Dragon Maken War

Chapter 241 - Fate of the Races (3)

5

“What are you thinking right now?”

A very soft voice could be heard from his side.  Her voice woke Atein up from his revery.

Atein was sitting lotus style in front of an enormous magic circle.  On the surface of the magic circle, the light was being tossed around like a wave.  He turned his head to look.  He caught sight of the shy face of Aincera.  She was pushing a trolley containing his dinner.

While he was progressing with his ritual, Atein couldn’t leave the magic circle for an extended amount of time.  He wasn’t working on the magic circle 24/7, but problems occurred intermittently.  He had to fix errors, and he had to provide magical energy when the flow of magical energy thinned out.  He had to continuously make adjustments.

While he was doing this, Aincera waited on him.  If something needed to be done, she didn’t order her maids.  She did it herself.  She was acting very differently from how she normally acted over the years.  The servants didn’t know what to make of this stark difference.

“Thanks to the numerous sacrifices the ritual was able to move on to the next step.  At the very least, I can now sleep in my bed for a couple hours each day.”

Atein let out a bright smile as he spoke.

He could feel it at this moment.  The Great Darkness was being filled.

The Dragon Demon worshippers, who promised to follow his cause, continued to die.  Their deaths were fattening up the Great Darkness.  The specters of intelligent beings were the essence that made up the Great Darkness.

‘I lost the Infinite Beast and the Tree god, but…….’

He had lost two pillars, and it was a very big loss.  In losing them, he was no longer able to use their abilities.  He would have to make up for the loss with his own magic.  Time and effort had to be diverted to bridge this gap.

However, the Great Darkness was stronger than ever despite losing the two pillars.

Unfortunately, this boost in power was temporary.  In the long term, the loss of the pillars was larger than the gain achieved through the deaths of the Dragon Demon King worshippers.

Still, it was enough power to stop the threat from his enemies.  He would be able to finish his ritual.

Suddenly, Atein spoke.

“Another one of my friends have left my side.”

“You are talking about general Almarick.”

“That’s right.  His fate didn’t allow him to achieve his earnest wish….”

Beings that occupied the same time frame as him were dying one by one.

Aunsaurus, Baldazark and even Almarick….

Each death hurt Atein.

The life of a human being was akin to a firefly in front of his eyes.  They let out a bright light before they disappeared.  It was exceedingly fleeting. 

This was why the existence of the Dragon Demon generals was precious to him.  Atein was able to see the world only in the macroscopic view.  That was why there weren’t many beings that could occupy the same time period as him for an extended amount of time.

“If I kill Reygus with my own hands, there will be no one left.”

“You have me.”

Aincera embraced Atein.

“I will be with you until the end.”

“Thank you.”

Atein smiled as he spoke.  His eyes couldn’t see Aincera.  His eyes were empty.

She truly was a lovely mate.  She was a precious partner that shared his cause.  However, she could not exist in the same time frame as him.

In comparison to the years he had to live, her life was fleeting.  He was true to the love being felt in the present.  However, he couldn’t help but imagine the future where this love would erode away.  This was the pain that Atein would have to bear.

“If you treat the world with hate, you have to be ready to be hated by the world…..”

Suddenly, Atein mumbled the resolve that he had recited to himself during the Dragon Demon war.

In truth, Atein hadn’t come up with those words.

In the distant past, a human had told him those words.  From Atein’s perspective, the youth had lived for a very short amount of time.

He could no longer remember the name or the face of this youth.  However, when he closed his eyes, he could recall the conversation.  He could do it at will.

‘Do you hate the world, magician-nim?’

‘You don’t hate it?’

‘I’ll be lying if I said I didn’t hate it.  It is a messed up world.’

‘Why do you live like this then?’

He was a youth that was born with nothing.

He was born to a poor family, and he had lost his parents at a young age.  He had lived an arduous life, and he got sick before he could achieve anything.  In the end, he died before he could recover from the illness.

