There was a faint disturbance in the air; it was a presence that unsettled Jagon. Yet, he hesitated. It piqued his curiosity slightly, but he did not bother immediately rushing toward it. After all, it was probably just the hatchling.
Although he had no personal experience with dragons, Jagon knew that dragons emitted a unique, daunting energy called Fear. So, Jagon presumed the bothersome energy was just Dragon Fear. Even so, he took his sweet time heading to the Dragon Demon Castle. After all, there were many pleasures to enjoy on the way there.
Jagon reveled in the thrill of the hunt, showing no mercy to his prey. Some tried to fight back, others ran for their lives, and a few simply collapsed, wailing in terror. He relished every moment of the slaughter, giving each of his victims the attention they deserved. Each demonfolk was different, and their taste varied, but Jagon enjoyed them all the same. He ate and drank to his heart's content, but no matter how much he consumed, his hunger and thirst were never satiated.
Nevertheless, it was fine as long as the hatchling didn’t run away. No, on second thought, it would be fine as well, even if she did run away. A wicked grin spread across Jagon’s face as he considered his next move. He had been eagerly awaiting this moment, the chance to kill Raimira — the Dragon Duchess and the blood of Raizakia, the Black Dragon. Jagon knew that a fierce struggle was not in the cards, as it was clear that a two-hundred-year-old hatchling would not provide him with the entertainment he craved. However, an idea struck him then. What if he let her run? The thought of chasing her down and relishing in the hunt twice over sent a shiver of excitement down his spine. Yes, he decided that it would be rather special and fun.
Suddenly, Jagon came to an abrupt halt. Up until that moment, he had been strolling along at a leisurely pace without a care in the world, but something had just caught his attention, causing him to freeze in his tracks. The energy he felt coming from the Dragon Demon Castle had suddenly changed.
When he felt a sliver of it before, he had presumed it to be Dragon Fear. Yet, upon feeling it intensify now, it became clear to Jagon that his speculation had been incorrect.
This wasn’t anything like Dragon Fear. It was a simpler yet purer form of malice and killing intent that sent shivers down Jagon’s spine. Who or what could be responsible for emitting such a potent aura? The hatchling, who was only two hundred years old and had been confined to the castle all her life, couldn't possibly be the source of this intense energy. It was simply impossible.
Then, who was responsible for it? Could it be the Four Divine Generals, the closest known aides of the Black Dragon? As far as Jagon knew, they had devolved into fat pigs during the two hundred years of peace. Was it possible that the remnants of the past had not yet become entirely dull?
‘No.’
Jagon shook his head as he hastened his steps toward the Dragon Demon Castle. He traveled a great distance with each step he took, causing the ground the quake.
‘It’s not a demonfolk.’
Jagon knew that if his opponent were a demonfolk, the aura they emitted would be infused with a temperament and Dark Power unique to their kind. It was how demonfolks clashed; they used their energies to force their opponents to submit before the actual fight even began. The intensity of the energy and killing intent Jagon was sensing thrilled him greatly, indicating that it should contain a significant amount of Dark Power.
However, Jagon could not feel even the slightest bit of Dark Power from the intense malice and energy. It was rather refreshing and provided Jagon with a different type of ecstasy. Was it really possible for such an immense and strong energy to be this pure?
Such a thing was impossible for demons, so this meant that Jagon wouldn’t be going against a demon.
“S-Stop!”
Jagon's joyful contemplation was abruptly interrupted by a sudden voice.
Looking beyond the fallen gates, Jagon saw the vassals kowtowing on the road leading to the castle. White flags flapped above the castle, signaling the Dragon Demon Castle’s surrender.
Jagon could see four demons on the upper railing of the castle.
"The Dragon Demon Castle will surrender unconditionally against this invasion. In other words, everything in the castle will be in the possession of the victor, Count Karad," declared the Finance General, emphasizing the word possession.
In a duel between demonfolks, the winner took ownership of everything belonging to the loser. Nonetheless, this was not a duel between two individual demons but a territorial war between two regions. Despite this, the demonfolks of the Dragon Demon Castle declared unconditional surrender, signaling the end of the invasion. It was a clear indication that everything in the castle now belonged to Count Karad.
