Chapter 154: Slap

{Hello there – Author here… so I am here just to tell you guys that there is a crude map of Aethelburg in the comment. I tried a lot with AI but at the end had to make it myself, yeah my drawing skills are not that good… so enjoy. Oh yeah almost forgot… we reached 200k words. Thanks for reading so far.}

The dragon had moved suddenly, crossing the distance to the demon in a blur of motion that Ishiki’s eyes could barely track. One moment they were separated by dozens of meters. The next, the dragon’s hand was wrapped around the demon’s throat.

Even from this distance, Ishiki could clearly see the shift in dynamics. The predator and the prey… the demon being the latter in front of the mythical creature.

’They’re fighting,’ Ishiki thought with a mixture of hope and terror. ’They’re actually fighting each other. That’s… that’s good, right? The enemy of my enemy and all that?’

But even as the thought formed, he knew it was foolish optimism. The dragon wasn’t humanity’s ally just because it had beef with the demons. If anything, it made the situation worse—two different threats instead of one enemy.

Well… unless the dragon takes care of the demon before moving on to whatever other thing he wants to do.

That aroused many questions.

First and foremost—why the hell was this dragon sealed beneath the cathedral in the first place? What had it done to warrant such imprisonment? And more pressingly, why would the demon free this thing if they weren’t allies?

’Maybe they needed something specific… that either only the dragon knows about. Or he is the key to getting that item.’

Still… Ishiki felt very sorry for the people who died just now because of someone’s selfish desire.

But there was no time to indulge such feelings. He could contemplate the moral implications later—if he survived long enough for “later” to exist. His own continued existence was far from guaranteed at this juncture.

And what made discerning anything impossible was the fact that the motives of the dragon remained hidden and unclear. Just one thing was very clear… and that was the fact that the dragon was very angry.

The dragon released the demon suddenly, and the figure fell back through the air before the wings caught and stabilized it. Then… a few words were exchanged and the demon looked desperate, judging by the body language—and then the dragon suddenly appeared in front of the demon and punched it right in the chest.

The demon dove toward the Secondary Ring, plummeting like a stone.

Ishiki saw this and wanted to run away very badly… he had no interest in getting indulged in a fight of two such strong creatures.

Ishiki pulled himself upright using the wall for support, his legs trembling beneath him. The house he had crashed into was two stories up, which was not insurmountable, but climbing down in his current state would be treacherous.

He moved through the darkened interior. His eyes had adjusted somewhat to the gloom, picking out shapes and obstacles as he walked down the stairs.

He descended methodically, one hand on the railing, one foot in front of the other, refusing to let his body fail him now.

’Just a little further,’ he told himself. ’Get to ground level and get somewhere safe. It would still take some time for me to heal on my own… hell I wish i can upgrade this attribute just Ghost Blade.’

But it was not possible… maybe there would be a way when he got stronger. But right now he needed to find a healer if he wanted to get in better shape quickly.

Yuki’s face materialized unbidden in his thoughts.

Guilt twisted in his chest like a living thing.

She had been trapped inside illusions by her own brother… it has been days and Ishiki hadn’t even went to check on her. He was too focused on historical knowledge.

He chuckled at the thought. ’Look where that cursed information brought me.’

’Is she even alive?’ The question haunted him. ’Did she survive the bombardment? She was still unconscious when the rocks started falling.’

He shook his head sharply, banishing the spiraling thoughts. She had to be alive and well… else.

He didn’t know how to put it in words so he stopped.

’If she’s awake,’ he reasoned, clinging to pragmatism like a lifeline. ’If she survived and regained consciousness, then her healing abilities could save me. Then we need to look for a way to either enter the inner ring and completing the scenario before the dragon completes us.’

’Heh… we can even use the dragon for ourselves. If it was imprisoned here then it is certain that it resents the emperor. So, we can use him to weaken the emperor and then kill him.’

BOOM.

The impact shook the entire building.

Ishiki stumbled on the stairs, nearly falling.

’The demon,’ he realized. ’It hit the ground… damn poor thing.’

He reached the ground floor and stumbled the door and threw it open with his good arm and emerged into the crimson night.

The street outside was carnage, filled with rubble and debris.

Ishiki limped away from the cathedral ruins, moving as fast as his battered body would allow.

He made it perhaps two blocks, when a figure stepped out from behind a collapsed wall…

Ishiki’s palm went instinctively forward, ready to summon a weapon.

Then recognition dawned.

“Filch?”

The burgundy-haired young man stood there in the crimson moonlight, his face glistered with sweat and concern. His expression grew bleak as he took in Ishiki’s appearance.

“Ishiki,” Filch said in a shock as he rushed over to him. “What the hell are you doing here? And you look terrible. Like someone threw you off a building and then dropped the building on you afterward.”

Ishiki blinked a couple of time and then almost laughed. Almost.

“Not… not far off,” he managed, his voice hoarse. “I was in the cathedral. And then it exploded… Got thrown by the blast.”

“The cathedral?” Filch repeated slowly. “It exploded? No wonder we had a rock rain… everyone felt the explosion.” He paused, tilting his head slightly. “And what the fuck were you doing there? Do you have some kind of trouble magnet?”

Ishiki hesitated. The truth was complicated and confusing as it was. He wasn’t even sure he understood it fully himself.

“I… there was a girl,” he started, the words coming slowly. “She was performing some kind of ritual… and then she sacrificed herself… and then the pillars exploded and—”

“And unleashed that dragon.” Filch finished, his gaze drifting upward toward where the dragon still hovered.

Then he looked back at Ishiki and asked again seriously. “And that does not tell me what were you doing there?”

Ishiki hesitated for a second before starting. “I was just… exploring for -”

SLAP

Filch didn’t even hear the explanation and slapped him in the face. The slap wasn’t particularly hard, filch didn’t seem like someone who would hit with unnecessary force.

But it was sharp and sudden and caught Ishiki completely off guard.

“What the—” Ishiki snapped back… but was stopped as Filch wrapped his arms around him in a warm hug.

“I am glad you are alive… really.”

Ishiki opened his mouth to say something, but closed it without a sound.

Then a very sharp sound like that of a thunderclap reached their ears and both of them froze, heads snapping upward instinctively toward the sky.

The dragon in his human form hovered there with one of its leg raised in front of him.

CRASH!!!

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