Until the moment of his death, the youth lived to help the young homeless children of the streets.

Atein had disguised himself as a human magician during his travels.  In some small city, he had rescued a youth protecting a young girl, who had been selling her body in the back streets.  The youth was being beaten as a price for helping the young girl.  Atein had rescued the young man, and they had become friends.  This was why Atein decided to stay near this city for a couple months.  It was also the reason why Atein was able to hear the last will of the dying youth.

‘If you treat the world with hate, you have to be ready to be hated by the world.’

‘Aren’t you already hated by this world?’

‘I suppose so.  Despite being hated, I cannot bring myself to hate the world.  I refuse to hate the world even if the world hates me.  If I do this, I know there will be people that’ll love me.’

It was as the youth had said.  There were a lot of people, who loved this youth.

He didn’t have any parents or relatives.  When his body became so weak that he couldn’t stand up, people willingly searched him out.  They came to take care of him.  When Atein held a funeral service for the young man, a great number of people had attended the funeral, and they had cried for him.

The youth’s last will was simple.

‘I worked myself to death, yet the only thing I have is my house.  Please use this house to help the children I fed.’

Basically, he wanted to give his home to the homeless street urchins.

The life of this young youth was an example of ridiculous amount of selflessness and sacrifice.  He hadn't been a philosopher or a magician.  He was a poor youth that had a hard time making ends meet everyday.  This was why he had left behind a deep impression within Atein’s mind.  After countless years had passed, he still remembered the youth.

‘Magician-nim, you are handsome, so you should laugh more.  Women will line up for you.  They’ll love you.’

‘Even if I don’t do that, there are many women that want me.’

‘Wow.  You are so full of yourself.  Well, I guess I can see it since you are a mage.  Magician-nim?’

‘What is it?’

‘I don’t know the source of your hatred, but you should hate in moderation.  You should try to live without doing so.’

‘What if I said I’m incapable of feeling hate?’

‘How could you be considered to be a person if that is possible?’

‘…….’

‘For some reason, i know that magician-nim is different from other people.  You really seem like someone that is capable of hating the world despite the whole world hating you back.  That is why you should reign in your hate.  Magician-nim is a good person.’

After the youth died, Atein left the small city.

He revisited the city after a couple of years, but the young man's home was no longer there. 

A criminal organization that ruled over that part of the city had started selling drugs to the residents.  After making the residents addicted to the drug, the residents were chased out of the district.  The crime organization made an entertainment district in place of the residential area.

Some left in disgust and others were chased out with no place to go.  Many people became ruined by the drugs, and they died in the streets.    

Atein checked up on the children that the young man had taken under his wing.  He also looked for the young girl, who the youth had saved in their first meeting.  She had been the last act of kindness carried out by the young man. Every one of them had become hooked on drugs, and they had been worked to death like slaves.  In the end, they became ruined or they died.

When Atein confirmed this truth, he killed all the members of the criminal organization that had been involved in their deaths.  Then he killed all the men of influence that pulled the strings from behind the scenes.  He knew it wouldn't change anything, but he couldn't help it.  He killed them all.

“I can take on the hate of the entire world. If humanity can gain their future as a price……"

He couldn’t remember the face or the name of the youth.  He recalled the youth's words as he mumbled to himself.

“…it'll be well worth it.”

In the middle of his torment, he reaffirmed his resolve.  For some reason, his smile looked sad. 

6

The death of Almarick was an event worthy of a celebration to the members of the Guardian Shadows.

However, they didn't pause in their work.

They knew that they were given a finite time.

Kayalia spoke.

-The Great Darkness is getting stronger.

The destruction of two pillars had been a huge loss.  It was apt to say that the Great Darkness had lost significant portion of its function.  

However, this loss was being made up by the deaths of the Dragon Demon King worshippers.  In terms of strength, Atein was becoming stronger.  He was at the peak of his power.

-My power is getting stronger.

