I Tricked a God

The warm sun was slowly passing its zenith, bathing the Capital in soft daylight.

The red rooftops stretched in every direction, contrasting with the abundance of greenery. The trees lining the streets had already burst into fresh young leaves, and many of them were blooming with white, pink, and yellow flowers.

The air had grown noticeably warmer over the past month, and the residents of the Capital were gradually switching to lighter clothing.

This was especially noticeable around the Imperial Academy.

Over the past few days, students had taken to carrying their jackets over their arms and going about in their shirtsleeves. Many of the girls had also traded their trousers for lighter skirts, taking advantage of the warm weather.

Today, however, something unusual was happening outside the Academy's main entrance. It seemed the students had no intention of leaving the grounds.

Several hundred students had gathered in the square outside the Academy’s open gates, clearly waiting for someone. Some stood in small groups, others lounged on the lawns and benches, while conversations and arguments constantly rippled through the crowd.

“Do you think he'll pull it off?”

The girl standing beside him immediately frowned, as though she'd just heard something ridiculous.

“Of course he will! General Salazar himself invited him to join the Scarlet Serpent Army!”

The young man beside her grimaced slightly.

“I don't know... He may be strong, but mastering a craft requires a completely different approach.”

Similar debates echoed throughout the square.

Some discussed Kael's achievements, others recalled his accomplishments at the Academy, while some were passionately arguing over which of the three specializations would prove the most difficult for him. The longer the wait dragged on, the more conversations sprang up.

Yet among that noisy crowd stood a group of seven young mages who barely took part in any of the discussions.

They stood a little apart, keeping an anxious watch on the Academy doors, as though they were waiting not for some famous student, but for someone far more important.

They were Kael's friends.

Girren stood with his arms crossed over his chest, never taking his eyes off the Academy entrance. His face remained serious, and only his slightly furrowed brows betrayed his tension.

Standing beside him was Estelle. Gently stroking his back, she said with a faint smile, “You're worrying too much.”

Girren’s expression softened as he looked at her, and he replied quietly, “Kael’s my brother. I can’t help it.”

Hearing that, Estelle's smile widened just a little.

“After what Kael gave me...” she said meaningfully. “I’m starting to think there’s nothing impossible for him.”

As she spoke, the girl unconsciously rubbed her spatial ring.

To an outside observer, the gesture looked perfectly ordinary, but Estelle knew very well that inside the ring rested something capable of changing the course of her entire life. And every time she thought about it, she was still overcome by a mixture of excitement and disbelief.

A short distance away stood Roselle and Lissandra.

The girls were holding hands, unconsciously encouraging one another. Both were trying to appear calm, yet from time to time they too glanced toward the Academy entrance.

Standing directly behind them was the short but heavily built Gilmesh.

The big man wore his usual broad grin, looking as though none of this concerned him in the slightest.

Noticing that, Dorian cast him a sidelong glance and said, “What are you so cheerful about? No matter how Kael does, he's leaving today anyway.”

Gilmesh's smile became a little less broad for a moment, though it never disappeared entirely.

Before he could reply, Roselle turned toward Dorian and said with a faint smirk, “You're always so detached, Dorian. I never thought you'd get so attached to Kael.”

At those words, Dorian narrowed his eyes slightly.

“I'm not attached.”

“Of course, of course,” Roselle chimed in at once, barely holding back a smile.

Dorian silently looked away, clearly having no intention of continuing the conversation.

Despite the playful tone, however, Roselle's mood gradually faded. Turning her gaze forward, she unconsciously pressed her lips together.

Lissandra beside her looked no better.

The girl tightened her grip on her friend's hand, trying not to show her emotions, but the anxiety was still plain in her eyes.

After all, Dorian was right—no matter how today's examinations turned out, Kael would be leaving the Capital within the next few hours.

But Violet looked the worst of all.

She stood a little ahead of the others, as though she hadn’t even noticed herself drifting closer to the Academy entrance than anyone else. Her fingers repeatedly tightened around the fabric of her light blouse, while her gaze remained fixed on the doors of the main building.

She seemed so anxious that she simply couldn't settle down.

