The heat of the dragon's breath was already washing over Bernard's face when the world suddenly lurched sideways.
For a fraction of a second he had been certain that the next thing he would see would be the inside of the dragon's throat. The monster's enormous jaws had descended toward them like a collapsing gate of burning ivory, rows of blazing teeth closing with terrifying speed. Bernard had already pulled Harold close to his chest, instinctively shielding the younger knight with his own body.
He had accepted it.
There had been no time to run.
No strength left to fight.
Only the final, bitter thought that perhaps Toki would eventually hear about how stupidly he had died.
Then something grabbed him.
A hand latched onto the back of his cloak and yanked him sideways with such force that Bernard felt his spine protest violently.
The ground vanished beneath his feet.
The dragon's jaws snapped shut with a thunderous crack exactly where they had been standing an instant earlier, the shockwave of the impact sending shards of broken stone skittering across the ruined plaza.
Bernard barely had time to register the sound before the world began moving at a terrifying speed.
Wind slammed against his face.
The violent rattling of wooden wheels echoed beneath him.
Something heavy collided with his shoulder as his body was thrown into a narrow wooden bench, and for several seconds his mind struggled desperately to understand what had just happened.
The smell of smoke and ash filled the air.
The sound of claws scraping stone faded behind them.
And then Bernard slowly opened one eye.
The first thing he saw was a familiar face leaning over him.
"…Are you an angel?" he muttered weakly.
Elizabeth stared down at him in complete silence.
For exactly one second.
Then she punched him.
Her fist crashed into the side of his head with a solid, satisfying thud that sent sparks exploding across his vision.
Bernard's skull snapped sideways.
"OW!"
"When exactly did I give you permission to get eaten by a dragon?" Elizabeth snapped furiously, grabbing the front of his jacket and shaking him once . "Only I have the privilege of killing you, you idiot!"
Bernard groaned and rubbed the side of his head, blinking several times as the world slowly came back into focus.
"…Right," he muttered faintly.
Beside him, Harold was sitting stiffly against the opposite bench, his face pale and his eyes wide with lingering shock.
Unlike Bernard, he hadn't yet said a single word.
Instead, he slowly turned his head from side to side, taking in the cramped interior of the carriage that was currently racing through the burning streets of the capital.
It took him several seconds to realize something strange.
The carriage was completely full.
Elizabeth still sat beside Bernard, glaring at him like an irritated cat.
Across from them sat Melissa, her posture calm but tense, one hand gripping the side of the window frame as her sharp eyes studied the chaos outside.
At the front of the carriage, Ozvold held the reins with both hands, his body leaning forward as he guided the vehicle through the shattered streets.
" RIGHT!" he shouted.
The enormous bird pulling the carriage screeched sharply as it obeyed, its massive talons digging into the stone as it pivoted around . The carriage tilted dangerously for a moment before slamming back onto the road and continuing forward at full speed.
Inside, two smaller figures clung nervously to the seats beside Utsuki.
Tora and Kandaki.
Both children looked pale but alert, their wide eyes darting nervously between the burning buildings outside.
Harold blinked.
Then blinked again.
"…Why," he asked slowly, "are all of you here?"
The question hung in the cramped carriage as the violent rumble of wheels echoed in his head.
Somewhere behind them the dragon roared again, its furious cry shaking the air like distant thunder.
Harold swallowed.
"…This place is extremely dangerous!"
Melissa sighed softly.
"Yes," she replied dryly. "We noticed."
Her gaze shifted toward him calmly.
"Apparently someone decided that while the capital was busy being burned down by dragons, it would be a perfect opportunity to assassinate us."
Bernard frowned slightly.
"…Assassinate?"
Melissa nodded.
"A Star Collector was sent after us."
Her voice remained calm, but the weight of the words was unmistakable.
"Fortunately," she continued, glancing toward the young woman sitting beside the window, "Utsuki warned us before the attack could succeed."
Harold slowly turned his head.
Utsuki sat quietly beside the window, one hand resting lightly against the wooden frame as she stared outside.
The wind tugged gently at her white hair while the ruined streets rushed past in a blur of smoke and fire.
Her eyes were not focused on the road.
They were searching the sky.
"…How did you know?" Harold asked softly.
Utsuki remained silent for a moment.
Her gaze continued scanning the horizon, moving slowly across the clouds as though she expected someone to appear there at any second.
Finally she spoke.
"Toki told me."
Bernard raised an eyebrow.
"…Toki?"
Utsuki nodded faintly.
"He left a strange message last night."
Her lips curved slightly with quiet amusement.
"Knowing him… I decided to check carefully."
She lowered her gaze briefly.
"And I found it hidden under the plate where the cookies had been."
Bernard groaned.
Melissa shrugged.
"That sounds exactly like him."
Harold rubbed his face slowly.
"…I'm starting to understand how your group operates," he muttered.
Utsuki suddenly turned toward Bernard.
The playful hint of amusement had vanished from her expression.
Concern had taken its place.
"Where is Toki?"
