[You too, have a contractor….. Why are you asking?]
[You know very well that Sasha is not my real contractor. In fact, I don’t care if Sasha dies or not. She’s only human, and there are plenty of humans who can replace her.]
[Replace? You really…. don’t know anything.]
Even in that badly beaten situation, Rabes felt superior to Malek.
It was laughable that a dragon who had lived thousands of years longer than him didn’t understand “uniqueness.” A hollow chuckle escaped his lips
[Nothing can replace Elaine. Just as no one can replace me for Elaine…]
The sight of Rabes’ face, breathing heavily but smiling faintly, irritated Malek.
He had thought they were the same—both abandoned by their kin, lonely existences. But Rabes was not alone.
As memories of the past 3,000 years, where no one had been by his side to understand him, resurfaced, Malek felt a sense of betrayal.
But Malek, who didn’t want to admit defeat, sneered for no reason.
[Your old contractor and you both seem a bit weird. You say things like you love each other and that you can’t replace each other.]
[You will probably never know that feeling again.]
Malek gritted his teeth and snorted.
[And despite being an immortal, you know such cheap emotions. That will only make today’s sealing even more painful. Fool.]
And Malek realized that quite some time had passed.
[It’s time to put an end to this little amusement. This is your second time experiencing it, so you might find it a little bored.]
Rabes clutched the debris of the building strewn across the floor.
But no method to stop Malek came to his mind.
No matter how he attacked, Malek would have enough time to recite the remote explosion spell.
[Aquiesco…..]
Malek began to recite the sealing spell very slowly, as if he was enjoying the moment.
Even now, Rabes’s concern wasn’t for himself but for Elaine, who, after his sealing, would be left unprotected in that harsh human world.
‘Elaine is too weak and foolish; she’ll be eliminated quickly… I have to protect her…’
[Roevis….]
‘It also bothered me that she had only made one wish, and even that one wish wasn’t for herself.’
‘She is really stupid. How hard would it have been to wish to become the world’s richest person or the ruler of this empire?’
And yet, at that moment, he desperately wanted to see that foolish contractor. He wanted to see her face so badly that he wished he could pray to God.
[Del…..]
Rabes closed his eyes tightly.
‘Goodbye, Elaine. Goodbye, Lancer. May we meet again someday….’
Locked in a seal that could never be released again, Rabes hoped that he would one day meet his only contractor again.
Malek opened his mouth to recite the last part of the spell with a cruel smile.
[Lu….. Kughh!]
As Rabes closed his eyes tightly and waited for the end of the sealing magic, Malek seemed to make a strange noise.
After waiting for a long time and seeing no change, Rabes slowly opened one eye and then opened it fully in surprise.
[What, what is it?]
The once-arrogant Malek collapsed on the ground, trembling violently.
And standing behind him was the face Rabes had longed to see, looking slightly flustered.
[Elaine….?]
“Master! Are you okay?”
But before Elaine could approach, Hubert had already rushed forward.
Grabbing Rabes’s hind leg, he shouted,
“Please release me from my butler contract. Right now!”
[What nonsense is this?]
“Just say ‘I will.’ Please! I can’t do this anymore!”
Rabes stared blankly at Hubert before flicking him away with a toe.
[Kyaaaagh!]
At that moment, Malek let out an agonized scream, writhing in pain.
Even with his battered body, Rabes moved Elaine and others to a safer spot nearby.
[Elaine! Are you okay? What on earth did you do to that guy? No, wait, that’s not important—he planted something inside you…!]
“This one?”
In Elaine’s palm were red beads that looked exactly like the one Malek had shown him.
[How did you get that out?]
“I was awake when that dragon poured something into my mouth. I didn’t swallow it, but I spat it out when no one was in the room.”
It was pure luck that she had regained consciousness at that moment.
The red beads were pretty, but no matter how Elaine looked at them, they didn’t look like they would be good for her health.
[At times like this, you don’t seem like a fool.]
“Still, I’m a fool.”
[Huh? Why are you admitting this….. No, wait. This isn’t the time for this.]
