Episode 116. Karma
A hole in the contract created because there is no more back.
A result that even she could not have predicted until her foresight came true.
Airi realized that that moment had finally arrived, and she began to look down at her scene with a more confused face than ever.
‘Tassian, you can’t change the future once it’s already started.’
For dragons, contracts are absolute, so they will not allow any more whims.
Even if she believes that she cannot annihilate humanity with her current power, she will lead her body to the end and reign as the enemy of humanity for the sake of the pact that binds her.
“… A little more.”
Even though she knew that such a future would unfold, Airi was unable to calmly accept this situation.
Even though she knew the future, innocent people were going to die at her hands as a result of her failure to stop it in the middle.
Her companion, who has awakened her power in order to prevent even a little of her sacrifice, will be the first to attack her human army and make her her enemy.
“Couldn’t there have been a better future?”
I don’t know if there is at least one possibility that I can reduce my sacrifices and my companion won’t be sad.
Despite my attempts to find such a possibility, all I could see in the crystal ball was a distortion without any clarity.
It is natural. No matter how much you wield the power of a god, your body was born to wield that power as a mere human.
Because his power is weak, it is necessary to limit those who will benefit from the prophecy, and the future he pursues has no choice but to be centered around him.
‘…… Since you are so helpless, you must choose the best you can at every moment.’
Unless everything can be understood perfectly, assuming what ifs is something a prophet should never do.
So, Airi endured the sadness he would feel and tried to envision an ideal future that would follow.
After he fully accepts his power, he starts by blocking Tasian, becomes a hero who protects humanity, and becomes a true savior….
“…Huh?”
Changes that occurred in the crystal ball while imagining such a future.
The moment he saw the previously unclear future gradually becoming clearer, Airi stopped his thoughts and quickly turned his gaze towards that place.
Has your earnest wish suggested a new path?
Or the whim of the transcendent… …. Because Tasian has now acted on an unexpected whim?
‘No, this is not like that. This… ….’
For whatever reason, the most likely future has been observed in the current situation.
-Jijijik, jijijik.
Airi’s face, facing that, soon began to turn pale.
****
“Everyone, take up arms.”
And, the scene where it was raining heavily.
As the heat gradually cooled down, Marcus, the corps commander, drew his sword and let out a heavy voice towards the soldiers.
Unlike the soldiers who froze in an unexpected situation, they seemed to have grasped the current situation and made up their minds.
“Captain, but there’s a person over there… ….”
“It’s not a person! “Are you saying that even after seeing that just now!?”
What happened just a few minutes ago?
The human army was ravaged by the dead, and the White Knight, who was unable to stop it, accepted the power of the dragon and grew into a huge disaster.
And it all burned up and disappeared with the breath she let out.
Not only my brother, who rose from the dead, but also the army of red knights who belatedly noticed the situation and flocked in.
“That’s a dragon. That is the dragon that ran rampant to destroy humanity half a century ago!!”
“Captain, calm down, I understand what you’re saying… ….”
“What did we do when the white knight accepted the dragon’s heart?”
And Marcus is the only veteran among those here who has lived for more than half a century.
He was a person who knew the history that they did not know, and who saw with his own eyes the reality of the disaster that raged at that time.
“I could only helplessly watch him step forward. Even as he strengthened his army to defend humanity, he could do nothing but stand by and watch against such an enemy!”
That existence appeared, tearing up forgotten history.
How can they remain silent when they have even abandoned their dragon bodies and are facing each other on an equal level?
“That woman is the one who overpowered even the person who made him feel so helpless! No, she is a monster disguised as a woman!!!”
Jean Cleo.
Although what he did could not be seen as being for the good of humanity, I was able to immediately understand at this moment how he felt about clinging to the idols of the past.
“So we have to kill her now! “There is no chance to kill that woman except now that I am weak enough to throw away my body!”
Because the monster that defeated their idol is still alive and breathing.
Even the disaster that drove them into despair, they believed that they had to prevent something that could easily burn them from coming back to humanity.
“Are you just going to watch as that monster regains its strength and becomes a threat to humanity again!?”
A madness that I couldn’t even feel when I saw my brother’s depravity.
