20 - Rupture

When I returned to the Dragon World, Dragon God-sama was already bedridden.

It was a terrible sight.

Blood gushed from his shoulder, one injured, closed eye, one withered foot.

In addition, a large cut on his hand from his battle with Demon God.

A body full of wounds.

That is the best I could describe the condition of Dragon God-sama.

Wounds inflicted by another god would not heal quickly.

Only after a long time... perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, would he slowly recover.

"Ah, Laplace, very well."

Despite being covered in wounds, Dragon God looked quite content.

Despite the pain, his heart must have found peace now that his revenge was complete.

Whoever the criminal was, if he still lived, now that all his worlds were destroyed, all those questions became debatable.

"The Demon World fell silent as expected."

"Mmm… Then you should rest a little. You must be exhausted."

In that calm face there was a shadow of anxiety and regret.

Perhaps Dragon God-sama regretted having done so much?

That wasn't what Lunaria-sama would have wanted.

If things were to resolve as they are, perhaps in ten thousand years he would have found another way.

"No, I'll rest after I finish my report."

"Mmm… what's that?"

But that opportunity was lost forever.

I reported to Dragon God-sama the knowledge I acquired from Necross Lacross.

"I met Necross Lacross in the collapsing Demon World. According to him, Kirisis Calisis..."

Dragon God-sama listened to my report without any reaction.

He was probably wondering about the purpose of my report.

But as the story progressed, his expression changed.

Somber, shocked, and worried.

When I finished, Dragon God-sama seemed full of troubles.

"That's all I have to report."

"..."

"…Dragon God-sama?"

Thinking deeply, Dragon God-sama did not answer immediately.

But my report was over.

I guess I should rest a bit as Dragon God-sama ordered.

As I was thinking that.

"Yes… it is him."

Dragon God-sama suddenly murmured and stood up.

He stood up and was leaving the room.

"Where to?"

I ran to ask, and Dragon God-sama replied.

"Invade the Human World."

I thought that was absurd.

Why?

The Human Race was the victim here.

We should also be grateful that they cleaned up our mess.

Unless the humans were the guilty ones all along?

Did the humans want the Dragon Race to destroy the other races?

But why?

There was no reason for that.

If Lunaria-sama had lived, then the Human Race and the Dragon Race would have remained united at the top of the Six Worlds.

Moreover, Human God took in refugees from all the dead worlds.

Unless that was somehow also for the benefit of the human race?

In that case… wouldn't my work as a diplomat have been enough?

Eventually, there will be people from various races in all the worlds.

All the destruction would be counterproductive.

If the human race were to blame, their actions made no sense.

I was worried.

I couldn't understand the reasoning behind Dragon God-sama's thoughts and actions.

Knowing what I know now… the wise Dragon God-sama had already realized the truth after hearing my report.

Despite the few pieces of information, he managed to piece together all the clues.

With that, he concluded who was responsible and who the true enemy was.

Of course, this happened because Dragon God-sama knew more than was in my report.

But at that time I did not understand.

Laugh at my stupidity if you will.

However, I simply could not believe that the Human Race could be responsible for the whole sequence of events.

Why didn't I realize…

But at that time I did not understand.

I lacked wisdom.

Moreover, he had planned in advance, a long time ago.

"Summon the Five Dragon Generals, our battle is not over yet…"

Dragon God-sama did not explain anything to us.

Until that moment, we had done everything as Dragon God-sama ordered.

So perhaps he thought that a detailed explanation was unnecessary.

Of course, Dragon God-sama was not wrong.

We should have followed his orders.

But at that time, all I wanted was an explanation.

I thought it was absolutely necessary.

If only I...

■

"That's it. Everyone, begin your preparations."

Dragon God-sama gave the order to attack the Human World as soon as the Five Dragon Generals gathered.

Just the order.

No explanation.

Then, he immediately dragged his wounded body out of the conference room.

Dragon God-sama seemed to be in a hurry.

So we had no opportunity to ask anything.

And the order was very shocking.

"Absurd..."

