Dragonlord

Ep 165. Plead Your Case. (4)

Ep 165. Plead Your Case. (4)

‘Strange…is there an earthquake?’

Karas’ eyes twitched in discomfort.

As the ground beneath him continued to shake, his fingers twitched beneath, searching for something to hold onto.

And while his hand did find something, it didn’t feel particularly firm. Or tough. Or even still, for that matter.

But, to an extent, it felt nostalgic to hold.

…Until the hand that held his decided to tighten into a crushing grip.

“#$%^&*!!!”

With an incoherent groan, Karas’ eyes jolted open to reveal a boundless white sky.

And, as it turned out, the ground beneath him was perfectly still. What was rumbling was not the world itself, but the insides of his head.

Not that it concerned him much.

“…Light?”

“…”

As he raised his upper body, the first thing the professor noticed was his student, squeezing his hand with quite literally every ounce of strength her tiny hand could muster – which shouldn’t have been a lot, though for some reason, it felt like it was.

The second thing Karas noticed was the ominous presence behind his back.

“…?”

He slowly creaked his head to notice the dragonlord standing behind him. One hand was stretched forward, and summoned within its palm was a glimmering, condensed sphere of mana, seemingly prepared to blast the target in front of it.

“…Serenis, is it me or are you moments away from blasting me with magic?”

“That depends. Do you plan to cause another scene?”

“…No?”

“Then no.”

While Karas’ eyes twitched in confusion, the tightening grip on his hand forced him to return his attention to his student. He tried to wriggle his hand out of her hold, but when he failed to do so, he gave a pleading look toward the half girl crouching in front of him.

“L, Light…? That…hurts quite a bit…”

“…”

Instead of letting go, the cat half tightened her grip further, causing her teacher’s body to jerk once more. Karas’ other hand tapped against the ground in a surrendering manner, but even that didn’t seem to help.

Then, Karas frantically looked to the dragonlord with a pleading gaze, wordlessly asking for assistance.

At first, Serenis withdrew her hand, as well as the prepared spell.

But she then crossed her arms, shaking her head at the academic’s unsightly display.

“Compared to all the trouble you’ve caused, this is but a small price, Karas.”

"Trouble? What did I…?”

As his mind briefly wandered, soon accompanying the pain in his hand was a flood of memories – recollections of what he’d done before losing consciousness.

Namely, attacking everyone at Chell.

Including Light.

‘…Oh, right. That happened.’

On the bright side, he was no longer panicking on what to do.

On the not-so-bright side, he was exhausted, dizzy, ashamed, and most of all, in pain.

Not that he had any mind to complain. He merely stared back at Light with a sorry gaze as she glared at him with spiteful eyes.

“…”

“…”

For a moment, Light’s grip seemed to loosen – and Karas began sighing in relief, glad that one part of his exhaustion was gone.

But his relief was quickly killed as Light then proceeded to tackle him, wrapping herself around his waist.

Again, Light shouldn’t have been particularly heavy for the professor – but for some reason, it certainly felt so. And while he would’ve loved to ask her to get off for a moment…

‘…Considering what I’ve done, I can’t exactly blame her for being upset-‘

Sniff.

“?! Light?!”

Although Light’s face was buried in his waist, the sniffles quickly indicated that his student wasn’t torturing him out of spite or anger.

Karas’ body froze, unsure of how to approach the situation; despite his helpless gaze, Serenis didn’t seem keen on offering any sort of advice.

“…”

“…”

Sighing, the professor carefully reached out his hand.

And, as per usual, he placed it between the half’s ears to pet her.

“…I’m sorry.”

“…Why’d you do something you were gonna be sorry about?”

“…”

While Light’s muffled question stabbed at Karas’ conscience, she herself remained buried in her professor’s embrace.

I didn’t want to believe it.

The person who saved me and cared for me for so long would never attack me. That’s what I wanted to believe.

So, to be honest, when you were yourself again…

I wanted you to smile at me like you always did, as if nothing had ever happened.

I wanted you to tell me that you’d never attack me. That it wasn’t your will at all.

But one look at you is all I need to know.

To know that you’re feeling sorry,

To know how reluctant you are to look me in the eye.

And because you are, I have to hear it from you.

As her trembling lessened, Light abruptly withdrew herself to raise her head. She forced her teary eyes to remain open.

A bitter, resentful gaze met the professor’s guilt-ridden eyes.

And while that alone told the half more than she needed to know, she still wished to hear the answer from her teacher.

“…Why did you attack me?”

