One But Two Different
There was a very ancient pact.
The oath that marked the beginning of the empire would last forever as long as the blood and will of a man were not severed.
Clink!
A red liquid spread across the white floor with a sharp sound.
Sarnus fell to the ground, clutching his neck due to the sudden sharp pain.
"Ugh!"
The liquor bottles in the cabinet collapsed with the swipe of a flailing hand.
Bright red drops of blood were already forming at the tips of his nails as he desperately scratched the nape of his neck, as if trying to remove something.
"Agh...!"
Strange tattoos began to creep up the neck of the oldest dragon.
The black tattoo that rose like a snake was tightening around Sarnus's neck as if in a noose, slowly suffocating him.
"This... This can't be happening..."
Sarnus's bloodshot eyes gazed distantly out the window.
It was a sight that couldn't have been seen but had to be seen.
In the storm that had formed from the far north, white lightning flashed.
That vivid white color was also one of the sharp memories embedded in Sarnus's soul.
Embedded in that memory is the name of the most noble and greatest man in the history of the empire.
The founding king of the empire and the great dragon slayer. And the only man who is a master of the sword.
"…Frausen!"
The oldest dragon shouted upon seeing a white lightning bolt fall in the distance.
Have you kept your promise, cowardly dragon?
Have you kept the promise you made when you begged for your life and bowed before me?
***
Thud!
A white lightning bolt struck the city of Moshiam.
The lightning falling from the sky was adding its own color to the city that was previously completely dark.
[Where have I seen many faces like these?]
Vlad, or rather Kihano, who replaced Vlad, smiled and pointed at the headless knights.
[What they do is exactly the same.]
A priest collecting the breath of children in a fog-filled village.
Looking at the headless knights who looked exactly like him, Kihano's cold anger grew.
[So it was you.]
"…!"
And in the spot pointed out by Kihano stood a woman whose hair started out green but ended up dark.
Her hands trembled unknowingly as she looked at the towering presence in Vlad's blue eyes.
There was a fear there that even her non-beating heart could feel.
"Get rid of that guy right now!"
The woman tried to call her knights to stop Kihano, but Kihano's world had already formed in her right eye.
[What did you say?]
"…!!"
What came first was pure white light, and what came next was sound.
Though Kihano was in the spot his finger pointed to, he was also in front of her.
Behind her, a residual image of Kihano continued smiling at her as it faded away.
Bang! Boom! Bang, bang, bang!
"Too fast…!"
"Aaaagh!"
Following the belated rumble, the headless knights began to burst.
A world drawn by Vlad but painted by Kihano.
The rudimentary world created by Vlad for the first time couldn't capture Kihano's speed at all.
"Kyahhh!"
The woman let out a loud scream as she felt the heavy impact on her abdomen.
'This is absurd!'
A body that shouldn't feel pain because it's not alive.
Yet, she was screaming with a sharp cry and staggering.
Because there was a presence transcending the laws pressing her own existence.
Dooooong!
With the tolling of a bell, the buildings around the square began to collapse.
Above the dense smoke, only Vlad's golden tree remained standing.
Above it, a white world roared mightily.
[In my land, built for the defenseless and the innocent!]
With each swing of the sword, tall buildings split apart, and with each step Kihano took, the ground was torn asunder.
It was Kihano's gesture of sharply removing every single detail of the dark world the woman had drawn.
[What the hell were you all doing!]
"Aaaah!"
Her two feet fully touched the ground, crushed by Kihano's immense world.
The woman began to scream upon feeling the presence of God, whom she had been ignoring until now.
[Why the hell are you killing children!]
"I didn't kill them!"
The smiling woman began to cry.
Black tears formed in her eyes.
The resentment of a mother who lost her child, which no one could erase, began to emanate from her world again.
"I did it to protect you! From this damn world!"
Above the children was a church emblem, burning in total darkness.
There was a nun sadly crying beside the graves of children who had been dragged away simply for the sake of someone else.
She was a noble person but had a beautiful voice.
"I'll protect you!"
However, what was crying now were her vocal cords, horribly torn apart as she was consumed by regret and despair.
Black tears welled up in the woman's eyes, which couldn't bear to let go and had turned completely black.
"In a world created by me, not by God!"
[…!]
The woman's desperate screams, unable to distinguish between reality and the past, began to call someone beyond the mist.
The desperate screams of the woman, who couldn't distinguish between reality and the past, began to call someone who was beyond the mist.
Kaaaaang!
[¡Kugh!]
"Hup!"
The clash of swords caused a loud rumble of sparks.
At the same time, the silver sword drawn in Kihano's world began to tremble violently, as if something confused it.
[…!]
"…"
Kihano, with a surprised expression, and Frausen, stiff.
The man who appeared through the mist was someone whose face Kihano could easily recognize, even after recovering his memories.
"…It seems the plan worked correctly."
Their gazes met, reflecting each other's images.
They never imagined meeting like this, but capricious fate finally put them face to face, gazing at each other.
"As expected, I knew you weren't an ordinary kid."
Kaaaaang!
The silver sword trembled with confusion.
Because the best swordsman and the greatest dragon slayer were staring each other down.
The sword tip wavered, unsure whom to aim at.
"Aren't you going to kill him?"
[To whom.]
Frausen grimaced subtly at Kihano deflecting the conversation.
"The greatest possibility of becoming a dragon."
[…There are no dragons here.]
A dragon is an immortal being that cannot die because it's perfect.
Even if they were crushed into pieces, they could resurrect if gathered, and the man feared that to his last breath.
[What I embrace is a star.]
However, some people saw a sinister dragon through the child, while others saw a bright star through the child.
Both saw the same thing but spoke of different things.
