The vortex of clouds above me revolved with a non-sensical speed, while lightning hit the ground around me. A crack formed in the space, revealing a huge eye inside it.
With small explosions as our background music, the gaze of that crimson eye met mine. It continued to stare at me, as if contemplating something, and then trembled after making up its mind.
[Is that what I think it is?]
⟦Unfortunately… yes.⟧
[…Are you going to attack?]
⟦My will to live is low, I admit, but I'd rather not die to 'him'.⟧
[Phew.] He exhaled in relief. [Get ready then, it's coming.]
With Viben's warning as the cue, the pupil of that eye started glowing. For a moment, the world turned black and white, the crimson of thar eye the only source of respite in this colourless world.
It was quite beautiful.
And quite deadly.
The next moment, a wide crimson ray of light was shot out from that eye. The ray of light spread shockwaves capable of shredding everything in their path while simultaneously bringing the colours back to this world.
Halfway before the light reached me, it underwent a qualitative change. It turned white while its speed doubled, carrying with it the power of death and destruction.
"Tsk, that old geezer went all out this time!"
The ray of light hit me, followed by a humongous explosion that turned everything in its path to dust. If my Red Sphere was a firecracker, this was a full-blown tactical bomb.
The ray of light vanished after some time, revealing a crater so huge that it'd make one think this place was hit by a meteor or something.
*Crack* *Crack*
"Geez, it has been so long that my hands are getting sore." My right wrist produced cracking sounds as I revolved it.
[That sure is an amazing attack, I tell you.]
⟦An ordinary Hero would have turned into dust by that ray of light.⟧
Thankfully, I'm everything but an ordinary Hero. The amount of power required for that ray of light to turn me into dust would be enough for it to punch a hole straight through this planet.
I looked up, and sure enough, that huge eye was still there.
"If you are done playing your little games, then come out of there, Al Nafar!"
The eye stared at me for two more breaths, then receded into the darkness behind it.
⟦Did it go back?⟧
[Just wait and watch.]
The crack in space above me expanded with a sound resembling that of glass shattering, until it turned into a hole. From the hole came out a white Dragon adorned with two pairs of wings on its back.
After its entire 15 metres long body exited the space hole, it flapped its wings. The shockwave produced by that dispersed the vortex and closed the hole behind it.
Its white scales glistened under the sunlight while the top horns atop his head strengthened his majesty.
Ancient Dragons were supposed to be as large as mountains. Considering that, this one seemed really weak. However, the pressure and aura exuding off its body and giving me goosebumps told me otherwise.
Of course, this Dragon was none other than the ancient beast; the myth, the legend, the one and only, Dragon Emperor, Al Nafar.
Dragons are the beings who stand above all others, and as their Emperor, Al Nafar was at the absolute top of this world. Its power and status approached those of a God's.
Nafar descended from the sky and landed right in front of me. His vertically slit crimson eyes held me in their gaze.
"Who are you, human?" His voice wasn't loud, yet its deepness resounded right within my soul.
⟦Assuming I have to fight him, what are my chances of winning?⟧
[Right now? Hmm.] Viben pinched his chin. [If you have to protect this girl, then you can forget about winning. If you are ready to sacrifice her, then 3 out of 10.]
That's awfully generous of him.
"Don't tell me you forgot me, Naf."
Nafar flinched and raised his eyebrows. Its gaze first travelled to the left, then to the right, and finally landed on me.
"…I'm going home."
"Wait, what?"
He's doing what?
"No way in hell am I staying near you, Anthasia." He turned around and prepared to flee.
"Hey, don't do that me!" I latched onto his back.
"Grr, get off me!"
"But you're the only one I know in this world! Everyone else is already dead!"
"Ugh." His body stiffened as he groaned.
"Are you going to leave me alone too? Even though I came back after so long?"
"Argh, fine." He sighed. "Now stop crying."
⟦Heh, he hasn't changed one bit. He remains as kind as ever.⟧
[He was kind only to you.] Viben shook his head. [For others, he was a living extinction level event.]
⟦Same thing.⟧
"So, what are you doing here?" Nafar asked after laying down.
"I just exited End Emptiness and chanced upon a young Dragon trying to rape this little girl." I replied after sitting down with my back resting against his neck.
The little girl peacefully slept on my lap.
