I Killed the Last Dragon and became the Administrator

Chapter Five Wouldn't You Rather Live

Ke'an stabs the machete down into the monolith surging all of the magic he accumulated into the structure. He could feel it retaliate with magic of its own like a thrashing beast. The solid light around him ripples outward as it flickers. Parts of the monolith began to bleed red magma as it melts under the intense pressure of Ke'an's magic. The glow of the monolith retracts as more and more molten rock bursts out from deep inside it.

Suddenly the world is righted and gravity inverts back to normal as the monolith descends to the ground. Ke'an is unprepared for the shift and is thrown from the side of the falling structure. Even with Ke'an no longer delivering the destructive magma magic into the monolith the chain reaction has already begun and the world is alight in the soft glow of the magma streams. As he falls it is as if all of the stress and pressure he had been fighting through hit him all at once and he blacks out. He is certain he is falling to his death and soon System will have to follow up on her promise to deliver his body to his family.

"Wake." System's voice cuts deep into Ke'an's mind.

Ke'an takes a deep gasp and flings his head up. He is temporarily blinded by the bright all white room of the Reality Crucible. There is a portal above him showing him the piller crash into the ground and lisetaurs below as an ocean of magma drenches the landscape. Ke'an lies back down, his arms outstretched and his body sore and tired as he lets out a long breath. The portal over him collapses in on itself disappearing into the air. A second smaller one appears next to his hand and a roasted bird leg falls into Ke'an's open palm.

"I guess this means I passed and not that I am dead." Ke'an says.

"Yes, you have passed the first trial." System says in a wheeze. "And it is garlic butter chicken how you like it... as a thank you for not dying."

Ke'an ate then just slept a rather peaceful sleep for the first time in the past few days. When he wakes up he is still sore so uses his sari'vas form one aps to rejuvenate now that he can do so uninterrupted. After a long needed bath he finally gets back to his desk to ask System about the trial and the world it took place in. He has so many questions that it is hard for him to decide what to ask first.

"Was that place real?" Ke'an asks as a starting point.

"Yes. It is a world of its own in the far reaches... not of this universe." System responds. "What you fought are snow obru... or in your language the universe eater. It is a virus in the code of creation that multiplies and consumes."

"They didn't seem powerful enough to destroy a universe." Ke'an says.

"What I am speaking of is the pillar not the summoned inecie... you were in the Graveyard... the realm I banished them to... there they die alone. Each pillar was the body of a universe eater, the one you killed had consumed three hundred thousand of my universes... over its long life. When you faced it--it was little more than a starved beast on its death rattles. Had it been lucid, your attempt to take some of its magic would have killed you instantly or corrupted your soul."

"So my trial was to put down that creature once and for all, which I passed with flying colors." Ke'an muses.

"Yes, congratulations. There are thirty-six more of them I will need you to kill next."

"What? One was hard enough right?" Ke'an says.

"Once I die those that remain will be able to escape the Graveyard... Even if you survive taking my power, you will not be strong enough to kill so many after they consume a universe. My power will take many thousands of years to fully manifest in you. In that time they will multiply across many realities and possibly this one."

"Thirty-six though? That is going to take a long time. If it is possible at all." Ke'an says.

"You have already defeated the most powerful of the remaining... also do not attempt to take their power or the power of their minions. The snow obru are multidimensional beings... opening yourself up to them, even in their weakened state... will at best turn you into one of them and... at worst allow them to consume your soul. I know your people look for suitable creatures to take the power from but I do not recommend trying your hand at them."