#119

For a moment, he felt nothing. Only a dull sensation briefly coursed through his entire body, followed by a delayed gasp. A burning pain began to spread throughout his body. Red blood trickled over his lips. The metallic smell of iron hit him.

“Lord Cullen!”

Lasano, who had been standing back, shouted his name and rushed over, but Junon didn’t let him. Junon threw Pantel towards Lasano. The greatsword lodged itself at Lasano’s feet by a hair’s breadth. As Lasano tried to move again, Pantel rose into the air.

“Do you want your head severed too?”

His suspicion towards Lasano was immediately put aside, and Cullen urgently shouted towards Lasano. He couldn’t afford to lose anyone here.

“Don’t come, Lasano!”

After stopping him, Cullen somehow managed to get up. He had no sensation in his right back or arms. His bones were clearly broken. His organs didn’t seem to be pierced, but he wouldn’t survive if he left it untreated.

Nevertheless, Cullen moved his left arm with all his might. He could at least hold a sword. However, he had no weapon.

A sense of helplessness briefly washed over him. He had never felt such overwhelming pressure even when fighting Demonic Beasts. But before Magic, the goddess’s power, Akesis’s traces… Cullen was weak. Despite a lifetime of effort to become stronger, despair washed over him at the thought of possibly losing another comrade.

But if he collapsed, he would lose everyone. Cullen spoke strongly to Ulli, who was cradled in his arms.

“Ulli, Pantel has acknowledged you as its master. You can do it.”

“But, Pantel, it’s not… listening to me…”

Ulli replied with a trembling voice. Finally looking at Cullen, she noticed the smell of blood flowing from his body and her eyes widened.

“You’re hurt because of me, aren’t you?”

“No.”

“I, again… a burden…”

Tears welled up in Ulli’s eyes. Guilt flickered in her reddened eyes, and she bit her lip. Biting her lip until it turned pale, she looked at Junon and said.

“Pantel is my friend. If he was truly your family, your brother, do you think he would like what you’re doing?”

The words touching Pantel made Junon pause. She frowned and approached them. Drawing her rapier, Junon pointed the tip at Ulli.

“You, a rat who stole my brother, what do you know?”

“Yes, I don’t know. But I know that if they were a family who truly loved each other, they wouldn’t want their family to go around killing innocent people. That’s what you’re doing. You’re killing people who are completely blameless, using your anger as an excuse!”

With those words, Ulli stood up. Will and anger overlapped on her previously collapsed face.

“Pantel will be with me, even to stop you.”

“Nonsense! You know nothing about my brother!”

Ulli’s words seemed to touch something in Junon, as she swung her rapier with intensified killing intent. In the blink of an eye, the sword lunged forward, grazing Ulli’s cheek. Ulli rolled away with Cullen. She shouted again.

“Are you sure Pantel truly wanted to live like this? Would your family be happy seeing you now, becoming a blood-stained weapon and committing slaughter?!”

Junon’s face contorted.

“It’s better to be alive than dead!”

Junon charged overwhelmingly towards Ulli and Cullen, who were without weapons. Her round sword joined in, menacingly circling them. Scratches, deep wounds, began to appear. Ulli, supporting Cullen, dodged while provoking Junon.

“How is this living?!”

That one sentence shook Junon’s reason. She stopped abruptly, then let out a laugh, “Ahaha.” She then shook her head.

“I hate people like you, with your naive ideals, the most.”

Junon slowly removed her gloves completely. At the same time, a change began to slowly occur in her body. Her once white skin was tinged a faint dark blue, and her eyes turned red. But the most shocking thing was her hand beneath the gloves. It was not a human hand.

The part that had only been covered by gloves was shaped differently, as if something had been attached. A rough, scaly outer surface, and thorn-like nails connected to her fingers.

“You have to be alive to do anything. You can only feel if you’re alive, and you can only win if you’re alive. My father did this to save me. Because, you have to be alive to get revenge.”

Simultaneously, all the swords rose into the air. Pantel and the round swords surrounded them. Junon, aiming her rapier at Ulli’s neck, laughed lengthily.

“I’ll stop playing. Die. And then the goddess will come to your side.”

Junon’s eyes widened. Her red eyes glinted like Demonic Beasts as the weapons flew towards them.

“Cullen!”

Lasano’s cry rang out. Ulli stared at Junon without closing her eyes, while Cullen looked at Kiyen one last time. The thought that crossed his mind at that moment was not resentment towards the frozen, unmoving Kiyen…

It was an absurd worry.

If I die, and Kiyen… what if he’s sad, even a little?

That thought occurred to him.

As worry and sadness deeply permeated Cullen’s eyes, he saw Kiyen’s eyes. The pupils, narrowed to mere slits, stared directly at Cullen. Just making eye contact sent a strange sense of relief spreading.

And then, it became reality.

KWAANG!

With a deafening roar, wind enveloped Cullen and Ulli. The wind, which had surged like blades, struck away Junon’s incoming weapons.

The place where their eyes had met was empty. In the blink of an eye, Kiyen was already in front of Junon. His white, long arms gripped her neck, his pure white robe fluttering fiercely.

