A Story of Evil

Everything went beyond what Sol's reasoning could accept. There was no room for a creature of such a size in the forest. And with all the commotion they made in the morning, they would've made the creature move already or even saw it at that. Sol's [Spatial Awareness], Alice's [Danger Sense] and, Jade's [Living Flames] would've all responded to a dragon. That is why things didn't make sense. Not for Sol who logically followed everything through in his head.

That is why he was in a seeming trance for a few seconds. Unable to utter a single command. He wasn't afraid but, [Cold Blooded] simply refused whatever logic came with the dragon.

The creature that hovered on top of them was actually the little girl who gathered all her mana crystals and, turned into a dragon. With the forest getting burned and, with most of her monsters dying along the way, she was forced to rely on her trump card. That is an ultimate level of summoning which used her own body as a catalyst for her to polymorph into a dragon.

Although powerful, she couldn't sustain the form for long as, every second within that shape burned a large amount of mana. Plus it also removed her connection from every summoned and tamed monster including Charon who vanished as soon as she turned,

This is no cheap imitation. The girl was a real living dragon which, could destroy a whole domain if she pleased. That is why her mere presence was able to place the whole team of Sol in a sort of daze. Making them rely on their leader even more.

"Sol, what are we supposed to do!" Hendrickson shouted but, Sol had no words for him. Just a blank stare as the dragon finally dropped to the ground.

The sheer force of this made the direwolves bounce from where they were. With large chunks of the earth rising all around. The tail circled around the group, cutting their route of escape. What surprised them even more was the fact that, its tail was covered by something glowing brightly in a blue color. Something which everyone instantly recognized to be none other than mana crystals.

In a different setting, the group would've already been rejoicing. But none of that could be done on the current situation. Not with the claws of the dragon being brought down next. The claws of which were also made purely of mana crystals and, as these dug to the ground, large spikes of the same material also came up.

Then came the wings of the dragon. Flapping one last time as a hurricane-like blow was produced before these were rested at the back of the beast.

Up close, the creature was larger than anything the group of humans ever faced. Alice in particular had her [Danger Sense] going haywire. To the point that her whole body began shaking involuntarily from fear. Meanwhile, Jade's own body was scorching hot as the monster made his living flames seemingly burn him from the inside.

Normally, these same skills assisted them in battle. But against such an opponent, these skills betrayed them. Working against them and making them feel an immense amount of pain.

Nobody talked. Nobody even moved. They didn't know where to look as the creature's shadow blocked the moon itself. It's head just in front of them. But with the creature creating such a large shadow, it also made the [Shadow Core] work its magic. Hiding them from the monster...

At least that is how it was supposed to go.

Even with the [Shadow Core] veiling them, the dragon's stare was directed at their group. The direwolves whimpered and, everyone else was just as terrified. Asking in their heads if the [Core] was actually working.

Sol had a lot of things in his mind at that moment. If they called King Jubilee, he wondered if they could actually win. And, he also thought how long they could last against a creature while waiting for the king to respond. He also thought of the possibility of reasoning with the creature.

"You can drop that pathetic shield of yours. My eyes can see through it." The girl's voice was nothing like her normal one. It was deep, thick, and had a strange vibration to it which made it even more frightening.

"I-It can talk?" Nathan commented.

"Seems like it." Sol calmly replied. Those unaware of his passive found this to be amazing; to still be composed and collected despite the danger faced.

"W-What do we do now?" Cinder asked and, Sol had to look at his whole team at that point. He didn't have a plan. Not at the moment at least.

"You guys just stand by. I'll take care of everything." 

"Sol, you're not gonna follow what it said right?" Hendrickson asked.

"We need to. If we want to extend our lives, even by just a bit, we need to do what that thing is saying."

With this, Sol descended from his mount. With every move he made, he tried his best to find a route out of the situation. He currently had none but, the paladin knew better than to give up at that point. He was not about to surrender. Even if he needed to flip every rule and logic over, Sol was determined to gain an escape. And at that moment, this meant turning off the veil and revealing them to the dragon.

"We finally come face to face you pathetic humans."

The dragon took a good look at the group. How the direwolves whimpered in fear and, how some humans were shaking while others looked down. All of these are normal reactions when faced against a dragon and, that is exactly why she found Sol's response to be unrealistic

The young paladin stared right at her. Without any look of fear or anxiousness. She would've been able to sense if the human was simply bluffing, but he wasn't. Making her anger grow even more.

"You came in here with much bravado and killed my monsters. But at the end of the day, all of you are just puny humans."

"Forgive us, we didn't know that such a guardian resided in this forest."

"So you'd act differently if you knew there was a dragon? Do you realize how stupid that sounds human? If all that could restrict you is fear, then there's no point to any of you living."

Although it made things worse, Sol knew that he couldn't lie. With the enemy able to observe their movements, he knew that there was a high possibility that everything they did up to that point was observed. Hence if he lied, the dragon would immediately know it. In fact, the worst case scenario would be that the dragon would kill them in the spot.

"I know that it isn't the purest reason but, we humans have been taught to fend ourselves against monsters. These are creatures which have proven time and time again to be hostile against our kind."

"And that's your excuse for burning the whole forest?"

The other members of the team didn't understand why their leader was making the dragon angrier. But it wasn't like they could do anything about it. They couldn't even stand straight, let alone speak without some of their words stuttering at that point.

"No. My excuse is that we've been attacked in the middle of the night when things are supposed to be safe and quiet. If we can't be at ease with all the monsters around, then we might as well kill all of you."

The dragon immediately growled after hearing these words. Sol could see fire forming from the side of the dragon's mouth, oozing green flames similar to Jade's. Everyone could feel the wrath of the creature which was moments away from eradicating all of them.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you all."

"It's simple really. There's no benefit to it."

"What?"

With the length of the conversation, Sol was finally able to find it. A silver lining. A glimmer of hope in the seemingly irreversible outcome of death.

"You can kill us, yes. In fact, you won't even have a hard time doing so. Me and my companions would surely die if you breath your fire on us."

"H-Hey is he mad? Why is he promoting our death?" Nathan asked the others but, nobody could give him a logical response. Everyone simply watched as Sol took one more step forward, with Alice remembering how the boy was just as brazen during the Titan Selection.

"He's not mad. Just trust in him." Alice said, somehow finding it in herself to believe that they were coming out of the situation alive. And before Nathan could say anything more, Sol's voice came out of the silence again.

"But our deaths would not restore this forest. We'd die but, you won't get anything back."

"You make it sound like you can restore this forest boy."

"That's because we could."

"HAHAHAHA! Do you take me for a fool? There's nothing of that sort, not even when the Seraphims descended!"

"But you're talking of the old age. We've long surpassed that time."

The negotiation would've gone well. If sol was talking with a decent and proper creature, his reasoning would've gotten through. Unfortunately for him the one he was talking to was merely a child and, with her whole forest destroyed, she couldn't care less what the human had to offer.

Thus she charged her green flames even more. Sol and the others scurried away in hopes of escaping but it was too late. The dragon breathed its flames on the helpless humans.