Chapter 33
A piercing cry split the battlefield apart.
A shadow tore across the blue sky overhead and plunged like a falling blade.
“Lord Commander!”
The blue shape dove straight toward the earth before its wings snapped open at the very last instant. Snow and dust billowed upward, swallowing the enemy ranks in a blinding haze. Their formation faltered for a heartbeat.
“Loose!”
Arrows rained from above. Every arrow struck home.
Enemy soldiers crumpled one after another as gaps ripped through their lines. Brilliant blue flashed beneath the winter sun as Kito swept low across the battlefield at terrifying speed, her wings hammering the frozen air.
Gripped within the Kito’s talons was a towering swordsman with blue wings at his back.
As they tore past the enemy line, the greatsword swung.
Steel howled.
Men and horses alike crashed aside beneath the blow. Shields shattered. Helmets spun through the air.
Then Kito climbed sharply once more, blood spraying behind her as she surged skyward before wheeling hard back around.
On her back, Theodoros had already drawn his bow taut.
“You shall not flee.”
The arrow tore through the retreating commander’s throat.
A second shot followed.
Then a third.
Each shot crippled another critical point in the enemy line.
“Support them!” Isakios roared.
The flight leaders of the Steedraptor cavalry gained altitude at once, surveying the battlefield below. Theodoros judged the situation in an instant.
“Eudokia Flight—support the forces atop the cliffs at three o’clock! Theodora Flight, reinforce the knightly order’s right flank! Despina Flight, move under Lord Commander Agrios’s command! Anna and Helena Flights—harry the enemy center!”
Feathers scattered through the snow-laden wind.
The collapsing line steadied. Shields locked together once more. Spears leveled forward.
The tide that had been driving them back slowed—
slightly, yet unmistakably.
“Andri! Match my speed and stay on my flank!”
“At once, My Lord!”
Antonius spurred his horse forward and drove deep into the enemy formation. Kito swept low behind him.
Nocking another arrow, Andri fired past Antonius’s side from the rear, the shaft flashing past close enough to scrape steel. Behind him, Theodoros loosed arrows left and right through the gaps between Kito’s beating wings.
Isakios likewise positioned Despina ahead of his own horse, thrusting his spear past the Steedraptor’s shoulder as he charged.
(We can still turn this.)
The thought had barely crossed his mind—when Helena, circling sharply above the enemy formation, let out a shrill cry and plummeted toward the earth.
Snow and dirt erupted skyward as the impact shook the battlefield.
Arrows should have been little more than gnats against plumage that thick.
And yet—
“Ambush!”
A dull metallic clatter rang out from the direction Theodoros pointed. A woven net of chained steel had wrapped itself around Helena’s wings.
“What is that—?!”
Hidden soldiers burst from concealment and hauled on the chains all at once.
“Gain altitude!” Theodoros shouted instantly.
The Steedraptors climbed sharply as one.
Andri reacted without hesitation.
“Kito! Release me!”
“Captain!”
Before Theodoros could stop him, Andri hurled himself free. An instant before he struck the ground, he bent his knees to absorb the impact and rolled forward through the snow. By the next heartbeat, he was already sprinting.
“How is this possible…” Antonius muttered, as though staring at something beyond belief. “How could they have prepared something like this?”
An anti-air net—that was the only way to describe it. And not merely a trap, but one positioned with full knowledge of how the Steedraptor flights maneuvered in battle.
Keeping wary eyes on the battlefield around him, Andri pushed toward Antonius’s position.
This should have been their first deployment. The Steedraptor cavalry had never before been committed to open battle.
And yet—
“…Why do they already know how to counter us?”
It should have been impossible.
And yet—
they had anticipated it.
This was—
“An information leak…? No… foresight…?”
The words formed slowly in the back of his throat.
That cannot be possible.
The Magira bloodline, feared for its gift of foresight, should have been exterminated after the execution of Imresia’s former queen.
At that moment, a sinister figure stepped into Andri’s path.
“The auguries foretold this day would change our fate.”
Even amid the chaos of battle, the voice was eerily calm. A hooded man emerged through the drifting snow.
“To think… that we might reclaim the dragon born of Lady Irina upon this very field. We had believed Tatsuno had taken you beyond our reach.”
Slowly, he raised his gaze.
“Welcome home, Lord Andronicus.”
For an instant, Andri’s thoughts emptied.
Andronicus.
…Who was that supposed to be?
“Andri!”
Antonius forced his horse between them, shielding him at once.
“You wretches…” Fury burned openly in his eyes. “Your bloodline should have been extinguished eighteen years ago.”
Steel rang as he drew his sword.
“You were the ones who drove the lords into rebellion. The remnants of Magira. Speak.”
The hooded man smiled faintly.
“I knew you would come, Lord Antonius. Come with us—together with Lord Andronicus. Grant your mother the vengeance denied her.”
The air snapped tight.
“Do not speak of her!”
