Chapter 105: Chapter 105

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: The Main Heroine, Isabel Luna

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The main heroine, Isabel Luna.

I never dreamed that my very first match in the International Individual Tournament would be against her.

It seemed Isabel felt the same, as bewilderment was etched onto her face.

But I should have expected this kind of situation.

Opponents in the main tournament are ultimately determined by random draw.

There was nothing strange about facing anyone in the Round of 64.

From afar, I saw Isabel taking a deep breath.

Isabel also knew that fact and was regaining her composure.

Just how strong had Isabel become?

I hadn't properly seen Isabel's true skill since the Boycott Incident.

Moreover, even during the Boycott Incident, I had run away before we could properly decide a winner.

Isabel must have been grinding her teeth thinking of that day.

As it was the first match, eyes full of interest were drawn to this spot.

And among them was a face I knew.

The one smiling as if they'd come to watch another entertaining spectacle.

Baek Mok-gong.

Raxid Anvesia.

The Empire's Hero herself had personally come to watch this International Individual Tournament.

It seemed her eyes were filled with immense anticipation for what I would show this time.

'Show them, huh.'

My gaze landed on Isabel.

Just then, Isabel was also looking my way.

It was strange how she had avoided my gaze earlier.

Now, she was looking straight at me.

"You."

Was she going to declare victory in this match?

I should choose my words to retort.

"Are you dating Seron?"

"What?"

However, upon hearing her next words, I completely forgot all the retorts I was choosing.

Is that something to say in this situation?

"What are you talking about?"

When I asked again, completely unable to understand, Isabel hesitated for a moment.

"...I saw you and Seron this morning."

I thought no one was there, but she saw it?

I felt a momentary awkwardness, but I tried my best to maintain my expression.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we're dating."

"Then why is the way Seron treats you different from before?"

Isabel persisted with her questions more than I expected.

Indeed, to anyone watching, Seron's recent actions had changed a lot from before.

Anyone could see she was a girl deeply in love, treating the man she liked.

"And you too."

Isabel even pointed out my actions.

Had my behavior changed somehow?

I didn't really know myself.

But regardless, I sensed this situation was taking a bad turn.

In Isabel's eyes, there was no longer the bright, sunny sunflower gaze of the past.

Instead, there was a desperate clinging, a pained urgency.

Isabel was superimposing Lucas onto me.

This was, to some extent, what I had intended.

Because I had declared that even if I couldn't be the sun like Lucas, I would be the moon.

"You said it yourself that day. That you had no intention of dating anyone."

But even so, I didn't want Isabel to be unable to stand on her own.

At least, I believed that eventually, she would rise on her own and shake off her anxieties.

'This might be my imposition, though.'

Having experienced the collapse of a dream, I knew how important it was to stand up on one's own.

Anxiety resolved by relying on others is very unstable and dangerous.

She was also the main heroine of my favorite game.

I hoped Isabel wouldn't live such a life.

I hadn't saved her from the brink of suicide, even badmouthing Lucas in front of her, for nothing.

"Isabel."

I tapped my toes on the ground, loosening up.

"Even if I were dating Seron, what business is it of yours?"

Isabel's shoulder flinched.

Isabel and I were in a very ambiguous relationship.

From the first day of the entrance ceremony until now.

Isabel and I had been intertwined in various ways.

If one were to define our relationship, it was that of rivals.

A relationship where we proved whose claims were right.

That was the relationship between Isabel and me.

However, recently that relationship had been shaking.

Isabel kept inadvertently crossing the line that had been drawn between us.

It was Isabel herself who was crossing that line.

And she wasn't crossing it for me, but rather by superimposing Lucas onto me, crossing that line as if enchanted.

"I remember our relationship being about debating what was right."

My gaze landed on the rigid Isabel.

"...I don't know."

And Isabel herself was no different.

She murmured blankly, her face lost in thought.

"I... I don't know why I'm like this either."

Isabel's eyes met mine.

I finally asked the question I had held back.

"Isabel, are you superimposing Lucas onto me?"

Her face froze instantly.

She clearly hadn't realized it herself.

"That can't be!"

Isabel shouted.

Fortunately, it was far enough from the audience outside the arena that they couldn't hear her, but they must have seen Isabel shouting.

