Mira thought entering the high tower was the coolest thing she had ever done.
She clung to Lance, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
She didn't care what identity she had when she entered the high tower; she was Mira, and the girl walking toward the tower was named Mira. That was enough.
All the talk of sacrifices, uses, and "her" was nonsense.
Saving the world was for those who wanted to save it.
Right now, she knew nothing, and she didn't care about anything.
Her lover was the most powerful mage in the world, and all she had to do was follow him, showing off her strength.
She would try her best, hoping Lance would take her traveling, sitting on the back of a dragon, imagining how fun it would be.
But she really wanted to cry.
Why was this happening? Mira’s tears fell, the first round, rolling down her cheeks, and then she couldn’t control herself, tears just kept coming.
This was an unexpected development for Lance, but it seemed like he knew what to do.
The blue dragon wrapped around Mira, holding her close, letting her wipe her tears on his clothes.
Mira didn’t want to cry. But she also felt that holding back her tears would make her more upset, and it was better to release all her bad emotions at once and then move on, happily facing the coming days.
Lance gently stroked her hair, like petting a small animal.
She thought randomly, was she trembling like a pitiful little animal now? Hiding in a corner, carefully shedding tears? Mira didn’t want to be like this. But for just this moment, she allowed herself to be this way.
Losing her parents was always painful to think about. She would think of Lady Ellin, think of Maria's kingly father, and remember the sadness and nostalgia Lance showed when he occasionally mentioned his mother.
Being reminded over and over that she was an orphan was very sad, especially when her mother was linked with the experiment's sacrifice. Mira felt even more sorrowful.
If Mira had never existed in this world, perhaps there wouldn’t be so many people hurt.
But Mira’s disappearance wouldn’t stop the suffering.
If not Mira, it would be another girl. If that child hadn’t left the magic hub, it would have been another tragedy.
Mira sometimes feared her own mind. She could look at things from different angles at the same time, but sometimes she liked her thoughts; it was these irreplaceable combinations of ideas that made her who she was.
Whether she was born of the power of the mind and thoughts or not, she would never lose these strange ideas.
In the suffocating magic hub, the complicated rules and oppressive environment hadn’t assimilated her.
She was different from the other children, but at the same time, not so different. That’s how it was. Slowly, Mira stopped crying, throwing all her sadness behind her.
She leaned against Lance’s chest, feeling the beating of his heart beneath the blue dragon’s protective scales.
“Is it better now?” Lance sensed Mira's trembling had subsided.
Her sadness never lasted too long. Mira had learned how to regulate her emotions since she was very young.
She shook her head, signaling that she was fine. Lance patted her back. “When you’re okay, get up.”
Mira pouted. Stupid blue dragon, he didn’t know how to comfort people.
“Don’t look.” Mira’s voice was nasal from crying. She didn’t want Lance to see her like this. She must have looked terrible after crying. She didn’t want to leave him with a bad impression.
Though they would see each other in various states in the future, they were just beginning their relationship, and she had to make an effort to save her image.
As expected, Lance listened to her and turned his face away.
Mira sneaked a glance at him. His profile was also handsome.
She raised her hand, and one spell after another appeared in her mind. With the help of magic, she quickly returned to her normal appearance.
“Done.” Externally, she could recover with magic, but the nasal tone in her voice would take a while to completely disappear.
Lance turned around.
His gaze landed on Mira. Her eyes were a little swollen, and her nose was red, but she had stopped crying.
Lance’s gaze shifted to his chest. He sighed silently.
“I’ll change my clothes.”
Change clothes? Mira blinked. Her eyes were a bit dry from the tears, but that didn’t affect her thoughts.
“Turn around.” Lance may be slow, but Mira’s expression was too obvious, and she didn’t hide it at all.
“What’s the matter?” Mira smiled, her eyes swollen, but her smile’s curve didn’t change.
She sat up straight and had no intention of turning around.
Lance had no choice but to turn his back.
Magic lifted a clean robe and handed it to Lance. He untied the wizard robe's straps.
Lance was a mage and a dragon, unlike ordinary mages, who were weak. His side profile was perfect, his muscles well-distributed, not overly exaggerated, but just very comfortable.
