The battlefield had quieted.
The roar of war had faded.
The monsters were gone.
The knights—cheering in the distance.
But here, at the center of the battlefield,
beneath a burning sky—
> I sat.
Knees in the cracked dirt.
My hands trembling.
My breath ragged.
> Blue fire flickered around me… and faded.
My Phoenix Veil had done its part.
And now even it, too, seemed tired.
---
The massive body of the Drake lay before me, half-buried in its own crumbled impact.
Its one good eye flickered with dying light.
It stared at me.
And in that moment—
> I heard it.
> A voice. Not out loud—but inside my head.
> "You fought… well… boy of fire…"
---
I blinked.
> "You… can still speak?"
The Drake didn't move. Only its slow, heavy breaths showed it clung to life.
> "Only with thought… with magic… while my soul remains..."
> "Before I vanish… I wish to speak… with the one who broke me."
---
I didn't respond immediately.
I just lowered my head.
I hadn't expected the Drake to speak… let alone with dignity.
And yet—there was no hatred in its voice. Only weariness.
---
> "You think me a monster."
> "But I, too… was born not to kill, but to survive."
> "Among my kind… to show weakness is death. I fought… and rose… and reigned."
> "But it is lonely… atop a throne made of bones."
---
A silence settled.
A wind passed over the broken ground.
> "To be strong… is to outlive those you wish had stayed."
I looked up.
The Drake's dying eye shimmered, not with malice—
but with sorrow.
> "I see now, young one… You do not crave strength to destroy. You fight… to protect."
> "That is a strength even monsters like me could never tame."
---
Then, from its cracked chest, something began to glow—
A faint golden shimmer rose from between its scales.
With his last ounce of magic, the Drake summoned it forth.
Floating gently through the smoke, it drifted down before me:
> A glowing Legendary Orb — pulsing with power ancient as the world itself.
> "One wish," the Drake whispered into my soul.
> "One truth you desire most… but know this—"
> "It comes… with a price."
---
> "My last gift… from a monster to a warrior."
The light in its eye faded.
Its body went still.
And the battlefield knew silence again.
---
I stared at the orb.
Its glow reflected in my eyes.
So much pain.
So much lost.
> Seraphina… was still poisoned.
My brothers were wounded.
Civilians still scattered.
And I had this one wish.
But…
> At what cost?
---
The wind was still.
The sky above had dimmed to a pale gold—ashes floating like feathers.
The great Drake, once the scourge of our kingdom, now lay lifeless before me.
Its body vast like a fallen mountain…
Its soul… fading.
But just as its eye dulled and its breath weakened—
> I felt a shift in the air.
One last pulse.
The Drake's thoughts echoed one more time within me—quiet… grim.
> "Human… Prince of Fire…"
> "I see a storm far greater than me… approaching your path."
> "This war… was only your beginning."
> "There are things… buried in the world… that should never awaken…"
> "But they will."
> "You must be ready."
> "…Or everything you protect… will burn."
And then, silence.
The great Drake's breath stopped for good.
Its massive eye dulled—forever closed.
---
I remained there for a moment, the Legendary Orb floating before me in the smoke.
Still warm.
Still glowing.
Still waiting.
But not yet.
I reached out and gently took the orb into my hands.
> "Not yet…"
> "There's still too much I don't understand."
I slipped it into the inner pouch of my torn armor, close to my heart.
---
That's when I heard them—
Footsteps.
Armor clinking.
Breathless grunts.
> "Alein!!"
I turned.
Through the smoke and bloodied haze, my father approached.
Half his body covered in wounds and cracked plate armor.
Supported by Captain Reinhart, his shoulder around the knight's back.
Even so, he walked.
He had to see it with his own eyes.
---
He stopped several steps from me, staring at the corpse of the Drake, then at me.
I could see it in his face—he wanted to say so much.
But all I did was lift my trembling hand…
And gave him a slow—
Thumbs up.
With a smile—bloody, tired, but proud.
> "We won… Father."
> "We protected our home."
---
He let out a shaky breath.
Then let his head hang as if a mountain had fallen from his back.
> "...Good."
> "Then we live… to rebuild."
Around us, knights slowly emerged from the ruins.
Wounded. Crying. Some missing limbs.
But they were alive.
> We all were.
And the last stand of Airillesta…
Had become legend.
---
I stood… barely.
Every limb trembled.
The Phoenix Veil had vanished, the Drake had fallen, but a single name pulsed in my heart—
> Seraphina.
She was still in danger.
And I didn't have time.
---
I turned to my father, breathing heavily, sweat and blood coating my face.
> "Father… please… let me go to Dragereth."
> "I need to see her—now."
He looked at me for a long moment, silent.
A man who had just watched his son strike down a myth, who now saw the boy beneath the flame.
> "You shouldn't move in this condition," Captain Reinhart muttered beside him.
"You need rest. You're barely standing."
> "I can't rest," I said.
"Not when she's still fighting to live."
---
My father stepped closer, placing a heavy hand on my shoulder.
> "...I want to see her too, Alein."
> "But I can't leave the border yet. The people still need their king."
He turned to Reinhart, his voice full of reluctant trust.
> "Captain. Take him."
> "Bring my son to Dragereth. Make sure… he sees her. And returns."
---
Captain Reinhart saluted without hesitation.
> "Yes, Your Majesty."
---
Minutes later, knights formed a protective escort around a single royal carriage—its wheels reinforced, its horses the fastest remaining.
My battered body was lifted onto the cushions inside, and wrapped in a light cloak to cover the wounds.
Captain Reinhart climbed in beside me, giving orders through the window to move fast—but smooth.
> "We'll be there in under an hour. Hold on, Your Highness."
I nodded weakly, clenching my fist against the pain.
> "She held on this long… So can I."
---
As the wheels turned and the wind rushed outside, I looked once more through the small window behind me.
The battlefield grew smaller in the distance.
Smoke still drifted.
But—
> The Drake's corpse remained there.
A reminder that we had won.
That I was still alive.
And now—
> I had a wish in my hand.
> And a girl I couldn't lose.
Chapter 16 end