It was as though the entire past month was reflected in her violet eyes.

From the very day Kael had been accepted into the Scarlet Serpent Army, his life had become an endless cycle of training and preparation. Nearly every day he left early in the morning and didn't return until late in the evening.

The Archmagisters seemed to have conspired to claim every moment of his time. One day Kael trained under Al-Hakim, the next under Guro, and then Archmagister Bontia would take him away for her own training. That pace had continued for almost a month, and at times Violet felt as though Kael had completely forgotten what normal rest was.

Yet even with such a schedule, he still found time for them.

Almost every evening they gathered around the same table at the tavern. They had dinner, discussed the day's events, argued, laughed at Gilmesh's latest antics, and sometimes even had small drinking parties together.

Over the course of that month, evenings like those had become so natural that no one even thought about them anymore.

And the closer Kael's departure drew, the more clearly Violet realized how much she was going to miss those ordinary evenings.

There would be no Kael lazily sprawled in his chair after another exhausting day. There would be none of his endless ideas, plans, and conversations, with which he somehow always managed to sweep everyone along. Even the familiar jokes that had sometimes made her roll her eyes were now remembered with an unexpected fondness.

Then other memories surfaced as well.

More than once over the past month, Violet had awakened in the middle of the night and, noticing the light under Kael's bedroom door, found herself unable to resist her curiosity.

Every time, it was the same.

Kael would be sitting at a desk buried beneath papers, books, and drafts, still writing.

Whenever she asked why he was still awake, his answer was always more or less the same: “I’ll have plenty of time to sleep later. I need to put together some books and treatises for all of you.”

And after saying that, he would simply return to his work, as though there were nothing unusual about it.

On nights like those, Violet would usually settle herself on the edge of his bed and silently watch him. Sometimes they talked about little things, sometimes they sat together in silence for long stretches, and sometimes Kael became so absorbed in his work that he barely noticed the world around him.

Yet for some reason, it was those quiet nighttime hours that had remained with her most vividly.

Remembering them now, Violet felt a faint flutter in her chest.

“Maybe... I should have told Kael about that night after all?”

At the thought, the girl unconsciously placed a hand over her chest, feeling her heart begin to race once more.

“Damn… Why am I such a coward?”

She lowered her gaze for only a moment before looking back toward the Academy entrance.

“He's leaving, and I don't even know how to say goodbye...”

Violet pressed her lips together ever so slightly.

“When will we even see each other again?”

But at that moment, Violet’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a roar that swept across the square.

“He's coming! He's coming!”

The shout came from the students gathered on the left side of the square. Thanks to a better angle, they were the first to notice movement in one of the Academy's side corridors.

A ripple of excitement immediately swept through the crowd.

The conversations died away at once, replaced by an excited murmur as hundreds of eyes turned in the same direction.

Violet's heart skipped a beat.

Beside her, Girren, Estelle, Roselle, Lissandra, and the others all fell silent. Even Gilmesh stopped grinning, staring ahead with tense anticipation.

They had all been waiting for the answer to the question that had tormented them for days.

“Had Kael passed the examinations? And if so, just how many specializations had he qualified for?”

The next moment, a familiar figure came into view around the corner of the Academy building.

A tall young man with ash-gray hair neatly tied back at the nape of his neck calmly came to a stop at the Academy entrance. A few wispy strands had fallen loose from his fringe and were swaying gently in the breeze.

He wore a formal black military uniform.

Tailored closely to his frame, it emphasized his broad shoulders and lean physique. Embroidered across the chest was a red dragon, and beneath it were the characters: “Scarlet Serpent Army.”

For several seconds, the crowd seemed to fall silent as they studied the young man.

Many of them were seeing Kael in military uniform for the first time.

And it had to be admitted—the uniform suited him surprisingly well.

The uniform seemed to add several years to his appearance, making him look more like a young man than a sixteen-year-old. Even his usual relaxed bearing seemed different now, lending him an air of quiet confidence.

Then, as the students recovered from their surprise, the square practically exploded with shouts.

“Did you do it, Kael?!”

“We've all been waiting for you!”

“How many specializations?!”

“Show us the results!”

