Novel

Eugene felt death drawing closer and closer, but it was still okay. He could still move, and he could still fight. Eugene ignored the darkness and the redness encroaching on the edge of his vision and moved forward.

[…..! ….. …..!]

He was already quite dizzy, and the unintelligible screams and begging resounding inside his head only worsened it. ‘It’s fine,’ he grumbled as if intending for them to hear it. In truth, he wasn’t fine. It was quite obvious. The bones of his arms and legs were broken. Even so, he could replace his legs with levitating magic, and he was still capable of holding his sword with his hands. He had already forced the dislocated bones back into place as well.

He knew he risked severe aftermath without proper first aid, but what did that matter when his life was at stake? He knew that even serious residues would disappear like a lie with a few good smacks on his back from Kristina and Anise.

The wound on his waist was quite deep. He had already stuffed his intestines back into the wound and sizzled the area, but the pain still remained. But that didn’t matter either. It wasn’t as if the pain coming from his side was the only pain he felt.

In any case, his body still moved well, and his flame was unwavering, burning as bright as ever. He was filled with power, and he was capable of swinging his swords. His mana flared violently, and tried to devour everything in his surroundings, even without Eugene’s conscious commands.

That’s why he couldn’t waste a minute or even a second of his precious time right now. Eugene saw the fear in the Black Dragon’s eyes. It felt surreal. He couldn’t believe that even the arrogant, maniac Black Dragon could show such an expression of fear.

Was it because of the Moonlight Sword? Because it was a sword belonging to Destruction? Or was Raizakia just afraid of him? Eugene wasn’t particularly curious. On the contrary, Eugene felt rather flustered to see the Black Dragon with such an expression.

He wanted the Black Dragon’s arrogance and insanity to persist. Eugene wanted Raizakia to despise humans without reason. Eugene had slain countless demons and strong adversaries with the same mindset in his previous life.

Those who believed themselves to be superior and special tended to rely wholly on their own strengths. They were bound to slip and show weakness because they were unwavering in their superiority over their enemies.

Such enemies were easy to hunt. Even if their attacks failed, and even when they were driven into a corner, they raged in dismissing it all as being mere coincidence or attacked in anger over having their pride shattered.

Thankfully, Raizakia had acted similarly earlier. But now, uncharacteristically, there was fear in his expression. It was difficult and troublesome to hunt such an enemy. It was because they had abandoned the arrogance of the strong and accepted the slyness of the weak.

It was quite evident. Earlier, Raizakia denied his emotions and attacked Eugene with all his might to protect his pride. But now, Raizakia no longer denied what he felt. He was taking steps back… retreating.

“Don’t run away,” spat Eugene once more. It was meant to provoke Raizakia. Eugene hoped that the Black Dragon would once again resort to attacking in hopes of protecting his self-esteem.

Had his voice been inaudible?

Raizakia continued to step back….No, it couldn’t have been. Even if it had been quiet, there was no way that Raizakia missed it with the heightened senses of a dragon.

“Are you afraid of me?” Eugene laughed, his lips curling into a twisted smile. Raizakia’s eyes quivered at Eugene’s words. “A millennium-old Ancient Dragon. The Black Dragon, the strongest of them all and the first to fall. One of Helmuth’s Three Dukes. Raizakia, you, who consider humans to be pathetic insects — are you afraid of me?”

Raizakia could not find the words to respond. He wanted to deny Eugene’s words with a scoff, but even at this moment, he was continuing to take steps backward.

“Keep running if you are afraid,” said Eugene, his bloody smile distorted.

“Kuaaagh!” Raizakia roared, along with an eruption of Dark Power. Running away never suited him in the first place. Raizakia attempted to deny Eugene’s words as he stomped forward.

Craaack!

The scales covering his arms were the first to undergo transformation. Raizakia blocked Eugene’s advance by swinging his arms, which had transformed into sharp blades. However, Eugene did not bother to swing his swords in response.

Craaack! Craaaack!

The flame surrounding Eugene’s body became mixed with lightning, and the bolt of black lightning easily crossed over the obstacle. It was a speed far beyond imagination. Raizakia attempted to erect a defensive barrier in shock, but the Holy Sword and the Moonlight Sword cut down the barrier with ease. Just before the swords reached Raizakia, the Black Dragon retreated into the air.

Draconic was a power that allowed the transformation of anything into magic.

—I think it’s a little laughable to discuss the depths of magic with you, a dragon, but Raizakia, how should I say this? Well, your Draconic is…. Should I say it’s a little inadequate? Well, I’m talking about your imagination. After all, Draconic or not, it’s still trapped within a cast of magic.

The mocking laughter and words of the profligate, vulgar Night Demon circled his head. There was nothing special about her except her oh, so wonderful, great eyes. In fact, if the two of them battled with their lives on the line, there was no way he would lose to the Night Demon. But what? Someone like you, who only relies on dreams to attack, dares?

