Suddenly, Griem's voice echoed across the battlefield in disbelief.
"What do you mean by that...? Are you saying we should kill them?!"
Unlike him, however, those words served only as another excuse for Scythe to continue harvesting the lives of the transformed men.
Valerius let out a heavy sigh, gripping his arm tightly before whispering under his breath, too quietly for anyone else to hear.
"What a cruel twist of fate... I've spent my entire life fighting dragons, battling them as though every fight would be my last... and now... one of them is helping me..."
A faint chuckle interrupted his thoughts.
"Heh... what an amusing contradiction."
The voice belonged to someone who could barely move...
Agnyr...
He continued calmly...
"I have to admit... I admire that worthless bastard's way of thinking. He didn't even bother killing us himself..."
Curiosity slowly crept into Valerius' mind, and before he realized it, he found himself asking Agnyr what he meant...
Agnyr burst into laughter, completely ignoring the miserable state of his own body...
"Heh... and why exactly should I tell you anything? Just because I warned you doesn't mean we've suddenly become friends. Don't forget... you played the biggest role in all of this."
This time...
Valerius didn't argue...
Instead, he lowered his head, staring silently at the ground as though the weight of the entire world had settled upon his shoulders...
Then, in a voice filled with regret and confusion, he spoke...
"You're right... I was nothing more than a pawn in someone's game... Someone who had been watching us from above all along..."
He clenched his fists...
"Me... my father... Crag... everyone here..."
His eyes slowly drifted toward Agnyr...
"Even you... and your two companions..."
A bitter smile appeared on his face...
"We were all... nothing but pieces on a board."
Silence followed...
After a long pause, he finally raised his head...
"...But why???"
Agnyr's expression subtly changed.
For the first time...
He didn't blame anyone.
Instead, he simply thought to himself.
"This human..."
"There's something strange about him..."
"Only moments ago... he was overflowing with the desire to kill me..."
His eyes met Valerius' once again...
"But now..."
"Is he... pitying me???"
"Me... Agnyr???"
"A dragon who once stood among the highest of his kind???"
His pride flared instantly.
Forcing himself upright, he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!!"
He spread his wings, trying to rise...
But his body betrayed him.
Every muscle tensed violently.
A sharp pain shot through him.
His legs gave way beneath him, and he collapsed back onto the ground.
Valerius' eyes widened immediately.
Without even thinking about it...
He rushed toward him.
Forgetting entirely that the one lying before him...
Was a dragon...
With complete sincerity, he asked,
"...Are you alright???"
For the first time...
Agnyr didn't answer with sarcasm...
He simply looked straight into Valerius' eyes.
And for the first time...
There was no hatred.
No murderous intent.
Only genuine concern...
Grinding his teeth, Agnyr finally spoke...
"You pathetic human... the reason I'm in this condition..."
His gaze sharpened...
"...is you."
Valerius frowned in confusion.
Agnyr answered immediately...
"Don't play dumb... That punch of yours..."
His voice grew heavier...
"...shattered part of my Pure Core..."
He lowered his eyes toward his own chest...
"The very thing that sustains my existence..."
Valerius froze.
Slowly...
His eyes drifted toward his own fist...
The same fist...
He had proudly relied on only moments earlier...
Had now become the cause of this fate.
He slowly closed his eyes...
Then...
He bowed before Agnyr.
Without hesitation...
Without pride...
"...I'm sorry."
His voice trembled...
"I... I can't undo what I've done..."
He lowered his head even further...
"...But I'm truly sorry."
Agnyr grew even more irritated...
"How humiliating..."
"What am I supposed to do with this???"
"Me... Agnyr..."
"Receiving an apology from a human???"
He let out an annoyed sigh before regaining a fragment of his dignity...
Then he said firmly,
"As if your apology could change anything..."
He slowly turned toward the remaining transformed soldiers.
As though the battle awaiting him...
Was nothing more than another task that had to be finished.
"...Let's end this first."
A brief pause followed...
"We'll settle everything else later..."
Scythe tightened his grip around his spear before pointing it directly at the dragon's throat...
"He's at his weakest... I'll finish him here and now..."
His long spear slowly rose, its blade stopping only inches away from Agnyr's neck...
Agnyr...
Showed no fear.
He met Scythe's eyes with an unwavering gaze and spoke calmly...
"You certainly have courage, pathetic human... but you seem to have forgotten one simple fact..."
His voice carried the weight of absolute confidence...
"...The one standing before you is still a dragon..."
Before Scythe could take another step...
Valerius moved between them.
Without hesitation, he declared,
"That's enough, you fool... He's not as evil as he seems."
