A blond man stood before the academy gates, looking somewhat dejected. Behind him were rows of Student Union members.
"President, we want to leave with you!"
Several of his most fanatical supporters shouted, determined to follow the blond man.
"No. You should stay."
Caesar shook his head. At that moment, he resembled a wandering lion driven from his territory by a stronger rival. He had no one to rely on, and surviving alone in this world would not be easy. That was why he refused to let his followers accompany him.
"Why?"
They could not understand his decision.
"A loser isn't worthy of your loyalty."
With that, Caesar strode forward.
He saw the red-haired beauty among the crowd, along with the pathetic-looking sidekick who always wore a defeated expression, but he did not say anything to either of them.
As the loser, he wanted to make a dignified exit.
"Goodbye, Boss!"
Lu Mingfei waved repeatedly at Caesar's lonely back.
"Yeah. Goodbye. It's all over now."
The red-haired woman beside Lu Mingfei murmured to herself.
"Shouldn't you be running after Boss Caesar right now, grabbing his hand, and begging him not to leave?"
Lu Mingfei's brain seemed to short-circuit again as he smiled and asked Nono the question.
"Really? Like what you said to me back at the reservoir?"
Nono blinked at him.
"Uh…"
"That wasn't exactly the same thing."
Lu Mingfei's cheeks turned bright red. Whenever he remembered what he had done back then, he felt a faint but unmistakable sense of embarrassment.
So this is what it feels like when a cringeworthy memory comes back to haunt you, Lu Mingfei thought.
"Come on."
"Caesar has his own path to follow. I have mine, and you have yours."
"No matter how many people walk beside you along the way, you'll ultimately reach the end alone."
Nono walked away, leaving Lu Mingfei with a striking view of her back.
It reminded him of the first time she had come to his rescue, holding a bouquet of flowers while dressed in an elegant gown. That confident and beautiful figure had remained engraved in his heart, impossible to forget.
"Okay!"
As the scene from his memories overlapped with the present, Lu Mingfei felt his eyes grow slightly damp. He nodded and quickly followed Nono.
"Is that loser ever going to learn to stand on his own?"
High above them, Xia Mi and Erii stood atop the newly restored clock tower. The breeze stirred their hair as they watched Lu Mingfei trail closely behind Nono.
"Honestly, it's hard to imagine that the monster who bulldozed his way through the Nibelungen in Odin's Abyss and that pathetic loser down there share the same body."
Xia Mi remembered the Lu Mingfei who had violently demolished everything in his path inside Odin's Abyss. That version of him had unquestionably been a complete monster.
The man below was unquestionably a loser.
It was difficult to imagine two such conflicting qualities existing inside the same body.
That body carried the weight of a soul it never should have been forced to bear. Wouldn't it eventually become exhausted?
Xia Mi thought about it for a long time, but never found an answer.
"Let's go."
Erii left Xia Mi with those two words before disappearing from the clock tower.
"Huh? Wait for me!"
Xia Mi called after her before transforming into a gust of wind and vanishing without a trace. If not for the lingering warmth on the tower railing, it would have seemed as though no one had ever stood there.
Jovian had finally taken his place in the office used by generations of Cassell College principals.
He sat with his legs crossed, examining the portraits of the former principals hanging on the walls.
His own portrait was absent from the collection. It was not because he had forgotten to prepare one. He simply had no intention of hanging it there.
After all, he never planned to surrender this position to anyone else.
From now on, no one needed to read about his accomplishments in a textbook. They could simply visit Cassell College and see him for themselves.
He was here.
He would always be here.
"Come to think of it, I should prepare an enormous portrait of Anjou."
"Maybe I should put his face on the cover of every textbook."
Jovian thought again about Cassell College's respected former principal.
He greatly admired the old gentleman. Part of that admiration naturally came from how Anjou had carried a battered little knife into Japan during World War II and thrashed its hybrids.
Jovian also admired Anjou's wild, unrestrained nature and his lifelong obsession with dragons.
Such dedication was exceedingly rare.