“……You……!”

Junon, unable to anticipate his speed, grabbed Kiyen’s arm with surprised eyes. She deeply scratched Kiyen’s arm with her blade-like nails, but he didn’t flinch as if he felt no pain.

With eyes devoid of reason, Kiyen lifted Junon high. His hair whipped around with the wind, as if in anger. This was the first time Kiyen had ever physically grasped someone like this.

Kiyen stared intently at her face, then quietly opened his mouth.

“You’ve touched someone you shouldn’t have.”

His voice was dry and, at the same time, inhuman. Everything he showed was like that. Even under Junon’s brutal attacks, Kiyen’s arm regenerated as it bled. The speed of recovery was faster than the speed at which she inflicted wounds.

Junon’s face grew increasingly pale. She could be seen gritting her teeth, gasping for breath.

“You’re… quite… something… for a surprise.”

Junon, barely managing to whisper, took her next action. The swords that had been aimed at Cullen and Ulli all flew towards Kiyen. With his back exposed and defenseless, it looked like Kiyen would be pierced. But he didn’t even give Cullen time to call his name.

KA-GANG!

A sound echoed, and ice erupted around him. The ice, rising like pillars, trapped Junon’s weapons within them. This kind of Magic was unprecedented. The Magic Kiyen had shown Cullen until now was primarily fire, and he had never used other elements.

Junon, witnessing the overwhelming scene, seemed to give up, her arms hanging limply. Panting, she asked one thing.

“Are you… a Gold Dragon…?”

“……?”

At the mention of Gold Dragon, Kiyen frowned. Seeing him as if he knew nothing, Junon let out a hollow laugh.

“You really know nothing. How pitiful.”

She uttered an incomprehensible remark and let her head droop. Then she looked up at the sky.

“Even so, you are a far greater killer than I am.”

Kiyen, who had shown confusion at Junon’s words, reacted to the word “killer.” His calm eyes turned a perfect gold.

“Shut up.”

“You are perhaps, the being who has killed the most lives since the birth of gods, cough…!”

Junon’s provocation was cut short. Kiyen released his grip on Junon and lifted her into the air with wind. His robe tore, and with a KWAAJIK sound, wings began to sprout. What had resembled bird wings now changed shape, mixed with golden scales in places.

Wind swirled around him. To avoid being blown away by the typhoon-like force, Cullen had to hold onto Ulli. It wouldn’t be strange if all this wind destroyed the very ground.

“Die.”

Following Kiyen’s brief words, the wind began to turn golden. What looked like blades split into tens, hundreds, and flew towards Junon in unison. Cullen’s eyes widened.

“Kiyen!”

It was a brutal attack, so different from what Kiyen had shown before. Thinking Kiyen might regret it, he called out, but it was too late.

The countless split swords in the air surged towards Junon and, in an instant, pierced her through. Ulli gasped and closed her eyes.

PUH-HUK!

The sound of flesh tearing and bursting echoed in the air. Cullen, unable to look away, watched Junon being dismembered in mid-air. Even Lasano, who had been rushing towards them, watched the scene with a pale face.

Silence descended upon the place where the destructive Magic had swept through. Junon fell to the ground with a THUD. She, who had fallen from the air, writhed and buried her face in the ground. She hadn’t died instantly, but it was clearly an attack that should have killed her long ago.

Cullen slowly rose to his feet. Dragging his unusable left shoulder, he approached Kiyen. He was sweating cold sweat from exhaustion, but he felt he had to go to Kiyen. Kiyen was looking down at Junon.

Junon was struggling to lift herself, her body wriggling. The appearance of holes all over her body was gruesome even for Cullen to see. She repeated falling as she tried to stand, constantly whispering.

“Call… Yurisis… Yurisis… he… me…”

Kiyen, watching her wriggle and mutter to herself, turned his gaze. As Cullen approached, he gazed intently at Cullen, then took in his twisted, drooping shoulder. Seeing the blood flowing freely, he tightened his lips and reached out to Junon again.

“I’ll have to blow her head off to kill her.”

“Kiyen, wait…! She’ll die even if you don’t. If you kill her so brutally, Kiyen, you won’t be at peace.”

To Cullen’s words, Kiyen replied with a face devoid of expression. His long eyelashes lifted dryly.

“What does it matter now?”

“……Kiyen?”

“No matter how much more blood I get on my hands here, it won’t be as terrible as that day.”

His voice, as if he had given up on something, tore at Cullen’s heart. He wasn’t that kind of person. More than anyone, more than anyone Cullen knew, he had never wanted to kill anything.

Kiyen’s heart had broken, implied in those words alone. Cullen grabbed his arm and pleaded.

“Kiyen is not that kind of person. Kiyen is the kindest being I have ever seen.”

At Cullen’s words, Kiyen’s eyebrows furrowed. With a look of despair Cullen had never seen before, Kiyen said softly.

“No. It’s the opposite. I am the embodiment of horror.”

With words cloaked in deep darkness, light burst from his hand.