『Your daughter has already died once.』

『Are you going to watch that child perish.
Again? a second time?』

Were the words of the man who now gazed with fury towards the demon-king.
But strangely the demon-king who is regarded as the most feared could not talk back.
In front of the person before him.

『What do you mean!
She's alive and here right now!』

Estel who stood beside him was now frozen in time,
But the one who caused it was the man before him.

『What you see is an illusion forged by another within her.
When I peered inside her memories.

I found a bitter truth that continues to gnaw inside her heart...』

He then said with a serious tone.

『Estel Rue the child you once raised have already relinquished her life.』

『What you see now is a fragmented of herself pieced together by another being.

A unique existence that I never imagined was possible.

Two souls bound together to form one.
And at this moment, she is currently living unaware of her condition.

Believing she is a person who had once lived in a different time.
A different world.

Enduring. Fighting. Taking on Responsibilities that are not HERS!』

The demon-king felt a fearsome presence as he kneeled before them.

『I will ask you again.』

『Are you going to watch your daughter perish a second time?』

『Or will you be controlled by fear and not heed my words which will surely enlighten you.』

The demon-king eyes gazed upward and saw his figure and visage.
His portraits preserved deeply in the chambers of the castle was none other than...

The First Demon-King the Hero Who Freed The World From The Tyrant Who Claimed the World.

________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: meanwhile Estel fell in a trap of her own.

// Estel's Situation //

While I followed this cute servant with rabbit ear's...

I simply paused a bit and gazed at my surroundings, this place was eerie and pretty much a dungeon underneath the castle.

While walking a few steps.

I smacked my face into a wall and realized that the rabbit I was supposed to follow disappeared from my sights. I turned to the side and found only walls on both sides, I was in front of a dead end.

In my confusion, I turned around and saw a long straight line.

『Eh?』

I was puzzled, I was darn sure I was following her properly.

But then the floor suddenly made a *Clicking noise*.
As it dropped me into a slide.

『GYAAAAAH!』

Tears and snot came all over my face.
I hated falling, I hated Slides.
It was dark and scary.

[WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN TO MEEEeeeee!?] I cried out inside my thought.

As I slid and panic pushing the balance into a spinning motion, I was now spinning while sliding at the same time.

Instead of fear I now felt sick all of a sudden.
But fortunately, the ride came to an end as I reached my destination quite fast.

Before I realized it, I was floating in the air while I lightly spun in the air.

Ah, finally free.
Or so I thought, I felt a heavy force of gravity tug me as I made a terrible crash landing on the hard floor of this ruined place.

『That Freaking Hurts!』were my first words as I stood.

When I gazed at my body, it was now covered in dark scales that seemed to have protected me from my fall. Normally a fall like that would have killed a normal person like that.

But I felt lighter and healthier, that it felt strange when I used to be unable to carry a single brick.

Then Luna answered my question.

『The beings inside you thought that manifesting your wings would be too difficult to bring out in your panicked state. Thus decided to enhance and protect your body instead by manifesting your darker scales.』

I sighed at my incompetence and felt thankful for their assistance.

Realizing my safety I scanned my surroundings.
It was a large hallway.

At the center, there was a strange floating stone with a large pitfall below it.
Four staircases and a bridge encircle it and seemed so ancient.
A powerful presence of energy seems to be pulsating from it.

『Do not be afraid.』

『Come, child.』

『I have been waiting for someone like you to arrive.』

[Suspicious, Extremely Suspicious.]

I gazed at the stone with great suspicion, but while scanning my surroundings for an exit.
I soon realized...

[There was none.]

『Where's the exit.』I asked it.

『I will reveal it to you, if you come here and touch this stone.
We have many things to discuss regarding this yourself and this castle.』

I didn't know what was happening, nor should I care...
But my way out seems to be this large stone so I climbed up the eerie stare while feeling nauseous of the dark chasm below it, thankfully there were railings which allowed me to keep my balance and prevent myself from falling.

This eerie floating stone felt like this was a huge trap, if that's the case then...

『Stop! if you touch the stone with such hands.
You will bury yourself alive! 』

I flinched before I could touch it.
Changed my scales in my hand to silver in hopes of breaking whatever malicious magic it intended,
but...

『This stone is the core of this dungeon that keeps this castle afloat!』

『Don't be reckless!』

The stone cried out and scolded me.
I then began to ask questions.

『What is this place?』

『This place is the chamber and beating place of this castle dungeon.』

『What are you?』

『I am the golem created to seek out the next generation of the moonlights.』

『This castle remains unbroken because the core was hidden from both demon-kins and humans alike who venture into this place alike.

If anyone knows of my existence only the moonlights know...

