My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 227. Meaningless

"Enough with the childish talk. Let’s talk about that man, Curved Demon."

Erika steered the conversation in a more constructive direction.

"You said he stopped the meteorite summoned by Erdes with his bare hand, correct?"

"That is correct."

"What he used seemed to be one of the pinnacle spells of the Seventh Circle..."

"First Impact. That’s right."

"If he had to use that spell... then he must have really lost his mind."

"Weren’t we supposed to be talking about Curved Demon? Why did the subject change?"

"Anyway, among the Seventh Circle spells, it has the greatest destructive power. To stop it through either physical strength or mana, he would need a spell that surpasses the Seventh Circle..."

Just as Erika was about to fall into thought, Ferda put forward a hypothesis.

"What if it wasn’t simply Curved Demon’s own mana?"

"What do you mean?"

"King Heinkel gathered the strength of all humans through Gamigin’s Legion and created a fortress out of it. What if that power was passed on not only to King Heinkel, but to Curved Demon as well?"

"You gathered all the humans in the kingdom, so naturally it would be powerful... but even so, stopping that attack should have been impossible."

Erdes objected.

She seemed genuinely curious as well, judging by how serious she had become.

"Of course, you are right. The mana created merely from the lives of the kingdom’s people would not be enough. But thanks to King Heian foolishly sending infiltrators, we learned one thing."

"What is that?"

Ferda threw out a clue.

"There is something inside the castle that can make someone reach the Third Circle in just one week."

"The Third Circle in one week?!"

It would already be astonishing to break through a single Circle in a week, let alone accumulate two more on top of it.

"Even with a Red Circle, it would be difficult to reach that level. How could you possibly turn someone with no connection to magic into a Third-Circle mage?"

"The Red Circle is based on emotions..."

Erika spoke as though she had figured something out.

"Could they be using Trauma?"

"Trauma? What is that?"

"It was a creature we discovered in the Land of Demons. Its eyes force those who look at it to recall their most despairing memories."

"It merely makes you remember your memories. Is that really so impressive?"

"Once you experience it yourself, you won’t be able to speak."

Erdes seemed unable to grasp it.

Like everyone else, unless you actually experienced it yourself, you could never understand its destructive power.

"Simply becoming despairing isn’t enough to create one. I know better than anyone how the Red Circle is formed."

Erdes, who hated demons, was an authority on Black Magic and the Red Circle.

She must have observed everything imaginable.

But she had only observed it.

She had never experienced it herself.

Ferda had experienced that despair.

The horrible pain of having one’s wounds gouged open from the inside, the emotion that continued without stopping even after reaching its peak—it was still vivid in his mind.

’But Erdes is right. That alone isn’t enough.’

Yet Ferda had seen something else.

"What if despair is merely the foundation?"

"The foundation?"

"To create a Red Circle, doesn’t a single emotion have to become excessive or be concentrated to that level?"

"That’s right."

"Then what if they deceive the threshold required to trigger a Red Circle by making despair, a negative emotion, the default state?"

"Why would they do that?"

Ferda remembered the time he explored Gyeonghui Palace together with the adventurers.

He knew how the adventurers who had been affected by Trauma had behaved.

The first male adventurer they found had been in despair.

And the adventurer they found later...

"For the ecstasy that follows."

He had been clutching that mass, refusing to let go.

As if he had regained his mother, whom he had lost long ago, or his wife.

"Are you saying they induce fanaticism...?"

Erdes’ lips twitched.

She could not bring herself to say either possibility.

She wanted to say that such a thing was only theoretically possible, but now that an actual case had appeared, she could not simply overlook it.

"If Red Circles are created in that manner... even if their minds collapse, it wouldn’t be much of a problem."

"You can simply use them as mana reservoirs."

Erdes let out a hollow laugh.

"A territory created by Gamigin, combined with a method of demons manipulating emotions... I underestimated them when I thought everything could be settled with First Impact."

"Even so, it seems the attack did have an effect."

"At least several thousand humans who became the nourishment for that mana must have died."

"The kingdom may not have been reduced to rubble, but it certainly suffered damage."

In other words, her attack had not been completely meaningless.

But what would happen once the real siege began?

The unknown tricks they were hiding were unsettling.

