NOVEL WEB Book 6: Chapter 35: Fury
"Holy Sky Empire? Where the hell is that?" Lilith exclaimed in disbelief.
She'd been traveling through human lands for quite some time now, and yet she had never once come across any mention—either in books or in reality—of a nation known as the Holy Sky Empire.
But that didn't matter.
What mattered was that Princess Estelle had referred to the very ground beneath their feet—the land Lilith unmistakably knew as the Holy Dragon Empire—by a completely different name.
And yet, everyone around her was now staring at her with those same strange looks, as if Princess Estelle had not made any mistake.
"Hah. There's a limit to this kind of joke, don't you think? What kind of stupid prank is this? Have you no shame?" Lilith scoffed.
"Prank?" The burly, thick-haired man looked at her with a puzzled expression. "I don't even know who you are. Why would I prank you?"
"Then get Taylor out here! Get the Aurora Dragon out here!"
Lilith slammed her hand down on the table.
The entire table shattered into pieces.
"Enough of this nonsense. I don't have time to waste. Get Taylor the Aurora Dragon out here!"
"Aurora Dragon?" The man's face darkened. "There's no Aurora Dragon here. The one and only Guardian of the Holy Sky Empire is me. And let me tell you—this old man never changed his name."
"I am Themis the Aurora Python!" he declared.
Huh? …Aurora Python?
Although the burly man clearly looked displeased, Lilith could not take him seriously.
A snake pretending to be a dragon? How utterly ridiculous. If you're going to create a knockoff, at least do it seriously. How dare a python compare itself to a dragon?
"How dare you…"
All Lilith felt was rage, one that had been simmering far too long and was now boiling over. The bizarre events of the past days had already worn her thin, and now, she was no different from a barrel of gunpowder—just waiting for a spark to ignite.
To think that someone actually dared to insult the dragons in her presence! This man must have gotten tired of living!
A darkness as deep as the abyss swallowed Lilith's pupils in an instant.
Black flames began surging around her. Before anyone could react, the burly man who called himself Aurora Python was pinned to the ground by a petite figure.
"What?!" Aurora Python's expression twisted in shock, eyes wide with utter disbelief.
He was a peak saint-level cultivator, the top powerhouse of the Holy Sky Empire, yet in the blink of an eye, he had been pinned to the ground by a girl barely half his size.
And worse… he couldn't move.
He tried to summon all his power , but the immense magic power that should have answered his call vanished, as if swallowed by an invisible abyss.
"Ah…!"
Imperial Consort Jadeite couldn't process what was happening. Every word she'd just hurled at Lilith came rushing back in a crushing wave of regret, then her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed, fainting on the spot.
Even Princess Estelle stared in disbelief, her mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an entire apple.
Lilith stepped on the man's shoulder, her expression frosty as she asked, "You've insulted the dragons. Now tell me, how do you want to die?"
"W-What dragons? I-I don't know any dragons!"
For the first time in his life, the once high and mighty Aurora Python felt the true terror of impending doom.
"Lies! The Holy Dragon Empire revered the dragons! How can you not know them!" Lilith roared.
"B-But this is the Holy Sky Empire!" the burly man cried, his voice trembling like he was on the verge of tears. He could feel the magic power within him vanishing, and the cultivation realm he had once taken such pride in was plummeting at a terrifying speed.
In just less than a minute, he had fallen from the peak of Saint Realm to the late stage.
"I… I've never heard of any dragons in my entire life…" the once-arrogant man whimpered.
"Lies! Lies! Lies!" With a furious growl, Lilith slammed her heel down on the man's head. "With the dragons' fame on this continent, even a three-year-old has heard their stories. And you're telling me you've never heard of them? Did you grow up in a mouse hole and somehow come out this size?"
"N-No, no… I didn't grow up in a mouse hole! On the contrary, I traveled all across the continent in my youth, met many races, and heard countless legends and stories—Cyclopes, Deep Sea Monsters, you name it! But these 'dragons' you keep talking about… I swear, I've never heard it in my life!"
The burly man was about to go insane. He swore he was telling the truth, but this terrifying girl that came out of nowhere kept—…
"Liar!" Lilith stomped down hard on his head again.
The impact cracked the jade-tiled floor beneath him, sinking his skull halfway into the stone.
"You're lying to me!"
"I'm not, woman…!" The Aurora Python couldn't even cry. Deep in his heart, he vowed that if he somehow survived this, he'd kill the old hag who dragged him into this nightmare. "You can ask the others! I swear everything I said is true!"
Lilith snapped her head up, her black eyes burning with darkness that seemed like they could devour everything in the room.
Her gaze swept across the stunned faces, until it landed on Princess Estelle—pale and frozen in place.
"You. Tell me. Is he lying?"
Estelle glanced at her master, who was in a pathetic state. She hesitated for a moment but chose to answer truthfully.
"No… My master is telling the truth. I've never heard of the dragons either."
"You have dragon blood in your veins, and you claim you've never heard of dragons?" In the blink of an eye, Lilith was right beside her, grabbing her arm. "Do you know the consequences of… Huh? Strange…"
Her furious expression froze.
"Why don't you have the scent of dragon bloodline in you?"
"I told you, I don't know anything about the dragons. The Holy Sky Empire's royal bloodline is said to originate from an ancient race known as the Ancestra."
"No… That's nonsense…" Now it was Lilith's voice that trembled. Her gaze swept across the frightened palace maids around her. She didn't even need to ask them to know their answers. They looked just as lost and confused.
"Ridiculous!" Lilith stumbled back a step, her finger shaking as she pointed at them. She felt as though a demon was inside her head, screaming, howling, tearing at the walls of her sanity.
"How can no one know about the dragons?! This is absurd! This has to be a conspiracy… some kind of twisted scheme by some higher being! I refuse to believe any of you!"
She clenched her fists, forcing herself to breathe. When her mind finally regained a shred of clarity, she shouted into the air, "Ciel Hesse!"
"I'm here." Ciel appeared out of thin air.
The moment she saw the bottomless black swirling in Lilith's pupils, her expression shifted drastically.
"Lilith… why are you using that power again? What happened?"
"That doesn't matter! Just answer my question!"
Ciel frowned. She could tell that Lilith was obviously upset.
"What question?"
"You tell them… tell all of them…"
Lilith turned and pointed at the palace maids huddled in the corners like frightened quails, at Princess Estelle, barely managing to stay on her feet as she leaned against the wall, and at Aurora Python, who had buried his head in the broken floor, playing dead.
"Tell them… who are the dragons…"
It was then Lilith heard the genuine surprise in Ciel's voice as she said, "Eh? Dragons? What are dragons?"