Dragonlord

Ep 211. You’re Not From This Time, Are You? (4)

Ep 211. You’re Not From This Time, Are You? (4)

‘…Something’s not right.’

Letherien grimaced as the barrage if cannons harmlessly fell upon the barrier between her and the looming dragon.

It wasn’t surprising, of course – dragons, by virtue of their birth alone, were far stronger than that of any other lifeform. Defending themselves against a barrage or two weren’t all that surprising.

However, this was at least the dozenth time Letherien had attacked the dragonlord in vain.

Had there been even a remote sign of damage or exhaustion, the deity wouldn’t have been as disturbed. But as things stood, Serenis was brushing off every attack like child’s play – at this point, it almost seemed as if maintaining that giant barrier wasn’t costing any mana whatsoever.

And truth be told, it really wasn’t.

“Are you finished?”

“…”

A hollow laughter slipped from the deity as she watched Serenis revert to her previous size, softly landing onto the fortress gardens.

And when the two stood mere inches away, even Letherien retreated back a step, caving to the dragonlord’s pressuring gaze with a nervous smile.

“…Never mind Felicis, I’m even starting to miss Felicir…he’d always been the one to come and interrupt my work. Wherever did a monster like you appear from?”

A small frown crossed the dragonlord. ‘The past’ didn’t seem like a very plausible answer.

So instead, she pulled back a fist before burying it right into the deity’s stomach, sending her flying across the fortress gardens.

A series of pained coughs followed as the deity stumbled onto the floor. She spared a momentary glance behind her to see what little room there was between her and the open sky, gulping down a mix of fear and anticipation.

But at the same time, a faint smile formed over the deity’s lips.

“My, how awfully kind of you.”

Despite the dragonlord’s indifferent expression, Letherien crawled back to her feet, their disturbing grin growing wider by the second.

“You restrained yourself. How come?”

“…If you were to fall, it’d be tiresome to find you again.”

The deity shook her head at the answer. Letherien then approached Serenis once more, seemingly unafraid of being sent flying again.

“Sparing mercy? You have the same mindset as Aldrid. You don’t want to kill anyone or anything.”

“…”

“You could’ve landed as you were and tore everything down. But here you are instead, standing in a much cuter appearance. I’m almost inclined to believe you’re against harming me at all.”

Which was ridiculous. According to the stereotype, a dragon should’ve torn the fortress down and sent it plummeting to the ground, regardless of who or what was inside.

But as the deity’s certainty grew, she then continued forward, walking past Serenis to stand right before the garden’s edge. The elf’s relaxed gaze fell unto the clouds beneath them, as well as the farms that were far, far below where they were.

Nevertheless, Serenis stared at the eccentric deity from the corners of her eyes, prepared to catch Letherien if need be.

“…I am only here to destroy your divinity. I have no intention of doing anything further.”

“Is that so?”

An eerie smile curved the elf’s lips as she raised her head to face the dragonlord again.

She then invitingly opened her arms, stepping closer towards her enemy.

“Then by all means, go ahead. Seems to me you’ve done this a number times already.”

“…”

It could be done by force, surely.

She’d preferred to have Letherien resign it instead – unlike the case with Felicir who’d been torturing her kin for centuries, Serenis had no good reason to kill the deity of creation.

But if they would rather resign their life than divinity, than it was what it was.

Sighing, the dragonlord’s claws instantly punctured through the deity’s chest. Her hand grasped at Letherien’s heart, and the divinity fragment that would be there.

“…?”

But instead, Serenis found her hand clawing into what felt like a mound of clay.

With widened eyes, the dragonlord lowered her gaze to realize several things amiss: not a single drop of blood could be seen over Letherien’s wound, nor did the deity seem to be in any pain. Her retreated claws were coated in nothing but bits of clay and oil.

‘…A fake?’

And despite her punctured chest, the smile on Letherien’s lips was only growing.

“That would’ve been a little too easy, don’t you think?”

“…How? Your presence reeks of divinity…”

“Of course. I made this simulacrum myself. Every single one is a handcrafted relic, my dear.”

“…”

“I’m not sure which of the Twelve you’ve encountered, but not all of us are as incompetent.”

Before Serenis could even process her welling frustration, the fortress beneath her feet began to rumble from within.

Had they been on the ground, she might’ve mistaken it for an earthquake, but…they were miles above the ground, right up in the open skies.

“Now, before you come chasing after me again…I’m going to give you a small little task. Be a good dragon and show me how resourceful you are.”

It didn’t take long after that until the rumbling came to a cease.

And it certainly didn’t take long until the fortress itself began to give away, plummeting down to the earth below.

“What are you- there are others beneath us!”

“Mhm. I know.”

Serenis gritted her teeth as she darted her gaze behind her. The airborne fortress sunk through the clouds in split seconds, the earth rapidly approaching from beneath.

And in response, the dragonlord gripped the deity’s head this time, effortlessly snapping it off the rest of its body.

But even then, the deity’s effigy refused to shut up.

“Ahahaha. Did you think that would break the fall?”

“…”

In all honesty, no.

But she did think it’d at least make Letherien shut up.

✧   ✧   ✧

“Slept well, princess?”

As soon as Iris finished rubbing the sleep off her eyes, she shot a disgusted glare at her friend.

Opting to ignore the statement altogether, the enforcer then glanced around the carriage, noticing the dragonlord missing amidst them.

“…Wait, we’re not moving? Where’s Serenis?”

“I don’t know. She took off somewhere...should be back soon.”

“Wow. Talk about being responsible for your little sibling.”

“Hey, I can’t chase a flying dragon!”

“…Wait, she flew?”

Frowning, Iris quickly jumped out of the carriage, looking around the open fields. But to her dismay, she couldn’t find any signs of the dragnolord, nor could she sense Serenis anywhere nearby.

‘Must’ve been something urgent. I wonder where she…’

But soon enough, Iris did notice something odd.

As the world seemed to darken around her, the enforcer looked up with a frowning gaze – to find an inexplicable black object right above them, plummeting down from above.

And to that, the enforcer blinked a couple times, rubbed her eyes again, and continued to stare.

Whatever that was, she was NOT imagining it.

“…Hey, Patrick?”

“Yeah?”

“You didn’t just cast a meteor spell, did you?”

“What? Why would- I don’t even know how to do that.”

“Yeah, I figured…wanna come out for a second?”

Reluctantly, Patrick lazily rubbed his neck as he followed after Iris, jumping out of the wagon cart himself. And when his friend refused to lower her head, he quickly followed Iris’ gaze.

“What are you looking at? What’s…wait, what the hell is that?”

“…I…wish I knew.”

Whatever it was, it was large enough to cast a shadow over the entire area around them – fields and houses and whatnot.

And whatever it was, it was plummeting down at an alarming rate.