Chapter 388
Chapter 388
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 388
Chapter Title: Chapter 388
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 388
Chapter Title: The Unpayable Debt
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There was a benefactor.
A benefactor I couldn't save.
Over the past three years, I kept recalling someone's figure. My teacher, my benefactor, and my senior. She was my teacher because she gave me guidance, my benefactor because she provided the answers, and my senior because she walked the path I had to tread long before I did.
Raniel van Dragonic.
She saved the me who came from the future.
Because she existed, I had no regrets. Thanks to the answers she gave me, I could save Kyle. And because I saved him, I didn't break.
"Live the way you want."
"Don't compromise. Don't rationalize."
"Live like you, Raniel van Trias."
She said that with a smile.
That smile felt so alien that I couldn't accept this woman from the future as "myself." She seemed like someone else entirely.
"Don't live like me, okay?"
A stranger who had lived a different life from mine.
A stranger who bore the life I should have lived and the tragedies I should have endured in my place. My benefactor, who returned from the end of that tragedy to alter the future.
...I owed her a debt.
A debt nothing could repay.
When it was all over, I learned of her fate through my master. The Goddess of Ashes vanished after fulfilling her purpose. Unable to repay her, I vowed at the very least never to forget her existence.
That's why.
"What bullshit, you senile lizard bastard."
I couldn't let those words slide. I knew I shouldn't. Crack. A cheerful pop echoed from my knuckles as I lightly cracked them.
"I had a lot to say to you anyway."
When I learned the truth of the contract.
When Cardi told me everything. From that moment, I'd been waiting for this ancient dragon's mage to show up someday. There were questions I needed answers to.
"Might as well ask now."
The stars, the bystanders, the rules, that damn discipline.
Things utterly incomprehensible.
Things I no longer even wanted to understand.
"Listen up, you fucking constellation bastards."
Not words worthy of a hero.
That's why the words I'm about to speak aren't those of Hero Lania van Trias... but of the Ashen Mage, "Raniel van Trias."
"What the hell do you even do, anyway?"
I'd always wondered.
"Smite the forces of evil. Purge the misguided who spurn the stars. Burn every last thing tainted by demons. Subjugate the Demon King, lord of ten thousand fiends."
The stars' mantra throughout centuries of history.
Delivered to humanity sometimes as oracles, other times as the voices of the stars themselves. I mulled over those words one by one as I took a step toward the ancient dragon.
"Pretty words. But fighting on the front lines these past few years gave me some doubts."
Thud.
"It's all empty talk. Ever since the shadow fell into imperfection, the stars haven't cared about finishing it off. Am I wrong?"
Probably not.
I let out a chuckle.
"The only real threat to the stars was the 'perfect' shadow. Once Ganikalt reduced it to an incomplete god, the stars lost all interest in its subjugation."
The stars that even tried to reclaim Ganikalt's own starlight.
What anchored that star to this world wasn't the stars' will, but the Great Sage's. He sacrificed much to bind Ganikalt's starlight to our land.
The stars had always been that way.
There was a time I saw it as some grand rule, but not anymore. Not after hearing the stars whisper to me. Not after confirming they had a will of their own.
"In other words."
You lot.
"From the very."
Words I'd once flung at Kyle resurfaced.
"Beginning, you never planned to take down the Demon King, you shitty bastards."
All you want is to maintain the status quo.
It had been mere suspicion before, but learning the full truth of Cardi's contract turned it into certainty.
Grip.
I seized the ancient dragon by the collar.
I glared at the stars' lackey, complicit in their schemes.
"Who's calling who a sinner? You got the balls to say that?"
"One who defies discipline. One who breaks taboos is a sinner. That's all I meant. That sinner truly shook the order of things. A horrific affair."
It was so ridiculous I burst out laughing.
"Discipline. Yeah, that damn discipline."
The ancient dragon's eyes remained icy cold.
Eyes devoid of any emotion. Staring straight into them, I sneered.
"You enjoy being shackled to that shitty discipline?"
Flinch.
For the first time, a change rippled across the ancient dragon's face.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Just as the "Goddess of Ashes" was a reverse scale for Raniel, Yormun had one too.
Gletus of Discipline.
That was the ancient dragon's reverse scale after tens of thousands of years.
That's why he reacted to Raniel's mention of "discipline" now. His emotions surged for an instant, but he quickly crushed them down.
"You're worked up, Raniel van Trias."
A chilling voice.
"Calm yourself first. I didn't come here to fight you."
The ancient dragon clamped down on Raniel's wrist gripping his collar. With his free hand, he jabbed the tip of his staff into her abdomen.
Boom!
Raniel was hurled backward amid a shockwave.
The barrier enveloping her body shattered with a crack. She stared at the crumbling shield and let out a hollow laugh, her face screaming, "That all you got?"
...She's lost her mind completely.
This is going to be a hassle.
With those thoughts, the ancient dragon slammed his staff into the ground.
"Cool your head."
Ripples spread from the staff.
Then, with a deep hum, crushing pressure bore down on the area. A spell akin to a gravity field. But one manifested by the ancient dragon's mana was worlds apart from ordinary magic, infused as it was with authority and starlight.
A spell laced with starlight and authority.
It was providence itself. The ancient dragon's spell was providence, was law. No mere human shy of transcendence could resist it.
Even as Guide, she hasn't ascended to the proper orbit yet.
So resistance is impossible.
In the groaning space, the ancient dragon sighed. He had no plans to retract his "sinner" remark, but she was too far gone for proper conversation.