Those watching the match simply assumed they were exchanging taunts before the match began.

"That... that can't be..."

The strength in Isabel's voice weakened.

Her pupils trembled violently.

My question had made her begin to realize her own state.

"Then, let the International Individual Tournament Round of 64 match begin!"

At that moment, the announcer declared the start of the match.

There was no more time to talk with Isabel.

The cheers of the people anticipating the match erupted.

However, Isabel seemed not to hear any of it, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Isabel."

I raised my hand, blade-like.

Isabel was superimposing Lucas onto me.

Then today, I would surely shatter that thought.

While I could be the moon, I could not be the sun Isabel wanted.

Because I was not Lucas.

"I am not Lucas."

At the same time, a coldness completely unlike Lucas's erupted explosively from my body.

Crraaacck!

In an instant, the arena floor began to freeze over with the cold.

Simultaneously, my closed right eye opened, and a yellow lizard-like pupil gleamed.

The remnants of the ancient dragon, which had been dormant until now, awakened.

"!"

From afar, Eve, who had been watching among the main tournament participants, stood up in surprise.

It was a natural reaction.

Because she hadn't expected me to use ancient dragon magic in the main tournament.

One who wields ancient dragon magic becomes a Dragonian.

Therefore, one who wields ancient dragon magic is subject to the death penalty.

It was a law stipulated not only in the Empire but in other kingdoms as well.

Sharin, too, sighed, covering her forehead from afar.

"Hmm?"

"That's..."

The uninitiated cheered, but those involved with magic seemed to recognize what I had just activated.

Though not yet certain, a wave of consternation spread among them.

The murmuring of the mages grew louder.

And among them.

Only one person was tapping her seated chair with a thud and letting out an incredible laugh.

It was Baek Mok-gong, who had applied the Hero Special Law to me.

Even ancient dragons, by classification, are a mystical entity.

So.

'Since things have come to this, please save me just one more time.'

Although I had other cards up my sleeve, Baek Mok-gong was the best to resolve things smoothly and swiftly.

'I never intended to hide it forever anyway.'

So, I decided to clearly show Isabel this time.

That unlike Lucas, who wielded the Flame of Tenacity, what I wielded was the chilling cold of an ancient dragon.

"You, you..."

Amidst the spreading cold, Isabel's bewilderment showed.

"Why?"

A sneer, one I hadn't worn in a long time, appeared on my lips.

"Do I look a little different from the Lucas you imagined?"

I was the one who often provoked Isabel.

Hearing my sneer after a long time, Isabel bit her lip tightly.

The chilling cold reached her feet.

It was clearly different from Lucas's heat.

"...You really are."

But thanks to that, her wavering gaze changed.

Setting aside Isabel superimposing Lucas onto me.

She had always harbored a desire to defeat me.

That will was firmly etched into this match.

"...After this match, there's something I want to ask you."

Isabel gripped her sword tighter.

At the same time, a pure white light, unlike anything I'd seen from her before, radiated out from her.

"So, no matter what, I'll go all out."

Seeing that, a smile spread across my lips.

She's reached it.

*Flap—*

Behind Isabel's back.

Unfamiliar, pure white wings unfurled.

Those who had been murmuring due to my ancient dragon magic all stared with wide eyes.

Horror appeared on each of their faces.

Because the wings Isabel unfurled were a completely unexpected outcome.

The Goddess's Wings.

In the distant past.

The female warrior who imprisoned the Evil Lord in the dungeon beneath the demon palace.

She was said to have wings emanating a sacred aura on her back.

After sealing the Evil Lord, the female warrior left these words:

"Someday, when the Evil Lord bares its fangs to the world once more, then one with the Goddess's Wings like mine shall appear."

The day the Evil Lord threatens the world.

Wings unfurling on someone's back.

That was the Goddess's Wings from legend.

And now.

Such Goddess's Wings bloomed behind Isabel's back.

The reason I absolutely had to save Isabel, and the reason she was the main heroine of the 'Flame Butterfly' arc.

The Goddess's warrior who would destroy the Evil Lord.

Isabel Luna.

It was the moment of her true awakening.

***

Ancient Dragon Magic.

Goddess's Wings.

