Ep 106. As Long As They’re Dragonkin. (1)

  While the twons asded towards the pace heights, Raizel maintained a curious expression on her face.

  No matter where she looked, there was seemingly nothing of note ihe pace. Gold and silver décor, luxurious weaves, worn paintings of who-knows-what: none of them meant anything to the youngling following behind.

  A few soldiers were still trying to prevent the intruders from heading up here and there, but they were quickly snuffed of life before the merciless dragonlord. They weren’t even given a ce to speak – which was strange, sidering what Raizel knew about Serenis’ usual character. Freaky, even.

  Raizel’s curiosity peaked when they reached the top of the pace, entering the empty throne room.

  “…Lord, where’re we going? Are you just cheg if the emperor’s still here?”

  “No. There’s more.”

  “Huh?”

  “There’s…more of us. Behind here…”

  Serenis gave a curt look towards the jewel-encrusted throne. sidering its inal purpose as a chair, its surface of carved gems seemed rather unfitting – the design only made sense if the throne’s purpose was an ostensive dispy of wealth.

  But behind this eye-catg seat was a grandiose wall, covered by a velvet drape c its surface. Though most would be too occupied by the throo notice, the crimson wall behind the throne was rather pin pared to the intricate designs the other walls were inscribed with.

  The dragonlord briskly made her way over to the drapes, tearing them off to reveal the naked surface beh.

  “…What a bold dispy.”

  Normally, a person has little reason to look behind an emperor’s throne – much less examine what was behind it.

  Henot many knew of the metal door that hid behind the drapes of the emperor’s throne chamber.

  As Serenis lightly brushed her fiips against the spell circle engraved upoal, Raizel likewise came to a stop behind her lord, peeking over their shoulder to see what was before them.

  “…So you’re saying there’s more dragons behind this door? What’s that drawing?”

  “A spell circle. Though you may not be familiar with them, they’re another form of magic humans have developed. Mana is stored within the inscription to prolong a spell’s effe the caster’s absehis one’s purpose seems to be to block the likes of sounds or physical impact…whatever’s happening i’d be difficult to tell from the outside.”

  “Huh…but you still figured out that there’s dragons in there?”

  “Fortunately.”

  Although Raizel was still curious how her lord had seen through the spell, the youngling remained silent. Probably some nonsensical magic that she wouldn’t uand anyways.

  When the dragonlord lowered her gaze, she could see a small gap at the circle’s tre.

  ‘I suppose that’s where a key would go…’

  Of course, there were other ways to subdue a spell like this. One could apply a reverse of the inal formu; for spell circles like these, one could also overload the circuit with excessive amounts of mana.

  But magic aside, there was, in fact, a much simpler way to open a locked door.

  ‘I’ve regained my form for the most part. This would be a fitti.’

  The easiest way to open a door was to simply open it by force.

  Serenis gripped the iron handle of the sealed door, pulling it with every ounce of strength she had. With most of her form now returned, she expected it to rip open with suffit effort.

  Unfortunately, the door refused to even budge – much less open. When the door remaiill after a minute of struggling, Serenis let go of the hah ragged breaths.

  “…A human’s spell is this strong? How-”

  “Do I just have to open it? Here, let me try.”

  Raizel soon pced herself in Serenis’ stead, fixing her hand over the iron door’s hah a firm grip. But pull as she may, one hand or two, the door still refused to budge.

  “…”

  “…”

  “…”

  Boom!

  In a burst of frustration, Raizel even pu the sealed entrance. But their obstacle remained iaking the steel dragon’s strike with nary a scratch.

  “hat the hell…I haven’t seen anything like this sihen.”

  “’Then,’ you say?”

  “You know, when we went looking for your heart or whatever. It’s simir to the ice that was there…actually, feels almost the exact same.”

  “…That’s right, the ice there was…”

  At the tre of Vulka’s corpse, the dragons had entered a strange barrier: ohat increased the ice’s sturdio a ridiculous degree, while also suppressing their draic features.

  If that were the case here…

  “…Child. Could you try hitting the wall beside the entrance?”

  After a curt nod, Raziel smashed her fist into the crimson wall, even strohan before. But as Serenis had expected, the youngling’s strike left nary a mark.

  A deep frown crossed the dragonlord as she bit her lips. It wasn’t just the door; the inscribed spell was affeg the entire perimeter.

  If there were dragons behind this door, then no spell would be better suited to trap them than the one she’d seen at Vulka’s grave. It could strehe surrounding walls to deter physical escape attempts; with draic features suppressed, they couldn’t even hope to fly out or break through in their proper form.

  ‘…But that barrier, that seal…it shouldn’t be something humans erect.’

  A human ing to a full uanding of a dragon’s anatomy – and suppressiaiures through magic – was a nigh impossible task. Even Aldrid had failed to recreate demonkind due to her ck of uanding as to how their bodies funed.

  Moreover, a human’s spell shouldn’t have been able to withstand Raizel’s strength in the first pce. Even if it were possible, there shouldn’t have been enough mana for it to st lohan a few seds.

  ‘Is it merely a ce? Or…’

  While Serenis pondered over the oddity of their obstacle, Raizel was tinuously trying to smash her way in. But wheher of them could see any progress whatsoever, Serenis calmly reared the youngling back.

  “It’s alright, child. It doesn’t seem brute force will do us any good here. Step bad rest.”

  “Tch. Fine…”

  As Raizel relutly stepped away, Serenis pced her hand over the circle once more. If they couldn’t force their way through the seal, then she needed but overwhelm the seal with her own mana.

  However, what the dragonlord had expected to be a meager human spell revealed its true essence as she id her hand upon it.

