The beavers stood around a large blue-glowing pond in the middle of a large cavern, watching the crack in the circular dam they formed around it. “There is a crack forming here! Start the patching process!” A beaver screamed and half of them rushed in with wood and started nibbling at the dam.

They removed the cracked wooden panel and replaced it in less than a minute, seeing them work looked like trained racing mechanics changing the car’s tires in the blink of an eye. Those beavers trained their whole life for the sole reason of repairing this dam and making sure it never breaks.

The dam was here for centuries and in that time they optimized their process to the point that what would take humans a year to fix now takes the beaver monks and shamans no longer than a minute. Teamwork, the hardwood of the mana-rich fungus growing around the pond, and the tireless enchantments the shamans kept casting, everything worked like a precise clock.

The dam got fixed in a minute and a half, and the shaman old beaver woman growled, “Damn it Filo! Damn you Bevalina! Why the interruption, you know we’re too busy, this fix took half a minute longer as she wasn’t here doing her job.” Since Filo went to check who opened the gate, her spot in the work chain was left empty causing a large delay.

“The chance of the dam breaking is low now. Someone go bring her without a word, drag her back by the tail.” She growled, pointing her cane at the cave leading to the gate. But then, she fell silent.

Two purple eyes appeared in the darkness, standing several beavers tall, it was clear it wasn’t a beaver. She started sweating, “There is a barrier here that kills anything that isn’t a beaver.” Her old arms started shaking as Arad’s face slowly appeared out of the darkness.

Even Tempo had stayed back as he sensed the barrier covering the seal’s room.

“Don’t go in there! You’ll die!” Filo cried, standing back with Flatail as they watched Arad slowly walk toward the room.

Arad’s foot finally landed in the room, pushing onto the barrier. A heavy wave of divine magic left by the ancient gods washed over Arad’s skin, burning in a hazy golden mist, a contentious divine smite that kills anything that isn’t a beaver. His skin burned to the bone as he kept walking forward, his flesh regenerating at a blinding rate to keep up with the damage.

With each step, his body flashed like a welding arc, but he didn’t even slow down, walking straight toward the beaver shaman with a straight face. The beavers all ran back, staring at the monster that just come in.

“It can’t be…this barrier, can’t fail!” The shaman cried, “I do not care.” Arad stood in front of her face, tanking the whole barrier as he glared at her, the glow of his purple eyes getting through the endless flash of the divine magic.

“Such vast divine magic, it treats everything that isn’t a beaver the same. Humans, titans, and everyone would get burned by it just like vampires and undead. I can’t survive it for a second, I doubt even Vlad could walk in there, he’ll evaporate right upon contact.” His eyes opened wide, “I see, so that’s way.” He did manage to grasp a faint understanding of what Arad was doing.

“I see… I was the idiot for thinking you coming here in a weakened state was wrong. Even in this state, you almost can’t be killed by normal means.”

Since Arad took Vlad’s entire army inside of him, he managed to achieve something that’s only possible for a creature like him. While Vlad had an immense regeneration, he was achieving it by using captive humans inside of him to siphon blood and heal. Arad had another approach only possible as he’s a massive dragon with a lot of blood and health.

Since Arad is limiting himself to a human body, the damage at one instant is capped to the full destruction of his humanoid body. But that allows him enough time to spread it through the vampire army, allowing them to be the ones regenerating safely inside his stomach.

“I see.” Arad said, looking at the large pond.

“This is a pond of liquid mana. It is infused with divine magic and acts as a large barrier between us and where the abomination is sealed. It’s like jailing a criminal under an ocean of lava and lightning, whoever made it has to be extremely powerful.” He said with a gentle smile.

“Who are you? Who let you in, get out!” The shaman cried. “You don’t understand what kind of monster lives beneath that water! You’re disturbing our work, if you understand then scram.” She growled, waving her staff.