"And so you killed him. For a measly brat." He rolled his eyes.
"I'm the Hero after all."
"Right." He scoffed. "So, how was your experience. Did you suffer inside End Emptiness? I hope you did."
"Why the hell would you hope that?"
Weren't we friends?
"Because you wiped out mana? Do you have any idea how much your actions troubled me?" His gaze sharpened.
As expected, he didn't like me erasing mana.
"Yes, I do." I took a deep breath. "But it was necessary."
"To stop the war between human and demons? Foolish." He spat out. "Mana is an integral part of civilisation itself. It was mana which brough humans and demons to the place they were at that time. You had no right to steal their chance at prosperity."
He's still mad about that. Wow.
"Of course. But I had to save the world."
"Oh, do enlighten me, Master Anthasia. How exactly did you save the world?"
"Mana is born from the lifeforce of this world. So, by using mana, we were using up the very lifeforce of this world."
"Hoooh…" Nafar's frown deepened to a dangerous degree. "And who exactly told you that, hmm?"
"I have my sources." I glared back at him. "Besides, you already knew about this, didn't you?"
"Did I-"
"Don't bother making excuses." I couldn't help but sigh.
"…"
He knew that using mana meant using up the lifeforce of this world. At the rate we were using mana- integrating it into the most basic parts of our daily life- we would have exhausted the world's lifeforce in about 1000 years.
Now, what happens when something uses up its lifeforce? It dies.
And what would have happened if the world 'died'? Everything living on it would have died as well.
Nafar knew that, yet he never made any efforts to stop others from using mana.
"You don't give a shit about other races of this world, Naf. During this world's doomsday, you would have just collected the Dragon as well as people you are close with, and fled to another world abundant with mana."
Nafar is definitely one of the kindest people I've ever met, but he is nonetheless capable of making ruthless sacrificial gambits if he considers them necessary. He is merciless when it comes to people he doesn't care about, but he will sacrifice anything for those he does care about.
Perhaps that's the reason we were so close with each other.
"…I can see that you've grasped it all." He suddenly smirked. "But all your efforts were in vain. Mana is back, and I don't think it's going away anytime soon."
[This bastard… he finds this amusing.]
"Maybe." Now came the moment of truth. "So tell me- with all honesty- Al Nafar. Was it you who brought mana back to this world?"
Was it you who reconstructed the law which allows the lifeforce of this world to be converted into mana?
"No."
"I see- what? No?"
"It wasn't me who made possible the use of mana." He sighed.
It wasn't him? How is that possible?! There's no one else in this entire world who can rewrite the fundamental laws of this world!
"Don't lie to me!"
"Haah…" He rubbed his temples. "Restoring a law is not so easy that I can do it just by thinking about it; it's a really complex and time consuming process. Do you truly think I would go through so many troubles for a world I don't even care about?"
"That… makes sense." I couldn't help but sigh.
Right, what was I thinking? He wouldn't do something so troublesome.
[Calm your mood swings down, Anthasia. This isn't a problem we can solve in a single day.]
Right, I need to calm down.
"Who was it then?"
"You will know shortly. Ah, that reminds me, what about Viben? Has that bastard come back as well?"
"Mm-hm."
"Oh? Where is he then? Did you kill him already?"
"Mmmmmmm, he is, um, inside me."
[Elaborate, please.]
"Eh? Did you eat him?"
"No! Some things happened due to which he lost his body. I'm letting his soul stay inside my body for now."
Nafar first frowned, then raised his eyebrows, then frowned again, and then his eyes widened. It seemed his brain had crashed.
Seeing a Dragon go through so many phases was really amusing.
"Huh?" He eked out stupidly.
"Viben and I are friends."
"…Who are you? What did you do to my Anthasia?" He growled menacingly. "Anthasia and Viben being friends? Ha! Only when hell freezes over!"
This is just wow.
Perhaps I should use
"We spent 847 years together. What do you expect?"
We were on different sides, but weren't so different from each other. Over time (aka after fighting for 4 years straight), I realised that he was not so bad. And he went through the same enlightenment. So, after working together for a long time to put our differences aside, we ended up being friends.
"Ahh, I see." He nodded in understanding.
Whew, finally he-
"Don't worry Anthasia. I'll find the best psychologists for you."
[Hahahahahahaha!]
Haah… this is driving me nuts.