[V12C44] Failure of a God

Cyril was being chased by the blizzards of Fraulicel, the Spirit King of Ice.

He had Thule descend to the surface of the sea, gliding just above the water. They happened to pass by a water dragon, which was caught by the blizzard and left frozen in its wake.

The Spirit King’s power was terrifying. He was only alive because of Sophocles’s protection. Without it, he would have been caught just as fast as that pitiful dragon.

Cyril could not help but shiver at the thought.

“Maybe we can substitute the offering with water dragons,” Pikeh mumbled.

“Will Fraulicel be satisfied with that?” Cyril asked.

In contrast to Cyril’s anxious tone, Pikeh replied in her usual monotone.

“Dunno.”

“…”

“If it comes down to it, we should be fine after closing the gate. Probably.”

Her lack of thought was simply awful.

Think ahead when employing such a powerful technique! Don’t use other people as offerings! …Is what Cyril wanted to yell, but he was interrupted by a fierce roar from up ahead.

——ROOOORGH!!

Cyril turned to see black flames approaching them from the other side of the Fraulicel’s blizzard. Theodore was after them too.

“Thule!”

Thule exhaled his frost breath to nullify the black flames. Then, both dragons were enclosed by the blizzard, forming a layer of frost on their bodies.

Theodore almost fell out of the sky, but he barely managed to keep himself aloft with the shadow wings working in overtime.

Thule, on the other hand, was resistant to the cold. The blizzard did not slow him down one bit.

(The blizzard is working in our favor. We just need to continue with caution… But we can’t run too far away, because we have to be the decoy.)

Cyril was being chased by a legendary black dragon and the Spirit King of Ice. His job was to stall for time by pitting the two against each other.

A single hit from the black flames would spell the end for him. Sophocles’s barrier would collapse, and Cyril would be frozen solid. The slightest misjudgment was a one-way road to death.

Cyril held Gluttonous Zoe to his chest and firmly grasped the reins.

The man Cyril respected most had entrusted him with Sophocles. In that case, he needed to meet those expectations with everything he had.

“I’m counting on your barrier, Sophocles!”

“Leave it to me, my contractor!”

＊　＊　＊

Isaac watched from the skies as the white dragon flew circles around Theodore, diving in and out of Fraulicel’s blizzard.

(As usual, Cyril went beyond my expectations.)

Isaac knew that Theodore was after Gluttonous Zoe, which was in Cyril’s hands.

Thus, Isaac assigned Cyril the role of decoy. He was the most fit for this role because his white dragon could nullify black flames, and he had the defensive barriers of Sophocles.

This way, Isaac could prepare for their counterattack while Cyril was stalling for time… or at least, that was the plan.

Who could have imagined that Cyril would summon the Spirit King of Ice and drive Theodore into a corner, along with getting chased himself? He truly went above and beyond expectations.

Either way, when you see someone with such desperation and determination, you can’t help but be moved.

This was something that Isaac could learn from Cyril.

(Guess I really can’t afford to lose.)

Isaac shifted his gaze toward Theodore.

Exposure to Fraulicel’s blizzard had left the black dragon visibly weakened, with heavily reduced speed. Now was the time to strike.

“Let’s begin, Master.”

“Right.”

Monica clutched her staff and the gems from her pocket, as Isaac began chanting.

During Isaac’s incantation, a memory flashed through a corner of his mind.

——Why did he become interested in magic in the first place?

Isaac was interested in magic as a field of study, and he wanted to contract with a greater spirit, among other reasons. However, his underlying motivation was essentially the same as Silas.

His family was killed by dragons right before his eyes. He was powerless to save them.

——And so, he desired the power to oppose fate, and protect those important to him.

That’s why he was so captivated by the Silent Witch’s feat of single-handedly annihilating a flock of wyverns.

Even now, Isaac did not have the power to defeat Theodore. But what he could do was support his master.

“Deploying spell.”

Isaac went on to perform another incantation. Then, he clasped Monica’s hand with his faintly glowing hand.

“Activating the sharing spell.”

Isaac Walker was glad that he learned magic.

(…Because magic allows me to help you.)

Isaac held the reins with his other hand, waiting for the right moment.

The moment when the black dragon and the white dragon intersected in the sky.

“Now!” Isaac shouted.

Thule immediately retreated, and simultaneously, Nero inhaled and unleashed his breath.

A massive torrent of black flames, darker than any shadow, rained down on Theodore.

Theodore quickly spread his shadow wings to protect himself. However, this resulted in a significant drop in altitude, because he had been using them to sustain his flight.

Ultimately, he chose to escape into the water instead.

Since he discarded the burning wings, Nero’s flames only managed to scorch the surface of the water before dissipating.

The murky sea contaminated with dark mana concealed Theodore from view.

＊　＊　＊

Theodore was cold and scared.

After being chased by the white dragon, a blizzard, and black flames, he barely managed to escape by diving into the sea.

This water was far warmer than the snowstorm above him.

(Oh, I should have escaped into the sea earlier.)

Being underwater made him a bit slower, but he could easily hide himself in the murky waters, and the black flames wouldn’t reach him here.

Most importantly, the sea was brimming with mana. It healed Theodore’s wounds and granted him strength.

On a whim, Theodore tried spreading his shadows as far as possible. He had been using them to form shadow wings, but now, he attempted a much larger size. And as a result, he created the shadow of a dragon as big as himself.