Mira stared at Lance’s back, following the curve of his butterfly bones down, tracing along his spine.
Was the blue dragon working out?
Mira couldn’t help but think. Lance didn’t seem to have any interest in working out; he liked staying inside even more than she did.
If it was a natural physique, wouldn’t he need to maintain it? Too perfect, right?
She propped up her chin, thinking about this question.
Her unblinking gaze was impossible to ignore.
Lance sighed and turned around.
Mira was startled and hurriedly moved her gaze away. It didn’t feel strange when she was secretly watching from behind, but when Lance turned around, she suddenly felt very flustered.
Lance moved closer to her. Mira didn’t look, but she knew he was getting closer.
“W-what are you doing?” She hugged her legs, curling up, not looking at Lance. But she knew exactly what he looked like; his image was etched into her brain.
Lance smiled. He knew Mira was actually a softie.
He took one side of his robe and put it on.
The wizard robe had complicated straps, and while Lance lowered his head to tie them, Mira secretly glanced at him.
She saw a patch of red on his chest.
Mira’s gaze was drawn to it.
The blue dragon raised his head. He knew what Mira was looking at.
The heart-protecting scales.
He sat next to her.
“Surprised?”
Mira shook her head. She said truthfully, “It’s amazing.”
When Lance was injured, Mira had treated his wounds, and at that time, his chest skin was no different from an ordinary person's.
Mira reached out and poked the scale.
The heart-protecting scale was transparent. She could even see the heart beating beneath it through the scale.
“It looks fragile.” Mira hesitated to touch it further.
Lance didn’t mind. He explained, “This is the hardest scale on my body.”
Mira looked up at him.
“Amazing.”
Lance’s gaze fell on her. “Feeling better?” he asked, fastening the robe and putting on his belt.
“Better,” Mira said honestly.
“Let’s go out and have fun.” Lance extended his hand to her. “Didn’t you ask me if a dragon could carry people?”
Mira’s eyes lit up immediately.
She understood the unspoken meaning of Lance’s words. At that moment, Mira couldn’t care about anything else. She quickly got up from the bed, put on her shoes, and stood next to Lance.
“I’m ready.”
Mira became excited. She had been thinking about how to coax Lance earlier, but now she could directly experience dragon-riding. It was just amazing.
Lance noticed the complete change in Mira’s expression.
He felt a little uneasy. Lance had never flown with anyone before. He didn’t know if Mira would be scared, or if she would like the feeling.
Magic transported them to the other side of the high tower.
The high tower was built on the edge of a mountain cliff. One side was a space filled with bones, and the other side was a bottomless abyss.
Normally, Mira rarely went behind the high tower. She had only come here once when she was first observing the tower’s surroundings.
She still remembered the first time she stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down. The feeling of her legs trembling involuntarily.
That feeling was still the same even now.
“So high,” Mira chuckled awkwardly. She had many experiences jumping from high places, but that was in the safety channels of the tower. Only when she was sure she was safe could she enjoy the freedom of leaping.
Lance smiled at her.
“I learned to fly here,” he said, looking down at the cliff.
“I’ve flown over this cliff thousands of times, Mira.”
He reached out his hand to her, and Mira took it.
Lance suddenly lifted her up. Standing at the edge of the cliff, Mira’s feet left the ground. A flash of instinctive fear crossed her face, but as soon as she securely landed on Lance’s neck, that fear disappeared.
“Here we go, Mira.”
His voice disappeared in the wind.
It was a signal.
Then everything became different. Mira felt her perspective rising. Her feet could no longer feel the solid ground beneath, and instead, a gust of wind lifted her up.
She was sitting on the broad back of the dark blue dragon, and the scales beneath her were like the one she wore around her neck. Their colors were darker, losing their brilliance but gaining stability. They were larger. Compared to the ones she could hold in her palm, the ones her hands brushed against now were much harder.
They were arranged neatly, forming the dragon’s armor, protecting him from injury and cold.
Blue dragons were such beautiful creatures. Mira’s hands lingered over his hard scales, her eyes filled with envy.
Even though she had imagined a thousand times how Lance would look as a dragon, everything she was experiencing now exceeded her imagination.
