The fear I am feeling—immense and suffocating—it is something I had only known in the presence of three people before.
But the man seated before me now… I understood instantly why he was different.
He was the Golden Dragon. His presence alone was enough to make Lars's soul tremble.
The air grew heavy—so much so he could barely breathe. Sweat poured from him, not from heat, but from his pride being crushed.
A pride forged over years of service as a knight… shattered first by a demon, and now—by an oni, by a dragon.
The man in the robe beside him didn't dare utter another word. Not until the oni himself spoke, his voice like divine judgment echoing in silence.
"Fafner sent you? For help?"
He laughed. Softly. Coldly.
"So the Dragon Kingdom finally needs our kind?"
"Very well… I will act—for the sake of the blood that runs thick in our veins."
Lars was already drenched in sweat, his thoughts spiralling.
How could someone speak so casually about the king of the kingdom?
He felt faint—his vision swaying. And when the oni took a single step forward, something snapped inside him.
Lars collapsed.
The oni turned to the man in robes.
"Take him. Care for him. He's a messenger, not an enemy."
Then, without another word—
the master vanished.
Gone, as if he had never been there at all.
The Holit City—why was it so important?
Why did it seem free while being bound in the chains of the deity?
No one truly knew whether Holit City was a part of the Dragon Kingdom or something else entirely.Some believed it existed in a dimension folded between the crust of the Dragon Kingdom itself—a ghost city, forgotten by time and hidden by gods.
Oh? I never imagined it."
The Oni's voice was cold. Mocking. "That Fafner—the mighty King—would need my help.
"And in the blink of an eye, he stood before the gates of Fafner's domain.
Just like that—no flash, no ripple. He was there.
Crown Prince Luck and Michael staggered back, their faces pale as if they'd seen a ghost.
But it was worse than a ghost.
Shelly and Ember, still bound in divine chains, trembled. They couldn't move a single limb. But their hearts—Their hearts were screaming in fear.
Yet the Oni's expression was casual. "Hello, Fafner."Fafner sighed deeply.
"So… you no longer respect your king, is that it?"
The Oni squinted at him. His gaze wasn't angry—just disappointed.
"I see no king. Only a man… too careless to wear a crown.
Fafner's face twitched.
"So? Can you do something about these chains? Or will you betray your own kin?" The Oni stepped forward, touching the chains lightly. "I can suppress them—for now. But you already know, don't you, my dear king?"
"You know what's coming."
Fafner slowly nodded. "I know everything."
So I assume You are ready to take responsibility.
Very well.
With a single touch, the divine chains disintegrated into mist.
The Oni added, "You'd better move. Time is collapsing."
Then— he vanished.
Before him stood the Deity—the being unbound by fate, standing in the heart of a doomed world. And there… Alex lay fainted, his body curled in a pool of dream and blood, lost in a silent stupor.
The Deity stood just inches away from the Oni.
And in that moment—
the presence of the Oni, vast and ancient as it was—
began to crumble.
It was being devoured.
The Deity's mere existence consumed him, consumed everything.
Behind the Deity, ravens lay half—silent, motionless, as if they had been judged and erased from existence.
Then the Deity spoke—
a simple question.
A whisper that slashed divinity of oni. "Who did this… to her?
"The Oni flinched.His lips parted, but no sound came.
His body remained still—but inside, terror churned.
Because he knew.
He knew this being.
He knew the Deity's power.
The one whose roar could reduce an Oni a Golden Dragon to ash.
The one called the Devourer the father of dragons The dragon god.
And so, without a word,
the Oni knelt.
At his side, ravens halves twitched—its broken voice rasping:
"Haa… haa…
You're free, my dear…
You're free… haa…"
The Deity stepped closer.
"Who… did this… to her?"
The Oni trembled, but still—he couldn't speak.
He couldn't even breathe.
The silence dragged—heavy, a superior divine.
once more—
the Deity asked, his voice laced with something terrible:
"Who hurt her?"
"If he is miserable…
I might forgive him."