Hotel Crossroad. Temporary meeting hall.
"Has the extermination squad... been annihilated?"
The kings were in shock.
They had braced for casualties. They had even considered the possibility of total annihilation in the worst case.
But they had not anticipated being so overwhelmingly massacred. At the very least, they thought they could inflict a fatal wound on the Black Dragon.
Just a few scratches, a single scale-
That was the entirety of their war results. A pitiful outcome, considering it cost the lives of the 30,000 elites gathered from various countries.
The hero expedition was defeated. Commander Ash was missing.
The airship fleet and the main force of 30,000 were annihilated.
And the darkness was still crawling north...
"Urgent news-!"
But the Black Dragon gave the kings no time to wallow in shock. The next report came flying in immediately.
"Urgent news! Report from the observation team! The Black Dragon is preparing its third breath! Its aiming right here, at Crossroad!"
"...!"
Frozen in shock, the kings suddenly snapped awake. And plunged into even greater chaos.
Unsure how to stop the impending doom, the kings screamed.
Useless shouts and cries filled the hall. Amidst the chaos, only Emperor Traha remained cool, his eyes lowered in contemplation.
"What about our defenses?"
When the Emperor asked, an adjutant standing behind him answered.
"A barrier covering the entire city has been prepared, but it's uncertain if it will hold."
"And the Dragon Lady?"
"She is also preparing, but she is too severely injured."
"...And that 'method' my son left behind?"
"It won't cooperate."
"Hmm."
Traha clasped his hands in front of his chest and sighed wearily.
"We always knew the end might come... but this seems closer than expected."
The chaos in the hall deepened. Traha simply closed his eyes.
All the dice had already been thrown.
Now it was up to the heavens, and...
The people out on the battlefield.
***
Night Bringer's breath charge was nearly complete.
This power breath was not something Night Bringer could use frequently. Its interval was about once every 12 hours.
After landing in the north, it had used one breath immediately, another 12 hours later aimed at the advance base, and now, 24 hours later, it was ready to breathe again to the north.
There was no particular need to use the breath. Eventually, when its main body reached Crossroad, the fortress city would fall anyway.
But there was no reason not to use the breath either. At least, this battle had proved that it could force those hiding behind the walls to come out.
Kwaaaah...!
Night Bringer's thick neck bulged as it gathered its breath up to its jaw. Just about to release this accumulated breath, the fortress city would be finished—
That was when it happened.
Screeeeech!
Something dove rapidly towards Night Bringer from above.
"...?"
Night Bringer looked up in confusion, and then it saw.
Thud-!
A warship was plummeting vertically from the sky.
Click, click, clank-!
The warship's front guns fully deployed and glowed red, then released all its ammunition.
Tatataaaatatata-!
As it rained down bullets, the warship also engaged in a suicide attack.
"How noble."
With a snort, Night Bringer used only its eyes to conjure magic.
As it was about to fire its breath, it could not move its seven heads, let alone its entire body. But that didn't mean it was defenseless.
Magical circles formed around Night Bringer's head, and dark magical bullets shot up into the sky from them.
Boom! Boom! Bang!
The ammunition fired by the warship and the magic from Night Bringer crossed paths in the air, each hammering at its target.
The warship's bullets sparked off Night Bringer's scales but failed to inflict any real damage. In contrast, Night Bringer's magic tore the warship to pieces.
As the warship, battered by magic in the air, caught fire here and there, it failed to reach Night Bringer and—
Kaboom...!
Exploded just above Night Bringer's head.
Having calmly blocked this noble but meaningless interference, Night Bringer was about to open its mouth wide and breathe to the north when—
"...?!"
Whirrrrrrr!
From above.
Cutting through the smoke from the explosion, another warship appeared.
"Hmm...!"
Night Bringer expressed a small admiration.
From the beginning, two had been closely aligned, descending in a straight line.
The vanguard warship was a decoy, the real one was the rear warship...!