But that is why the sincerity is conveyed.
The soldiers who accepted the will of the leader they had always trusted and followed eventually realized the gravity of this situation and began to take out their weapons.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves!!”
“Follow the commanding officer’s words!”
Yes, it was just a late judgment, but there were enough reasons to be hostile to him regardless of his will.
Even if they don’t know who the opponent is or why they come in front of them, if they have the potential to deal with a disaster that they cannot do anything about.
And if such a being comes to you in a weakened state after pouring all your strength into it, it would be right to kill it while you can.
“Everyone prepare for battle!!”
The human army gathers in droves and prepares its battle lines.
It may not rush in right away, but it will be soon.
Feeling the eyes of the crowd on him from behind his shield and improvised barrier, Tasian looked down at his hands, chuckling in the rain.
‘It’s something I will live to see for a long time. I thought there was nowhere else to fall, but now even those who trampled on me like bugs are looking down on me…’
There is no longer any strength left to maintain the main body.
Even if it breathes out, it will only shoot clastic particles made up of body debris, not fire.
So, the fight that will take place in the future will be fierce without the overwhelming feeling of the previous one, and if you survive at the end of the fight, the last person you will face will be him.
The successor chosen by oneself and chosen by the alter ego of the child who created the beginning of this whole story.
‘Meeting the end as an evil dragon that appears in heroic tales… After all, this would be a fitting end for me.’
Anticipating such a trend, a light-hearted smile that she had never seen before began to appear on Tashian’s lips.
Okay, this is the end.
If this moment passes, you can be liberated from the pain that has been causing you pain.
‘… You also.’
Despite that feeling of liberation, at this moment, Tasian felt his eyes becoming hot.
She felt something that could not be cooled by the showers that soaked her body, stimulating the burning fire in her own emotions.
‘If I had given up Yeokrin that day…’ . ‘You could have been that kind of person too.’
The child who drew the beginning of this whole story.
I was unable to properly distinguish between the people in front of me, and I felt that the being I wanted to clearly remember in my life was digging into my heart.
‘I resented you.’
I regretted picking up and raising a human.
He believed that the confusion he felt, the trampling of humans at the end, and the forced continuation of his life due to a sudden whim, all came from that child.
If he had not become involved with humans, he would have passed away comfortably like other dragons.
I would no longer have to think complicatedly or suffer from regretting the choices I made that day.
‘Because you are human, humans made me like this…’
But I knew the truth.
All of that is just an evasion to avoid the truth.
I had long ago realized that I had affection for the child who would be with me until the end of my life, and that I ran away because I did not want to see myself falling apart to that child.
‘So, what you, a human being, should feel is resentment……. ‘I’ve been thinking about it all along.’
But how can the passage of time felt by a human living for about 100 years and a dragon living for 10,000 years be the same?
When I realized that feeling, I had already committed it, and because I could not correct it, my life as a living corpse felt even more painful.
More than a human’s entire life, more than the 10,000 years he spent in vain in this world.
I felt that half a century of thinking about the sins I had committed was deeply engraved in my heart.
‘I don’t admit it.’
It felt so long that I had enough time to think.
What name should be given to your heart?
The sentiment I had at the end of my life was, in fact, the same as that of humans.
‘You can’t admit it. If that happens, I…….’
Nevertheless, the reason why I have always ignored the answer is because I cannot change the past that has already happened.
It was because I was realizing at every moment that the realization was late and that it did not change the fact that I had killed the child I had given my heart to.
‘Because the moment you admit it, you will feel comfortable.’
To drive a wedge there, before sending the child’s body into the river, he extracted her soul and her wealth and refined it into a weapon.
I was confident that if my grudge and mission continued even after my death, it would definitely reach me.
If you can pass on that child’s lingering affection to his successor.
I thought that if the successor succeeded in reaching me without being discouraged by the harshness of this world, I could clear off some of my karma.
‘Is it delicious?’
‘Yes, yes. It is delicious.’
The moment I remembered the existence of such a successor, memories of the meal we had together one day gradually began to appear in my mind.
To the point where I can’t ignore the fact that I think people are insignificant.
