"Now that I think about it, you still didn’t tell me why there is a Tower of Babel in Lustburg.”
"Your ancestor was a funny mortal. Like your father, he also entered the Dragon’s territory after his awakening.”
“Oh? Who did he form a contract with?”
Kiyohime shook her head, “Ladon[1]. One of Hydra’s children.”
Hydra was one of the four Dragon Kings in this territory, and back then, Ladon had been his first son and also the most talented of his children. It was honestly a surprise back then when it happened.
‘Ladon…’
In his memory, Ladon was a dragon that appeared in the myth of Heracles. It was a dragon with hundred heads, and a powerful poison who had a duty to protect the golden apple.
‘Well, Hydra is also from Heracles' myth.’
A nine-headed snake, or dragon with powerful poison and extremely powerful regeneration power. To the level, it was thought to be immortal - at least everyone thought so until Heracles killed it.
‘Come to think of it...’
He also remembered the myth behind Kiyohime - one not particularly pretty. If it was to be summarized, Kiyohime could be said to be the Yuno Gasai of medieval japan.
Fell in love with a guy because said guy made a joking promise of marrying together.
Chased after the guy when he began running away after realizing the girl was batshit crazy.
Transformed into a dragon-snake with god-like power and ended up killing her beloved - then killed herself.
In the end, because of some prayer from a monk, her soul, and the guy's soul went together in heaven.
In a way, Sol really wondered if Yuno wasn’t inspired by Kiyohime. Unfortunately, he would never get the answer.
‘Well, I really hope the Kiyohime in front of me doesn’t have the extreme yandere power of the one from earth. If not, I really pray for the poor sucker that will get her attention.’
Shaking his head, he asked, “So Jupiter created the tower after coming back from here?”
“Yes. He created that Tower to show his aspiration towards godhood. In the end, he forgot himself and died after getting besieged during his last war."
Since Jupiter was the first human blessed of the new era, many people had been curious about how he would end up.
It had to be said that the results had been mitigated. It was hard to say whether he succeeded or failed. But at the very least, he didn't leave a particularly good impression in the mind of most.
“What about Ladon?”
“He died. Siegfried[1] killed him during the war against opposing humans to elves.”
Kiyohime sighed. She wondered if dragons and Lusturg had some bad destiny. But even so, she felt no sadness at Ladon’s death.
Siegfried was the brother of Satella Superbia[2] and was one of the rare beings recognized as a singularity.
Back then, Ladon had gone completely crazy after Jupiter died. Siegfried had no other choice than to kill him in order to put him to rest. This was why no one really blamed him.
Furthermore, Ladon had managed to become a dragon king after killing and eating many young dragons. It was a crime worthy of thousands of deaths, and if Siegfried hadn’t killed him, then she would have done so herself.
Refusing to think more about that utter piece of trash, she faced Isis and the others, "I don't know who out of you all will form a contract with Sol but I need to remind you that the first contract isn't a game. You are putting everything in line. Don't sign it if you don't have the resolve necessary."
Kiyohime was not trying to sound alarmist. She just didn't want them to enter a commitment they knew nothing about.
Silence filled the elevator because of the heavy tension behind her words.
Until…
Ding!
The door of the elevators opened, showing two men clad in full armor, standing proudly with spears in their hands.
The two men seemed shocked at the sight of Nent, and frowned a little when they felt Isis' energy, but in the end, they stayed completely silent.
"You should remember them, right? Follow them."
Kiyo did not turn around as she addressed Nent.
"Heh! I don't need any servants to guide me. I still remember where your palace is. Let's go girls."
Nent strutted out of the elevators with the others and left.
"Take care, Sol."
On her way, Isis sent a small encouragement to Sol and took Sekh with her before leaving.
After the door closed and the elevator proceeded to go higher,
“What kind of person is Tiamat?"
"Call her big sis. Haha. As for how she is, it will be for you to find out, don't you think?"
Kiyohime showed a gentle smile. It could be easily seen that she had become way more relaxed after Nent left.
Sol was really curious about their relationship. But he wasn't curious enough to poke in what was an obvious deep wound.
"It will take some time to reach the Ninth Heaven. Would it bother you if we talked a little?"
"I have nothing against this."
Like this, during the short ride, the two of them became a little closer as they shared some small stories about their childhood.
None of them talked about any deep secrets, but those small stories were enough to give insight into each other's personalities.
Kiyohime on one hand was happy about what she was seeing. After he failed to show any reaction about the story of Babel, she had been a little worried about having to work with a hard case.
But it seemed that she had jumped the gun too fast.
'I should stop trying to understand him with just pieces of information.'
She had recognized that because she was so eager to meet him, any of his mistakes were magnified greatly and she had overanalyzed his actions.
As his future teacher, this way of thinking and acting was not conducive to a good development. Thankfully, she had managed to understand this sooner rather than later.
When the elevator finally stopped, Kiyome faced Sol and gave him a node.
“The tower will open directly to a corridor. Follow it until the end and you will reach the throne room.”
“You are not going to follow me?”
“No. Mother wishes to meet you alone.”
Kiyohime shrugged and moved to the side to let Sol get out. After that, she waved her hand.
