The moment everything went dark.
- I'll wait here.
I heard Serenade's voice.
"Kuk...!"
I forced my eyes open. The darkness that had been enveloping me suddenly cleared.
My vision, blurred from the stabbing, flickered in and out, but it was not over yet.
I can't die yet. I can't give in yet.
Night Bringer laughed as he watched me coughing up blood.
"That's right... You're no ordinary human. Perhaps I need to risk the lives of your people to see your tears?"
"..."
"Come on... Just shed a tear. Admit your own weakness. Then, who knows. I might spare your people?"
The moment he said that.
I closed my eyes tightly, and a tear rolled down my weakening cheek.
Seeing this, Night Bringer smirked in satisfaction.
"Huhuhu. You're helpless after all."
"..."
"It seems you are afraid in the face of death? In the end, you were just another common actor played by the rhythms of outsiders."
"..."
"Come on. Leave your last words. What was so frightening to bring tears? Your own death? The death of your people? Or is it-"
"...No."
I took a deep breath, gathering my last strength, and then-
I whispered softly.
"It's just because it fucking hurts, you bastard."
The next moment,
Poof-!
A horrifying sound of flesh being torn filled the air,
"...?"
Night Bringer blinked in confusion, looking down at his chest.
There, wrapped in a dark energy... and vibrating with excitement from the taste of blood after a long time, was a demonic sword, Excannibal.
Taking advantage of Night Bringer's distraction, I had pulled it from my inventory and plunged it into his chest-
Excannibal, the sword that devours anything.
"The only thing I've ever had to say to you has been the same from the start."
I raised my weakening right hand and slowly lifted my middle finger, twisting my lips into a full-powered sneer.
"Fuck you."
Kakakakak!
Excannibal vibrated fiercely, greedily sucking the blood and flesh of the Black Dragon.
'Good, everything went as planned-'
I thought, as my consciousness faded,
"...Is this all you've prepared for your desperate struggle?"
Mumbling as if it was absurd, the Black Dragon easily pulled the demonic sword from his chest.
The Excannibal, soaked in the blood of the Black Dragon, rolled on the ground, and the chest that had been soaked in blood healed instantly as if it had never been wounded.
I laughed helplessly.
'As expected...'
This wasn't enough...
"Clever, but shallow. Is this the limit of human depth?"
Night Bringer then grabbed the handle of the royal sword embedded in my chest and slowly drew it out-
"Now, Guardian of Humanity... it's time for your exit from this stage."
He forcefully thrust the royal sword again.
Poof...!
This time, he aimed not at the heart but...
Clang-!
...at my spirit core.
With the sensation of my soul shattering from its deepest depths, I closed my eyes.
- I'll wait here. Until Your Majesty returns...
'I'm sorry, Serenade.'
It seems I'll have to make you cry again...
***
Crossroad.
The expedition that had set out to subdue the Black Dragon had successfully retreated, and all were now receiving treatment at the temple.
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere was endlessly dark.
No one spoke, and they silently accepted the ointments, bandages, and healing spells the priests were applying.
It was the sharp cry of a young knight that broke the suffocating silence.
"So what? You just left the senior behind and retreated?!"
It was Evangeline.
She had been torn apart by the Black Dragon's direct assault and had suffered a concussion, only regaining consciousness a moment ago.
And she had just learned.
That they had left Ash behind to ensure everyone else's safe retreat.
"What kind of madness is this! Were you all just watching that happen?!"
As Evangeline looked around shouting, the other heroes could not respond and averted their eyes.
"...It was the judgment passed by our lord."
Lucas, his head hung low, replied in a muted voice. His disheveled blond hair obscured his face.
Three priests were attached to Lucas's left arm, treating him.
It was not an ordinary burn. The left arm swept by the Blackflame Breath did not improve easily, even with an overdose of healing magic.
But as if he couldn't feel the pain, Lucas spoke without looking at his left arm even once.
"As always, there was a way. It was a situation where we all would have died if we hadn't retreated immediately."
"And you just left the senior behind? Are you really Lucas, sir?!"
"You know too. Our lord always has a contingency plan. I trust our lord and..."
"What is the contingency plan, then?!"
Lucas clenched his teeth.
"...He did not tell me."
"Then what do you believe in...!"
"The Duchess and King Poseidon... He said he told them. So you should trust too..."
"Duchess!"
Evangeline staggered to her feet and looked around, shouting.
"Duchess, where are you! Duchess!"
Dusk Bringar was with her Dragon Knights.
As much as they were called Berserkers, and as much as they inherited Dragonblood... The Dragon Knights fought on the front lines, and their injuries were deep.
Dusk Bringar was brushing the dried blood from her Dragon Knights' hair.
"Duchess! Please explain. What is this contingency plan that the senior talked about?"
"..."