“You know it, the seal will soon break. I guess that would be this pond flooding out. All the beavers here would drown, monsters are attracted to the powerful mana leaking out, and that’s why they keep attacking the city outside.” He looked around, “Now that I’m standing here, I can feel it. The mana is unstable in the air; it could burst at any moment.” 𝖋𝖗𝖜𝔟𝖓𝖔𝔳𝔩.𝔠𝖔𝔪

His eyes slowly shifted back at her, “You beavers that were here for the past weeks can’t feel the sudden change, but you must’ve noticed something, didn’t you?”

“There were seven cracks this week while in the past years, we could only expect one or two per month.” She replied with a worried face.

“The monster you’re trying to keep inside has been filling the water with more and more mana, seeking to flood it.” Arad pulled a wine glass out of his stomach while still burning and filled it.

“Just like this, one drop at a time, the wine keeps getting closer to spilling.” He slowly poured wine in and then stopped, taking a sip with his still-burning body. “Unless someone drinks from it, it’s fated to spill.”

“Wait! You aren’t trying to…” She gasped as Arad walked past her and sat beside the pond, gently bending down and reaching with his hand to the mana pond. He filled his palm, but his whole arm disintegrated in the blink of an eye. But, his arm regenerated back o shape before the mana water could fall back into the pond

“Wait! Who is that?” The beaver shaman gasped as Filo and Flatail reached her. “Shaman Galina…” Filo panted, “Stand away, he’s not someone you should try to stop.”

“Filo! Who is this monster you let into here? Do you know the consequences of those actions?!” She growled.

Flatail stood between her and Filo, “Arad Orion. That’s him.” He said, thinking since they came here, everyone who seemed a bit important lost their mind upon hearing Arad’s name, so it might work here.

Galina froze in place, dropping her staff, “My timbers!?” Her head cracked as she rapidly turned, “It’s him?! The one we’ve been waiting for centuries?” Her eyes opened wide, seeing him sipping the mana water.

“That seems to be the case. What is he anyway?” Flatail tapped the Galina’s head.

Tempo was still standing outside the barrier as he couldn’t walk in, but he kept a close eye on Arad and was the first one Tempo was still standing outside the barrier as he couldn’t walk in, but he kept a close eye on Arad and was the first one to notice. Arad isn’t going to just reduce the water level to a manageable state.

“Arad! Don’t do it! It’s dangerous even for you!” He shouted.

All the beavers stared at Arad sipping the pool’s water. He sat up and opened his mouth, the void inside his stomach pulled the mana water at a rapid speed like a vacuum cleaner. The inside of his stomach was made of a near-endless void, as long as he shoved the mana water into a single spot away from everything else, he could keep it there safely the same way he was keeping the accursed pillar of cursed metal.

All the beavers cried with gaping mouths, unable to believe their eyes as the water level dropped rapidly.

“You’re freeing the monster!” Galina cried.

The pond dried in seconds, and Arad stood as the barrier crumbled now that its source of energy disappeared. Tempo could finally walk inside, but Arad had already jumped down to the pond’s bottom.

“He’s getting out anyway, so what’s the difference.” Arad walked with a smile on his face, staring at the black, twisted, and bloodied created slowly rising from the ground.

“And…” The abomination growled as Arad approached, “After I spent all those years, pouring mana in to burst this seal open…” He writhed, wigging as he stood like a worm. “You came and freed me at once.” His two glowing white eyes stared at Arad with a deathly stare.

“What are you? No mortal should be able to achieve that.” The abomination slowly took a vaguely humanoid shape, pointing a finger at Arad.

“I’m a void dragon, and I’m here to put an end to you.”

“The cosmic police? I’ve heard of you from the inside of my seal, massive dragons that protect the realms of existence.” The abomination took the form of a young man with short black hair and pale white eyes akin to those of zombies. “I’m a bit thankful for saving me the hassle of fully breaking the seal so I’ll let you go.”

“That I can’t do.” Arad replied with a gentle smile. “You’re a threat to my family, and must be dealt with.”

“You can’t kill me. I’m so beautiful I could create gods.” The abomination said with a smile as clothes covered his body. “Do you want to become a god? I can help skip becoming a demigod. I’ll even spare your while lineage.” He extended his hand to Arad.

“Beautiful? To my eyes, I’ve never seen something so ugly to be this revolting. I don’t need godhood.”