Silence fell...
Every eye widened in disbelief...
Valerius...
The very man who had devoted his life to slaying every dragon he encountered...
Was now protecting one?
Scythe stepped forward, fury burning in his eyes...
"Have you lost your mind?!? They attacked our city without warning! Don't let that cheap act and those sweet words fool you!!!"
Before he could continue...
Valerius slowly raised his sword.
The blade came to rest directly between them.
His voice was calm.
Resolute...
"Take one more step..."
His eyes locked onto Scythe's.
"...and you won't like what follows."
The atmosphere instantly became tense...
Several surviving soldiers instinctively rested their hands on their sword hilts.
Meanwhile, Griem remained silent, observing everything before him...
Valerius took a slow breath.
Then he finally spoke.
"Yes... they attacked us."
A brief pause...
"...But we were the ones who started it."
The battlefield fell silent once again.
Even the wind itself seemed to stop.
Valerius slowly turned toward the others.
"We killed a dragon that was peacefully asleep..."
His voice carried neither pride nor anger...
Only regret...
"He didn't attack us..."
"He didn't hunt us..."
"We were the ones who approached him... and took his life."
Then he pointed toward Agnyr.
"Did you truly believe killing a dragon would be that easy???"
His voice grew heavier.
"Did you see what happened after nothing more than a cloud of black smoke???"
He looked around at the devastated battlefield.
"Our own comrades became our enemies..."
He slowly lowered his head.
"...We are nothing before beings like them."
Another moment of silence...
Then he whispered,
"That victory..."
He closed his eyes...
"...was never ours to claim."
"He's right."
Everyone turned toward the speaker...
It was Griem.
The old ruler stepped forward with calm, measured steps...
"I've fought countless wars against dragons throughout my life..."
His gaze settled upon Agnyr...
"Every single one of them was a brutal struggle."
He continued,
"And this dragon..."
"...fought beside us."
"...He stood with us."
Looking over Agnyr's battered body, he added,
"He can barely remain standing now."
A faint smile crossed Griem's face...
"In his current condition... I doubt he could even harm a fly."
Scythe's anger exploded...
"Am I the only sane person left here??!"
He pointed his spear toward Agnyr...
"You actually intend to spare the life of a dragon that attacked our city??!"
He swept his gaze across the surviving soldiers...
"Have you even thought about what people will say???"
His voice echoed through the battlefield.
"The Dragon-Slayer City..."
"...befriending a dragon that invaded it!"
His grip tightened around the spear...
"You're dragging Crag's name into the dirt..."
His eyes narrowed...
"...and I will never allow that..."
Before he could move...
Valerius' voice cut through the silence...
Cold.
Sharp.
"You pathetic fool..."
He raised his sword once more...
"One more step..."
The blade reflected in Scythe's eyes.
"...and things won't end well for you..."
Scythe stared at him with utter disgust...
After several long seconds...
A mocking smile slowly spread across his face...
"Heh..."
"I still remember you when you were just a little boy..."
His tone dripped with ridicule...
"'I'll avenge my father!!!'"
"'I'll avenge my mother!!!'"
"'I'll kill every dragon because I'm strong!!!'"
Valerius simply smiled...
Not with anger...
But with quiet certainty...
"Heh..."
"Those words don't mean anything to me anymore."
His gaze shifted toward Agnyr.
"And even if they did..."
He looked toward the distant sky...
"...I will have my revenge..."
A brief silence followed...
"...Just not against the dragons we killed..."
Griem smiled proudly.
Then he spoke in a gentle voice.
"Don't mind him, Val..."
"I'll handle this myself..."
...
Scythe didn't answer...
He didn't shout.
He didn't even move.
Slowly...
He lowered his head.
For a brief moment...
Everyone believed he had finally accepted it...
The battlefield became eerily quiet.
Then—
His fingers tightened around his spear.
The veins across his hand bulged violently.
He slowly raised his head once again.
But those eyes...
Were no longer the eyes everyone knew.
They burned with a hatred that had been buried for years...
Suddenly...
He roared at the top of his lungs...
"YOU DAMN OLD BASTARD!!!"
Everything happened...
In less than a heartbeat.
The spear shot forward...
One thrust.
It pierced straight through Griem's heart...
Before bursting out from his back...
Griem's eyes widened...
Valerius stood frozen in absolute disbelief...
And the ruler of Crag...
Collapsed to the ground...
Dead...
Before anyone could even comprehend what had just happened.
Silence swallowed the battlefield.
A terrifying...
Unnatural silence...
As though time itself had stopped...
For the first time since this tragedy had begun...
No one...
Could find the words to speak...