Chapter 410: Have You Had Enough Fun?
Suzaku turned his head toward the source of the voice, his eyes landing on Ren. The swordsman's brow furrowed into a sharp V. "What is the meaning of this? Do you intend to forcefully snatch away my spoils of war?"
Following his grueling, high-stakes battle against the Moon Dragon God, Suzaku was acutely aware of his own depleted stamina. He knew that, given his current level of strength, he likely stood no chance against Ren in a direct clash. Even so, the pride of a Dark Dragon Slayer Knight made him deeply reluctant to simply surrender his hard-won prize.
Ren waved a hand dismissively, his posture entirely relaxed. "Don't misunderstand. My mission is simply to subjugate the Five Dragon Gods. As long as they are successfully defeated, my task is considered complete. It doesn't matter to me who actually lands the finishing blow. As for the corpses of the Five Dragon Gods, I have absolutely no interest in them."
If they were mindless beasts incapable of speech, he wouldn't have minded roasting them over an open fire for a meal. But consuming a highly intelligent, sentient being crossed a personal line he had no intention of blurring.
"Then, what exactly are you...?" Suzaku stared at Ren, genuine confusion swirling in his eyes.
Instead of answering the swordsman, Ren shifted his gaze past him. "Hey! Have you had enough fun playing dead yet?" he called out, his voice echoing across the battlefield toward the heavily injured Selene sprawled in the dirt.
Suzaku blinked, entirely failing to grasp Ren's meaning. Had enough fun? He had just defeated Selene with his own blade. She was down. Beaten. What did he mean by 'playing dead'?
The swordsman whipped his head back to look at the fallen Dragon God. Selene remained perfectly still, seemingly unconscious from the devastating wounds he had inflicted upon her. One second passed. Then two. The silence stretched for eight long seconds.
Suddenly, Selene's body twitched. With a casual, almost lazy grace, she pushed herself up off the ground and sat up, brushing the dirt from her clothes.
"My, my! I knew I couldn't fool you," she purred, a sly smile curving her lips.
As she spoke, the deep, lethal gashes across her body began to knit together at a terrifying speed. Wisps of ethereal moonlight danced over her skin, and in the blink of an eye, she was restored to her pristine, unblemished state.
"This... How is this possible?!" Suzaku's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. His grip on his katana tightened until his knuckles turned white. He hadn't held back. His full-powered, ultimate strike hadn't actually inflicted any lasting damage on her at all.
Ren cast a sideways glance at the stunned swordsman, his tone infuriatingly calm. "The reason the Five Dragon Gods hold that title isn't just for show. It's primarily because all five of them possess a tier of power that vastly eclipses both ordinary humans and the rest of the Dragon Race."
He paced forward slowly, his eyes locked on the swordsman. "Your swordsmanship is excellent, and the way you integrate it with your Dragon Slayer Magic is nearly flawless. But in the end, it still falls short. You haven't even manifested Dragon Force yet. If you can't even overpower a few high-tier Dragons, what gave you the illusion that you could slay one of the Five Dragon Gods?"
Suzaku's talent was undeniably astronomical, easily ranking among the absolute zenith of humanity. But which of the Five Dragon Gods lacked talent? Several of them were considered monstrous prodigies even by the absurd standards of the ancient Dragon Race.
Dragons were the favored children of this world. If they hadn't arrogantly bestowed Dragon Slayer Magic upon humanity, and if a walking calamity like Acnologia hadn't risen from the ranks of mankind, this world—and countless others—would still be firmly under the tyrannical rule of the dragons.
Suzaku gritted his teeth, his gaze dropping to the hilt of his blade. "Dragon Force... That is a power strictly forbidden by the Guild Master..."
The Dragon Force used by a Dragon Eater of Diabolos was fundamentally different from that of an orthodox Dragon Slayer. It was highly unstable, making it terrifyingly easy for the user to lose their mind, go berserk, and trigger an irreversible Dragonification. Because of this fatal risk, Georg Reizen, the Guild Master of Diabolos, had placed an absolute ban on its usage.
"You certainly are quite knowledgeable about Dragon Slayers and the Dragon Race!" Selene chimed in, resting her chin on her hand with an amused, captivating smile.
"It's nothing special," Ren replied, shrugging off the praise. "I've simply seen my fair share of dragons, and I happen to have a few Dragon Slayers in my own guild."
"Hmm? Now that is truly rare." Selene tilted her head, her golden eyes narrowing slightly in skepticism. "I recall you hailing from Ishgar, correct? Are there actually any living dragons still residing on that continent?"
Centuries ago, she had fled from Ishgar to the northern continent of Guiltina. She wasn't the only one; all of the Five Dragon Gods had scattered to the winds to escape a singular, walking apocalypse. The source of that absolute terror was none other than Acnologia.
