The Extra Can't be A Hero

Chapter 274: The Married Couple (2)

The Herald.

The final remnant of the Age of the Titans.

She was the cause of the Fifth Great Calamity and the woman who betrayed Amon's trust during Yue's original timeline. Although her exterior was that of a frail middle-aged blind woman, the Herald was a being that had lived for aeons, long before the Dragons ruled the planet.

After the Dragons snatched the mandate of heaven from the Titans, the Herald had to spend the next few millennia recuperating from her loss, slowly accumulating power and scheming on how she could enact revenge.

However, when the Dragons lost the war against humanity, and the mandate was switched again, an epiphany hit the Herald. If the Dragons could snatch the mandate of heaven and subsequently the humans, why couldn't she do the same?

If she snatched the mandate of heaven and resurrected the remaining slumbering Titans, she could revert to her golden age, the time when Titans ruled the planet and the world resonated around their magnificent bodies.

And when the Demons invaded their realm, the Herald saw it as an opportunity to bring chaos to the realm, to bolster her power while weakening humanity.

Unlike humans, her lifespan was near infinite. Being an entity tied to nature, as long as no one ripped her divinity clean, the Herald could remain immortal, constantly regenerating from her wounds and reversing ageing whenever she wished.

After all, before she was reduced to this wretched, weakened form, she was once a Titan herself.

A god that roamed the planet and acted as the ruler of an aspect of the world.

The Titan of Life, Agnosia.

The Herald sauntered into the Necropolis of the Gods. The dark didn't affect the blind woman one bit as she strode with great confidence, bypassing the restrictions placed in the freezing polar region. Just as Amon and Yue did almost a decade earlier, Agnosia reached the ancient door that sealed the last of her brethren.

On the surface, she looked composed. But deep down, her heart rate was accelerating by the second.

How many years has she endured alone?

How many years had she tried to locate the Necropolis?

Too many to count.

There were years when she gave up and went into deep hibernation. She saw the rise and fall of empires, even ages where different species ruled the planet. But the former Titan endured. Endured all for the sake of this moment.

And as she reached out to push open the gate, a dominant voice echoed within her mind.

[This one didn't expect you to come this soon.]

A breathtaking phantom of a golden dragon erupted above the Herald's body. Its radiant scales and imposing, mythic form made it seem like a wrathful god descending to deliver judgment. Yet despite being blind and frail, the Herald didn't so much as flinch. Her expression sharpened, and she let out a cold, dismissive snort:

"I should have expected… The one who guards my brethren is you… Yval."

The two ancient beings who faced off in a war long forgotten by the history books stood face to face. Yval, thinking that diplomacy would have been the better option, morphed into her human self and stared at the Herald's weathered face.

Her heart winced as she thought of their past.

In their prime, one was the Golden Dragon Progenitor, a mighty beast that was considered invincible, even among the great Dragon Progenitors. The other was the Titan of Life, the one who moulded animals and trees into existence.

Yet now…

One was a remnant soul, doomed to seal herself to the Necropolis of the Gods to prevent the Titans from re-emerging.

The other was a shell of her former self. Blind and reduced to a human form, lacking none of her omnipotent powers of a divine being.

[Agnosia, as this one's final sign of respect for your former status, this one will give you one final chance to leave.]

Yval warned the Herald, only to be met with a derisive laugh.

"Yval, you lived longer than anyone else on the planet, yet how are you still so foolish? There has never been another choice for me."

[This one disagrees.]

The Golden Dragon Progenitor shook her head.

[Ages come and go. The new will always replace the old, and the wheel will always turn forward. First was the Age of Titans. Then it was the Age of Dragons. Now, it's the Age of Humans. But there will come a day… where the new age will be heralded in.]

"You speak riddles, but you're forgetting one thing," the Herald laughed. "Without me creating the lizards, would you have evolved to your current state? Would you have become strong enough to usurp our throne?"

[This one knows. You are the origin of all lifeforms on this planet… At least that's what you think. But have you ever stopped to consider that you are part of the cycle too?]

"Hmph, another riddle."

The Herald didn't take Yval's words seriously and brushed them aside. Her focus was so zoned in on her purpose that she failed even to consider if Yval's words had some semblance of truth.

