Ch.136Final Battle (5)

Evan forcibly pulled up the corners of his blood-soaked mouth.

His lungs ached with each breath, but he found this pain strangely satisfying.

The thought “Did I kill him?” crossed his mind, but with that last strike, Evan had stepped onto the path beyond Master.

He must have killed him. Since he had resolved to do so, even if the dragon wasn’t dead yet, he would be soon.

Mabet.

“Ugh… Evan, Fried…”

Mabet wasn’t dead yet. His head remained relatively intact while he clung to what was left of his body, struggling to catch what little breath he could. His Dragon Heart was completely crushed.

His body was essentially split in half, and if not for the extraordinary vitality unique to dragons, he would have already died.

His purple eyes had already lost their light. Mabet turned his gaze toward Evan, who was staring at him blankly.

He knew he would die soon, but that knight would ultimately survive. It was devastating.

Everything he had prepared for a thousand years had crumbled like this. Until the end, Mabet could not acknowledge humans.

Why try so hard to save a species that hated each other, envied others’ success, and tried to tear down anyone who prospered?

Crack—his few remaining teeth ground together before breaking and scattering on the ground.

Tasting the metallic blood seeping from his gums, Mabet slowly opened his mouth to address Evan.

“…You must be pleased, having killed me and protected everything.”

“I wonder.”

Evan quietly looked around. While he was happy about winning,

he questioned whether it was appropriate to express that joy outwardly. Too many had died.

An elf’s corpse caught Evan’s eye. The elven elder who had been fighting alongside him until just moments ago—

Anis, now lying on the ground missing an arm. Seeing this, Evan gave a bitter smile.

“Too many have died.”

Trolls, dwarves, knights, and elves. It was somewhat comforting that he recognized few of the faces,

but still, far too many had perished. Nearly half of their initial force of 10,000 had been lost,

making it difficult to fully rejoice in this victory. His blood-soaked hands trembled.

After wiping his face with those hands, Evan sighed deeply and looked at Mabet.

He needed to kill him… but his legs wouldn’t support him just yet.

Barely preventing himself from collapsing by leaning on his sword, Evan moved his lips to address Mabet.

“It’s my fault.”

Mabet’s eyes widened at those words. He had been the one who killed those creatures below.

So why was this human blaming himself? He tried to understand but ultimately couldn’t comprehend Evan.

This should have been a moment for celebration.

A thousand-year plan had finally come to fruition, yet a single knight had stopped it all.

He could have praised himself without awkwardness. Instead, Mabet found himself acknowledging Evan Fried.

He had accomplished what even Alarr and Fried couldn’t.

He had given Mabet not just imprisonment, but eternal rest through death. Noticing Mabet’s gaze, Evan twisted the corner of his mouth.

“If I had killed you sooner, not so many would have died.”

“…They’re all inferior humans compared to you. Creatures without any value—why would someone like you pity them?”

“I don’t pity those people. What right do I have to pity them?”

Evan sat on a slightly protruding rock and slowly looked up at the sky.

The red moon was gone. The lunar eclipse had ended, and the star-filled sky looked exactly like any normal night sky.

“I just… regret it.”

Evan knew he couldn’t save everyone.

He wasn’t an omnipotent god. If he had been, he would have destroyed Terazein before Mabet even appeared.

He could only lament the reality before him. Imagining how Airin would feel if he were among those fallen bodies.

Among those corpses, some had families, loved ones.

Some might have had parents to care for, or perhaps were raising young children alone.

But for those who had closed their eyes forever, there was no tomorrow.

For those cold bodies, the heart would never beat again.

“You wouldn’t understand. I don’t expect you to.”

That’s who Mabet was. A being who considered everything besides himself worthless.

He probably would have discarded the Extinction organization like an old shoe once his goals were achieved.

That’s why Evan felt no sympathy for Mabet’s death. When Biltain died,

when Adel died, Evan had felt some sympathy for their deaths.

He had heard directly from them what thoughts had driven their actions.

Those eyes that didn’t see people as people—Mabet’s eyes, though dimmed but still showing traces of purple, remained unpleasant to look at.

“I… will die soon. You’ll become the empire’s hero. Everyone will praise you, and some might even want to make you emperor. You must be happy, aren’t you?”

“That’s a bit…”

Such a life wouldn’t be bad, he thought. Being praised by everyone,

hailed as a hero wherever he went in the empire.

But hadn’t he already experienced such popularity as a pianist?

And most people who sought popularity did so to find a partner.

He would have more men and women courting him—there was a reason heroes were known for their romantic conquests.

“I’m not interested in that.”

Evan’s dream was simply to go somewhere quiet to fish, and occasionally play with his children.

A hill with a large tree, building a house next to it, sitting on a bench in the garden in front, blending into the scenery.

Wouldn’t that be the truly enjoyable life?

And as for women, well, he’d received plenty of attention before. Now he had Airin.

He had no interest in meeting or being interested in anyone else.

“How peculiar.”

“Not as much as you.”

Mabet had tried to kill everyone simply because he found them worthless, because he despised how humans hated each other…

Evan thought himself more normal by comparison. Honor—he’d experienced plenty of that already.