Ferda asked Erika,

"What did Lord Blancaros decide to do?"

The head of the Grand Ducal Council, which handled and decided matters concerning the entire continent.

"He considers it a crisis... but he is still putting the matter on hold."

Ferda did not like the answer.

"The Grand Ducal Council was established so that the continent would not be shaken by the existence of the Demon Race, wasn’t it?"

"Since its establishment, its authority has never once been forcibly exercised. That is because such matters were either dealt with beforehand or never showed any signs of emerging into the open."

"They are openly displaying their ambitions now, aren’t they?"

"And humans have stepped forward themselves, saying that they will resolve it."

"Does that mean he respects their wishes?"

"Yes. And it seems he simply hopes that the dragons will not intervene."

"Why would he do that...?"

Suddenly, Ferda remembered something Bronze Dragon Frontesis had said.

—Both Valdrova and I are gradually growing weaker. The twilight of the dragons is approaching.

The twilight of the dragons.

Frontesis and Valdrova were growing weaker.

Although she had not said it directly, Iorga was growing weaker as well.

What if the other dragons were the same?

If they were all becoming weaker...

’Perhaps they will end up in a situation similar to Erdes.’

Those whose authority came from their fangs and claws would face death the moment they lost them.

For such beings, stepping down from the position of the strong was not easy.

If they grew weaker, becoming obsessed with power would be inevitable.

’If that happens, they may want to become like King Heinkel.’

If that was the reason behind Blancaros’ decision, then this was something humanity itself had to overcome.

Ferda decided to put off criticizing him for now.

"We will try to resolve this somehow with the humans currently here. And..."

Ferda looked at Erdes.

"Chairwoman, you must stay out of this matter."

Erdes frowned.

"Black Magic is running rampant, and you want me to close my eyes to it?"

Ferda knew that this was precisely what Erdes was worried about, so he answered immediately.

"I will destroy Gamigin’s Black Magic grimoire myself."

"Why should I believe you?"

"If you wish, I will make an oath upon my heart."

Ferda strongly insisted that he had no interest in Black Magic.

Erdes merely scoffed at the oath.

"An oath upon your heart? Are you saying that is supposed to prove something to me?"

"Yes."

"That isn’t proof. You’re saying that because even you aren’t certain how you would deal with it."

For a moment, Ferda was rendered speechless.

He wanted to say that wasn’t true, but deep down, a thought arose that perhaps Erdes was right.

While Ferda remained silent, Erika stepped forward to defend him.

"Erdes, Regent Ferda is someone you can trust."

"Even so, he’s telling me to stay out of this. Am I supposed to sit quietly?"

"You caused this incident on your own, and it would not be strange for the Magic Association to be held responsible. Until we determine that the kingdoms’ current forces cannot resolve this, it would be better for your own safety if you stayed out of it."

"If I cared about my own safety, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place. And did I irresponsibly just drop magic on them?"

"Regardless, there were casualties. You are becoming an unpredictable variable in this situation. When Regent Ferda is trying to protect you like this, just follow her quietly."

"Ughhh...!"

Erdes rose from her seat with a frustrated expression.

Just as the meeting seemed to be coming to an end, Erdes sat back down.

"Since I’m already here, let me ask you one thing, little brat."

The tiny girl spoke that way.

"Please, go ahead."

"How much do you remember about your mother?"

Ferda reflexively frowned.

"If you bring up my mother again, I won’t consider the consequences either."

"I didn’t bring it up just to insult her. This is actually quite important."

Even though Erdes said that, Ferda continued glaring at her suspiciously.

"Then shall I tell you about my own family first? I’m the only daughter of the Roton family, conceived through artificial insemination, so I never even saw my father’s face. Because I had an unusually strong affinity for mana from birth, perhaps they became greedy. Instead of breast milk, they fed me more drugs. Instead of acting like a spoiled child, I spent more time meditating. I opened the First Circle at the age of three. Whenever I failed to achieve the goal she wanted, she would beat me herself. And when she grew tired of beating me, that garbage of a woman would peel off my skin and press her fingernails into the exposed flesh. Even now, whenever I hear the word ’mother,’ I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up."

She looked as though she were asking whether that was enough.

A woman who could not tolerate being humiliated had exposed her own deepest shame.

