Leave a comment

Lesiah jolted like she was startled awake by a nightmare. Before she could even react, she had fallen to the ground.

“Ouch…”

The sudden braking caused Lesiah to slide more than ten meters along the ground. Her knees were chafed red. Fortunately, this wasn’t enough to injure a peak rank nine martial warrior like her.

With some difficulty, Lesiah stood up while rubbing her sore knees. “What are you doing, Lilith?! Why did you stop so suddenly? Did you want to make my chest as flat as yours?” the princess huffed.

But she got no response from her companion.

“Lilith?”

Lesiah raised her head in confusion and suddenly realized that Lilith was no longer by her side, holding her hand.

A sense of uneasiness rose in the princess’ heart.

“LILITH!”

Lesiah turned her head around, only to find Lilith stuck in a humiliating position — on all fours. Resting on her shoulder was a black feather surrounded by a mysterious halo. Unbeknownst to them, their nemesis named Cornelia was already standing in front of Lilith.

Lesiah immediately tensed up. “Are you alright? Hang in there, I’m going to save you!” she shouted to Lilith in concern.

“RUN!” Lilith squeezed the word through her teeth, effectively stopping Lesiah from rushing over to her aid. “RUN NOW!”
“H-How can I leave you behind?”
“I’ll be fine… You run first!”

There was conflict and hesitation in the princess’ eyes. Her mind was quickly weighing the pros and cons of rescuing Lilith, as well as the success rate of doing so. The loss far outweighed the gains. And the success rate was close to zero.

Those were the conclusions that Lesiah’s brain quickly deduced after going through countless scenarios. No matter how she thought about it, saving Lilith by herself alone was an act akin to a moth drawn to the flame.

Despite that, she still took a step toward Lilith.

“I’m… going to save you.”
“…Don’t you get it? You staying behind will only hinder me! GO NOW!” Lilith roared at her. “Aren’t you great at running away? Be a smart lass and run away now, you useless princess!”
“……”

Lesiah could almost hear the sound of something cracking. The pain in her heart was so sharp that it was difficult for her to even breathe.

“You’re right… I’m useless…”

Of course, she knew about this a long time ago. The princess turned around and left quickly. A trail of glistening tears fell and disappeared into the breeze brought about by the fluttering of her clothes.

“IDIOT!”

Lilith took a deep breath to calm a certain emotion rolling in her heart, so that she could focus on coping with the overwhelming aura pressuring her.

“Do you think you have time to still care about others?” Cornelia brought her hand down and black feathers rained down again.

They looked weightless when they were fluttering down. But the moment it touched Lilith’s shoulder, Lilith felt the weight of the world placed on her.

“UGH…!”

Lilith was forced on all fours like a frog. She clenched her teeth. The blue veins on her temples throbbed violently. Every bone in her body cracked noisily under the terrifying weight.

Strangely, the ground beneath Lilith showed no signs of collapse under such an unbearable weight. It was almost as if Lilith was the only one who could feel this weight.

“DIE!”

Seeing her enemy still uncrushed, Cornelia’s expression turned fiercer. Her long hair danced in the air, making her look no different than a white-haired witch.

A power that didn’t seem to belong to the mortal realm gradually overflowed from her. It seeped into the surroundings, distorting everything around them and gradually turning reality into illusion.

“Lady Cornelia! Stop right there! You’ll destroy this world by your own hands!”

Shiloah panicked as he tried his best to stop Lady Cornelia’s suicidal acts. He didn’t even have the capacity to worry about Lesiah who had just escaped. Unfortunately, he could no longer simply approach Cornelia. If he insisted on doing that, he would only be destroyed by that force despite his immortality.

After all, that was the same power that gave rise to his existence. And it could easily destroy him completely too. Cornelia turned a deaf ear to Shiloah’s plea. At this moment, she only had Lilith in her eyes.

She must kill her. She must.

Otherwise, she would definitely take everything away from her, just like [ that being ] from nine million years ago. The seed of thought that was planted in her mind gradually turned into a towering tree. It shadowed everything else in Cornelia’s mind.

“DIE!”

The black feather suspended in front of Lilith’s forehead suddenly burst into flames, causing the temperature in this room to rise sharply. The burning black feather slowly drew closer to Lilith. Before it even touched her, she could smell grilled meat.

First, the time stopped. Then there was this strange force and now, there were these terrifying flames burning with high temperature. Cornelia’s power was simply too strange and powerful. The Lilith from not long ago would have been a goner as soon as the time was stopped.

Fortunately, she was a far different person than she was before.

“You wanna kill me? Keep dreaming!” Amidst the horrendous sounds of bones cracking, Lilith slowly raised her head despite being burdened by the weight of this world.

The phantom of a massive beast appeared behind Lilith. It was extremely blurry; so vague that one could barely make out its outline. Almost as if it would dissipate as soon as the wind blew.

However, that phantom was emanating an ancient, majestic, dignified and terrifying aura. It instantly extinguished the burning black feather.

“This is…”

The existence behind that dragon girl named Lilith? A real, powerful, god-level dragon who lived countless years?

Cornelia drew a sharp breath. This was the first time she got reacquainted with the feeling of being overwhelmed ever since she stepped into that realm.

It was an irrational fear… Just like how a mortal would feel humbled and discouraged at the majestic sight of a lofty mountain, rather than gaining the courage to conquer it.

So this was how terrifying a god-level dragon was? Just its phantom alone could make one feel so much despair and fear that it dampened their will to fight? How was this possible?

Cornelia bit her tongue, forcing herself to recover from this sense of powerlessness. Determination and craze returned to her eyes once again. So what if it was a dragon or a deity?

It was nothing but a phantom here. Its strength wouldn’t be even a fraction of the real thing. She might not be able to beat the real thing, but surely she could beat a mere phantom.

Cornelia raised her hand. The haloes around the black feathers got brighter. The power that didn’t belong to this mortal realm gradually turned from a flowing stream to a gushing waterfall. It poured out of her body like it was free.

This action angered the phantom behind Lilith. It opened its cold and merciless eyes. The golden molten dragon pupils focused on Cornelia, like she was nothing more than an insignificant insect.

“Where did this bug come from…?”