Dragonlord

Ep 215. You’re Not From This Time, Are You? (8)

Ep 215. You’re Not From This Time, Are You? (8)

Meanwhile, on the ground…

‘…What was that?’

The entire group had come to a halt as Xerun and Ilias suddenly took to the skies without so much as a single warning. The others were left wandering what the sudden takeoff was as they blankly stared at the skies, then at each other in confusion.

Amongst them, a man raised the edges of his discolored hood. Noting that Raizel was still present on the ground with them, he carefully approached the steel dragon afterwards.

“That was rather sudden. Was something amiss?”

“Eh. Maybe.”

“…? May I ask where the other dragons have gone?”

“Up there. Look closer.”

When Raizel pointed upwards, the man could see a small black speck amongst the blue and white – a speck that was rapidly growing by the second into a plummeting, castle-like structure.

In fact, it practically was a castle. Just not on the ground, and with a red dragon attached on its side.

After a few seconds, Raizel scoffed at the sight of her struggling friend, snorting at the unsightly display.

“Pretty sure that was lord just telling us to do some cleanup…but looks like the dumbass is making a bigger mess instead.”

“As in…your lord just spoke to you all? But I didn’t hear anything? And what do you mean, cleanup?”

“You didn’t hear it, but we all did. That thing in the sky, apparently it explodes. Some rotten stuff in there or something.”

“…Pardon?”

Hearing the steel dragon’s sudden announcement, everyone else widened their eyes in shock – the hooded man especially more so.

“So…that’s not an image, but an actual castle plummeting down here.”

“Eh, yeah.”

“…May I ask why?”

“Some kinda divine crap.”

What initially confused the man had been why Raizel had remained behind when all the other dragons had immediately sprung to action.

Now, what confused him most was the youngling’s seeming disinterest in what seemed like a fast-approaching disaster.

“Is it me, or…you don’t seem concerned?”

“Why would I be concerned? I’m just waiting for it to fall a bit more. I can smash it easy.”

“Even assuming you could…wouldn’t that make the structure explode?”

“…?”

A pair of confused eyes locked onto each other as Raizel faced the hooded man at her side.

The youngling soon pursed her lips, facing away with a slightly more concerned expression than before.

“I’ll hold back.”

“…I am quite certain that wouldn’t work. And even for you, it seems far too large to destroy.”

“Then what? You want me to just sit here and watch it explode?”

Grinning, the man cautiously looked to the sides. Thankfully, not too many seemed to realize what the structure was in the sky – but more importantly, of who he was.

Then, the man finally lowered his hood, pulling out the ever-familiar cane from his side.

“Even I can do simple cleaning work. Please, leave this to me.”

“? And what’re you gonna do, throw rocks at it?”

“Haha! There’s a saying within our discipline: before you learn how to cast a meteor, you first need to learn how to destroy one.”

With a resolute sigh, the mage directly faced the approaching fortress. He pointed his cane at the structure, beaming as he reminisced his last encounter with the dragonlord.

“Cleaning work…perhaps I could count this as an old student’s request.”

Unfortunately, Karas was quick to ruin the mage’s moment of reflection.

“Actually, she’s my student, Gio. Not yours.”

“…”

…And things only worsened when Light piled on top.

“Pretty sure I’m your only student, professor. What kinda teacher gets beaten around by their student all the time?”

Karas visibly flinched at the comment. Every occasion where he’d clashed against Serenis – intentionally or unintentionally – hadn’t exactly resulting in a roaring victory.

But of course, Karas wasn’t the only one to flinch at Light’s comment. After all, Gio had experienced much the same during his mock duel against the dragonlord.

“…Oh. Sorry, Mr. Dugrin. I forgot she destroyed you too.”

“Ahem. She didn’t destroy me, I…conceded defeat.”

“Really? That’s not what I heard.”

“…”

Gio rapidly shook his head to shove the shameful memory aside. The experience of losing to a student was quite memorable, but reflecting on it constantly wasn’t going to do him any good. Especially not in this instance.

“…Anyhow.”

As the mage’s focus returned, faded shadows enshrouded the tip of his cane. Then, a black, orb-like void crackled into existence, distorting the air that was around it.

And soon, the orb would take off into the air – before instantly enlarging to a size to rival that of the falling fortress.

‘The divine may have robbed me of my position as headmaster…but I certainly don’t plan concede my city as well.’

✧   ✧   ✧

Despite Letherien’s toxic threats, Serenis remained seemingly unbothered. Even Iris didn’t seem bothered by the deity of creation’s threats.

At first, the deity had been nothing but confused. The frail deity of mana she’d once known was seemingly gone, replaced with this defiant, irritating human mage. And the dragon that was accompanying her was nothing short of infuriating.

But soon enough – shortly after her simulacrum at Partivine was thrown off board – the deity’s destroyed effigy in Karia widened its eyes in shock, turning to Serenis with a bewildered gaze.

“You…you’re not from this time, are you?”

“Had you not interrupted me earlier, you would’ve known much sooner.”

“But how? That’s not possible…you died before this era even began!”

Unfortunately, Serenis had little interest in how shocked Letherien’s severed head was.

And once it began staring at her in shock, the dragonlord let out a relieved sigh as the tension loosened within her.

‘If she’s just figuring that out, then I suppose the others have dealt with her presence at Partivine. Good.’

But even as Serenis herself loosened, Letherien’s head eyed the red-haired afterwards, glaring at the changed deity of mana.

“And Felicis, you…what have you done?”

“Done what? If anyone’s done anything, it’s you.”

“Don’t you dare! A human mage, destroying my creations with a single spell? Humans were never supposed to wield magic like that! You did this!”

“…”

Instead of answering, Iris let out an amused snort. She then looked to Patrick at her side, bits of laughter slipping from her lips.

Of course, Patrick wasn’t understanding where the laughter was coming from either.

“Uh…Iris, why’re you laughing like a maniac?”

“Isn’t it funny? She thinks I made people better at using magic.”

 “I mean…technically, it did all come from you, didn’t it?”

“No? I only taught everyone super basic things, and that was a thousand years ago. People developed everything else on their own. It got so bad I actually had to learn magic back from you guys.”

“…Wait a minute. Is that why you enrolled at the institute?”

Still laughing, Iris then walked over to Letherien’s severed head. She flung it aside from the body’s grip, letting it roll onto the ground before stomping on it with one foot.

Then, the enforcer swiftly summoned a firearm out of her own magic, clocking the tip at Letherien.

“Sorry, Letherien. I might still be stuck copying your stuff with magic, but others are way beyond that. I can’t even hold a candle to some of them.”

“…And you call yourself a deity?”

“Of course not. That’s why I got rid of my divinity.”

“…”

Grinning, a single shot from the enforcer effectively silenced the severed head. After confirming that Partivine was safe, they really didn’t have a reason to keep Letherien around.

After the magicked weapon dissipated, Iris turned to face Serenis and Patrick. As Patrick had said, she was still smiling like a maniac.

“…It’s nice to be human.”

‘Now, I get to laugh at how stupid deities are now.’

And she doesn’t have to feel bad about it.