Ep 122. Scream All You’d Like. (4)
Once, Lavnore had considered the possibility of an antimagic equipment being used against him.
Admittedly, the hazel material did prove invaluable in the empire’s conquest, just like his lord had told him it would. But simultaneously, it was almost guaranteed that a bold enough soldier would attempt to assassinate their emperor with it.
Hence, he’d devised numerous ways to prevent the situation. He’d taken advantage of the imprisoned dragonkin to strengthen his physical self, and he’d experimented for days on end to discover the material’s weaknesses. He’d even taken the liberty of culling out potential rebellion early on.
For years, the measures had proved sufficient. The few brave assassins that made the attempt were handled with ease through Lavnore’s unexpected physical capability – and opposing nations were quick to flee when they realized Akeia could render their magic useless.
But all cautionary measures crumbled to dust when Lavnore began to realize that his assassins wouldn’t necessarily remain limited to humans.
With blood trickling out of his mouth, the emperor gathered his mana to incinerate the steel dragon towering over him. But his spell failed to synthesize, dispersing into faded strands of mana instead.
‘…Cursed demon shell…!’
He then gripped the blade with both hands, pushing against the dragon keeping it lodged within him. The blade shuddered between the opposing forces as each side struggled to control the weapon – but didn’t move a single inch from where it was buried.
Finally with a loud grunt, Lavnore kicked at Raizel with considerable force – and desperation.
But the steel dragon remained firm, giving a mocking grin at the emperor beneath her.
“Ow.”
“…”
“That human girl was right – you’re stronger than other humans, I’ll give you that. But if you think a little dragon blood can make you kick me around, dream on.”
“…Humans…are not below your kind…!”
Until now, Lavnore had considered his physical capacity equal to that of a dragon’s. After achieving undying youth and consuming elixirs assembled from the dragonkin’s blood, he’d held a firm belief that he was no longer beneath the dragonkin in any aspect. He could stand above them, strength and magic both.
That belief was rapidly crumbling away before the furious youngling staring down upon him.
“Yeah?”
Raizel stomped her foot down on the struggling emperor’s leg. Her foot easily crushed the armor and soft flesh within, reducing it into ground meat.
As the emperor let out another pained groan, Raizel pushed her face closer to the screaming emperor’s.
“Say what you want. But I don’t see you getting out of there without your fancy magic.”
Raizel forcibly twisted the blade in her grip. A bloody noise ruptured forth from the emperor’s wound, accompanied by another agonized scream.
But she only pressed the weapon further in, shoving it from side to side like a child toying with an insect.
Involuntary laughter continued to escape Raizel’s lips.
Her torn arm was still aching, and the burns over her body were still screaming in searing pain. But strangely, she couldn’t really register any of it.
It’d been a hundred years since she was rendered alone. When she’d come to age, she’d thought the emperor long dead; as a result, she’d taken her anger out on someone else altogether.
But even back then, she probably knew – that her vengeance was misdirected.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have regretted it so much.
From thereon she’d caged away her anger, forcing herself to quell it within her. She thought revenge had become an impossible dream that would never come to pass.
A wry smile curved the steel dragon’s lips.
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
“…Are you done gloating yet? Did your parents forget to teach you to not play with your food?”
“Ha.”
The emperor had been alive all along, and Raizel was glad for it.
He needed to be alive – if she were to kill him again.
Trudge. Trudge.
“…”
Raizel turned her gaze towards the leisure steps approaching her from behind.
And, as expected, Karas was standing short ways behind her, watching the emperor squirming beneath.
“…Didn’t come here to stop me, did you?”
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“Of course not. Otherwise, I would’ve brought the other two with me.”
Raizel merely scoffed at the professor’s answer.
But unlike her, Lavnore’s face became distorted in a mix of fear and panic. He desperately struggled against the buried weapon in a frantic attempt to escape.
“W, wait…d agon! I beg of you…!”
“Huh?”
“S, spare me this once. If not that, then at least kill me elsewhere. I cannot die in his presence…!”
“The hell? What’s with you all of a sudden?”
“…Please…!”
Raizel frowned at the emperor’s sudden change in attitude. She quizzically turned towards Karas, expecting him to provide an answer of sorts.
However, the feathered figure merely shrugged back. No verbal response came from him.
“…The hell’s going on? What’s-“
While Raizel’s attention was momentarily fixed on Karas, Lavnore hurriedly pulled his hand closer, searching through his broken armor in a frenzy.
And when his hand emerged from the broken pieces of metal, the emperor held a gleaming white jewel between his fingers.
‘…I’ve no choice. There’s no coming back if I die in Xar’s presence…!’
The emperor’s wary eyes met the professor’s. However, Karas remained static, seemingly uncaring of what the emperor was about to do.
Before Raizel would also catch wind of what he was up to, Lavnore hurriedly shoved the shard into the bare skin on his chest.
✧ ✧ ✧
The shard smoothly sunk into the emperor’s flesh.
And, almost immediately, Lavnore could feel alien sensations plucking at him from every sense imaginable.
‘…This is…?’
Children laughing in unison.
A hunter hungrily searching for their next prey.
An adventurer lost in caving lava, and a pirate drunken in elven wine.
An eagle soaring the skies and a whale slumbering in ocean’s depths. A honeybee navigating the flowerbeds, and a tree rigidly standing its ground.
A kingdom of demons. Crimson skies and bloodied earth. A star devoid of life, and that same star brimming with vibrance.
Fragmented memories of all sorts flooded into his mind to instantly throw the emperor’s thoughts into disarray.
