~ Chapter 156: I could see it, but I couldn’t stop it... ~
[Illsyore’s point of view]
The draconian by the name of Brayden revealed himself to be someone else, but from the lack of reaction from both the guards and the two nobles by his side, I could only suspect that they were all aware of his true identity. Ayuseya, however, wasn’t. She was shocked by this; her fists were clenched tight, and her jaw locked so that she wouldn’t gasp in surprise. The tail covered with gold scales didn’t move an inch as though it was bolted to the ground.
“Oh~! I kind of like that expression of yours, my dear Ayuseya~! It’s shock... and... is that a hint of despair?” the draconian on the throne showed us a playful smirk.
“W-What happened to my little brother?” she asked.
“Him? Oh, that boy? He was sacrificed, and his power transferred to me through his curse on the day of his coronation. Isn’t that wonderful? But now, the child of Vellezya, who is now cured, will serve as an eternal sacrifice. He will be someone who will forever represent the new Dragon Emperor of Teslov!” he laughed and then took a stand from his throne.
With a first step forward, he began to clap slowly. A smile that reflected his cunning and overconfident character was reflect on his face. He was looking at us without a single drop of fear, and the draconians here were all bowing down to him as though they had always recognized him as their true ruler.
“You see, after my defeat back then, I discovered that I needed more power than ever before in order to destroy all those who dared to oppose me, however, the number of Dungeons were few and the power of their monsters were low. I even tried to raise a Dungeon to make it ridiculously strong, but it was to no avail. My strength seemed to have reached a unbreakable ceiling. But...” he stopped and smiled “I couldn’t give up just like that.” he narrowed his eyes at us.
A single thought crossed my mind when I heard him say all of this, but if it was true, then the entire history of this continent was nothing more than a lie... Yet, I opened my mouth to let it out.
“You were never subjugated by the Paramanium Empire, were you?”
The draconian looked into my eyes for a long moment and then began to clap... slowly.
“I commend you, Dungeon Lord Illsyore. From just a handful of words, you were able to deduce a most well-kept secret among the nobility of Teslov.”
“The generational curse that was placed on the Pleyades family was all your doing, right?” I asked.
“Exactly.” he nodded “Back when I realized that I had reached the peak of my power, I became somewhat obsessed with finding an alternative way of breaking through that invisible barrier. From farming Dungeons to meditation and all sorts of other ridiculous things, I tried them all, but I never went past that limit, you see? So, I delved into the darker arts, into Black Magic. Back then, it was far easier to find an Apostle of a Forbidden God or as some of the more modern ones call them: a Dark God, they without names or altars, but with the might to call upon all the evil in the world.” he declared with a smile.
Forbidden God? Dark God? Is this deity similar to the one that was being worshipped in that warped dungeon where we found Tamara? I wondered.
“You asked for help from a vile entity like that?” Ayuseya asked.
“Hm? Not exactly.” he shook his head “Well, I did allow a bunch of those Apostle to go ahead and sacrifice through torture one of my border cities, but the lives of a few hundred thousand was nothing much for what they offered me in return. Care to guess what it was?” he showed us a most evil smile.
“The Generational Curse.” I replied narrowing my eyes at him.
“Exactly! It was a curse for your own family, but the caster would receive quite a few benefits. In exchange for the lives all those who shared my blood, I would gain their Magic Energy, their vitality, and life expectancy as well. In other words, the more of my own blood I sacrificed to this curse, the better!” he laughed out loud.
“So, all the killings in the legends, all the slaughters... they were done by the Apostles of a Dark God?” Ayuseya asked as she trembled from the shock of this reveal.
“Practically, yes, but I did participate in a few of them as well. Activating a curse like that required a few blood sacrifices in the name of the said god, but those are minor details. Once I got a hold of this spell, I was able to attain the key to breaking through the clouds and reaching even the gods above!” he declared as he reached with his hand up towards the sky as though trying to grab some sort of imaginary power “You do realize, however...” he stopped and looked back at us, right in the eyes “that having access to the potential of stepping to such powerful heights, I would become aware that to do something like that, sacrificing one or two draconians wasn’t enough...”
