“Sonia!”
Gazing at the pale young lady lying in a pool of blood, Lilian yelled, pounced on her, and extended her trembling hands. All she felt was warmth fading away from her body. Blood flowed out of the young lady’s chest, smearing the ground in red. Lilian raised her head in a daze. The ball of white flames in front of her extinguished all of a sudden and three to four soldiers clad in white robes and armor appeared from the darkness. They were like ghosts. Despite the area being brightly lit by the surrounding torches, the air around them was dark. One of them was burned from head to toe and was seemingly miserable. It was apparent that he was the one who ambushed Sonia.
Lilian shivered at the sight of them. She knew who they were. Before leaving Casabianca, Sonia once told her that they were Nakvard’s subordinates. They were incredibly strong and she couldn’t defeat them. Lilian didn’t expect to meet them here…
“Sir! Sir!”
The militias yelled, surrounding Lilian and Sonia completely. Shortly after, three militias went up and subdued Lilian. At the same time, the soldiers clad in white robes sauntered toward Lilian when suddenly, an elderly man scuttled out of the crowd toward them. It was the elderly man whose grandson Lilian had treated. The elderly man displayed a fawning smile to the soldiers.
“You see…”
“Yes.”
The soldiers nodded, before tossing a bag of money to him. The elderly man took the bag, turned around, and left quickly. Lilian stared at the scene, dumbfounded. She couldn’t decipher her exact mood and emotions anymore. But she felt regretful for the first time. If it weren’t for her stubbornness, Sonia wouldn’t have agreed to stay for the night and eventually be tracked down by these men. But now… now… why? Lilian lowered her gaze, looking at Sonia foolishly who laid beside her with closed eyes like she was in slumber. Lilian tried to extend her arms, but the soldiers gripped them. She couldn’t budge at all.
Why? Why do they want to capture me? Am I not the Creator Dragon? I’m the Light Dragon: the dragon soul heir of this continent. How dare the humans treat me this way? Is it because I’m powerless? They are under the protection of my power and yet, they treat me with no respect at all and even hurt the people around me? I’ve tried so hard, but it seems like my efforts are pointless to them. No matter what I do, I always end up in such a miserable plight. So what purpose do I have for doing this? Why must I do it? Why must I continue to protect the bad guys who betray and harm the people around me? Why must I do it? They have always treated me this way and even killed my closest friend. Do I still need to protect these people? Why must I protect these people who are hostile toward me? Why must I be the one to do it? This is it. I’ve had enough. I don’t want to continue doing it any longer! I no longer wish to do it anymore!
“… Don’t touch me…’
Lilian said as the white-robed soldier took a step forward to pull her away. Her voice was so weak, almost inaudible, and yet for some reason, the white-robed soldier was taken aback. He sensed an unprecedented might slowly diffusing from her.
“… Don’t touch me… You’re only a human… You have no right to treat me this way!”
Lilian lifted her head, her eyes emanating a golden radiance. Almost simultaneously, the soldiers heard a crisp, crackling sound from her chest and all of a sudden, a blinding, golden radiance erupted from her body and rushed straight into the sky. The powerful airflow expanded in a blast, turning the militias holding her down into ashes by the golden beam.
“Enough… I’ve had enough…”
Lilian disregarded the people around her completely. She ambled toward Sonia, knelt on the ground, and crystal-clear tears trickled down her cheeks and fell to the ground. The militias were flustered. They didn’t know how to deal with this situation. The white-robed soldiers grimaced, nervously clutching their weapons. At this moment, the night sky started turning strange as thick layers of dark clouds concealed the presence of the moon. Despite the dazzling light column behind Lilian bursting into the sky, for some unknown reason, the soldiers and militias felt like the radiance became incomparably dim as though all the light in the entire world was absorbed by Lilian.
“I’ve had enough… You people don’t care about me at all… Humans only care about themselves… It’s useless no matter how hard I try… So… die! All of you! Die!”
Lilian snarled. The light column behind her trembled all of a sudden and transformed into the shape of an enormous dragon. The dragon of light expanded its wings, raised its head, and widened its mouth, bellowing an earthshaking roar. Suddenly, one by one, golden lightning bolts descended from the heavens!
First to bear the brunt were the white-robed soldiers. The instant Lilian raged, they knew that the situation was anything but assuring. They tried to capture her quickly, but no matter how fast they were, they could never outrun the speed of lightning. Blinding radiance flashed and the white-robed soldiers were instantly struck by the lightning bolts, instantly turning into ashes. The militias encircling them turned pale with fright. They shrieked in horror and turned around to escape. But it was a pity that they didn’t have the chance to leave.
The lightning bolts blasting from above devoured the fleeing humans mercilessly. Not only that, but the flat ground also started to quake as raging flames spurted from the underground, covering the village in a sea of flames.
“Help! Help!”
“Children, my children…!”
Tragic screams sounded from the tranquil village that had instantly become hell. But Lilian turned a blind eye as she quietly sat beside Sonia, arranging and cleaning her messy hair and clothes. Lilian’s eyes were completely lifeless, like a robot executing its task and neglecting the happenings around it. The militias no longer had the courage to resist her. They abandoned their weapons and fled in frantic screams. However, the surging flames instantly consumed their bodies.
The golden dragon opened its mouth, looking high up to the sky.
A rainstorm came all of a sudden.
“Sonia… I’m sorry…”
Lilian said softly, gazing blankly at the motionless young lady. Her head was a complete blank. All sorts of emotions like regret, disappointment, and anger ran amok inside her mind. She felt like there was a tear in her heart. She didn’t know how and who to vent her frustrations on. The villagers’ horrible plight didn’t affect her at all. She completely disregarded the villagers, refusing to care for them.
Her emotion was burning, yet ice-cold. Lilian sat on the ground foolishly, allowing the raindrops to strike her ruthlessly. She couldn’t differentiate rain and tears anymore. Not even the flames around her rushing into the sky, the brazen lightning bolts, and violent tremors could move her. She occasionally lifted her head to glance at the surroundings, but quickly shifted her gaze back to Sonia as though nothing existed in this world except for this young lady.
Until an arm came from behind and held her shoulder.
“…”
Lilian turned around instinctively and saw a familiar face.
“… Big Brother Rhode…”
“It’s me, Lilian.”
Rhode answered gently. He knitted his brows, gazing at Sonia’s corpse lying in front of Lilian. Her body was washed clean by the rain. There were no traces of filth or liveliness. It seemed like I came too late.
Rhode sighed. In fact, he couldn’t be blamed. If it weren’t for the explosion of Lilian’s dragon soul power, he wouldn’t have been able to locate them through the map interfered by Chaos. Back then when Gillian told him that Lilian’s dragon soul power erupted, he had a bad feeling, which was why he came here as fast as he could. But it seemed like he was too late.
Fortunately, this wasn’t an irreparable mistake.
Rhode extended his arm to Lilian at this thought.
“Come with me, Lilian.”