‘…No, this isn’t me. My name is Amadeus Lavnore. I’m…!’
Memories that once defined the individual grew faint and distant, hidden beneath layers of endless, irrelevant thoughts.
In the throes of eternity, the hundred years of life he’d led was hardly of any significance.
✧ ✧ ✧
“…”
A sudden silence ensued.
Raizel quizzically stared into the emperor’s empty gaze. His eyes were still open, but they’d long lost focus.
“He goes all crazy one second, and then he shuts up right after? Is he dead?”
Raizel then proceeded to push the lodged blade left and right, but the emperor gave no reaction whatsoever.
‘Yep. He’s dead.’
Kicking her tongue, Raizel lifted her foot. A wide grin decorated her lips as she prepared to crush the emperor beneath.
But before she could, Karas placed his hand on her shoulder.
“Wait.”
“? For what? I thought you weren’t gonna stop me.”
“And I normally wouldn’t. But this will be quite the learning experience for you as well.”
“…?”
“You’ve won already, I’m sure you’re at least somewhat satisfied. Step back for a bit.”
Frowning, Raizel reluctantly pulled her weapon out of the emperor, retreating back a few steps with Karas.
“Why, what’s wrong? Was that jewel something dangerous?”
“Sure it was. It’s a divinity shard.”
“…? Then why’re you stopping me? I thought lord was trying to get rid of those things.”
“Don’t you worry. We’ll be able to retrieve it soon.”
Raizel would’ve questioned the professor further. Unfortunately, she was stopped by a horrendous cry before she could.
“Krragh!!!”
A desperate, inhuman howl was coming from the fallen emperor.
When Raizel returned her attention to him, Lavnore was slowly rising back to his feet in sluggish steps. The wound on his chest was leaking in strange white essence instead of blood, and his expression was twisted beyond words could describe.
“…Is he mad?”
“Something like that. Now, look closely. 3…2…1…”
A small explosion followed the professor’s countdown, shrouding the emperor in a puff of white smoke.
Compared to the spells Lavnore had been releasing only minutes ago, it was a pathetic explosion. But it nonetheless worsened the cut on his chest, making him painfully claw at the open wound.
“What the fuck?”
“His mana’s low, his magic won’t form, and he’s lost his sanity to boot. So his body’s unconsciously looking for a replacement to magic.”
“A replacement?”
“Mhm. The divinity he just planted into himself.”
Raizel’s frown deepened upon hearing the professor’s explanation.
“…Isn’t divinity the thing goldie uses all the time?”
“Goldie?”
‘She’s referring to Aldrid.’
“…Oh, you mean Aldrid. Yes, that’s similar – but not quite the same. The star shard has some…requirements that must be met first. The individual must possess an extremely strong sense of oneself, cultivated through an expansive amount of time. It’s not something the human mind can wrestle.”
At least several hundred years – ideally, a thousand or more.
Countless times, the Reaper had seen what became of those who didn’t meet this condition.
“Ah…ahgh…”
The emperor’s unfocused eyes were soon flooded with tears. His exhausted voice painfully wailed into the air, as if he’d become someone else altogether.
Karas beamed a gleeful smile at the sight.
“Interesting, isn’t it? That’s the exact same power your lord wields.”
“…Watch your mouth. She’s nothing like that.”
“Which is amusing! You don’t know how shocked I was to discover that she could wield the star’s essence.”
“…”
“Now that I look back on it, Aymeia was right. She told me something a while ago. Something about there being an individual better attuned to the star than herself…”
‘Felicir. That’s enough. Get out.’
“Huh? Wai-“
Suddenly, Karas drove his own fist into his face.
After a moment of awkward silence, the professor briefly cleared his throat as if nothing had happened. He simply held out his hand towards the grieving emperor, avoiding Raizel’s frowning, wary eyes.
“…Ahem. A rather unpleasant sight, I must say. Let’s put him to rest now.”
“The hell are you saying? You’re the one who wanted to watch.”
“…”
After a small sigh, an invisible, intangible chain slithered out of Karas’ palms to bury itself into the emperor’s body.
When the feathered figure jerked back his hand, a faint strand of light seemed to escape Lavnore’s frame, flung out from within the body before slipping into Karas. Simultaneously, the emperor’s eyes lost their light, his body collapsing back unto the ground.
And Raizel’s eyes widened considerably at the sight, noting the ridiculous display.
“…Wait, what did you do just now?”
“I put him to rest.”
“You could do this all along?! You could’ve done it right from the beginning!”
“…If I had, wouldn’t you have gotten angry that I was stealing your prey? Besides, it only works against those with unstable minds. I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity to use it against Lavnore, but…good riddance, I suppose.”
“…Huh…”
Although she didn’t exactly understand the latter part, Raizel couldn’t bring herself to disagree with the professor’s first point.
And, outside the steel dragon’s awareness, desperate cries were ringing from the professor’s newest occupant.
‘No…NO!! XAR, YOU BASTARD!!’
A horrible war ensued as they struggled to fend themselves against the onslaught of souls, clinging onto their being like an undying disease.
But robbed of their body and magic, the occupant had little to defend himself with. The army of the damned would soon tear his being into millions of meaningless pieces, feasting upon what knowledge and essence he had to offer.
Karas turned away from the emperor’s emptied body. He wore a light smile as he muttered under his breath.
“Scream all you’d like. No one can hear you.”
“Huh? Did you say something?”
Karas warily faced the questioning steel dragon.
But he merely shrugged as usual, shaking his head in dismay.
“No. Not at all.”