had been lit by a fire of pure rage and the only way it could be appeased was by absolute victory.

"A duel, you say?" Aerion laughed. "Very well, allow this Dragon Emperor to put you in your place."

Nexus gave a cold laugh in return. "Naeron will shatter whatever is left of your confidence, I'm afraid. He has never lost a duel based on pure martial skill ever since he became an Ancestral God."

Aerion ignored Nexus and gazed in the eyes of Naeron as he tried to suppress his rage to a certain extent.

Excessive anger only leads to mistakes and impatience, I must use it to draw out more of my strength without those consequences.

Naeron stabbed his golden spear into the ground as everything was covered in a golden light. "This is my domain; the Arena."

The formation extended to a hundred thousand kilometres and it looked like a whole new world had been formed inside of it. The fighting stage was rather grand yet small while the arena itself was massive. All of the Ancestral Gods had taken a seat along with the frozen Divine Masters.

"This domain of mine is rather special as the combatants are all limited to the same battle strength. This is a test of pure skill, after all. There will be no outside sources of power and our weapons will be equal in strength. All legacies are sealed here along with profound energy."

Blackfyre disappeared from his sight.

"If you lose, you will die and we will resurrect Aerios through the Transcendent Being. If you win, we'll let you go and you can continue your path as Aerios' avatar without the rest of us as obstacles. We'll even acknowledge you as the next Fire Dragon God." Naeron smiled. "Does that sound fair?"

"What if I don't accept this duel?"

"Then you die anyway. I forgot to mention that your forces will also be spared if you succeed in defeating this God of War."

"Very well, let's begin." Aerion nodded. "This is the only way of survival, after all."

There's another which I'd rather not resort to.

A normal looking spear appeared in Naeron's hand while a bastard sword appeared in Aerion's left hand and a shield in his right.

"Aerion, Naeron will absolutely annihilate you," Rotias warned him. "You must resort to your Heavenly Treasures unless you want to die early, forget about this duel!"

Is he truly that formidable?

"Yes, he isn't the God of War just for show. He earned that title through countless battles and hills of fallen warriors."

"So this is the type of weapons you use when you are restricted to the strength of a mortal. How interesting." Naeron remarked. "Rotias is with you, as expected, but he won't be able to help you here. It's just you and me."

A crimson light appeared on the middle of the fighting stage, signalling the beginning of the duel.