Scarlet Dragon King – Chapter 25: Into the Void
The warmth of the sanctuary faded.
The celestial clouds dissolved. The lake of stars drained into darkness. One by one, the embers that represented his harem dimmed—until only one flame remained, flickering with a void-like hue. A presence that felt infinite and empty, yet hauntingly innocent.
Ophis.
Eric stood at the edge of the Trial Plane, now reshaped into an endless void—space with no stars, no ground, no light.
A portal pulsed before him. It didn't blaze or roar. It whispered. A breathless silence that pulled at the soul.
The others didn't follow.
They couldn't.
Even Shiva narrowed her eyes. "You'll be walking into a realm older than gods."
Death, quietly, added, "She isn't chaos. She is the absence of everything. Even me."
Eric looked at the women—his family now—and nodded once. "I'll bring her back."
Koneko's hand touched his sleeve. "Be careful."
Akeno whispered, "She doesn't understand emotion… yet."
Rias, always brave, locked eyes with him. "But she'll understand you."
And with that… he stepped through.
—
The Void.
Eric drifted. No sound. No gravity. No time.
And then he saw her.
Ophis.
Barefoot, pale, her black hair flowing like ink through the nothing. She floated in silence, her dragon aura coiled around her like a sleeping god. Her gaze met his—emotionless, yet curious.
"You are different," she said.
Eric nodded. "So are you."
"You do not seek control," she said again. "You offer… warmth."
A pulse of silence stretched between them.
"I do not understand it."
"That's what this trial is," Eric said softly. "Not power. Understanding."
She blinked. The void trembled. The Trial had begun. Eric floated across the empty void toward Ophis, his crimson aura dimmed against the sheer stillness that surrounded her. This wasn't just a realm of nothing—it was her. Her essence. Her soul.
She regarded him with curious detachment. "Why are you not afraid?"
"Because I've already faced emptiness," he said. "It was my life before I met them… before I met you."
A tremor rippled through the void.
Ophis's eyes glowed softly. "You are trying to make me feel. But I am not made to feel."
"Maybe," Eric replied calmly. "But what if feeling isn't something you're made for… but something you choose?"
The trial responded—not with explosions, but with reflections.
All around them, fragments of memories began to surface—Ophis's countless years of stillness, of watching universes burn and rebirth, never changing, never touched.
She stared at one vision: herself standing at the edge of the Dimensional Gap, watching stars die in silence.
"I always thought it was peace," she whispered. "But it is not. It is… nothing."
A single tear shimmered at the edge of her eye—but it didn't fall.
Eric floated closer. "You weren't wrong to be still. But you've been waiting, haven't you? Waiting for something to disturb the silence."
She looked at him, almost childlike now. "Is that… what you are?"
He reached out, offering his hand.
"I don't want to change you. I just want you to know you're not alone anymore."
Her gaze fell to his hand… then to her own. Hesitation flickered—a first.
Then… she reached out.
The moment their hands touched—
The void shattered.
---
A New Realm Bloomed.
A horizon of endless twilight. Black roses sprouted from glassy ground. Stars began to flicker—not chaotic, not fiery, but calm. Balanced. Infinite.
Ophis stood on solid ground now, her aura no longer devouring—but harmonizing.
"I feel…" she began, "small."
Eric smiled. "That's how we all start."
Her mirror appeared—a simple black scale, weighing nothing… until her hand touched it. Then, a tiny flame appeared. Cool, blackish-purple, silent—but real.
She had found balance.
Her trial was complete.
—
As they returned to the others, Ophis walked at Eric's side—not behind, not above. She said little, but the others felt the difference.
And when her eyes met Rias's, Akeno's, Shiva's, and the rest—she nodded.
"I understand now," she said. "Why you chose him."
Eric didn't say anything.
He just smiled as Ophis took her place—not just as the embodiment of infinity, but as the eleventh flame beside his heart.