Chapter 56

Your eyebrows raise as you cling to the railing surrounding the throne room's veranda, biting your nails with wide eyes. The king watched the creature emerging from the lake. His body trembled with its roar, and his legs gave way with the vibration of the nearby glass panes.

"This is..."

Clutching the railing as his legs gave out, his heart raced. Unlike the ambient temperature, his body was hotter than ever.

"The books... they were wrong...?"

With the destruction of the bridges and part of the kingdom, the release of the monster, his red eyes gleamed.

"Yes...! Yes! No doubt! This being is..."

The flapping of the creature's enormous wings and the ensuing destruction filled him with immense euphoria. Clenching his fists and breaking part of the parapet he leaned on, his breathing intensified, and the heat from his body radiated unconsciously into the environment.

The spines fell, and by easily placing the one seen by all as the most powerful in such a miserable state, despite feeling pathetic, his conviction could not be stronger.

The one capable of freezing the world, certainly. With the emergence of the icy breath, holding onto the railing no longer made sense. When the creature's voice reached his ears, along with the apparent freezing of his soul and the paralysis of his heart, a huge smile spread across his face from ear to ear.

"The absolute...!"

On his knees on the ground and eyes on the sky, he watched every moment of the dragon's presence in the kingdom. Even when they went beyond his lands, soaring to the skies with their black wings, his heart yearned for more. The distance was great, and his eyes couldn't reach them, but...

"What was that...?"

The apparent fall of the beast caught his attention again, making him ignore everything else. However, when Ethan found himself cornered, his smile returned because, indeed, in the end, he was right. But... even from so far... death watched him.

"No no no no no! What was that...? That creature... it killed him..! The absolute..."

Acting quickly and instinctively, not even the corner of the throne room seemed safe enough. The lights went out, and curled up in the corner, trembling, only he was there, but... in the dark, the red glow pursued him.

"But that feeling... those eyes, they were... like mine..?"

The darkness around him seemed to take shape, and with the emergence of black feathers, the absolute gaze seemed to meet his eyes.

"No... ridiculous..! As if a mere bird could have the same gaze as royalty!"

Rising amidst the darkness, the king crossed the gloom and returned to the veranda, only to see the immense beating of black wings descending onto the kingdom's lands.

With little strength remaining, Carlos followed the same path as everyone else, and with his body paralyzed, he at least tried to stand against that terrifying being.

The red eyes amidst the feathers, which seemed to disintegrate into the air like dense black smoke or tangible shadows, scanned every corner of that vast place, as if observing each inhabitant of the kingdom one by one.

"You... who are you...?"

His body trembled, but unlike the others, for some reason, Carlos did not feel fear before that being, which seemed almost entirely made of darkness. His heart was calm, and somehow, the mana in his body resonated with that of the strange creature.

With the opening of its beak, the cawing echoed.

Carlos and all the other inhabitants may not have felt or even noticed it, but although they did not do so willingly, they all had black wings freed on their backs.

"Kneel!"

Like the eyes, its commanding voice paralyzed them, making it impossible to fulfill its order even if they wanted to, so no one moved.

Cawing! The movement of its wings shook houses and pushed bodies, but when its eyes finally stopped watching them, for survival's sake, the citizens complied.

"Kneel... everyone!"

Even inside the castle, all the citizens were kneeling, no doubt. However, briefly glancing upwards, Clovis and Scarlet were absolutely certain of why the creature had said that. She bit her lip discreetly, and Clovis clenched his fists full of dirt. It was no time to cling to baseless pride; now, before a creature that made it impossible for them to even maintain free movement, their lives and the lives of all the kingdom's inhabitants were at stake.

Cawing! The red eyes rose, and again, the black wings flapped. Without the courage or strength to maintain his pride, the king's legs gave way, and before the overwhelming being, he knelt.

Briefly flapping its wings, the creature descended slowly to the ground. Its wings folded, apparently to cause less destruction, but houses fell during the slightest of its movements.

Carefully, after creating some space for its body, a small cloud of darkness appeared over its back. When it touched the ground, the beast stepped back and, without hesitation, crossed one leg and brought its beak to the ground, as if...

"The monster is... bowing...?" everyone wondered internally.

A hand emerged from the shadows, and despite great joy, greater still were the doubts created when the being within that small bed arose. His eyebrows rose, and without exception, everyone watched the situation without blinking.