The knights were gathering on the green meadows brought by spring.
The allied knights, who couldn't keep up with Vlad, had arrived late.
The first thing they discovered in this field was the sight of a massive dragon gliding across the sky.
"…My God."
A golden-bodied creature that dazzled anyone who looked at it.
The appearance of the dragon, shining brighter than the rising sun, was literally the closest thing to the most perfect image created by God.
"Vlad."
This was not the remnant of a fallen dragon, but a truly noble being, Sarnus.
However, Rutiger's gaze was more focused on the blonde knight racing below the dragon than on the power radiating from it.
Rooaaar!
There was a dragon roaring furiously from the sky above.
"Noir-!"
And beneath it, galloping across the field, was the golden-haired knight riding a black horse.
Two worlds charging toward each other without slowing down, as if neither was willing to yield an inch.
The intensity of these colors overwhelmed Rutiger, who unknowingly shut his eyes tightly.
"…I got it!"
A voice came from behind those tightly shut eyes.
It was the voice of a boy who always looked to the stars despite being born in the mud.
"I caught it!"
As if drawn by the sound, Rutiger opened his eyes again and found Vlad smiling at him.
"The last piece!"
Vlad raised his hand high, seemingly indifferent to the roaring dragon above him.
That man was shouting loudly to the knights who had finally caught up with him.
Now it's our turn.
After being torn apart countless times by the vast world, it's our turn to move forward.
"…Everyone, raise your banners!"
As if Rutiger had finally regained his senses with those shouts, the banners of the continent began to rise one by one.
A group of people dreaming of becoming dragon hunters started charging vigorously alongside him.
The green pastures began to tremble with the feast of knights, something only seen in territorial battles.
***
Rooaaar!
"Ugh!"
The powerful roar echoing in his ears made Vlad stagger for a moment.
-You wretch! Until the very end!
The dragon's presence was enormous, and the pressure it exerted was like a mountain.
However, more than the fury of Sarnus roaring from above, what bothered Vlad at that moment was the whisper of the piece he held in his hand.
-Hurry and take me! If you do, you will be perfect!
It was a voice he had heard before in the iron city of Bastopol.
But this time, the dragon piece glowed even more intensely in red, relentlessly trying to invade Vlad's world.
[Vlad! Vlad, stay focused!]
"…Guh!"
The threat from the sky and the temptation from his hand.
In the midst of those intense cries, a huge shadow began to appear once more above Vlad's head as he vigorously shook his head.
-Hand it over already!
The bright white horn of the unicorn began to tremble in urgency.
However, the movements of the black horse to evade the opponent ultimately only make sense if coordinated with the rider.
Crash!
But the sharp claws of the dragon didn't strike Noir—they hit another target that had intervened.
"…Pablo!"
"Argh!"
The world of that knight was like the wall of a castle.
But before the most ancient dragon, his world could only buy a brief moment for Vlad as he shouted:
"Go quickly!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the horse Pablo rode began to collapse.
However, Noir, who had started running, left them behind and charged toward the knights in front.
"Good work, Vlad!"
"Reform the lines!"
There were two flags waving as Vlad fled.
"Execute the plan! Hold your formation!"
"The time to avenge Lord August has come for the Imperial Guard!"
The banner of Bayezid, surrounding the walls of Sturma, and the banner of the Imperial Guard, symbolizing the black lightning.
Behind the standard-bearers holding the flags were the knights who had chosen their respective worlds.
-Cursed humans!
The elite forces from the North and the Center charged at the ancient dragon.
The numbers alone totaled roughly dozens.
Seeing this, Sarnus couldn't forgive these inferior beings who dared to challenge him.
[Let them all perish!][1]
From the brilliant piece Vlad held emerged a phrase full of the dragon's rage.
It was Sarnus's wrath and his teaching to these ignorant knights who didn't understand a dragon's fury.
Boom!
The green fields began to collapse under the dragon's immense will.
The cracks spreading across the ground were so wide they could even swallow the galloping horses.
These abyssal fissures marked the divide between the dragon and the knights, showing them their true place.
"…What the hell!"
"It's the power of the dragon's language!"
Terrified, the knights forced their horses to turn and search for another route.
"I didn't think he had already reached such perfection!"
The dragon's language, a power that allowed him to impose his own truth upon the world.
Confronted with the possibility of the dragon, which until now had only existed in texts, the commander of the Imperial Guard, Rodrigo, bit his tongue.
-How dare you, humans!
Roooaaar!
The dragon's roar reverberated with a force no one had anticipated.
It wasn't fear or doubt, but pure willpower, capable of crushing the spirit of any warrior.