However, the Beastfolk standing before the vassals of the Dragon Demon Castle right now wasn’t Count Karad; he appeared to be simply a soldier under Count Karad’s command. In other words, this Beastfolk had no right to arbitrarily determine the treatment of the demons of the Dragon Demon Castle, who were already prisoners and property of Count Karad.
“We already had a discussion with Count Karad regarding how the war will proceed and how it will end. A-And… there is something else you really should be focusing on right now.”
“The deputy lord…. The Dragon Duchess has fled the castle. I-It was a mishap that had nothing to do with us. That sly girl secretly recruited a collaborator from the outside, prepared, and implemented an escape without us knowing.”
“She could not have gotten very far. You should hurry and….”
The generals scrambled to talk over each other, causing Jagon’s lips to twitch upwards. Jagon leaned forward without bothering to listen any further.
Booom!
Then he simply leaped forward. However, even such a simple gesture was sufficient to create a shockwave that caused the bodies of the kneeling vassals to explode like water balloons.
“W-Wait….”
The Four Divine Generals attempted to flee in a hurry, but Jagon had already decided to kill them before they even had a chance to run away. None of them managed to escape from Jagon, just like the vassals who had died before them. They all perished without even putting up a fight or letting out a scream.
Rumbleee!
Jagon moved past the railing where the generals had been standing and began climbing the roof of the castle. This caused the massive structure to collapse, but Jagon remained stable and unmoved even as the roof creaked and shook. He stood firmly on the collapsing roof, gazing out at the castle's back garden.
In the back garden, a figure stood gazing up at Jagon, meeting his stare. The man had black hair and black eyes, but Jagon saw through the disguise immediately.
Regardless, Eugene had no reason to maintain his disguise any longer, as he intended to kill anyone who laid eyes on him that day. With a few scruffles of his hand, his black hair transformed back into its natural gray hue, and his eyes regained their original golden color.
Eugene knew the Beastfolk staring at him was the son of Oberon.
He had felt it upon seeing the Beastfolk from a distance, but Oberon’s son had a lot in common with his father. It was mostly his appearance, which was a mix of a bear and a human, as well as his grayish-brown fur, which was as stiff and sharp as iron needles.
That wasn't the end of it, though. Oberon had been known for his violent tendencies, earning him the infamous title of The Depraved Oberon. However, as Eugene looked at Jagon and felt the intense killing intent emanating from him, Eugene couldn't help but feel that his father's nature paled in comparison.
“Eugene Lionheart?” muttered Jagon while slightly tilting his head.
Gray hair and golden eyes were unchanged characteristics of the Lionheart family over three hundred years of lineage. There were numerous families on the continent, but only one family with such prominent characteristics — the Lionheart family of Kiehl. Even the farthest relatives of the family were born with distinct gray hair and golden eyes.
“Do you know who Barang is?” asked Eugene.
He had left Raimira back underground and leaped to a feather he had spread beforehand with Prominence.
Jagon's voice was low as he responded, "I haven't heard that name in years."
He paused for a moment, trying to remember the last time he had heard it. It had been a few years ago, but he couldn't recall any details. The name simply held no significance for him, and he felt nothing toward it.
“That bastard said that you were his sworn brother,” said Eugene.
"We were," Jagon answered simply.
The title of a sworn brother held little value for him, considering that he had killed his own father with his own hands. To Jagon, being a sworn brother was merely a recognition of one's strength and ferocity — a recognition of one’s sharp fangs and claws, but nothing more.
“Was Barang proud of it?” Jagon asked.
Since a certain point in time, Jagon had no longer considered others to be his brothers. He had abandoned any sense of brotherhood around the time when he no longer considered his father to be his father. The Depraved Oberon was considered a madman, and while Jagon had respected his father’s strength, respect was only given to those who were stronger.
With the passage of time, Oberon grew old and frail while Jagon grew strong and youthful. Once it became clear that Jagon’s fangs and claws could reach the nape of his father’s neck, he decided to no longer respect his father.