“…”

Again, Karas maintained silence on the question – but with his entire body aching in pain and his student staring him to oblivion, he couldn’t dodge the question forever.

With a long sigh, the professor finally opened his mouth.

“Well, I…thought that…if we were to reach the Archive, I could…well…”

“Well what? Archive this, Archive that – what are you even looking for?”

“The…old you, I suppose.”

“…Old me? Like, when I was a cat?”

“No, um…even before that.”

“…?”

“…The person you were before you were born as ‘Light.’”

Light’s eyes closed halfway as she heard her professor’s reply.

She wasn’t particularly surprised. She’d heard this answer before – just from other people.

But even though the answer remained the same, it was a lot harder to process when it came from Karas directly.

“...So what everyone said was real?”

“Light, I-“

“You were actually trying to kill me?”

“No no, not at all! I, i merely thought that, uh…that you may also be able to reclaim past memories like Serenis, and-“

Karas’ panicked reply was cut short as Light pounced on him once more, burying herself into her professor – and her professor into the ground.

The academic groaned from the sudden impact, twitching beneath his student’s weight. He clawed the ground in a vain attempt to get up.

Sighing, Serenis shook her head before turning to Aymeia.

The former deity had been watching the entire scene unfold with nary a word. She merely stood in place, unsure of what to do and powerless to go or leave – especially with the spider that had been entrusted to her, who was now comfortably resting in her hands.

After making note of the little critter, Serenis made a brief comment for the former deity.

“…They’re not usually like this.”

“I…didn’t think they are…”

Rolling her eyes, the dragonlord turned back. She slightly leaned forward, looking down into the academic’s pained face.

“Though, you do seem more worn than usual, Karas. Are you alright?”

“…No…for…for some reason, I…don’t have any strength…”

Serenis quizzically twitched her brows. As far as she was concerned, Karas didn’t have any reason to be tired; she’d long removed the divinity, and hadn’t done anything to harm him afterwards.

The answer came from another deity, who was busily scribbling haphazard words onto his seemingly endless scroll some distance behind the group. He didn’t even bother to look up as he answered the dragonlord’s question.

“A manaspawn that feeds on souls has exhausted themselves of it. It’s only natural.”

“…? What does that even mean?”

“They’re moments away from starving to death.”

“…Ah.”

This time, the dragonlord’s puzzled gaze fell upon the Historian directly.

But stared or not, the deity’s quill never ceased to move for even a single moment, continuing to fill the scroll with its ink.

“What exactly are you writing?”

“The very events that are happening in this moment.”

“…? Why?”

“’A puzzling question. I am a historian, Serenis. Recording history to me is as breathing is to you.”

“…”

“In addition, the events that transpire within the Archive must be recorded by hand. Hence, I’d quite appreciate it if you’d all take your leave at your earliest convenience.”

Serenis snorted in amusement at the deity’s bluntness. She was starting to understand why Felicir had called him eccentric.

“…I would, but I believe we’ve still matters to discuss. You are of the Twelve yourself, after all.”

“I am not.”

“…? What?”

“’The Twelve’ is but an illusion that Felicir’s devised in his rule. There is no such thing; I am a divinity, not some made-up deity.”

“…You’re still in possession of a divinity. Just like the others.”

“This divinity has always belonged to me.”

“…No, your divinities are from-“

“This one’s always been mine.”

“…”

Clearly, eccentric didn’t cut it.

“…I don’t suppose you’re willing to lose it, then.”

“Why would I willingly lose something that’s mine?”

“Again…your divinities are but fragments of one whole. None of it belongs to mankind.”

With Serenis’ last remark, the Historian’s quill finally came to a halt.

He raised his indifferent gaze to study the dragonlord. It seemed as if he’d refute her answer any moment.

But surprisingly, his gaze soon fell back to his scroll, and his quill resumed its writing. Even his answer was in no way a refute to Serenis’ last response.

“Since it seems you’re considering taking it by force, I should inform you that you are far too weak to do so in that state.”

“…What?”

“So return to your nest, Serenis. We’ll meet again anyhow.”

“What are you-“

Serenis began stepping forward to approach the Historian. She’d been curious to know what his divinity even was, and now seemed a better time than any to find out.

Though, before she could take her second step, a sudden yelling cut through the air to steal away her attention – a voice that had been low and dying only moments ago, now invigorated with newfound curiosity and shock.

In fact, Karas had even managed to raise his upper body again, frantically turning his head to scan their surroundings.

“Wait, THIS is the Archive?!?!?!”