Due to the appearance of these two, the arena was in absolute chaos.

Among them, the most chaotic were the nobles.

Nobles, who guided the world, were naturally very well-versed in history.

As such, they understood very well the significance of the Goddess's Wings.

Separately, the mages were in an uproar over the ancient dragon magic.

Knowing well the danger of ancient dragon magic, they shouted that the match should be stopped immediately.

"Silence."

"Quiet."

At that moment, two individuals silenced the chaotic nobles and mages.

A woman who swept back her white hair, revealing charismatic eyes.

The current world's greatest hero and the Empire's living legend, holding the highest position besides the Emperor.

Baek Mok-gong.

Raxid Anvesia.

At her declaration, not only the Empire's nobles but also those from other kingdoms immediately fell silent.

On the other side was a middle-aged man draped in a blue cloak.

Beneath his sky-blue hair.

At the warning of the one who revealed extraordinary eyes, all the mages fell silent.

The master of the Empire's greatest magic tower and the world's best magic tower, the Blue Magic Tower Master.

Emperadion Sazaris.

These two, who could be called the pinnacle of nobility and the pinnacle of mages, had spoken.

No one dared to open their mouths before them.

Baek Mok-gong's and the Blue Magic Tower Master's eyes met for a moment.

They were each advocating for a different individual.

Baek Mok-gong for Isabel Luna.

The Blue Magic Tower Master for Hanon Irei.

They were controlling the situation so that the two individuals who had become the hot potatoes of this match wouldn't be unnecessarily embroiled in chaos.

Baek Mok-gong lightly leaped forward, approaching the Blue Magic Tower Master.

It was a rather flippant action, but no one dared to object to her.

Only her attendant quietly sighed and adjusted her skirt.

"Blue Magic Tower Master, boy."

"How long do you plan to call me 'boy'?"

"Hahaha! In my eyes, you'll always be a boy, no matter how old you get."

The mages were aghast that she dared to call him 'boy'.

But the Blue Magic Tower Master seemed quite used to it already.

"What do you think of the magic that impudent boy is wielding?"

To Baek Mok-gong's question, full of interest, the Blue Magic Tower Master watched the match with cold eyes.

"That boy is controlling the magic to determine the outcome of the match."

The mages simultaneously widened their eyes.

The power of ancient dragon magic was the strongest when compared to any other magic.

To wield such ancient dragon magic meant an incredible force had been born.

"And I also know who was involved in that."

The Blue Magic Tower Master shifted his gaze towards the participants.

There was his adopted daughter.

His daughter, who possessed 'Mirinae,' something even the Blue Magic Tower Master did not have.

It was clear she was involved.

As long as his daughter was involved.

The Blue Magic Tower Master, whether he liked it or not, could not allow Hanon to be executed.

Otherwise, Sharin would also be implicated by association and dragged in as well.

"Good. If the Blue Magic Tower Master, boy, joins me, I can be a bit more brazen with the Emperor regarding the law."

"Was this your intention from the start?"

The Blue Magic Tower Master showed his displeasure.

"Hmm, he's a young hero who falls under the Hero Special Law, so if I don't protect him, who will?"

Even so, she gave a slightly displeased look.

"Of course, he's a cunning boy for doing this, having calculated that much."

Baek Mok-gong's lips curved upward.

"As an adult, it's right to praise a child's audacity rather than underestimate it."

It was indeed great audacity.

"More than anything, it reminds me of old times."

Baek Mok-gong smiled wistfully.

"For there were madmen who dabbled in ancient dragon magic even in the past."

The Blue Magic Tower Master slightly furrowed his brow upon hearing her words.

Because he knew who she was talking about.

The Transcendent Sage Jerion.

The one who, according to history, wielded all magic, and established not only Saint-tier magic but also ancient dragon magic.

However, that was merely written in historical records.

There was no remaining data to prove whether he truly wielded ancient dragon magic.

"You're going too far."

"Hehe, indeed. Compared to the Transcendent Sage, that boy is just a mere babe. But."

Baek Mok-gong's eyes shone brightly.

"Even the Transcendent Sage Jerion was once a mere babe."

She wondered what kind of path the boy would show.

Baek Mok-gong was already smiling as if in anticipation.