"You're referring to Acnologia, aren't you?" Ren asked, his tone entirely casual. "That guy is certainly elusive, and he has a nasty habit of crashing the party exactly when he shouldn't. But overall, he isn't quite as terrifying as the legends claim. He slaughters dragons without exception, sure, but the collateral damage he inflicts on humanity remains within acceptable margins. At the very least, he doesn't just wander around destroying human cities for the sheer fun of it."
He crossed his arms, continuing his breezy explanation. "It's true that there aren't many dragons left in Ishgar. However, a few managed to flee from four hundred years in the past into the modern era using the Eclipse Gate. To prevent them from causing too much of a temporal paradox and messing up history, I packed them all up and shipped them right back to where they came from."
Ren delivered this devastating information with the casual indifference of someone discussing the weather. Suzaku, however, looked as though he had been struck by lightning, while Selene's playful smile vanished, replaced by a deep, calculating frown.
"You are speaking of the lunar eclipse from half a year ago, aren't you?" she asked, her voice losing its previous teasing lilt.
As the Moon Dragon God, her connection to the celestial body meant she had naturally sensed that specific lunar eclipse. She had even detected the bizarre, unnatural fluctuations rippling through the magic ether at the time. So, someone had actually used the eclipse to traverse through space and time.
Yet, even though she had felt the spatial disturbance back then, she had possessed zero intention of investigating it. Ishgar was Acnologia's hunting ground.
While she no longer actively feared the Black Dragon, she had absolutely no desire to cross paths with him. The man's abilities were simply too troublesome; conventional magic was practically useless against him., his specific brand of Dragon Slayer Magic was terrifyingly absolute—it was the one type of magic she loathed facing above all else. She would much rather engage in a death match with the other four Dragon Gods than spend a single minute fighting Acnologia.
But now, a massive, unpredictable variable had been thrown into the mix: the young man standing right in front of her.
He spoke with such an unbothered attitude, yet the implications of his words were genuinely staggering. Judging by his demeanor, he had clearly faced Acnologia head-on and lived to tell the tale.
To confront that rabid dog—a monster who violently tore apart anything in his line of sight—and walk away completely unscathed... This man's strength had to be utterly monstrous.
Couple that with his recent, horrifying track record—severely wounding the Water Dragon God and completely defeating the Wood Dragon God. Even if Mercphobia had been holding back, and even if Aldoron had been crippled by the destruction of his magic crystals, taking down two Dragon Gods was not a feat just anyone could accomplish.
Selene's golden eyes locked onto Ren. "Are you here to subjugate me as well?"
"Hmm..." Ren tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I did accept Elefseria's quest to seal away the Five Dragon Gods, but how I go about it really depends on the situation. For someone like the Water Dragon God, who genuinely wishes to coexist peacefully with humanity, I naturally have no intention of using force. But for a tyrant like the Wood Dragon God? I didn't feel the slightest bit of psychological burden when I put him in the dirt."
"Oh?" Selene's eyebrows rose in genuine surprise. "I truly didn't expect to find a human like you. I assumed your entire race was just like that man—bloodthirsty and eager to fight the moment you laid eyes on a dragon."
"Dragons are a highly intelligent species," Ren replied smoothly. "And as long as a being possesses intelligence, communication is always an option. There are dragons who are perfectly willing to coexist with humans and even protect them. Hell, they even established the Magna Carta alongside humanity. Several of my guildmates were actually raised by dragons, so I don't harbor any inherent prejudice or disgust toward your kind."
Hearing those words, a strange, complicated emotion flickered through the Moon Dragon God's chest. In this modern era, stained by centuries of bloodshed, was there truly still a human who believed that dragons and mankind could live together in peace?
Suddenly, Selene caught a very specific, ancient term buried within Ren's casual speech. Her eyes widened. "You... You actually know about the Magna Carta!"
The Magna Carta was a sacred treaty, a binding contract signed between the pro-coexistence faction of the Dragon Race and humanity centuries ago. She had been relatively young during that era, but the weight of that historic pact was etched into her memory.
Selene couldn't mask her shock. This was a relic of history from four hundred years ago. Many modern dragons didn't even know of its existence, yet this young human spoke of it as if it were common knowledge.
"Yeah," Ren nodded, a faint, nostalgic smile touching his lips. "The Fire Dragon King, Igneel, told me all about it."
"The Fire Dragon King, Igneel?!" Selene gasped, her composure completely shattering.
Igneel's name carried an absolute, terrifying weight during the Age of Dragons. He was a legend among legends. But more, he was the biological father of the Fire Dragon God, Ignia—one of her fellow Five Dragon Gods.
For this human to casually drop Igneel's name as an acquaintance... this was definitely not good news for her.
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