Tears began to fall again. Ignoring the tears blurring her vision, Sylvia tried to crawl back to Felix.
[Felix! Can you give that to me?]
At that moment, Bella asked in a greedy voice. Seeing Felix, who had almost absorbed the Black Dragon’s power, Bella, in dragon form, opened her mouth to gather her breath. Bella’s throat seemed to swell as she took a deep breath.
Terrified, Sylvia tried to reach Felix, digging her nails into the dirt, but Lucino and Carl stopped her.
“We need to escape!”
With a pale face, Sylvia scratched the back of Lucino’s hand, trying to wrap his arms around her waist.
“Don’t touch me!”
As the wind amplified, a breath shot forward. At that moment, Felix lifted his head. Sylvia trembled, looking at his mysterious eyes.
“Fel, Felix…”
Felix quickly recognized his companion’s faint voice, and his eyes whirled around. His wings began to pierce through his armor.
Lucino and Carl staggered in the whirlwind-like breath. The two barely stood their ground with their swords on the ground, holding onto Sylvia. In the meantime, Felix completely dissipated the breath. His vertically narrowed eyes turned back to Sylvia.
“Gasp.”
Suddenly, Felix spat out blood. Seeing him, Sylvia was horrified and tried to think of something she could do to help. How could she assist him?
She forced her frozen mind to think and then remembered something he had said to her before.
‘We share the power of the Black Dragon.’
Sylvia called out to the Black Dragon desperately with her heart, knowing Aethernum wasn’t there, but it was the only method she knew.
‘Aethernum, Aethernum.’
Unable to take her eyes off Felix, who was becoming more grotesquely transformed, Sylvia continued to call out for Aethernum. Then, it felt as if the world had stopped. Someone appeared in the frozen black space.
Sylvia slowly lifted her head, following the legs in front of her. Her turquoise eyes widened as they traveled up the long legs to see the face.
[So, you are the dimension traveler that Eryngium brought.]
The man, except for his long black hair reaching down to his toes, looked remarkably like Felix.
[I should just come when you call me, huh? Aye, my companion would lose her head.]
He clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes just like Felix would. Aethernum slowly bent down, facing Sylvia, who couldn’t utter a word.
[Do you want to help Felix that much?]
Sylvia nodded eagerly at his question.
[The last descendant worries me the most. The last born received the most power, I’ve always worried about him since he was young.]
Sylvia just nodded.
[He’s the one who pained my heart the most. I hope you can take good care of him.]
Aethernum murmured while gazing at Sylvia, who looked up at him with wide eyes.
[Now that I see, you do resemble my companion somewhat… No, still, my companion is the most beautiful in the world. I’ve never seen a human more beautiful than her.]
Aethernum smiled contentedly, then grabbed Sylvia’s hand, which was staring blankly at him. Pressing her hand gently with both of his, he continued.
[I’ll teach you new magic. I’ll inscribe the magic circle directly onto your body, in your way. It’s a creation magic, difficult for humans to use. You might get hurt. Still, do you want to help Felix?]
Sylvia, fearing he might change his mind, quickly replied.
“Yes, I want to help him.”
[Why do you want to help him so much? You’re just a stranger after all.]
Sylvia confessed her hidden feelings to the dragon, who was waiting for her answer with a solemn face.
“I’ve come to love him.”
Aethernum smiled gently at her trembling voice.
[You’ve found a good companion. That eases my worries a bit.]
With those words, Aethernum disappeared from in front of Sylvia. The frozen black world began to fill with vibrant colors again.
The magic circle that began from the back of Sylvia’s hand brought sharp pain as it climbed up her arm and connected to her back. She clenched her teeth against the pain that clawed through her body for a moment before spreading her palm and touching the ground.
She felt she knew how to draw magical power from Felix. She called out to him desperately with her heart and drew his power to her.
