The sky was blue, but the ground beneath was filled with pain.
The bright sun suffered alone, but the cries of the knights below were equally agonizing.
"Lo-Lord Rutiger…"
A world of its own, with no regard for the beings below.
But now, a night sky was descending upon those who suffered beneath it.
"Hey, look over there."
Rutiger urgently lifted his head, following the direction pointed out by his aide.
A strange scene, one he had never seen or heard of before, was unfolding in the sky.
"That is…"
A dark shadow began to spread across the green meadow.
The shadow was cast by the black moon, which had already obscured the sun.
-I want a world without dragons.
The moon of the children, granted by a young man with dark eyes and a knight with golden hair.
And now, a black tear began to fall slowly from that moon, descending into the blue sky.
-I don't even want perfection.
There was a knight who turned his back for the lost children.
And the tears of the children who answered the knight's call.
The tears began to slowly unravel the black canvas, causing small ripples in the blue sky.
-I hope that in the world I draw, no one will look down on others.
From the sky where the dragon once soared, to the deep blue night sky that the boy gazed upon.
Under that sky, a dragon that had lost its world in the blink of an eye was falling, letting out a rough roar.
Roaar!
Sarnus, now stripped of his wings, reverted to his human form.
The sky, which no longer allowed dragons, had fully turned to night.
"…My God."
The night sky seemed as if someone had painted it.
The knights couldn't hide their expressions of awe as they gazed at the darkness that looked both beautiful and comforting, like a black silk cloth unfurling.
"No way…"
A strange spectacle, neither a mystery nor a divine force could create.
However, the knights who had their own worlds knew of only one being capable of producing the current situation.
"Master… of the Sword?"
A being who could bring their own world into reality. Master of the Sword.
When the knights naturally turned around, Vlad stood there.
Vlad raised his sword to the sky as if he were offering a prayer.
[…Magnificent.]
The current battlefield, drawn with the last piece that could become anything.
The tip of the sword, representing the battlefield, was filled with a haze of red dust that still rose like a mist.
[This is enough to call him a Master of the Sword.]
The crescent moon and the falling dragon.
And the Master of the Sword, who had drawn his own night sky.
The night sky of today, created by the Master of the Sword of this era, was a world that allowed no being to gaze upon other worlds.
***
Aaaah-!
After falling into a world without dragons, Sarnus no longer had wings.
"Are you blocking my path again? Kihano Frausén!"
However, even without wings, Sarnus still held the title of Dragulia.
Duke of Dragon's Blood Dragulia.
The last Dragulia, who had proven his worth by surviving the longest, roared his fury at Vlad standing before him.
"…It won't end like this. Not this time!"
What I saw with my eyes was my son, but what I felt in my soul was that knight.
Once more, the being who came closest to perfection in this era drew his sword toward the Master of the Sword.
"Enough!"
"Bayezid! All of you, before me!"
Although he was struck down by the world drawn by the Master of the Sword, Sarnus still remained the greatest force of this era.
No matter how many elites were gathered, no knight here could handle his once-perfect world.
"Insignificant beings!"
Having lost perfection, each step he took was as heavy as a mountain, and every swing of his sword was filled with blood-red fury.
As he advanced toward Vlad, a path formed behind him, paved with someone's blood.
"You keep getting in my way until the very end!"
Sarnus's world grew larger the more you looked up.
Born a noble dragon, he was prepared to accept all the respect and fear of the world and had no intention of forgiving the knights who dared challenge him.
[Bow down! Scum!]
The dragon of this era, with the right to rule, commanded the knights with a sword that flashed like lightning.
Bow your heads and look at me.
Craaaack-!
"What the hell!"
The dragon's command, laden with authority, fear, and his inherent grandeur, began weighing down on the knights, as though the very laws of the world were pressing them into the earth.
"…It's too heavy!"
It felt as if the world itself was crushing them.
"Sh*t!"
The weight of the dragon's words was so violent that even the ground beneath them seemed to give way.
Though the knights tried to deploy their own worlds to resist, Sarnus's world, built up over centuries, crushed them with its vastness.
"Pathetic, you're fighting just like before."
