Epic of Ice Dragon: Reborn As An Ice Dragon With A System

Chapter 2361: Oda Nobunaga’s Endless Castle [79]

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"{Spatial Configuration: Twelve Floor Black Hole}"

TRUUUMMM!!!

"Nnnggh?!"

"Aaaghh!"

Hydra and Celene tried to escape, but the gravitational pull caught them from every direction. Celene’s phantom clones were instantly absorbed, vanishing without resistance.

The two dragons felt their bodies being torn apart from all angles, the black hole-like spatial distortions threatening to unravel them completely.

"Yep, that’s as far as you’ll go," Sarutahiko said smugly. "I have to admit, you were strong and clever. You even wounded me. But this is your limit. There’s a wall between us—one that pathetic little lizards like you could never cross. Still, well done... and goodbye."

He closed his palm. The space around Hydra and Celene compressed further, black and red energies spiraling into a vortex of death. The twelve cubes began collapsing inward.

Until—

BOOOMMM!!!

The explosion consumed everything. Sarutahiko couldn’t even see the dragons anymore, but he was certain they had been annihilated.

Crack... crack...

CRAAASH!

"Hm?!"

Sarutahiko’s eyes widened as cracks split the air. A claw burst through the fractured space—Hydra’s claw. The Kami of Space was stunned.

How had they survived?

Then he saw it. Hydra and Celene emerged from the distorted void, and Sarutahiko noticed traces of Alchemy Magic glowing in Hydra’s hands.

"What the hell did you even—"

"{Phantom Dragon Fist Rush}!"

RUMBLE!

"Ungh?!"

Space twisted violently. A gravitational force, generated by Celene’s mirror, pulled Sarutahiko toward Hydra. At the same time, hundreds of spectral dragon fists erupted from Hydra’s Aura, pummeling Sarutahiko’s body.

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

"GAAAAHHH?!"

Sarutahiko reacted quickly, wrapping himself in spatial energy and releasing a shockwave that pushed them back.

TRUUUM!

But Hydra and Celene surged forward again, as if gravity itself dragged them toward him. Sarutahiko’s confusion deepened.

"What in the world is this trick?! What are you doing?!"

"Losing your patience already?" Hydra said. "It’s not hard to guess. And it’s not something you can stop. The key is Alchemy—it always is."

"HAH?!"

Sarutahiko was stunned, but Hydra offered no further explanation.

The one most surprised, however, was Celene. She was in awe of Hydra’s intellect—how he manipulated the elements and tools around him to perform what felt like miracles.

What he had done wasn’t overly complex. When the twelve cubes began collapsing inward, Hydra used Alchemy to absorb the surrounding spatial energy and synthesize a "spatial blanket." This artificial membrane wrapped around them, shielding them from the explosion.

Celene’s mirrors, positioned on the opposite side, created a reflection process that generated a gravitational pull. This force dragged them away from the blast while simultaneously pushing Sarutahiko toward them and weakening his spatial magic.

Hydra was, without a doubt...

A genius among geniuses.

"How did you even...?! Hydra, you’re a genius! You might be the smartest being in our entire world!"

"Hmph! That’s what having eight brains does for you, my dear friend."

What some dismissed as a "silly mutation"—Hydra’s eight heads—was actually the source of his brilliance.

Over thousands of years, each of his brains had accumulated vast knowledge and wisdom. He experimented with every particle he could, blending Alchemy with Phantom and Death Magic—arts that bridged the realms of the living and the dead.

This rare and deadly combination had forged a monstrous intellect, hidden behind a quirky, unassuming demeanor.

Sarutahiko had no idea he wasn’t facing just any dragon—he was facing the greatest mind born in Yggdrasil in the last millennium.

"T-This is ridiculous...! I don’t get it! How are you doing this?! I’m the one who controls space, not you!"

Furious, Sarutahiko’s Aura flared. A black horn grew from his forehead, and space around him twisted violently.

He no longer cared about the Endless Castle or keeping it isolated. All he wanted was to destroy the dragon who kept defying his magic.

"Even if I explained it, you wouldn’t understand. You were born with your power and take it for granted. Have you ever stopped to ask why it all works? What lies beneath the surface? Do you even know what particles are? Protons? Electrons?"

"What nonsense are you babbling about?!"

"I thought so. Those born with power rarely question the world. You were given the ability to uncover the universe’s secrets, and you chose ignorance."

"What?!"

"Honestly, that power would be better in my hands. Why don’t you hand it over?"

"Um, Hydra? Why are you saying all those mean things?! He’s going to get really mad!"

Celene panicked, but one of Hydra’s heads winked at her.

It was all part of his plan.

"You’ve really done it now, damn lizard," Sarutahiko growled. "I’m getting seriously pissed off. I usually like to keep things chill, but you’ve earned yourself a one-way ticket to hell."

He laughed wickedly, raising his hand and staff into the sky. Space cracked open, revealing thousands of distortions. Shockwaves and gravitational spheres surged toward them from every direction.

"{Spatial Configuration: Dimensional Chaos}"

TRUUUMMM!!!

"Here it comes!"

Hydra soared into the sky, Celene at his side. They reached Sarutahiko in a flash, propelled by the gravitational force stored in Celene’s mirrors.

But Sarutahiko teleported instantly, swapping his location with another point in space. He reappeared above them.

"You won’t even reach me. Now die!"

He swung his hand downward. Hundreds of spatial particles converged around Hydra and Celene, fusing and compressing until they exploded into a black hole.

BOOOMMM!!!

The blast tore through the Endless Castle. Isolated zones trembled, and cracks spread across the spatial membranes, weakening their containment.

"How about that?! Did your genius intellect save your scaly ass this time, you multi-headed freak?!"

"Indeed, it did."

"HUH?!"

Sarutahiko nearly screamed as Hydra’s voice echoed behind him.

Hydra appeared as a spectral form—Celene nowhere in sight.

"What...?!"

And then he quickly realized what was happening, noticing hundreds of spectral clones everywhere, all of them with Hydra’s own signatures of energy and soul power, fooling even a Kami like Sarutahiko to target a clone of Hydra and Celene.

"Wait, where did the real ones...?!"

"Should you really be wondering that when I’m right here?"

Hydra’s spectral clone rushed forward, Sarutahiko ignored him, waving his hand at him and releasing a shockwave of spatial power, deleting him from existence.

BOOOM!

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