He was on a different level than her. His scales would sprout anew when broken, no matter how many times, and they could neutralize most attacks. He was immortal. He could destroy an entire nation with a single Poison Breath. He possessed power superior to any living thing or being.

—In the end, you betrayed your own kind out of fear. The only thing you obtained from corruption was lengthening your life…. And even if you devoured the Dragon Heart of the Lord, aren’t dragons a race filled to the brim with mana in the first place? What else? You transformed your mana into Dark Power? Unfortunately, Raizakia, the power you gained from the fall isn’t so great compared to your days as a dragon. Instead, you have lost your honor. I can’t believe you speak of becoming the greatest of the Three Dukes…. I will pretend I didn’t hear you.

Raizakia remembered the emotionless gaze that peered down at him. Did the small creature really think he was a sword just because he held the title of ‘Blade’? He wasn’t a great existence but a worm from birth. He was just a parasite who relied on the Demon King. Just a traitor? Do you really think that you can look down on my power?

And…

The Demon King of Destruction, who had always looked down from his throne. He had slain countless dragons without a single change in his expression. Even after a dragon corrupted himself and bowed before him, the Demon King had always remained indifferent without betraying any emotions.

The Demon King of Destruction was no more than a collection of mysterious materialization of ominousness. Even though Raizakia had fought against him, it was impossible to even know what the Demon King looked like. The Demon King of Destruction had been an existence seemingly created by shaping menace into reality.

They were the only ones who could stand on equal footing as himself and look down on him. If he were ever afraid of something, it would be….

“Gasp…!”

The weapons were stopped before his neck by an indiscernible distance. Eugene’s weapons were swords of definite length, but the radiant flames and moonlight made it impossible to measure their reach. Although the thick, overlapping scales covering his neck had been destroyed, his head was still intact.

Raizakia knew that there was no significance in losing his head. He knew that he could regenerate his head as many times as he wanted, but still, he did not want to get cut. Even if he survived, the memories would accumulate, as would his fear. He was afraid he would never open his eyes again when he lost his head and thoughts.

Dark Power collided with Eugene’s flame, but a burst of moonlight quickly severed the two forces. Raizakia desperately resisted all the attacks that came at him and attacked Eugene. However, Gedon’s Shield rerouted all of the dragon’s attacks into nothing, and Eugene boldly redirected the attacks that he failed to block with the shield. His body became riddled with many more shallow wounds.

Even so, he did not stop. The collision was never equal, for Raizkia was always the one who was forced to retreat with each meeting.

It was the same now. No, rather, it was slightly different. This time, he could not retreat. The rampaging strikes restricted his movements, and his arms had been lacerated to shreds. His scales, which were supposed to be harder than anything else in the world, had been torn like paper.

Just a little bit more.

Raizakia thought as he saw Eugene beyond the broken, fluttering scales and the black, poisonous blood. Eugene’s lips were bloody, and even at this moment, he was vomiting large amounts of blood. The bones of both his arms were sticking out once more from overexerting them. Just a little bit more. Surely, he could sever the human’s arms completely if he pressed him a bit further. Or perhaps he could kill the human entirely.

Just a little bit more.

Eugene shared the same thought. He continued to shred the scales off the dragon and cut down everything in his way, including the dragon’s arms, legs, tail, and Dark Power. Eugene could see the terrible state his body was in. His arms were tattered and were close to ripping apart, unable to withstand his power. But strangely enough, Eugene felt no pain.

From a certain point on, he could no longer feel pain. He didn’t know if his mind had broken or if he had numbed himself to pain to keep himself from breaking.

‘Just a little bit more,’ he thought once more. He was driving the Demon Dragon into a corner. A little more. If he took one more step, he could kill Raizakia. There were no unexpected variables like before, and he wasn’t going to make a mistake either. Raizakia’s Dragon Heart would be located somewhere inside his body, and if he cut the dragon’s entire body into pieces and destroyed it completely, he would crush the Dragon Heart in the process as well.

Then, everything would be over.

“Keugh!” Blood spewed out of Raizakia’s mouth. He had suffered a large wound, a cut to his chest that reached far too deep.

Raizakia hurriedly created a tail and wrapped it around his chest. However, it was useless. A flurry of deadly strikes ripped his tail to pieces, and the fluttering flame grew closer to him.

He lost his hands as he raised them to block the moonlight and the flame, and they regenerated too slowly! Raizakia opened his mouth wide in response to the devastating blow that was already upon his chest.

He squeezed out a Breath, and it worked as a shield. The devastating blow was briefly interrupted by his breath, and Raizakia jumped back in fear. He knew his Breath had been insufficient to offset Eugene’s attack completely.

