Chapter 280 – Truth
“Mmm…”
The silver-haired girl clutched the blanket tightly, barely concealing her body—yet still, vast stretches of pale skin peeked through the sheer fabric, the delicate cloth tracing the curves of her form like a whisper.
After days of relentless effort, the spell had finally been fully deciphered. Olivia was nearly spent—exhausted beyond measure. She’d never imagined studying magic could be this grueling, as if she’d just survived a battle for her very soul.
But the one who had been working alongside her—Anher—remained utterly energized, as if fatigue were a concept foreign to him.
“Don’t you ever get tired?” Olivia turned to face his profile, her voice laced with playful reproach.
Though this experience had taken her by surprise, she felt an unexpected sense of peace and fulfillment. It meant they could share more—live out every dream she’d ever imagined, surpass even the most beautiful promises from stories. More than the legendary Promise Scale, this felt real.
Anher turned his head toward her. In his golden eyes, a flicker of crimson light flashed—brief, but unmistakable.
Olivia shivered.
She sensed it—a faint, unsettling undercurrent in his gaze. Not quite human. Not quite kind.
Like the Deep Abyss Demon I once saw… or the bloodthirsty pureblood Red Dragon that razed entire cities.
That was not the look of a noble Gold Dragon.
Was it just my imagination? Olivia furrowed her brows, silently questioning.
Anher smiled again, his eyes burning with quiet intensity. “We dragons are born of magic. To remain in human form while studying spells—it feels… unnatural.”
He leaned in, voice soft, almost intimate. “Olivia, Teacher… should we continue in our True Form?”
Olivia buried her doubts deep within. She tossed a pillow at him with a mock glare. “This is a tavern, Anher! Do you want to destroy this tiny room?”
But the man before her remained expressionless, his tone cool.
“Tiny? Olivia… this space is more than enough for anything we desire.”
“Anher… what are you saying?” A chill crept up Olivia’s spine.
She looked around, dazed. When had it happened?
She was no longer in the cozy little room. The soft bed, the flickering lamp—gone. In their place stood a towering dome, cold stone walls, thick iron pillars.
She was in the Royal Palace all along. She had never left.
Before her, the black-haired, golden-eyed man revealed his true form.
A massive Red Dragon, over thirty meters long, like a mountain given life, unfolded its wings with a thunderous roar. The vast span of its wings loomed over her, sealing her in darkness.
The Silver Dragon stiffened.
Above her head, a swirling mass of foul, black energy hovered—thick, choking, greedily draining light and the last remnants of her thoughts.
She knew that spell.
Eighth-Level Curse: Mind of the Labyrinth.
A trap for the mind. A prison of phantom illusions, endless and disorienting.
“No…”
“Impossible.”
Olivia felt her world crumble. She shook her head violently, refusing to accept it.
All the warmth, the dreams, the intimacy—it was shattered.
In its place: cold, absolute despair.
Tears—crystal and cold—streamed from her silver eyes.
With the last of her strength, she rasped, voice raw:
“Anher… where is he?
What have you done to him?”
Kai Xiusu stepped forward, lowering his head until his lips brushed her ear.
“The silver coffin in the Trifal Church… the corner of the Hall of Phatry… the waterfall in the Southern Aghul Forest… the bookshelf in the Witch’s Veil Tavern.”
Olivia froze.
Her breath caught.
Every single one of those places—secret, private, spoken only in the deepest intimacy between lovers—had been whispered in confidence. No one else could know.
Yet he spoke them all, with perfect precision.
A terrifying thought bloomed in her mind.
But she refused to believe it.
The Red Dragon exhaled a plume of sulfur-scented smoke.
“Olivia,” he murmured, “I told you. When you know the truth, you’ll realize how utterly ridiculous you truly are.”
“There was never an Anher.”
He stared at her, each word deliberate.
“Only Kai Xiusu has ever existed.”
Olivia collapsed onto the cold floor, her blue-gray eyes hollow with confusion.
The only thing that had kept her going—her endurance, her hope—had now become the sharpest thorn in her heart.
What was left?
