Third Light (15)
"You say I didn't look for it?"
Roderick thought it was nonsense.
- You don't even know yourself.
- If you gain power, you must intensify your emotions. That was our last piece of advice.
- However, since you did not accept that advice, your purpose has been blurred as well.
"Now that you guys are great, just shut up."
Roderick held his head and thought.
The last dragon's location that he had been ignoring so far.
He recalls that location.
"Ha ha..."
Roderick let out a hollow laugh.
It was as they said.
Roderick already knew.
He just pretended not to know.
Roderick spread his wings and flew into the sky.
Silence Tower.
He looked up at the place and then looked down.
Roderick clenched his fist.
He put all his remaining strength into it and slammed the ground.
Koo-woong!!
The ground breaks and the buried space below is revealed.
Roderick fell inside and was able to find the giant hidden dragon.
"So... you were here."
He stared at Astrophe.
Astrophe looked down at him indifferently.
Although weakened, it was Roderick who could instantly take his life.
- It's pathetic. You wanted to be more than human, but you ended up being like the humans you despised so much.
Astrope sneered at his downfall.
"Isn't the fate of immortals dying even more ridiculous?"
- If there is something, there is also something that disappears. Although immortal, we were destined to die eventually.
As Roderick was about to absorb his essence, he felt a subtle strangeness.
"You're strangely weak. What have you done?"
- Haven't I told you? I sensed my death. That's why I weakened my body here.
"You helped humans?"
- It was a promise I made with my fellow dragons. If there is a moment when a mistake is made, a moment when someone falls, we would protect them by choosing any means or methods.
Roderick laughed bitterly.
"Anyway, if I had your power, this damned wound would heal."
- That kind of wound will heal. But the moment you absorb me, all the remaining emotions will disappear. The moment you give up being human, you will bear our fate.
Roderick furrowed his eyebrows and reached out towards him.
Astrope's essence gathered in his hand.
Astrope slowly lowered his head as if falling asleep.
The light of life completely went out.
"You talk too much."
Roderick looked at the object in his right hand.
It was much smaller than the other dragons, but it was still a dragon's essence.
So he absorbed the last essence.
"Phew..."
The vitality swirling inside him subsided.
As Astrope said, his essence was much weaker than the other dragons.
Even so, it was the power of an immortal dragon.
As soon as he absorbed Astrope's power, his wounds began to heal.
Finally, his body was completely restored.
It wasn't enough power to return to being a dragon, but it was enough to maintain a human body.
Roderick opened his eyes.
His face, which had been cursing and excited, was surprisingly calm.
At last, his emotions intensified, and only reason remained.
Was it because of that?
His role became clear.
He thought he could hide and recover once his wounds were healed.
But Roderick, who had gained reason, did not do that.
He will eventually die.
The plan will fail.
The way to break it is to make a decision right now.
Roderick turned his eyes and looked towards the inside of the lab.
"Phoebe."
He softly called the name he knew.
"I know everything that's in there. With that little girl of yours. I don't want to be rough. Show yourself right now."
After a moment, the hiding Phoebe revealed herself.
The situation was exactly the same as before.
Roderick looked at her with cold eyes and softly called her name.
"Phoebe."
At the same time as the word, Phoebe's body trembled. She felt as if her body would be taken away by Roderick if she let her guard down.
Roderick's eyes quickly dropped diagonally downward.
"And the child of destiny."
Rosaria.
When Roderick first saw her, she looked just like a child, but now she looked definitely different.
A monster wearing the disguise of a child.
She looked like a destroyer of balance that would remain a headache if she existed in this world.
Roderick took a step forward.
Then Phoebe lowered her body slightly and warned.
"If you come any closer, I will attack."
"You had a bad head then and now."
Roderick replied to Phoebe's warning.
"Do you think you can win against me if you confront me? Thousands have already lost their lives. Famous knights and great magicians. The so-called elites have fallen at my feet. Can you defeat me?"
"You say that, but you are exhausted right now. That's probably why you are in human form."
"Am I exhausted? So you think we're equal?"
Phoebe, who had been trained in battle, knew how tired his body was.
If they fought, the odds were in Phoebe's favor.
"And even if... you were not exhausted, I still cannot retreat."
Phoebe replied with determined eyes.
"Protecting the young lady is my mission now."
Roderick stared at Phoebe quietly.
"Because you have human emotions, you betray. Yes, I can understand."
"I was betrayed, not you. Why are you talking as if you were the victim?"
"Then you should kill me. Will you hesitate again this time?"
Phoebe lowered her head.
"Then let's make a decision."
Roderick stroked his chin.
And after a moment.
"There's only one way to stop me. It's to kill me. But you don't want to become a black dragon. Because you have a man you love."
"..."
"Love is such an emotion. It's irrational and can't help but be controlled. You've already been betrayed by it, so you know."