Antonius’s roar thundered across the battlefield. All trace of composure vanished as he drove his horse another step forward, keeping Andri behind him.
“You knew the fate awaiting Queen Irina the moment she entered this kingdom—and still you sent her here!”
The Magira bloodline was said to possess the gift of foresight.
If that were true, then they must have known.
Known that Irina would one day bind herself to the Dracotyrannus. That she would bear a demi-Dracotyrannus child. That she would die for it.
They had sacrificed one of their own princesses to obtain the dragon they desired. Then, in the chaos after her execution, they had tried to reclaim Andri by force—only to be crushed by King Alexios and nearly erased from history.
As though answering Antonius’s accusation, the air around them shifted. Shapes emerged soundlessly through the snow.
More hooded figures.
By the time anyone realized it, they were surrounded.
“So this is your design?” Antonius asked, his sword unwavering. “To seize Imresia?”
The hooded man shook his head.
“You misunderstand us, Lord Antonius.”
His voice remained horribly calm.
“Lady Irina foresaw everything. Her meeting with the Dracotyrannus. The child she would bear. Even her own execution.”
Andri’s breath caught.
“And yet she never abandoned that path. Because our true purpose was never the conquest of Imresia.”
Antonius did not lower his sword.
Rage still burned across his face, but his eyes never wavered.
He was listening. Watching. Drawing every word from them.
And suddenly, Andri understood.
No…
Antonius had not lost control. He was pretending to. Keeping them talking. Pulling the truth from them piece by piece.
The realization brought a strange calm to Andri’s chest.
So this was what it meant to uncover the truth.
Then he, too, had to stand upon that same stage.
At the edge of his vision, Theodoros was already driving Kito toward the fallen Helena and her riders.
Andri exhaled once and issued sharp orders to the remaining Steedraptor Flights.
“Hold the perimeter. No one gets through.”
The skies answered immediately.
Shadows wheeled overhead. Arrows rained down in deadly arcs, sealing the battlefield behind invisible walls of steel and feathers.
And at the center of it all, Andri slowly raised his head.
An unfamiliar name.An unknown past. And both were now closing in around him.
“...Then speak plainly,” Antonius said evenly. “What is it you truly seek?”
One of the hooded figures nodded.
“The Dracotyrannus will recover its strength one day. Before that monster fully rises again, we must prepare a way to resist it.” His gaze settled upon Andri. “Irina gave her life to tear away a fragment of its power and leave hope behind for the future.”
A brief silence followed.
“You, Lord Andronicus, are that hope.”
The surviving Magiran seers possessed nothing close to Irina’s gift of prophecy. Even so, they had foreseen enough to know that by coming to southern Imresia on this day, the fate of their clan would change.
At first, they had believed the key would be Antonius—the heir who carried Irina’s blood.
Instead, they had found the Demi-Dracotyrannus himself standing before them.
To them, it could no longer be coincidence.
Even now, restrained excitement lingered beneath their voices.
Still wary, Andri stepped beside Antonius.
“I have heard that even Her Majesty Yuki, the Empress of Tatsuno, could not rival the Dracotyrannus,” he said. “I have not yet fully emerged from Dormancy. I am weaker than even the youngest among the Dracoserpens.” His gaze did not waver. “I cannot believe someone like me could stand against such a creature.”
Antonius spoke before the seers could answer.
“If your aim truly is to resist it, then why not seek alliance with Tatsuno? Imresia has already begun moving toward formal relations.” His expression tightened slightly. “If you still honor my mother’s memory, then surely there must be a path besides this.”
The Magiran seer slowly shook his head.
“Lord Andronicus... you still do not understand what the Dracoserpens truly are.”
His eyes darkened beneath the hood.
“They are creatures who measure time differently from us. Entire kingdoms rise and vanish within a single Dracoserpens’s life.
“Humans are born quickly. They die quickly. And there are always more of them.”
He looked directly at Andri.
“Do you truly believe beings such as them could value human lives as we do?”
A faint smile crossed his face.
“Even if they pity us, it is no deeper than the sorrow one feels watching flowers wither.”
For Tatsuno, there was only one question that mattered:
whether the restored Dracotyrannus would once again bring ruin upon the world.
Nothing else truly mattered beside that.
Not even humanity.
Even the Dracoserpens’ talk of mutual defense was, to the Magiran survivors, little more than a convenient fiction—one that allowed them to mingle freely with humankind while increasing the number of Demi-Dracoserpens.
Imresia itself, they believed, was nothing more than fertile ground.
“Your place is with your mother’s clan, Lord Andronicus,” the seer said. “Whatever the cost, we will bring you back with us. You were born for a purpose.”
His voice fell low.
“You are meant to slay the Dracotyrannus.”
The same, Andri thought.
His mother’s people saw him no differently than the others had.
Not as a man.
Only as something to be used.
Andri understood the logic behind their words.
It was entirely possible that the Dracoserpens viewed Imresia as little more than a place from which more Demi-Dracoserpens might one day be born.
