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“Motherfucker, getting all sentimental and shit just because he’s dying,” Eugene grumbled, spitting blood on the ground. Raizakia was dead. The Black Dragon wasn’t an undead like a lich or a Death Knight with a separate life vessel, and Eugene had severed his Dragon Heart in half. Even if Raizakia was the Demon Dragon, he could never survive such a blow.
Did Eugene’s heart sink at the thought of being denied the coveted prize of the Ancient Dragon's heart? No, there was no room for disappointment within him. Raizakia's Dragon Heart had been marred and contaminated by the sinister forces of Dark Power for centuries. While it held immense value for black wizards and other demonfolks, for Eugene, it remained a worthless and venomous artifact devoid of any worth.
Eugene slowly descended to the ground, cracking his stiff neck. The headless, large body of the dragon was slowly tilting to the side.
The Holy Sword was easier to handle and use compared to the Moonlight Sword when it came to simply cutting. As such, Eugene raised the Holy Sword after eyeballing the location of his target.
Ripppp!
The Holy Sword cut through the dragon’s stomach. The Light of the sword cut through the scales and flesh of the dragon, as well as the dragon’s large belly.
The only thing Raizakia had consumed for hundreds of years was Raimira, whom he had swallowed whole just a while ago. Eugene had been expecting a spillage of gastric juices, but unexpectedly, he found Raimira in an unexpectedly clean state. Raimira was unconscious, curled up into a ball inside the Black Dragon’s stomach.
Eugene pulled her out. Her clothes were fully intact, and there wasn’t a single injury on her either. However, she didn’t appear to be in the best condition, probably due to the cold sweats and tears she had shed.
Eugene clicked his tongue when he saw that only the whites of Raimira’s eyes were visible in her fainted state.
‘She shouldn’t say anything about me killing her father since she was swallowed whole and almost killed,’ Eugene thought.
In the first place, Raizakia could not be called her father. There was no paternal love and filial piety between the two, to begin with. Eugene could not be bothered to wake Raimira and explain the situation to her, so he placed her inside his cloak in her fainted state. Mer would do the explaining in his stead once she came to her senses later.
Mer was delighted with Raimira’s survival, but she didn’t rush to wake the hatchling. Right now, Sienna was more important to her than Raimira.
“Lady Sienna!” Mer shouted as she ran out of the cloak. Now that Raizakia was dead, she finally wanted to share a moment of reunion with Sienna.
However, Mer halted on the spot instead of running to Sienna. It was because Sienna’s body was slowly dispersing. Mer sniffled with great anxiety.
“Why are you crying?” asked Sienna with a mischievous smile. Mer simply swallowed her tears without being able to respond. Sienna watched Mer with loving eyes, then clicked her tongue and wiggled her finger. “This is an inevitable thing. Just as it was an impossible but inevitable miracle that brought me to this place.”
“Lady Sienna…. Are you going to disappear, Lady Sienna?” asked Mer.
“Huh? Well, I’m disappearing now,” answered Sienna.
In truth, Eugene was slightly nervous as well. He had gone through so much trouble to kill Raizakia. But… what if Sienna had risked her own existence in exchange for the miracle that allowed her to save Eugene? What if she had sacrificed herself for Eugene?
“I’m asking this just in case, but are you going to die?” asked Eugene, his voice trembling with sadness and anxiety.
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“Are you crazy?” retorted Sienna with an incredulous expression. “Do you want me to die and disappear like this?”
“No.”
“Then why are you saying something so crazy? Why would I die!?” shouted Sienna.
“It’s just…. Well…. I thought you might have been prepared to die to save me….” Eugene trailed off.
“I was prepared but not to die,” said Sienna.
“Prepared for what?” asked Eugene.
Prepared to give you my lips without resisting when you were overcome with your emotions and rushed towards me, you bastard.
Sienna barely managed to keep the words from spilling out of her mouth. Right, today wasn’t the only day she had left. She thought to herself as she watched her disappearing hand.
“…Ehem, that seems to be none of your business. Everything turned out fine, didn’t it?” said Sienna.
“It did,” agreed Eugene.