The roar of hundreds of voices rolled across the square, prompting some students to rise onto their tiptoes in an effort to get a better look at him.

Kael, however, seemed not to notice the shouting at all.

Standing calmly near the Academy entrance, he slowly let his gaze sweep over the crowd. His amber eyes drifted across the students' faces, as though searching for someone in particular among the hundreds gathered there.

A few seconds later, his gaze came to rest.

A broad smile immediately spread across Kael's face.

Raising a hand, he called out, “There you are, guys!”

Violet found herself smiling in return.

Looking at that familiar, self-assured grin, she felt the tension of the past few minutes begin to melt away.

“That self-confident smile...” the girl murmured almost inaudibly. “He definitely did it...”

As though sensing the shift in their mood, Roselle also let out a sigh of relief, while Girren finally stopped frowning.

The crowd around them, however, reached an entirely different conclusion.

The moment they saw Kael smiling, the students erupted into even louder shouts.

“He definitely passed!”

“Show us already!”

“Stop torturing us!”

“How many?!”

The uproar became so deafening that even Dorian winced. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he raised his voice and shouted, “Kael, just show them already! This racket's giving me a headache!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kael merely let out a weary sigh.

“They're not going to leave me alone anyway...”

With that thought, Kael simply pivoted on one foot and sharply turned his back to the crowd.

The square fell silent in an instant.

Hundreds of students leaned forward at once, craning their necks as they tried to make out the details of his uniform. Even those standing in the back rows began squeezing past their classmates, unwilling to miss the moment.

Then everyone saw three more dragons embroidered across his back, each with a line of characters beneath it.

Under the first were the words: “Scholars' Guild.”

Under the second: “Alchemists' Guild.”

Under the third: “Inscribers' Guild.”

For several moments, almost complete silence hung over the square. Many seemed unable to believe their own eyes, reading the inscriptions over and over, trying to convince themselves they weren't imagining them.

Then the crowd practically exploded.

“No way! He really did it!”

“All three?!”

“This is insane!”

“How can anyone prepare for three examinations at the same time in such a short period?!”

Such an uproar swept across the square that even some of the instructors began peering curiously from the windows and doorways of the Academy buildings. Some students looked at Kael with open admiration, others with disbelief, while still others wore expressions as though they had just lost a wager.

The one responsible for all the commotion, however, seemed completely unimpressed by the reaction he had caused. He merely turned back toward the crowd and wearily scratched the back of his head.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

It seemed that in another moment, the crowd would truly surge forward, bombarding Kael with questions.

Some students had already begun forcing their way through the front rows, clearly intending to be the first to learn the details of the examinations. Just then, three more figures emerged from the same corner where Kael himself had appeared only moments earlier.

The instant the young mages recognized them, the noise vanished.

The students hurriedly stepped aside, and many even lowered their heads respectfully.

Standing behind Kael were the three Archmagisters.

Leading them was the bald, dark-skinned Al-Hakim in his flowing robes, looking as though he found everything happening around him genuinely amusing. A short distance behind him walked the blind elder Guro, rhythmically tapping his staff against the stone pathway. Beside him strode Bontia, dozens of long inscription needles glinting within her thick hair.

Even at the Imperial Academy, the appearance of figures like these was enough to command respect, and no one dared disturb the order around them.

Drawing level with Kael, Guro unexpectedly stopped and gave the young man a hearty pat on the back.

“In all my years, I've never seen anyone learn this quickly,” the old man said, shaking his head. “What a pity you won't be staying in the Capital. A student like you is a true treasure.”

Another wave of whispers immediately swept through the crowd.

Many students exchanged stunned glances, clearly never expecting to hear such praise from an Archmagister.

Before Guro could say anything else, however, Bontia also patted Kael on the back with a sly smile.

“Actually, he's my student.”

“Yours?” Guro snorted. “If I remember correctly, he spent most of the month with me.”

“That's because certain old men are far too fond of stealing other people's students.”

“Stealing?” Guro protested. “I merely helped him realize his potential.”

“Of course you did.”

Watching their exchange, Kael merely closed his eyes in resignation, as though he'd grown used to conversations like this over the past month. The crowd around them, however, looked increasingly dumbfounded.