Only those who had built their own world could withstand the dragon's roar.
"Argh!"
"I can't take it!"
Along with the black blood flowing from their ears, desertion began to spread even among the knights who were considered the elite of the continent.
"Damn it!"
Time was not on their side, and the battlefield belonged to the dragon.
Sarnus's blue eyes began to gleam as he looked at the small worlds fleeing from him.
-I don't reflect like a perfect dragon would.
But despite his smile, the back of his neck swelled with intense red energy.
-I just want to destroy it all.
The dragon closest to perfection in this era was gathering fury in his lungs.
It was the dragon's breath, capable of burning everything in this world.
The dragon's fury, which had even melted the walls of Bastopol, now stared directly at Bayezid and the Imperial Guard's banner.
***
"Dammit! These humans think everything can be done just because they say so!"
A bit farther from the battlefield, where the knights and the dragon were fiercely fighting.
Here, where a very pale Vlad was taking a moment to catch his breath, a large group of Nidavellir dwarves was gathering and assembling a single siege weapon.
"They don't understand that perfection comes with time and guaranteed budget!"
Sigurd's grumbling was almost a shout, but in contrast, the weapon that was slowly coming together was gaining its own value.
The weapon, slowly taking shape, was a ballista similar to the one seen in Bastopol.
However, the tension in the bowstring, created by its gigantic size, made it seem as though it could snare not only a wyvern but something even bigger.
"Captain! Look at that!"
However, the time given to them was cruelly short for the dwarves.
Because the fury of the oldest dragon was about to be unleashed through its throat, straight towards the knights.
"…Dammit! Fire now!"
"But we haven't finished aiming!"
"Just fire, you bastards!"
This would be their first real attempt in a combat situation.
However, Sigurd chose the most necessary moment rather than the most precise one, and he began forcefully turning the ballista, which wasn't fully assembled, to aim at the dragon before him.
"It's now or never!"
A huge dragon appeared before Sigurd, who stood alone at the aiming post.
A golden dragon, glaring down at Bayezid and the imperial guard, as if it hadn't yet noticed their position.
"For our ancestors."
Bang!
The giant arrow fired by Nidavellir tore through the air, heading straight for the dragon's gleaming scales.
***
"Everyone, scatter!"
Rutiger's shout rang out strongly, but the Bayezid knights couldn't obey that command.
Rumble!
The ground was still shaking violently, and the horses were so terrified they couldn't move a step.
The knights, overwhelmed by the enormous presence of the ancient dragon, swallowed their awe, unable to release it, as they watched the red flames now visible before them.
Whoooosh-
It was a battlefield so tense that it felt like time had stopped.
The difference between life and death was just one breath away from a dragon's exhalation. At that moment, the world of the dwarves came flying behind the knights.
-······!
A spear tip made of an eternal flame that no longer existed.
One of the few possibilities that the most perfect dragon, Sarnus, feared was now heading toward him.
"We did it!"
Though it was a forced shot, it was a direct one.
For that reason, Sarnus had no choice but to redirect his breath toward the dwarves' spear, which was flying to a spot he couldn't ignore.
Roaaaar!
A red beam of light shot forth, as though it would pierce the sky.
The clouds began to split apart at the contact with the dragon's breath, proof that this energy was not in vain.
"How brutal."
Though the dwarves' spear didn't reach the dragon, it saved the knights but disintegrated without a trace, flying towards the sky.
However, Sigurd didn't have time to lament the failed shot.
"…I had a feeling we were running low on spearheads in the warehouse."
Because the dragon's enraged gaze was now fixed on where he stood.
The dragon's destructive breath was now descending upon the ballista Sigurd was manning.
No longer aimed at the knights at the front, but at the dwarves' weapon that had just posed a significant threat.
"It must have been when the perfect dragon burned everything."
Boom!
A great wave of heat surrounded Sigurd's back as he jumped hastily.
Sigurd froze, imagining his own death in the intense heat, as though hundreds of bombs had exploded at once, but a hand grabbed him from behind.
"You're small in stature, but what you handle is quite large."
"What?"
A man with deep navy-blue hair caught the dwarf, who had rolled into a mess.
A magic circle drawn by water spirits suddenly emerged from Baradis's fingertips, who raised a large pentagram above his left eye.
Boom-!
***
-Take me quickly. Don't you want to soar like the dragon you see there?
"Ugh…"
-You don't know the joy of keeping the world underfoot. Little dragon. Don't think that the world you've seen and experienced is all there is.
Vlad, who had hastily escaped, was still holding the blood-red dragon piece in his hand.
That piece, which seemed to be stuck to him like glue, clung obsessively to Vlad more than any other part.
