I thought it was just coincidence.
Maybe, truly, God took pity on me and gave me the opportunity to set everything right.
I lived believing this, and all my choices were based on that thought, weren’t they?
If you ask me if it feels pointless, what should I even say?
Did you expect it anyway? Should I say it’s not pointless, that in the end, all I have to do is defeat the Dead Dragon?
For 300 years, I blamed myself.
I thought it was because I did something wrong or I wasn’t enough that I couldn’t succeed.
“…But, that was intentional.”
The Minotaurus, meeting my gaze, nodded slightly.
Adrian and Berod weren’t here.
The story I heard inside the barrier created by magic was about the connection between the Dead Dragon and the Moon Stone.
The power of the Dead Dragon is, as expected, the power to manipulate time.
It was stored in the Moon Stone, and as the Minotaurus said, it left it on the surface to plan for its own resurrection.
“Why me, of all people?”
“I think you were judged to be the best life form for collapse. The exact reason only the individual knows, but usually, if you die 100 times, you’ll break. Many can break even after dying just once. It’s strange that you’re still intact after all this time.”
I’ve been broken many times.
There were times I lived like a madman, losing my mind, and had I not become numb to death late, that would have just been the end.
It was a little confusing. And there were questions that remained unanswered.
If so, where is the Dead Dragon now, and why doesn’t it change that Kaitel uses Residual Thoughts?
“Are the Dead Dragon’s Residual Thoughts different from the Dead Dragon’s mind?”
A human wouldn’t allow their own mind to be mishandled so easily.
If it was trying to resurrect through my body, it would have been better to naturally make contact with me.
Isn’t that also the reason why the Moon Stone resonates with the relic?
I thought it was designed so I could naturally find the Residual Thoughts if I got closer, but when I actually touched the relic containing the Residual Thoughts, nothing really happened.
There were many unsettling things.
Starting from why the Dead Dragon hadn’t contacted me all this time, to why Kaitel was the one handling the Dead Dragon’s Residual Thoughts.
After pondering my question about Residual Thoughts for a moment, the Minotaurus began to explain about the Dead Dragon.
“Rather than explaining those things one by one, it’s better to tell you how the Dead Dragon was sealed. Knowing this will probably clear up some of your questions.”
Listening to the ongoing story took quite a long time.
How the existence of the Dead Dragon came to be, and how such a Dead Dragon was sealed away, hiding within twisted time.
Why it created the Moon Stone, and how it made the Moon Stone for its own resurrection.
About the things that have been created.
While listening to the story, something struck me. Unraveling questions and a sense of unease blossoming again.
The emotions I felt when I heard all the stories were not confusion.
I simply felt that this situation was strange.
It was certainly clear that everything was going astray somewhere, according to what the Dead Dragon wanted and what I had experienced.
When it came to whether everything was flowing according to the Dead Dragon’s intentions, it was definitely wrong.
What could be wrong? What is the problem that makes all of this feel awkward?
“Is there anything else you’re curious about?”
“No, that’s enough.”
“Then, it seems there’s no need for me to gain your trust anymore. It’s certainly conveyed that I have no intention of doing anything here.”
As I nodded slightly, the Minotaur sneered and glanced at its empty arm before looking at me.
In its eyes, there was nothing like hate or resentment, only curiosity.
I couldn’t read what this monster was thinking while looking at me.
It might have been more comforting if it had rushed in anger instead.
How absurd it was that a Demon, who was obsessed with battle, was calmly reading the situation.
Moreover, I hadn’t even expected it to share information regarding the Dead Dragon with me,
So talking with the Minotaur now felt a bit awkward.
I couldn’t understand why it was being favorable towards me.
It wouldn’t be strange for it to be hostile, in fact, since it was called a Demon, it would be fair to say it was definitely our enemy.
“Well then, I suppose I must be going. If we meet again, I hope to be able to cut off your remaining arm as well.”
Of course, being hostile towards it in this situation would be a foolish act, so I didn’t make the mistake of drawing my sword again.
The one recovering faster is the Minotaur.
Right now, despite pretending to be composed, it wouldn’t be strange for me to collapse at any moment.
Had it not been for Adrian’s help, fainting would have been within reason.
Let’s think a little…smartly. The immediate problem was not to defeat this Dead Dragon.
I knew for sure that the masked ones were scheming to resurrect the Dead Dragon,
And I was now aware that there were three more Demons trying to resurrect it.
It was also a discovery that Kaitel’s objective was likely to summon the Dead Dragon using Residual Thoughts.
The only piece of this puzzle that hadn’t clicked yet was
how the Dead Dragon didn’t come directly to find me and why it hadn’t shown itself until now in this twisted time.
If it had the power to create Moon Stones, it could have easily escaped, so why did it search for a human to reclaim its body using a relic?
The solution to this thought seemed to come down to just one.
The Minotaur’s body soon turned to black smoke and vanished.