At that moment, Al-Hakim spoke, his faint smile never leaving his face.

“Come, Kael. We shouldn't keep General Salazar waiting.”

The moment those words were spoken, Guro and Bontia immediately ended their playful bickering.

The three Archmagisters calmly moved on.

The students quickly stepped even farther aside, clearing a path for them. The living wall of people parted, forming a wide corridor that led straight toward the Academy gates.

Only now did many people notice that two large enclosed carriages bearing the Imperial Palace's crest were already waiting by the gates.

Kael merely turned to his friends and said, “Come on, guys.”

At first, none of them even moved.

After all, following the Archmagisters through a crowd of several hundred students felt a little awkward.

A moment later, however, Girren stepped forward first, and the others followed.

The moment she reached him, Violet immediately took Kael's hand.

“Congratulations, Kael. You did a great job.”

A sincere smile appeared on her face, one she didn't even try to hide.

“Thank you,” Kael replied warmly.

The congratulations didn't end there, however.

The others quickly gathered around him as well.

“I told you you'd pull it off,” Girren said with a satisfied grin, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

“All three specializations... That's just insane,” Estelle said, shaking her head.

Even Dorian, who was usually sparing with praise, gave a slight nod.

“Good work.”

Coming from him, despite its brevity, it sounded almost like a full speech.

Surrounded by his friends and an unending stream of congratulations, Kael continued walking behind the Archmagisters, while the entire square continued buzzing as everyone watched the Imperial Academy's most talked-about student.

Despite the emotions welling up inside them, Kael’s friends still tried to keep themselves in check.

At least while they remained in the Archmagisters' presence.

Even the usually boisterous Gilmesh limited himself to a broad grin, while Roselle and Lissandra kept stealing glances at Kael, as though afraid to miss even a single moment with him.

It continued that way until they reached the Academy's gates.

There, Al-Hakim, Guro, and Bontia got into the first carriage without another word, while Kael and his friends got into the second.

The moment the carriage door closed, cutting them off from the outside world, every trace of restraint instantly vanished.

“Ha-ha-ha!” Gilmesh was the first to burst out laughing. “Did you see the faces of those idiots who bet Kael would fail?!”

The big man even slapped his knee before breaking into laughter again.

“Especially that bald lackey of Valkeris! He looked like he was about to have a stroke!”

“And just a week ago he was telling everyone Kael would definitely fail the Inscribers' Guild exam,” Estelle added, unable to suppress a smile.

“He's going to have to avoid certain conversations for a very long time,” Dorian remarked dryly.

Kael merely shook his head.

“You're all so kind.”

Not everyone, however, shared Gilmesh's amusement.

Roselle and Lissandra, seated opposite him, looked entirely different.

The girls remained silent for several seconds before Roselle suddenly lowered her eyes and quietly asked, “Kael... Do you really have to leave?”

Lissandra, sitting beside her, immediately nodded.

“Maybe... isn't there some way to turn it down?”

There was such genuine hope in her voice that the carriage fell silent for a moment.

Apparently, Kael's three specializations, his success, and the admiration of the other students no longer mattered to them.

All of it paled beside the thought that Kael was being sent to war.

Violet, it seemed, shared those feelings completely.

She had been holding Kael's hand the entire time, and after Lissandra spoke, she unconsciously tightened her grip on his hand just a little more.

“Can't you stay just a little longer?” the girl asked quietly.

Kael looked at her and smiled warmly.

“Unfortunately, I've already put it off for as long as they would allow.”

Letting out a somewhat heavy sigh, he continued, “The Emperor returned yesterday, so General Salazar is finally heading back to the front. And since I'm now officially part of the Scarlet Serpent Army, I have to leave with him.”

Violet's expression darkened ever so slightly, and everyone fell silent.

Deep down, Violet herself understood how naïve her question had sounded. It was just that some part of her still hoped something might change at the very last moment.

Fortunately, Girren broke the lingering silence.

“Don't pressure Kael,” he said, sweeping his gaze over the girls. “He's spent the last few days doing nothing but listening to us talk about how much we're going to miss him.”

