Desire To Protect

Ajagar had left forty minutes ago, but Velios was still standing there. Constantly switching between his conscious and unconscious states, he zoned out while escaping to the world in his mind, which wasn't any better. Velios knew he had to push through, not letting anything disturb him to the point where it would affect him. He hadn't moved since she left, and he hadn't seen any other undead since. During his time standing completely still, he began to see memories he had pushed aside, specifically of the latest incident. He had seen utter terror and fear in the eyes of the people as he prepared his last attack. It was as if time had slowed down for just that moment, but the action had already been set. He remembered their expressions clearly, thinking back to his childhood when the people around him had the same expressions.

Velios snapped out of it, slapping himself across the face. It left a red mark where he had hit himself, but it healed instantly. Velios had finally moved, letting his hanging arms sway back and forth as he walked. His destination was unclear, and he didn't know what he was doing. He was still drifting back and forth, zoning out, thinking back on memories, and only wishing one thing. "If only I was stronger... If only I was stronger... I could have saved them all... If only... I was stronger..." Velios' direction was unclear, and he had no goal in mind. He knew he needed distraction, to train, but he didn't even feel like it, which he thought was weird. He couldn't face them again, or rather, he didn't want to face them again. The one time where it didn't matter if the people close to him died, those same people now hate him for what he has done, leaving him feeling equally devastated.

The direction was unclear, and Velios eventually made it out of the forest after walking for hours. He was still feeling down, and his senses had become dull as a result. He wasn't even restraining his magic, letting it flow wildly, scaring all nearby animals and monsters away. He didn't know what had gotten into him, but he didn't know what to do. The thought of fighting remained uncertain. Velios wondered if he was able to fight like he usually did or if he would excessively think about it in case someone he cares about gets sad because of it. The answer remained unclear until he'd get to fight again. Velios suddenly slapped himself in the face again, even harder than last time. "I'll face them... when I'm strong enough to protect all of them again!" His resolve was now clear, and he had set a goal that he could begin working towards.

Velios' emotions remained calm, entering the state he was usually in. His senses were heightened to the extreme, and his magic was being suppressed while used at the same time so that he could train. Velios tried to run but was interrupted by something in the distance. He could feel an immense amount of magical power, spread out across a huge field, slowly marching towards him. If anything, Velios knew better than anyone and was instantly certain about what it was. Velios started stretching his muscles and jumping, slowly getting into the mood to fight again. Velios was able to sense that they were at least a couple of thousand heading his way and they were only a couple of minutes away.

What Velios had sensed was an army of dragons. The mana surging throughout the air was a mixture of anger and anticipation. The army had at least ten thousand superior dragons on the ground and a huge troop of inferior dragons slowly flying through the air, making sure to match the walking pace of their superiors. They were all equipped with armor made of high-quality materials which looked sturdy enough in itself. "I guess dragons would only need armor if it is stronger than their own bodies, so it must be somewhat tough at least," he thought. The troops themselves were tightly packed up, and Velios would easily be able to kill off huge amounts if he were to launch a bunch of magical attacks, but he had a different idea.

"Captain, are we arriving soon?" One of the dragons spoke with a natural and deep voice. "Shut it, we're almost there, look! That damn hidden city." The dragon that spoke wore even more armor, covered from head to toe, carrying a big yet rough-edged sword on his back. The other dragons listening turned their heads forward, looking towards the trees in the distance. Despite carefully observing the terrain in front of them, none were able to see the disaster that had struck, and none were informed of what was about to come. "Are you sure we can break through the barrier?" Another dragon asked. "Don't worry. They're probably all caught up in that stupid tournament of theirs; it'll be fine!" The captain sounded irritated as he kept on marching.