As I watched the magical veil being lifted, what I did was not to return to Adrian.
What I was looking at wasn’t meant for Adrian.
I took out the artifact tucked in my arms and let magic power flow.
Although it was only connected to Miragen, the communication network that had only worked in one direction could now be used by one more person.
“Arwen.”
It seemed that I needed to go to the North right away.
#
Robert’s movements quickened right after the battle with the Minotaurus ended.
Adrian, who was anxiously watching everything, was worried, but Robert wasn’t acting impatiently like before.
What Arwen had researched about the ruins, and the few facts known about the Dead Dragon.
Robert conveyed all the truths told by the Minotaurus to Arwen, but he realized something during that process.
If there was a difference in the truths revealed to me by each other, it was the goal that the Dead Dragon desired.
“It seemed like the Dead Dragon was looking for someone to kill it. If everything I’ve researched aligns with the Dead Dragon’s will.”
“…But usually, they wouldn’t try to break the seal while hoping for someone to kill them.”
If anything, they would choose to comply with the seal and sleep forever; would one really go through the trouble of breaking the seal to come out?
It was absurd. No matter how much he thought about it, it was incompatible with logic, and he couldn’t explain why Kaitel and the Dead Dragon were intertwined in this reincarnation.
If it wanted to be killed, it should have come to me and not Kaitel.
If this reincarnation was a process to elevate itself to the current state, then all those countless reincarnations were nothing but a waste of time.
He went to the Moon Tower to search for materials.
Leaving the North, he traveled to the Imperial Family, and with Arwen’s help, he explored the library in the basement of the Imperial Family.
He scanned through all the materials related to the Dead Dragon and looked for any ruins or relics he hadn’t found yet, but in the end, he found nothing. However, he realized something from the fact that there was nothing.
Among the records left by the Imperial Family, there were almost no records hostile to the Dead Dragon.
If the Order thought of the Dead Dragon as a mortal enemy, then the records of the Imperial Family concerning the Dead Dragon didn’t exist at all.
If the Empire that worshipped the Moon God had only left bad records about the Dead Dragon, it wouldn’t be strange; maybe they thought of the very name Dead Dragon as a shame.
“That can’t be it.”
This wasn’t erased for such a reason. There must be something they felt guilty about, making moves to erase everything from history.
If he had looked a bit more closely when he infiltrated the library before, would he have noticed this unease?
No, that couldn’t be; if he hadn’t heard about the Dead Dragon from the Minotaurus, he wouldn’t have felt this unease.
Robert swallowed hard and quietly stared at the book in his hand.
I stared quietly at the captured book.
I could see the reason. The Imperial Family’s desperate attempts to erase the name of the Dead Dragon.
Glimpsing at Arwen beside me, she seemed to realize something, staring blankly at the void with a pale, horrified expression.
“I really hate the word ‘if.’ I hope you keep that in mind, but if what I just thought is true…”
“I think we’re on the same page. Do you have any inkling about it?”
“The Dead Dragon was definitely sealed away. And it likely hid in the twisted flow of time, and perhaps the Moon God also knew that the Dead Dragon had hidden away. There’s a Relic that creates repeating reincarnations; wouldn’t they be unable to watch it without knowing anything?”
My own question was similar. While the Moon Stone was being created, what was the Moon God doing during the repeated reincarnation of a person?
The Goddess, who surely spent a lot of power sealing the Dead Dragon, was likely meant to take a rest.
But I believe she didn’t just sit idly without doing anything.
The library began to slowly change due to Arwen’s magic.
The cracks in the breaking space twisted and misaligned slightly, revealing a transformed landscape pointing to one of the Dead Dragon’s ruins in the South.
Only those who have endured the eons can cut the breath of the Dragon.
As the letters with such meaning became clear, Arwen cautiously infused her magic into them.
“…Maybe.”
If it was written with the power of the Dead Dragon, it should emit a red light.
However, the characters infused with Arwen’s magic sparkled with a blue light.
The letters that respond to the power of the Moon, and those that respond only to the power of the Moon, could only mean one thing.
“Some of these characters were likely written directly by the Moon God, not by the followers of the Dead Dragon.”
With those words, the thoughts that arose were enough to bring a smirk to my face.
The characters written by the Moon God, and the bizarre residual thoughts of the Dead Dragon intertwined with Kaitel.
And the records of the Dead Dragon within the erased Imperial Family.
Lastly, the name of the capital, Eclipse, was included.
“…Eclipse means a solar eclipse, but…”
A solar eclipse refers to the moment when the Moon obscures the Sun.
It is a name created for the moment when the empire, worshiping the Moon, shines brilliantly, sealing the Dead Dragon that symbolizes the Sun.
However, it did not mean only a solar eclipse.
“Sometimes, it can also mean a lunar eclipse.”
When this star we live on obscures the Moon,
that was a lunar eclipse, so perhaps this Imperial Family…
might have been related to the Dead Dragon from the beginning.
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