(Oh, it worked.)

These shadow dragons lacked the mass of a real one, but he could manipulate them to some extent. Theodore decided to create four of the shadow dragons in the same manner.

His enemies would surely panic when they see five copies of him jumping out of the water.

(I’ll use that opening to take back Zoe… But my claws are sharp, so I have to be careful not to scratch it.)

Theodore would reach out to the silver-haired man and gently seize the box from him… But he did not consider the possibility of his claws tearing the human apart.

The black dragon dove deep into the dark sea. Then, he ascended just as swiftly, accompanied by the four shadow dragons.

＊　＊　＊

Monica closed her eyes and observed the stars projected on the back of her eyelids.

These were the results of the underwater reconnaissance magic deployed by Isaac, which he was forwarding to Monica via the sharing spell.

There was one large white star and four black stars approaching them. The white star was the mass of mana corresponding to a dragon. The remaining four were probably fakes made from shadows.

Monica’s talented disciple had integrated the Dragon Slayer Mage’s dragon detection formula into his own magic to improve the accuracy even further. Now, it would only respond to real dragons.

The sea of Sazandol was murky black, and it was normally impossible to hit a target you can’t see. However, Isaac’s underwater reconnaissance magic allowed them to pinpoint the exact location of their target.

In addition, it was not possible to perform quick evasive maneuvers underwater.

Isaac had calculated that far ahead, and tricked Theodore into hiding underwater. He had set the stage for her.

(My disciple is amazing.)

Back when Monica challenged the Black Dragon of Worgan, she thought humans were scarier than dragons. She didn’t want anyone’s help.

Several years later, Monica worked together with Isaac to defeat the water dragons. This was the first time she felt so reassured to have someone fighting at her side.

She still felt that way now. It was very reassuring to have allies.

“I’m glad you’re here with me… Ike.”

Isaac’s hand flinched slightly. He seemed to want to say something, but ultimately fell silent without saying a word.

“I’m proud to have you as my disciple,” Monica continued with a sense of conviction.

She had only made it here because of the many people supporting her.

And Isaac had arranged the final stage for her.

——How could she possibly miss?

Nero gave a short roar, as if to say, “Finish it.”

Monica nodded and began her spell.

She performed countless calculations to knit her mana into the beautiful magical formulas.

The staff in her right hand and the three gems in her left took on a white glow.

(…Deploying attribute conversion spells. Attribute conversion complete.)

Monica thought about the enemy who was about to fall at her hands.

Theodore, or rather, the black dragon who devoured Theodore Maxwell and transformed into a human.

Monica had spoken to him in his human form. He was someone with whom she could have a normal conversation, just like with Nero, Thule, or the Red Dragon of Dalsmore.

But their paths had diverged.

(…Deploying fixation spell. Fixation complete.)

Monica raised her staff. A magic circle appeared in the sky, with a single arrow of light at the center. The pure white arrow was in stark contrast to Theodore’s black breath.

The summoning gate was still open, and Theodore was the one sustaining it. Defeating him was the only way to protect Sazandol.

Monica Everett, as one of the Seven Sages, was about to slay the black dragon Theodore for the convenience of humanity. Thereby cutting off the path of coexistence.

It was with that determination that the Silent Witch broke her silence.

“Fly true, Star Arrow!”

Monica aligned her aim with the star projected on her eyelids, then released the arrow of light.

Like a shooting star tearing through the night sky, the Star Arrow left a tail of white light in its wake. Then, it pierced through the forehead of Theodore right before he emerged from the jet-black sea.

Shadows gushed out of his forehead rather than blood, spilling over his scales and dyeing the sea an even darker black.

Dark magic was the power to control death. Theodore was using it to forcefully glue his collapsing body back together. In a sense, he was moving around in a state of pseudo-death.

However, the power to maintain this state of pseudo-death was shattered by the light-aspected Star Arrow.

——If someone’s death is merely stalled using dark magic, are they truly alive, or are they already dead?

Monica did not have an answer to that question.

Only one thing was certain. The Star Arrow bestowed life upon the twisted monster that Theodore had become, thereby granting him a proper death.

The right side of Theodore’s head crumbled apart, dissolving into the water.

The four shadow dragons floated to the surface for a brief moment, before sinking under the waves, never to be seen again. The body of Theodore himself followed suit.

Nero slowly flapped his wings, landing in the harbor.

Isaac carried Monica down, then Nero enveloped himself in a black mist, which compressed to the familiar form of a black cat.

Nero hopped onto Monica’s shoulder and began muttering to himself.

“Dumbass.”

He was staring at Theodore’s body, a majority of which had already dissipated. Only a small portion of the disfigured head and wings peeked out of the murky waters.

“All you had to do was call yourself a god. You really could have become one.”

The gate that had summoned the Spirit King of Ice vanished without a trace, leaving only the diamond dust glittering in the sunlight.

Beneath those shimmering lights, the black dragon let out one final, feeble roar.

——Rargh…

This dragon had spread so much fear and despair throughout Ridill, yet his death throes were remarkably quiet.

Eventually, the rest of Theodore’s body sank into the sea, disappearing from sight.

At the same time, the summoning gate for the Spirit King of Darkness, which was on the ground of the harbor, slowly closed its doors without a sound.

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