See?

After the very brief interruption, the strike continued on its path after splitting apart Raizakia’s Breath. In addition, a sphere the size of a fist rose into the air where the Breath had been split.

Rumbleee!

The scattering remnants of Dark Power were absorbed into the sphere. Eclipse. Raizakia didn’t know the name of the horrific attack, but he knew how terrible it was from experiencing it several times.

He recited Draconic spells, causing Dark Power to bind under a powerful, firm will. Dark Power that was controlled and bound by magic could not be absorbed by Eclipse. Block, tear, break, burst, and disappear. Raizakia’s words caused an eruption of Dark Power.

Craaack!

Magic blocked the explosion of Eclipse. Raizakia was exhausted, and he was swept back by the remnants of the blast.

What was this disgrace…!? Raizakia braced himself after rolling several times on the ground. He didn’t even have time to roar in anger since the monster wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

“…..?”

However, the attack he expected never came. There was no ominous light of destruction, no black flames, and no hypocritical, brilliant light. Nothing came for him.

“…What’s happening?” Raizakia staggered to his feet and looked ahead to where he had unleashed his Breath, where Eclipse had come from.

He saw Eugene lying there.

What… was happening? Raizakia couldn’t immediately comprehend what was happening in front of him. He could not believe his eyes. The human who had been attacking him like a demon, the ghost from three centuries past, was on the ground in front of him.

Was he playing a dirty trick? Perhaps the human was pretending so that Raizakia would let his guard down…. Perhaps he would attack the moment Raizakia approached him. It was entirely possible.

Raizakia gulped as he glared at Eugene.

He heard a sound.

He heard the sound of a heart beating and the sound of death’s approaching footsteps. The clear, loud sound of the human’s beating heart… he could hardly hear it now. It was extremely quiet as if it would stop at any moment.

“Ha….” Raizakia’s lips twitched into a smile. “Hahahahaha! Kuhaha! Hahahaha!”

The human had run out of strength. The inhuman power, which had been too great for humans to handle, had finally run out. This was only a matter of course. In fact, it should have happened earlier. With his broken body, the human should have fallen earlier. Raizakia laughed maniacally while shaking his head.

Eugene could hear neither the laughter nor the screaming coming from inside his cloak. The only thing he could hear was the words playing over and over inside his head: More. Just a little bit more.

[Sir Eugene, Sir Eugene…! W-wake up. You must wake up…!]

It sounded like Mer, but Eugene couldn’t quite understand what she was talking about. Why was she being so loud? If he knew this would happen, he would have chosen to leave her behind…. Where was Raizakia? Was he dead? It felt as if Raizakia had been on the brink of death. Had he killed him? Was it… over?

‘…Sienna.’

He placed his bloody palms against the ground. He didn’t remember when he had collapsed, but he could not fall yet. However, his body wasn’t moving very well. He couldn’t feel the blood circulating through his body…. Was it because he had bled too much? Was it because his arms and legs were like rags? Or was it because his Cores were broken?

Raizakia flinched and froze when Eugene attempted to stand up. However, Eugene ended up falling back to the ground in his attempt. Raizakia’s lips slowly twitched into a smile once more, and he started approaching Eugene.

‘I-I have to protect him.’

Mer was still connected to Eugene. Unfortunately, unlike when she was in Akron, she didn’t have many tools at her disposal. In her current state, there wasn’t much combat magic available to Mer.

She saw Raizakia approaching Eugene, and she opened the cloak with a gasp. Even if there was nothing she could do, she couldn’t let Raizakia continue approaching Eugene.

It would have been over with just a little bit more. No, but it wasn’t over yet. If she could persist for a little while, then Sir Eugene would rise once more. Mer believed so.

A terrifying, appalling wave of Dragon Fear washed over Mer. Even though she was formed from magic, it felt like her body would be torn to shreds. Even so, Mer did not lose grip on her consciousness. She desperately resisted and attempted to leave the cloak.

However, something grabbed her wrist, then pulled her back. It was Raimira. Her face was white, and her eyes red from all the tears she shed, but she vigorously shook her head towards Mer.

“W-what are you doing? Don’t stop me!” shouted Mer.

“N-no. W-what can you do?” asked Raimira. Before Mer could express her anger, Raimira crawled out of the crevice of the cloak. “H-hiek….”

The first thing Raimira noticed was the stench of blood. Then, she saw Eugene, who was as broken as he could be. Raimira cupped her hand over her mouth to stifle her scream, then staggered to her feet. She wanted to check Eugene’s wound and help him, but Raimira quickly realized that that wasn’t an option for her.

She turned her head towards the source of her frantic fear.

“I-i-i… I-it’s been a long time, f-father… N-no, the Black Dragon….”

