"Again and again... if those bastards who call themselves Gods wanted me dead, they could at least put some effort into it."
The Shadow Snakes were a nightmare made of shifting ink and fangs. They possessed a rare gift: Shadow Shaping. As I watched them glide through the obsidian rocks, a hunger more primal than starvation gnawed at me. If I could absorb that magic, my own shadows would evolve beyond recognition. I could become something more... perhaps the next Heir of Shadows. I just had to survive long enough to trick the 'Royal Family of Arseholes' and their idiot guards into believing I possessed Absorption Magic. I truly love how my Lügen-Magie turns their ignorance into my power.
But the battlefield was a cruel reminder of the gap between us. While I struggled against a single serpent, channeling every ounce of my Kyrokinesis and Shadow Magic just to stay alive, Prince Folia was a force of nature. With a bored expression, he used Spirit Form Manipulation to crush ten snakes at once, their bodies popping like overripe fruit under his mental grip. Yulea was even worse—she didn't even lift a finger. Thirty snakes disintegrated just from the sheer weight of her passive magical pressure. Their ten-man bodyguard unit worked in perfect synchronicity, treating the monsters like training dummies.
I hated it. I hated them. And to make matters worse, Ilea had taken to the sky. Apparently, even a dragon hatchling has things it fears, and for Ilea, it was these slithering abominations.
"Dammit!" I hissed as a snake lunged from a blind spot.
Its fangs sank deep into my forearm. I felt the cold venom rush into my bloodstream like liquid lead. For a second, a terrifying thought crossed my mind: This is it. This is how the Human Demon dies. But as I tore the snake away, one of its obsidian fangs snapped off, remaining lodged in my flesh. My eyes widened. If I played this right, I could use that tooth as a conduit. I could drink its magic before the venom drank my life.
Combining the Sword of Qelo with a desperate surge of Shadow-Frost, I obliterated the serpent. But the world was already tilting. My vision blurred into a swirl of grey and violet. The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was Yulea. She was looking down at me with a gaze that was both disappointed and mocking—as if I were a bug that had finally been stepped on, a peasant who dared to stand on a level he could never reach.
Gods, I hate that woman.
I woke up three days later.
Those snakes weren't just poisonous; they were lethal. Folia sat by the fire, watching me with a look of mild interest. "You're a tough bastard, aren't you?" he noted. "Most men would be skeletons by now, but you woke up earlier than expected."
Yulea, of course, couldn't help but chime in from the shadows. "A real warrior wouldn't have fainted at all," she sneered.
Arsehole, I thought, but I didn't have the energy to say it. My body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder.
"Listen, Celosia," Folia's tone turned serious. "You've been out for three days. We've been scouting the island. I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
"The bad," I rasped, my throat feeling like I'd swallowed glass.
"Ilea was taken. The Night Shadows—the apex predators of this island—snatched her while you were unconscious. They could be anywhere in the interior."
I felt a surge of rage so violent it made my magic flare. The Shadow-Frost in my blood hissed, responding to my hatred. Ilea was the only thing in this world I actually cared about.
"The good news?" I growled.
"We know she's alive. We've narrowed down their nesting grounds to three specific territories."
"If you want to save your little pet, you'll have to go alone," Yulea interrupted, her voice dripping with arrogance. "We can't afford to waste imperial resources on a lizard."
"Enough, Yulea," Folia said, his voice dropping an octave.
"But brother, this idiot isn't worth—"
"I said enough!"
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. Folia, whom I had judged to be significantly weaker than his sister, released a pulse of power that made Yulea's previous displays look like a child's tantrum. He wasn't just stronger than her—he was a hundred times more powerful. In that moment, he felt like a god standing among insects. I realized with a jolt of terror that he was exactly 349 times stronger than me. He was a monster cloaked in human skin.
"Do you remember what they said about you, Yulea?" Folia's voice was a low, dangerous rumble. "Do you remember what Father said? In their eyes, you weren't even worth a place in the side branches of our family. Mother, our brother, and I were the only ones who stood by you. Don't forget where you came from."
Yulea, the woman who looked down on the entire world, bowed her head. Her arrogance vanished instantly, replaced by a soft, wounded whisper. "I'm sorry, brother."
Folia turned back to me, his aura settling into something manageable. "Come on, Celosia. Let's go save your dragon."
As we trekked through the suffocating jungle toward the first nesting ground, the silence was heavy. I couldn't wrap my head around it. Why was he helping me?
"Why?" I finally asked. "Why risk yourself for me?"
Folia didn't look back. "You know the stories of royal succession, don't you? Children murdering each other for titles, lands, and crowns. My sister... Yulea isn't capable of surviving that meat grinder. My other siblings are monsters—each at least half as strong as I am, and one who stands above us all. I hate him because I can't read him. I don't know what he wants."
He paused, hacking through a vine with a golden blade. "Your dragon is everything to you. You'd sacrifice your life for her. And honestly? You're like a cockroach. You just won't die. The 'Nightmare Death' of the Snow Mountains... you're a survivor. What Ilea is to you, my sister is to me. I would wage war against the entire world for her. Even if I lose, I will do everything in my power to ensure she lives. Do you understand now?"
I stared at his back. I never expected a Lord as powerful as him to understand what it felt like to be pushed around by those even stronger. Underneath the royal blood and the god-like mana, he was just another survivor trying to protect the only thing that made his life worth living.
"I understand," I said quietly.
We reached the edge of a jagged ravine, the shadows below moving with a life of their own. The Night Shadows were waiting. And somewhere in that darkness, Ilea was waiting for me.
Until next time.