Harold scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"He… left."
Utsuki's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Left?"
Bernard nodded.
"He disappeared right after the dragon appeared," he explained.
"He said he was going to bring…"
"…a weapon."
The words settled heavily inside the carriage.
For a moment no one spoke.
Then Utsuki's expression changed.
"…That's not good."
The quiet worry in her voice was impossible to miss.
High above the burning capital, the Dragon King twisted violently through the clouds.
Its massive body rolled and surged through the air like a living storm, enormous wings tearing through the wind as it tried to dislodge the stubborn human clinging to its back.
"GET OFF ALREADY!" the dragon roared furiously.
The sound shook the sky.
Toki flattened himself against the creature's scales as the dragon snapped sideways again, barely avoiding being thrown into the open air.
The wind howled around him.
"I AM NOT HELPING YOU!" the Dragon King thundered.
"You are wasting your time!"
Toki ignored him.
Instead, he tightened his grip on the living chain wrapped around the dragon's horn and pulled harder.
The links responded instantly, tightening like a living creature around the dragon's neck.
The Dragon King snarled in irritation.
For several moments the two of them remained locked in a silent struggle as the dragon continued its furious attempts to shake him loose.
Then the dragon suddenly spoke again.
"…Why do you care so much?"
Toki said nothing.
The dragon's golden eye shifted slightly, studying him more carefully.
"I heard everything," it continued slowly.
"From behind the wall."
Its wings beat heavily against the sky.
"The nobles of this kingdom do not even want you as one of their knights."
Its voice grew colder.
"And your precious princess…"
"…resembles the Witch of Calamity far too closely for anyone to trust her."
The words cut through the wind like a blade.
"So why not simply take her and run away?" the dragon asked.
Its voice carried a strange curiosity now.
"Wasn't that the real reason you became a knight?"
For several seconds the wind roared between them.
Then Toki sighed.
"…Yeah."
The dragon blinked.
"You're right."
His voice remained calm despite the chaos around them.
"The reason I became a knight was selfish."
He tightened his grip slightly.
"I lived alone for a long time."
His eyes softened faintly.
"So when I finally met someone willing to stay…"
"…I idolized her."
The dragon listened quietly.
"I turned Utsuki into an obsession," Toki admitted.
"I used her to give my life a purpose."
He looked down toward the burning capital far below.
"But after everything that happened…"
His eyes hardened.
"…after I truly understood who she is…"
"…I fell in love with her all over again."
The wind screamed around them.
"My feelings are real."
Toki's voice grew stronger.
"It's true that nobody wants me."
He looked toward the distant plaza where his friends were still fighting.
"But I want them."
His hand tightened around the chain.
"My friends are down there buying me time."
His voice trembled slightly.
"And the people of this city are hoping we'll win."
He raised his eyes toward the dragon.
"So tell me something."
His voice sharpened.
"What reason does a dragon need to protect its gold?"
The question struck the Dragon King like lightning.
For a moment its wings faltered.
Memories surged through its ancient mind.
A battlefield long buried by time.
A stubborn young king standing before him with the same infuriating determination.
The same question.
The same defiant goldes eyes.
Why did this strange boy remind him so much of HIM?
The Dragon King slowly exhaled.
The anger that had filled its voice moments earlier had quieted.
In its place remained something else.
Curiosity.
"…Tell me something," the dragon said at last, its deep voice vibrating through the air.
Its enormous eye shifted slightly, focusing more carefully on the stubborn human clinging to its back.
"Do you know who your parents were?"
The question caught Toki slightly off guard.
For a moment he simply blinked, as if the thought itself had been buried somewhere deep inside him.
"…No," he admitted after a pause.
The wind tugged violently at his cloak as the dragon soared through the sky, but his voice remained steady.
"I can't remember anything clearly."
His eyes drifted briefly toward the horizon.
"Just blurred shapes."
He frowned slightly, concentrating.
"But there is one thing I remember."
The Dragon King waited.
"My mother's voice."
The words came quietly.
"It was calm."
A faint crease appeared between Toki's brows as he tried to grasp the distant memory.
"I don't remember her face," he continued slowly. "I don't remember where we lived. I don't even know if that memory is real or if my mind simply invented it to fill the silence."
The wind roared louder between them.
"I don't know if they loved me," he said after a moment.
"And I don't know if they abandoned me."
His grip on the chain tightened slightly.
"But I know one thing."
His voice hardened.
"I started this life alone."
The dragon's eye narrowed thoughtfully.
"And what do you feel toward them?" it asked.
Toki was quiet for a moment.
Then he shrugged faintly.
"I can't say I hate them."
His gaze shifted toward the burning capital below.
"But I can't say I love them either."
He exhaled slowly.
"I was born weak."
His injured hand throbbed painfully where the chain cut into his skin.
"Yet ever since I was a child… I've felt something inside me."
His eyes sharpened.
"A voice pushing me forward."
The Dragon King watched him carefully.
"Maybe I didn't have the best beginning," Toki continued.
"But I refuse to let someone else decide my ending."