The newly appeared warship surged forward, pulling up a barrier around its hull. Night Bringer chuckled.
"Not bad, humans-!"
Boom! Bang! Boom-!
Night Bringer's dark magic bullets were fired again, but the reaction was slightly delayed—and the warship, as if performing acrobatics in the air, smoothly turned and evaded most of them.
Then, instead of a straight line, it traced a curve and crashed into the side head of the Black Dragon right before it could unleash its breath.
Crack-!
In that moment, the dragon's head slightly twisted sideways...
Kwaaaaaaah-!
Simultaneously, the breath that Night Bringer expelled shot far off to the north.
The newly fired dark magic tore the warship to pieces. Having fulfilled its mission, the warship scattered flames and debris as it crashed.
"Kugh...!"
All this was being observed by McMillan through a telescope from a distant forest.
McMillan, his lips bleeding from being bitten, shouted.
"Was it a success?!"
Most of the crew that had been aboard the warship were lying flat in the forest, watching this scene unfold.
Apart from the two volunteer pilots, everyone else was hidden here, crying and praying for the success of the operation.
And-
***
"Third breath, incoming-!"
"Lift the barrier-!"
Crossroad.
On the city walls, magicians and alchemists immediately caused the cores of their artifacts to overload and activated the barrier.
And-
Kwaaaaaaah...!
The incoming breath missed.
It barely grazed the side of the walls of Crossroad. Then, it set ablaze the barren plains and hills to the east, which were nothing but empty fields.
From the valley where Night Bringer was located to Crossroad, it would take two days to travel north.
The warship's life-risking charge had slightly pushed the firing angle, significantly twisting the path of the breath.
Although it missed, a momentary intense heat surged, setting fire to the flags of various nations fluttering on the city walls.
But it missed. Crossroad survived.
"The breath, it missed...!"
"Yay! Yay! We survived!"
The magicians and alchemists who were celebrating soon had their faces harden.
Crack, crackle...
The barrier around the entire city had completely gone down.
The mere grazing of the breath had torn the city-wide barrier. It was only the outskirts that were hit, but the damage was severe.
If the next breath hits directly, the barrier wouldn't stand a chance.
All the humans on the city walls looked pale as they stared at the eastern plains.
Under a sky dark as pitch, the dry plain caught the black flames and burned endlessly.
***
"I report! The breath missed!"
"The warship fleet has blocked Night Bringer's breath launch!"
In the temporary meeting hall set up at Hotel Crossroad, sighs of relief and both shouts of joy and groans burst forth as soon as the report came in.
Amidst the disturbance, only Emperor Traha still assessed the situation with cold, settled eyes.
"We've gained a 12-hour reprieve."
Now was not the time for relief. The mere grazing had brought down the entire barrier.
"Before the next breath fires, reinforce the barrier and pour all resources into treating the Dragon Lady."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"And... convince Ash's 'method'."
Traha growled fiercely.
"Spare no means, do whatever it takes."
***
Lord's mansion. Guest room.
"Um, um... Scalian..."
Illusionist Violet twisted uncomfortably.
It was the largest and nicest room in the guest area. The furniture was large and luxurious, and the fireplace, filled with logs, burned warmly.
On the plush carpet in front of the fireplace, 'Scalian,' the Black Dragon's Scale, lay comfortably in human form.
Scalian, who wore glasses perched on her nose, read various rare books collected from around the world, sipped rare liquor from the glass beside her, and ate delicacies from various lands with her free hand.
"What is it, Violet?"
Scalian asked softly, lifting her gaze from the book. Violet twisted uncomfortably again and asked.
"Could you... possibly... stop the... breath?"
"..."
Scalian let out a low sigh.
The 'method' Ash had left behind to block Night Bringer's breath.
It was Scalian herself. However, since Ash's disappearance, this dragon had refused all requests from humans.
They had tried everything to win him over, from books to fine liquor and delicacies, but to no avail.
That's why Violet had been brought in. Violet was the only human Scalian openly favored.
