Alex staggered, his blade dragging through the dirt.
"I I'm too tired," he gasped. "My chest is burning.
Beatrice stopped mid-step. Her sharp gaze immediately softened.
"Wait—burning how? Like seriously burning?" she asked, stepping closer.
Alex tried to wave her off. "It's nothing. Just"
But Beatrice was not the kind of dragon you could stop with words.
She gripped his shirt and tore it clean off.
"Hey!" Alex protested, but she was already leaning in, eyes scanning his bare chest.
A faint, glowing mark pulsed beneath his skin something ancient, unfamiliar. Beatrice's frown deepened.
"This isn't normal you're overheating from inside. Like you're absorbing divine energy too fast like something's awakening."
She sniffed once and wrinkled her nose.
"Ugh. You're smelly, too."
Before Alex could object, she threw him over her shoulder.
"Wha—Put me down!"
"Nope. You're getting washed first. I can't examine you properly if you're covered in sweat and dirt."
She carried him effortlessly into her private chambers, ignoring every word of protest.
Meanwhile, back in the capital
King Lin stood atop his war tower.
Three days had passed.
His shadow knights had failed to find the goddess. Every trail went cold near the Bandit Mountains. His anger festered in silence.
There was no more time.
His lips curled into a snarl as he descended, his cloak sweeping behind him, his shadow swallowing him whole along with the knights lurking inside it.
He entered the forbidden chamber beneath the palace the room where it all began.
The walls pulsed with corrupted veins. A voice echoed from the darkness before he even knelt.
"You return empty-handed again."
King Lin fell to one knee.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Please grant me more time. I will deliver the goddess to you."
From the shadows emerged a man no, a thing wearing the mask of one.
He was radiant, godlike in the front. But as he turned, his back told another story.
Stretched across his spine were twisted faces. Screaming souls, half-formed limbs, black tendrilsthe remains of all he'd devoured.
He could barely stand straight.
And yet, his voice was calm.
"Beatrice it's been a long time," he muttered. "Again she protected my target."
King Lin's eyes flickered. "Who is Beatrice?"
"The Guardian Dragon," the being replied. "She once stood beside me. Back when I was still a demi-god. When I fought the Evil God with the hope the other gods would reward me."
He clenched his fists.
"But they abandoned me. Everyone died. My family. My love. I sealed the Evil God but it cursed me before I could finish it."
He turned, revealing eyes filled with wrath.
"Now, I walk as this monster. Only by killing a god or goddess and feasting on their divine flesh can I regain what I once was."
The chamber fell silent.
King Lin swallowed. "So what now?"
"You cannot reach the goddess. Not while Beatrice guards her."
The cursed demi-god stepped deeper into the shadows.
"For now, make the people believe she has betrayed them. Tell them the goddess has allied with the Evil God to destroy humanity.