"Speak when you've calmed. I don't enjoy this sort of emotional drain either..."
The ancient dragon fell silent.
Unable to finish, he narrowed his eyes. His gaze fixed on Raniel, who hadn't knelt even amid the creaking space.
Creak, kreeeak.
The space groaned and shuddered.
Yet Raniel didn't kneel. It wasn't mere willpower. The ground beneath her feet wasn't even dented.
"......"
In the warping space.
She took a step forward. Light and casual. She moved freely even in the ancient dragon's dominated domain, as if utterly unaffected.
"I wondered how my future self took you down."
Raniel tossed out casually.
"Now I see why."
In that instant, Raniel's form vanished.
The ancient dragon saw a palm blotting out his entire vision. As she brushed past him, Raniel clamped her hand over his face.
Crack, craaack.
The ground beneath Raniel split. The tent flap shook violently, and then a blinding flash whipped across the area.
2.
"This was all there was."
"Really."
"This was the end."
Walking across the field, the Shadow Dragon Lord chewed over the visions haunting her mind. It was the future she'd glimpsed moments ago: a crumbling world and, at its very edge, the birth of a profoundly alien god.
Absurd.
Yormun van Dragonic, her first contractor—the one who'd rent the heavens and torn apart near ten thousand gods. The goddess could never have imagined his defeat. Yet the unimaginable had come to pass in the original timeline.
"Step aside."
The sole dragon bonded to Yormun.
The colossal dragon had its wings ripped out, its jaw torn off, its organs spilled in death throes. Shaking off the dragon's blood, someone approached Yormun.
"I said, step aside."
Hollow eyes. A human utterly emptied.
With nothing left to lose, the human strode past Yormun toward the world's heart. Yormun tried to stop her, but his resistance only cost her both eyes.
"I have to go back."
"I must go back."
She tore open Yormun's skull.
Extracting his eyes, the woman jammed the dragon's orbs into her own sockets. Replacing her lost sight with draconic vision, she claimed authority.
She became the Shadow Dragon's contractor.
The Shadow Dragon Lord watched as her future self appeared before this new contractor. Her future self gazed at the woman with pity and spoke. They exchanged words.
She couldn't catch the full conversation, but...
"That's enough. Poor kid."
After their talk, her future self vanished without a word—as if some contract had been sealed to her satisfaction. The woman with hollow eyes then fulfilled it at once.
"......"
At the world's end, the woman turned. She locked eyes with the present Shadow Dragon Lord, conveying information across the flow of time.
Mulling it over.
"...My contractor."
The Shadow Dragon Lord spun around with a grin.
Night was fading. Dawn would break soon, ending this extraordinary interlude. Before it did, she headed for Belnoa.
"What is it?"
"Can't you tell?"
She thrust both arms toward Belnoa.
As if begging for a hug.
"...What are you doing?"
"Hug me. Tired of walking."
"You said you enjoyed walking."
"Bored now."
"So fickle."
Instead of a frontal embrace, Belnoa hoisted the Shadow Dragon Lord onto her back. She was light. Incredibly so.
"So, what is it?"
"What else?"
"You have something to say, right?"
"Sharp as ever."
Pfft. The goddess chuckled.
Arms looped around Belnoa's neck, she rested her head on her shoulder. Then, in a soft whisper.
"Do you know? Everyone who contracts with me meets a rotten end. That's the nature of my power."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
The goddess smiled bitterly.
"My first contractor lost what mattered most. That liar swore to protect just one thing—but failed that one, even after safeguarding everything else."
"My second contractor fared the same. Worse, even. She protected nothing. Just turned into a mindless beast, rampaging and burning what she meant to save with her own hands."
A brief pause.
Exhaling deeply, the goddess continued.
"So, my third contractor."
"Yes."
"I hope that's not your fate. In hopes it isn't, one more piece of advice."
"You're so chatty today."
"I'm always chatty."
The goddess tossed out bluntly.
"The flow always seeks to revert. Danger will come for you too. In the original course, you were fated to die soon."
"Fate's cruel."
"Isn't it? So etch this into your mind."
Before Belnoa could ask what.
The goddess beat her to it.
"Don't wield power just to sacrifice. Wield it to survive. To truly protect that child, you need to endure for the long haul."
It echoed advice she'd given before.
Belnoa nodded with a smile.
"I'll remember."
"So good with words."
"Gotta be good at something."
"Never back down from an argument. Cheeky."
Nibble. The Shadow Dragon Lord nipped Belnoa's ear. No teeth bared—just enough to tickle.
"What are you—stop..."
And that was the moment.
"Belnoa...?"
A voice came from ahead, not behind. Familiar, usually welcome—but unwelcome now.
"Belnoa, what are you doing here?"
Belnoa looked ahead with wavering eyes. The tail end of night, sky just lightening but still dim. On the path stood a girl staring at her with piercingly bright eyes.
"Ch-Chloe?"
"Yeah, Belnoa."
Deep blue-green eyes gleamed in the gloom.
"What are you doing here?"
Chloe smiled.
The usual smile. The usual gaze.
But her voice was... not just a little, but very cold. Spine-chilling.
"And."
Chloe raised her arm.
Her outstretched finger pointed at the Shadow Dragon Lord nibbling Belnoa's ear.
"Who's that woman on your back?"
Belnoa knew instantly.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
"Oh dear."
Said the goddess, still nibbling her ear.
"Crisis arrived faster than I thought, contractor."
No, it's your fault.
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