As soon as the darkness lifted, everything snapped back into focus. It felt like I’d only blinked, yet something was different. Was this the result of the ritual? I turned my gaze to the platform and saw Duke Merca standing there, frozen, his eyes wide.
“H-Huh?” He looked down at his hand, trembling, and saw a knife clutched tightly, its blade buried deep in his daughter’s chest. Crimson streaked his hand—his own daughter’s blood, spilling by his own doing. The shock shattered whatever spellbound trance he’d been under. “W-What have I done?”
The horror in his face said it all. The memories from when he was brainwashed were still intact, and it was tearing him apart. He adored his daughter, cherished her so much he even increased cake production just so she’d have her favorite treat. And now, he’d stolen her life with his own hands.
“Noooooooooooo! What have I done?! What have I doneeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
His scream filled the air, raw and piercing, echoing with a grief so powerful it practically vibrated through the atmosphere. It was heartbreak given sound. No father should ever have to suffer the agony of ending their child’s life. But Duke Merca—someone who loved his daughter above all else—was living that nightmare.
“Hahaha! The climax! The climax is here!” Sesillian cackled, his voice sickeningly gleeful. “Think you’ve won? Oh, you’re so wrong! The real climax is still to come!”
“What have you done, Sesillian?” I demanded, watching him lie sprawled on the ground, unbothered.
“The ritual is complete. Our Lord… He’s going to blanket this world in eternal darkness!”
A shadow crept over me, no, over the entire plaza. Or calling it a “plaza” didn’t feel right—this darkness stretched too far and wide, like it was swallowing up the whole world.
So this was the Great Darkness.
“It’s too bad you thought… Charlotte was the only woman with royal blood running through her veins. You missed far too many details. That’s why you failed!”
I drove my foot into Sesillian’s head, snapping it back, the impact cracking the pavement beneath him. With his body sprawled limply, I looked skyward—and then I saw it.
Wings, darker than a starless night, stretched across the sky. A pair of golden eyes gleamed, embedded in a massive, ominous face. It was a dragon, but one unlike anything I’d ever imagined—its size was so monstrous, even from this distance, it loomed clear as day. This creature dwarfed anything on earth, so vast it might as well have been bigger than the world itself.
“What… the hell?”
Was this… a Great One? No. The Great Darkness doesn’t exist. If this being was truly of such size and power, what unimaginable terror would the Great Ones possess?
“Who calls upon me?” The voice rumbled, dark and primal, so deep it felt like it shook the fabric of reality itself, as though it was summoning a response from another dimension entirely.
But Sesillian, the one who had called upon it, lay there, utterly still. No final laugh, no final breath. He was dead, motionless in the wake of his ritual. Yet above, the creature lingered, its vast wings spread, blocking all light from the sky. Shadows consumed everything, save for those gleaming, unearthly golden eyes staring down, piercing through the dark.
“The caster of this ritual lies dead,” I declared, my voice steady. “Whoever or whatever you are, you have no reason to linger here without the one who summoned you. This planet is closed to you.”
The dragon’s luminous, otherworldly eyes shifted toward me, gleaming like molten gold against the void.
“And what right hath a mere mortal to dictate mine own course?” it rumbled, a thunderous voice that seemed to shake the heavens.
“Because this world is mine to claim,” I shot back, unfazed. “I don’t take kindly to others trying to grasp what’s supposed to be mine.”
A moment of silence passed as the dragon’s gaze bored into me, assessing, and then, abruptly, its mouth parted. It unleashed a breath of fire, but to me, it looked like a blazing meteor, a mass of furious heat and destruction hurtling through the air. If that fell upon the earth, it would raze the entire kingdom, perhaps annihilate this world itself. Without hesitation, I leapt into its path, throwing up the Guardian to halt the fiery assault.
But the force was far greater than anticipated. The Guardian’s defenses were absolute, unyielding against the dragon’s searing breath, yet the pressure pushed me back, sending me hurtling down until I crashed against the earth. Dust billowed up around me, forming a massive crater where I landed. Although I activated the Guardian on my back to absorb the impact, I knew that landing could’ve pulverized me otherwise.