"Yval, let's stop wasting each other's time. You know why I'm here, so unseal the Necropolis, and when my kin rule the world once more, I will give you the honour of being our mount."

[This one has given you the final warning.]

Yval shook her head, lifting her arm as a golden flame unfurled from her palm, coiling around her fingers like a living serpent. Though small in appearance, it carried the full force of a Dawn powered by a Solaris Knight with Nine Suns.

With a casual flick of her finger, Yval hurled all that gathered wrath toward the tanned-skinned, purple-haired blind woman.

By all logic, the attack should have reduced the Herald to vapour.

But the former Titan of Life still had a card to play—endless regeneration.

By the time the flames faded, the Herald's body had already reformed, most of her figure restored. Her cold, unshaken demeanour radiated the invisible pressure of the Golden Dragon Progenitor as she snidely quipped:

"You've gone soft, Yval. Your flames can't even light up a torch."

[This one knows. This one has weakened substantially. But, isn't it the same with you?]

"Yes, but as long as my divinity remains… I won't perish. But… the same can't be said with you, can it?"

[...]

The Herald was right.

The primary reason the remaining Titans were sealed instead of slain was simple: they were woven into the very foundation of the planet.

Their life force was intrinsically linked to the realm's survival.

If a Titan were killed outright, the resulting backlash would inflict catastrophic damage on the world—so severe that life itself would struggle to endure.

Thus, the Dragons chose the only path that would preserve the planet: they sealed the Titans away, allowing their divine energies to fade gradually over the ages, with Yval standing eternal guard over their tombs.

Though countless years had passed—enough for the Titans to lose most of their former divinity—killing them outright was still unthinkable.

And now that Yval had confirmed that, she understood that the upcoming battle was a losing one.

At least… it was, until Yval met Yue.

[It truly isn't our age, Agnosia.]

"Hmph, you're like a broken clock."

[This one agrees. This one can't kill you. So, this one will leave the Necropolis.]

"... what?"

[Rather than fight you now and lose this one's soul, this one would rather live to fight another day.]

Now it was the Herald's turn to be speechless. She had dreamed of getting back her kin, and she was ready for a battle with her soul on the line. While her earlier words were right, and that Yval wasn't able to kill her, the victory she earned would come at a tremendous cost.

If the Golden Dragon Progenitor chose to fight with everything that she had, yes, the Herald would eventually win due to her regeneration, but her soul would be gravely damaged. It may take another few generations for it to heal completely.

But she would gain access to the Necropolis, freeing her kin in the process.

Essentially, the Herald was going to sacrifice herself to resurrect the Titans.

However… that all changed.

Yval was now opening the Necropolis, handing over everything on a silver platter.

To outsiders, it may seem insane. But Yval… no, Yue had calculated everything.

[But this one won't make it easy for you.]

Yval severed her connection to the Necropolis of the Gods, drawing all of its unleashed energy into her draconic body. Without her soul sustaining the cavern, the ancient seals unravelled at once, and chunks of stone began crashing down.

Her dragon form surged skyward, but the remnants of her strength quickly condensed into her ghostly spirit. In that fleeting state, she absorbed fragments of the slumbering Titans, drastically slowing their regeneration and delaying their inevitable awakening.

At the same time, she triggered the countless traps and layered seals she had prepared over the centuries—barriers so intricate that even the Herald would be unable to reunite with her brethren anytime soon.

Breaking them could take anywhere from three months to a full year.

But by then… Yval would already be reunited with Amon and Yue, and the next phase of their plan would be set in motion.

[Now, Agnosia… Our reunion has been short, but this one can't say that it's been pleasant. So…]

The Golden Dragon Progenitor cast her gaze downward like a sovereign surveying her domain. Flames—pushed to the absolute limit of what a dragon could conjure—smouldered within her jaws, her fangs gleaming with a predator's final verdict.

Then, with a single, earth-shaking breath, she roared.

A tower of golden fire descended, swallowing the Herald whole and reducing her body to ash. Even as her regeneration struggled to take hold, the flames clung to her soul, burning through it like an eternal curse that no power could dispel.

This was Yval's last act of defiance—scorching the former Titan of Life and condemning her to continue living in unending suffering.

[This one will meet you again, and next time… This one won't show mercy.]