Thus, after Hilbert Jean Anjou stepped down, the world-famous academy of dragon slayers, humanity's deadliest weapon against pure-blooded dragons, and the legacy of the great dragon slayer and super-hybrid Manecke Cassell finally fell into Jovian's hands.
After becoming the principal of Cassell College, Jovian vigorously promoted bio-alchemy. Using the notes left behind by Jung von Herzog and incorporating the principles of Blood Rage, he began conducting large-scale draconization experiments.
Just as Jovian had proclaimed, this was the beginning of a new age.
A glorious age.
"Hey, Jovian…"
"Isn't it about time you did what I asked?"
Time passed swiftly. One day, after Jovian's technology had grown increasingly mature, Xia Mi came looking for him.
"What did you ask me to do?"
"Oh, that."
"You could just ask Erii to do it yourself."
Jovian was initially confused, but quickly realized what Xia Mi meant and nodded.
"That's the problem. Erii doesn't listen to me at all. Besides, she has completely restored herself by now. She's as powerful as the original White King."
The matter greatly frustrated Xia Mi.
She had once been able to suppress Erii through superior experience, but Erii could now crush her effortlessly.
Xia Mi possessed the authority of the Dragon King of Earth and Mountain, but it was useless against the power of the White Emperor, one of the Dragon Race's two supreme sovereigns.
Her authority was not merely ineffective. It was actively suppressed.
"I'm not busy right now, so I'll go with you."
Jovian rose from his chair.
"Good. At least you know what's good for you."
Xia Mi continued talking tough, but words were all she had left.
Even now, she could not understand what Jovian truly was.
He was not the Black King.
He was not the White King.
He was not the Tree.
Every theory she had once considered had proven wrong.
Sometimes Xia Mi wondered whether Jovian truly was a god from ancient mythology, a living god walking among mortals.
"Let's go. Why are you standing there staring into space? Don't you want to do this anymore?"
Jovian had already reached the door when he noticed that the same Xia Mi who had loudly demanded his help had not moved. He had to walk back and urge her forward.
"I'm coming."
Xia Mi snapped back to reality and nodded.
"Erii, I need your help with something."
Jovian later found Erii and quietly spoke those few words.
Erii immediately nodded with eager enthusiasm and followed behind him.
"So that's it? After everything we've been through, our friendship means nothing?"
Xia Mi looked displeased.
She had asked Erii for help many times, but Erii had refused to budge. Jovian only needed to say one sentence, and Erii immediately followed him without hesitation.
Xia Mi and Erii had worked together for a long time, yet their entire partnership was apparently less persuasive than a single word from Jovian.
"We aren't friends."
Erii thought for a moment before replying.
"Uh…"
Xia Mi felt as though her heart had suffered a critical hit.
She was finished.
There was no love left in the world.
So much for sisterhood. It was all fake.
"All right, let's go."
Jovian reached out with both hands and grabbed Xia Mi and Erii by the backs of their collars. With one sharp pull, he lifted both of them off the ground and carried them outside, one in each hand.
A child dressed in a suit stood outside the building. He looked like a miniature Lu Mingfei and was smiling brightly at Jovian.
"Good morning, Mr. King of the Roman Gods."
The boy greeted Jovian while playfully making fun of his name.
"Good morning, sootball."
Jovian glanced at him and returned the greeting.
"Calling me that truly breaks my heart."
The boy continued smiling, seemingly delighted by the nickname Jovian had given him.
"Aren't you supposed to be watching over your tree?"
Jovian asked.
"My appetite hasn't been very good lately. I can't seem to stomach it."
The boy shook his head and rubbed his belly with a deeply emotional expression.
Jovian said nothing. He simply continued staring at him.
"Fine, fine."
"My stupid brother is paying the price for becoming obsessed with Odin."
The boy sighed.
"Understood. You got dumped."
Jovian nodded.
"Don't talk nonsense. When the world reaches its end, everything will return to the beginning. Only my brother and I will remain."
The boy smiled, his voice filled with absolute confidence.
"Sure."
Jovian had no interest in continuing the conversation. He resumed walking while dragging the trembling Xia Mi and the perfectly calm Erii along with him.
"Good morning, Jörmungandr. You're as beautiful as ever."
"And you, little White King. You're much cuter now than you used to be."
