Ep 100. Ludin. (3)
Had Raizel used all her strength, she could’ve easily crushed the woman along with the court mage before her.
But no matter how hard she tried, her trembling claws refused to do as she wanted.
‘You’re…still…’
Amidst the dragon’s quivering thoughts, the court mage’s cold, demeaning voice seeped in.
“Isn’t it strange? The dead are wont to rot and spoil, weakening them far beyond what they once were. But to think there would be a body invulnerable to time.”
“…”
‘…That’s a corpse?’
True to his words, the woman’s body was covered in scars; even considering their race, their body was far too lacking in color. One eye was completely empty, and even their remaining eye showed no sign of life.
But even so, the woman was holding up her arms, shielding her summoner from Raizel’s claws.
“Well then, guardian – do take care of our intruder.”
As soon as the court mage uttered his command, the specter threw Raizel’s paw off of her arms. She then leapt into the air to claw at the youngling’s neck, gouging out bits of flesh and blood from in between their scales.
But Raizel was failing to even register her own pain, much less retaliate to the attacks.
“…Hey. Get a hold of yourself.”
The youngling’s words fell on deaf ears.
As the woman’s claws began to dig through Raizel’s scales, she let out another pained howl into the air. The youngling then snatched the woman from her body in between her jaws, smashing them into the ground.
“WAKE UP!!”
The woman plummeted unto the courtyard with a deafening noise, but not a single groan could be heard. When the specter instead began to tear at the jaws holding her in place, Raizel simply let go of the woman, shrinking back into her human form.
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The youngling then placed one hand above her chest, pleading at her enemy with a pained expression.
“…Is it because you haven’t seen me for so long? Look, I’m Raizel. I’m your…daughter…”
But instead of a proper answer, Raizel instead received another set of claws being swung at her face.
The youngling angrily deflected Ludin’s arms, raising her torn voice once more.
“Say something!!”
“…”
The court mage smirked an amused grin from afar, studying the exchange between his minion and the shrunken intruder.
‘…My. What a day.’
Among the empire’s numerous possessions, the two unweathering dragon corpses had always a hidden, iconic asset. Unlike any other remains of a living entity, these two bodies persisted through time without any decay whatsoever.
And the existence of these two bodies had proved to be a priceless asset for Silas, one of the few remaining necromancers of the star – enough to place him in the position of court mage despite his young age. As long as the two dragons’ corpses were in the empire’s position, he had been nigh invincible against any threat he’d face. As long as the mage remained within the grounds of this palace, he could summon them at will and bend him to his own bidding.
‘And our monstrous intruder is claiming to be their daughter. Which means…’
“…You must be a dragon. I was rather unsure with your lack of horns and wings, but to think a dragonkin would appear in Astellion…”
“Shut it.”
When Raizel spun her body, a giant metal tail instantly grew forth, swinging down towards the court mage’s head. Though, before it could make contact, Ludin slammed herself into her daughter, throwing the youngling and their tail far off across the courtyard.
“My, my. How violent.”
“SHUT IT!!”
Raizel arose from the ground once more, retracting her tail to gain every ounce of speed she could. She then leapt forward, leaving Ludin far behind to pounce on the grinning mage directly instead.
But unfortunately, standing in her way wasn’t just Ludin alone.
Clang!
Raizel’s claws violently screeched against another metallic surface of her second blocker.
When she saw the man’s visage, Raizel let out a sarcastic laughter. She couldn’t even decide which expression to make.
“…Of course you’d be here. There’s no way it’d be just her.”
Regret and humiliation alike flooded into the youngling’s heart as she retreated back a step. Her hands began to shake, and even a tight grip couldn’t stop their trembling.
Her proud father was standing before his very own daughter.
When Raizel turned her head, her one-eyed mother was staring back at her with an emotionless gaze.
“Hah…”
Raizel loosened her body, letting out an exasperated sigh. Her own father was protecting the wretched mage before her, her own mother brandishing her talons while approaching from behind.
“…”
‘Well, look at that. The old bones were lying to me after all.’
A hundred years ago, Raizel was powerless to stop the empire from harming her parents.
Likewise, she had been powerless to safeguard her parents’ remains; in fact, Raizel never even knew where their remains had gone to. The elders had only told the youngling that her parents had been properly sent off – whatever that meant.
If only that were true.
When Raizel raised her gaze, brilliant skies filled her vision. A clear, cloudless blue sky, almost as if to say nothing bad would happen.
‘…I guess lord’s not coming.’
Raizel took a moment to wipe her eyes, steeling herself firm.
Good riddance, she thought. This may even be for the best.
After all, she would rather die than to show something like this to Serenis.