As the captain turned his head around, he suddenly stopped in shock. His eyes widened, and he wasn't sure of what exactly he was seeing. Him stopping ultimately led to the rest of them stopping as well. "W-who are you?!" The captain screamed out, not having realized that the individual standing before him wasn't a dragon. "Me? I'm just a normal human, that's it," Velios responded with a warm smile, although fake, the kind of smile to make people feel like something is innately wrong. "Don't screw with me-" The captain was barely able to finish his sentence before his head got cut off. He could feel it, and he could see it even clearer as his head rolled onto one of his shoulders before falling to the ground, looking directly up at the human in front of him that was still smiling.

The captain, who thought that his head had been cut off, lunged backward as far as he could, stumbling and falling down to the ground, rolling the rest of the way until he landed at the feet of his soldiers. "Captain? What are you doing?" The rest of the dragons stared weirdly at him, seeing that he had jumped back for no apparent reason. "Captain, it's a human, just kill it already." The other dragons sounded annoyed, and one of them even tried to walk toward the human, but the dragon captain stopped him from moving with his hand. The captain's other hand was on his own neck, having clearly felt his head being cut off, but it was still there, completely unharmed. "W-what are you?!" The dragon captain finally had the bravery to speak out and ordered the others to be as wary as possible with a simple hand movement.

"You're not attacking?" Velios' tone was extremely provocative, and the sole purpose of the sentence was to mock him. Velios' voice was colder compared to before, and the knight captain quickly stood up, realizing that he had been ridiculed by some mere human. "I don't know what kind of artifacts you have, but you're still human... If you think you stand even a slight chance, which you don't, then stand your ground and fight!" He was irritated by the words and actions of the human. He had sensed that something was wrong with him since the beginning, a faint aura that was continuously surging throughout and outside of his body, but he didn't care about what it was anymore. Despite his body telling him not to move, his emotions got the better of him as he grabbed his sword before swinging it powerfully.

All that was left was the sand which had been split in the middle of the air pressure from the strike, and there remained no sight of Velios anymore. "You have nowhere to run! Where did you go?!" There was not a single hint of fear in the dragon's eyes anymore. All he wanted was to cut the human to pieces and cause great pain to him. "Captain, look up!" One of the dragons had seen a figure appear in the air, something or someone that wasn't there before. What followed after the single announcement of something appearing in the air that wasn't there before caught everybody's attention, moving their heads up. Only the knight captain was properly able to see who it was, purely off his body structure.

In the air, a lone person was floating. All the inferior dragons had stopped, and not a single one dared to enter combat, sensing that something was wrong with the help of their animalistic instincts. "So that's where you are, you bastard!" The knight captain was even more furious than ever, swinging his sword, infusing it with magic sending out a flame in the shape of a sword cut towards Velios. To the dragons' surprise and the captain's anger, the flames had stopped burning before they were able to do anything, evaporating before returning into the air as normal gases. Small comments were shared throughout the crowd, and the dragon knight was about to jump up there personally until he sensed that something was wrong. The same feeling he had got when his head got "cut off" had returned, as if there was a plug, blocking the eminent powers hidden within the human.

Velios burst out in sudden, evil laughter that echoed and was enough for everybody to clearly hear it. It was able to send shivers down most spines, and no one, not even the captain, dared to move further, fearing for his life. It was at that moment he had realized, the scene he had seen wasn't any artifact's work, but it was a sign that Velios could have killed him whenever he wanted to. The laughter suddenly stopped. "Run?...I'm the one that needs to run? I think that you've made a mistake here, dragon. I'm not the one who is in need of running, and you'll eventually understand... that the one who needs to run is you..."

As the dragons looked up in terror and fear at the sight of a human being able to fly, they were completely petrified by what they saw next. A massive barrier had been cast, and there was no telling exactly how big it was. It was many times higher up than the human itself and had a mysterious element to it, not being exactly sure of what it was that made it feel uncanny but still being spherically shaped as a regular barrier. It was at that moment the dragon had realized his fate, and it was nothing short of his own demise. The human floating before him had effectively trapped all of them, leaving no way of actually leaving, and there was something very clear. If the human was strong enough to kill him, then there was no telling if even a single of them had any chance to survive.