Chapter 53: A Dragon’s Valor

A loud bang was heard by the remnants of the First Army that stayed behind. They were holed up within a fortified room after baiting the Alliance into charging the fort. 

The task was simple enough. Illusion spells to make it as if there were more of them than there are, big red dragons flying over to lure the Alliance in and finally the sight of dead bodies to signal that there wasn’t much left in the fort. 

All that was left to do after that was to make it look like they were resisting to their dying breath— to fool the enemy into a false sense of security. Not that hard to do when they were literally doing just that.

The result was the situation that they were in now— with the remaining half of the soldiers that were still alive, waiting in the room for their final assault. Leida could be seen in the middle of the room, looking at the ring on her finger. It was the marriage ring given to her by Parash right before the outbreak of the war. They were supposed to be married by summer. That was almost two years ago. The same amount of time this useless war has raged on.

She thought about the cause of the whole thing, the whole reason this whole mess started. That day when the great Venti was killed by assassins. Needless to say, the whole kingdom was in an uproar due to the news. It’s not every day that the leader of a country gets assassinated after all, especially one as strong as Venti. The culprits were a bunch of human assassins who were hanged and made a display in front of everyone.

Venti was a very soft and kind-hearted leader. She would never dare hurt a fly. The way she led the country reflected her true nature. They stopped disturbing the humans and started making an attempt to make rights to their ancient hatred against the sapiens. Her attempts obviously caused contempt among the Familia and some of the generals, but her overwhelming strength would always silence them if they went too far. She was known as the kind but fearful Demon Lord. The Venti that Leida respected and followed as a leader died in the hands of those 'weak' humans. It was both unbelievable and rage-inducing at the same time.

Leida could remember her anger when she heard the news. She could also recall Lionel’s anger. But more than anything she could recall Sylendri’s anger. Her hatred knew no bounds. If there was anything that Sylendri loved more, it was the kind and lovable mother that Venti was. She was soon made Demon Lord due to Venti’s will. A very suspicious will now that she thought about it.

Sylendri inherited her mother’s power and more, but none of her personality. She was brash, willful, and very destructive. Anyone that went against her was quickly met with her rage. Sylendri quickly gained control of the Kingdom and started to incite war among the citizens, using the excuse of revenge and the excuse of obtaining the relics. Random Familias, generals and armies were being raised out of nowhere, coffers of the kingdom started to dry out. The peak of the problem arrived when she declared war on the country of Serrora. That was the beginning of the end.

Now in hindsight, Leida should have gone against it. Sylendri was strong, but she was no Venti. Leida would have easily won against her. But how could she? If Venti's will was the real deal then who was she to defy her Lord’s orders? Then there was Lionel who would not budge due to a promise that he made to Venti. With the two biggest obstacles just staying still and not doing anything, Sylendri was given free rein to steer the Kingdom into its destruction.

All of this senseless killing because Leida was too afraid to confront the daughter of her lord. There were not many things that could scare Leida. She was a half-dragon after all. Venti, however, was one of them. Her battle with Lionel would always result in a draw, but her battle against Venti always ended up with a beatdown from the kind-hearted demon lord.

How funny that she would actually meet a person who was much scarier than Venti. From a crest that she used to look down upon no less. Leida heard the rumours some time ago during their stay in Prashyufa. About an Analyst that can cast a grade eight destruction spell. There were also rumours going around that says Klauna once beat Lionel in a fair fight. If this was true, then she very well might be the strongest Ak’him in the Kingdom.

At first, Leida couldn’t believe it, but after getting to know her and seeing how she fight, Leida could understand now why Lionel lost. Heck, Leida herself had lost to Klauna once. At that time, Leida didn’t want to admit it. She made excuses for herself— that Klauna won because she played dirty, that it wasn’t a fair fight. 

But now, in this situation, she could finally admit the truth. Klauna won that fight fair and square. Klauna was without a doubt faster than Leida. One has to be in order to steal all those kills and do all those manoeuvres she does. She might even be stronger than her as well with a mana pool that dwarved hers. But the most important factor was that Klauna was smarter than Leida. It was like her mind worked in overdrive. Constantly making up schemes and plans while executing them. Leida could tell that she was nowhere close to her full potential during that time and yet, she still won.

She was no Venti of course. Leida still thinks that Venti was slightly stronger than Klauna. Though the reason why Leida called Klauna scarier was because, unlike Venti, Klauna had no qualms getting her hands dirty. She was not afraid of foul play nor did she care one bit about pride or honour in a fight. She was much more of a threat and much more of an efficient fighter. A win is a win to her. There was no doubt in Leida’s mind, that if Klauna and Venti were to fight, Klauna would end up victorious.

‘So now the question is… How could a person like Ticah exist without attracting attention all this time?’ Leida thought to herself. 

It was weird. Such a powerful person, yet it was only during this war where she suddenly appeared and made a name for herself. From what she could gather, Lionel recruited her into the army just shy over twelve years ago. Even then, in the army, she never really made a name for herself.

'How peculiar…'

*Bang!

Another loud bang disturbed Leida from her thoughts. It was a way louder bang than the previous ones. Small cracks could be seen on the large door and the hinges that connect the door to the wall.

Leida let out a sigh before looking towards a book within her right hand. The replica of the Grimoire of the Analysts. Another great invention from the Seventh Army that allowed them to communicate with each other and perform well-organised assaults on the enemy. It’s been several hours since her last communication with the others. They must have been out of range by now or at least almost out of range. 

Still, Leida opened the book before speaking into it. Just something she might as well try. There was something she needed to ask her.

“Hello. Ticah? Are you there? It's me, Leida here," Leida said to the book.  

There was nobody responding on the opposite side, of course. Letting out a small laugh she then threw the book on the ground before standing up.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Klauna’s voice suddenly came out of the book.