“Mira.” Even in his dragon form, he could still speak human language.
Lance whispered, “Hold on to me.”
Mira extended her hand, and magic appeared in her palm, anchoring her body to Lancel's broad back.
As the dragon had said, dragons were not suitable for taming, and there was no place on their bodies for humans to remain.
He lowered his body, and Mira leaned forward with him. Then, he bent down, and his dragon wings flapped, leaping off the cliff.
Mira closed her eyes amidst the chaos. She could feel the howling wind rushing past her, sweeping her hair and dress, yet not causing her the slightest discomfort.
Mira squinted, a pale blue light surrounding her.
It was Lancel.
She widened her eyes, looking down at the river flowing beneath the cliff. It was the meltwater from the snow-capped mountains, a wild stallion galloping forward.
The blue dragon descended so quickly that they could have crashed into the river at any moment. Mira widened her eyes and even saw the shattered figure of the blue dragon in the turbulent water.
But just before plunging into the river, Lancel shifted direction, leaping higher, rising ever higher, until they passed through the clouds and reached a place near the moon.
The shadow of the dragon flickered among the clouds, leaving a black mark on the full moon before disappearing again.
The dragon’s wings, tail, and its curious eyes, always searching the world, flickered in and out of the clouds.
Lancel carried Mira over the mountains of the Eastern Kingdom, flying across the rushing rivers, circling the edge of the desert, and finally heading toward the vast, dense forest.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
"It's the magic hub!"
High in the sky, the blue-purple magical barrier of the magic hub stood out. Surrounding the magical energy were glowing threads—energy waves that formed an aura, and the intense magic manifested as twisted space.
Mira had lived in Nali for 18 years, and all she had ever seen was a small world enclosed by magical energy. The sky was neither blue nor deep blue; it was a mix of blue and purple, dreamlike and illusory.
Now, she was flying outside the magic hub. In a short time, Lancel had taken her to places she had never been.
Lancel heard Mira's voice and hovered above the magic hub.
The magic concealed the blue dragon’s presence. The human mages on the ground could never have imagined that at this very moment, outside the magical energy barrier, the world’s most accomplished spellcaster was floating.
"It looks beautiful from here," Mira said to Lancel.
Looking down at the energy shield of the magic hub, seeing the flowing blue and purple energies, Mira no longer felt hatred or disgust for this strange sky.
It always had its own unique view.
"Ah—"
From the shoulder of the dragon, looking down at the world, Mira felt not only the freedom but also the world she lived in.
She saw the world the way she had always wanted to see it when trapped inside the magic hub.
"Do you want to get closer?" Lancel asked Mira.
If she wished, in his blue dragon form, he could take her to stand on the magic hub’s energy shield.
But Mira declined his offer.
"No, that's fine," Mira said, "It’s beautiful, but I’ve grown tired of it."
Beneath the exquisite beauty was an empty, illusory substance. She no longer wanted to engage with the magic hub.
Lancel tilted his head and flew with Mira to a more distant place.
He eventually landed before a mark of fire.
Mira gazed at the dimly flickering sky in the distance, suddenly realizing this was the Demon’s Mark.
A dense forest, abruptly cut off, followed by rising smoke and exposed magma. Flames, and many black creatures, howling as they tried to rush toward them, but were blocked by an invisible barrier.
Lancel brought Mira close to the Demon’s Mark.
Contrary to what she had imagined, Mira felt an affinity from the unseen barrier.
She remembered Lancel's words—this was his mother’s work.
The barrier sealing the Demon’s Mark was made from the heart scales of countless blue dragon ancestors. Years ago, a crack had appeared in the barrier, and it was Lancel's mother who repaired it.
Mira understood his purpose for this journey. He had fulfilled her wish, but more importantly, Lancel wanted to bring her here to see the scales built from the heart scales.
He set Mira down on a nearby giant tree, and magic trimmed the branches to form a platform for them to stay. Lancel shifted from dragon form to human, quietly watching the view ahead.
Flames occasionally rose from the other world, the light distant and reflecting in his blue eyes as a small orange-red point.
Mira felt Lancel’s sorrow. She thought of a question to open the conversation, but when it came to her lips, she felt it unnecessary.
