Dragonlord

Ep 128. I Am Not Your Mother. (1)

When Raizel came to, the strangest sight greeted her awakening.

‘…Lord?’

Serenis was flying about around the steel dragon with a puzzled expression, studying every corner of the youngling’s massive metal body.

Eventually, Serenis landed upon Raizel’s back. Her eyes were fixed upon the two large scars stretching across her back where their wings should’ve been instead.

A gentle, worried touch brushed against the scarred surface.

“…It must’ve been difficult.”

“…”

For a moment, Raizel considered pretending she was asleep a while longer. Apparently, being worried about didn’t feel too bad.

But as soon as she caught a glimpse of her lord’s saddened eyes, the youngling immediately stirred awake, turning her head towards the dragonlord standing upon her.

“Lord. What’re you doing?”

“…Raizel! Are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere?”

“Huh? Course I’m alright. Why wouldn’t I b-“

Raizel cut herself short as she began to remember why she was laying here in the first place.

She soon avoided her lord’s worried eyes, looking away in a mix of embarrassment and puzzlement.

“Uh, I mean, yeah. I think I’m okay.”

“Thank goodness. Thank goodness…”

“…”

Raizel then proceeded to study her own self. Despite her vivid memories of Hathelon’s lights puncturing through her scales, not a single wound remained on her body anymore.

After confirming that she was practically unharmed, the youngling returned her attention to the dragonlord.

“Did you heal me? I thought you said you couldn’t use healing magic?”

“…I…”

Serenis stammered in her answer, reminiscing upon the blue-haired boy she’d just met.

It wasn’t her who’d healed Raizel. When Serenis had come to, the youngling’s body had already recovered in full. All she’d done was inspect it.

Alas, they were in the midst of a lifeless plain. It wasn’t like someone else would have coincidentally shown up to heal Raizel and leave.

‘Then…’

“…”

After another few moments of contemplation, Serenis beamed a warm smile as she answered the youngling.

“I suppose this was an exceptional case. I simply had to.”

“…? What do you mean you had to?”

“Well…you did promise, did you not?”

“Promise what?”

“That once everything is over, you’d allow me to live with you at your nest.”

“……………..”

“How could I expect you to uphold your promise if you’re unwell?”

Raizel remained silent for another good minute. She continued to stare at Serenis, her eyes wide in bewilderment.

“You…you remembered that?”

“Of course. How could I forget? It’s a precious memory.”

“…!!! NO IT’S NOT! FORGET IT!”

“Oh? Does the idea no longer appeal to you?”

“What? No!…No, I just…JUST FORGET IT! You know what, I think Ilias wasn’t doing too well. We should head back. NOW.”

Raizel immediately turned away, preparing to return to where her friend had remained – and avoiding the dragonlord’s gaze while at it.

Serenis frowned at the unpleasant news. However, a hint of doubt remained as she noticed the steel dragon’s lack of concern.

“What happened? Was Ilias hurt badly?”

“Well…the emperor’s spell got to us a few times when we couldn’t transform. Typical burns, molten skin…molten bones. Meh.”

“Molten bones?! You came here with wounds like that?!”

“The crow healed me enough. Now that I think about it, he probably got around to Ilias by now, too. Maybe she’s fine already…”

“…”

Serenis let out a relieved sigh upon hearing the news in full. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do had her absence resulted in irreversible harm to others again.

Meanwhile, Raizel was internally regretting telling the truth. She hurriedly reduced her form and summoned her wings, beckoning the dragonlord along with ominous words spoken in a most casual tone.

“Actually, what I meant to say was, she’s in mortal danger. We should hurry back.”

“…? But child, you just said-“

“C’mon, let’s go! And forget that other thing, will you?”

Serenis quietly snickered as Raizel flailed their arm, urging her along in evident embarrassment. She gladly accompanied the rushing youngling, returning to where the others would be.

“…Thank you, Raizel.”

“…For coming to help? Or the other thing?”

“Both. And more.”

“…?”

A thin smile curved the dragonlord’s lips as they took flight.

No matter what happens, I will never forget you again.

No matter where this path takes me, I will always return.

Never again will I lose anyone I hold dear.

✧ ✧ ✧

“Hm.”

As the light faded from his hands, Karas briskly wiped his forehead. He scanned the sleeping red dragon once more, looking for any leftover burns – to which there was none.

