I am the one who will 'Remain'

Chapter 8

When Leah reached her father, she pulled him from under the rubble. He was bleeding from all over his body. He was seriously injured. While looking at him with tears in her eyes, she called out to him.

"Father, please wake up."

Zmaug was in a completely dark place inside his soul, floating, watching his fight with Ark over and over again. When he hears his daughter's voice, a change takes place inside his body: the rage from losing and the shame he felt about not being able to save his daughter, but the worst was the pain from hearing his daughter's pained cries. The accumulation of these feelings sent his soul into overdrive, putting his already broken body into an even worse state. If he continued like this, he would die. When Leah saw his body start to bleed even more and shake, she knew something was terribly wrong.

She looked at Ark with a pleading expression and said,

 "Please save him."

"Don't worry, he will be fine. Maybe even more than fine."

Seeing the smiling face and calm voice of this frail-looking man, weirdly, she felt like he could shoulder the weight of the world on his back and still be completely fine. Had he always looked so dependable?

Ark walked towards Zmaug, and when he reached him, he looked down at him.

"I said you will live, so even if the universe were to explode right now, you would still live. Wake up."

Immediately after he finished speaking, Zmaug opened his eyes. His body began to heal at a speed 100 times faster than his normal healing rate, his soul recovering and even going beyond its limits.

He felt like he could break through to the next level. Then he heard Ark.

"Don't waste your chance—go further!"

Then his spirit, soul, and body felt as though they had unlimited energy. He used that energy to break through the barrier to the next level.

His body began to shine with a blinding light, and then he started to float. While in the air, he looked at his body and felt the changes taking place inside. Then, a much bigger surge of energy came and broke through the barrier to the next level. Did I just advance to DESTROYER level 2? After a century, I, Zmaug Drakon, am now a Destroyer level 2. He looked at the man who, with just words, had made him advance, finding it hard to believe.

"Thank you very much, Mister Ark. I am indebted to you."

"It would be our honor if you could keep Leah by your side."

Leah, who had been happy about her father's advancement, now looked at him with disbelief and rage.

"Father, did you just sell me so easily to Ark?"

Zmaug looked at his daughter and saw her angry face staring at him, making him want to avoid her gaze.

"Father, who was the one who came here as soon as possible to take me back, huh? Who was the one who said that I'm not allowed near boys until I'm 500 years old? Who was the one who came to save me?"

"And now you just say, 'Yes, please take her'?? Huh??"

Zmaug looked guilty at his daughter, knowing that she was facing a life-changing choice she couldn't yet see.

"Leah, you need to keep your word and follow Ark."

She just looked at her father in disbelief.

While father and daughter kept on arguing, Melody approached Ark.

"Why did you take so long to defeat him? It seemed like it was harder to fight him than me. And I'm stronger—why is that?"

Ark turned his head to her and explained,

 "You don't have enough battle experience. He is a real fighter who's been through many life-and-death situations, and even though he's weaker than you, his experience made him harder to defeat."

"If you were to fight him without the Dimensions Destroyer, you would lose 9 out of 10 times, even though you're much stronger than him. And that's your biggest weakness: you always defeated your opponents with overwhelming strength, and that made you weaker than someone like Zmaug."

"And I also said that he would live, before I fought him. And for me to be able to do that, I fought at –110% of my power."

"If I'd fought at the power level I fought you, he would be dead."

Every time I hear Ark talking about his power level, I find it hard to believe. But what does he mean by that? How is Zmaug stronger than me if he had to decrease his power level even more than when he fought me?

"Ark, do you mean the fighting technique? Zmaug has less power than me, but he knows how to use it better? I have a lot of power, but no technique, and that makes me unable to use my full power potential?"

Ark smiled and patted her head.

"Ooh, job good job, Melody. That's right. Only overwhelming power is not enough in a fight at our level."

"Really now, Mr. OP? Who was the one who won just now, and had overwhelming power?"

Ark just laughed and shrugged. When the father-daughter duo heard the laugh, they stopped and looked at him. When Leah saw him laughing, she thought, Maybe it's not so bad to follow him.

Zmaug said,

 "We should leave too. Driver, take down the barrier."

When the driver heard his boss, he came running from his hiding place and said in Uniakean,

 "Retract."

And the barrier started to shrink. Everywhere the transparent field passed, the damage reverted back, as if nothing had ever happened there. The people outside the barrier just watched them, thinking they had a front-row seat to history being written and would tell everyone about it. They saw the patriarch of the Drakon clan fighting and losing, but not really losing because he leveled up. But now, the princess of the Drakon clan was going to remain a servant. Still, she was following a master who had defeated even her father, one of the strongest in the city, without breaking a sweat. So, it was still a win-win scenario in the end? What should they tell?

While people were pondering their new scenarios, Ark and company started to walk toward the Hunter University, and Zmaug went back home. But not before inviting Ark and Melody to dinner at his home, after they settled their things at the University.