“You don’t need to worry about me, Hamel. I did overexert myself slightly, but well, I’m going to return to my body and,” Sienna paused, then peered at Eugene. “I’m telling you in advance, but don’t come to the World Tree to greet me for no reason. I’m going to get really mad.”
“Why?” asked Eugene. He couldn’t understand why she was demanding such a thing.
They had met, and she had helped him. More importantly, the territory of the World Tree wasn’t even far off. It would take Eugene only a day, or half a day, to reach the World Tree.
Then wasn’t it better for him to meet Sienna there? Wouldn’t it be a beautiful sight for him to greet Sienna as she was released from her seal and resurrected?
Eugene sincerely thought so, but Sienna was resolute.
“No is a no. I’ll really kill you,” said Sienna curtly. Her reasoning was simple. The poison that tainted her body would have been purified with Raizakia’s death, so she could regenerate her body away from the protection of the World Tree. But Sienna did not want to show Eugene the process.
Eugene had already seen Sienna with a hole in her chest before, but it had been an inevitable, unexpected occurrence. Sienna still had to restore the hole in her chest, reconstruct her broken body, and prepare for this and that. She didn’t want to show Eugene what she didn’t have to.
“Then what do you want me to do?” asked Eugene.
“What do you mean? Well… we can just promise to meet somewhere. Right, how about in a month?” suggested Sienna.
“Where?” Eugene asked with a frown.
Sienna took a deep breath.
…Where? There was only one place she could think of — a place where she had spent most of her life, a place where she had transcribed her happy, brilliant memories to escape solitude. It was a place close to the forest with good air, a place with tall, sapphire skies, and a place crowded with stars at night. It was a place with gentle streams instead of the salty, windy sea.
“My house. It should be there, right?” said Sienna. She had built her ideal house, leaving a detached house to use as a study and a large fireplace to illuminate it. She had even furnished it with soft, rocking chairs. “I’ll meet you there.”
However, there was a crucial issue. Sienna’s mansion had been located in such a place three centuries ago, but too much time had passed. To be precise, the land around her mansion had undergone development. The forest had been cleared into Merdein Square, and the streams filled. Fortunately, the mansion remained intact, but the house that Sienna was envisioning had already disappeared three hundred years ago.
Of course, Sienna remained ignorant of this fact.
“I only managed to keep half of my promise. I said I would call you by your current name instead of Hamel the next time I saw you,” Sienna laughed while rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. “Do you remember? I told you not to come for me. I told you to wait so that I could come to you.”
“I remember,” responded Eugene.
“…I’m glad that I wasn’t late. I’m glad I could find you and save you.” Despite having wiped her eyes, tears still found passage down her cheeks.
Sienna turned towards Mer without bothering to wipe away her tears. “Mer.”
“Y-yes, Lady Sienna.”
“Come here. I’ll be disappearing soon, but I want to hold you while I’m still here,” continued Sienna.
Mer ran into Sienna’s embrace with tears running down her cheeks. Sienna smiled while taking Mer into her arms and stroked her head.
“I heard that things were tough while I was gone,” said Sienna.
“I’m…. I’m fine,” answered Mer.
“Even if you’re fine, I’m not fine with it. It’s funny for me to say this after I’ve disappeared so irresponsibly, but… you must’ve been very lonely. It must have been very hard,” said Sienna.
Tears continued to fall as Mer remained silent.
“I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I should have given you a reason before leaving,” Sienna apologized sincerely.
“I… heard about it from Sir Eugene. Lady Sienna, you couldn’t come back because of an unexpected accident. I don’t blame you, Lady Sienna,” answered Mer. She meant it. She had only worried about Sienna but never once blamed her. Feeling Mer’s sincerity, Sienna took her tighter into her embrace.
“Thank you for helping Hamel in my stead,” said Sienna.
“Sniff….”
“I am very proud of you, Mer Merdein.”
Mer felt her heart filling with joy at Sienna’s words. However, she couldn’t remain fixated on her happiness. Mer whispered into Sienna’s ear, conscious that Sienna was disappearing.
“Shouldn’t you hug Sir Eugene as well?”
“…Huh?”
“Lady Sienna, if possible, I would like you and Sir Eugene to hug, with me in the middle,” said Mer.
