Pillars of Ita

"It's dead?" Parker watched as the sword pierced the dragon's head between its brow bones, and foul blood gushed out like a spring, trickling into the broken walls and ruins, and then being washed away almost entirely by the rain.

“It’s not that easy,” a voice replied.

The voice startled Parker, who quickly turned around. He found a strange woman standing there, dressed in a gray robe, with cascading black hair, and her dark eyes seemed to hold a glimmer of golden flame.

Fang Zheng was leading Luo Hao and Aitila from not far away. Looking at this tall woman, who was almost only half a head shorter than the big cat-man, he finally heard a clue in her voice:
"You are...Ms. Alessa, what happened to you?"

“This is my original form,” Alessa said, a hint of approval flashing in her golden eyes. “This is my most natural form when I take human form. Now that I have regained some of my power, I can naturally recreate my former appearance.”

Fang Zheng seemed to realize something, "You obtained a portion of Livegard's power?"

“He is my father, and our power originates from the same source,” Alessa replied. “Because of the curse, dark dragons cannot reproduce like ordinary dragons. I am actually an individual that split off from him.”

Her golden eyes turned to Fang Zheng, "The bloodline of the Dark Dragon is special; not every individual can produce offspring. But Livegard is powerful, and..."

At this point, she seemed to be wary of something and suddenly stopped talking, changing the subject: "If you want to completely end everything here, the existing plan is not enough."

Fang Zheng looked up at the dragon-slaying youth standing on the dragon's head, which was nearly as tall as a person. Loren was covered in blood, as if he had used up all his strength in that sword strike—he was holding the sword with both hands and slowly raising his head to look in this direction.

“Ed, I don’t have much time left,” the boy’s voice was hoarse. “You’d better hurry.”

Before Fang Zheng could speak, Alessa said, "Theoretically, dark dragons are immortal. Even if they are killed by the Dragon Slayer Sword, the dragon slayer will be cursed by the dragon's blood and become the breeding ground for its return."

"But the elves set a very special trap for Lifgard, trapping it in both the past and the present of history. In this way, it is neither alive nor dead, and the curse of dragon blood will naturally not take effect."

"To avoid being completely trapped in this endless cage, Livegard used his dragon blood as a catalyst, triggering a 'blood plague' that spread throughout the bay region, and attracting the descendants of the guardian of the holy sword Moa—"

"These two are the last descendants of the Geos family, Nethari Geos and her brother, Seyel Geos. The Geos family's ancestor once wielded the Moa Sword to behead Livegard—although Livegard was trapped in the Nomerin elves' scheme and could not die completely, nor could he be resurrected from blood, Livegard still cast a curse on this dragon-slaying hero at the moment of his death."

"The curse is that the descendants of the Geos family will live in the shadow of the dragon scale for the rest of their lives, and like it, they will either live or die. The family will prosper, but its descendants will be cursed to die one by one, until only the eldest son is left, and the curse will be passed down from generation to generation."

"So?" Luo Hao suddenly asked, "The Children of the Gulf are actually the Oathkeepers who guard the Holy Sword of Moa? They came to this place with Vo-Salastiel and gradually multiplied. The Geos family are the descendants of the sword wielder?"

“That’s not all.” A voice rang out from behind the group. Luo Hao turned around and saw that it was the female bishop of the Flame of the Vows. The scepter was back in her hand, and Beryl was looking at the group as she said:

"When the Wildlings and the Lightbringers parted ways, a division also arose within the Oathkeepers of the Gulf region. Some remained steadfast in their faith at the Hill of the Great Trees, while others crossed the ocean to Rotaor."

Those people were the precursors to the Flamebringer's Oath, and thus the blood and curse of Lifgard transcended time and distance, affecting two lineages descended from the same bloodline.

However, in that upheaval, the Sons of the Gulf lost most of the written records about the Oathkeepers, leaving only a few traditions and the legend of Vol-Salastiel.

“Lifgard took advantage of this,” Beryl said. “When the plague of blood once again spread across the land, the Bronze Bell Council remembered the descendants of the Geos family.”

“Sel and Neytari, siblings, were chosen as commanders of the expeditionary fleet after their father, and brought back the ‘Fountain of Youth’ from the misty Vor-Salastir.”

"But there is no fountain of youth in this world. In that place, the great explorer from the Gulf saw the truth about this fortress—"

"At that time, his sister was already seriously ill, and the curse manifested itself on the girl once again. Dragon scales quietly crawled up her limbs and neck, and when they covered her whole body, she would die in pain like everyone else."