Phoebe clenched her fist.
Trembling came over her.
"Do you know what happens when you become a black dragon?"
"I know."
"Then, you won't be able to control your power. The excitement you felt through dragonization will always be maintained, and you will become a violent black dragon, destroying everything around you. Even forgetting what's precious."
Phoebe knew how terrifying that excitement was in battle.
That's why she didn't want to become a black dragon.
'If I become a black dragon...'
She would have to leave Reed's side.
Because that was her power.
"Then let's do this."
She wanted to say there would be no negotiations, but her lips couldn't part.
Roderick continued.
"If you love that man so much, I'll let you live with him. There will be no more harm to you."
Phoebe was not happy at all.
She sensed that such a proposal would require something absurd.
"What do you want from me?"
"I just have to kill the root cause of everything, that child."
"The young lady?"
"That woman loved humans as she pleased and helped them as she pleased. She made humans greedy and brought about this situation where they claim to be the masters of this continent. I cannot just watch that child live."
"..."
Phoebe completely covered Rosaria with her left hand.
"I won't interfere with you any further out of old loyalty. Whether you live with that man or struggle to clear my name, I'll disappear as if I'm dead."
A small sacrifice for the greater good.
If she dies, everything will end.
"Step over my dead body. I have no intention of harming the young lady."
"If not, this continent and that man will become even more miserable. It's impossible to collect all seven disasters he's chasing."
"Don't think I'll be swayed by that."
"Phoebe, you don't know how this is going. The reason you're unhappy and that man is unhappy is all because of that little girl. She has woven the threads of fate as she pleases, and you could only become unhappy!"
"..."
"That child must die. I'm doing this to make your destiny a better place."
Phoebe didn't want to accept that.
Thinking rationally, if Phoebe and Roderick fought each other, neither side would be successful, without a doubt.
'I don't want to become... a dragon.'
A pair of wings attached to a large lizard.
Becoming a dragon, a creature that instills fear in all humans.
She didn't want to become such a creature.
Phoebe wished Roderick would disappear forever, but he didn't seem to have any intention of doing so.
* * *
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***
Then he must be killed.
By her own hands.
The pain that remained in her heart had only healed after meeting Reed, and it seemed as if the tip of a knife had touched that wound again.
She couldn't accept the fate of becoming unhappy by killing the person she loved.
Confused, Phoebe turned her body.
She looked down at Rosaria with a sad smile.
Rosaria instinctively felt repulsed and took a step back.
"Young lady."
Phoebe reached out with both hands.
Heading towards Rosaria's slender neck.
"Do you remember what I told you before? Phoebe has two precious people."
The first light, Lord Roderick Astheria.
The second light, Tower Master, Reed Adeleheights Roton.
Phoebe closed her eyes.
Her hand, aimed at the neck, lightly brushed Rosaria's cheek.
"But there's one thing I didn't tell you. There was something I couldn't tell you because I was too shy."
Rosaria knew what that repulsion was.
It was farewell.
"You, young lady, are Phoebe's third light."
Phoebe's figure disappeared.
A belated gust of wind.
Rosaria blinked her eyelids.
She was standing where Roderick was.
She had already pierced through the exhausted Roderick's chest with her own hands.
Squish!
What was heard was a dull penetration sound.
Her fingernails, sharpened by dragonization, pierced through the fragile boy's body.
Roderick vomited blood along with his breath.
"Ugh... Hah..."
He had no strength to even hold Phoebe's pierced hand.
He smiled weakly.
"...You've made a choice."
It was not heard what choice was made.
As Roderick's heart was pierced, strength began to surge in Phoebe's body.
The essence that came out from absorbing all the power of the dragons made Phoebe's incomplete blood complete.
"Ugh... Eugh..."
She felt her clothes tightening.
Her body was swelling.
"Unni..."
"Young lady, get away..."
Phoebe, sweating coldly, tried to smile.
Rosaria, who felt something was wrong, backed away with a frightened face.
Phoebe walked to the spacious place where Astrope had been.
In that place, her clothes tore apart and she grew explosively.
Her body was completely covered in black scales, and a tail sprouted.
Black Dragon.
The strongest and most ferocious dragon.
At the same time, it was the first dragon to face death by humans.
-Grrrr...
A beastly sound was heard from just a simple breath.
There is no way to return voluntarily.
Phoebe will now live an eternal life in the form she hates the most.
'When the battle begins... I'll be consumed by that pleasure.'
A dragon destined to die while seeking battles like Asura.
In the end, she won't even be able to identify her own blood, and she will harm even the precious people.
Despair and confusion.
"Unni."
A cute voice reached Phoebe's ears, trapped in the storm.
Phoebe rolled her eyes to look at Rosaria.
"Uh, unni? Is it you, unni?"
Rosaria, who had been watching Phoebe's transformation, asked.
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