"Does the lightning battery lead here?" Mira asked blankly.
Lancel glanced at her.
He chuckled lightly, slowly sitting down on the tree trunk.
Mira mimicked his movement and sat beside him.
"It leads to the other side," Lancel stretched out his hand, pointing toward the place where the flames and thick smoke swirled.
"That side," he repeated.
The lightning battery inside the tower was the only passage from this world to the other side of the Demon’s Mark.
However, it was a one-way passage. Only people from this side could use it to enter the other world, but demons from that world could never enter the human world through this magical device.
However, since Nathaniel was so eager to take back the tower, he must have found a way to reverse this magic.
Lancel looked at the protective barrier in front of them.
"The demons cannot break my mother's heart scales." The scales closest to the blue dragon’s heart appeared soft, but they were the hardest.
Mira pursed her lips. She couldn’t understand the demons' invasion; it was without reason, their existence was solely to destroy.
But some people still wanted to protect what they had destroyed.
Thus, conflict and contradictions were born in this process.
Mira looked up at the distance. Her eyes were not as sharp as a dragon's, and she couldn’t make out many fine details.
But the flames and thick black smoke rising from the ground were too obvious.
"What are those flames?" she asked Lancel.
"Probably a manifestation of energy," Lancel was uncertain. He had never been to that side, only conducting some simple experiments through the lightning battery.
"The demon souls are the corrupted shadows of the heart," Lancel added. "Perhaps this is a form of that corruption."
"Lancel, there was a time when I thought you knew everything," Mira said honestly. "Later, I thought you knew everything about magic. Now it seems that’s not true."
"Know everything?" He tilted his head with a smile, "If someone tells you they know everything, they’re definitely lying."
Mira tilted her head.
"That doesn’t sound like something you’d say."
Lancel froze for a moment.
"You're right," he said, "That was what the tower mage said to me, the one who stole my mother's heart scales."
"The creator of the tower?"
"The greatest mage in human history, Albert Zangwell?" He wore a puzzled expression. "For blue dragons, your human names are a bit complicated. I can’t remember if his name was this."
Mira nodded.
"Yes." Albert wasn’t the first tower mage, but he was the last one from several hundred years ago.
He was called the hero who saved humanity, but Mira couldn’t recall his exact deeds.
Perhaps the books in the magic hub recorded his life, but apprentices couldn’t borrow such books, and Carl never shared these stories with her.
"The story of the mage and the blue dragon queen," Lancel looked at Mira, "I don’t know much about it. It won’t be more interesting than the fantasy books on the bookshelf."
"Just like us." Mira’s words surprised Lancel.
He and Mira were both blue dragons and spellcasters.
But he didn’t continue along with her thought; instead, he contradicted her.
"We’re not the same." Cecilia and Albert didn’t have a traditional happy ending.
One gave up her heart scales and died, the other lived a hundred years alone and died in a shelter beneath the long seal.
That wasn’t a good ending. Lancel didn’t want him and Mira to end up like Cecilia and Albert.
"Do you want to help?" Mira had heard that bad future from Maria, and she really wanted to know if Lancel would get involved for her.
For this answer, she hoped Lancel would agree, but at the same time, she hoped he would firmly refuse to protect himself.
"I don’t know," Lancel shook his head.
In comparison, the old him would have ignored human life. Now, with Mira, he wanted to protect her.
He wasn’t Cecilia; he couldn’t choose to sacrifice himself. Also, he didn’t want Mira, who had spiritual power, to use it to save the world after learning about her abilities.
The demons' destructive desire was without reason. Invasion could be stopped once, but there would always be another time.
It was impossible for someone to always be there to stop these disasters, and he never understood why Cecilia chose to sacrifice herself.
"I don’t know either," Mira said truthfully.
Saving the world sounded great, but it felt so far away. She just wanted to protect herself, protect Lancel, protect Maria, and those things she cared about.
She didn’t want to save the world.
Mira rested her head on her hand.
Maria cared a bit more than she did, so she wanted to protect this kingdom.
"The heart scales haven’t cracked," Lancel said, "It’s just the demons’ new attempt."
"What did you say to Maria?"
