Last Egg: Reincarnated as a Dragon in a Game

The entire circular chamber shook, with large pieces of rock splitting and falling from its walls and ceiling. The bright blue light of mana reflected in the glossy, reflective surfaces of the stone.

The black, bipedal form of the dragon surrounded by the fiery inferno and smoke raised his clawed hand while his eyes brightly glowed as he faced the levitating chronomancer.

The mass of mana orbited around the staff, the reality itself bending and warping around it.

Even the dragon felt danger from it, feeling like the sea-sized mana in it was enough to heavily injure him.

The scenarios quickly flew through his mind.

'Time magic is like cheating. How long would it take to cast something like this? Minutes? Tens of minutes? Getting injured here will achieve nothing. Maybe teleportation? No, what if this already happened and he knows where I would appear? Teleporting outside of the dungeon is also a bad idea. The space is too turbulent, I could end up in sun or maybe even void.'

It was a silly thought, but Vesuvius refused to risk it by underestimating the mage.

'It is time to unveil the results of my work.' The mana swirled on his fingertips, and ripples passed through the remaining air as his domain enacted upon his will.

The next second, the tip of the mage's staff pulsed one last time, and a thin, unimaginably bright ray of pure mana shot out. The air, fire, smoke, and everything in its path were dispersed without any traces, leaving behind only a void.

'Now!' The dragon's mind reached its peak concentration. The temperature dropped deep below zero just in the blink of an eye, and the mana, air, and everything in the circle around him froze, forming a brilliant dome of ice. The blue light reflected within the billions of tiny crystals like a giant disco ball.

Everything moved slowly, the dragon's brain's calculative power and sharp senses making the world around him crawl.

The runes and magic letters floating above his horns exploded, and the entire dome changed, its reflective, icy surface turning black and dark, sucking in all the light like a black hole.

'Mana-ice as a medium is better than air to make my portals more stable and resistant.'

The blue ray blasted against the barrier, drawing a blue line across the chamber, glowing so brightly it painted everything blue.

The beam vanished into the black portal, sucked and vanishing far away. There was no explosion and no sparks. The beams simply went away.

The cracks spread and formed within the portal dome, bright light and mana leaking out of them.

Vesuvius didn't stop, his mana and even divine energy moving through his armor and scales. All the runes lit up in bright golden light, and a barrier of golden light consisting of mana, life force, and divine energy enveloped his entire body, giving him a golden luster.

His veins felt on fire with all the energy that flowed through them.

Finally, the portal collapsed, and the barrier of mana ice shattered into billions of small fragments that melted into the incoming blue beam of death.

Vesuvius closed his eyes, his huge crystal wings wrapping around his body like a protective shield.

Instantly everything turned blue, even with his eyes closed, and a shocking pain enveloped his entire body. The energy kept washing and pulsing around him, colliding with his own energies.

He felt like he was submerged in a vat of boiling acid. His domain moved and shifted, all the soil, air, and stone tearing from the surrounding and rushing into the energy storm.

"Time repeat! Overlap!" The energy multiplied over and over. Its power just grew stronger and stronger instead of weakening. All the sound immediately vanished as everything turned into a void and vacuum with everything disintegrated.

'What?!' Even Vesuvius felt dread and horror as his barriers shattered and the energy seeped into his armor, slowly melting through it. The crystal regrew, the metal reformed, and new lava poured out, only to get annihilated again and again.

He couldn't see anything, his senses overwhelmed, but he was sure everything around him was gone.

The armor vanished, and the energy washed over his scales, their surface warping and twisting as mana and divine energy poured into them, repelling the beam like an impenetrable barrier.

Dragon's domain, his own world, and his reactor-like body supplied him with a near-unlimited amount of mana that immediately poured into his defenses.

'This power... this mage, whoever he was, he reached the pinnacle of mortals.'

The mana finally subsided, and the dragon's golden eyes opened.

His scales were seared and lost their luster, revealing bottom layers in some places. His wings were tattered and broken, with only a few black and gold, bone-like structures remaining. His body trembled slightly, the pain still rushing in waves through his nerves.

Everything around him was gone, a perfectly spherical crater surrounding him.

The black walls of the tower were cracked, and the mage's figure was on his knees, audibly panting with his green eyes dim.

For the first time, Vesuvius felt respect towards a mortal, 'All the tricks he used, yet he still has power behind them. If a mortal can become this strong, that means my minions have lots of growth room.'

The mage's coarse and weak voice echoed through the dark, crumbling chamber, "Almost all my collected time was wasted. Yet you still live, dragon.'

Vesuvius collected his strength and stepped forward, his blood boiling with anger and pain, his cracked and shattered claws regenerating right before his eyes as he reached toward the man.

"But I should thank you dragon! I have seen what I needed. I was enlightened!" A faint green light lit up under his hood.

The dragon staggered back as he felt something was different. It was divine energy, weak yet still present.

"Time reverse!"

The dragon's domain vibrated, and a huge bolt of lightning descended at the mage, and the dragon shot forward, his claws brandished.

Suddenly everything changed, and the dragon hovered outside of the tower, his eyes staring at the tall black walls, which were new and pristine without a single blemish.