Curse and bless
The next morning arrived, later than usual. The air was cold and calm, signaling the approach of winter. The entire city of Zeldia was peaceful and refreshing, a stark contrast to its usual bustling warmth.
Having not slept at all, Raizel was already awake. He dressed for the academy, ate breakfast, and stepped outside, standing in front of his house's gate.
"Now that I'm ready, I should get going," Raizel thought calmly.
A sky-blue magic circle appeared, and Raizel vanished, teleporting away.
Everything returned to normal right after that—no trace of what had happened remained.
In the desert world, someone appeared with a flash of blue light. It was Raizel all along.
Raizel looked around for a moment, blinking several times. It seemed like he was searching for something.
"So, the flow of time is actually blocked by the ruler of this realm. I was wrong," Raizel thought to himself.
A faint sound of footsteps echoed from the east. Raizel turned toward it, eyes narrowing.
"It looks like they're already here. I have to finish this once and for all," Raizel said.
A huge number of red dragons appeared in front of Raizel, roaring fiercely.
"I can't find any difference between them and the ones we killed last time. They're the same. However, I can sense a huge difference in their magical power. Anyone without mana-detecting capabilities will regret thinking they're equal," Raizel thought.
As soon as the dragons began roaring, they opened their mouths, preparing to unleash a red flame breath toward Raizel.
Raizel drew a massive magic circle on the ground, covering a vast area. The sky-blue magic circle was so enormous that it enveloped a significant portion of the desert world, almost covering an entire realm.
The moment the dragons launched their breath, the magic circle activated, completely freezing every one of them—along with half the realm. Sparks of ice scattered across the world.
The scattered ice sparks sent a warning to the holy dragons and an unknown individual.
The holy dragons, the most powerful dragon species in the desert world and the greatest army of the Dragon King, appeared before Raizel in an instant, accompanied by Shiory.
"I wasn't expecting someone to block my way now," Raizel said.
Shiory stood before Raizel, surrounded by the massive army of dragons. She was a tall girl with long dark hair, wearing a gown adorned with the artwork of a red dragon. Her face was strikingly innocent yet filled with loneliness.
"Why are you here? To kill the Dragon King?" Shiory asked in a broken voice.
Raizel remained silent.
"If you are, then come and kill me first," Shiory said desperately, her voice seemed to be pretty broken.
Shiroy suddenly remembered something—something from long ago, so far back it felt like another life. She hadn't always been an inhabitant of the Desert World. She hadn't always worn that lonely, sadistic expression. She was totally a different person.
There was a world known as the Blessed World—the most peaceful realm in existence. But how could a world remain peaceful while others suffered endless wars? Was it mere luck, or something more?
Shiory Asiara, the princess of the Blessed World, was the kindest and strongest being in the Blessed World. She had protected the 7th World for countless years through her tireless efforts. Her efforts were quietly shaping the world, keeping it wrapped in a fragile blessing—until he appeared.
The Dragon King of the Desert World arrived in the Blessed World and turned it into a ruined wasteland. After slaughtering every guardian Magic Emperor, he sealed Shiory's magical power, rendering her completely helpless. To break her mentally, he forced her to kill every member of her family with her own hands.
Shiory's screams turned the air of the Blessed World into poison. As the creator and heart of the Blessed World, her existence was intertwined with it. The world's stability depended on her mental state. When her spirit shattered, the Blessed World crumbled, leading to the deaths of countless innocent souls. Death screams, suffering, and an endless storm of blood had transformed the Blessed World into a realm of ruin—a death world soaked in the blood of innocent souls. The world was no more.
After destroying the realm, the Dragon King took Shiory with him. To ensure the safety of his own world, he forced her to merge her soul with the Desert World. As long as Shiory existed, the world would remain immortal, regenerating instantly if anyone try to destroy it.
Due to her immortality, Shiory's death became nearly impossible, and the Desert World became an eternal land. For 20,000 years, Shiory had been trapped in the Desert World, unable to leave because of the soul fusion.
She had tried to end her life countless times—plunging knives into her chest, suffocating herself with trembling hands, even pulling the trigger against her own head. Yet nothing worked. Her cursed immortality, selfish and unyielding, refused to let her go. One thought haunted her endlessly: death. It wasn't an escape—it was her deepest longing. Death had become her final, unreachable desire. She had no choice but to endure the hellish conflict, over and over again.
With her magic sealed, Shiory was powerless. To protect her, the Dragon King created an army of holy dragons to guard her from outsiders.
Raizel's voice brought Shiory back to consciousness. Her face still seemed lonely and fractured, a silent mirror to the endless storm of trauma and conflict behind her eyes. She was missing something—something so deeply lost, it could never be filled again.
"Why do you wish for death?" Raizel asked curiously.
"It doesn't matter. Just kill me. I want to die. I want to escape this hellish cage," Shiory cried, tears streaming down her face.
"I don't know why you're asking this, but I'll fulfill your wish. It's my job to carry out orders," Raizel said calmly, Totally expressionless, yet a quiet trace of loneliness kept whispering through his eyes, endlessly and without pause.
The holy dragons charged at Raizel with incredible speed. Raizel soared into the sky and drew another massive magic circle, enveloping the dragons and Shiory. He unleashed a spell of purple flames—a fire that could kill anything, regardless of durability or immortality.
The flames consumed every dragon, reducing them to nothing, and then reached Shiory. As the flames burned her body, The flames started shattering her skin, but the pain never reached her face. She kept smiling—over and over—a smile not of agony, but of strange, unwavering joy. Tears streaming down her face. Though her words were faint, she spoke to Raizel, who floated in the sky above.
"Thank you… thank you for freeing me from this living hell.'' Shiory spoke, her voice trembling as tears fell—one after another—while she wore that same lonely smile from before.
''I don't know who you are, but I will always be grateful," Shiory said as her soul left the world, along with her story. Her eyes were filled with gratitude. Foolish flames danced upon her flesh, unyielding and cruel, until she was nothing but ash and breath. Her soul slipped quietly into the abyss—into death's silent realm, where no road winds home, and no ticket waits for return.
Raizel watched her soul depart. He stared, trying to decipher the smile on her face—soft, strange, unreadable. In Shiory's eyes, he searched for something deeper: the quiet clash of sorrow and joy. It wasn't the first time he had destroyed someone, and yet... something was different. Something unsettled him. His heartbeat quickened, thudding louder in his chest. His gaze, once steady, now held traces of fear, a flicker of sadness, and the haze of growing confusion.
"I don't know why, but I feel so similar to her. What is it that's bothering me?" Raizel wondered calmly, bit desperate.
The heavens grew parched and merciless, soaked not with rain but with sorrow—an endless weight pressing down, as though the sky itself grieved.
Due to Shiory's soul leaving the Desert World, the world instantly lost its reinforcement and was about to be destroyed. The signs of destruction began to surface—the ground trembled, shaking violently as the world itself seemed to cry out. However, a massive magic circle surrounded the world. In no time, the entire Desert World returned to its original form.
A voice could be heard—a loud, commanding voice. A voice from far away from there yet clear and loud.
"How could I allow my world to be destroyed before me? It's not very nice to let my world be destroyed while I'm alive and well, don't you think so, Strange Presence?" the unknown voice said loudly.
Raizel didn't respond for a moment.
"I didn't expect the King to be someone who always hides himself under the fog. Will you keep my thoughts intact?" Raizel said, casual.
A huge tornado appeared in front of Raizel. The overwhelming surge of magic around him created a powerful, tense atmosphere—the ground trembled without pause. It was actually the mana power of a person—the mana of the King of Dragons, Sayan.