Raimira did her best to smile, but her lips didn’t move as she wanted them to. The best she could do was to quietly stammer her words.

Her head hurt. It felt as if the red jewel in her forehead was squeezing and crushing her brain. She couldn’t remain standing, so Raimira collapsed while clutching the jewel. Even so, she did not close her eyes, and she did not turn her head.

Raimira stared at Raizakia while shedding tears of pain and fear. “P-p-please, oh Black Dragon. C-could you not spare this human…? This human can no longer threaten you….”

“Raimira,” called out Raizakia, his eyes bent into a smile shaped like a crescent moon. However, his smile did nothing to reassure Raimira. Instead, her trembling only intensified.

“Y-yes…. It’s me, Raimira…. T-the only flesh of the Black Dragon…. I-I did my best to protect the Dragon Demon Castle i-in your absence…. A-and…. A-and…. I came here to s-save you. P-please, spare the life of this human… for me. L-let me brand him myself and t-take him as a slave…,” stammered Raimira.

“Come here,” Raizakia said with a chuckle. “My daughter. Your voice is too small. I cannot hear it.”

“Hiek….”

It was a mean, frightening remark. Unable to stand up, Raimira got on her knees, crawled, and pushed herself forward with both hands.

“P-please… oh Black Dragon…. Please, spare that human….”

Raizakia reached out to Raimira with a smile in response.

Fwoosh!

His outstretched hand changed in appearance. His arms became a large, long neck, and his hand became a huge head. The dragon opened his maw wide and attacked Raimira.

She did not have time to scream or run away. The dragon’s head was upon her in a moment, and it swallowed her whole.

“You exist for me.” Raizakia raised his arm with a bright smile.

Gulp.

The dragon’s neck wobbled, and it returned to a hand and an arm.

“Do not worry, my daughter, I will not digest you here. I… have been looking forward to something else from even before your birth,” said Raizakia.

After escaping from this sickening place, he would have his daughter birth an army for him. He would have her lay as many eggs as possible, then devour her when she was no longer useful.

With a smile, Raizakia turned his head towards Eugene once more. However, the smile disappeared from his face immediately. It was because of a truly insignificant being standing in front of Eugene.

She was a familiar created with magic, but her face and appearance were truly unpleasant and abhorrent for Raizakia to look at. The familiar looked just like Sienna Merdein.

“G… give her back,” Mer squeaked. Eugene had not gotten to his feet yet. “The stupid kid… you swallowed…. Spit her out right now…!”

What was that pathetic familiar talking about? Spit her out? Was she commanding him? Raizakia stopped in his place, but only because he was dumbfounded.

“And… and, don’t come any closer. If you come any closer…. If you come any closer….”

“And what,” said Raizakia. He slowly raised his finger and pointed at Mer. “What on earth can you possibly do?”

Rumbleee!

A storm of Dark Power washed over Mer. She stretched out her hands with a scream. The defensive barrier she prepared could not stop the storm of power even for a moment. The barrier was shattered, and Mer was thrown back.

“You’re just a pathetic familiar in imitation of your master, a true insect inferior even to humans. Yet, you stand in my way and dare to command me? Indeed, it’s hard to laugh when something is so ridiculous,” spat Raizakia, glaring at Mer with his crimson eyes.

He had not killed her, for he had a better idea. It would be far more entertaining to rip off the familiar’s arms and legs and throw it in front of Sienna Merdein.

But he would kill Hamel. Right, he didn’t know if the wench would recognize his new face, but he would chew it all up and devour everything apart from his head.

“Don’t… don’t come any closer…!” cried Mer, attempting to stagger to her feet. But she could not. Her legs had been completely torn off.

She didn’t feel any pain. As a familiar, she felt no pain. However, it felt as if her heart was breaking. Mer crawled on the ground while swallowing her tears.

Raizakia approached Eugene with joy. He wasn’t dead yet, but… he would die soon. He could hear the human’s heart growing fainter. He needed to hurry up. He would devour the human before he was completely unconscious.

Raizakia reached for Eugene with a grin.

Suddenly, a ray of light descended, parting the darkness and dividing the space into two. Raizakia was blocked by the light and unable to advance any further.

“This is…?” His eyes filled with shock. He had experienced one unbelievable thing after another, but now, something truly unbelievable was taking place.

A figure slowly descended in the light that pierced the darkness, and the light pushed away the darkness after making contact with the ground. Eugene felt the warm light with his fingers. A little bit of energy returned to his body, and he raised his head.

“I thought you were going to come to save me. So what’s with your current look?”

Her mauve hair fluttered.

Thud.

The archwizard placed her hands on her waist and looked down at Eugene after stepping on the ground.

“So I came to save you first, Hamel.”

It was Sienna Merdein, and she smiled with eyes moistened with tears.