‘I suppose things are finished here…’

Ilias remained peacefully asleep, her contorted expression long gone since applying the salve Light had brought. The half girl was also snuggled around her sister, passed out from a mix of exhaustion and lack of sleep.

The professor raised his gaze. He hovered one hand over his eyes, marking the position of the sun shining high above their heads.

“…I suppose we did stay up all night. Now, then…”

When he lowered his gaze once more, Felicir – who was casually floating above Aymeia’s unconscious body – met the professor’s eyes with a sly smile, waving at his fatigued slaver.

“Why hello there. Tired?”

“…Somewhat, yes.”

“Ah, so you do grow tired as well! You were going strong for so long, I almost thought you were a monster or something. Oh, wait – you are.”

“…”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’ve done what you asked. I delivered you all the news you wanted, didn’t I?”

“…To be accurate, you were talking my ear off while I treated Ilias.”

“Would you like me to repeat myself then?”

“Heavens, no.”

As Felicir shrugged in response, the professor let out another sigh. Karas’ hands quietly clasped his beak from beneath as he thought over everything the Reaper had told him.

“So, in summary…Serenis’ assailant was not an Akeian soldier, but a deity...”

“You had a hero and a demonlord side by side. What else was supposed to happen?”

“…And in their fighting, Raizel was wounded to a fatal degree…”

“Near fatal. Unfortunately not quite.”

“…But she was then healed back to health by Serenis who apparently woke up as soon as she passed out.”

“Precisely! Odd, isn’t it? It’s like she wasn’t affected by the divinity at all.”

“To tell you the truth, no, I don’t find it odd at all. I’ve seen her do crazier things.”

“…”

Karas’ eyes were muddled in disdain. If they were to speak on levels of oddity, Serenis’ very existence was easily the most puzzling one; recovering from a blackout to heal their precious kin was hardly surprising.

In the end, the professor spelled out his exhausted, soulless conclusion.

“She was victorious, and no one died in the process. Good riddance.”

“Good riddance? For a deity’s death? If I were alive, I’d have you killed for that.”

“And yet I am alive, whereas you aren’t.”

“…”

“It’s about time you learned your place, Felicir. The only reason I’m keeping you whole is because you saved Light and Ilias.”

“Sheesh, our slaver’s got attitude. Whatever did I do to you?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, you single-handedly annihilated my students and destroyed my workplace, as well as over a third of my city. Further, you’re responsible for the death of Light’s family.”

Felicir visibly flinched as Karas went about listing what he’d done to incur the professor’s contempt. But instead of backing down, the floating spirit instead crossed his arms, shaking his head in derision.

“Excuses, excuses. You don’t actually care for any of those, do you? Empathy is lost on monsters like yourself. You’re only pretending so.”

Karas shied away from giving a reply. He instead shifted his attention towards those that better deserved it.

For example, the bandaged body Felicir was floating over.

Karas briskly approached the unconscious star deity, fixing her posture to lay her flat on the ground. His hands carefully uncovered her bloodstained bandages to inspect the impaled limbs beneath.

As the professor’s eyes studied Aymeia’s wounded arms, he continued to voice his curiosities to the floating spirit, ignoring their previous insults.

“So, this really is Aymeia, then? The Aymeia?”

“Deity of Stars, in the flesh. Though, she isn’t technically a deity anymore. Her divinity’s gone over to your precious dragonlord.”

“I suppose Raizel was successful in her delivery. But more importantly, were the Twelve always this easy to find? What’s a deity doing imprisoned at a military post?”

Felicir gave an exaggerated, sarcastic shrug to the professor’s question.

“Let’s see…she walked out of her cave like a madman, continued eastward until she eventually came across Hathelon, engaged him in battle, and…lost spectacularly.”

“…”

Karas’ expression twisted further and further as he listened to the ridiculous story. When he found himself failing to process what the floating spirit was even saying, he instead opted for a different inquiry.

“…Alright, a different question then. What’s the Judge doing among the empire’s ranks?”

“Our hero? He wasn’t exactly in their ranks. He was merely cooperating with the empire’s ruler for mutual gains.”

“Mutual gains? What could a deity possibly have to gain from a human?”

“Simple. Hathelon wished to destroy Aymeia’s divinity, but he lacked the means to do so himself.”