His voice grew firmer with every word.
"I've never really belonged to a country."
"Or a flag."
His gaze softened slightly.
"But as long as my family lives here…"
He looked toward the city far below.
"…Luminith is my home!"
For a long moment, the Dragon King said nothing.
But something stirred inside its chest.
"…You insolent brat," it murmured.
Yet there was no real anger in its voice anymore.
"Listen carefully."
Its wings spread wider, catching the wind as its enormous body tilted toward the capital below.
"I will lend you my strength."
Toki blinked in surprise.
"Not because I care about your 'gold'…"
The Dragon King's voice deepened.
"…but because I have a debt that has remained unpaid for far too long."
The wind screamed around them.
The dragon folded its wings.
And then it plunged toward the burning capital like a falling star.
The carriage continued racing through the ruined streets of the capital, its wheels rattling violently over broken stone while Umma dragged it forward with desperate speed. Smoke filled the air, drifting between shattered buildings and collapsed towers as the distant roars of dragons echoed across the burning city.
Ozvold leaned forward in the driver's seat, gripping the reins tightly while his eyes scanned the sky.
Then suddenly his expression changed.
His jaw tightened.
"...We have a serious problem," he said.
Inside the carriage, Utsuki immediately looked up.
"What happened?"
Ozvold didn't take his eyes off the sky.
"Toki's people are here."
For a moment Utsuki blinked in confusion.
"And that's… bad?"
Bernard slowly leaned toward the window and glanced outside.
His face turned pale almost instantly.
"It would be good," he said dryly, "if they weren't being chased by four dragons!"
The words had barely left his mouth when the shadow passed over them.
Something enormous moved across the sky.
Harold turned his head just in time to see it.
One of the dragons had already noticed them.
The creature folded its massive wings and dove.
Its enormous body cut through the air like a falling mountain, scales flashing between the smoke clouds as its glowing eyes locked onto the carriage below.
The dragon opened its jaws.
Rows of blazing fangs spread wide as heat gathered inside its throat.
Inside the carriage, the air turned cold.
Tora gasped.
Kandaki grabbed the seat tightly.
Melissa's eyes narrowed sharply.
Ozvold reacted instantly.
"UMMA!" he shouted.
But it was already too late.
The massive bird pulling the carriage had frozen.
Completely.
The moment the dragon's shadow fell over them, the creature's instincts took over. Its wings twitched once before its entire body locked in place, paralyzed by primal fear.
The ancient terror that lived deep inside every creature had taken control.
The bird refused to move.
The carriage slowed.
Bernard sighed quietly.
"Well… that's unfortunate."
He leaned back slightly and closed his eyes for a brief moment.
Then he turned his head toward Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth," he said calmly.
She stared at him.
"Don't tell me you're about to say something stupid."
Bernard smiled faintly.
"I don't want you to think I'm joking this time."
Elizabeth's eyes narrowed.
"Bernard—"
"But I don't want to die without saying this."
The dragon was only seconds away now.
Its enormous jaws continued descending toward them.
The heat of its breath was already rolling across the street.
Bernard inhaled slowly.
"I love you."
For a moment Elizabeth simply stared at him in disbelief.
Then her entire face turned red.
"THIS IS NOT THE BEST MOMENT, YOU IDIOT!"
The dragon was only a few meters away now.
Its mouth opened wider.
The cavern of its throat loomed directly above the carriage as the monster prepared to swallow them whole.
Harold clenched his teeth.
Utsuki didn't move.
Her eyes remained fixed on the sky.
The dragon lunged.
Then suddenly—
Something bigger arrived.
A colossal shadow exploded downward from the clouds above, moving so fast that the air itself screamed as it was displaced.
Before anyone could react, a pair of enormous jaws slammed shut around the attacking dragon.
The sound that followed was horrific.
CRACK.
The dragon didn't even have time to scream.
The gigantic newcomer bit straight through its body, snapping the creature in half as easily as a dry branch.
Blood and fire exploded across the sky.
The upper half of the dragon dangled uselessly from the predator's jaws before falling toward the streets below.
For a moment no one inside the carriage spoke.
They simply stared.
The creature that had just appeared in the sky dwarfed the others completely.
Its enormous white body stretched across the clouds like a living mountain, wings wide enough to eclipse entire sections of the burning city.
The remaining dragons froze.
For the first time since the battle began, they looked small.
Insignificant.
It was the same difference between a cat and a mouse.
The Dragon King slowly raised its head, the torn corpse of its prey still hanging loosely from its jaws before it dropped the remains toward the ground below.
The other dragons hesitated.
Fear rippled through the sky.
And then a voice echoed down from somewhere high on the creature's massive body.
A familiar voice.
"Did someone order a dramatic rescue?"
Every head inside the carriage snapped upward.
High above them, standing stubbornly between two massive crimson horns, a small figure waved down at them.
Toki grinned.
The wind whipped through his blue hair as he held the living golden chain wrapped around the Dragon King's horn like a ridiculous leash.
"I brought the weapon."