"I told her the way to save the world," Lancel said. "Use the soul of a hero to seal the demon’s soul."
Mira gasped, "Did Maria agree?"
"She said she tried it in another world. This method didn’t work."
"That’s good." Mira thought, she didn’t want Maria to sacrifice herself.
"So, I told her another way," Lancel's expression became serious.
"Stop this war and send Nathaniel back to that world forever."
"Of course, we are satisfied with your proposal, Duke Bona."
In a VIP reception area inside the Magic Hub.
The black dragon, disguised as the human Duke Bona, was speaking with several mages.
Duke Bona lounged in a soft sofa, his black eyes—filled with malevolent intent—scanning the people around him.
"Why haven't I seen Archmage Karl?" Bona asked. He and Karl were old acquaintances.
Once, when he tried to burn the Eastern Kingdom to the ground with dragon flames, it was Karl the Archmage who intervened, convincing him to marry the princess.
At that time, Karl had just achieved the eighth-ring, but still had the courage to negotiate with the black dragon.
"Karl?" The mages scowled in disgust when they heard his name.
"He lost something important and has been stripped of all authority. He's been placed under house arrest in the Central Teaching Building."
Duke Bona raised an eyebrow slightly.
Bona knew that Karl was the human with the greatest potential to challenge the status of the Tower Master. He was the most skilled human mage the black dragon had ever encountered, second only to blue dragons. But now, he was under house arrest?
"What did he lose?" Bona feigned curiosity as he inquired with the mages present.
They had already reached an agreement. Duke Bona had brought the news that the magic dragon had been severely wounded, and now was the perfect time to eliminate it.
The Magic Hub would send mages to assist the human army in defeating the magic dragon, and any spoils from the battle, including the magical mediums the dragon had collected and the Tower itself, would belong to the Magic Hub.
From that day on, the people of the Eastern Kingdom would regain their freedom.
This was the secret of the Magic Hub. When Duke Bona mentioned this, the mages in attendance fell silent.
Bona slightly raised an eyebrow, and a trace of thought appeared in his malevolent black eyes.
"It seems I've overstepped my bounds," he said casually, finishing his drink in one go and sinking into the soft sofa.
His dragon's eyes, narrowed slightly, revealed a glimpse of the black dragon's power.
This was the territory of the Magic Hub, and Bona had no intention of using the black dragon's power here.
But he sensed something and guessed that these humans might provide the answers he sought.
Dragon fear did not belong to magic. It was the pressure of a top-tier predator in the food chain.
The black dragon was the ruler of dragons, and even though Bona had been away from Sky City for many years, this power still lingered with him.
Soon, someone, half-dazed, revealed the secret of the Magic Hub.
"Karl lost her."
"Her?"
"She's an artificial medium. They transferred the power of the Mindstone into a girl's body. Possessing her is like possessing the power of the Mindstone."
Bona tilted his head.
Once again, human audacity exceeded his expectations. They actually dared to target the Heart of the World.
And they had somehow figured out how to use the power of the Mindstone.
Bona was not human. He could directly absorb the power of the Heart of the World.
Lance, too, was a giant dragon, and he could do the same.
A human girl...
Bona recalled the black-haired girl protected by the blue dragon's scales.
Because of the dragon scales' protection, his dragon's eyes couldn't see through her. So that was the purpose of those scales.
Bona leaned on his hand.
"That's really a shame."
"The thing could have made us Tower Mages," the mages said angrily when talking about Karl losing the medium.
The medium was never just Karl's. Perhaps long ago, they should not have agreed to Karl's suggestion to raise her as a regular child. Instead, they should have locked "her" away in an appropriate cage and waited until she matured to use her power.
That way, there wouldn't be so many troubles now.
"Tower Mage?" Bona laughed, as if hearing a joke.
These human pigs actually thought they could become Tower Mages?
"Once you obtain the legendary mediums from the Magic Dragon's Tower, you'll become one soon enough."
Mira had fallen asleep on Lance's back.
The blue dragon carefully carried her back to the Tower. As they passed the base of the Tower, the dragon's far superior hearing detected the sound of an argument.
Lance covered Mira's ears, afraid that the slightest noise might wake her.