Panicking, Leida kneeled back down and picked the book up. “Ticah! Uh... How is your status?”

“Evacuating. It seemed that our movements were predicted by the forty thousand soldiers up north. We are currently trying to stay away from them, but I’m afraid that we might have to clash with them at some point. That’s the gist of it. What about you?” Klauna explained her situation.

“We did our jobs. Lured pretty much their whole army here. All that’s left to do is to press the button.”

“Will you be able to get out of there?” 

Leida looked around the room and observed her men. Half of them were injured and the other half were just standing near the door in a row. Though they look tough, one would not miss their shivering bodies and their scared looks. She then brought her eyes to her left wing. A large tear could be seen on it, blood seeping out of the gash.

She was effectively flightless, there was no getting out of the situation. 

“No. I don’t think so.”

“I see...”

“Hey, I want to ask you one thing. If that’s alright? I’m going to die after all so I just want to know.” 

“...sure. What is it?”

“I heard from Star. That you were there when Lionel died, that he spoke to you. What were his final words?”

It took Klauna a few seconds before she replied. “That he was glad he died. So that he could no longer drag his army, his family, to the grave with him. That this was the only way he could do to fulfil both his promise to Venti and still keep the people he cared about alive.” 

Leida could feel her heart sank as she heard this. “I see... That’s rather disappointing…”

“It is. He was prepared to die that day.” 

*BANG!

A much much louder bang was heard, the cracks at the door becoming even bigger.

“...My time is up. It's been an honour working with you, Klaunaliorilatica. I wish I had gotten to know you sooner. We could have totally been best buddies.” 

A moment of silence was heard before Klauna replied. “It was an honour to work with you, as well. Farewell, Leidalaledaliliel.” 

Leida gave a bittersweet smile towards the grimoire. She knew that Klauna couldn’t see it, yet she still did it. She closed the notebook before breathing fire out of her mouth to burn it. Once she confirmed that it was burned to cinders, she slowly walked towards her men and got herself into position. They all awaited the Alliance to break down the door.

“Lord Leida,” one of Leida’s officers called out to her as they waited for the end to come.

“Yeah?” 

“...I’m afraid Ma’am,” He said.

Leida couldn’t help but let out a laugh at his statement— the soldiers of the strongest army in the Kingdom saying that they were afraid. However….

 “Don’t worry. I’m afraid as well. We all are. Honestly speaking, I didn’t think the feeling of fear would be this bad.”

If one looked closely, one could see Leida shivering just like the others in the room, though her face remained a calm one. There was no point in panicking nor running away from her fate at this point.

“But we are doing the right thing. There are times where we just have to go beyond our duties and responsibility. This is one of them. This is the true pride of the Ak’hims. There is no greater honour than dying for your friends,” Leida said it out loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

The other soldiers in the room listened in and braced their hearts. They were less afraid now.  

“The only thing that I regret was not going beyond back then. That I have to do it now. I could have prevented this stupid war. I’m sorry men. I have failed you,” Leida said to the room.

“This is not your fault, General,” her officer said to her.

“Yeah, I know,” Leida replied with a mischievous smile which soon turned back into a serious look. “Once they break through that door, we rush them with all we have. Our goal is the summit. Those that can escape, escape. The rest of us will hold them off long enough to set off the traps.”

“Roger!’ Her men yelled back.

They all then took positions and brandished their weapons at the door. It was exactly at that moment that the door broke down and the remnants of the First Army charged right out the entrance towards the thousands of soldiers on the outside.

***A few hours later***

“I guess… this is it, huh?” Leida said to herself as she slowly walked towards a large chair. The chair that she often sat upon during her war council with the other generals and officers. In a wide open-air room at the top of a summit. Although the roof of the building had long been destroyed.

She and her men fought bravely after the door fell and fought their way through the summit. As ordered, those that can still fly and get away did exactly that, just spread their wings and fly away. The others stayed behind in order to kill as many as they could and to buy the soldiers who were escaping some more time that they needed to get out of the blast zone.

Leida fought especially hard alongside her battalion in her draconic form. Rampaging about while breathing out breaths of fire. It wasn’t just her, her soldiers fought bravely till the very end as well. The more she fought, the more her men would die. The remaining ones would just struggle harder. Leida fought and fought till she was the only one left. Even then, she didn’t let up, continuing to fight till she could no longer hold her dragon form.

Now at the top of the summit, surrounded by the blood and the bodies of both her men and the enemies, she made her way to the chair. She then sat down on it before looking outwards towards her village. The dark skies and the wanton destruction all over the place made it look like a living hell. 

Leida loved this village. It was the place of her birth and it only pains her knowing that she herself would be the one to end it. 

She could feel water droplets falling off her cheeks. At first, she thought that she was crying, but then she started to look upwards. The dark cloudy skies had finally started to rain. The few droplets that dropped soon became a downpour. The water washed away the blood and grim off Leida.

Within the sound of crashing water, she could hear footsteps coming towards her position, though they were still quite far away from her location. She still had time— time which she used to carve her beating heart right out of her body, her loud painful screams drowned by the sound of the hard rain. 

'I'm so sorry Parash. I hope in the future you can find a better lover and wife.'

With the biggest smile she could make at that moment, Leida held her heart out, her still-beating heart, before saying in a weak voice. "Broken Heart."

Leida then crushed her heart with her hands. From her heart came a large explosion that engulfed the entire area, setting off the other explosions as well.

Dragonsmourne breathed its final breath.

‘Venti, Lionel. I’m coming so you just wait right there.’

Kotohood

Thanks for reading this chapter! Due to a busy work schedule this week, I'm going to post the next chapter on the Friday(17th of April instead of Wednesday.

I apologize in advance. I don't really like missing out on schedule like this.