My name is Owen.
But fundamentally, the fact remains that the Holy Sword itself is a “tool for cutting.”
Even the act of slashing someone with the Holy Sword to save them stems from its essence.
So, in truth, the Holy Sword is beneficial to humans and deadly to all demons, but it can also cut through other things just as easily.
In fact, this Holy Sword is the very one that, together with me, sliced through the body of the Demon King.
‘Let’s see just how much the Nest of the Immovable Dragon can withstand.’
If you’re unsure, just try and see.
And, to be honest, I was already a bit pissed off thanks to the nonsense of these dragons, so I figured I might as well blow off some steam while I’m at it.
“O, God of the Sun.”
Blazing solar flames surged into the Holy Sword.
“Moon Goddess.”
A massive chill rose from the moon that appeared behind my shadow, mingling with the sun’s heat and growing ever larger.
“Ugh.”
“Just hold on a little longer.”
Even if it’s a dragon’s body, the heat and cold that are unleashed when the gods’ Blessings are poured out with full intent are not something that can be endured lightly.
Unless you’ve made a pact with the gods and received their protection as I have, just standing nearby would be unbearable.
I raised the now-enlarged Holy Sword upright, offering my final prayer.
“O, Storm God.”
The force of heat and cold merged, following the flow of the storm rising from my hands through the Holy Sword, and soared straight toward the heavens.
“Cut down all that stands in my way.”
The Blessings wrapped around the Holy Sword responded explosively to my prayer, erupting with fierce movement.
The voice that had just told me to stop suddenly rang out in desperation.
[Stop! Hand of the Trinity Gods! Do you intend to break the pact?!]
I answered with a laugh.
“I don’t have any pact with you. Lizard.”
And I brought my sword down.
The barrier of the Heavenly Palace, which had been hidden, shattered under my blade and revealed itself in that instant.
And there, barely blocking my descending sword, the Sacred Dragons appeared.
If I pressed down any further, I might split the entire Heavenly Palace in two, so I slowly withdrew the Blessings, releasing all the power at once.
“We, we can’t stop it…!”
KWAANG!
At the last moment, one of the Sacred Dragons collapsed, having exhausted all its strength, and a huge part of the Heavenly Palace exploded outwards.
I looked at the enormous Floating Island, highest among the Vismark Snow Mountains, and at the plume of dust rising from it, and grinned the brightest smile of my life.
“Ahh, that’s a relief.”
Those arrogant bastards—I’d been itching to teach them a lesson, but after Thrall, Dragon King of Destruction, wiped them all out, my old grudge remained unresolved.
Now, at last, it felt avenged.
‘In my past life, Ryuk kept stopping me, so I could never let loose.’
Now, with the Great Sage no longer here to restrain my actions, there was no need to hold back.
“All right, let’s go.”
“…If I go in now, I feel like I’m definitely going to get killed.”
As Thrall looked up at me with trembling eyes, I ignored him and gripped his hand tightly.
“You know there’s no point in running now that we’ve come this far, right? As long as you’re alive, those dragons will stop at nothing to catch you. It’s better to settle things here and find some real peace.”
Of course, getting that real peace would require a lot of effort.
But considering the reward of making the future Dragon King of Destruction our ally, it was a small price to pay.
“All right, let’s go.”
With silent acceptance, Thrall let me firmly hold his hand as I strode forward.
The thunderous roars of dragons over the ruined Heavenly Palace passed through one ear and out the other.
‘What the hell?’
Dragged by Owen toward the Heavenly Palace, Thrall’s mind replayed the scene from just moments ago.
That single blow had pierced the massive magic and combined defense of the dragons that had been shielding the Heavenly Palace.
‘I’ve never heard of a human being that strong.’
In dragon society, humans were considered the lowest of all races.
They didn’t live as long as elves, nor were they as skilled as dwarves, and compared to other subraces, their incompetence was legendary.
Some did mention the boundless potential of humans, but he’d never seen one that outstanding.
Even among those called leaders of humans, there were some worse than street urchins from the slums, let alone commoners.
Disorganized, frail, and the most likely to go extinct—no one would argue otherwise.
A human was dragging him to the Heavenly Palace by the hand.
At least, until he met Owen.
‘…Even though I’m heading into the Heavenly Palace, I feel at ease.’
With that blow a moment ago, Thrall’s fear of being threatened there had completely vanished.
But another worry took its place.
‘Why does this man need me?’
Thrall might be naive, but he wasn’t an idiot.
‘He said it’s to his benefit, but didn’t tell me what that is.’
In other words, there was clearly something he wanted to entrust to Thrall.
‘…Well, there’s nothing I can do about it, even if I think about it now.’
If you can’t avoid it, you might as well enjoy it.
Soon, inside the Heavenly Palace, Thrall felt stinging glares from every direction and looked at Owen, who was still holding his hand.
With sharp eyes scanning the area, Owen spoke.