Only then did Sarnus's face slowly straighten as he watched the knights of this era lower their heads.
The higher my world rises, the more these knights bow their heads.
I, who grew stronger by forcing my enemies into submission, was a being born to rule.
"Do not bow!"
However, this world, where the knights stood now, was one where no one could look down on another.
"Raise your swords! Remember why we are here!"
At that moment, someone was running toward the knights, who had been crushed by the enormous world.
A man glowing with a golden aura, running like lightning.
At the end of the golden horizon created by this man was Sarnus Dragulia, the last dragon of this era.
"Vlad! Curse you!"
Boooom!
It was a terrifying speed, like lightning striking the ground.
The golden world rushing forward began to howl fiercely, biting into the bloody aura of Sarnus.
"You were born as a dragon and destroyed perfection!"
"I wouldn't want it, even if you gave it to me!"
Two worlds shone beneath the night sky.
Finally, father and son met each other's gaze through their blue eyes.
Craaaaack-!
Through their clashing swords, their blue eyes locked.
Seeing clearly where it came from, uncontrollable rage began to stir in Vlad's heart.
"…So you planted the seed only to devour me later."
Despite inheriting the blood of the noble dragon, Vlad had grown up in the darkest alleys.
But the secret of his birth was far more terrifying and disgusting than he had ever imagined as a child.
"I don't think there's anyone else in the world who would bring a child into being for such a reason."
It wasn't for love, nor for a fleeting moment of pleasure—it was for a cold, calculated purpose that I was born.
Vlad smiled coldly as he stared at the roots of his existence that had never truly been there from the moment of his birth.
"Still, thank you for giving me life, father."
"What?"
Despite everything, I'm grateful to have been born into this world.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to see the light of the stars shining as they do now.
"…!"
Sarnus froze for a moment at Vlad's unexpected words.
But those words, filled with sincerity, were another trick by Vlad, who held the sword.
[I've tricked him!]
The secret to a killing blow lies in the unexpected.
And sometimes, the unexpected comes not from the tip of a sword but from the tip of the tongue.
"Damn it!"
For a brief moment, the flow of air stopped.
It all began at the tip of Vlad's sword, firmly positioned.
"Fuuu…"
The possibility of seizing the initiative through an unexpected move.
The blue eyes of Vlad, fixed on the space he had created, suddenly gleamed with flashes of light.
"Tuck your elbows in."
This strike will be decisive.
Vlad's sword began to tremble as the certainty of a conclusion flowed from the will of the world.
"Haaaa!"
The pressure emanating from his sword started slicing through the still air.
Hearing the wind's tearing scream, Sarnus, without realizing it, hurriedly shut his left eye.
Craaaack-!
A fierce gust swept through the air, sending pieces of armor flying in all directions.
But Vlad's face was filled with frustration.
"…Sh*t!"
The sword had been launched, and it had struck Sarnus.
Sarnus's armor had shattered, proving the strike had landed.
However, unlike Vlad, Sarnus, born with pure blood, was covered in golden scales that suddenly sprouted from his chest.
"Damn you!"
Sarnus's anger rose as he saw Vlad's sword pierce through his world.
"Even that cursed swordsmanship!"
But his fury wasn't just directed at Vlad's strength.
[Don't let him recover! You can't give up the advantage!]
From Vlad's eyes, so close, Sarnus could see the figure of Kihano, the knight he could never forget, even in his dreams, pushing him forward with force.
"Kihano… Damn bastard!"
There had been a noble knight who had split himself to prevent the resurrection of the most perfect dragon.
Using his divided soul to traverse eras, he had finally succeeded in erasing the possibility of the perfect dragon from the world, as he had desired.
[Well done! You're doing great!]
And not with a sharp sword, but with faith and care for the child.
A world where the perfect dragon no longer existed.
The Master of the Sword from the previous era, who had succeeded in depicting that world, smiled as he watched the dragon roar.
Bang! Boom! Bang!
"Aaaah!"
A ferocity that never ceased once it gained momentum.
Noticing that Vlad shared his relentless spirit, Sarnus swung his sword with all his might, buying himself a brief respite.
