The next Red Dragon Emperor

Intermission

Intermission

The world was rather chaotic and empty for a long time… in a way that seemed off. You couldn't remember much of your early life after being born. Not that looking so far back really mattered. It had only been after awakening your fire that things had become interesting. A journey to test the power you had acquired, fueled by a burning ambition.

Yet by now life was getting rather… unfulfilling. Being acknowledged and feared had been satisfying, but without anyone to withstand that power most beings were now just avoiding you. Until you had met the white dragon. Throughout multiple encounters in which your flames were completely ineffective that old feeling had resurfaced. The desire to prove yourself in front of this new opponent. To that end the fire burning inside your body was sealed, a new heat taking its place as you clashed again and again.

You could feel the white one felt similarly. Competing with him was the one thing to complete you and push both of you to greater heights of power. Of course, in the end you would prove your superiority… But not right away.

That opportunity however would prove harder than expected to grab, as you were sealed through cowardly means by the beings of the other factions. Of course, realising that had come later, as you awoke in a strange place. A white void, seemingly stretching forever, yet still claustrophobic. Restricting your movement, your power, your entire being to… a human? How preposterous!

Over time the attempts to escape were only serving to make things look more worthless. The hosts themselves were rather varied, some following the white one and continuing the fight. And it seemed that each time more of your real power was brought out. Eventually doing along with things seemed like the best to get the challenge you wanted, as well as eventual liberation.

Yet with the hosts' fragility most encounters were short and rather inconclusive. As the cycle kept repeating, without much progress being made after all, things became even more monotone than before in a way. A routine that seemed more so fuelled by a legend than yourself or the white one.

Then Issei appeared, bringing… changes. Suddenly things got interesting. In bypassing the Juggernaut Drive the gate seemed to once again be open. Yet time and time again his nature brought him back to the same thing. The source of his power, but a worse prison for you.

Even so, while drifting in the dimensional gap his soul had been preserved in the armour, yet time had run out before his body could be saved and recovered. The sacred gear moved to the next host. But with the curse of the Juggernaut Drive gone you could now feel a difference. Multiple souls seemed to call the sacred gear.

Yet one seemed to have an ember inside it, different from the flame of Issei, previous hosts, or the newborns calling. An older soul… and a way out. Something to at least give you a chance to not be taken back by those devils. So far change had brought progress…

The next time you awakened, air was quickly blowing past your host. Too quickly. Humans couldn't fly after all… At least normal ones couldn't. Still, what had even brought this host to such a point. As the wind changed you felt eyes watching. The devils were certainly quick. And your power was still mostly sealed, returned to the baseline, as usual.

"He knows that part, red one!" a different voice said, as you shook your head.

Looking back you could see a man dressed in white. Looking at your hands you also noticed they were normal. But you weren't in the cave, rather in the white void of the boosted gear somehow…

"Close enough. Those two are closer than you would think. But you broke the seal of the red dragon emperor. So what's left is…"

"The dividing gear…? And you…?"

"Your senior, at your disposal for now. Until the memories left behind by the red one finish."

"Am I in for another flashback?"

A smile flashed on the young man's face as you find yourself in a rather similar position to before…