Now that he knows Elaine is safe, he needs to get rid of Malek before he casts the sealing spell.
He also needs to get some revenge.
[Ugh… That insolent girl… What did she do…?]
[Oh, you’re conscious now? Guess it’s my turn.]
[Aquiesco—!]
[Not so fast!]
Before Malek could recite the sealing spell, Rabes drew up his magical power and fired a powerful shockwave, then chanted a spell to retrieve a fragment of his own magic core from Malek.
But there was nothing in return.
[Damn….. Did the attributes change in the meantime?]
Rabes had heard from Abel that Malek consumed dragon stones to absorb other dragons’ magic and restore his magic core.
That explained why Malek’s magic felt like a chaotic mix, different from ordinary dragons.
If Rabes’s magic had been embodied in Malek’s body in that way, his spell to retrieve the magic core might not have worked properly.
[I can’t help it. I have no choice but to beat him before he can chant another spell.]
With his uninjured hind leg, Rabes stomped down on Malek’s leg, crushing it.
[Aaaargh!]
[Oh, I think I broke your leg? Does it hurt a lot?]
Mimicking Malek’s own mocking tone, Rabes swung his tail and struck him again.
Malek desperately tried to recite the sealing spell, but Rabes’s relentless attacks left him tumbling, rolling, ripping, and shattering.
Even when he attempted to shield himself with magic, Rabes’ power was stronger, so the shield broke every time.
As he rolled around on the floor absentmindedly, through his spinning vision, Malek spotted Elaine.
[Glaciers!]
A sharp ice spell cast by Malek flew toward Elaine.
[Elaine!]
[Aquiesco Roevis del Luba!]
Seizing the brief moment when Rabes was forced to counter the ice spell, Malek chanted his spell.
The moment the spell was completed, everything fell into silence.
[In the end, I’m the one who wins, you stupid brat.]
Malek tried to savor the feeling of victory, clutching his heart, which still ached.
But something was strange.
[Uh….. Did casting this spell take this long?]
Rabes frowned as he waited for the sealing magic to tighten around him.
And then, something else struck him.
[After thinking about it carefully, I think you got the spell wrong, old man. Maybe you’ve lived so long that you have some memory problems?]
[No way!]
[You really think I’d forget the spell that sealed me? Of course, I won’t tell you the real one, though.]
Rabes drew up his magical power again and healed some of the bruises on his body.
A bewildered Malek stepped back and continued to chant the spell.
[Aquiesco Roevis del Luba! Aquiesco Roevis—!]
[That’s why I said that when I first showed mercy, you should have knelt and begged. Now it’s too late.]
Rabes grinned and breathed black flames from his mouth.
[Aaaargh!]
It was the Black Dragon’s strongest weapon—a fire that would not extinguish until its target was reduced to ashes.
[You crazy bastard! You’re spitting black flames of your own kind!]
It was an unspoken rule among dragons not to destroy their own kind, But Rabes’s black flames were an attack meant to erase the target entirely.
As his once-impenetrable scales burned, Malek finally remembered why the dragons had once sought to capture Rabes.
[Rabes is a disaster. Uncontrolled, powerful forces can only lead to disaster.]
When the elder of the dragon shook his head and said so, Malek laughed at them inwardly.
He thought they were making a fuss over a mere dragon.
But they were right.
Controlled by human contractors, Rabes was not subject to common sense. Beyond that, he obeyed no logic, no rules—not even those of dragons.
[Shit!]
Malek eventually decided to take a last resort.
By corrupting his entire magic core with ether to amplify his strength, he might lose himself to demonic transformation, but at least he could fight Rabes right now.
[Alquila Belial Ether!]
[That crazy guy! You have no right to call me crazy!]
Rabes, who had tainted his own magic with ether before his time with Elaine, instantly recognized what Malek was doing.
At least Rabes had carefully absorbed ether over ten years to minimize the side effects.
But Malek? He was pulling in all the ether on the land at once to boost his power.
At this point, he couldn’t be sure whether he would be able to deal with Malek with his own power.
* * *
