Ep 1. What Even Was That?! (1)

  Serenis felt her head buzzing. Distant voices reverberated within her ears.

  Screams and shouts. Laughter. Shrieks of joy and pain alike.

  Was she reminisg?

  She couldn’t tell. If only her head wasn’t buzzing so much, she could’ve made out what the voices were saying.

  But she couldn’t be bothered to try and listen. Whatever memory it was that had returo haunt her, it’d only create mrets if she listened.

  The voices slowly began to drown out in silence.

  ‘Much better.’

  If only she could drift away like this.

  ‘So this is what dying is like. It doesn’t hurt as much as I…’

  Wack!

  ‘Thought…’

  Sp!

  A surge of stinging pain on her forehead and cheek she st remains of her wishful thinking.

  Who could possibly be here to sp her at this moment?

  ‘Wait.’

  What if that st strike didn’t kill the First?

  Her eyes surged open.

  “Kh…are you still not dead? How-“

  “Deeeeeaaaaaad?”

  Serenis flihe voice was her as dry nor terrifying as the First’s. In fact, the voice was squeaky, childish, and definitely pissed.

  The dragon blinked a few times as her visiourned surprisingly fast. A little child came into view before her, holding what seemed like a wooden stick.

  “Did you kill me in your dreams? Huh? Is that what happened? Deeeeeeaaaad?”

  ‘…Who is this child, and why’s he so angry at me?’

  “I apologize, there must be some sort of misuanding. I was just at a battle, and I must’ve lost sciousness…”

  “Oh, you sure were. You’re still in it.”

  ‘What?’

  Before Serenis could question the child’s statement, he lifted a thin wooden stick high into the air.

  Seriously? THAT’S what he was hitting her with?

  She sed at the thought. A little child, threatening the lord ons with a twig.

  If that wasn’t a joke, then what was?

  She calmly wove her hand in front of her as a transparent barrier was cast in pce.

  The twig bashed onto the invisible wall and snapped in half.

  “Settle down, child. I-“

  “MY WAND!!!”

  Wand?

  That twig was a wand?

  Suddenly, she could hear surprised gasps and mutters from her surroundings. Another look, and Serenis finally realized that a huhers were them.

  And shortly after, she could feel a surge of pain throbbing at her heart. For a brief moment, her limbs felt paralyzed.

  Symptoms of maion.

  ‘Oh, that’s right. I shouldn’t have any ma…’

  Still, it wasn’t a problem. She could easily suppress a hundred children like this with a flick of her finger. Since her physical body felt fine, she just had to lightly press the child down to suppress him. Then, she could ask him what was going on.

  But when she lifted her arm to do just that, something seemed strangely off.

  ‘Was my arm always this short?’

  She ighe strange feeling and pced her hand on the boy’s stomach, trying to push as light as she possibly could. It should’ve been just enough to knock him down on the floor.

  Instead, the boy remaianding.

  ‘Huh?’

  She pressed a little harder.

  Nothing.

  Serenis was soon pushing him with every ounce of her strength, aill wouldn’t budge.

  The boy began to seethe in anger, his voice practically steaming out of his mouth.

  “What are you doing?”

  “…Huh?”

  “ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!”

  Serenis saw the boy pulling his leg back, likely to kick her iomach.

  ‘Immensely slow. I’ll just step to the side, and…’

  Her thoughts reached that far, until she realized something new again.

  ‘…Why am I moving so slowly?’

  When the realization dawned on her, it was far too te. Serenis felt another jolt of pain iomach as she was kicked. She sprawled across the stone floor, coughing.

  “I don’t know what you did, but yoing to pay for my wand!”

  Maion at least made sense.

  Moving slow still make sense, if she was deathly tired. And she had every right to be, after the battle she’d just been in.

  But given her pure body density, a tiny human boy being able to send her flying with a single kick ure nonsense. He’d be lucky if his toes weren’t broken.

  On top of that, the crowd surrounding them seemed to think this was normal.

  “Oh…I get it.”

  I must be dreaming. This is a weird dream to have before dying.

  So there ’t be any repercussions for overusing mana, right?

  Serenis rose back to her feet and angrily stomped her foot onto the stoile. The entire ground began to emit a brilliant white light in respos glow spreading further at an unbelievable speed.

  Alit by the lights emitted from the floor, Serenis’ shadow turned upwards, much akin to a staged horror py.

  The boy froze in pce. An involuntary hiccup escaped his lips.

  “Has no oaught you any manners, child?”

  Even he could tell something was going terribly wrong.

  “…Wait. We talk about this.”

  “Of course we .”

  “Right?”

  “After I drive some manners into your tiny head!”

  Perhaps birds would notice the faint glint in the distant blue skies that followed the dragonlord’s angered outburst.

  Moments after, a dozen rays of starlight rained down from the skies unto the poor child on stage, threatening to ie his body whole.

  Not that they really did. They just made loud noise and scared the living daylights out of him.

  Ohe rays faded, nothing had ged except the wetness of the child’s eyes and undergarments. He fell backwards from sheer shock, unscious.

  “Hmph. Whoever raised you ought to…”

  Serenis’ head fell backwards.

  “Teach you some…respect…”

  The rest of her body followed suit, colpsing onto the floor.

  Her heart throbbed in pain, and she could no longer feel her limbs.

  ‘Wait. Now that I think about it…’

  The dragon’s sciousness rapidly faded away. Her eyes closed, and there was nothing but darkness.

  ‘It’s beeuries…since I had a dream…’