#210

The barrier, which unfolded just as it had when it enveloped Kiyen, surrounded Cullen and the rest of the group in a circle. The fiercely burning fireball could not pass through the barrier and turned into smoke with a ‘Chiiik’ sound. Those who had closed their eyes slowly opened them.

“Cullen…!”

Ulli called his name with a flushed face. Cullen blinked, unable to believe he had done it again. Everyone was unharmed and standing before him.

“Are you all alright?”

Lasano and Kihelene answered Cullen’s question one after another.

“Yes, we are fine.”

“Are you okay, Cullen?”

While they were talking, Junon, still pale-faced, stared ahead. Ulli said to Junon.

“It’s okay now, Junon. Cullen has divine power, so he’ll be fine.”

But Junon shook her head resolutely.

“No. What just happened wasn’t even an attack, Ulli. The situation is bad. Now that we’ve blocked its attack…”

As Junon spoke, the Kaiiken’s form in the distance began to change. What had looked like a small mountain was growing in size. No, it was getting closer.

“It’s going to try and cover us with its entire body.”

Gugugug, a sound echoed nearby. The ground, which had been melting in a bizarre way, shook as if it would collapse. Not only that, but the ground was splitting in half from the direction the Kaiiken was approaching. There had never been a time when it felt more fortunate that there were no people in the central region.

Everywhere the Kaiiken touched, it was being devastated. The pressure that weighed down on their shoulders was incomparable to when the Duchy of Lenon had collapsed.

“It’s that big, and it’s this fast?”

Ulli exclaimed in shock, cursing. Then she led Kihelene and Junon.

“Run, just run for now!”

Following Ulli’s words, everyone began to run. Lasano used Magic to create a bridge-like structure to cross the deep chasms in the ground. However, their running speed could not keep up with the Kaiiken’s movement speed.

Like a crimson tidal wave, the Kaiiken instantly covered the ground and sky, casting its shadow. Heat, as if their bodies would melt at any moment, gathered in all directions. Exposed skin prickled.

That wasn’t all. Fireballs, incomparable to before, rained down like meteors in the direction the group was running. While dodging the falling objects, Lasano tripped. Perhaps due to expending too much energy, he stumbled and fell, saying to Cullen.

“Go on ahead, leave me behind!”

Lasano shouted. Cullen stopped beside him. Lasano looked desperate.

“I am the one who caused Arne to die. I am also a traitor. Don’t stay behind because of me!”

Seeing Lasano’s desperate plea, Cullen thought of White’s face. He also remembered himself telling that child he wouldn’t let that happen. The thoughts he had pondered all night overlapped, and Cullen recalled his own resolve not to want to survive at the cost of losing someone.

It’s okay, I can do it.

Ignoring Lasano’s words, Cullen stood before the giant red mountain that was about to engulf them. Lasano tugged at his clothes, letting out a wail.

“Don’t do this for a piece of trash like me!”

There was no time to reply. As soon as Lasano finished speaking, the tip of the Kaiiken struck them. A heat far more intense than before engulfed Cullen’s body. The heat, which caused pain just by touching, was blocked by the white barrier that had appeared earlier.

“Cullen, Lasano!”

Ulli’s desperate cry echoed from afar. But they couldn’t see. The red mass was pressing heavily on the entire white barrier.

“To care for others to this extent is foolishness, not mercy, Cullen.”

Lasano, who had barely managed to stand up, said, meeting Cullen’s gaze.

“You did something dangerous.”

“I did it because I wanted to. You don’t have to forgive everyone, but Lasano, you were my comrade….”

Yes, I did it because I wanted to. Perhaps coming to defeat the Demonic Beasts wasn’t entirely my own will, but at least this choice now was what I wanted. It was possible because I had the belief that I could do it.

“I thought it was possible to forgive, just once, the mistakes made by someone who was once precious to me. Arne would have wanted that too. This is what I wanted to do.”

At Cullen’s words, Lasano gritted his teeth. His red eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fists, then looked at the narrowing white barrier and laughed.