Her essence was within the great Darkness, so she could feel her power grow continuously.

-You can also observe it through the Guardian Shadows.

“You are right.  They are capable of pulling this off now…...”

Leticia nodded her head.

It was as Kayalia had said.  The Guardian Shadows had gotten stronger too.  Each specter's ability was clearly becoming stronger.  This increased ability allowed the user of the staff to manifest oneself through the specter.  It was a new supplemental power.  

They had discussed this new new phenomena with Kayalia.  

-This ability might be based on the changes Atein made.  It is to help him manifest his clones through the Darkness Incarnate.

“It functions akin to Azell’s Dawn’s Defender.”

Leticia spoke in astonishment as she looked at the specters that had taken on the form of herself.  Each of the specters was wielding a spear.

Of course, their battle capability couldn’t be compared to Leticia.  At most, the specters of the Guardian Shadow could use this new ability to copy Leticia’s appearance and style.  Still, this was enough.  It was quite useful in many ways.

She was quickly learning how to control the multiple Guardian Shadows thanks to Azell.  It was similar in technique to his cloning technique.

While she researched on how to make better use of this ability, she became deeply occupied in finishing her secret technique.

Azell spoke.

“At this point, I think you can use it in a real battle.”

“You want me to use the technique at this degree of completion?”

Leticia was cultivating a secret technique learned from Azell.

She had been instructed on it from before, but it was such a high level technique that she was only able to learn it recently.  This was the first time Azell had said her technique was good enough to use in battle.

Azell nodded his head.

“The most important part is your confidence and trust in your technique.  You have to be confident that you’ll be able to succeed in using the technique in any situation.  We were going at each other, and you were able to succeed in using it in all ten attempts.  That means you are ready to use it in a real battle.”

“I don’t think this is enough…..”

Leticia still didn’t look confident in herself.  Azell cut her off.

“If two combatants are fighting equipped with long sword and armor, there comes a moment in a fight where a dagger might be useful.  The degree of completion of your technique might look poor to you, but it can be used in a live battle.  ”

“Mmmm…….”

“Every technique doesn’t have to be a killer technique.  Each skill has its own role.  You know this to be true.”

“…you are right.”

Leticia smirked.

When she heard Azell’s words, she realized that she had unnecessarily set her expectations too high.  Her expectation was so high that she had missed the big picture.

Suddenly, she asked a question.

“If I get into a fight with Reshoo, will I be able to win against him?”

“I do not know the level of Reshoo’s power.”

“It isn’t as if we are devoid of any information about him.  There is the information we heard from Kayalia.”

Azell’s party learned about what had happened in the fight between Reygus and Reshoo.  It was an extremely important piece of information.

“…he would be too much for you.  Even if you are being supported by Laura and Kairen, I think you might need one or two more of our members if you want to face Reshoo.”

"As expected…….”

Leticia let out a cold smile at his honest answer.

“It is a good thing I asked you that question.  If I asked Kairen, he would have tried to spare my feelings with his answer.  I wouldn’t have received a proper answer.”

“Unexpectedly, the Duke is soft in some ways.  He is like that even when he is harsh on himself.”

Azell smirked.  As he looked at Leticia, he had a thought.

‘I’m lucky.’

Two hundred twenty years had passed, yet he still had good comrades by his side.  It was the same during his era.  He was surrounded by good people.

It wasn’t just the comrades that were alive right now.  Carlos had endured personal hell to give Azell hope in the future.  Then there were his descendents, who had given up their lives as humans.  They had taken up the duty of finding someone that they could entrust the future…..

These were relationships that he would never forget.

It was the same for the comrades that were currently next to him.  If he hadn’t met them, he wouldn’t be alive right now.

‘That is why I’ll give you my answer as many times as you want, Atein.’

The traces of all these people were etched into his soul.  That was why he wouldn’t hesitate to answer Atein’s enormous question.  Moreover, that time wasn’t too far off.  Atein would hear his answer.