Even for a descendant, it was difficult for a human body to contain the entirety of the Black Dragon’s magical power. The vast amount seemed to visibly flow from him to Sylvia.
Sylvia conjured images in her mind. She recalled scenes she had only seen on television during her travels to the West and sent magical power through every magic circle she possessed.
She merged the magic of plants, fire, water, wind, and earth with creation magic. The ground around Sylvia began to quake.
Mountains rose in the distance. Water surged in from another place, and in yet another, peculiarly shaped rock mountains were erected, and countless trees began to fill areas that were only dust before.
Whispering sands formed and an oasis appeared, moistening the crevices in the sand.
A sheer cliff formed, creating a gorge below. Fish swam along the cool stream. Butterflies fluttered and birds chirped over fields blanketed solely in flowers.
Deer frolicked in a verdant meadow, and rabbits darted away, their ears perking up.
There were mountains full of red leaves of autumn and beautiful paths filled with yellow. Walkways lined with blooming cherry blossoms in pink and magnolias in a distant white also appeared.
Sylvia clenched her eyes shut, enduring the burning pain throughout her body. Indeed, creating creation magic with a human body was not easy.
Emerald seas, azure lakes, and a mystical desert reflecting the sky as if mirroring it.
Everything was forming just as she wished.
***
Felix had been unconscious since partway through. He had drawn all of Sylvia’s magical power to himself…
Yet he wondered why his body remained unchanged.
His arm, which he had seen just a moment ago, was not human. He looked at his arm curiously, remembering the dragon scales that once covered not just his arm but his entire body.
He thought it was due to swallowing too much of the dragon’s magical power.
What then, was his current state?
Felix looked at his arm with a dazed expression before suddenly lifting his head. The black dragon-shaped Bella appeared to be twisting uncomfortably in front of him.
Felix quickly turned his head, searching around. He believed Sylvia must be the reason his body had returned to normal. He sighed in relief when he found her. Though she lay prone on the ground, she did not appear injured or odd in any way.
There was one place, however, that was different…
As Felix tried to stand, his legs did not move as intended. He swore softly, struggling to move, when Bella spoke weakly to him.
[Felix… What am I to you?]
Her voice was eerie, mixed with groans. She appeared severely wrong, gasping for breath. Ignoring her words, Felix tried to approach Sylvia, but Bella blocked him with her wings.
[Please… answer me.]
“Move!”
[Please…]
Her twisting form was odd. It seemed like the space around the black dragon’s shape warped and disappeared. A woman he had never seen before fell from thin air. The woman, naked, fell and could not get up.
Her veins were stark against her skin, and her complexion, drained of blood, was pale. Bella, who had forcibly taken the dragon’s magical power and could not bear it, had consumed her own life.
As Bella twitched her fingers, she continued to ask.
“You… must acknowledge me, cough.”
Spitting out cloudy blood, Bella crawled forward, supported by her hands on the ground. Felix stared at the woman, reduced to bones. The woman he knew had silver hair and silver eyes, the spitting image of his birth mother.
This woman, with her unsightly thin, faded, and rough brown hair, was not her. Yet, he could not just pass by. He took a robe from his space and covered her body.
Bella grabbed the end of the robe with her dried fingers.
“You were always kind.”
Even as she coughed up blood, Bella struggled to look at Felix, though she had no strength left to lift her head.
“I just wanted to be acknowledged… That’s all. To be acknowledged, to become family.”
Slowly, but with force, Bella continued to speak to the end.
“I was going crazy. No, perhaps I already was insane. Every time you approached… I had to become the person I hated the most. My mother, the only family I had, whom I loathed yet also hated.”
With sobs, Bella muttered.
“No one treated me as if I existed. I was alive… Yet, no one truly saw me. But… only you, you saw me for who I am.”
Bella managed to lift her head and looked up at Felix standing tall. Her brown eyes, similar to her hair, blinked softly.
“I won’t apologize. Still, you must acknowledge me.”