[It's coming! Be ready!]
"…!"
The ongoing battle was clearly fierce.
But for Sarnus, who had regained his composure, it was enough time to take a deep breath once more.
"You destroyed everything, Kihano!"
Kihano and Frausen, divided.
Among them, the one who inflicted the deepest wound on Sarnus wasn't Emperor Frausen, but the honorable knight Kihano.
A fierce breath toward him began to form in Sarnus's lungs.
[Disappear!]
A word, a single utterance, could kill someone in one swift motion.
Sarnus's breath, filled with the dragon's power, shot out red beneath the deep blue night sky.
Booom-!
Though he looked human, what Sarnus exhaled was unmistakably the breath of a dragon.
Vlad paused for a moment, seeing the breath rapidly approach, but the decision he made in that brief instant wasn't to evade—it was to defend.
"Ugh!"
The direct red breath of Sarnus clashed with Vlad's sword.
The force was strong enough to consume him entirely if not diverted by his own strength.
[Avoid it! You can't hold out much longer!]
As Kihano's words proved true, Vlad's sword began to glow red-hot.
However, Vlad continued to fight to stop Sarnus until the very end.
"No!"
There stood Vlad, being pushed forward, holding his breath as though in hell.
"There are still knights behind me!"
Behind Vlad, many knights were still bound by the chains of Sarnus.
The knights, overwhelmed by the vast world, shouted for Vlad to retreat, but the man before them only clenched his teeth harder.
"Then… create your own world!"
Now, I am a Master of the Sword of this era, trying to embrace not only myself but others.
The Masters of the Sword from previous eras shouted loudly at him.
[You can do anything, even if you're not a dragon! Because you're a knight who already has his own world!]
A knight standing where he should, beneath the tears shed by young potentials.
However, as the pressure mounted, the deep blue night sky began to light up with a gray star, as if telling him to look there.
[Draw! The world you embraced!]
"Agh!"
What Vlad held in his hands wasn't just a sword—it was a brush.
A truth that anyone who fights in this world, not with a sword, must now realize.
When Vlad grasped that truth, a star in the night sky began to shine above his head.
"…I've never seen a wall as strong as yours."
What I want now is a world where I can stop the dragon's breath.
And that world already shone like a star in Vlad's soul.
"So just this once… Lend me your strength!"
This is a conversation with the sword, and a spell that brings my world into reality.
Following the spell Vlad shouted with all his might, a world emerged from the green meadows.
Thump!
An enormous castle gleaming in the starlight.
A scene the boy, awed by its greatness, had filled his world with, now recreated beneath the night sky.
"…What?"
A spectacle that made both the knights, who had lowered their heads, and the dragon, who sighed, lift their heads.
Suddenly, the fortress rose, showcasing its grandeur and steel walls.
"Bastopol?"
Boom! Crack!
Long ago, it was said that the walls of Bastopol, alongside the Master of Swords from a previous era, were what stopped the breath of the most perfect dragon.
And now, the walls Vlad had recreated within his own world stood tall and firm, blocking the breath exhaled by Sarnus.
"…Haaah! Haaah!"
The vast night sky and the stars adorning it belonged to the world I had drawn myself.
Vlad lifted his head, and he could see the many stars watching him from above.
"I am not a dragon."
One of those stars shone directly above Vlad's head.
The starlight it cast was a bright, multicolored light that seemed to pass through stained glass.
The light was the same as the one the boy saw when he received his name for the first time.
"I am Vlad of Soara."
That was the name given to me by a devout priest when I was born for the first time in my life.
Seeing that light again, Vlad reaffirmed his potential and slowly extended his sword, drawing the next scene.
"…I vouch for the honor of this knight."
A small, ancient mansion.
However, there stood a knight who always opened the door for Vlad.
He quietly walked up to the battlefield, holding the shield that had been broken before.
"Then, lend me your shield."
Despite being born in an unworthy place, this young knight now walked toward a brilliant destiny.
And in the dueling arena of Deirmar that Vlad had drawn, stood Pablo of Arnstein, with the same appearance as before, ready to face Sarnus.