“Because it's true,” Roselle muttered.

“It is,” Lissandra immediately agreed.

Girren merely rolled his eyes, clearly having no intention of arguing.

Estelle, meanwhile, smiled gently and, trying to help lighten the mood, steered the conversation in another direction.

“By the way, they say General Salazar has a dragon. Are you really going to ride it?”

The question made Kael chuckle.

“I hope so. Riding a dragon sounds a lot more interesting than spending several weeks rattling around in a carriage.”

That made the others smile as well, all of them trying not to let their farewell become too gloomy or heavy.

“I'd like to tame a beast like that someday... A whole dragon...” Gilmesh murmured dreamily.

Kael merely closed his eyes for a moment.

“It's not a real dragon... It's a Scarlet Serpent that received part of the Imperial Bloodline, transforming its body.”

He had no intention of shattering anyone's illusions, however, so Kael tactfully chose to remain silent...

✦ ✦ ✦

Meanwhile, as the two carriages pulled away from the Academy grounds and headed toward the Imperial Palace, the square was still packed with students.

Among the crowd were the youths from Lasthold.

They watched Kael's carriage with poorly concealed admiration—and even a measure of gratitude.

“Who would've thought someone like that would come from our little town...” one of the boys said with a smile.

The young man beside him merely snorted.

“There's only one thing I'm happy about in all this—thanks to everything he's done, people have finally stopped picking on us.”

As he spoke, he glanced toward a few girls standing nearby and grinned.

“And some of them are even trying to get to know us...”

His friend couldn't help laughing.

“You're hopeless...”

Several of the others standing nearby chuckled quietly as well, but before long, their eyes drifted back to the carriages receding into the distance.

No matter how much they joked, they all understood one simple truth.

After everything Kael had accomplished, the way people treated those from Lasthold had truly changed. It hadn't solved every problem, but at the very least, people had finally begun to take them seriously.

✦ ✦ ✦

While his friends bombarded Kael with questions, trying to make the most of the time they had left, the carriages carried them relentlessly onward.

It felt as though they had only just left the Academy, yet one street after another slipped behind them, gradually giving way to broader avenues and the affluent districts surrounding the Imperial Palace.

Along the way, the carriages inevitably drew the attention of passersby.

Some citizens merely watched the coaches bearing the Imperial Palace's crest roll past, while others immediately began whispering among themselves. Over the past month, so many rumors had sprung up around Kael's name that even people who had never set foot inside the Academy recognized him.

“Isn't that him?”

“The one who fought in the defense of the Capital?”

“They say General Salazar personally recruited him.”

“And I heard several Archmagisters each claim him as their own student.”

Conversations like these followed the carriages almost the entire way.

The friends sitting inside, however, heard none of it.

Time flew by with surprising speed.

It felt as though they had only just begun talking, yet not even twenty minutes had passed before the carriages slowed.

Soon the wheels came to a complete stop, and beyond the windows stretched the vast square before the Imperial Palace.

From there, the long, broad staircase leading up to the palace complex towering over the city was clearly visible.

Today, however, it wasn't the palace that drew everyone's attention.

Troops had already formed ranks around the entire perimeter of the square.

And standing calmly at the very center was General Salazar.

With his hands clasped behind his back, he watched the approaching carriages with an utterly impassive expression, looking more like a government official than a military commander.

Beside him rested a massive creature whose mere sight took one's breath away.

Its crimson-scaled body stretched across the stones of the square for dozens of paces. Powerful legs ended in claws the size of swords, resting calmly upon the ground, while its long tail lay lazily behind it, and its folded wings resembled enormous scarlet sails.

From a distance, it truly could be mistaken for a dragon. Even now, many of the servants and officials gathered in the square kept their distance, stealing wary glances in its direction.

Only Kael, peering through the carriage window, remained calm.

A crooked smile tugged at his lips as he said melancholically, “We're here, guys...”

The moment the carriages came to a halt, the doors of both carriages swung open almost simultaneously.

Al-Hakim, Guro, and Bontia calmly stepped out of the first carriage. A moment later, the second carriage opened, letting Kael and his friends out.

