Chapter 122: When the Dragon Fell

It’s not every day you see a mysterious woman running with a small child on her back.

Even more so when she’s moving so fast that it’s almost impossible for the average eye to keep up with her.

A mysterious woman with pointed ears, and a small child riding piggyback.

Needless to say, it was Airlights and Freya.

“Kid, are we going the right way?”

“No! A bit more to the left!”

“I can’t read the letters with you on my back.”

At that, Freya leaned forward, bringing her head right next to Airlights’s face.

“A bit more to the left!!!”

“…If you stick your face in like that, I can’t see ahead. You cheeky little brat.”

“I’m not a brat, I’m Freya!”

“Alright, now move your face away.”

She moved with such speed that it was nearly impossible for the average person to even catch a glimpse.

Her original body already had its stats maxed out, but this new Elven body was no less impressive.

No, perhaps it was even better.

Elasticity and flexibility that couldn’t be achieved with base stats alone.

And her agility surpassed even the original body’s max stats.

Even with Freya on her back, she quickly tracked the traces of the dragon.

“Are you sure you’re holding on tight?”

Sometimes, when she was focused on running, she couldn’t feel Freya’s weight at all.

It was so light, she could barely tell if someone was on her back.

“Of course!”

Once again, Freya stuck her head out, showing off glowing letters like a dazzling signboard.

“Let’s go, quickly!”

“We are going, aren’t we?”

“We’re almost there!”

“I know that much.”

“I think there’s a battle going on!”

“If you keep stating the obvious, put your head back in.”

“Something… feels off!”

“I can see that too, you know?”

Now, even Airlights could sense the direction clearly.

Even without Freya’s words, she could distinctly feel the enormous energy.

Far off, lightning struck down from stormy clouds.

Thunder rumbled through the trembling air.

A massive figure flickered in and out of the flashes.

A dragon, as huge as a castle.

“That’s Aerial over there! She’s huge, right?”

“Quite impressive.”

“Up close, she’s even more amazing! She’s incredibly strong, so majestic it makes your heart race, and when she fully awakens, she’s so wise, plus she can keep casting magic!”

“Hmph. Still, one hit from Hio’s skill and she’d be finished.”

She said that, but Airlights could feel it as well.

This was, after all, the body of the most noble Elf blessed by nature.

The battlefield in the sky.

The clusters of enormous power gathered there.

Each individual’s presence was so overwhelming that even the lingering energy spread out to here.

She could feel those beliefs intertwining and clashing.

Among all those beings, the greatest was still the dragon’s soul and overwhelming magic.

Along with that, a new, unfamiliar energy—an abyssal power—swelled like magic itself. The sense of presence radiating from it was even more intense than the other two.

“The Magician will surely set Aerial right again.”

“If she does, does that mean the dragon will be on our side?”

“Of course! Then Regarda will be happy, and so will Isidore and Mutins!”

“So you believe everyone will be happy if that dragon comes to its senses.”

“Aerial is strong, wise, and has no weaknesses, from what I heard. She can solve all kinds of problems!”

“Strong, beautiful, wise—so there’s nothing she can’t do.”

“Yes!! I read in a book before that Aerial—”

As the conversation went on, Airlights couldn’t help but be curious.

So she cut off Freya’s excited praise for Aerial.

“You are a Piece of Dragon, aren’t you?”

Listening to Freya, it was as if—

“You speak as if you admire dragons.”

It was as if she saw herself as separate from the dragon, looking up to it.

From what Airlights understood, Freya was a part of the dragon too.

Yet Freya spoke of the dragon as if it were a completely different being, full of longing.

The only response was silence.

Freya, uncharacteristically, was left speechless.

Airlights didn’t add anything more, either.

Time passed in silence.

***

“…Well, Aerial and I are the same, but also different beings.”

“I can’t see what you’re saying.”

‘Ugh…‘

Freya pushed her face close to Airlights’s again.

“Aerial and I are the same, but also different!”

