In the thick darkness, the First Founder stood before Saruto, his dark energy filling the entire space. His half-dragon wings swayed lightly in the air, while his half-human body glowed with the hidden power of Luin.
The First Founder smiled and said in a deep voice,
"Welcome, Saruto… I have waited a long time for you."
Saruto responded with a firm greeting,
"Greetings to you, First Founder… but why am I here? I have not yet defeated the Second Founder."
The First Founder laughed a deep laugh that stunned Saruto, then said,
"Because you will never defeat him, no matter how hard you try, my heir."
Stunned by the answer, Saruto asked in astonishment,
"Why is that?"
The First Founder answered, watching him with blazing eyes,
"Everything you do against the Second Founder, every strike and every increase in your power, only helps him to grow stronger. I wouldn't even be surprised if he surpassed me in power, and you would find yourself repeating the same actions endlessly."
Saruto was stunned by these words, and his hand trembled slightly. Then he said hesitantly,
"So… what is the solution then?"
The First Founder smiled again and said,
"The solution is for you to surpass the Second Founder's current power many times over. But first, you must understand the origin of the Dark Power that the Luen family possesses."
They sat down, and the Founder began to recount, in a quiet but powerful voice, how the Luen family came to be:
"Long ago, there was no family called the Luen family. There were only nine royal families, and ordinary humans who did not possess the power that the other families had, but they did possess extraordinary physical strength. I was one of the candidates to succeed my father on the throne, and I had three brothers. They were both power-hungry and didn't care about others or their people, and that's why my father didn't want to pass the rule to either of them. He wanted me to be the next king."
Pain etched itself on his face as he continued:
"One day, my brothers plotted to get rid of me, driven by hatred and jealousy that my father had chosen me for the throne. I was traveling through one of the Nine Kingdoms when my brothers hired an assassin to kill me without leaving a trace. On a dark, rainy night, on a bridge connecting the Kingdom of Stars to the Kingdom of Storms, as I was returning to my palace, I encountered the assassin. He overpowered me, plunging his sword into my back and throwing me off the bridge, thinking I was finished. But I fell into a deep, water-filled pit. The water cushioned my fall, and I was swept into a cave. I was unconscious, and when I awoke..."
"Suddenly, a colossal dragon appeared before me, radiating darkness, hatred, and a thirst for revenge. I had never seen anything like it before, and I was terrified for a moment. But it said to me, 'Do not be afraid... It seems you have been betrayed like me, human.'"
Saruto shuddered slightly, but he listened intently. The First Founder continued:
— I said to him, "What are you saying?" He replied, "The blood that flows from you… it seems someone wanted to get rid of you, didn't they?"
The Founder responded to the dragon, saying, "Yes, I was betrayed. It seems my brothers hired someone to kill me so they could seize the throne."
The dragon said, "What a coincidence. I, too, was betrayed. My brother betrayed me to seize the Kingdom of Dragons and rule the other nine kingdoms."
Then the dragon took a deep breath as he recounted what had happened to him:
— As for me, I was in the Kingdom of Dragons, a candidate for the throne there as well. I had two brothers, one ambitious for power, and the other honest and kind to everyone. One day, I sent him on an expedition to explore an unknown continent, but it was a trap set by my brother, and suddenly my brother and his soldiers attacked me. They severely injured me, but I managed to escape and flew back to the Dragon Kingdom to tell them what had happened. However, they pursued me and shot me mid-air, causing me to fall in the same spot where you did.
Then the waters carried me to this cave. A dark energy permeated the place and seeped into me, merging with me, and I became what is known as the Dark Dragon. Over time, this energy began to harmonize with me, but I lost my hybrid transformation, the one that allowed me to use all my power for revenge. And today… fate has brought you to me, human. You are the one I have been searching for, the one compatible with my body. Will you accept merging with me so that each of us may exact our revenge?
The First Founder said: What do you say? Will you merge with me to avenge those who betrayed us?
The Dragon replied: Yes. You are the one compatible with me to achieve merging. But remember, once we merge, we cannot separate. What do you say?
The First Founder said, "To achieve our revenge, I agree. Let's merge."
They both extended their hands toward each other, and the Dark Dragon's energy began to merge with the First Founder's. The fusion was complete, and the First Founder's form changed. His eyes became those of a dragon, his hair grew long and black, and his strength and speed increased. He began to control the darkness.
Suddenly, the First Founder heard a voice inside his head and, startled, said, "Dragon, is that you?" The dragon replied, "Yes, we now share a body and consciousness, and we can switch control between us. What do you think of this?"
The Founder responded, "This is wonderful. So, shall we go and seek our revenge?"
The dragon said, "Yes, let's go."
The Founder left the cave he had been in and headed toward his kingdom to seek his revenge.