As Evangeline, leaning against a wall, asked roughly, Dusk Bringar, after a long silence, spat out slowly.
"I can't tell you."
"What?"
"Ash told us not to tell you."
Evangeline snorted incredulously.
"He told you not to tell us? So it must be something dangerously significant?"
"..."
"Just tell us this, then. How high is the success rate of this contingency plan?"
Dusk Bringar clenched her eyes shut.
"...It's not very high."
"Then you should have stopped it, Duchess! Why were you just watching when the senior was doing that?"
"I was..."
"At that time, you spoke as if you would willingly embrace corruption to protect the senior... And now, in such a moment, you've left the senior in that hell?"
Dusk Bringar's face went pale.
"What about the Glory Knights?"
Evangeline, turning hastily, lost strength in her legs and slid to the floor.
But, gritting her teeth, Evangeline grabbed a nearby cabinet and pulled herself up, and upon spotting Hecate and the Glory Knights, she shouted.
"You claim to be the Emperor's personal guard. You said you'd become the guard of the prince, no, the crown prince. Why are you here? Why aren't you with Senior?!"
"..."
The Glory Knights had been caught in Night Bringer's dark bombardment in place of Ash, resulting in all of them experiencing a blackout, and they had not regained consciousness until the battle ended.
However, they had no answer to Evangeline's words.
Their duty was to protect Ash and die in his place, but now that it had come to this... they had nothing to say. Hecate hung her head.
Unable to stand it any longer, Lucas stood up and approached Evangeline.
"Evangeline."
"Everyone, just... What were you doing? In that situation... not thinking of saving the commander, how dare you here...!"
"Evangeline!"
Lucas shouted sternly.
"Calm down. We all fought a brutal battle. None of us spared our lives."
"..."
"In a situation where the subjugation had already failed, our lord chose the strategy with the highest chance of success. We need to understand his intentions. So first, calm down..."
"But Ash!"
Evangeline cried hoarsely.
"Being the commander of this frontline! Being the son of the Emperor! Always in the forefront, always recklessly! Seeing his subordinates hurt, he said he would suffer in their place... Such a foolish person!"
"..."
"Such a foolish person has led this frontline, has been at the forefront of protecting this world. Then we should protect him too. Why, when he's using even his life to protect us? Why?!"
Lucas tightly closed his eyes.
With a trembling hand, Evangeline touched her forehead and turned around, staggering.
"Where is King Poseidon? Since the Duchess can't tell us, I have to ask the esteemed King Poseidon."
Looking around the temple, Evangeline shouted.
"King Poseidon! Where are you? Don't just stand back with your arms crossed as usual, come out and explain!"
But there was no sign of the Mermaid King anywhere.
Evangeline scanned the inside of the temple with puzzled eyes.
"Where is he..."
That's when it happened.
Bang-!
The temple door was flung open violently, and a soldier rushed in frantically.
"Acting commander! Urgent report from the observation and reconnaissance teams!"
All the heroes were startled by the following words.
"At the entrance of the Black Lake... a sighting of the Black Dragon! It surfaced a moment ago and has landed onshore!"
Lucas asked urgently.
"Was it just the Black Dragon? What about His Highness the Prince?"
"..."
"Report! What about His Highness the Prince?"
"That is... His Highness the Prince was not seen..."
"..."
"But, instead..."
The soldier, closing his eyes tight and fighting back tears, reported.
"In the mouth of the Black Dragon... there was the flag used by His Highness..."
"What?"
Crack!
Lucas, without realizing it, reached out with his right hand and grabbed the soldier by the collar.
His hand trembled. Blue eyes blazing like a wild beast shone through his disheveled golden hair.
"Say it again, correctly. What did you say?"
"The, the mouth of the Black Dragon... The black flag that His Highness always used, was seen stuck there... both the observation and reconnaissance teams confirmed it..."
"It's dark at night now! Could they have seen it wrong?!"
"No, no sir. It's definite. They observed it with night-vision magical optics. It's definitely His Highness's flag..."
Suddenly, sighs, screams, and cries echoed in the temple.
Thud!
Evangeline collapsed to the floor in despair.
"So... Senior..."
"..."
"What is this... what is this all about. What have we been doing all this time..."
Lucas stood frozen like a statue.
Holding the soldier's collar, he couldn't move. And gasping for breath, the soldier desperately continued his report.
"Acting commander! Pull yourself together! It's an emergency!"
"..."
"Everyone listen! We need to prepare immediately! The Black Dragon has, right after landing outside the lake...!"
***
At the entrance of the Black Lake.
Swoooosh...!
Cutting through the water, a gigantic black dragon slowly revealed itself.
Night Bringer closed his eyes for a long time, inhaling deeply.
His body, covered in scales, swelled monstrously as it inhaled the air, repeatedly returning to its original form.