“You want to become a god?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him.
“YES!” he declared and then started laughing. “I want to become the most powerful god in existence! One that could surpass any and all of these worthless gods on the side of light!”
His moment of joy came to a stop as his ecstatic smile turned into a serious solemn expression. At the same time, I could feel the change in the flow of energy around us. It was if he was trying to pull it all towards his body, which could only mean that he was preparing to fight us both with all of his might.
However, I could not tell what the extent of his power was right now, but I wasn’t the only one who noticed this. Several guards here showed a twitch in their tails as they felt this, while Ayuseya cast me a quick glance. She was asking me what I wanted to do now that it was obvious that a fight was unavoidable.
Still, I could not see this draconian King as being far more powerful than Ayuseya. True, he was closing in on the Over Supreme status, but he was not what I would call a dangerous foe. He was far from it. Thus, letting my wife have her revenge and beating the snot out of this bastard for all the innocent souls he had sacrificed so far felt like the right thing to do.
With a nod, I let Ayuseya known that I would have her back if anything unexpected were to happen.
“Thank you, Illsy.” she whispered as she stepped forward and then glared at this ancient draconian.
“You don’t have any drop of remorse for the innocent lives you have taken, have you?” she asked him as Magic Energy started draw closer to her, challenging the raging flow that was forming around the King.
Seeing the guards around us taking a step forward with their sword unsheathed, I tossed them a glare and then declared “I wouldn’t intervene if I were you. Chances are you’ll just be confused with some annoying bug and swatted away by either of them.”
“Invaders of our prosperous nation of Teslov have no right to stop us!” shouted one of the guards, while the duel of power between Ayuseya and the King was merely beginning.
That bastard does not see a reason in letting us go quietly. The fact that he revealed so much is enough proof of that. I thought and then told the guard “When more than half of your country isn’t starving, thousands of your children aren’t begging for scraps of food on the streets, and you also hold a well-developing industry and constantly expanding military, then and only then can you call this country as ‘prosperous’. So far, according to all the nations of the world and your own people as well, this place is anything but prosperous.”
“The words of a foreigner like you have no importance to us!” he declared.
“Sigh... Then...” I said and moved right in front of him. I was standing just a palm away from him, and I grabbed his blade with my bare hand. Glaring into his eyes and releasing an intimidating aura around me, I then told him “Do remember that although I may not look like it, I’m still the ruler of the country who took down Paramanium’s mightiest army. If any one of you feels like they are confident enough to take me down on their own, do feel free to try, but if you dare to attack me even once, I’ll rip your guts out and strangle my next attacker with them. Do you understand?”
The man gulped but did not step back. He remained there, challenging me with his gaze, but he did not have the courage to make the next move.
At the same time, behind me, the King began to laugh as the magic energy around him was growing more and more powerful, flowing into his body seemingly without any sign of ever stopping.
“Hahaha!” he stopped laughing in an abrupt way and then continued in a calm tone of voice “I had planned to activate this curse twenty years ago, when I learned of your full-blood dragon father. Tracking him down and finding out where his kind had been hiding sounded like a good idea at that time, but I decided against it. Do you know why?” he asked.
“Because he was already dead?” Ayuseya guessed, but even she had no idea what became of her old man, although, I had to admit that I was a bit surprised that he was aware of who her true father was.
“Because of the barrier around the three continents. If I unleashed the curse then, the barrier would have reacted. I needed to grow far more powerful so that when I try to track him down, it won’t stop me in my tracks.” he replied.
Barrier? I think I remember something like that being shown on the map I got from that Pirate King. I thought.
“Why was it so important for you to track down my father?” she asked furrowing her brow as a crackle of energy appeared in her aura.
The draconians outside were already on the edge, as they felt the disturbance in the flow of Magic Energy that was taking place here. The problem was that I kept feeling like something was amiss here.