"Wasn't this war meant to honor Lunaria-sama? What purpose would invading his homeland serve?"

"I don't know, but Dragon God-sama must have his considerations, but…"

The Five Dragon Generals were all in shock.

Naturally.

They thought the war was finally over.

Now it was time to heal the wounded, rebuild, mourn the dead, and look toward a new future.

Suddenly, being informed that the fight was not over.

Moreover, the adversary this time was our ally.

An ally against whom we had no reason to fight.

"What could be Dragon God-sama's reason for this?"

"The Human World has been by our side for a long time."

"There must be a reason to attack and destroy the human world..?"

Continuing the meeting without Dragon God-sama was unusual.

Normally, once Dragon God-sama gave us an order, we all went our separate ways to carry it out.

However, that day, we continued our discussion.

There were many reasons.

The Human World was the homeland of Lunaria-sama.

Human God had always been an ally of the Dragon Race and had helped us many times.

Look at me, for example... but I realized that the other Dragon Generals had also received his help many times.

Destroying the Human World should be trivial compared to the other worlds.

But the war was a tribute to Lunaria-sama.

All these factors slowed our usual immediate actions.

The discussion grew heated and stagnant.

That is because we did not understand anything about Dragon God-sama.

"Laplace. What the hell did you say to Dragon God-sama?"

After a while, Szilard asked.

Then I answered honestly.

What I heard in the Demon World.

What happened in the Demon World.

Upon hearing that, Szilard said: "I understand," with a confident look.

"I'm confident that you were deceived."

"Deceived? Me?"

"Yes. To save his own life and protect the daughter of Demon God, Necross Lacross concocted a convenient lie to instigate war between the Human World and the Dragon World."

I never thought Necross Lacross could lie.

However, if he could, then it made sense.

Until I was informed by Szilard, my foolish self never believed that Necross Lacross would concoct a lie to save his own skin.

I was convinced that he could not lie.

How he fought for so long for peace between the worlds, perhaps seeing his beloved world destroyed changed him.

It is natural that he would want to sow discord among his enemies.

Perhaps he never entered battle because he was conspiring behind the scenes? If so, his habitual incompetence might have been just a foolish act to ward off any suspicion.

When people's thoughts are turbulent, they prefer to trust the opinion of someone external rather than their own intuition.

Necross Lacross never lies.

But that fact wavered in the face of the idea that "he may lie."

There was no definitive proof to the contrary.

"Perhaps… then…"

But something tightened in my heart.

"Normally Dragon God-sama would not be deceived, but… if it were your report, Dragon God-sama would trust it because of his trust in you."

When I was told that, I couldn't answer.

The reason Dragon God-sama trusted the report was because of his trust in me.

By giving false information to Dragon God-sama, it became my responsibility.

"As the Five Dragon Generals, we are members of Dragon God-sama's forces. Normally we would simply obey Dragon God-sama's orders without question, but this…"

My next sentence forced the Five Dragon Generals to make a decision.

"But shouldn't we try to stop Dragon God-sama this time?"

All five Dragon Generals held their breath.

No matter our poor intelligence, we received our orders.

The decisions of Dragon God are final.

Disobeying is to deny Dragon God-sama.

If only we had tried to convince Dragon God-sama before he made his decision.

To deny God.

It is to deny your most sincere beliefs in your heart.

It is an act of great courage.

Have you ever had to resist your deepest desire?

It was my first time.

"Alright… I agree."

The first to agree was Chaos.

He became more inconsolable over the loss of each of his comrades.

Despite his warlike nature, he celebrated more the end of combat.

Of course, if the war were necessary, he would not oppose.

Instead, he would rush to the front line faster than anyone else.

But a useless battle…

"In fact. No matter how weak the Human Race is, Human God is also a god, and Dragon God-sama remains gravely wounded. He should recover…"

Maxwell agreed.

He did not want Dragon God-sama to work like this.

Dragon God-sama could die if he continued fighting.

Not that Dragon God-sama would lose.

But if he were to be even more injured, it could be irreparable and life-threatening.