It was Mira’s friend Maria and the dragon-slaying hero. They seemed to have a disagreement.
Lance didn't need to guess much; he knew it was about the Demon Mark.
Heroes often had blunt personalities. They held "justice" as their guiding principle, which sometimes led them into extreme positions.
Lance saw the spirit of a hero in Maria, but that strength was still in its early stages. To truly harness the courage born of humanity, which was strong enough to rival the power of the Heart of the World, she would need many more trials.
This had nothing to do with Lance. He didn't want to interfere too much in others’ lives.
He planned to take Mira back to the top of the Tower, but a gleaming long sword blocked his path.
Lance stopped, his magic wrapping around the sleeping Mira. To avoid waking her, he used magic to transport her to the top of the Tower.
He remained at the base, facing the unfriendly Sam.
"You are no match for me," Lance said.
If this had been anywhere else, he would have faced trouble with this sword saint carrying the Dragon Slayer sword. But this was his Tower, and Sam had no chance of defeating Lance here.
"You gave Maria a terrible idea," Sam said, his face dark with anger.
Though Sam was a handsome and brightly colored man, at that moment, a murderous intent emerged beneath his vibrant exterior.
"It was just a suggestion," Lance replied.
He had already investigated, and the Demon Mark was not going to break. What Nathaniel sought was to summon the demon from that side to this world through the war and the Thunder Pool, then use the two fronts to break the Heart's Scale's seal.
Sacrifice? That wasn’t needed yet.
Thanks to the butterfly effect caused by Mira leaving the Magic Hub, the crisis that could have destroyed the world was no longer so deadly.
All they needed to do was deal with Nathaniel.
Lance couldn’t be bothered to explain. Right now, he just wanted to go back to the top of the Tower and rest with Mira.
"You just can't let go of that girl," Sam said. "She is the incarnation of the Heart of the Soul. She possesses the power to resolve the crisis."
Lance furrowed his brow.
He didn’t trust the way heroes thought. If it were him in this situation, he would choose to sacrifice Maria to protect Mira. If it were Sam in this situation, he would sacrifice Mira to protect Maria.
It was the same thing. Their positions were different, and they each wanted to protect different people.
Lance wanted to throw this fool out of the Tower, but after thinking for a moment, he realized that would not be wise.
Unnecessary misunderstandings could make things troublesome.
Besides, Mira wouldn’t want to see her guest thrown out of the Tower when she woke up tomorrow morning.
Lance remained silent for a moment. Though he didn't like explaining himself, he decided to briefly explain the situation to the human hero in front of him.
"The seal on the Demon Mark is intact. The situation isn't severe enough for a life-or-death struggle."
His gaze then shifted to Maria, who had arrived.
"This is not a crisis for the whole world; it's merely a dispute within the Eastern Kingdom."
Maria paused for a moment.
She understood what Lance meant.
"I will stop the war," she said, turning to Sam and pulling him away. "Let's go back."
Sam looked confused, his anger rising with no outlet. He grumpily ruffled his hair and stormed off with his sword, leaving the base of the Tower.
Lance nodded at Maria, and his figure turned into countless sparkling blue dots, floating toward the darkness at the top of the Tower.
Since Duke Bona took control of the kingdom's power, he began recruiting soldiers and expanding the army. Under the banner of defeating the dragon, more and more young people joined the military.
Mira rode her dragon, soaring above the fortress, observing the young soldiers training in the center of the field. They shouted coordinated slogans, and each time they swung their arms, sweat fell from their youthful faces.
As she got closer, she even saw a few familiar faces among these new soldiers, young people from Hero Town.
The Eastern Kingdom had gained an unprecedented unity. Everyone joined forces to fight for this war of freedom and to contribute in their own way.
Nathaniel had taken advantage of the public's hatred of dragons. He knew full well how notorious he was for his crimes, and he didn't care what others thought of him. He had always been this way, and nothing had changed.
However, those bad reputations were shouldered by others. Lance had always lived in the tower, using the dragon's evil name to his advantage. Now, those evil deeds had become real occurrences.
Nathaniel had deliberately arranged performances within the army, repeatedly reminding humanity of the fear they had once been ruled by the dragon.