Looking back at things, it seemed as though this King’s secret was not one known only by him, there were a bunch of others who were well aware of it and yet they acted calmly about it. When thinking about what the actual sinister purpose of those born in the Pleyades family was, then all the jerk-like attitudes these draconians had when talking about Ayuseya could be explained.
In other words, the Pleyades Palace and the nobles within it never fell to the corruption of those in the higher seats of power, they had been placed there specifically because of their evil intentions and desire to keep this King’s secret a secret as well as continue his ancient despotic rule over Teslov. They were his allies not poor nobles who had been taken advantage of.
Actually, considering the past interactions I had with those from Teslov, I could say that there were maybe a few of them who were on the side of good, but who unfortunately didn’t have a strong enough hold on the political power within this country to actually make a difference. Those who few who managed to fall in love with either a prince or princess of this country were never met with a good fate, as it happened to Ayuseya’s former maids and butlers as well as her distant relatives from an uncle’s or aunt’s side.
This being said, why were the Royal Guards allowed to witness this showdown between these two royal draconians while the Supremes outside were kept at bay?
“You know what I’m surprised about?” asked the King as he was lifted off the ground because of the immense power that was flowing around him “Why haven’t you burst into tears from all the betrayal that you have felt so far?” he showed her a smirk.
He ignored her question... I thought.
“The tears I shed are only for my husband and my sister-wives to see, not the likes of you.” she declared.
“But doesn’t it hurt at all?”
“It does... It hurts so much that I want to scream and beg for it to stop. My heart breaks when thinking about the poor innocents that must suffer because of you, and my strength is drained when I see how powerless I was to stop it, but such a sight you will never get to see from me. When I cast aside my name as a Pleyades, I cast aside Teslov just like it had cast aside me as well. Whatever injustice I am given to witness on these lands, I do so as a proud Deus!” Ayuseya declared as she raised her chin up, showing him the absolute confidence and strength I knew my wife wielded within her heart.
“What a boring answer.” the King replied.
Boring? I tossed a glare at the stupid draconian who knew not what my beloved wife had been going through.
Unlike my other wives, Ayuseya was the only one who took up the courage to completely renounce her name and legacy as a Pleyades. Now, even if she wanted to, she might not be able to reclaim her original family name. Not only this, but she had been constantly struck by the worry of what may happen to her sister and her brother. Although she was a tough woman on the outside, I was not a fool to think that her heart was made out of granite.
With a single glance, I could tell when she was sad; with a single smile, I could see when she was happy; with a single word, I could feel the pain tormenting her. What she said just now was a heart wrenching truth that stabbed at the very base of her being. Ayuseya was born as a princess, someone with the task to guide the masses, not to be the wrench used in the mass of political cogs within Teslov. She was not born as a Fool, but as a Queen. I knew this better than anyone, for she only revealed the pain in her heart to me.
The reason why, so far, I did not have a child with her as well as with Zoreya and Tamara was simply because their hearts were not ready yet. In the case of the Apostle, she had once given up on all possibility of her ever finding the true embrace of love. Now that she was captivated by it, she did not know if it was right for her to step forward as a mother or not yet. The idea of motherhood frightened her, that was why she waited to see how she interacted with the other children first. The nekatar was never one who took this matter seriously, but in her most lucid dream her answer was also the most troubling of them all: “The Heavens would forbid it... for now.”
Although I could have asked her why, when she spoke those words back then, I honestly felt as though the very essence and meaning of them was transmitted through her voice.
As for this adorable draconian wife, she was still confused about it, worried about what may happen in the future and the fact that our children would be directly connected with her family’s bloodline. True, she tossed away the name of Pleyades, but the past that soiled her blood was still there. She could not ignore it yet; she could not forget that she had siblings and family in this land. That was why she returned.
If I were to guess, the true reason why my love came back here was to find within herself the reason she needed to become a mother... the ax for the remainder of chains that kept hanging on her heart... I thought, and although my words may have sounded a bit poetic, they were the closest to the truth I could get.
Still, shouting that he was wrong, jumping in to defend her would have done nothing more than to sully the pride and strength Ayuseya held within her heart.