It is highly important for them to bury this knowledge until their dying breaths.』

『But why?』

『Because this place is sacred and carries the wisdom of the first generation of the demon-king.』

『The first of the moonlights.』

『Eh?』

I froze, I thought the first of the demon-king was already dead?
But his wisdom? What was that supposed to mean!

『Doubt carries in your heart.
If you do not seek his wisdom then exit this place through this flow of air.

Your wings will take you upwards and away from this place.』

A powerful blast of wind flowing upward was released from behind where I stood.
My face froze and shook my head in terror.

[There's no way I can jump into that thing!

The feeling of floating, flying is out of the question as it is...
There's no way I'll jump into it!]

These were the inner thoughts that cried out deeply in my heart.

『If you seek the wisdom of the demon-king then touch this stone.』

『His wisdom will surely aid you in your troubled hour.』

It said.

As for me, who was gazing at it...
Aisha then said:『A golem cannot lie, even if you are filled with suspicion of it.』

I soon replied.

『Don't you two know about this golem?』

Luna answered my question:
『We only carry fragments of our past masters.
Most of our memories are extremely important historical bits such as basic knowledge of monsters and other spells to protect our masters.

Unfortunately, the last moonlight who was my master was unable to meet this golem.
As he often lived in the upper floors of this castle and never dared to visit this place simply because that fool was claustrophobic.』

『Why the heck was he claustrophobic!』

『Because of a certain incident of being thrown in the dark,
A certain ritual of your past ancestor required to go through to awaken the power of the moonlight.

It's best you not know how dangerous and risky it was.

Please, I beg of you.
Let us not speak of this again...』

Estel had a wry smile as she heard it from Luna.
As she then took a deep breath and began to reach out for the stone.

Of course, she shifted the scales to a grey color which sealed away the power of her two scales.

She closed her eyes preparing for the worst while feeling a powerful presence of a beating heart from it. As she touched it, the presence disappeared and she opened her eyes.

[Nothing happened.]

She soon let go of the stone and gazed at her surroundings, the air that flowed behind her was gone and nothing seemed to have changed.

『Hello? Mr. Golem?』her voice echoed in the room but no reply was heard.

『Luna, Aisha something feels wrong.』

She turned to her armlets but realized that they disappeared.

『Eh?』

Laughter of a young boy is heard coming from the stone.
She turns around and saw nothing.

『Up here silly.』she turned her head upwards and saw him.

Grey hair and grey eyes the young boy was a reflection of her except he was male.

『A young girl this time, huh?』

『We have many things to discuss.』he said.

He then leaped close to her side.

『Oooph!』

But Estel was simply gazing at the boy in astonishment.

『Are you just like me?』

Estel was puzzled, she believed she was the last of her kind.
To meet another moonlight which carried the grey color of her scales was something shocking to her.

『Unfortunately, what you see is nothing more than a piece of myself inside the stone.』

『I am already dead.』he bluntly said to her.

He then introduced himself.

『Good day to you, lady Estel.』

『My name is Roshan.
The First Demon-king and the First Moonlight of your kind.』

At that moment Estel mouth gaped in shock.

________________________________________________________________________________

A few hours has passed inside the chamber core of the castle,
Estel spoke and explained herself to Roshan.
Regarding the light dragons situation.
Regarding her problems and issues with the demon-kingdom.
Explaining her anxiety, terror and fear of the future if she were to remain there.

『All I wanted is to get away from this place.』

『I don't feel safe, even amongst my kind.』

『Tell me, what should I do?』

Roshan could only shake his head in troubled.
But there was one fact he understood.

"The Light dragon is on the verge of extinction."

『You are the final hope of saving our race.』

『I'm not planning on forcing you to save my own kin.』

『I already predicted this would happen, which was why I created this place.
And why Luna and Aisha existed.』

『But still, to think my kind would be reduced to a single half-human of my own race.』

『This is quite an extremely troublesome circumstance.』he worriedly said.

He was blunt with her, but these were facts Estel had conveyed to him.
Like a young boy, he wore clothes that seemed ancient for Estel.

His shirt was little cloth and wore long pants.
Like the young boys in the streets, which made her feel comfortable.

『I thought, I finally found someone just like me.
In the end, I really am the last carrier of your kind.
Aren't I?』

『Indeed you are.』 he replied.

『But, let me tell you this...』

『You have endured quite well thus far and I may perhaps able to help you.』

He calmly said, a spark of light came from Estel's eyes as he said those words.

『Re-really!?』

『Yes.』he replied.

『But before I tell you,
Tell me...

Which amongst your familiar do you wish to know most?』

He reached both of his hands towards her,
Revealing his darkened scale on the left and a silver-white scales on the right.