"…"

Dora-sama was at a loss.

Being the most loyal among us, it was the hardest for her to disobey a direct order from Dragon God-sama.

"If it is for the sake of Dragon God-sama."

She eventually consented.

Because her loyalty was stronger than anyone else's.

If it were for the sake of Dragon God, even with great reluctance, we should stop him.

That was her will.

■

After making our decisions, we went to Dragon God-sama.

At first, we tried to persuade him with words.

Human God had always been by our side.

The intelligence of the Demon World was an impossible lie.

We are worried about the state of Dragon God-sama's health.

We are not going to invade the Human World.

But it did not work.

Dragon God-sama will not listen.

No matter our explanation, Dragon God-sama would not pay attention to our concerns.

"Human God is no longer Human God. I don't know what he is plotting, but I have to kill him."

I did not appreciate the meaning of those words at that time.

Because Human God seemed the same as the first time I met him.

Instead, it was Dragon God-sama who changed.

Dragon God-sama – who was wise, benevolent, loving, and peaceful – became the physical embodiment of war.

"We do not want to fight against the Human Race. Dragon God-sama, please rescind your order."

Then we tried to back out of the fight.

We refused to fight.

So Dragon God-sama also had to do it.

"It doesn't matter. You can stay, I will go alone."

However, Dragon God-sama would not yield.

Leaving us behind with those words to head toward the Human World.

"Please, reconsider!"

"No."

"Why? Human God has always been by our side. Didn't Dragon God-sama also trust him? Our current prosperity is due to the efforts of the human race, isn't it?"

"Human God was the one to blame for this war."

"Where is your evidence?"

"In the Human World."

Do you know the word "insist"?

That was exactly it.

We tried every method to persuade Dragon God-sama.

But we couldn't.

The conclusion was always the same.

Dragon God-sama refused to listen, inflexible in attacking the Human World.

At the very least, why are we invading the Human World?

Why must Human God be killed?

If Dragon God-sama had explained the details of these issues to us, we could have understood the wisdom of his actions… and it would not have ended this way.

However, I suppose it was inevitable.

It was expected that we, the Five Dragon Generals, would obey Dragon God-sama.

No matter how wise and talented he is, Dragon God-sama must have found it difficult to deal with our objections, when everyone had obediently followed his orders for hundreds of thousands of years.

Explaining himself would not be natural for him.

For example, what if the broom you use every day suddenly said: "I don't want to clean anymore?"

Do you explain to the broom why cleaning is necessary or that the broom's purpose is to clean?

Do you force the broom to clean by force?

Or do you just find another tool to replace it?

I suppose it was the same situation for him.

Dragon God-sama depended greatly on the loyalty of the Five Dragon Generals… no, that was incorrect.

Dragon God-sama trusted us, the Five Dragon Generals.

He believed that we would never turn our fangs against him.

Dragon God-sama must have believed that if he continued stubbornly, we would eventually yield and obey him again.

But we betrayed that trust.

"If Dragon God-sama does not yield, then we will have to stop him by force."

The look on Dragon God-sama's face when Szilard said that was, even now, heart-wrenching to me.

I had never seen Dragon God-sama look so shocked.

I even wondered if we had done something irredeemable.

But even if we lost Dragon God-sama's trust, we thought everything would be alright.

We were prepared for that.

Even if we lost our positions as Dragon Generals and were banished from the Dragon World.

As long as Dragon God-sama lived.

That's what we thought.

"...Just try it."

But even that could not change Dragon God-sama's mind.

Killing Human God was too important.

We simply did not realize that then.

If we had a little more time.

Even if it was a waste.

If Dragon God-sama had explained in more detail why we must invade the Human World and kill Human God.

If only one of us had the wisdom to understand him.

I cannot help but think that.

No, even so, this battle would have been inevitable.

I knew.

He took a very long time to prepare for this.

And yet, I wonder.

If something had been different, it wouldn't have happened this way.

What foolishness.

That is how the battle began.

The final battle—miserable, stupid, and senseless...