Sometimes, it was best to simply believe that your loved ones had the strength to surpass the challenge ahead of them rather than jump in to save them like a knight in shiny armor. Ayuseya did not need a hero right now, what she needed were people to believe in her and her own strength. She needed supporters who were willing to follow her because of the wisdom she showed. She needed a family who was there for her... She needed... no, she wanted to have all of these people behind her, staring at the enemy in front of her together with her, not be the damsel in distress too weak and frightened to even stand up on her own two feet.
So boring? Yes, it was a boring answer for those who had no idea what those words of hers meant, who were far too blind to see the weight they carried.
“Your Majesty do answer my question. Why do you wish to hunt down my father?” asked Ayuseya.
“Why?” the King raised an eyebrow at her “I guess it would do me no harm to tell you, after all, you’ll die soon. Do not think that I had never killed Godlike Dungeons before. The moment they died they begged me in so many ways... as for their children, well... you’ll probably never know, but I’ll make sure to pay a visit to this Illsyorea place.” he laughed.
I furrowed my brow when I heard him, but the fact that he could kill a Godlike Dungeon wasn’t that impressive. My kind had moments when they were weak and moments when they were strong, if he managed to catch those Dungeons during one of their weak moments, such as after acquiring a body or not long after their birth, killing one of them was something any Supreme could do.
Dankyun wasn’t that much of an impressive chap even with all of his 99 potions and items. What made him terrifying was the fact that he caught me at a moment when I could still be considered as nothing more than an immature whelp.
“That still doesn’t answer my question.” Ayuseya asked again narrowing her eyes at him and ignoring the blunt threat he tossed in her direction.
Well, his threat was worth considering only and only if he could defeat Ayuseya and then me, so right now, the most important thing was to pull as much information as possible from him.
“Because he is part of the draconian progenitors... Basically, an original of our species. I have no idea how it happened, but at one point in our proud history, it was said that all of us were dragons with pure blood, but then some sort of degenerative process began, and we were transformed into this weakling species. We lost our majestic forms and most of our power as well, and for what? To adapt to a barren and harsh world that wouldn’t accept and bow down to us? It was... pathetic.” he spat.
“Yet here we are, their legacy.” Ayuseya said.
“Legacy? WE ARE NOTHING LIKE THEM!” he shouted in anger and at the same time a wave of power was sent smashing into us.
“Kuh!”
“GAH!”
The royal guards that were hit by this overwhelming force were either pressed to the ground in a submission pose or sent flying into the walls and supporting pillars behind us. Their screams of agony and the sound of their shattered Magic Armors echoed within the entire throne room before a graveyard silence fell upon us all. Only the King’s rough breathing could be still heard. For me and Ayuseya, however, this was nothing more than a light breeze. It barely made our hair move a little, not even worth mentioning.
“Out of breath already?” Ayuseya asked with a scoff.
“Foolish woman, you know not when your end is near?” he asked.
“Hmph. You said you were after my father because he was a true dragon. So, what if you found him? Do you think you could defeat him?” she asked.
“Defeat him? Of course, I can! Do you really think I would go after him without having a proper grasp of his abilities?” he laughed “That’s the same reason why I stand here before you. I can see quite clearly how weak and pathetic all of you are when compared to the Great ME!” another wave of pressure flowed towards us, this time a bit more powerful.
The guards who were caught by it started screaming in pain again, but we barely got affected by it, however, what I found incredibly odd was the mass of Magic Energy at the King’s feet. I turned my gaze in that direction and tried to get a better grasp of it by extending my Dungeon Territory to contain the nearby area where it was manifested.
At first, it was only of ten meters around him, then it grew and grew until I found myself looking at an area that encompassed the entirety of the castle. What was strange as that the flow of energy did not come from outside of it, and it was being pulled from my Dungeon Territory either. It had a completely different source.
What’s going on? I wondered, and in the next moment... I felt as though I had a faint understanding of what was happening, where that massive amount of energy was coming from... underneath us.