Though it was the same soul, the dragon was originally of such a high order.

A piece separated from it became a completely new life, and thus Freya was born.

Yet the other Pieces of Dragon were outstanding in their own ways, but…

“I’m the most useless piece in history, who can’t do anything.”

Honestly, she couldn’t even find a reason for her existence.

Isidore and the other Elves always said Aerial must have had a purpose for her.

That someday, Freya would surely lead Arilleiya from on high.

So they told her.

They looked at her with hope, so she tried her best, but nothing worked.

Magic, dragon speech—

She couldn’t even talk, needing to rely on the Artifact’s power to communicate.

The only thing I could do was imagine things.”

The awakened figure of Aerial.

She could only see it in pictures, not in her own memories, so she imagined and longed for it.

Whenever she failed at magic, whenever she couldn’t complete a Circle and felt disheartened and crushed, she’d picture Aerial.

That always brought a sense of calm.

She might be less than half a being, but her true self was beautiful, strong, and wise.

Anyway, once Aerial comes back, everything will be solved! It’s okay now! (ᄋ)”

If she could, she would trade her own extinction to awaken Aerial.

A piece this small disappearing wouldn’t even matter.

But with a bold expression, Freya flashed her message.

Airlights couldn’t see that expression, but kept running and spoke in a flat voice.

“Still, don’t yearn for her too much.”

She might not know Freya well, but there was one thing she knew from experience.

“You want to be like that dragon, don’t you?”

Freya definitely wanted that.

She longed for it so strongly, it was obvious.

The dragon she called strong, beautiful, and wise.

“If you want to become that, longing alone won’t get you there.”

In Airlights’s eyes, Freya needed to steel her heart more.

She wouldn’t understand now, of course.

“There’s no doubt that you’re a Piece of Dragon.”

“Then, don’t you admire the Magician too?”

“Admiration and love are two completely different things.”

She still didn’t really get it, but replied enthusiastically.

“Yes! Sister!”

“Don’t call me sister.”

“Yes! Sister!”

And so, the two pressed on steadily.

At this speed, it wouldn’t be long before they arrived.

High in the sky, the dragon grew ever larger, and even the chaotic battle came into view.

It was around then.

Airlights and Freya both fell silent, tension building as they stared at the sky.

In the direction they were heading, the distant sky began to split.

A holy light filled the gap.

The image of a goddess appeared above the storm clouds.

The thunder and lightning had faded, leaving only a downpour of golden radiance.

An ecstatic, sacred miracle.

Within it—

The dragon was falling.

***

A life that couldn’t protect anything.

Truly, a wretched existence.

Looking back, it was certainly a life that had meaning.

There was a goal, there was hope.

‘But at the brink of death, what remained of that life?’

A life defined by protecting—when nothing had been protected, what was left?

I was surely standing before Aerial.

Turning my back on her pain, I lamented.

At that time, the Magician wasn’t looking at me.

The Magician’s eyes, turned away, were full of doubt.

Now, my eyes, too, are filled with doubt.

I was definitely in front of Aerial.

My undead body, immune to rot, was burning away, soon to be reduced to ashes.

That was certain.

‘So why was I still alive?’

‘Why was I still collapsed, staring at the stormy sky?’

‘Why had my body, which was turning to ash, returned to normal?’

‘If I couldn’t protect anything, if I had nothing left to protect, at least I meant to die with her.’

‘Was even that wish too much?’

I staggered to my feet.

When I turned around, I saw the massive dragon.

Lying motionless on the ground, as if deep in slumber.

Maybe the Magician had done something.

Maybe she put Aerial back to sleep, found a way to purify her soul.

Maybe she would tell me that.

I realized I was wrong before I even took a step.

I couldn’t feel the soul.

The soul of the dragon, which was always there, was now truly and completely gone.

I couldn’t feel it at all—there was no way not to know.

Aerial.

I called out, but there was no answer.

Staggering, I reached Aerial.