“So we might die together? I don’t want to die side-by-side with you, Cullen. Kiyen would be furious.”

“We won’t die.”

The moment Kiyen’s name left Lasano’s lips, Cullen felt a certainty. A certainty that Kiyen, of all people, would not leave him like this.

And as if Kiyen had heard that certainty, a change occurred.

The red mass, which had been pressing down on the barrier with the intent to swallow, crush, and obliterate, slowly receded. Even though it wasn’t a pressure he was directly bearing, he could feel it.

Cullen slowly raised his head. As a part of the Kaiiken that had covered the barrier disappeared, a dark shadow fell. Through the semi-transparent barrier, Cullen looked up at the sky. There, a long, menacing shadow unlike anything he had ever seen before.

“What is that….”

Lasano also stared blankly upwards. His eyes, wide with surprise, were frozen like someone who had encountered a miraculous wonder. Cullen was the same.

Its long, trailing tail was so colossal it could sweep away a person with a single movement, and it was solid. The tail, adorned with sharp golden scales, hung gracefully, and the large spines extending along it were as sturdy as horns.

He could feel Ulli, Kihelene, and even Junon looking up at the sky beyond the barrier. It wasn’t just them. From somewhere unseen, everyone had stopped and was gazing at the manifested golden Dragon.

Without any cry or menacing shriek, the Dragon’s mere presence overwhelmed everything. The Dragon, casting a shadow that could cover them all like clouds, unfurled its colossal wings, incomparable to its human form.

A typhoon-like wind blew, and scattered embers surged towards the Kaiiken. Instinctively, the Kaiiken seemed to recognize its enemy, faltering and retreating. Unlike its aggressive charge moments before, it swelled its body and watched the Dragon’s movements. Its previous demeanor, which seemed ready to swallow the group, was nowhere to be seen.

The Dragon circled the sky once and then began to glide low towards the Kaiiken. The sound of air splitting echoed, ‘Swaaaek’. Cullen stared intently into the Dragon’s golden eyes as it swept past above their heads. The moment he felt their gazes cross, the Dragon opened its mouth.

As the mouth, filled with menacing, sharp teeth, opened, a crimson light, different from the Kaiiken’s, began to gather. The heat, gathering like a giant sphere, was aimed at the Kaiiken. Simultaneously, the Kaiiken began to writhe and expand as if about to explode.

Guaaaah—!

The Kaiiken’s anguished roar echoed all around. The deafening roar caused Ulli and the others to cover their ears and crouch down. Cullen also winced and covered his ears.

Just then, a low, clear resonance echoed from the sky.

I am an ancient artifact, a singular existence.

My power overwhelms all that exists.

Kiyen’s voice echoed in his mind, just as it had when she spoke to him before.

Cullen stared at the scene without even blinking. He saw Kiyen, who had lost herself while confined in the palace, revealing herself. He witnessed her revealing her true form not to kill people, but to protect the continent.

You, a mere trace of a fallen god, cannot defeat me.

As Kiyen’s declaration fell like a judgment, a blazing fire, unlike any they had ever seen, erupted from the Dragon’s mouth. The fire, drawing a straight line, struck the Kaiiken. It was no longer crimson but even white.

Kuaaang—!

The Dragon’s flames, which had once burned mountains and land due to Larkan’s greed, swept across the ground. The flames, pouring down solely towards the Kaiiken, dyed the surroundings red. Everyone stared blankly at the wondrous sight.

The Kaiiken, like it had attacked the group, hurled a fireball at Kiyen. The fireball flew towards Kiyen like a meteor ascending from below, but Kiyen’s golden scales withstood it. The Kaiiken, enduring Kiyen’s fire, soon let out a pained groan that reverberated.

The flames did not stop. The Dragon’s fire, which had melted the Duchy of Jenix for seven days without rest, blazed as if to burn everything the Kaiiken possessed.

The Kaiiken, attempting to endure, must have made a decision, as it stopped confronting Kiyen and changed direction. Having melted and shrunk, it rolled towards Cullen and the group.

“Cullen!”