He saw the anger on their faces and mocked their foolishness. Nathaniel reveled in all of it, as the countless waves of anger became his strength.
He decided to put this army, which he had built with his own hands, to the test. Their first stop was not the tower, as publicly declared, but a neighboring independent city-state of the Eastern Kingdom—Kachubi.
Kachubi was a free trade city-state, home to merchants from all over the world. Kachubi did not have its own regular army and relied on paying taxes to the Eastern Kingdom for protection from the royal army.
It was a rainy day. The rain gently fell, bringing a cool breeze to counter the recent heat.
The merchants of Kachubi, having a rare break, gathered at the taverns and casinos on the streets, spending the wealth they had recently earned.
Then, the demon arrived.
By the time the tower received the news, it had been a week.
Maria was filled with self-blame. Recently, she had tried to contact the king's old vassals, but those who had once sworn allegiance to the kingdom had all pledged themselves to Nathaniel.
They claimed that Duke Bona was also of royal blood, and that he was the true and righteous one.
The greedy, cowardly, and weak king and the bride sacrificed to the dragon were nothing more than hypocritical liars making their last desperate struggle.
Nathaniel was skilled at manipulating public opinion, and the power he gained from the Demon Scar, combined with his dragon might, gave him the ability to control people's hearts.
Once this madness reached a certain point, the demon would find a suitable vessel. Only Nathaniel could reverse the Thunderbolt Array, and the demon would pass through this reserved passage, breaking the barrier set by the Blue Dragon tribe.
Mira landed in Kachubi in the afternoon.
They did not directly enter the city but instead stayed on the only path leading to the city-state.
Lance, with his sharp senses, was the first to frown. He looked up at the clear blue sky, squinted his eyes, and the surrounding winds began to stir. Then, the rain began to fall.
Mira didn’t understand why Lance used magic, but as they got closer to the city, she realized his intention.
The storm swept away the foul stench from the decaying bodies within the city, and the rain washed away the dark red bloodstains that had soaked into the ground.
Mira felt herself trembling. Her body shuddered uncontrollably. Maria, who had come with them, had seen more brutal scenes. Although her situation was slightly better than Mira’s, her expression was still pale and bloodless.
They had underestimated the cruelty of the Black Dragon and ignored Nathaniel's madness.
He carried out these massacres without any reason—just for the sake of destruction.
He was no longer the Black Dragon Nathaniel; he had become the demon Nathaniel.
Sorrow filled the air, and even though Lance was not human, he fell silent upon witnessing the slaughter of innocent lives.
It seemed he now understood why Cecilia wanted to stop the demon from entering this world.
The demon would destroy everything they knew.
The Blue Dragons relied on the natural order to live. If all life in nature were to disappear, where would nature itself remain?
He stretched out his hand and pressed it against the heart-scaled plate.
Mira was the first to regain her composure from the sorrow.
She felt a power surging through her body, a power that sustained her.
The young girl removed the dragon scale from her chest.
She held the scale with both hands, chanting an ancient incantation. Magic naturally began to emerge from the ground beneath her feet, not even passing through the dragon scale but being guided by Mira in its most natural form.
Her magic lifted the dead in the city. Her magic wiped away the blurry images, and the long-sleeping souls were laid to rest. But in the end, this small city was reduced to a name, a tragedy, and a sigh.
The journey back to the tower was silent.
No one spoke.
Mira hesitantly took Maria's hand. Maria looked too sad. If she showed even a hint of unwillingness, Mira would certainly pull her hand back.
But Maria didn’t. She didn’t look at her, but firmly gripped Mira’s hand.
Heat emanated from her palm, and the calluses from holding a sword brushed against Mira’s fingers. She gently intertwined her fingers with Maria’s, and they both gazed into the distance.
No one spoke first, but they both understood each other’s thoughts.
Save the world? No, that was not it.
No one could save the world. They were just defending their home, protecting those they wished to protect.
At the base of the tower, a figure stood quietly.
Mira released Maria's hand.
It was a pale young man, standing there motionless.
He turned as he heard the noise.
He had changed into a black robe, with a white flower tied to his chest.
Mira took a step back.
It was Karl.