  “…This is…”

  What Serenis felt through the spell circle wasn’t a meager ste of one mana type. Instead, she felt a surge of several different types forcibly being draio power the spell, eae far too potent to be of human in.

  ‘They’re…all…’

  Beyond this wall were her kin. Of that, she had no doubt.

  He didn’t take much to figure out whose mana the seal was draining from. Much like how Vulka’s barrier had been supplied with the dragonlord’s heart, this ooo, was being supplied by other entities.

  Serenis closed her eyes, her breathing growing long and sparse. The surrounding air weighed heavy upon her, and the hand that touched the inscribed spell began to glow.

  “I’m sorry. Bear with me for just a moment…”

  If Serenis were to overload this seal, theershock of its colpse would iably go to its current suppliers.

  But even so, she had little choice. Leaving things as is was not an option.

  Crack!

  “…?”

  Raizel blinked in fusion, standing a few steps behind the dragonlord. Her gaze drifted upwards towards the source of the sudden noise.

  “Uh…lord? You sure this is okay?”

  Despite the youngling’s words, Serenis remained unrespoh both her eyes closed. She was so focused on her current endeavor that she was failing to realize the entire wall was slowly beginning to fall apart.

  Old memories began to haunt Raizel’s vision. Her crossed arms slowly unkhemselves, her eyes fixed on the cracks streaking across the crimson surface before them.

  With a brilliant fsh of white, the dragonlord’s mana overwhelmed what the spell could store.

  And simultaneously, the cracks stretched across every er of the crimson wall, crumbling right on top of the oblivious dragonlord – a sight quite familiar for a certain youngling standing behind her.

  “You didn’t have to recreate this too!!”

  Raizel immediately leapt forward, snatg the dragonlord in her arm before rushing back away.

  Moments after her retreat, the crumbling wall colpsed on top of where Serenis had been standing, burying the area in a pile of broken rubble.

  Serenis slowly opened her eyes to find herself being held by Raizel. The youngling was looking down at her with evident annoyance.

  “Do you have a thing for dying under colpsing walls? You could at least keep your eyes open.”

  “…Well…”

  ‘With the seal dispersed, such rubble would hardly scathe my skin, but…’

  Instead of voig her thoughts, Serenis only returned a gentle grin. She soon nodded back at the youngling, knowing their annoyaemmed from pure .

  “I will ime. Thank you, child.”

  Once Serenis was ba her owhe twons shifted their attention to what lied ahead.

  As the dust of the fallen wall began to settle, the sery that was hidden behind revealed itself before the twons.

  “Wait, what IS that…?”

  “…”

  Beyond the brilliance of the emperolden throne room was a bleak, lightless dungeon. Only the lights seeping in from the throne room were illuminating the prison that lied beyond it; during the time when the wall had separated the two, there wouldn’t have been a single light source within.

  And in it, were…

  “…Rgh…urgh…”

  “…Grrgh…”

  Low, pained groans slithered through the uling silence of the dungeon walls.

  Scattered about were numerous cages, each occupied by several individuals. Though their outward appearances seemed human, Serenis could also see that their draic features were slowly returning – doubtlessly from the colpse of the seal that had caged them.

  Serenis slowly walked into the dungeon, her eyes desperately looking for any hint of hope. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any here.

  Embedded within each dragon’s chest was a nail – which, judging by the color, were fashioned from Kedor’s shell.

  The velklord’s shell had a tendency to prevent mana from synthesizing. Should its influenehow reae’s internal ans, it effectively deterred the use of magic altogether; longer exposure warranted longer recovery periods, and often, a prolonged exposure caused irreversible damage.

  To make matters worse, not a single dragon seemed to be in one piece. Some weren’t even alive. A lifeless color shadowed their skin, and many were missing a part of their body. Some were mutited beynition.

  It wasn’t difficult to figure out why they were in such horrid ditions.

  Cages were occupying most of the dungeon, but pces that weren’t were instead occupied by crimson vials, mounds of colorful scales, and tless bones ed of flesh. Various instruments were scattered about around the spoils, all serving the same purpose of extrag resources from the imprisoned kin.

  “…What the hell is all this.”

  Raizel briskly passed by Serenis with a stern expression, making her way to the cage. She tore the iron bars apart, shouting at the dragons within.

  “Hey!...Hey, any of you hear me?! Say something!”

  “…”

  A green-haired dragon powerlessly turned his head to face the steel dragon. He opened his mouth, as if he would say something.

  But what came out instead of words were low, powerless groans. The tohat should’ve been in his mouth was o be found; he didn’t have ah either, as if he’d been just born.

  “…Why…are you…”

  “…”

  Before the horrifying sery, the indifference Serenis had struggled to maintain was slowly falling apart.

  A sughter beyond torture, an enviro g even the most basic of needs. Even a barn for animals was a luxury pared to this pce.

  What her kin lost here had likely bee brews and tools for humahe very reason the emperor had chosen to keep them alive was likely to tirag their scales and blood.

  Everyone here were broken in body and soul. sidering their period of exposure to Kedor’s shell embedded withihey would likely never be able to use magic agaiher.

  “…”

  In her welling anger, even the dragonlord’s vision began to blur.

  - ‘You hope to facilitate peace with man? A kind that would kill its own brothers and sisters? What you hope for is a fool’s dream, Serenis.’

  Every other demonlord had opposed coexistence.

  Only a single demonlord trusted in its possibility, struggling to facilitate peace between her kin and mankind. She’d truly believed that if her kio believe and nurture them – to treat them as equals – then someday, they too, would e to treat Serenis and her kin as family.

  Or, at the very least…she’d hoped that they wouldn’t shed blood with one another.

  ‘After all those years…is this what it’s e to?’

  Now, the faith that she’d held onto for so long was beginning to waver.