[…It seems the last dragons have gathered and become even stronger.]
Two dragons, close to being the most perfect.
The red piece, inspired by the world of dragons they represented, whispered to Vlad to claim it at once.
Because it knew that no matter who took it, in the end, only one dragon would survive.
[Vlad…]
It seemed as though it couldn't bear to see this, and the Ruga tribe tattoo engraved on Vlad's left arm began to twist.
It was a mystery, like a curse, representing a black lightning bolt.
However, Kihano, who was trying to activate the mystery, paused for a moment when he saw Vlad suddenly stagger.
"I can't see."
Vlad's hands wandered as if searching for something.
That action, which resembled that of a blind man, caused the dragon piece that kept whispering and Kihano to fall silent for a moment.
Kraaaaaa!
Because of that, his inner world grew a little quieter, but this place, still a battlefield, was filled with someone's shouts and cheers.
- Push it! Break it off!
- Aim for the wings!
Knights of the continent were fighting beneath the ancient dragon.
- We're out of ballistae!
- We don't have any more spare parts!
The dwarves kept bringing pieces, unaware that their beards were burning in the fierce flames.
- Awaken the spirits! We must block the dragon's wings first!
And the elves kept shooting arrows at the knights, who desperately tried to shield themselves from the dragon.
"…..I can't see anything."
Vlad dove deeper into his inner world, trying to resist the temptation of the piece.
The battlefield Vlad saw through that world was filled with tiny stars, losing their light under the pressure of a brighter world.
"Is that perfection, Kihano?"
[Yes.]
There were screams that could not be seen but were heard.
They were the screams of the worlds that had been with me.
The world of Vlad, which had slowly started to emerge at the sound of their last words, began to take shape in his blue eyes.
"It's too high. No one can reach that."
All the worlds in this world are precious things that cannot be replaced, but under the great sun, they were like stars' lights that cannot be seen beneath its radiance.
Thus, watching the worlds cooling beneath the golden sun that soared through the sky, a golden horizon began to rise from his left eye, which had been closed.
"…I should bring down perfection."
[How?]
Kihano always provided answers, but this time he asked questions.
Because my correct answer didn't make sense to Vlad, who found his own path.
"By summoning the night sky."
He didn't need the most perfect possibility.
Nor that great sun floating above.
To bring down the star that extinguishes all other stars because it shines alone, a calm night sky was needed, where all could shine.
"This piece could be anything."
[If you wish it.]
"I can do anything."
[If you wish it.]
Hearing Kihano's response, Vlad looked at the dragon piece he held.
A dragon piece that could be anything and do anything, like me, who had originated from a dragon.
Vlad, who remembered the appearance of the black moon through another piece, realized it was time to get the canvas he wanted.
-······!
The piece that Vlad had carelessly tossed rolled across the green meadow.
Shining under the sunlight, it was the most perfect piece that anyone would covet.
However, the dragon of this era didn't surrender to perfection and simply sought to evoke his own world.
[Imagine intensely the landscape you desire. It would be even better if it exists in your memories.]
"…In my memories."
Vlad sought to create a sky without dragons using a dragon fragment.
A night sky began to emerge from his mind.
"I want a world without dragons."
This was a conversation with his sword, a spell to bring his world into reality.
"I do not wish for perfection."
One who could bring the world he envisioned into reality could be called a master of the sword.
"In the world I draw, I hope no one will look down on others."
Something began to stir in Vlad's blue eyes as his world took form.
It was the night sky he was trying to draw today, a sky where all stars could shine.
"This is the world I desire!"
-······!
Crack-!
From the tip of Vlad's sword, which had struck with great force, the red piece began to crack.
A piece that had the potential to become the most perfect being in the world.
However, the destiny of the last piece was not the most perfect world, but the dark night sky envisioned by Vlad.
- You raised the moon. You did it.
-······ We did it together.
- Yes, together.
For the stars of this era that could not reach the high night sky.
What the dragon, who had given up even on his own perfection, wanted was a night sky where everyone could shine.
"What is this?!"
There was a dragon falling into a world no one could see.
There were also red fragments floating like dust on the dragon's wings.
The place where the dust was heading hovered above the sky, where another dragon sculpture existed.
- Yes, we did it together.
A black moon rose alone in the night sky where no one could fly.
The moon in the night sky embraced the man with dark eyes and said its farewell.
This place, where the light of the moon descended, was the world Vlad had drawn.
T/N:
1: "용언" (yong-eon) literally means "Dragon Word" or "Language of the Dragon." In the context of many Korean fantasy novels, this expression refers to a special power that dragons possess to alter reality through their speech or verbal magic.