It was an unexpected comment. Sienna felt her head turn blank and could only open and close her mouth with a dazed expression. Mer squinted when she looked up and saw Sienna’s expression.
‘Tsk….’
She had never expected Sienna to be this embarrassed! Mer decided that she needed to use some shock therapy.
“You’ll get in trouble if you get embarrassed like this, Lady Sienna,” said Mer.
“W-what? What are you talking about? Me, embarrassed?” asked Sienna.
“You have to steel yourself, Lady Sienna. These days, foxes are circling around Sir Eugene…. No, it’d be more appropriate to call them starved wolves,” warned Mer.
Wolves? What wolves? Sienna shook her head with shame and confusion. Mer drew back from Sienna with a deep sigh.
“Well, it’ll be faster for you to see it in person than hearing it from me,” said Mer.
“Wait…. Mer, wait, you come back here. Speak so I can understand!” shouted Sienna, attempting to catch Mer. However, she could not move her disappearing form with ease. Her body was already half gone, and her soul was returning back to the World Tree.
Eugene had heard the conversation between the two.
Not foxes, but starved wolves…. Eugene recalled the fluffy but hefty weight that had rested on his head just before he entered this place. He remembered how the two had courted him with tearful eyes. Certainly, they were more like wolves than foxes.
“Ehem….” Eugene could only clear his throat. There was not enough time for him to explain everything to Sienna. As such, Eugene decided to pass the catastrophic task to his future self.
“Then, a month from today, let’s meet at your mansion in Aroth,” said Eugene.
“…Set the exact time and date. I don’t want to wait, and I don’t want you to wait, either. Thirty days from now, noon. Got it?” asked Sienna.
“Yeah,” answered Eugene with a smile, raising his hand towards Sienna.
“See you then, Hamel. No,” said Sienna, staring at Eugene. She felt a flutter that reached all the way down to her soul. Unlike Hamel, his hair was gray, his clean skin was without a single scar, and he had golden eyes like a pair of jewels. Although there was absolutely no resemblance, the man in front of her was Hamel, whom Sienna had missed and loved.
“Eugene Lionheart.” She opted to use his current name. What name he had in his past life wasn’t important. What was important was that the soul residing in his body was the man Sienna loved, even if his body had completely changed. Sienna giggled shyly with embarrassment.
“Let’s meet in a—” Just before she disappeared completely, she was cut short when she saw Eugene raising his hand. It was his left hand. His ring finger? What? Why? A ring? Why? What? Sienna’s eyes started quivering, and the light glimmering in her green eyes snuffed out. Wolves? Starving?
“Hey, you little—” Sienna’s desperate cry was cut short.
Fwoosh!
She disappeared, scattering into particles of light.
Eugene tilted his head with confusion as he watched the scattering light. Sienna was gone, and only Akasha was left floating in the air. Eugene grumbled as he took Akasha into his hand, “What was she trying to say?”
“I don’t know,” answered Mer.
“Her expression was unusual…,” muttered Eugene.
“I couldn’t see it well because it was so bright and shiny. Maybe she was sad that she had so little time to say goodbye to you, Sir Eugene?” suggested Mer. It was true that Mer had not seen Sienna’s face at the end. She had only seen Sienna’s face turn red and shy like an adolescent girl. Naturally, she assumed that Sienna could have been overwhelmed with emotion before disappearing.
“Is that so…?” Eugene wasn’t completely convinced, but he decided to go with it for now.
He looked back. Although Raizakia’s Dragon Heart had been destroyed, his body remained. Originally, dragons did not leave behind their bodies unless they wished. Most dragons chose not to leave behind their remains but return everything they had and were to the world as mana before becoming ashes.
But this was a place between dimensions, and Raizakia was a fallen Demon Dragon. Even if Raizakia wished, the world would not take his body.
“I have a present to take home with me,” said Eugene. Although the corpse belonged to the Demon Dragon, with the Dragon Heart destroyed, it could be used as material if purified properly. With all the bones, leather, and scales that remained, such a large corpse could be used to arm all of the Lionheart’s knights.
With a grin, Eugene placed his hand on Raizakia’s body, then opened the dimensional door with Akasha.