That made Ferda wonder what exactly Erdes wanted to ask.

"What is it that you want to know?"

"As I just said, how much do you know about your mother?"

"Anna Rosnova is a good mother."

"That’s all?"

"Yes."

Erdes looked at him suspiciously.

But what Ferda had said was true.

He had never thought of his mother in any other way.

Whenever he allowed himself to remember her, longing rather than comfort began to settle in his heart, along with a sense of loneliness.

So he tried not to think about his mother whenever possible.

"Have you never once considered that the source of your magic might have originated from your mother?"

"Are you saying that my mother is a witch?"

"No. ’Witch’ wouldn’t be enough to describe her."

Erdes recalled what had happened in the Rosnova territory.

The woman she had seen that day had not simply been a witch.

There was no way an ordinary witch could have made her feel such overwhelming helplessness.

"Think carefully. Think about what kind of being you were born and raised under."

With those final words, Erdes left the tent.

***

Heinkel Kingdom, Inner Castle

Curved Demon, who had been standing at the very tip of the spire, returned to the castle.

"You have returned?"

Curved Demon slightly turned his head.

What he saw was King Heinkel.

Empty eyes and dry breaths.

The man now emanated the scent of death, something far removed from humanity.

"Are you feeling all right?"

His eyes shifted toward Curved Demon’s right hand.

"As you can see, it was a fatal attack."

Curved Demon raised his right arm.

Where his arm should have been, only shattered bones and crushed flesh remained.

He possessed the unique regenerative ability of the Demon Race, but the impact had been so powerful that even that ability could not repair it.

"If either you or I had not been here, we would have been helpless against it."

First Impact, the pinnacle of destructive power within the Seventh Circle.

They had been able to stop it only because they had the power of the Legion properly established in place.

King Heinkel had become a Grand Mage, and Curved Demon, whom he served as his superior, could also use the mana that King Heinkel possessed.

"Fortunately."

"How many lost their lives because of this?"

"Four thousand out of eighty thousand. It is still acceptable."

"Those four thousand were also mana sources that had been forced to open the Third Circle and were being exploited. They are difficult to create from ordinary commoners..."

Curved Demon stepped into the corridor, and King Heinkel followed behind him.

It had once been a training ground for knights.

King Heinkel knew what this place had once looked like.

To cultivate faith and loyalty, the symbols of the religious order and the kingdom had been placed in prominent locations, while countless knights and cadets had trained in martial arts beneath them.

But now, a gigantic mass covered in eyeballs occupied the center of the grounds.

Inside the training ground, people were packed together like chickens in a coop, all staring up at it.

It resembled a gathering of some kind of cult religion.

"Ah..."

"How meaningless my life has been!"

"I am so happy..."

"I am so happy to have reached the truth...!"

Those who had escaped the shackles of this world and now praised the void.

There was no longer anything resembling reason in their expressions.

Only twisted ecstasy remained.

Within that ecstasy, they felt something stirring inside their chests.

"One of them has entered a new path."

King Heinkel spoke those words.

It was the sensation of a Red Circle being created, a Red Circle born from emotion.

Today, one more person had become a new mana source.

"My king! Another lamb has been added today to be offered to you!"

"May the void be with the king!"

Ecstasy gave birth to new ecstasy.

To these people, everything was meaningless, and only one absolute thing was everything.

Red Circles continuously circulated within their bodies.

But such madness could not continue forever.

The Red Circle was dangerous precisely because it could be created so quickly, and its backlash was inevitable.

"Ahhh! Guhk—!"

Someone vomited blood and collapsed on the spot.

Their bodies had been unable to withstand the excess of emotion, causing their Circle to collapse.

And this, too, was a new form of ecstasy.

"Your son has returned to the void!"

"Ahh! How envious!"

Their march did not stop.

Whether someone died or someone was injured, everything was simply another path toward the void.

Only those eyes were their happiness.

King Heinkel smiled as he watched them.

But his smile was incomplete, as though something about it left a bitter taste.

He felt as if he had lost something enormous within his heart.

But soon, he realized that it was meaningless and abandoned the thought.

Birth and death were simply the natural order of things.

For those of us trapped within these shackles, all that remains is the void.

Life is this meaningless.

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