My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 239. Before Death

Meanwhile, Alberdo and Luri were engaged in a fierce battle with Curved Demon.

Until now, Curved Demon had only fought them by twisting and untwisting space. But now, he began revealing more of the tricks he had up his sleeve.

Space has shattered.

Dimension Break.

It was a high-dimensional spell that even mages proficient in spatial magic would have difficulty handling.

The entire area of space twisted and became misaligned, making everything visible look like fragments of a shattered window.

Because space itself was distorted, even adapting to it was extremely difficult.

The ways of stepping forward and moving became completely tangled, creating an overwhelming sense of confusion.

The only one capable of maintaining his composure within it was Curved Demon himself.

Most people would go insane before ever reaching this stage, which was why among spatial mages, it was also known as a forbidden form of magic.

The one most severely affected was Luri.

Since she relied on her agile movements as her weapon, her vision becoming disoriented naturally put a brake on her movements.

An ordinary person would have lost their sense of direction and fainted after taking merely ten steps.

But Luri was a Dragon Spawn who had once been a warrior.

Finding a way through impossible situations was her job.

Her innate instincts adapted to the adversity, allowing her to move with a certain degree of freedom.

Attacks capable of destroying buildings flew back and forth repeatedly as they attempted to push Curved Demon back once more.

Luri and Alberdo did not exchange a single word.

They were both veterans of battle, and therefore knew exactly what they needed to do.

Luri became the herder who drove Curved Demon into a corner, while Alberdo moved like an executioner, delivering slow but precise strikes.

Curved Demon died several times, but each time he was replaced and appeared again.

In the midst of this tense battle, something completely unexpected brought their movements to a halt.

"This is..."

"The smell of sulfur..."

The smell of sulfur began spreading throughout this space of death.

It grew stronger and stronger, far beyond something that could simply be dismissed as a coincidence, until the entire area was filled with it.

Why was there such a smell?

They both had the same question in mind, but Curved Demon seemed to know the answer.

He let out a hollow laugh and spoke.

"Do you know why I hate humans?"

"....."

"Because their will breaks in the face of death, and they become slaves. Just like now."

He continued speaking as though he had known this would happen.

"The master of death has arrived. It seems Heinkel has finally succumbed to death."

His expression looked bitter, yet at the same time, he was smiling.

"Still, I’m glad it falls within the range of what I expected. Who in this world could remain noble in the face of death? Even I couldn’t."

At that moment, the shattered space returned to its original state.

"My role ends here. I believe I’ll be taking my leave."

Curved Demon drew a long line through the air, and a rift opened in the distorted space.

Luri and Alberdo had no intention of letting him escape.

Then—

Crackle—!

"Hm?"

An unnatural crack appeared in the space Curved Demon had opened.

A crack that destroyed another crack.

Crash!

The space shattered like a thin pane of glass and returned to the form of mana.

A sword emerged through the faint blue light.

And a woman.

"Ugh!"

Curved Demon forcibly twisted his body in response to the unexpected attack.

The blade sliced through Curved Demon’s shoulder and continued past him.

"You are..."

The woman wore nothing more than a ragged cloth, her body crouched low like a beast.

The sword in her hand was raised like the claw of a beast.

That sword was what had just cut through space itself.

"Slash!"

The woman’s eyes glowed blue as she stared at Curved Demon.

The moment Curved Demon looked into those eyes, he sensed his own death.

He immediately saw through the true nature of those eyes.

"Eyes that show death... An Evil Eye. Then does that mean you’re Sierra’s Saintess?"

She answered.

"Yes."

"Yes means an affirmation, doesn’t it? There’s a wolf here, but I don’t see any chains... I see. Have the chains already begun moving?"

"...."

The woman did not answer.

Instead, her sword merely glimmered within this hell.

But Curved Demon only smiled.

He already knew where she had gone.

"Life truly is impossible to predict even an inch ahead."

***

—How insolent.

King Heinkel, now reduced to a skeleton, slammed Ferda into the floor.

"Urgh!"

Ferda was powerless.

He could not deploy a barrier, breathing itself was difficult, and his consciousness was hazy.

He had no choice but to endure the full force of King Heinkel’s strength.

—Go on. Say it again.

King Heinkel’s voice reverberated deeply.

Yet the anguish and heaviness that had once surrounded him were gone.

He had been possessed by a demon and surrendered himself to madness.

Now, nothing remained but pleasure.

—You were so confident, weren’t you? You said a mage keeps something in reserve until the very last moment. Where has that arrogant face of yours gone?