Having been promised a fortune by the imperial family, Violet tried to persuade Scalian, but-
"I don't want to."
Scalian flatly refused.
"The only human who can command me is Ash. But he is missing now."
"..."
"Honestly, I'm quite pleased with the current situation. It's fun to watch the world plunge into destruction and chaos, and interesting to see humans desperately try to find a solution."
Scalian smiled smoothly.
"So, I'm not going to stop it. If I stop it, that's all there is, and it's not very interesting. It's much more fun to watch you all struggle."
"But, if this continues..."
Swallowing dryly, Violet raised her hand to point at herself.
"I'm going to die too, you know?!"
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that."
Scalian slowly rose from his seat and strode towards Violet, who gasped and stepped back in surprise.
Thump.
"Eek?!"
As Violet backed into a wall in alarm, Scalian approached her, rounded his golden eyes behind his glasses, reached out, and grabbed the ends of Violet's violet hair... and breathed in.
"I'm going to save you."
"Woah..."
"Even if the world perishes, I'll protect you, Violet. So don't worry."
"Woah..."
Violet's feelings were mixed, burdened yet somehow also elated... she shivered, not knowing what to do.
Thud thud!
A large vibration came from the window next to the wall Violet's back was against.
A startled Violet turned around to see 'Black Dragon's Claw' Parekian sticking his mechanical-like face through the window.
Parekian grumbled an engine-like growl.
Scalian chuckled.
"What's the matter? Jealous because Violet and I are having fun, Parekian?"
Growl-!
"Why don't you polymorph and join us? Oh, you can't, can you?"
Screech-!
Caught between the rivalry of the two dragons, Violet inwardly shed a tear.
'I've never been popular with human men... how did I end up being so popular with dragons...'
She thought this scene was quite fitting for the end of the century.
That was when she saw a group moving hurriedly outside the window.
'Huh?'
Puzzled, Violet looked in that direction, and Scalian and Parekian also moved their heads to follow Violet's gaze.
The people moving along the main road of the city were... the people of the Ariane Kingdom.
They were packed with their belongings, fleeing north in a hurry.
This included King Miller Ariane, unconscious Yun, and all the warriors who had been consistently fighting at Crossroad. All of them.
The World Guardian Front had not allowed their departure until now, but with the city in chaos from the brush of the breath, they seemed to be taking the opportunity to escape north.
It wasn't just the people of Ariane Kingdom.
Seeing their chance, people from several small kingdoms who had been unable to escape before followed the procession of Ariane Kingdom, and the group was growing larger.
"..."
Watching this scene with interest, Scalian turned to Violet.
"Violet."
Violet, who had been staring blankly at the spectacle, met Scalian's gaze. Scalian smiled faintly.
"How about we run away with them?"
"Uh?"
"There's no hope on this front anyway. Even if I stop the breath, my father will arrive in two days... and then, destruction is certain."
"..."
"Instead of sitting here waiting for death to come... What do you say? Shall we run away north together?"
"But, eventually, the whole world is going to perish..."
"I told you. Even if the world perishes, I will protect you."
Scalian bowed his head. Violet, her expression rigid, looked straight into the dragon's golden eyes.
"If it comes to it, let's hide away where my father can't find us and live on our own. So, what do you say?"
"..."
"Shall we escape this frightening front and run away together?"
After a moment of silence.
"How can you think of such a thing..."
Violet, seemingly in despair, shook her head then,
"...Are you a genius, perhaps, Mr. Dragon?"
Violet hurriedly grabbed a bag from the corner of the room, stuffed it full of food and valuables, and then-
With her bag swollen and bulging, she slung it over her back and declared boldly.
"Alright! Let's run away!"
"..."
"Come on, quickly! Before we get caught!"
Scalian, who had been momentarily dazed, eventually burst into hearty laughter.
"This is why I like you."
Thus.
A human and two dragons blended into the crowd escaping the city, beginning their escape from the front.
Snowflakes were falling from the sky.
It was winter.