The rapidly sliding Kaiiken was still large enough to engulf the group, and seeing it, Lasano called his name. Kiyen, following closely behind the Kaiiken, pursued fiercely. As a shadow larger than a mountain engulfed the Kaiiken, Kiyen’s voice echoed in his mind.

‘Use your power.’

It happened in an instant.

As if they had discussed it before, Cullen reached out as soon as he heard Kiyen’s words. The white light that had surrounded him and Lasano changed shape and spread from Cullen’s hand. With a ‘Hwaaak,’ as the light spread, a long, tall white curtain descended between the Kaiiken and Cullen.

The Kaiiken, which was about to engulf Cullen, was blocked by the wall, and Kiyen’s fire struck. Cullen’s body shook from the impact of ‘Kuaang!’, but Lasano held him from behind. The hand supporting his back was hot.

Kaaaaaak!

Kai’ken struggled, but Cullen gritted his teeth and held on. He felt energy constantly flowing from his body and felt dizzy, but he endured. Cullen stood there enduring for an immeasurably long time, and Kiyen also spewed fire as if drawing out all his energy.

How much time passed like that?

The immense force pushing against the barrier began to feel like it was slowly dissipating. Cullen, who had been standing steadfastly, sweat beading on his brow, slowly lowered his hand.

His arms felt numb, as if he had squeezed out every last bit of energy. The moment he lowered his hand, the barrier that had spread out long and wide also began to fade. As the barrier disappeared, Cullen found himself face-to-face with Kai’ken’s massive corpse, melted and collapsed right before his eyes.

It was like a fallen giant. Its eyes, invisible amidst the flames, glowed faintly from within its black, charred body. The eyes, filled only with rage and hatred, slowly lost their light, eventually becoming nothing more than stone.

“Unbelievable…”

Junon, who had somehow made his way to Cullen and Lasano’s location, muttered. Ulli, following behind, rushed to Cullen’s side and supported his arm.

“Are you alright, Cullen?”

“I am fine. Is everyone else injured?”

“Why are you worrying about us at a time like this!”

Ulli said with a tearful face, then turned to Lasano.

“Why did you so easily tell us to leave him, you idiot!”

Her face was wet with tears, as if she had cried a lot. Kihelene, too, seemed to have been crying, her lips pressed tightly together.

Though he thought he should comfort her, Cullen turned his gaze to the sky. There, Kiyen, who had stopped spewing flames, looked down at him silently.

His size was incomparable to his usual form, and it was a sight he had never seen before, yet Cullen recognized Kiyen by his elegant and beautiful golden hue.

Gazing at the Dragon’s true form, filled entirely with Kiyen’s color, Cullen felt an urge to run and embrace him. If only he would change his form and descend, he wanted to do just that.

However, Kiyen did not return to him, even after killing Kai’ken. Kiyen, who had been looking at Cullen for a long time as if contemplating something, slowly turned his body instead of descending. His massive wings unfurled with a great sweep, and he began to fly in a new direction.

“Lord Kiyen?”

Seeing this, Cullen called out to him in confusion. He hadn’t realized he had spoken his name aloud.

Yet, even when called by the name Kiyen had so desperately desired, he did not look back. He hadn’t appeared suddenly like before, nor had he emerged from a cruel situation, but there was no response.

“What, where are you going? Isn’t it all over?”

Ulli also muttered beside Cullen, looking surprised. As everyone watched the direction Kiyen was disappearing with confused expressions, Black’s voice echoed in Cullen’s mind.

‘You must stop Lord Kiyen.’

Startled, Cullen looked around, but Black was nowhere to be seen. The voice continued.

‘We are at the passage now. The three of us cannot completely close the passage with our power alone. Cat said that, and Lord Kiyen is coming to help with that.’

‘What is the problem with that?’

Based on his previous conversations with Kiyen, Cullen asked Black. Black was silent for a moment, then whispered in a subdued voice.

‘Magic that manipulates space is an ancient power. Only beings with Immortality can handle it. If Lord Kiyen were to use it…’

A shiver ran down his spine.

‘He would die.’