He lifted Ferda’s body again and slammed him into the floor.

His ribs broke.

His vision continued flashing.

Ferda had no options left.

’Someone... anyone... just come and stop him.’

All he could do was pray for such a miracle.

But perhaps his desperate wish had actually reached someone?

BOOM!

Someone kicked open the door into the space where only the two of them had been.

For a moment, there was hope that reinforcements had arrived.

But that hope did not last long.

What entered through the doorway was an enormous wave of heat.

It was Ureas, bearing the form of Amon.

—Hhehehehehe!!!

Ureas let out a frivolous laugh like an immature child.

—So you were here, Regent Ferda! Did you really think this little rat could escape me!?

Ureas hurled the object he had been dragging behind him.

It was Count Rooster’s head.

In the end, it seemed Rooster had been unable to make a move and had been killed by the Second Prince.

—Now it’s your turn! I’ll cut off your head and send it to your fiancée!

Ureas threw the sword in his hand at Ferda.

It flew directly toward Ferda’s body, but it never reached him.

King Heinkel had blocked the sword aimed at Ferda.

Ureas flew into a rage.

—What are you!? If you’re a corpse, then stay a corpse! How dare you stand in the way of Ureas!

—That is what I should be asking you. Do you not even know who made it possible for you to come back to life?

—Who cares!? I was revived because I am great, obviously!

Ureas spoke in an arrogant voice.

—Serve me, you worthless piece of trash. If you do, I shall graciously make you my vassal.

—How insolent.

Trying to dominate the Demon of Immortality and Legions was an unforgivable provocation.

The foolish Ureas and Heinkel eventually clashed with one another.

When two people fight over their prey, the prey itself is often forgotten.

Ferda, who had been reduced to that very prey, tried to escape somehow while the two were distracted.

Move...

He desperately prayed that there was even a single muscle in his body that still had strength left and weakly moved his arm.

He tried to stand up again and again.

But each time, his body gave him the same answer.

It was already broken beyond repair.

An endless series of X marks was being drawn across his mental checklist.

And when even the final thread of hope disappeared, Ferda realized that death was approaching.

I don’t want to die.

Birth and death were simply the natural order of things.

But who would actually want to die?

I want to go back alive.

Ferda was human, too.

A human who simply wanted to return alive.

Valdrova.

He wanted to see her face again.

He wanted to see her so badly that it drove him mad.

If I have to die... at least let me live long enough to give her time to know I’m safe...

That was Ferda’s final wish.

Then—

—I can do it.

A demon comes to a desperate human.

But this was not a demon that came to Ferda.

It was a sweet voice that had been sleeping within him, approaching his side.

What had once been nothing more than a voice now seemed to possess a physical form.

A warm hand touched Ferda’s face.

And gently stroked his body.

—In circumstances this unfair, it’s all right to let go of yourself, even if only a little.

"I... you..."

Ferda raised his eyes and saw it.

He found himself unable to speak.

The figure standing before him was none other than his own mother, Anna Rosnova.

—Ferda...

That moist, gentle voice was exactly the same.

Without realizing it, Ferda called out to that voice.

"M-Mother..."

—You really suffered while I was gone.

The warmth of her consolation shook Ferda’s heart.

He couldn’t believe it.

That voice which had been whispering inside him...

Was it really his mother?

—Ferda... believe in your power and use it.

"My power...?"

—Yes... It’s right here, isn’t it?

She touched something within Ferda’s Dantian.

It was the Dark Circle born from Ferda’s regret.

—Use this... Then everything will become easy.

"Everything?"

—Yes. This power can even create the world you desire. And it can take you back to your fiancée.

He could return to Valdrova.

Two pairs of horns and red hair.

Pure, golden cat-like eyes that sparkled with innocence, and moist lips.

Soft hands and delicate shoulders.

He could return to the woman who could be called his everything.

—Just this once.

The figure of Anna Rosnova moved her finger.

At that moment, something astonishing happened.

Ferda felt vitality returning to the body that had been on the verge of death only moments ago.

But that wasn’t all.

A tremendous amount of mana that he had been unable to sense until now surged through him as well.

It was almost like the Ferda of his prime.

The mana felt similar to what he had possessed back then.

—Let’s show them what you’re capable of.

The voice spoke those words.

But the movement of the Dark Circle suddenly stopped.

Ferda had grabbed her hand.

—Why...?

"If I awaken that... I’ll become no different from the person I was back then."

—Are you afraid of that?