The dragon’s body unchanged.

Green scales restored.

Endless magic.

A body so strong, not a scratch on it.

She lay quietly, just as a thousand years ago.

No different from just a few days before.

Soon, the Magician would come and complain.

But she’d still start casting purification magic, as always.

I would stand by, feeling Aerial’s soul slowly returning.

Feeling hope coming back, standing by her side, as always.

Of course, that was nothing but a vain illusion.

A soul I could no longer feel.

Eyelids that would never open again.

A voice I’d never hear again.

‘What should I have done?’

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

‘Was the timing off?’

‘Should we have waited until after the ominous Gate was dealt with?’

Or, if I had perfectly sealed the Gate so no energy could escape.

If, a thousand years ago, I hadn’t clung to empty hope and simply accepted death.

If, on that day, I had been at Aerial’s side.

‘Would anything have changed then?’

‘At least, would you have been spared such agony and erasure?’

I don’t know where the past went astray.

There’s only one thing I do know.

Everything is now meaningless.

A thousand years of endurance.

The hope, the sense of mission.

The promise to smile together, the vow to protect her.

Someone who lived only to protect ended up saving nothing at all.

‘What have I done?’

‘What value did my thousand years hold?’

The answer is clear.

None at all.

There is nothing left to protect, no reason to keep protecting.

Not even a vain hope remains.

Aerial, sleeping peacefully.

A dragon entering eternal rest, never to awaken.

Staring at the dead dragon, I slowly open my mouth.

—Let me die now.

I feel utterly alone in this world.

Let me die now.

Regarda spoke, endlessly gazing at the dead dragon.

‘What words could be said to him?’

I couldn’t grant his wish and kill him, nor could I tell him to hang in there and live.

No matter the reasons or the process, it was Hio who killed the dragon.

Even speaking felt like a betrayal to him.

Countless sentences I wanted to say crossed my mind.

I’m sorry.

It’s my fault.

If only I’d dealt with the Gate myself.

If only I’d foreseen that the dragon might awaken, exposed to that energy.

Still, Aerial would want you to live.

Of course, not a single word among them was actually spoken.

Because I’d already seen it.

The eyes of Regarda, who’d endured for a thousand years.

Those eyes, once shining with conviction, now empty.

The look of one who had lost all hope, all goals, all sense of mission and reason to live.

Nothing I could say would bring back Regarda’s goal, his reason to live.

Nothing could fill the void in his heart.

—

—I was the most pathetic Dragon Knight in the world.

Regarda spoke again.

In his hollow eyes, only the image of the dead dragon remained.

Still, at least let me die with her.

After such a long-awaited reunion, so short and so heartbreaking.

At the very least, I want to die with her.

If there is a next life, I want to see her for longer, even if it’s only there.

—Please. Kill me.

Rain, unable to hold back any longer, began to fall from the thick storm clouds.

It drenched Hio’s hair.

It fell on the dead dragon.

And trickled down Regarda’s empty eyes.

It was always like this.

Wherever the Thunder Emperor had been, thick clouds gathered.

Lightning flashed grand and fierce, but after it passed, sorrow always lingered.

That’s how it always was.

When the Thunder Emperor first awakened in Delphir Village.

The war at the Wildly Plains.

The tragedy at Imenia Academy.

The villain at the top of the Gray Castle.

Lightning was called down to stave off disaster, but it only ever brought clouds in its wake.

And the dark clouds always, eventually, let loose their rain.

No one bothered to shield themselves from the pouring rain.

Not the already dead dragon, nor those who might as well have been dead.

Only Hio looked up at the sky, pouring rain down on them.

Because he knew.

Through so much experience, he waited.

It had always been that way.

In Delphir Village.

At Wildly Plains.

At Imenia Academy and the top of the Gray Castle.

Because it had always been that way, Hio knew.

When the lightning stopped, the rain would fall.

And when the rain stopped—

“……Regarda!”

Surely, the sun would rise again.