The instant they stepped onto the square, the contrast between the lively Academy and this place became strikingly clear.

No one spoke.

No one laughed.

Hundreds of soldiers stood perfectly still in flawless formation, while the Scarlet Serpent's presence only deepened the oppressive sense of military might.

Roselle and Lissandra exchanged glances before instinctively taking a small step back, as did Kael’s other friends.

Kael, however, calmly stepped forward. Straightening his back, he looked directly at General Salazar.

The General met Kael's gaze without the slightest emotion. Adjusting his glasses, he spoke in a raspy yet remarkably firm voice.

“Report, soldier.”

Kael immediately stood even straighter.

“The task entrusted to me has been completed. I have successfully joined three artisan Guilds!”

A subtle stir rippled across the square at once. Several soldiers exchanged barely perceptible glances, clearly understanding the significance of those words.

Salazar merely nodded in satisfaction.

“Truly a worthy subordinate.”

Then his gaze passed over Kael and came to rest on the young people standing behind him.

Although the General neither raised his voice nor made a single abrupt movement, many of them instinctively tensed under that gaze.

“I'll give you one minute to say your farewells, soldier,” he said sternly. “The front can wait no longer.”

Even the Archmagisters exchanged uneasy glances at his sternness. Guro merely let out a quiet sigh, shaking his head, while Bontia pressed her lips together in displeasure and muttered, “That's not fair...”

Kael, however, seemed to see the situation differently.

“Thank you, General!” he shouted.

Then he spun around to face his friends and spread his arms wide.

No further invitation was needed.

The next moment, they surrounded him from every side. Roselle and Lissandra threw themselves at him first, followed by the others, while Violet pressed herself so close it was as though she were trying to hold back the passing of time itself. Caught off guard by the sudden crush of embraces, Kael couldn't help laughing as they squeezed him from every side.

“Hey, easy there. At this rate, you'll finish me off before the enemy does.”

Despite the joke, no one loosened their embrace.

On the contrary, it was only now that it truly sank in for all of them—this really was goodbye. In just a few minutes, Kael would be leaving for the front, and no one knew when they would see each other again.

Sensing the mood, Kael hugged his friends back more gently.

“Don't worry. I've prepared well. It won't be that easy to kill me.”

“Come back soon, Kael...”

“We'll miss you...”

Then Girren unexpectedly looked Kael straight in the eyes and spoke with such seriousness that even the others instinctively fell silent.

“I'll do my best to catch up to you and join the fighting. Just wait for me.”

Kael looked at him for several seconds before letting out a quiet laugh and squeezing his shoulder.

“Once they realize your worth, every path will be open to you. Just don't let another army poach you.”

Girren said nothing in reply. He simply gave a short nod.

It seemed each of them still had far too much left unsaid. Too many questions they wanted to ask, too many memories they wanted to revisit.

It felt as though they had only just embraced, only just begun speaking, when General Salazar's raspy voice rang across the square once more.

“Time's up, soldier.”

At that moment, they all felt with painful clarity just how little time they had been given.

Kael felt it too.

As a final gesture, he hugged his friends a little tighter before flashing them his familiar, confident smile.

“It's time for me to go, guys. Make the most of everything I left you... and conquer the Capital.”

This time, no one argued.

They all understood that one did not defy the General.

Reluctantly releasing their embrace, his friends let Kael go one by one, allowing him to take a step back. It was at that moment that many of them felt their hearts painfully tighten.

None more so than Violet.

Watching Kael move away from them and prepare to walk toward Salazar, she finally realized, “He's leaving... He really is leaving.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and an even more terrifying thought overtook her.

“And I may never see him again...”

The thought struck with such force that every other doubt instantly lost its meaning. Kael was just about to take another step when Violet suddenly rushed forward and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

Only then did she realize what she had done, and she instantly blushed. For a brief moment, her old uncertainty tried to resurface, but Violet immediately cut herself off.

“Don't second-guess yourself, you idiot!”

Holding Kael even tighter, she leaned close to his ear and whispered so softly that only he could hear, “Kael... Do you remember that evening... When we...”