"Yes. I... I know how terrifying it is."

Ferda knew.

There was no way this would end with just this one time.

Once would become twice.

Twice would become four times.

Eventually, he would use it as though doing so were completely natural.

"If that happens... then what was the meaning of me coming back like this?"

—.......

Ferda pushed her hand away.

It felt exactly the same as the last time he had touched it.

"Please, Mother. Let me remain human. Please... let me die like this."

That was Ferda’s resolve.

His breath finally stopped, and Ferda sank into eternal silence.

—Who gave you permission?

Then, an intense pain struck him.

"GAH!"

Ferda’s consciousness snapped awake.

It felt as though someone had reached inside his chest, grabbed his heart, and squeezed it.

When he regained consciousness, the image of his mother was still smiling gently.

—My child, my child. Did you think fate was something that depended on whether you accepted it or not?

Another hand touched Ferda’s Circle.

—Fate is called fate because it cannot be avoided. You tried to escape the fate of hatred and rage that you were destined to bear, but you cannot.

Her finger stirred the Dark Circle inside Ferda’s body.

The Circle began spinning faster and faster with the movement of her finger.

Vitality surged through Ferda’s body.

Ironically, however, that surging vitality was trying to overwrite Ferda himself with something else.

And his consciousness was being forced farther and farther away.

—If you avoid your fate, then you must die.

Ferda clenched his teeth and glared at the woman.

Anna Rosnova gently whispered into his ear.

—As long as you remain alive, I shall be there. Whether it becomes a tremendous tragedy or a comedy.

Ferda fell into the abyss.

***

Ureas and King Heinkel continued fighting.

Every attack they exchanged was lethal enough to destroy half of the other’s body.

Yet they immediately regenerated, and their seemingly endless battle continued.

—Stop for a moment.

King Heinkel was the first to stop fighting.

In the middle of their battle, he had suddenly turned his attention elsewhere.

Ureas noticed that King Heinkel was staring at something and followed his gaze.

They were looking at Ferda.

Ferda, reduced to half a corpse, was kneeling.

There was not enough strength left in him to even kneel properly.

But that was not why their attention had been drawn to him.

Ferda’s body was leaning backward, and something had begun taking shape from his chest.

Darkness darker than darkness itself.

The darkness had acquired physical mass.

They already knew that such a phenomenon was possible through Shadow Arts.

But this darkness was extraordinarily strange.

A white ring surrounded its edges.

—What the hell is that...?

Even with Gamigin’s knowledge, it was something he could rarely see.

While Heinkel quietly examined it, Ureas did not miss the opportunity.

—I’ll kill you, Ferda!

Ureas charged toward Ferda without regard for anything else.

Then something astonishing happened.

—Huh?

As he approached, the substance that made up Ureas’s body began turning into ash and losing its form.

The ash was being drawn into the black circle.

—W-What the hell!?

Even someone as foolish as Ureas understood that this was a dangerous phenomenon.

He stopped moving forward and backed away.

But even after the distance between them increased, the disintegration did not stop.

—Ah, no! I can’t die! I don’t want to dieee!!

It only grew more violent as time passed, and there was no way to resist it.

In the end, Ureas’s entire form completely disappeared.

King Heinkel, who had witnessed everything, and Gamigin could not hide their astonishment.

—Now I understand.

Only then was Gamigin able to identify what that form was.

—Is that... a Dark Moon?

The darkest darkness within darkness itself.

It was said to be so dark that it absorbed even the surrounding light, leaving the remnants of that light to form a faint ring around its edge.

Even Gamigin did not know what happened to anything that entered it.

After all, it was the very embodiment of the ultimate void that the Demon Followers had longed for.

—You are not human.

Gamigin stared at Ferda.

—No... Are you human, yet something else as well? The essence of your existence feels like ore melted together inside a furnace. Just what are you?

There could be no answer to Gamigin’s question.

Instead, the deep darkness slowly turned, as though answering him.

The Great Demon Gamigin immediately released his possession and fled back to Hell.

The consciousness of King Heinkel returned completely to his own body.

The Dark Moon slowly began devouring King Heinkel’s physical form.

Just like Ureas, he too began disappearing little by little.

"N-No..."

King Heinkel screamed as well.

"No! I don’t want this! I don’t want to die!! I don’t want to dieee!!"

At the end of it all, there was only eternal silence.

The Dark Moon did not disappear.

It quietly continued devouring the light, as though waiting for its next prey.

The fortress, now without its master, began to collapse.

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