“Why…”
“Why did you do this?”
After long silence, her voice came out like a whisper—broken, lifeless.
A question. A lament. A plea.
But Kai Xiusu said nothing.
He simply stared, his tone flat.
“Come. We have all the time in the world.”
“Let us… savor it.”
For months imprisoned, then days spent in relentless study—Olivia was beyond exhaustion. And against the overwhelming might of the Red Dragon, her resistance was meaningless.
The assault came like a storm—violent, scorching, relentless. Heat surged through her body. Smoke curled around her, thick and choking.
Kai Xiusu’s gaze fixed on her slender neck.
A sudden, overwhelming urge gripped him—not just for flesh, but for destruction.
“Rend it! Shatter it all!”
A frenzied voice echoed in his mind.
Was it his own?
He didn’t notice the bloodshot veins in his golden eyes, the drool slipping from his lips, the claws now fully extended.
Olivia felt it—the primal terror. The instinctive dread of something utterly chaotic, ancient, and unknown.
She was afraid. Not just of death.
But of what she was facing.
With the last of her strength, she flailed—wings beating, claws raking against her own scales. But the marks she left were shallow, fleeting.
Kai Xiusu wrapped his massive arm around her neck, pinning her beneath him. Veins bulged across his forearm as his strength surged.
In desperation, Olivia twisted and bit down hard on his arm—but her fangs barely scratched the thick, armored hide of the Red Dragon.
To her, it was life or death.
To him, it was nothing.
A mere tickle.
She was fading.
Everything was ending.
But Olivia, defiant to the last, forced out one final, trembling cry:
“No! This is your essence, you Five-Colored Dragon! You cursed offspring of Tiamat!
Now you are nothing but a beast driven by hunger and madness—some abomination from the Bottomless Abyss!
All living things will loathe you! And one day… the gods will destroy you!”
She spat the words like venom, screaming them with every ounce of her dying soul.
“Deep Abyss Demon.”
Kai Xiusu murmured.
Then repeated it—louder.
His entire body trembled.
Fire flared in his eyes—then died.
He stood motionless, as if locked in silent battle with some invisible enemy.
A deafening roar echoed from nowhere—waves of heat tore through the air. The ground shook. The very walls trembled.
And then—silence.
Gradually, the storm passed.
Kai Xiusu opened his eyes. The blood in his pupils had faded.
For so long, the Red Dragon’s aura had kept every follower silent—even Lanpu, his most trusted.
But now, through Olivia’s furious curse, a single spark had pierced the fog.
A tiny catalyst.
Yet priceless.
The Kai Xiusu who had walked in the dark—lost, consumed—suddenly saw a sliver of light.
He remembered.
The Red Dragon’s gaze cleared.
Astonishment. Then fury.
But not at Olivia.
“Damn it… Jezarslak.”
His voice was strained. “He must have tampered with the Heart of Karex. That destructive divine power… that Abyssal consciousness… it’s been poisoning my mind.”
The madness within him began to recede.
He thought back on the past days—the reckless abandon, the bloodlust, the insane desire to destroy the world.
He had nearly become a monster.
A vessel for the Abyss.
A replacement for Karex.
A tool for the ancient evil.
And then… he would have become the enemy of the gods.
Not himself.
Not free.
Never again.
He could still feel it—the curse, lingering.
The blood-red threads still beneath his skin.
The Chaos Flame, hidden in his veins, slowly consuming his reason, waiting for the right moment to erupt.
He needed a way.
A method.
Not just to survive.
But to break it.
Curse.
Yes.
To him, this was no less than a Dragon’s Madness Lock—silent, insidious, impossible to resist unless one knew the truth.
And now, it was still active.
But now, he could fight back.
He could act.
He could choose.
Not just be a slave to desire.
He looked at Olivia—still trembling, still broken.
“Thank you,” he said, voice low.
“I’ll reduce the restrictions of the Dragon Binding Ritual.”
“You may walk freely through the Palace from now on.”
Then, without another word, he spread his vast wings and turned, vanishing into the shadows of the Royal Palace.
---
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