"Lifgard promised the brother and sister that if they broke the seal, it would remove the curse from the two of them—and even from the Oathkeeper race—and give the girl strength, allowing her to regain her health and vitality."

“Sel Gios feigned agreement to Livegard’s request, so Neytari was left behind as a hostage and became the vessel for Livegard’s power.”

"The woman who appeared before the world after that, the woman who went by the name Elaine Geos, was actually another facet of Livegard."

Beryl slowly recounted, "But in fact, the brother and sister never gave up their determination to eliminate the evil dragon from the very beginning. Livegard eliminated the blood plague, the brother became a hero of the Gulf people, and the name of Sel Gios resounded throughout the entire Long Bay, making him a well-known great explorer."

"After that, he ostensibly collected methods to break the seal, but in reality, he was looking for a solution to kill Livegard once and for all."

"Ms. Beryl?" Fang Zheng looked at her with some surprise for the first time. "You know about these things too?"

He first truly understood Selgios's plan because of the information left behind in the star tracker.

When Selgios deliberately gestured for him to examine the star tracker, he had actually sensed a familiar aura from it.

Later, when he first entered the city, Livegard called out his name, which made him realize where that familiar aura came from.

Torragtus, the green dragon who sided with the Dark Saints.

If it was only when Selgeous first killed Livegard that he took the core that sealed its power away from Vor-Salastiel, then where did the star tracker in his hand come from in this illusion before this history took place?

Fang Zheng could easily deduce that all of this was the work of Torragtus.

This leads to the deduction of Livegard's overall plan.

And behind that, the reason why Selgios chose him—

“I knew from the beginning that he came for this dragon,” Beryl said. “I just couldn’t see what happened after that. If you hadn’t come here, I think this war would have ended in a crushing defeat.”

She looked at Fang Zheng, who then realized that this woman, who was in a historical illusion, had already deduced her own situation. He nodded.

“Alright, my time is running out,” Beryl’s armor was gradually fading away as she looked at Loren beside her. “Let me hear what Selgios’s final plan is.”

“The reason he chose him is simple,” Alessa said, pointing to the spot above Fang Zheng’s heart, “because of the mark.”

mark?

Fang Zheng was startled, then suddenly remembered something. He pulled out a rope from there, one end of which was tied to a gold ring that had become dull and cracked.

"The Ring of Golden Flames?"

He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Is all of this related to the Dragon Witch Nicol Bolas?"

Unfortunately, Alessa did not answer the question directly, but instead continued to recount that past history as if she had witnessed it herself:
"...In order to defeat Livegard, Selgios devised a simple plan, which was also a promise he made to Neytari—his sister."

"Lifgard projected his power onto Neytari, thus gaining a human proxy, but in doing so, he also revealed his weaknesses."

"Or perhaps it was aware of this all along, but didn't care, because it was part of its plan. Therefore, after Selgios completed all preparations, Nethali willingly allowed him to kill her—"

"The former thus gained the power of Livegard, but did not keep it for itself. Instead, it returned it to the sealing array and took the core of Vol-Salastiel with it."

"Without his power, Livegard could no longer wreak havoc in the Gulf region, and the Blood Plague also disappeared. However, Sel Gios, who killed Neytari and gained Livegard's power, was thus put on trial by the council and went from being a hero to a sinner."

"But because he was merged with Livegard, he was not actually killed after he was hanged. Instead, he returned to this place and continued to fight against my father with his own will."

"Everything should have been this way, but two hundred years after the core of Vol-Salastir was lost, another young man brought it back here, helping Livegard to completely defeat the soul of Sel Gios."

She looked at Fang Zheng and said, “I don’t think I need to explain who that person is. All of this has been part of Livegard’s plan from beginning to end. I know it very well. It can’t be unaware of the scheme between Selgios and his sister, but it just goes with the flow because it firmly believes that the greed and ambition of mortals will bring its power back to this place.”

"It wasn't entirely unaware of Maryland's betrayal—that of the wanderer—but as I said, that doesn't matter, because it had already seen through the ambitions of mortals, and everything would return to 'the right track'."

"Therefore, it waits in the past, present, and future, waiting for someone to release it from the depths of Idus, waiting for someone to return to this illusion of time, waiting for its greedy minions to impatiently break the seal and try to obtain the power that rightfully belongs to the Dark Dragon King."

Alessa said softly, "It did indeed get all of this, everything unfolded exactly as it had planned, but unfortunately, it overlooked one thing."

"That is the mark that Sel left in its soul. Dark dragons can be resurrected countless times, but the resurrected dark dragon may not be the original one."

