The Villain's Story

Chapter 783: The you that despises you.

[Kill the dragon.]

The voice echoed once more, as Edward pressed on. It had been repeating that same phrase for ages now. Ever since, he left the group and roamed this desert of black sand. He heard it repeat the same phrase, again and again.

He was following the invisible line, and it was unclear how much distance he had covered, but it was probably a lot, still, the constant muttering was getting on his nerves.

Furthermore, he had his shields summoned already, afraid of this unknown world. Who knew when something would jump out of the black sand and attack him? The entire place was sending shivers down his spine.

[KILL THE DRAGON.]

Once more, it shouted in his mind, he felt the connection to the invisible line grow stronger, and sped on, trying his best to ignore the voice. But he couldn’t, How would one ignore a voice that constantly shouted in their mind?

He was confused, as to why he heard such things. Why was it so intent on killing Kazikato? The task was impossible, no matter what Edward did, Kazikato was in a league of his own.

He was a dragon, he was but a Demi-human. Whatever special bloodline he had or whatever powers it held, he only knew how to use the golden flame. And even then, he was bad at it. Furthermore, his talent evaluation wasn’t anything special.

He didn’t know why he was bad at it, he was trying his best. He was doing exactly what the spirit taught him to do... but he never met anyone’s expectation. Emma, on the other hand, had the spirit’s attention all to herself.

She was an unparalleled shaman, according to the spirit, and this special bloodline they shared was much purer in Emma than it was in him. He was happy for her, but slowly wondered where he was going in life.

Thankfully, his only saving grace was that Emma didn’t like to fight, and was content with playing a supportive role. Her shamanistic buffs were truly insane, powered by her bloodline.

The only thing he knew was how to block and give a punch... although with his current party he felt as if it was insufficient. He was good, but not here. Not in this company.

At least he was enough to protect his sister from any miscreants back on Earth, or even some powerhouses of his age. He could do that, he could do that...

’...’

[KILL THE DRAGON.]

Again, it shouted in his mind, causing a minor headache. Edward shook his head, increasing his speed.

He could feel it, he was getting closer to the origin of the voice. His nose could pick up a familiar scent, his skin could feel the air tremble, and furthermore.

He could somehow taste it, a strange taste lingered in the air, it was bitter, odd, and irritated his tongue.

And then, he could see it, the sand moved, the desert was covered with a strange, powerful wind as it rolled over him. It carried the sand to a point in front of him, creating a small tornado.

Edward jumped back, his shields in front as he waited. From the tornado of black sand emerged... nothing.

”...?”

The wind receded, the grains of black sand fell down, it was all so anti-climatic. There was no foe to confront, no beast to defeat.

Until Edward felt a chill run down his spine, his hair standing on end, driven by nothing but pure beastly instinct, he jumped, covering his body with his shields.

A pillar of ghostly blue flame, with a core of black, rose from the black sand, consuming his figure and sending him upward.

His hands grew numb, the fire caught onto his body, mere moments after his golden flame emerged to protect. He was high in the air, but only for a moment.

His body stopped for a moment in the air, then it began the descent. But the pillar of blue fire was only the start.

All around, from every direction, pillars of the same ghostly blue flame emerged from thin air, and moved like serpents, all towards him.

A tinge of fear appeared in his eyes as his body was drowned in the sea of blue fire, he could only deflect so much, his golden fire could not protect him from a might such as this...

It could only lessen the pain, enough for him to think, to process information, enough to realize he would soon hit the ground. He aimed his shield of reflection towards the ground, and released it.

Enough energy to offset his fall, and he had plenty to spare. The recent onslaught gave him a lot of energy.

His feet dug into the sand as he almost let out a scream from the pain. Parts of his skin, burned by the blue flame, stung like hell, it was so hot... but soon it was growing cold.

Black ice covered his burns, bringing forth a chill second only to that he felt on Lanekia, worse, his clothes were burnt, though he felt they wouldn’t protect him from something like this.

The black ice continued to expand, hindering his movements until Edward forced his golden fire to erupt, barely stopping the advance of the deadly cold.

In front of him, from a ball of the same deadly fire, emerged a bulky fox with a necklace of golden fire. Everything else was the same as obsidian, but it’s eyes, which held a light blue color.

It had six spectacular tails, each one the size of a pillar, stout legs that would crush a human skull without even noticing it, and a jaw capable of rending steel.

Edward stepped back, taking a deep breath as he braced his shields.

[KILL.]

The Fox lunged at him, baring its fangs clad in the ghostly blue flame.

[THE DRAGON.]

He blocked the lunge, but his body ached. He felt as if his arms were going to break any second, he was pushed deeper into the sand, and his entire body hurt.

The amount of force, the brute physical strength, was more than he ever expected, but that was not the end of it all.

Before he could retaliate with his shield of reflection, before he could unleash all the energy he had absorbed. The fox stepped on his foot with its own, crushing the bones in his foot.

Two of its strong tails struck him from the side, his blind spot. He was sent flying away as his ribs were fractured, a few fragments piercing deep into his lungs.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, as his brain raced, his body instinctively diverted all of his power, his golden fire towards his recent injury, stalling his death.

But then, the black ice could now move unperturbed through his skin, it expanded, ever so slowly, but with each centimeter it covered Edward felt the chill run deep into his bones. His movement was constricted, and he was cold.

But his opponent did not care, it lunged at him once more, Edward rolled to the side, barely dodging the fierce fangs. The tails followed soon after, moving down towards him like a hammer.

He raised the shield of reflection and unleashed everything that he stored, a blast of energy. A large explosion which blew the tails off.

The beast had lost two of its tails, but what did it matter?

Edward’s momentary happiness turned into absolute despair when he saw the tails materialize themselves again, emerging from golden fire.

”Fuck...”

He barely managed to mutter as the pillars of fire emerged once again, this time, he was unable to block them at all.

He couldn’t raise his shields up in time... but even if he did manage too... What did it matter? They came from everywhere, and he could not block all directions at once.

Even by curling himself up into a ball, something impossible in his current state... the fire would still consume him.

It would still burn him, and then leave with a frightening chill.

His body burned, in a ball of blue ghostly fire. He was screaming in pain, but he couldn’t even hear his own voice.

Only the enraged, frenzied shout of the beast.

[UNDESERVING BASTARD.]

His voice, his screams of pain, were drowned by the voice in his mind. It was the only thing he could hear, and he could understand it all, even in this pain.

[WE ARE NOT KIN. WE ARE ENEMIES.]

It continued, uncaring of his state.

[KILL THE DRAGONS. STUDY THE FRAUD.]

He cried for help, but his communicator had long melted inside his ear. He hadn’t even felt it. There was no means to ask for help now.

[WEAK GOD BEAST. I CANNOT TOLERATE YOU.]

He fell to the ground, charred, his body no different from the shade of the sand, He couldn’t utter a voice as the fox approached, and put his foot on his crumbling, burnt chest, slowly pushing it in. Black ice slowly started to form all around his body, becoming his coffin.

[DIE.]