Karas widened his eyes at the revelation – first at the fact that a member of the Twelve had wanted to destroy another’s divinity, second at the fact that a human could do what a deity could not.

“…And Lavnore possessed the means to do so? To destroy divinity?”

“Who knows? You’re the one who devoured his magical aptitude, you’d know better than me. For all I know, he was bluffing.”

“…”

“Haha. Anyhow…that’s what Hathelon wanted from the emperor. In exchange, the emperor wished for Hathelon’s aid in the empire’s conquest. If you were ever wondering where the empire’s antimagic equipment came from, that was all provided by our dearest hero himself.”

A long sigh escaped Karas’ beak. It was easy to see Lavnore going to extremes to enlist a deity’s aid – or to make their strength his own. The professor could still clearly recall how the Akeian emperor had attempted to absorb Aymeia’s divinity.

And soon enough, Karas also remembered the damage it’d done to Lavnore’s mind.

“…Wait. You said Aymeia’s divinity has gone over to Serenis?”

“It has, yes.”

“Is she alright? She hasn’t…gone…”

“Mad?”

“…For a lack of better words, yes.”

“Well, I’m of the opinion that not going mad when one should go mad is, in fact, madness. If nothing else, she should’ve at least shown some sort of struggle in keeping herself sane. But your dragonlord didn’t have even that. She just passed out, and woke right back up.”

“…”

“But since you said you’ve seen worse in her, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Karas rolled his eyes at the Reaper’s sarcastic tone. Even though Felicir was quite enthusiastically answering his questions, the dead spirit was trying just as hard to badmouth their killer.

“…Final question.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“What started this whole…conflict? Even in my years of study, not once have I seen a record of there being infighting amongst the Twelve. There must’ve been a reason why the Judge was so intent on killing Aymeia.”

“Ah, you misunderstand. Killing Aymeia was merely a single step in the grand scheme of things. As he would say, he merely intended to liberate this world.”

“Liberate?...From what?”

“…”

Instead of an immediate answer, Felicir nudged his translucent chin towards the unconscious girl beneath him.

“Look at her yourself. Do you notice anything?”

“…Bandages?”

“No, I mean her features.”

“…Orange hair? I suppose that’s somewhat peculiar.”

“…No, you birdhead. Do you not have eyes? She has horns.”

Karas narrowed his gaze. Felicir was right – the star deity did indeed possess horns.

But not too far away was his student who possessed a secondary pair of ears – animal ears at that. And snuggled next to the cat half was their honorary sister who had horns, wings, and a tail to boot.

At least for a Partivine citizen, having features like horns was nothing to write home about.

“What about it? Plenty of halves possess horns. Or do you mean to imply that the Judge was one of those human supremacists?”

“…He was more a racist than he was a supremacist. Look closely. What horns do you suppose those are?”

Karas fixed his gaze upon the two curved, crimson-tipped horns protruding from the deity’s head.

Normally, the professor would’ve guessed an antelope breed, just like anyone else would. But that clearly wasn’t the answer Felicir was looking for.

And, furthermore, he’d seen these types of horns. Quite frequently, in fact.

“…Dragon…horns?”

“Correct.”

Felicir gently lowered his hand to caress the unconscious girl on her head, only for it to pass through without resistance. He retreated his hand with a bittersweet smile, returning his gaze back to Karas.

“It wasn’t always like this. She was a human girl once.”

“But not anymore, I’m guessing.”

“No, not anymore. Aymeia subjected herself to my experiments. She was the first and only success: a pure-blooded human who succeeded in retaining a dragonkin’s blood.”

“You made her this way? For what reason?”

“…”

After a tiring sigh, Felicir shrugged towards the professor’s suspecting glare.

“I told you already, didn’t I? Our minds cannot hope to contain the divinity Aymeia held. If mankind were to rule the world as deities, there was a need to make a suitable vessel for our picky fragment.”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t have simply entrusted this particular fragment to a non-human.”

“Because that defeats the entire purpose of ending the demon era.”

“…Demon era?”

“The era before ours. Before we ruled the world as the Twelve.”

Felicir then darted his eyes, looking into the distance to nowhere in particular. A faint smile curved his lips as he rephrased his answer for the confused professor.

“Or, in simpler terms…your precious dragonlord’s era.”