“Look alive, you bastards. Before I stab you for real.”
Thrall clenched his teeth to hold back a burst of laughter.
As soon as they entered, hostile dragon glares stabbed at them from all sides.
They all looked furious, and seeing those faces made the anger he’d just buried start to flare up again.
‘Are these lunatics for real?’
After just getting stabbed, they still glare with killing intent?
“Look alive, you bastards. Before I stab you for real.”
The largest dragon, who seemed to be the leader, flew toward me.
“What business does the Hand of the Trinity Gods have here?”
“I have no business with you. Call the Throne Lord.”
“You insane human, how dare you!”
The dragon opened its huge mouth to eat me, so I threw the Holy Sword.
“Kuugh?!”
The Holy Sword pierced through the dragon’s jaw and up to its snout, scattering rays of light before vanishing and returning to my hand.
“I know your scales are tough, but don’t think that applies to me. If you slip up, you’ll really die.”
“Y-you lowly human!”
The dragon, jaw and snout pierced, seemed to lose control, gathering immense heat in its open mouth.
Looks like it was about to use its breath, but that was none of my concern, so I just glanced around.
My gaze fell on the one who looked the shadiest.
Unlike the others, that dragon was adept at hiding itself and watching me intently, as if deep in thought.
It was almost as if he was working out some calculation.
“Die!”
The burning breath rushed toward me.
“O, God of the Sun. Please put out the fire.”
And the torrent of breath that was about to engulf me vanished without a trace.
At the same time, every lantern, campfire, and magic lamp that had illuminated the Heavenly Palace lost its light.
That was the side effect of not limiting my request for extinguishing flames.
But since my life wasn’t really in danger, the backlash of fatigue wasn’t too bad.
“W-what is this…”
Ignoring the dragon whose breath I’d just erased, I strode toward the one that felt off.
As I walked confidently, the dragons nearby edged away.
When I locked eyes with the one giving me a bad feeling, another dragon blocked my path.
“We’re not done talking yet, where are you going—kuagh!”
The Holy Sword I threw pierced straight through the dragon’s eye.
Unfortunately for the dragon, being a non-human, the Holy Sword’s healing didn’t apply.
“Hmph, that’s strange. After all this chaos, the Throne Lord should be raging and rushing out, so why is there still no sign?”
I left the dragon with the pierced eye writhing in pain and looked at the silent one.
“Don’t you know anything?”
“I…”
“…The Throne Lord can’t come out because of certain circumstances.”
“Circumstances? What circumstances?”
“There’s no reason to tell the likes of you that.”
“Is that so? Then you’re the representative.”
I raised Thrall’s arm.
“This one is mine from now on. None of you may lay a finger on him. If you do, consider yourselves at war with me.”
“…Are you insane?”
The ominous dragon looked incredulous.
“That one is an embarrassment to us dragons, unable to use magic. And the Throne Lord’s foresight has already confirmed he’ll betray us. We can’t leave such a dangerous element unchecked.”
‘Not just a traitor, but a confirmed traitor?’
That made no sense, but it didn’t matter much, so I let it pass.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t come here to talk. I came to notify you.”
I summoned the Holy Sword back to my hand and stabbed it into the ground before me.
“You lot claim to act to protect the world. But that doesn’t justify your arrogance and foul tempers.”
Most dragons are hot-tempered and have nasty personalities.
But what’s worse is that some of them, despite those nasty tempers, are logical.
Which means they always think they’re right and everyone else is wrong.
And they’ve lived that way for hundreds or thousands of years, so it’s not a trait that’s ever going to change.
“There’s no reason to listen to the opinions of lowly races. We are fundamentally different from you.”
“Exactly. Which is why I don’t care about your situation. I never expected to have a real conversation with you from the start.”
“And you think you can leave this place alive after saying that?”
I know where that confidence comes from.
Hand of the Trinity Gods.
Because of the meaning behind the words these dragons used when they looked at me.
But unfortunately, I’m not the Hand of the Trinity Gods.
“Didn’t you listen to what I said earlier?”
“What do you mean…”
I pulled the Holy Sword from the ground and hurled it at the dragon’s abdomen as it began to speak.
The moment it touched the dragon’s body, it left a huge hole.
The thrown Holy Sword pierced through scale and flesh and embedded itself in the rock on the other side.
“Kuheuk.”
“…Centra!”
The dragon coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the dragons around him quickly grew agitated.
“H-how…? The Hand of the Trinity Gods shouldn’t be able to kill us…”
“I’m pretty sure I told you already.”
I’m not the Hand of the Trinity Gods.
“The contract you mentioned has nothing to do with me.”
So the contract between the gods and the dragons has nothing to do with me.
“My name is Owen. A Hero. The lowly human you speak of. So you can kill me any time you want.”
With a wave of my hand, the Holy Sword shimmered and appeared again.
“And I can do the same to you.”
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