After Betrayal, I Awoke as the Game's Final Boss

All engines, whether of the [Element Engine] or [Source Engine] type, were classified according to a strict system of three precisely defined ranks: Low, Medium, and Superior. However, that "Superior" rank was not just a rhetorical term; it was the pinnacle of the pyramid, granted only to engines that exhibited an interaction far beyond all familiar scales.

And if a Superior-class [Element Engine] gave its user absolute control over just one element, a [Source Engine] of the same rank was considered the embodiment of complete sovereignty over all seven elements at once!

The difference between them was like the difference between a magician who has mastered a single note and a maestro who plays upon the very strings of existence.

And this was not only meant for the Mage Path!

It can be used for any Path as well!

And what was more astounding… was that history, in all its detail and ancient records, had never witnessed the production of more than ten Superior-class Source Engines. Ten only… over millions of years. And now… one of them rested in Lloyd's hand.

This possession was not just a great event… it was a blatant cosmic cheat. Akin to giving a novice soldier a nuclear weapon in a war fought with sticks. It was an advantage no less significant or powerful than the [Reflection World] itself, and some might even argue it slightly surpassed it—because an engine like this doesn't just give you a chance to survive, but a chance to rewrite the very laws of survival.

"But… I'm a vampire, right?" Lloyd whispered inside his mind, his hands trembling slightly as he gazed at the [Source Engine] in his palms. The jewel pulsed with a faint light, like a living creature responding to his emotions.

This thing before him was the embodiment of everything any human had ever dreamed of: power, manipulation, absolute control over the elements… but, did he—a non-human being—have the right to aspire to possess this kind of ability?

"These things were made for humans, not for my kind…"

He was a vampire, and of royal lineage at that, yet… that wasn't enough. The power of vampires had always been different, strange.

Not elemental, but parasitic.

It didn't merge with the elements; it devoured them. It didn't build upon nature; it stripped it away. In his essence, he was a being from the "outside," closer to the void than to matter.

And yet… there were the spells. Three, specifically, that he couldn't forget.

[Bloodflame Dragon], [Thunder Pulse], and [Void Cocoon].

"Wait… isn't that a contradiction?" he whispered to himself, staring again at the gleaming red jewel in his palms.

[Bloodflame Dragon]… made sense. It stemmed from the core of his blood, violent like the lineage of his ancestors, filled with the curse of eternal life.

But what about [Thunder Pulse]? Or [Void Cocoon]? These two skills… were not from his bloodline's roots. They weren't implanted in him through rituals, nor were they inherited from ancient vampires.

"Is it because of my 'Anomaly' trait? Or is it something else?"

He remembered using [Thunder Pulse] for the first time. He hadn't learned it, nor trained in it. It came to him as if it had been watching him in silence, waiting for the right moment to appear. And the result was astonishing.

Speed beyond imagination, electrical vibrations that destroyed the enemy's structure from the inside… that wasn't vampiric.

It wasn't from a vampire's core!

And [Void Cocoon]?

That skill had created a silent perimeter of nothingness, a barrier against the outside world, where even the laws of nature seemed to crack within it. Was this really possible for a being of his kind? Or… was it just an extension of another power within his body?

There was something about these powers that didn't align with what he believed, and he felt there was an explanation he didn't yet know.

Archduke of Nothingness. I inherited something from him. Yes, that's right! Antares was, in one way or another, a dragon? And dragons were known for their ability to form contracts?

Had Lloyd become a 'contractor' for Antares?

"But how?" Lloyd thought, furrowing his brow. "If that's the case, are these other skills I'm using of a specific type? And could this contract be the reason I can use supernatural powers I wouldn't have obtained under normal circumstances?"

He didn't know for sure, but it was certain that [Void Cocoon] came from that mysterious thing inside his own world. And if that was the case… then maybe…

"Could the [Source Engine] react with these strange powers? Could it merge the void with the elements?"

His idea was insane, horrifying, but possible. Perhaps for the first time in this world's history, a being from outside the laws of nature stood on the brink of reshaping them.

"Could I be the first? The first vampire to fully master the natural elements? All of them?"

The idea was setting his brain on fire. The contradiction itself had become a possibility. He stood at a crossroads unlike any he had ever passed, and there was no map to guide him.

Suddenly, a massive hand shook him out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Little lord! Are you still with us?"

It was Gorlam, the giant Orc, shaking him gently but with genuine concern. His deep voice, which usually inspired terror, now carried a tone more like a father calling to his son.

"You've been staring into space for a full five minutes, my lord! Are… are you alright?"

His red eyes glowed with anxiety. He was acting as if something strange had happened to him, almost like a frightened little child asking for help from someone older.

He thought to himself with a question, 'I've waited for so long. Did this heir get something wrong in his head? I should have stopped him from fighting Lauran so soon.'

The Orc was trying to understand if Lloyd had suffered a shock or if something had affected his abilities. Despite his long life and immense power, he seemed unsure of what was happening.

"My lord… are you alright?" the Orc repeated, more worried than ever, his red eyes filled with a hint of fear.