Galaxy's First Ruler

When the bloody tornado ceased to spin, it was like a vacuum had been created.

Aldrich landed on the ground overlain with mangled flesh, blood, scales, and bones. There was no sign of wind around him, and the flashes of lightning could only be found in the distant clouds. Aldrich jerked the sword, sending blood drops flying off it.

"Weeeeee… Daddy… that… fun."

Houuuuu!

Although most of the snakes had been annihilated, a few smaller ones still came rushing towards him from the farther reaches of the Dungeon. But even before them, came the howling winds, trying to reclaim the windless area around Aldrich. The hip-hop songs, unperturbed by the bloodbath, kept playing and riling up the storm and thunder among the dark clouds.

Not waiting for any of them to come any closer, Aldrich dashed towards the yellow light atop the mountain. But Aldrich hadn't expected to see the sight when he arrived at the mountain's foot.

The mountain was incredibly high, and the stormy winds were like an enormous snake coiling around it from foot to the top. Aldrich found out why the yellow light had seemed blurry too, for the top of the mountain was above the dark clouds. And the yellow flash only came out whenever there came a gap amid the dense clouds.

Aldrich saw a slithering stairway vanishing into the clouds and took a deep breath before taking a step on it.

Cr-Crackk!

Suddenly a lightning bolt hit Aldrich as he was about to lift his foot and blasted him away from the mountain. Black-colored mist rose from Aldrich's greatcoat, and a palm-sized area of it had become charred. Aldrich stood up and eyed the thousands of stairs and heard the roaring thunder as if cheering for the hit.

"Sigh! One step at a time, I guess. Change!"

Aldrich sighed and enhanced his Defence. One of the shortest but also the quickest snakes had caught up to Aldrich and lunged at him, seeing him just standing at the foot of the mountain. The rows of half a foot-long fangs in the snake's mouth spread out, and with its mouth leaning sideways, the snake snapped its mouth shut on Aldrich's shoulders.

Krrrrrrrrrr!!!

The sound of metal grinding over metal echoed amid the chorus of the song. Pieces of black fangs, covered in slimy liquid, broke off the snake's mouth. Aldrich tilted his head upwards a little to look in the slit like eyes of the snake, and he could see a hint of fear in them. Aldrich looked back towards the stairs and took a step towards them, with the snake's mouth still clamping around him.

Cr-Crack!

Just as Aldrich lifted his leg from the first step of the limestone stairway, another bolt of lightning came rushing towards him. But instead of hitting him, it first came into contact with the snake's mouth wrapped around Aldrich's shoulder.

Boom!!

As the thunder followed the flash of the lightning, the snake got blasted apart into hundreds of pieces and got incinerated in an instant. Aldrich, ignoring the surrounding happenings, took another step and then one more. The lightning kept striking him and the horn of his mask with every step. But it failed to leave a hint of any mark on him. Aldrich raised his head to look at the clouds and then towards the top of the mountain as a smirk came upon his face.

"The essence of the mountain lies in its stability. Where would you run now, Lord of Storms and Thunder?"

*

Aldrich's foot left the last step and came out of the cloudy mist.

Cr-Crack-Crackkkkk!!!

Houuuuuu!!!

Countless small lightning bolts were coiling around his entire body. And the wind blades kept getting demolished after running into him. It felt like Aldrich had somehow tamed the thunder after tiring it out. But for a moment, he too got taken aback by the sight in front of him.

Above the clouds, there wasn't any mountain anymore. But it was like the top of the mountain had been cut clean in one slash, turning it into a circular platform. And there were twelve limestone pillars spaced equally at its circumference. The lightning kept coursing over the clouds below the platform, and even the storm didn't dare to cross over the last step of the stairway.

Aldrich's right hand shined blue, and the traces of lightning around him got blasted away. He took a step over the platform and finally took in the sheer size of things in his eyes. The twelve pillars were at least a hundred meters in height, and the entire platform was longer than four to five football fields combined.

"My man! Hey, dance bitches! Ain't no time to stand around."

Aldrich followed the voice and looked at the raised stage right in the middle of the enormous platform. The Viscount Crawler was there in a red-black shiny jacket and was beating its tail, along with the beats coming out of the boombox on the ground. But he wasn't alone.

Around him were twelve females in black bikinis and wearing black pointy hats. Four of them were twerking with their butts towards the Crawler, and the rest were pole dancing, using some wooden poles planted in the ground. Aldrich couldn't have cared for such a scene. It was just, all females were older than the oldest person Aldrich had seen in his life.

Their skin was hanging loose from their faces, hands, stomach, and legs. Some had half of their faces burned, and maggots were crawling out of their noses and ears. Some had smelly, white, gooey liquid running out of their mouth and under their bikini. And all of them had at least one part of their body completely rotten.

Aldrich saw the Viscount Crawler giving him an exaggerated and lusty smile as it gestured towards the 'things' dancing around it. Aldrich couldn't help but crane his neck up to look at the yellow beacon of light he was following so far after coming to this plaza. He was almost sure that it was related to some hidden truth about the Skills of the Sugaar.

"Daddy… what… that."

Aldrich shook his head and reluctantly answered.

"… That's a Disco Light."