How long had he breathed the air of the realm.
"...Still as hatefully sweet as ever."
Night Bringer's body was slowly healing.
No... it was more than healing.
With the arrival of the real 'night' in the real world, Night Bringer's body became even larger and emitted an immense sense of menace.
It seemed as if his entire body was merging with the night.
Seven nights had covered the world.
From the middle of this night, Night Bringer slowly opened his eyes.
Within the pitch-black darkness, fourteen golden eyes opened in succession.
Seven pairs of golden eyes.
All the heads that had been destroyed in the last battle had healed.
No, they had surpassed the level of mere healing-
Night Bringer realized that his power now exceeded that of his peak. It was only natural, since the detestable Red Dragons were absent... the ones who had guarded the 'day'.
The balance had been broken, the scales shattered.
Instead of mourning in the emptiness without a rival, Night Bringer slowly opened his mouth with a smile.
"Then, shall we declare war on the world?"
Following that, a tremendous magical power gathered, and black flames swirled into his massive mouth.
The pitiful black flag stuck in his mouth... was instantly consumed by flames.
The six heads controlled by Night Bringer also slowly rotated, each gathering its own magical power.
Huff...
The Black Dragon's enormous body swelled as if breathing deeply, amassing magic and hatred.
Leisurely and carefully, Night Bringer loaded his breath.
And at a critical moment.
Thwoooooosh-!
Seven heads, simultaneously, fired their breath towards the north.
The tremendous shockwave bent the surrounding forest backward, and the surface of the Black Lake created waves and evaporated.
The breath from the middle head, aided by the power of the six others, spiraled straight northward.
And then-
***
Crossroad. On the city walls.
"The Black Dragon at Black Lake is preparing to release a breath?"
Upon receiving the report, Valen, the head of the City-State Alliance, touched his beard in bewilderment.
It was wartime, and manpower to manage the walls was always necessary.
The kings took turns standing on the walls, encouraging and commanding the soldiers, and today was Valen's turn.
Valen, whose spirit had already been crushed, was contemplating when to withdraw from the front lines, but there was still some time before the Black Dragon's direct invasion.
Thus, he had resolved to stand on the walls just this once more.
But then this report came suddenly.
"Isn't Black Lake a three-day ride away?"
"Yes, that's true, but..."
"He's attacking us directly from there? Even the King of Flies couldn't do that. There must be some other purpose to it-"
That's when it happened.
The mages and alchemists standing in front of the artifact on the wall all screamed in unison.
"We report! An unidentified heat source is approaching from the south!"
"What did you say?"
"The speed is... fast, impossibly fast!"
"How fast are you talking about..."
"It will reach the walls soon-!"
The blood drained from the faces of Valen and the soldiers.
The mages and alchemists who had stood up in a panic began to run away, and one of them shouted.
"Get away, Lord Valen! Right now-"
The next moment.
Just as the world engulfed in darkness seemed to brighten, a rushing black flame and a breath of magical power struck the southern wall of Crossroad.
Instantly, everyone on the wall was lifted into the air.
The walls, brought from the imperial capital, New Terra of the Everblack Empire, were sturdy.
They were imbued with all the defensive magic passed down from ancient times, and their architectural and metallurgical technologies represented the culmination of human wisdom.
Crack...
And yet, Night Bringer's hatred was above all that magic, technology, and wisdom.
Crrrrrack!
Ultimately, a spear of flame and magic that ripped through all resistance pierced the wall.
Boommmmmm-!
Valen, thrown to a corner of the wall, stared blankly, watching people swept up in the breath's range turn to ash in the brilliant light.
Boom and boom-!
The breath that had pierced the wall burrowed into the fortress city.
The breath shot straight through Crossroad in a diagonal line that slightly missed the city center.
Buildings directly hit by the breath turned to ash, and those that were grazed all exploded simultaneously, scattering flames in all directions.
Following that, the aftershock swept up, causing roofs, road tiles, and leaves of street trees to soar into the air.
...The breath, which felt eternal, had actually been fired for just a few seconds.
When the breath ceased, Valen, lying in the debris of the wall, realized he was still breathing.
"..."
Even though he was far from the site where the breath had penetrated the wall, Valen was bruised and burned all over.
Shivering, Valen stood up, his body smeared with blood and ash, and looked towards the city interior.
The fortress city of Crossroad, entangled in the enemy's flames, shone brightly with that fire.
Much later, the noise of explosions, screams of people, and the crackling sound of the fire demon engulfing the city reached his stunned ears.
"...Haha."
Valen laughed.
Since tears would not come from his eyes cooked by the heat, he just laughed.
***
I saw a beast coming out of the sea, which had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
***
This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. (TL Note: What Chapter is this again?)
***
The world was being destroyed. (TL Note: This is from the Book of Revelation, more specifically, Revelation 13.)