She vomited blood as if expelling everything. With desperation, Bella asked Felix.
“Was I a wicked stepmother to you?”
Even so, she wanted to create a family. She wanted to die as his family, even if it meant being a cruel and bad stepmother, rather than the sweet-talking brother who enticed her.
Tears rolled down Felix’s face as he stared intently at Bella, falling on her cold face. The drop of tear was incredibly hot.
Felix was furious inside. She did not know how much he had liked her. That made him hate and despise her more. The memories with his birth mother were precious, but he also cherished the memories of happiness with her during his loneliest times.
Her wish to be a wicked stepmother felt like it was gnawing at his flesh. He could not forgive, but he wanted to feel compassion. Felix’s lips, seemingly sealed forever, slightly parted.
“Fleeting, foolish, yet pitiable… You are indeed my wicked stepmother.”
Bella smiled brightly as if she had received a jewel more precious than any in the world at his words.
Felix glanced at her face for a moment before turning his head to look at Sylvia. Following his gaze, Bella murmured with a thin breath.
“You have found someone you love… I’m envious…”
Bella’s breath, which had been rough, stopped abruptly. Felix, having briefly looked at his stepmother, covered her brown eyes, which had not even had the chance to close, signifying the end of her life.
Then he immediately dashed off. As he ran, he drew his sword, glaring at Lucino as if he was about to burn him alive for trying to touch his companion.
“Take your hands off my companion!”
Quaaang!
***
Lucino was frustrated, constantly rejected by Sylvia, wondering why she was refusing him and wanting to hold her even more. He felt insignificant, unable to offer any help while she wielded such strange magic.
The shaking ground stopped. Only then did Sylvia gasp for breath and stumbled, burying her head in the ground. Seeing her in such a state, Lucino tried to reach for her shoulder again but felt an intense killing intent approaching.
Instinctively, he cast a spell. He created a shield out of gems.
Crash! Bang! Bang bang bang!
Watching the continuous strikes of the black sword, Lucino tightly gripped his gem sword.
Clang!
He counterattacked, retreating. Nevertheless, Felix pursued relentlessly, wishing to kill anyone who dared touch his companion.
The large sword was swung lightly. Spinning around, Felix wielded his sword from all directions, and Lucino, facing him, found himself being pushed back without realizing it.
Crash!
A heavy sword drew a flash of light from above downwards. The gem sword Lucino was holding shattered into pieces, sparkling in the light. Felix’s sword, trailing a dark hue, moved sharply once again.
The swirling, murderous dark eyes relentlessly pursued Lucino, sending chills down his spine. Lucino created another sword to block the approaching dark sword with both hands, coloring the surroundings with darkness.
The radiant gems and the darkness faced each other strangely. The water and trees Sylvia created, and the dirt ground, were so different from what they knew. The surrounding people were too stunned to even think of stopping the two men’s battle.
Clang!
Once again, the gem sword broke, scattering gem fragments on the ground with a tinkling sound. Lucino glared with wide-open eyes as Felix coldly uttered.
“Stop bothering my companion!”
Just as he was about to move his hand again, a small voice reached his ears.
“Fe, Felix…”
Holding the raised sword, Felix quickly turned around and ran back. He placed the sword on the ground and picked up Sylvia, who kept falling and couldn’t stand up.
“Sylvia!”
“Ugh…”
Sylvia groaned in Felix’s arms, causing his expression to harden instantly.
“What’s wrong?”
Holding her with one hand, he lifted the robe. Sylvia was trembling violently, her white shirt soaked red with blood from her entire body.
Fury filled Felix’s eyes.
“What’s this? Why? Who?”
Despite his low rumble that seemed to reach the ground, Sylvia smiled brightly and cried. She lifted her fluttering arm to hug his neck.
“I’m so glad you’re safe.”
Hot tears soaked his neck. He realized then that he had returned to his original state thanks to Sylvia.
His eyes welled up with tears.