"…"
What is the basis of my existence?
With memories different due to time separated, the conversation had just created a clear distinction between Kihano and Frausen.
"It seems the spell went wrong."
Kihano, dreaming of possibilities, and Frausen, who returned to fulfill his duty, could now aim their swords at each other without hesitation.
Because the person in front of me isn't me.
Kaaaaang-!
Both closed eyes, the right and the left, began to draw the same world.
But though the color was the same, the worlds they drew were different.
"Hup!"
[Haaa!]
The deadly attacks that looked perfectly similar began to head towards each other.
They were worlds of such a high level that no one could possibly intervene.
Bang! Boom!
"You didn't come back for this!"
[Yes, I came back for this!]
With each striking movement, a building was destroyed.
[I came back for this!]
With the golden tree and the crying woman in the background, the men began to attack each other without stepping back.
"What the hell is this…"
Gunther and the Sacred Knights who were welcoming the commander of the Celestial Army watched the city crumbling with blank eyes.
A battle between two beings that seemed like it was taken from a legend.
No one could easily regain their senses at the sight that sent shivers down their spine just by looking at it.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaa!
Every time the swords clashed, sparks jumping burned the black sky.
As a result, the sky of Moshiam gradually began to find its true colors.
The sunlight shining from there began to illuminate Gunther's eyes.
"…I will start the spell!"
The sunlight was like a revelation.
The light passed by Gunther, tracing a straight path, and then illuminated Vlad's golden tree.
A golden tree resembling someone's hair color.
In God's world, the children laughing happily raised their hands, blinded by the sunlight finally appearing.
"Wonderful, Vlad!"
They didn't know how it had happened, but it must have been a miracle.
In this twisted city, the fervent wish of the knight had invoked something miraculous.
- With this sacred ceremony, grant the grace of the Holy Spirit and aid these children.
The divinity gathered to receive the commander of the celestial army pointed at Vlad's tree, not the sky.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaa!
A crumbling city, a collapsing wall.
But the unbreakable prayers of the Sacred Knights resonated strongly.
- Release these children from sin, save them, and have mercy on them.
The last prayer you could hear before leaving this world. Conclusive sacrament.
The knights of God were where they should be, clearing a path through the gold on the ground and the white under the sky.
"No! My children!"
The woman's black tears tried to stop it, but God had already seen the helpless children.
And so, the gates of heaven began to open.
A radiant light of salvation shone over Moshiam.
***
"What is that?"
The army formation, with the flags of the seven families waving.
An unusual column of light began to appear in front of the tense knights.
It was the first strange phenomenon they could see in the city hidden by the mist.
"Oh... That light."
"Do you recognize that light?"
Even Timur, the Iron Lord in the highest position in the North, had someone he had to address with respect.
"Yes. That light is a sacred prayer that guides lost souls."
An elder who, at a glance, identified the origin of the halo of light over Moshiam.
Pope Konrad, leader of the Northern Church, realized that the halo of light over Moshiam was the final sacrament of the Ascension ceremony.
"It seems my knights inside have opened a path to God."
"The Sacred Knights..."
Pope Konrad bowed and prayed, calling this also a divine grace.
However, despite his explanation, Timur's expression did not easily relax.
'Has it been two months and there are still survivors there?'
The dense mist of the woman had made time and space ambiguous.
Although the time inside had barely been a day, two months had already passed outside.
Therefore, Timur's current suspicions were extremely reasonable.
Rumble!
"Duke!"
"I saw it."
The walls of Moshiam were collapsing before me.
It was miserable, as if something had exploded from within.
The soldiers of the Northern Alliance began to murmur as they saw the wall collapse without having received any attack.
"Knights... Gather the knights sent by each family."
Timur, unaware, stuttered.
With a trembling voice that couldn't hide his bewilderment, he gave instructions.
"Gather only those who can handle the aura."
"Understood, Duke."
Even as Timur gave orders, he did not look away from the collapsed walls of the castle.
Because there was the resonance of a world that even the strongest knight of the North found puzzling.
"…It's as if a sword master ran away."
From his high position, he could clearly recognize the resonance of the world.
Overwhelmed by that resonance, Timur hastily closed his left eye.
Such intense pressure cannot be endured without bringing out one's own world.
Although no one had indicated it, all the knights present at that moment closed their left eye in unison.
***
"Wow."
A white-haired man stood amidst the dense fog.
Frausen sensed the presence of knights outside the city.
Knights with their own world.
Among them, there was someone whose world he couldn't easily ignore.
[Urgh!]
Kihano, emerging from the rubble of the wall, began to laugh.
Though covered in dust, he could smile unlike Frausen, who had a serious expression.
[Here in the north, there are many friends like this one.]
"…."
[Will you be able to handle them all, including me?]
Frausen looked at Kihano's trembling fingertips.
"You're lucky."
[This guy always gets lucky.]
Kihano desperately pretended to be calm, but he was at his limit.
Though they both had the same will, the difference in their body's capacity was clear. The longer it dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for Frausen, who had his original body.
"Don't forget. The responsibility I've shouldered."
A woman, resentfully gazing at the bright light.
Frausen, holding her as she remained sitting dazed, spoke to Kihano for the last time.
"I came back to kill the dragon."
[….]
With those final words, the man vanished into the fog.
Today's sun began to shine gradually over the city of Moshiam as the waves of fog slowly receded.
[I'm telling you, it's not a dragon, it's Vlad…]
As soon as Frausen's presence vanished, Kihano's sight began to fade.
There was something that looked like him falling.
A golden tree still shining.
Over Vlad's sword, which had regained its silver color, the glittering dust rose, heading towards Vlad's tree.
____
Join the discord!
https://dsc.gg/indra
____