『Eh?』

『I'm talking about Aisha and Luna.
Whom protected and guided you thus far...』

『What does this have to do with my problem?』

『Quite a lot actually,
Do you not seek to know more of why exactly did Luna come forth...
Or why Aisha seeks for you to become queen?』

Estel was curious even she desired to know more about them.
His hand showed two types of scales from each hand similar to how she changed herself.

Her response was something the demon-king did not expect.

『I'll take both.』

She gripped both of his hands with her own with the same color as his.
He smiled and laugh in response.

『You're quite greedy aren't you...
But I don't hate it.』he said.

Estel then felt a surge of memory enter her mind.
She then disappeared from the room, where the demon-king stood.

『Let this wisdom come to you in your hour of need.』

『Reach for the sky and gaze upon it.』

『In that heat of the moment,
You will be granted the power of the strongest ability which your ancestors carried.

I pray that it will keep you safe in your hour of need.』

These were the words she could vividly hear before waking up.

『Eh?』

Dazed and Puzzled at what had just happened, she then heard a voice beside her.

『Estel?』

She turns her head and realized whose voice it was...
It was none other than her father.

His expression was sour and bitter.
Which made her tilt her head in confusion.

『Am I still dreaming?』She pinched her cheeks and felt pain from it.

『Apparently, you are now awake.』Aisha said.

『You were idle for quite a long time.』Luna added.

 What seemed like a short moment inside the stone time had already sped up in a mere instant.
But her father soon walked towards her and embraced her deeply in his arms.

『Forgive me for being such a horrible father to you!』

He was oddly weeping which confused her.

『Father? what's wrong?
Why are you suddenly saying those words?』

She was puzzled unable to understand what was happening, almost as though her father had changed into a different person completely alien words that came out of his mouth.

『You have nothing to worry left.』

『I'll help you return to your home.』

『Your grandfather will surely help and keep you safe.』

『HAAaaa!?』

Was my shocked expression unable to comprehend what he had just said?
Yet at that moment, she couldn't understand as she gazed at her father's weeping face.

A drop of tear fell in her eye unable to comprehend what it meant...
Yet she felt warmth and joy in it.

________________________________________________________________________________

// The Demon-king of the past and the Present. //

Estel's Father Pov:

As I walked to the halls, I saw a young servant who carried rabbit ear's, running towards me.
Her face was pale and eyes were full of tears and terror.

『Your majesty, your daughter is...』

She dissapeared.
I walked in this dungeon searching for her, yet I couldn't find any traces of her anywhere.
But then...

Suddenly I felt it.
The dungeon wall's changed its structure around me all of a sudden.

I was guided towards an empty rectangular hole at the end of the passage.
It felt like it was guiding me.

As I leapt inside it, curious of what it had in store for me.
I saw no trap nor and danger as I fell.

Calmly I saw the ground and fell to the floor as my weight caused a crack to form on the floor.
I raised my head and scanned my surroundings and I soon found my daughter who was idly touching the stone.

『Estel!』I cried out as my wings manifested and flew to where she stood.

I grab hold of her shoulders and suddenly I was sucked in this world where her body remained frozen completely unmovable.

『You Failure of a Father.』He said.

I turned my head and saw a figure of a man that I saw in portraits of the ancient history of my kingdom. Grey hair, Silver scales and a tail with clothes wearing the great crown on his head.

It was undoubtedly the first demon-king.

『But... how?』

I was puzzled, how can a person who is already dead.
Return to the living.

『What you see is nothing more than my soul.
This stone is my grave where I kept it here eternally watching over the next generation of the moonlights. 』

『But even with all my efforts.』

『My greatest fear had finally come. 』

『The extinction of my race is now at hand.』

『Fortunately, your daughter who carried the last of their blood.』

『Was born in this world.』

『With her help, she can surely restore my clan.』

『But... why did you let such a child suffer so much?』

He asked me such a question which puzzled me.

『It wasn't my choice to let her suffer like that!』

『In order to keep her safe, I needed to relinquish any kind of favor for her.
To avoid the other's from aiming for her life!』Was my reply to him.

『It is wise, yet also cruel.』

『The path of the king is a bitter one.』

『But still, a terrible excuse nonetheless!』

As he said those words he gazed at a distance and closed his eyes.
Then these words came out of his mouth.

『Your daughter has already died once.』

『Are you going to watch her perish a second time?』

As he said those words, I didn't understand what he meant...
But on that day, I will soon discover a cruel truth behind the sudden change which my daughter had gone through.

________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 11: Author Complaints to himself.

Shit, This story is so heavy...
I feel the heaviness in each chapter.
On the other hand.

At least the plot is moving and pulling no punches.

Leanne's hypothesis finally revealed itself in this chapter.
When you thought it was bullshit and pointless to read.
It somehow became an actual reality.