The same was true for Jagon’s sworn brothers. Since their fangs and claws did not grow as sharp as he had hoped, he lost all interest in them.
Barang? Indeed, he had once been Jagon’s sworn brother. Jagon’s memories returned as he thought about it. He recalled that among his brothers, Barang had lived the longest and always claimed he would stand by Jagon's side, but that was all Jagon could remember.
“No, he wasn’t very proud of it. Anyways, it’s amazing that you actually were sworn brothers with him,” commented Eugene.
“What’s amazing about it?” asked Jagon.
“I thought he was selling your name because he didn’t want to die,” said Eugene with a grin.
However, Eugene’s words elicited no response from Jagon. Instead, Jagon simply stood motionless while staring down at him.
“Are you done?” asked Jagon.
"I have nothing more to say," Eugene replied shortly.
With that, he brushed off his coat and transformed it back into the Cloak of Darkness. Though he had been compelled to wear the black coat with the fur lining, he had never felt comfortable in it. The cloak, on the other hand, was a familiar and reassuring garment.
While Eugene was transforming his coat, Jagon didn't waste any time and quickly launched an attack toward him. He aimed his hand directly at Eugene's head with lightning-fast speed, ready to strike him down.
Jagon was not one to show any consideration for his prey during a hunt. He typically wouldn't even bother conversing with them. However, in the case of Eugene, Jagon had a hunch that this battle would be enjoyable and exciting. So, he waited patiently and engaged in a short conversation with the human, answering his questions. It was a level of consideration that Jagon wouldn't have given to most of his prey, but this hunt was different. The prospect of a challenging fight was too tempting to resist.
Consequently, Jagon did not bother asking any of the important questions. Was Eugene the Dragon Duchess’ collaborator? If so, where was she right now? Such questions were for Count Karad to wonder about. Instead, Jagon had other questions of his own. How had Eugene dodged his attack just now? Eugene had definitely been right under Jagon, and he had remained motionless until the moment Jagon struck.
Jagon wasn’t arrogant enough to think his attack had been completely unavoidable. In fact, he was sure that there had been a gap. Yet, he had failed to grasp Eugene’s movements. It was strange. Jagon did not understand exactly how Eugene had suddenly appeared behind his back.
Boom!
With a small black dot on the end of his fingertip, Eugene launched an attack that consumed Jagon in an explosion, and the brilliant light burned the surroundings a blinding white. Then the explosion of mana condensed into a single point, and blinked black , leaving nothing but darkness in its wake.
Eugene took a step back from the great storm of mana. He hadn’t been expecting his attack to leave a scratch on Jagon, so he wasn't disappointed when it didn't. After all, Eugene had known from his encounter with Oberon, Jagon's father, over three centuries ago that Oberon had been as tough as Molon, though not as strong as the Molon of today. So, it came as no surprise that Jagon was just as tough, if not tougher, than his father.
Then Eugene activated the Wings of Prominence, and the blazing flame underneath them caused a multitude of feathers to sprout forth.
Fwoosh!
In an instant, a burst of light emitted from beneath the wings and propelled Eugene forward with such speed that he became a blur in Jagon's vision. Regardless, Jagon stretched out his hand, and a curved claw shot out of his muscular hand. He then clawed at the space in front of him.
Eugene reached for a weapon concealed within his cloak, but he didn't choose his usual sword. Instead, he drew out Jigolath, the Annihilation Hammer. This was the weapon he had acquired from Black Lion Castle, and it had once been wielded by the Demon King of Carnage himself. The hammer towered over Eugene's height, but he expected nothing less, considering its previous owner's stature was much greater than that of humans.
Yet, despite the hammer’s large size and great weight, Eugene was strong enough to wield it with only one hand. Indeed, it was true that it was rather hard for Eugene to put all of his strength into wielding the weapon with one hand, but the Annihilation Hammer was not a weapon meant to be swung with as much strength as possible.
The Annihilation Hammer, Jigolath, was a straightforward weapon compared to the Demon Spear. The Demon Spear had a complex mechanism that involved attacking specific coordinates through space, but the Annihilation Hammer simply broke down anything it hit and caused the target to explode.
Boom!