He had no greed left, only a desire to rest quietly.

“Your thoughts remain unchanged?”

“They won’t change. I acknowledge you, but humans remain like insects to me. Elves, dwarves, trolls, gnomes—they’re all equally worthless beings.”

“Well… it’s somewhat better that you think that way.”

Killing someone was never a good experience.

But if it was someone who deserved to die, perhaps it was slightly better.

Mabet watched Evan slowly rise to his feet, then quietly spoke.

“Scarlet Terazein is still alive. She’s still struggling, interfering with my mind.”

“…Can she be saved?”

“After I die, my soul will slowly leave. If you can hold it with mana, you might be able to revive Scarlet’s body.”

Mana… Evan frowned slightly. He had almost no mana left to use.

He barely had enough to move his body, let alone enough to regenerate Scarlet’s body.

As he pondered this, Evan felt someone place a hand on his shoulder and turned his head.

“…Can Scarlet really be saved?”

Kaisel asked, his face somewhat haggard. Mabet stared at Kaisel’s suddenly appeared face, then nodded in affirmation.

“She can certainly be saved. Just hold onto the body after my soul disperses. Will you do it?”

“Would that be alright?”

“Of course, what more could happen than death? I’ll do it. Even if you wanted to do it, Evan… I’ll do it.”

“I had no intention of doing it anyway. I don’t have enough mana.”

Kaisel smiled with satisfaction at that answer, then looked at Evan and spoke.

Looking at Evan’s blood-soaked body, he gently wiped his face and patted Evan’s shoulder.

“It’s all thanks to you.”

“You’re too kind. I just did what needed to be done.”

“Very few people actually do what needs to be done. Well, we’ll discuss everything else later at the imperial palace. Now… it’s time to end this.”

Evan quietly nodded at those words. It was time to kill Mabet.

He needed to write the conclusion to the beginning of all these events. Ascalon’s blade glowed white.

Infused with the little mana Evan had raised, it emanated intense hostility directed solely at Mabet.

Crack—

After cutting away the last scales remaining on Mabet’s neck, Evan looked at him.

Though his cloudy eyes showed no focus, Evan sensed they were fixed on him.

Holding the blade to Mabet’s neck for a moment, Evan spoke.

“If you have any last words, feel free to speak.”

“…Last words, is it.”

Mabet quietly closed his eyes. Feeling the chilling presence of death at his neck,

he slowly reflected on his life. The hatred for other races he had harbored since birth,

his battle against the army created by Alarr and Fried, being sealed for a thousand years before reappearing in this era.

He had thought he would end and deny everything, but now he lay pathetically on the ground, destined to die at the hands of a human he had so despised.

Regret? Mabet had always thought he would never regret anything.

He thought he would face death calmly when his time came.

But now, what came to mind was a tiny egg he had once possessed. Mabet smiled bitterly and moved his lips.

“It was a close call. If I had been revived a little earlier, you would be the one lying here. That’s all I find regrettable.”

“…That’s just like you.”

He didn’t want to become ugly. Only he should know the ugly thoughts he harbored,

so Mabet grinned and widened his eyes. What filled the sky was the darkness he had grown up with all his life.

What shone between was the brilliant starlight he had tried to deny his entire life.

What that beautiful sight meant to him was clearly that he had failed in what he had pursued throughout his life.

The tiny egg he had once laid, the egg he had swallowed out of his own greed.

Crack—!

In that darkness of death piercing his neck, Mabet regretted for the first time in his life.

Perhaps he had been the truly worthless one all along. But nothing would change now,

so Mabet quietly closed his eyes. It was the moment when the ancient dragon born from darkness returned to darkness once more.

#

“……”

Mabet was dead. After confirming that Kaisel was sitting before Mabet drawing up mana, Evan turned away without hesitation.

Everything was over, but there was still one more person he needed to see.

This faint mana calling to him, awkward yet more familiar than any other—Evan walked toward it.

“Evan, where are you going?”

Stopping briefly at Count Kasim’s question, Evan smiled and replied.

“I have someone I need to meet. It won’t take long.”

“What on earth—no, never mind. Return before sunrise, we need to depart for the capital then.”

“Yes, I will.”

The wind blew. Black powder scattered from the lava that had flowed from the broken ground and solidified.

Occasionally, leaves crumbled and flew from the burned trees and collapsed forest,

but Evan’s gaze was fixed on something much farther away. One side of the Terazein domain he had attacked. A person he had met there.

The completely collapsed castle could no longer be described as having an “inside.”

Among the scattered furniture, Evan spotted a man sitting on one of the sofas.

He stopped in his tracks and quietly stared at the man’s back.

That back—broad yet shabby, familiar yet awkward, welcome yet hateful—

pointed to only one person in his life.

“You’ve come, Evan.”

The man turned around, his eyes emitting the exact same green light as Evan’s.

Suppressing a sudden surge of emotion, Evan quietly spoke.

“It’s been a long time.”

Using a form of address he hadn’t used in so very long.

“…Father.”