Chapter 34

“Izrael, it’s been a while.”

The crimson dragon’s mouth emitted a calm, gentlemanly voice. Izrael scrunched his brow and returned the crimson dragon’s stare.

“Azrael… It shouldn’t be your turn this time.”

“It can’t be helped. Since there are two goddesses this time, it’s only logical that there should be two of us guardian beasts as well,” said the crimson dragon called Azrael, in a condescending tone.

Meanwhile, he increased the pressure on Yuichiro’s torso with his claws. Yuichiro could feel his internal organs being crushed as sharp claws dug into his back.

“Arrgh—ahhhh!”

The pain was so intense that Yuichiro let out a muffled groan from the back of his throat. The blood from his wound soaked into his clothes and then dripped to the floor.

Izrael narrowed his eyes as he watched and asked Azrael, “Azrael, will you let go of my goddess?”

“Then, you’ll let my goddess go first. Otherwise, I might inadvertently use too much force and drive my claws through this child’s stomach.”

Azrael’s sharp claws sank further into Yuichiro’s back. Yuichiro’s nerves were instantly pierced by the searing sensation that ripped through his back, and a scream erupted from his throat.

“Urgh, aaaah!”

“Stop! Let him go, stop!!!” Suddenly, Izrael’s voice boomed with a sense of urgency.

Yuichiro, between fading consciousness, caught a glimpse of Izrael slinking away from Aoi’s arms. Aoi’s smile deepened in an instant, seemingly proud of her victory.

Izrael stared at Azrael intently and said, “You, what are you planning to do?” in a low growl.

“What I’m planning to do?”

“Even if you kill Yuichiro, the girl will not be chosen by the rightful king. No matter how much you want her to be a goddess, Noah has already made up his mind. And Temeraire will not choose to serve that girl even if it means his death.”

“I see. The rightful king and those who serve him appear to be very single-minded children.”

“What are you doing protecting a girl who can’t even be a goddess? You seemed to have forgotten our mission.”

A small smile snuck across Azrael’s face after he cocked his head in return. “If they will not choose my goddess, then let us choose a rightful king and the servant ourselves.”

“What—”

Azrael then exclaimed in a loud voice to bewildered Izrael, “The rightful king is Edward Jeweld. The one who serves is Rondo Jeweld. While, Aoi Katsuragi is the goddess that will guide us. Together, we will slaughter the false goddess and king, exterminate the rebels, and give birth a new nation!”

The blatant declaration of war shocked Izrael. After a long pause, he snarled, “You… Have you been aiding the rebels from the beginning?” The fact that she hid the rebels in Am Yisu must had been intentional. From the beginning, Aoi’s loyalties already lied with the rebels.

At the same time, Yuichiro listened to the two dragons’ conversation while holding his breath. A bright red pool of blood had formed on the floor as blood spilled from his back. His head swayed unsteadily from the immense loss of blood and the scene before him gradually blurred.

“It means we have the right to choose, just like you,” Azrael replied softly.

“Are you defying God’s will?”

Azrael’s soft voice echoed in response to Izrael’s threatening snarl, “Izrael, God will understand everything.”

After hearing the response, Izrael froze in disbelief.

Following that, Aoi softly murmured, “If you do not need me, you do not need this world.” With a grin on her face, she turned to look at Yuichiro. Her divine grin spread across her face as she instructed, “Kill him, Azrael.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the room began to tremble violently. Izrael lunged at Azrael almost immediately after. In an instant, his tiny frame ballooned out to enormous proportions.

“Leave my goddess alone!”

Izrael let out a piercing scream as he clung to Azrael like a gecko and dug his sharp claws into Azrael’s torso. Just as Izrael’s claws were about to dig in, Azrael’s tail curved like a whip and “whoosh” slammed into Izrael’s body. Izrael’s massive frame instantly collided with the wall, causing him to let out a ferocious roar that echoed through the room. His roar rang out from beneath the crumbling wall. Azrael, on the other hand, wagged his tail as he watched Izrael struggle, muttering, “Izrael, do not defy your fate.”

Azrael’s admonishing tone instilled rage in Yuichiro. “Ugh, do not play around!” As the pain became more intense, his throat tightened. Yuichiro then reached out and grabbed Azrael’s massive hand, which was clutching his torso. “What fate?” Yuichiro snarled, prodding his nails into the hard cold scales. What is God’s plan? “The guy who called himself God is just a kid having fun with his toys!”

If this was fate, did it mean that everything Yuichiro and his team had done was pointless? Were all the battles we fought and all the people who died, in the end, nothing more than a set of predetermined fates?

Azrael squinted amusedly at Yuichiro’s rebuttal. As he looked at Yuichiro, his golden eyes, like Izrael’s, were filled with crescent moons.

“You are a strange young man, are not you?” Izrael spoke in a low, pleasant tone as if he were making small talk.

“You appear to be on the verge of collapsing, but you are not. Instead, you are clinging to your breaking point and hoping to snap as soon as possible. While you appear intelligent, you act on impulse. Putting on an act as if you have no fears when what you are really afraid of is other people. You do not want to be loved by anyone, but you also do not want to lose the love that has been given to you. You simply cannot stomach the prospect of losing it again.

Yuichiro was rendered speechless by the shocking revelation. His mouth hung open as he stared at Azrael. Shortly after, Azrael inched closer to Yuichiro’s ear, his big mouth framed by his sharp fangs.