“Don't worry about coming back since you don't have authorization to access the tower yet. Mother will take care of it.”
“Understood. Well then, see you later.”
“See you.”
Now alone, Sol took a deep breath and began walking as he was instructed.
The corridor was one filled with pictures of what looked like a depiction of a war. Giant human-like figures fighting against giant monsters or human figures with wings. Fighting in the sea, in the sky, or in a volcano.
The more he advanced, the more brutal the war depicted seemed to become. At the same time, most of the winged men had vanished and were replaced by more monsters. He could also see what looked like dragons finally appearing on the battlefield.
When Sol finally stopped in front of the large black and white gate, Sol saw a picture carved that jolted his memory.
A woman with fourteen girls behind her, all of them wearing golden robes on the white side of the gate, facing them was another woman wearing a bright red robe on the black side of the gate. Every one of them had no face, giving the scene a strange, creepy atmosphere.
This was the same picture as the one in the church[3]. Though there were a few differences.
On the black side…The red robbed woman was not alone.
‘I can’t see it.’
No matter how Sol squinted his eyes, he could not see the figures carved next to Chaos.
“Don't bother. The goddesses had not been happy when I carved this picture. It’s a shame for them after all. No one aside from those who participated in the war can see those pictures.”
A feminine voice full of ridicule and conceit filled his ears. Since there was only one person living here, Sol did not have to guess who it was.
‘So it finally came to this.’
Taking away his eyes from the carvings, Sol finally pushed open the gate and for the first time, saw the one he had heard so much about…Tiamat.
—--(AN: Listen to Invasion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwnjFYznpOI or Treachery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxhlab2rCvg )
All this time, Sol had been wondering what the Mighty Tiamat sounded like.
There were so many legends, so many tales about her power. Since she was also his grandmother, he had been wondering how their first meeting would go.
The moment Sol opened the large door and his eyes landed on the woman arrogantly sitting on the throne, all thoughts vanished from his mind. It was as if all he could see was her and her alone and the conclusion that came was simple.
‘What a monster...’
Sol gulped while cold sweat covered his face.
Tiamat has long, waist-length hair as black as the darkness of space. The top of her hair was tied up with an intricate gold hairpin with a pale blue tassel hanging from one end. Her right eye was of a deep golden, while her left eye was covered by a red eyepatch. Golden dragon-shaped earrings that matched with the color of her eyes and hairpin were dangling in the air.
On her body, all she was wearing was a bright red qipao with side slits going up to her hips and the chest area cut out, showing off her deep cleavage. Many golden anchor motifs could be found scattered around her outfit, on the front of her qipao dress, forming what looked like the head of a golden dragon roaring.
Finally, her beautiful dainty legs were uncovered and unprotected as she wore no shoes.
The moment Sol entered the room, her face lit up with a dazzling but predatory smile, making his hair stand straight.
Tiamat was undoubtedly a beautiful woman.
But at this moment, her beauty was completely overshadowed by the fierce aura she was emanating.
The distance separating them was only a few meters, but Sol felt as if the distance between them seemed to stretch toward infinite.
When he finally took his first step into the room.
Bam!
‘So. Fucking. Heavy!”
The gravity in the room was completely at another level.
He couldn’t breathe. His organs felt as if they were about to burst.
He couldn’t move. He felt like the world itself was pressing down on him.
Still—he refused to kneel down and admit defeat.
The color of his eyes began to change. Going from the normal blue to deep gold and black.
Beautiful golden scales formed on his body, and his normal horns also appeared.
“Oh!?”
Tiamat opened her eyes wide in surprise.
She had not been trying to test Sol. The gravity in the room was the one she was most used to and found herself the most comfortable with.
At the same time, it was a way she used to tease her children whenever they wished to meet her.
Because of this, she had completely forgotten to lower it when Sol entered and had been ready to dispel it when he nearly caved in.
Still...
‘Hahaha~! what an interesting boy.’
She dispelled the idea the moment she saw him change form and straighten his back as walked toward her.
Watching him take one step after another, and adapting so easily to a level of gravity most adult dragons couldn’t even support, she felt a mixture of emotions - happiness, pride, and sad nostalgia.
It was as if she could remember the picture all those years ago, when her little adorable daughter, Blaze had shown her that she wasn’t just a mischievous child and that she had her own pride.
‘Blaze, you really had a fine son.’
Her previous predatory smile changed into one full of warmth and care when Sol finally stopped a few steps away from her.
Standing up, she covered the small distance separating them and hugged a bewildered Sol tightly.
“Welcome back home, Sol. I am happy to finally meet you.”
[1]: Siegfried was first mentioned by Fafnir during Special chapter: Dragon
[2]: Satella appeared in Special chapter: Elves. She is the ruler of Southern pride
[3] The gate appeared in Vol 2 CH 29
(AN: Sol didn’t use his War form nor his energy Horns. Just a small reminder. Finally, we meet Tiamat. I had to rework and change her chara design many times to fit my image of a Prideful and powerful woman full of confidence. Hope you liked her description. For those who want a clearer image, Imagine a mix between Beidou and Raiden Shodun from Genshin.)