The image that comes to mind clearly beyond that of the child I can no longer see again.
‘There is no need to please them. ‘I just made it roughly from what I had.’
‘No, that’s not an empty remark. ‘Isn’t it nice because it reminds me of the food my mother cooked?’
What does he think of himself now?
He knows his identity, and with what heart he gave up his weapons.
And even after seeing himself now wanting to exterminate people like himself, will he be able to continue the same conversation he had that day?
‘… Mother?’
‘Yes, my mother in the original world. ‘I think Tacia’s meal resonates with me even more because I don’t think I’ll ever see it again.’
‘… ….’
‘… ‘Ahahahaha, was it rude to say this?’
From Noble mtl dot com
‘No, not really.’
At least we will no longer have to have conversations like that day.
It’s something that should just be passed over, but why is it that a part of my heart feels sore?
He was just a person who wanted to use it as a tool for his own purposes.
Why did she prepare a meal for him every time she met him?
“… A little bit.”
At this moment, I felt that such a question was leading to another question.
What is the difference between the feelings I felt towards him, who cannot be forgotten even after time passes, and the feelings I felt towards the child who started all of this?
“If I had been given a little more time, I wonder if I could have known what I felt for you…… ?”
There is no time or space left to know the difference.
Even though her mind was denying it, her body, bound by her contract, was still trying to move forward at this moment.
Resentment for the past, regret for belated realization.
Even after knowing all that, he moved on, realizing that accepting this fate was the path he had chosen and the ‘result of karma’ he wanted to accept.
-Pugh!!!
Before that will even takes a single step.
He didn’t know that he might be cruelly defeated by someone’s malicious intent.
“… Cough.”
Yes, the dragon, which had now lost its phase, did not notice.
In this cruel world, the confidence that one’s wishes will come true will always be dashed.
-Patter, patter.
Tasian, who did not realize that he had been hit by an attack coming from behind, turned his trembling head towards his back.
A scene where even the showers that cool down the heat are gradually stopping.
Something erupted from beneath the ground, where the lava created by melting earth and sand was cooling and hardening, and it was driving the sword in his hand into his back.
What you are stabbing is your own disgust.
A place said to be the dragon’s only weak point.
-Pukak!!
When the sword was pulled out, piercing the enemy precisely, the body that was trying to advance towards the human army fell to the ground helplessly.
Humanity was also unable to anticipate that scene.
Despite the battle lines that had barely been established, their bodies became stiff, and astonishment began to bloom in their eyes as they stared at the scene.
“W-what is that? Survivor?”
“No, that’s…” …. “He’s undead!”
As they said, there was only one undead there.
Among the undead legions that flocked in at the moment when the dragon and the dragon battled, one of the legions that was thought to have been annihilated managed to maintain its form and succeeded in stabbing the dragon.
By advancing towards his goal with a level of magical power that can withstand heat that turns his entire body to ash, and a level of obsession that goes beyond recognition.
“Oh, money… ….”
At the end, white hair peeks through the broken armor, and rotten blood clings to the point where even its color appears faint.
But even that gradually turned into fresh blood in response to her innate magical power, dyeing her hair red.
“Everything, everything…” …. “For my mother.”
Strength is being revived.
The lingering regret, which is the source of the power of the dead, grows uncontrollably the moment it encounters the being that acts as a medium.
“That’s right, I, my mother…. For… …. I woke up……. “For my mother…”
Red Knight of War – Annabelle Britannia.
She was a young woman who disappeared in a fight over the right to succeed to the royal family, and returned to her homeland after enduring a period of war.
She, who defined herself in this way, began to smile as she encountered a presence that stimulated her own lingering feelings at this moment.
“Ugh, hahahahaha.”
Yes, at this moment Annabelle came up with another name for herself.
Before returning to her homeland as an adult, she used the name she used when she was abandoned by her mother and went to war.
“Finally, uh….”
“Finally, uh. I found it, yo. Mom…♡”
Tachia Firoy.
The last warrior this world gave birth to, and the incarnation of war that killed the most people during the era of war.
what a twist!!!
Red Knight was Tachia!