"Still, the two of you look utterly ridiculous at the moment."
The boy removed his hat and greeted Xia Mi and Erii.
Xia Mi stared at him before hiding behind Jovian, obvious fear written across her face.
Erii, meanwhile, had no idea who the boy was.
"Have you heard about Xia Mi's situation?"
Jovian asked him.
"I have. It truly breaks my heart."
"Jörmungandr, all you had to do was ask me. Naturally, I would have helped you heal Fenrir. But you refused to trust me. How heartbreaking."
The boy looked at Xia Mi with sorrow, resembling a disappointed father confronting a rebellious child.
"Hmph."
Xia Mi snorted, but continued hiding behind Jovian.
When Jovian had first announced his intention to use that creature's egg to resurrect him, Xia Mi had fallen into despair.
Strictly speaking, she and that being were related by blood.
Fortunately, his resurrection had not plunged the world into hopelessness. Everything had continued as usual.
It appeared that the being who had stood invincible since the birth of the world was extremely wary of Jovian.
"Let's go."
Jovian did not bother saying anything more. He walked over to the boy, vigorously ruffled his hair, and continued forward.
The boy froze for a moment.
"Heh. Interesting."
He then followed behind Jovian.
As they walked, Xia Mi clung tightly to Jovian's arm while repeatedly baring her small tiger tooth at the boy in a show of defiance.
The boy refused to back down. His eyes began radiating brilliant golden light, filled with the cold-blooded menace unique to reptiles.
"Hiss!"
Xia Mi made a strange noise before darting in front of Jovian and hiding like a frightened kitten.
"Stop teasing her."
Jovian sighed helplessly at the trembling Xia Mi, then turned toward the boy.
"I didn't do anything!"
The boy raised both hands high in surrender.
Jovian said nothing else.
The four of them boarded a plane and flew toward a subway station.
After the private plane landed, they transferred to a car and traveled the rest of the way.
"Everyone, follow me."
Xia Mi opened the entrance to the Nibelungen, allowing the group to enter her lair without difficulty.
More precisely, it was the lair of the Dragon King of Earth and Mountain.
The moment Xia Mi returned home, a massive dragon resembling an oversized dog dropped its bag of chips and charged toward her. It extended its enormous tongue and began enthusiastically licking her.
"Hahaha!"
"That tickles, Fenrir!"
Xia Mi wrapped her arms around her brother's neck and laughed continuously, but her laughter could not conceal the sadness in her eyes.
"Sniff, sniff."
After affectionately greeting Xia Mi, Fenrir suddenly smelled something unusual.
He left her and approached Jovian's group, repeatedly sniffing Jovian, Erii, and the formally dressed boy.
Finally, he stopped in front of Jovian, rolled onto his back, and exposed his belly.
"Hahaha."
Jovian gently rubbed Fenrir's stomach before turning toward the boy in formalwear.
"Begin."
"Thou shalt repay arrogance with pain."
"Thou shalt repay transgression with thine eyes."
"Thou shalt repay betrayal with blood."
"This was the price you were meant to pay. But never mind."
The boy looked at the doglike dragon with complicated emotions. He then extended his hand and gently stroked the dragon's head.
As the boy continued petting him, Fenrir's enormous body began to shrink.
Eventually, the massive dragon transformed into a fair-skinned young child with innocent, bewildered eyes.
"What? How did this happen?"
"Doesn't this mean I really am the older sister now?"
Xia Mi stared at the child, suddenly developing a terrible headache.
"What's wrong with being an older sister? I've always wanted one."
The boy in formalwear turned around, clearly satisfied with his work.
"I'm nothing like an affection-starved freak like you!"
"I only want my brother!"
Xia Mi protested, insulting the boy for the first time.
"This is the price of betrayal!"
The formally dressed boy seemed to become angry. His Golden Eyes ignited as he continued intimidating Xia Mi.
"Fine. All right."
Xia Mi lowered her head in fear, then lifted the fair-skinned child into her arms.
"Mom…"
The child lay in Xia Mi's embrace and called out to her.
Xia Mi fell silent for a moment.
"You should call me your sister instead."
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