The moment those words left her lips, Kael froze. Then he turned his head toward her, visibly startled.

“Violet... Don't tell me you've remembered it all this time?”

His response made the girl's heart skip a beat.

Every doubt she had carried within herself over the past month vanished in an instant.

More than that, Kael's reaction told her one thing—he remembered it too.

Realizing that, Violet finally cast aside the last remnants of her hesitation. Her cheeks already burned with embarrassment, and tears continued to stream down her face, yet she still gripped the fabric of his uniform tighter and, gathering her courage, whispered softly, “You swore to me...”

Her voice betrayed her with a tremble, but this time she refused to stop.

“You swore you'd come back to me... So don't you dare break that oath.”

For several seconds, Kael simply looked at her, clearly never expecting that Violet had remembered it all—and had hidden it so well throughout the entire past month.

But then something even more surprising happened. Before she even realized what she was doing, Violet rose onto her tiptoes and, leaning forward, gently kissed him on the cheek.

The instant she realized what she had just done, she immediately recoiled, hurriedly wiping away her tears and trying to hide her flushed face as she muttered, “I... I demand that you keep your oath...”

For a brief moment, Kael froze. Then a warm smile spread across his face. And something so familiar flickered in his eyes that Violet understood at once—even at a moment this serious, he was still himself.

“After that, not even the Gods will be able to kill me,” Kael declared confidently.

He said it jokingly, but those words only made Violet sob harder, even as she tried to smile through her tears.

At last, Kael swept his gaze over all of his friends before taking one more step back and giving them a short bow.

“I won't let you down.”

There was none of his usual playfulness or lightheartedness in those words.

It was a promise.

Straightening up, he looked at Violet once more. For several seconds, they simply stood there, gazing at one another, before Kael quietly said, “I swear.”

After that, he turned sharply and strode toward General Salazar with quick, confident steps.

It seemed that only a moment ago he had been standing beside his friends, yet now the distance between them was growing rapidly. Already halfway there, Kael straightened up even more and said in a steady voice, “I apologize for the delay, General. I am prepared to accept any punishment.”

Hearing that, Salazar merely smirked faintly.

Adjusting his glasses, the General briefly shifted his gaze toward Violet before letting out a knowing grunt and replying, “I forgive you this once—and only this once.”

Judging by the slight twitch at the corners of his lips, he'd never intended to punish Kael in the first place.

With that, Salazar stepped forward and, without wasting time on further explanations, took Kael by the shoulder. The next instant, the General launched himself dozens of strides into the air, landing effortlessly atop the back of the enormous creature, where a massive platform fitted with railings and chains had been built between the bases of its wings.

“Hold on, soldier!” he barked.

Kael had only just managed to grab hold of one of the chains when the Scarlet Serpent raised its head and unleashed a deafening roar.

A tremor rippled across the square.

Its massive wings spread to their full span, casting an enormous shadow over the ground, and the next beat sent great clouds of dust billowing into the air. A scorching wind slammed into the faces of those gathered below, forcing many to shield their eyes with their hands.

With every beat of its wings, the colossal body lifted higher and higher from the ground, slowly ascending above the Imperial Palace square.

Everyone was watching it now.

The soldiers maintaining formation around the perimeter of the square. The Archmagisters standing nearby. And Kael's friends, their eyes never leaving the retreating figure on the Scarlet Serpent's back.

Even many of the Capital's residents had stopped in the neighboring streets, raising their heads toward the sky.

Once it had climbed high enough, the Scarlet Serpent hovered in the air for several seconds before scarlet mana suddenly enveloped its body.

The crimson glow raced across its scales, flared along its wings and tail, and then a thunderous crack echoed over the square.

The next instant, the gigantic creature shot forward.

So fast that many people couldn't even follow its movement.

A crimson streak shot across the sky above the Capital, racing toward the southeast and climbing higher with every passing second.

For a few more moments, the Scarlet Serpent could still be made out among the clouds.

But soon, even that tiny speck vanished into the distance.

And Violet, wiping away her tears with one hand while clutching the front of her blouse over her heart with the other, could only whisper, “Come back soon, Kael... I'll be waiting for you...”