And yet—
there was something no one here knew.
When his Dormancy had first begun, the Dracoserpens had celebrated it across the entire realm.
Every last one of them had accepted him without hesitation.
And every one of them had waited for the day he would stand among them as one of their own.
Yuki’s voice suddenly returned to him.
You’ve done well, all this time. On your own. From here on, we’ve got you.
It had been Kiba who told the others,
Show some regard for his dignity.
And Kiba who had gently rested a hand upon his head time and again.
Not even his nursemaid had ever shown him such tenderness.
Perhaps the Dracoserpens, too, wished to uncover the truth of his mixed blood and make use of what lay within him.
Even so—
they had left the choice to him.
The Dracoserpens were the first to speak to him without commands, without coercion.
And even if there had been intention behind their kindness, he did not care.
What they had given him—
the care they had shown him—
had been genuine.
Without question, they had shown him the path forward.
Then—
if those who had accepted him for what he truly was now needed his strength—
he wanted to answer them.
For the first time in his life, he truly felt that way.
Something sharp hardened in Andri’s eyes.
Behind him, heat began to shimmer through the air.
“I hold no fear of facing the Dracotyrannus,” he declared. “For the sake of Imresia and Tatsuno alike, I have already resolved to lay down my life for them.”
His gaze remained fixed upon the hooded figures.
“Then I ask that you follow the proper channels and sit in council with them. I have heard that once before, every race upon this continent united their strength to seal away the Dracotyrannus.” His voice hardened. “Then let Imresia, Tatsuno, and your people stand together once more. Let us join hands—and prevail together.”
Even now, Andri still sought a peaceful resolution.
But the Magiran seers did not answer.
A heavy silence fell.
“…You have another purpose,” Antonius said, his voice low, yet cutting sharply through the cold air.
“If you have business with my brother Andronicus—then you will first go through me.”
Before he could stop himself, Andri turned sharply toward him.
So his brother had known the name Andronicus as well—
But Antonius shifted his gaze only slightly.
Andri understood at once.
This too was a calculated move to draw more information from them.
He steadied his breathing and forced himself back into focus.
“What is it,” Antonius asked, his tone cold, “that can only be accomplished through my brother Andronicus?”
The question went unanswered.
Instead, the atmosphere changed.
A sudden hostility radiated from the Magiran seers, tightening the air itself.
This had already passed the point where words alone would reveal anything more.
And in that same instant—
one of the seers moved.
“...That is something we shall explain properly once we have brought him back with us.”
The words had scarcely left his mouth before—
Andri transformed on instinct.
His massive body struck the earth hard enough to shake the ground as he threw himself in front of Antonius.
An instant later, a storm of arrows descended.
Every one of them shattered harmlessly against the hardened scales covering Andri’s back.
“Andri!”
“I am unharmed! Fall back, Lord Commander!”
The words came clearly even in draconic form.
His thoughts were sharper than ever before.
His senses reached farther than ever before.
This was different.
A roar erupted from the depths of his throat with all the force he possessed.
The earth answered.
Cracks split open beneath the Magiran seers’ feet.
“We can no longer turn back now! We must bring the Demi-Dracotyrannus to Him!”
Andri caught every word.
“I know not whose command you serve, but I shall not leave! This life is my brother’s for as long as breath remains in me!”
Andri surged forward with a roar that shook the battlefield.
For a single instant, Antonius heard nothing else.
Brother.
The word struck harder than any blade.
Snow whirled through the chaos, veiling the battlefield in white.
Yet for the briefest moment, all sound seemed to fall away.
After all that had been done to him—
The hatred. The exile. The years spent alone.
He had called him brother.
Antonius forgot to breathe.
Then the battlefield came crashing back.
“This is my final warning!” Andri roared. “Stand down and come to the negotiating table—!”
Their answer came in a storm of ice.
Countless spears of freezing water hurtled toward him. The instant they struck, ice spread violently across his body, racing over his scales in layers.
His movements slowed.
But then—
The earth answered once more.
From deep within the widening fissures, scalding steam erupted skyward.
One of the mages screamed within the billowing white vapor.
Without hesitation, Andri hurled himself straight into the steam.
Steam hissed violently from his frozen scales as the ice began to crack and melt away.
He steadied his breathing and chose his next move.
No longer did he simply rampage blindly as before.
Every strike was deliberate now.
Antonius watched in stunned silence.
High above, the Steedraptors tore through the lords’ forces from the skies, scattering men and cavalry alike.
The tide of battle had shifted completely in their favor.
“...Enough.”
Antonius’s voice cut sharply across the battlefield.
“Destroy them, Andri!”
“...At once, My Lord!”
For the third time, Andri roared. The cracks spreading through the earth widened violently beneath the mages’ feet.
The mages desperately struggled to keep their footing—
And in that instant, Andri charged headlong into them.
The impact shattered their formation apart.
A heartbeat later, the mages were swallowed whole by the steaming chasm below.