Propelled by the force of the impact produced by Eugene’s attack, Jagon's body moved forward. Nevertheless, he quickly regained his balance and lunged toward Eugene with his clawed hand outstretched.
Yet, as he tried to grab Eugene, Eugene disappeared once again. Jagon didn't grab empty air, though. Instead, he found a swelling black dot that had been left behind where Eugene had just been. Jagon reacted quickly, immediately closing his fist around the black dot. He squeezed it tightly, extinguishing it before it could explode. The dot still exploded anyway, but it was only a partial explosion, which caused Jagon's hand to jerk once.
Right after that, Eugene materialized high up in the sky and brought down the Annihilation Hammer with great force, hitting Jagon hard. Nevertheless, Jagon didn't move. Instead, he faced the full impact of Jigolath's strike and raised his head to look at Eugene. A gleam sparkled in Jagon’s black eyes.
Eugene laughed as he felt a shiver run down his spine. Though Jagon was powerful, his strength couldn't be compared to that of Molon. Eugene knew he had boasted to Molon before about how their battle would have gone differently if he had weapons, but deep down… Eugene knew that he would still have lost even if he had been allowed his weapons.
‘But you…’
Eugene’s left hand was still tightly wrapped around the Annihilation Hammer. He placed his right hand, which was empty, into his cloak.
‘...aren’t Molon.’
Jagon had bitten his father to death, but so what? Oberon had not been stronger than Molon from three hundred years ago. Eugene didn’t deny that Oberon had been strong, but it was a fact that Molon had been stronger. Yes, it was true that Jagon was a powerful warrior, strong enough to earn him the nickname the Beast of Ravesta. However, Jagon wasn’t Molon, he wasn’t Gavid Lindman, and he wasn’t Noir Giabella either.
Still, it was also true that one day, Jagon would grow strong enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those monsters. Eugene was convinced of this after seeing Jagon run rampant. That was why he had bothered to make his presence known to Jagon.
Eugene could have chosen to destroy the core of the Dragon Demon Castle and make his escape with Raimira during the chaos of the castle’s descent. A demon like Jagon wouldn’t die from the crash, but the crash would still result in the deaths of many demonfolks. Despite that, Eugene had pushed back this very exciting and cool opportunity for a while and decided to kill Jagon first.
The first time Eugene put Prominence to the test had been on the other side of Lehainjar, but that had not been the most optimal location to use Prominence. Moreover, the only abilities he had utilized in the battle against Molon had been leaping from feather to feather and bombarding him with black spots.
The other side of Lehainjar had been almost devoid of any mana, and there had been no primal spirits either. It was true that the ability to simply leap from feather to feather was an invaluable ability that made Prominence worthwhile as Eugene’s Signature, but leaping wasn’t the only thing he wanted to achieve with Prominence.
The feathers Eugene had scattered with Prominence were imbued with his mana, which contained the spirit of the World Tree. In turn, this attracted the primal spirits in the surroundings. Ultimately, Eugene’s flame of mana gradually increased in size and intensity by devouring the mana in the atmosphere.
Eugene’s mind resonated with the mana and took fine control of the primal spirits as well. This was different from Ignition in that doing this didn’t cause his cores and heart to flare up. However, it did allow Eugene to control an enormous amount of dense mana that he would not normally be able to control.
Consuming such a huge amount of mana would cause Eugene to be extremely fatigued, even though he had not neglected a single day in training. Nevertheless, that was fine. Since he wasn’t using Ignition and therefore not straining his heart and his Core, he was only putting his body in physical pain. That, he could endure.
Eugene's left ring finger lit up with a red glow from the Ring of Agaroth, the War God. Its ability was straightforward — to forcibly enhance the body's regenerative power. Although it consumed the user's life force, Eugene's exceptional physicality and rigorous training meant it would only cause mild fatigue after usage.
The feeling of omnipotence began to spread throughout Eugene’s body. It felt similar to using Ignition but without the accompanying strain on his heart and Core.
With a smile, Eugene pulled out his right hand from inside the cloak.
The Demon Spear Luentos pierced through the air, and hundreds — no, thousands of spears bloomed from under Jagon’s feet.