High above, the dragon peered down, silent yet formidable. It didn’t strike again, only watching me as I climbed to my feet, brushing the dirt from my clothes.
“Thou, a feeble human, doth think thou can command me?” the dragon sneered, its tone dripping with disdain. “‘Tis the gravest insult one of thine kind could bestow upon a being such as I. Ye pitiful creatures shouldst cower, trembling before mine presence, singing praises to the might I embody.”
“Sorry, we humans aren’t the kneeling sort,” I replied. “You’re just another Great One wannabe. What sane person would even think of worshiping you?”
The dragon huffed, its nostrils flaring with a low rumble, as if vexed. “Dost thou think the ‘Great Ones’ art the peak of power in this realm? Know ye, mortal, that many dragons dwell beyond these stars who art mightier by far than those ‘Great Ones’ thou speaketh of. By comparison, they art but dust.”
Interesting. I hadn’t expected to learn about the universe’s lore from a dragon, but the knowledge was welcome. His words confirmed what I’d wondered—that there was far more beyond this planet. With no astronomy subjects taught at the academy, I had no way of knowing before. But this dragon’s words confirmed what I’d long suspected—this world was neither in the Solar System nor the Milky Way.
And now, I knew that the Great Ones weren’t the only supreme beings in the universe. There were others, ancient forces like this dragon that didn’t fall under that title. That meant dragons like this resided on a plane far greater than ours, in worlds beyond this small realm.
“I could rend this world asunder with but a snap of mine fingers,” the dragon’s voice reverberated, low and chilling. “I could devour it whole, chew it to dust, then spit it forth to drift as ruin through the cosmos. Slaying all of ye would be child’s play. Yet, thou darest stand unbowed. Why dost thou not tremble before me? What delusion leads thee to think thou might weather a force as cataclysmic as I? Could it be that folly alone gives thee such brazen courage?”
I met the creature’s gaze, unwavering. “Do you think it would make a good story—a mere ‘lower being’ like me triumphing over a great cosmic force?”
The dragon sneered, an almost mocking fire sparking in its eyes. “Such insolence doth test my patience. This world would be better served as nothingness.”
It opened its maw once more, but this time, instead of an immediate torrent, it began to draw in energy, flames gathering in the depths of its throat, burning hotter with each passing second.
“Then come, little fool. Do what thou wilt to stop this.”
In a heartbeat, a cataclysmic blaze erupted from its maw, a roaring surge of fire barreling toward the earth. Faster, fiercer than before—it was a torrent I knew I couldn’t intercept with a mere leap. The impact alone would propel me back, unleashing devastation on the kingdom below. So, I extended the Guardian Barrier, expanding it over the entire kingdom like a great dome, curving upward to halt the fiery wave. As the barrier surged, I felt the weight of it—a strain so fierce I could feel my energy waver, but I forced myself to endure, standing firm against the blaze.
“Nrgh…!”
What incredible power—this dragon wielded a force beyond anything I’d imagined. My arms felt like they might splinter under the pressure, bending as the heat bore down on me. This was a dragon’s true might—unstoppable, monstrous.
The Guardian Barrier held, absorbing the inferno, stopping the flames from turning the land below into a wasteland. If it had struck, the kingdom would be nothing but smoldering ash. I couldn’t let this beast reduce my world to cinders. Somehow, I had to end this, but the question remained—how?
“You halted my wrath once more? That barrier of yours is… vexing,” the dragon growled. Then, in a flash, it vanished. No, not vanished. It was shrinking, condensing, hurtling toward the ground as a small shape that landed with a force that shook the earth, sending shockwaves that rippled around us. “Very well. I shall engage thee in this form.”
Through the cloud of dust that rose from his landing emerged a towering figure. Muscles like stone, flesh overlaid with scales as black as night. His face—somehow both human and dragon—sported a cruel smile, eyes glinting gold, predatory and fierce. His hair, the same jet-black as his scales, framed his powerful visage.
“I shall end this world in mine own hands.”
He had taken on a human form.
