Chapter 136
The battle grew increasingly fierce. Now, it was nearly impossible to follow the movements of the two dragons with the naked eye.
Gari, rolling his eyes frantically, asked Duke Lupellen with concern,
“Do you really think the Creator will win…?”
The Duke lightly patted Gari’s head and countered with a question.
“Has there ever been anything Gianna couldn’t handle?”
“That’s not true! Our Creator can do anything!”
“That’s right. Gianna can do anything. So don’t worry unnecessarily.”
The Duke’s sharp gaze softened for a moment, and a faint wistfulness passed across his face.
He muttered to himself as he recalled the first time he had met Gianna.
“Back then, all I knew was revenge. Revenge was my life’s goal, and it was my highest value. But after meeting Gianna, my life’s purpose gradually began to change.”
Gari sat obediently on Duke Lupellen’s lap, listening carefully to his words.
“I also learned what could be more important than revenge. And it was Gianna who brought vivid colors to my life that had been gray.”
Gari nodded. Somehow, he felt he could fully understand what the Duke was saying.
Gianna had also been a savior to Gari. She had restored his sense of self, consumed by anger with no reason or purpose, and had even given him the name “Gari.”
“That radiant person herself approached me and took my hand. So how could I not love her?”
Gari nodded vigorously, empathizing with the Duke’s words.
At that moment, a tremendous roar echoed from the sky.
Startled, he looked up to see the blue dragon, bitten on the neck by the golden dragon, screaming in agony.
“Th-the Creator has caught the evil dragon!”
The blue dragon struggled violently, resisting with all its might. But it seemed unable to overcome the golden dragon’s strength. Its movements slowed, and eventually, it collapsed.
The golden dragon, exuding triumphant energy, slowly descended to the ground and threw the blue dragon onto the floor.
Thud.
Elarion’s massive body crashed to the ground like an ancient tree broken by a storm.
“My… world… I wanted to be the strongest ruler… to dominate through fear…”
Elarion, covered in wounds, gasped his last breaths, blood streaming from his neck.
In his eyes, lying sideways on the ground, the shattered ancient artifact reflected light. The hourglass had crumbled, just like the vain hope he had once held.
He stretched out his arm toward the hourglass with all his remaining strength.
But that was the end.
Elarion’s eyes slowly closed, and the dragon who had once harbored ambitions to dominate the world no longer moved.
“…Nox, I’ve won.”
Returning to human form, Gianna stepped slowly onto the ground, a radiant smile on her face, and approached the Duke.
“I’ve avenged both your parents and my father.”
Nox rose slowly from his seat. Gari, quick to notice, fluttered up and muttered to himself,
“Since I was called Gari… I guess I’ll forgive it just this once.”
The distance between the two gradually closed.
Gianna reached out to Nox and gently held his hand. It was warm, strong, and filled with affection.
Her touch felt like a hand of salvation from the gods themselves, and Nox grasped it as if entranced.
“…Thank you.”
Nox’s voice trembled slightly. Relief, joy, and overwhelming emotion choked him.
The woman who approached him with love had saved him from a life driven only by revenge.
And the moment he realized the great value of love, she had even fulfilled his lifelong desire for revenge.
“You’ve saved my life.”
Nox squeezed Gianna’s hand and pulled her into his embrace.
The sky seemed to celebrate their victory, endlessly clear and blue, and a warm breeze blew across the formerly cold inland of Snaud.
The war was over.
Master of the Mage Tower, Rio Blair, quickly arrived at the scene with the tower’s wizards to manage the aftermath.
He restrained Headmistress Melina’s hands and feet to prevent her from using magic and thoroughly searched her office, collecting fragments of the black crystal orb.
“First, you all lift the magical blackout.”
When Rio gave the command to the academy wizards, those who had completely lost their willpower obeyed without resistance.
As they chanted in unison, the magical power in the capital, previously disabled, returned to normal.
Emperor Ivelin, who had rushed immediately upon hearing of the academy’s fall, was shocked to learn that Headmistress Melina had actually been a dark mage.
“She held the academy director’s position for decades… a dark mage….”
To assist the academy wizards who had lost their leader, Rio dispatched the chief mage of the Mage Tower to the Imperial Academy to help with reconstruction.
Of course, not for free.
Having extracted no less than five Kinsia Mine Access Earrings from Ivelin, Rio smiled wickedly at the emperor.
“Since I received something good, I’ll share a bit of what I have in return.”
After studying the Timm stones he received from Gianna, he developed a magical device capable of tracking the positions of contract quills and dream quills.
When a quill was nearby, the device would beep loudly.
“With this, we can locate and confiscate all contract quills and dream quills within the empire.”
He distributed the devices, produced in large quantities, to the imperial army, who immediately dispersed efficiently.
Watching this, Ivelin muttered in disbelief,
“It seems we owe a huge debt to the Kingdom of Tian this time.”
“The Kingdom of Tian? How unfair. The debt is owed to me personally.”
Rio’s arrogance soared to the heavens.
The former headmistress of the Magic Academy, Melina, was imprisoned in the lowest level of the imperial dungeon, reserved only for the most heinous criminals.
Lying motionless on the cold, unyielding stone bed, she was visited by someone.
“You’re not still clinging to vain hope, are you?”
It was Rio Blair, the man responsible for her current condition, accompanied by his fiancée, Princess Arines of Tian.
Rio’s face was cold as he spoke.
“Your master, Elarion, is already dead. Gianna, daughter of Balamir, tore his neck apart.”
At the mention of Balamir’s name, Melina shivered and lifted herself slightly.
“Tore his neck…?”
“Not metaphorically. She literally tore it apart.”
Rio extended his hand, miming the act of grabbing her neck.
Melina wanted to deny it, but her communication ring showed no response—it seemed true.
Arines cautiously approached the despairing Melina.
Observing Melina’s face through the thick iron bars, she stepped back and whispered to Rio,
“That’s definitely her. The very old lady who once sold herbs and took the original manuscript from me.”
At that, the expression on the Mage Tower Master’s face changed.
How much anguish that crazy old woman had caused Arines over the years! Days spent lying in place without moving, and all the tears shed from those beautiful eyes… recalling it made his blood run cold.
Rio approached Melina with a chilling aura.
“For hiding that you were a dark mage and occupying the academy head’s seat to manipulate the academy, for sealing magic in the capital and throwing the empire into chaos, for promoting quill sales that drained the lifeforce of the empire’s citizens!”
With every accusation, Melina shrank further.
“You are sentenced to death.”
Melina’s face contorted in pain.
There had been a time when she dreamed of standing beside her master, ruling as his eternal second-in-command…
‘Now it’s just a futile dream.’
Melina laughed hollowly and slumped to the floor.
Rio leaned close to the bars and whispered just loud enough for her to hear,
“But thanks to you, Arines and I met. So I’ll ease your suffering just a little. Originally, I planned to cut off an arm, a leg, and a neck—one per day.”
The twisted smile on his face was terrifying.
Rising slowly, he glared at Melina with eyes devoid of pity and then walked out with Arines.
Melina’s execution was carried out the next day.
It was an excruciating punishment, forcing her to sit on the dark magic circle until all her lifeforce was absorbed.
