Eventually, he realized the magic-rich stones around him were part of a larger vein. His resting spot was actually a small cave carved right into it.
The deeper he went, the stronger the magic in the rocks became. He even found crystal-like stones that glowed faintly, almost completely made of raw magical energy.
They were rare, but incredibly powerful.
As he explored the vein and absorbed its magic, his body grew rapidly. His size doubled, and the biggest change was the growth of wings.
They started out gruesome, bloody, pale skeletal structures ripping through his back, but after soaking up more magic and eating enough, they healed, took shape, and expanded into broad, powerful wings covered in scaled skin.
With the wings came changes in his muscles. His chest and back bulked up to support flight, and his entire body stretched out, becoming longer and sturdier.
His horns, elbow spikes, dorsal fins, and other bone-like features began to shift too, morphing into crystal-like shapes that shimmered faintly with a blue glow whenever he breathed. They looked strangely beautiful, like something carved from fine gems.
Even his scales changed. His back was now protected by thick, layered plates that could shrug off blunt force, heat, and even magical blasts. His belly scales grew denser but stayed flexible, giving him both toughness and movement.
The biggest shift happened inside. His bones started turning translucent, slowly transforming into what was known as a crystalline skeleton. It was a huge change, completely different from a typical dragon's bones, lighter, stronger, and tougher.
His ribcage had become something special too. It held a fused organ, where his atomic reactor merged with a large, central magic crystal.
This spot drew in massive amounts of energy, and at times the buildup was so intense it caused bursts of internal explosions, each one echoing through his body like a muffled thunderclap.
The extreme heat and surging energy inside him should have been impossible for any living creature made of flesh and bone to survive. Even a full-blooded dragon would've been cooked alive and blown to pieces from the inside out.
But the surrounding magic flowed into Belial like water into a dry sponge, soaking into every cell, boosting his body far beyond its limits.
Finally, he hit a breaking point. The magic inside him reached critical mass.
While he lay sleeping deep in the magic vein, a soft, steady hum echoed from his chest, like a nuclear reactor spinning to life. His heartbeat thudded like distant thunder, and a faint glow lit up his horns and dorsal fins.
His breathing grew heavy, each exhale scorching hot. His body trembled under the pressure, and then—his eyes snapped open.
The real monster had awakened. The floodgates burst. Energy surged through him like a tidal wave with nowhere to go.
He shot up with such force that the stone beneath him cracked and shattered, spiderwebbing in every direction. Lightning-like arcs of magic crackled across his skin, his entire body radiating energy.
With a powerful flap of his wings, he blasted upward, tearing through the cavern ceiling.
Stone and earth disintegrated as he passed through, lit up by constant bursts of blue light from his glowing horns and crystal fins.
Unstoppable now, he launched into the sky, blasting out of the underground vein, dragging thousands of tons of debris with him.
He soared hundreds of meters up in seconds, wings spread wide like storm clouds unfurling.
"ROAR!!!!!!!" His roar shattered the silence, scattering clouds, pushing the air itself away with a pressure so intense it formed a vacuum.
An energy field burst outward on instinct, raw and overwhelming. The shockwave cleared everything around him in an instant, and a blinding flash followed.
Plummeting back to earth, he looked like a living diamond, his scales and crystal fins refracting every ray of light into brilliant shards.
If Belial had been thinking clearly, he might have realized it, he'd just recreated Godzilla's signature move. Atomic Breath. But this wasn't just a copy. The power was off the charts.
The energy field around him exploded outwards with such intensity that part of a distant mountain simply vanished. Nearby animals and creatures caught in the blast were turned to ash instantly.
The raw energy shredded the ground, crushed forests, and melted solid stone.
The earth rippled like water from the force, tremors shaking loose everything around. Boulders collapsed like sand, and the air turned into a chaotic storm of fire, wind, and debris.
When the blinding light finally faded, nothing was left but ruin. The ground was torn apart, forests flattened, and the landscape looked like a battlefield from a forgotten war.
Belial stood at the center of it all, inside a massive crater nearly a hundred meters wide. Around him, sand and dirt had melted into glass, glowing faintly from the heat.
The high faded, and his mind cleared. He could feel the steady rhythm of his blood and magic flowing again, pulsing with power. Deep in his chest, the quiet, stable hum continued, the fusion of his atomic core and crystal heart was complete.
"Finally! It's alive!" Grinning with pride, Belial felt like he could shout it to the heavens.
He wasn't just some lizard anymore. After everything he'd been through since getting isekaied, he could finally say it.
He was practically Godzilla now. No, he was a half-step Space Godzilla, and from this day forward, he was done playing safe. He'd tear the whole world apart if he had to.
A few hours later, Belial finally came to grips with reality, snapping out of his own self-made illusions. After taking some time to think, he realized he wasn't as powerful as he had assumed.
This world was full of terrifying beings, creatures that could flatten cities with a single blow or take down dragons like it was just another day. In a place like this, being arrogant was a good way to get yourself killed.
The cities here weren't your typical medieval towns, they had towering walls over a hundred meters tall made from unknown materials, layered with protective barriers, and sprawling across land as vast as the great international cities from his past life.
And that was just the surface.
Above all that were the gods, heroes, and demon lords, each one packed with power that felt like cheating.
Even the dragons he remembered from his inherited memories were labeled only as "very strong," but the specifics of their power remained fuzzy, like glimpses from half-forgotten dreams.
Despite their might, dragons weren't untouchable. Some were hunted for their treasure hoards; others were taken down because someone wanted their bodies as rare materials.
In the end, being big and strong only made them more visible targets. With no allies and no one to watch their backs, solitary dragons often met their ends through sheer numbers.
Stories always seemed to use dragons as stepping stones villains in fairytales, obstacles for heroes chasing glory, or final bosses before the real threat appeared.
Sure, few people could take one down alone, but humans didn't fight fair. They came prepared, armed with the right tools, potions, and lots of backup.