“It is truly pitiful about your wife and daughter. It must have been excruciatingly painful and miserable.”

Suddenly, Yuichiro’s thoughts stopped.

[How did Azrael know about my wife and daughter?]

Yuichiro locked his gaze with Azrael’s. As soon as he saw the sympathetic expression on Azrael’s face, the word “fate” popped into his head.

[Did fate decide that? Is it fate that both my wife and my daughter died? These people who had lived righteously had to die in such a cruel and miserable way?]

Eventually, he felt the bile of hatred rise up from his stomach. Yuichiro’s eyes blazed with rage, and he could feel his body exploding. Ignoring Azrael’s claws digging into his back, he twisted his body and reached for his left foot. He reached into his boots and pulled out a knife. He clenched his grip with both hands and drove the knife’s tip into the base of Azrael’s claw.

Unfortunately, in contrast to Yuichiro’s expectations, his knife stopped after mere centimeters into the base due to Azrael’s sturdy scales. He could hear the sound of blood dripping from his back where Azrael’s claws had buried deep inside. Yuichiro heaved heavily while staring at Azrael. His vision ebbed as if underwater.

“You poor thing, are you crying?” Azrael whispered sympathetically, unconcerned about the knife stuck to his leg.

Large tears streamed down Yuichiro’s eyes, uncontrollably. “I’m going—to kill you,” he cursed, his voice muffled by his own tears. Yet, he didn’t know who he was addressing it to. Was it to Azrael, God, himself—or all the people in this world?

Despite his seething desire to kill, his fingers trembled as they gripped the knife. His fingers were already getting weak from the constant loss of blood. From his eyes, tears dripped onto his knife, and then into the pool of blood on the floor. Finally, the knife slipped from his grasp.

“Azrael, kill him quickly!” Aoi shouted impatiently,

Azrael calmly relied upon her hysterical voice, “I know, my goddess. Your wish will be granted.”

Almost instantly, gravity pulled Yuichiro’s body down. The crimson dragon carried him aloft as it flew through the mansion at a tremendous speed. The scene around him swooped by as if he were on a rocket ship.

While holding Yuichiro in his arms, Azrael leaped from the mansion and soared high into the sky. The tall trees were getting smaller and smaller as they passed by. A bright red sky reflected in his tear-blurred vision. Perhaps it was dusk, but a terrifyingly large sunset loomed in the distance. The sky and the earth were both dyed red, creating a scene that resembled an inferno burning the world to the ground.

[Is that the sun?]

Perhaps it was a different planet that he was unaware of, he pondered such things vaguely among his fading thoughts.

When Azrael finally reached a height that nearly reached the clouds, he ceased his ascent. He stared into Yuichiro’s face while floating in the air, who had lost all of his strength like a rubber doll.

“Look over there.”

In a swift motion, Azrael jerked his massive claw at Yuichiro’s neck, knocking his head to the side. Yuichiro’s vision soon mirrored lines of soldiers moving across the crimson ground. At first glance, these troops appeared to be about the size of a brigade. However, he later realized that a large number of enemies’ flags flying just beyond the forest.

[Were they hiding in the forest? Or did they make it this far while I was dawdling about in Am Yisu?]

Whatever the case, Yuichiro judged it was all his fault. Afterward, he gulped, feeling a dull ache in his throat. Even though he was about to lose consciousness, his fingertips fumbled around, looking for something. There there it was; a knife in one hand, and a gun in another. With these hands, he was determined to slaughter all of his enemies and even trample his fate.

“You’re a scary child. You choose to fight, even in a situation like this?” Azrael spoke in a whisper as he floated through the air.

When Yuichiro glared back at him with hatred-filled eyes, Azrael purred with wicked glee. The dragon’s gleaming scaled mouth rubbed gently against Yuichiro’s cheek.

“I want to eat you.”

Azrael’s enthralled tone was almost repulsive to Yuichiro. Yuichiro in turn looked straight at the dragon, crooking his mouth upward.

“I—will—devour—you.”

[Someday I’ll definitely cut you into pieces and devour you alive.]

He would kill the dragon, then savor its flesh and blood as he listened to its agonized scream. Yuichiro sneered at the thought of this, obviously looking forward to exacting his vengeance.

Soon, Azrael’s eyes were filled with ecstasy. Lust slowly melted into his golden eyes. “If you were my goddess, I would have protected you from everything that could hurt you, Yuichiro Ogami.”

The moment Yuichiro heard the dragon’s voice, with its regretful, pitying, yet longing tone, he felt the weight leaving his body. Then, he could see Azrael’s hand ahead of him, which was not grasping anything.

After a moment of levitation, he fell from the sky. The floating sensation instantly turned into gravity. His body, which had been thrown into the air, was dragged to the ground with tremendous force. The blood that had overflowed from his back splattered upwards due to the wind pressure. Later the splattered blood fell down as if a rain of blood was pouring down from the sky.

Translator’s Notes

And there you have it. The ominous hint behind this current arc’s title, ‘The Red Sky is Falling‘ 🩸🌧️. It’s Yuichiro himself, injured, and bloodied, falling from the sky… 😔😭

Just a reminder, the next chapter won’t be pretty.

Note, only one chapter this week as I’ve mentioned last week!

p/s: If you like this chapter and want to read ahead, consider supporting me on Ko-fi!