“Throughout the ages, I was called by many many names... King Brayden, King Dragmator, King Ondragan, King Adramagarius, King Drunaskar, Emperor Dramarar, Emperor Oldevias, Emperor Sigurn... there are so many of them, that I honestly forgot several of them because of how boring those periods of time were for me. After all, I only took up these foolish names for a mere decade or two, but...” he smirked and the power flowing through him intensified.
A jolt of energy rushed through me...
“Someone just died...” I said, and Ayuseya looked at me with big eyes.
The thought of stopping this spell that was activated did cross my mind, but unfortunately, I didn’t know how to do so. There was so much Magic Energy gathered in an unstable form in the draconian, that even the smallest mistake with handling it could lead to a spontaneous detonation. This madman was now quite literally a living bomb.
Even so, I could not just give up, so I began to analyze it in the hope of finding a way to control it or maybe cut the connection with those below us. Unfortunately, this was the first time I ever encountered something like this, and the curse placed on his targets didn’t even hint at this possibility. I was completely taken by surprise...
If I had known this, maybe I could have done something about it… probably, but how would this curse react if the core of the curse was destroyed? Would it have a backlash and immediately kill those it was chained with? It’s possible… it’s something a Dark God would have thought about… it’s eviler that way. I thought while looking at the chaotic flow of energy around the draconian.
“The name I favored most was the true name of the Dragon Emperor... Draconius, the first leader of the Draconian species, son of Drakonar and Derzdera! Half-blooded dragon, the true ruler and only ruler of the draconians! The one above them all, and He who shall rule the skies!” he laughed as he began to absorb all of that Magic Energy that was syphoned from underground at an insane speed.
Another jolt rushed through me, then another one, then another...
“Ayuseya, stop him! He’s killing everyone with the Generational Curse!” I shouted at her, but within my heart I held a great doubt as I did not know if it was even possible to do so.
Not knowing what would happen if all this chaotic Magic Energy was to be suddenly released was also why I did not tell Ayuseya to kill him. She could have done that, but… what if this whole thing just blew up in our face? Could her Magic Armor withstand it? I mean, I’m all for saving an innocent, but not at the cost my wife’s life.
Also, could a physical attack even stop the gathering spell in the first place? If it did nothing, then in the worst-case scenario, I would have to protect Ayuseya with a shield and hope that the detonation of all that Magic Energy didn’t wipe out all of Drakaria… or us.
“Too late!” the Draconius shouted as he spread a pair of dragon wings from his back and then flew up towards the sky, avoiding my wife’s attack. “Hahaha! I honestly should have done this a long long time ago! It’s exhilarating to steal the life of my own flesh and blood! The dark immorality that courses through this energy is amazing! So much power, so much vitality, so much energy! Those foolish flesh bags did their job of becoming the nourishment of their true Emperor!” he laughed like a maniac as the Magic Energy was beginning to stabilize in his body.
“All hail, His Majesty!” all the royal guards here knelt before him and started to praise him as though they would a god.
“Indeed, those loyal to me shall be rewarded, while the cowards who flee shall face my wrath!” he declared and with a sinister smile on his face looked down at Ayuseya.
My wife, however, was barely withholding the anger inside her heart.
This was one part of the curse, which at best, I could have only managed to guess, but which I was not able to understand how to counteract... To forcefully pull the life and Magic Energy from its victims was a tragically unforeseeable result, and one which I feared even I wouldn’t have been able to stop because simply put... I had no idea how right now.
When I spread my Dungeon Territory and was able to see the Magic Energy flow a little better, I became aware of how powerful it was, but I wasn’t able to grasp of HOW exactly all of this was happening. The actual mechanics behind it eluded me, almost as if it was too... too disgusting to look at.
So, this... this is black magic... I thought, but I could not accept it.
There was something inside me that felt utterly disgusted by this, repulsed even, yet at the same time... it couldn’t deny its existence.
“Illsy... how many?” Ayuseya asked.
Unfortunately, even if I were to have been given enough time to study the mechanics behind the peculiarities of this curse, by now, it was already too late.
“All of them...” I replied and closed my eyes.
It… it just happened too fast even for me to do something about it…