"Just as the Dragon Witch's own will ultimately dominates Nicol Bolas, it stems from her vengeful fury, but also from her true heart—she is Nicol Bolas, and also Eve, a girl from the Sand People."

Alessa's voice was somewhat sentimental, as if she were recounting the Dragon God's wrath and the curse imposed upon their race. It was the Dark Dragons' own fault, but as the only second-generation Dark Dragon, she was the most unique individual in this race.

She never made a choice, yet the curse followed her relentlessly, just as the descendants of the Oath Keepers experienced.

Sometimes, she even envied Nicol Bolas, who, as Nini reborn in the golden flames, was able to escape all the fate that originally belonged to them.

"...Just like how Netali, though merged with it, could defy its will and actively seek death for her brother, while it remained indifferent throughout, simply because it didn't care."

Yes, if one possesses eternal life and endless time, and exists at a higher level, why would one care about momentary setbacks or the laughable schemes of mortals?
But what Lifegard didn't foresee was that it changed Sel, but Sel also changed it, when its soul was freed from the underworld of Idus and chose Fang Zheng to be the one to break the seal. In fact, that was also a choice made by the soul of Sel Gios at the same moment.

It just doesn't realize that.

Alessa pointed to the gold ring around Fang Zheng's neck, which had long since dimmed and even cracked, and said, "Your performance in the Dragon Witch incident is precisely why Selgios chose you."

"If you can defeat a dark dragon, you will naturally possess the same courage as the ancient dragon-slaying heroes, and you will certainly not let him down."

"From the moment you embarked on your journey from the Traveler's Rest, your entanglement with the Dragon-Slaying Sword has become inseparable. You traveled from the illusion of Doris to the green dragon Torragtus, then to Amalgam, and finally to Idus."

“My father secretly planned all of this. What he didn’t know was that there was already the shadow of another person in his subconscious.”

“Selgios and his two-hundred-year-long struggle was not really about defeating it, but about making it lower its guard and then subtly accept all of this.”

"It thought it was a scheme, but it was actually driven by another personality."

At this point, Alessa fell silent, and after a long while, she spoke: "So, this is a joint plan by two different entities. I think there are many other hands pushing this plan forward, something even Selgios didn't expect—"

Fang Zheng couldn't help but look at the ring in his hand.

At this very moment, the silver ring resonated with the Vor-Salastir beneath their feet—through which the power of the fortress was transmitted to the tall white knight standing amidst the rain.

Without the White Knight, they might not have been able to defeat Livegard so easily, even though his power had not been fully restored.

But this dark dragon king was already trapped by the seal of this place, and the power bestowed upon the White Knight came from the fortress of Vol-Salastir itself.

With both sides restraining each other, Lifegard's power was not actually exerted to a great extent.

The only bridge connecting him to the fortress, besides the mysterious star tracker, was the silver ring in his hand.

He slightly raised the silver ring—which was actually the sacred relic left to him by Quevenlar.

The Elf King had told him that this was a fragment of the Eternal Symbol, and like the core of the city, they each originated from the Elf's Holy Grail.

Clearly, someone had anticipated all of this.

That could never have been the Elf King's arrangement, but rather the guidance of the goddess of fate behind the scenes.

“In fact, Selgios’s plan itself is full of variables,” Alessa continued. “Just as he couldn’t calculate whether you could kill Livegard at three different points in time, he may know that you had contact with the Holy Sword Galapea and possessed fragments of Moa, but he didn’t know that the Demon Sword Gwynedd—that is, the Holy Sword Blacksteel, or even the Enemy Slayer—was in your hands.”

"He didn't know that you would meet the pirate king's daughter, Catherine Elantz. That was actually the key factor in entering the third timeline, because the star tracker in the real timeline was in her hands."

"But after all, as a mere mortal, this is all he can do."

"But what he didn't expect was that you did even better than he imagined. You not only won the favor of the three holy swords, but also brought back the star tracker."

Alessa walked over and placed her hand on the dragon's head, which had closed its eyes and lost its breath. "However, there is still one last step."

"...Lifgard will not be killed, but by a twist of fate, its blood, which drives it mad, can only be reincarnated in the cracks of history."

She raised her head, her gaze falling on Loren. "In this way, the curse will end due to cause and effect, and will no longer flow on the earth. But this can only deal with the calamity of the dragon blood, while we must also deal with its dragon soul, otherwise one day, new variables will arise."

Fang Zheng then remembered this question. The soul of the Lifegard dragon had once been taken away from this seal, thanks to the wanderer Art, meaning that its soul had long since broken free from the seal.

Although it remains to be seen whether a dragon soul that has lost its power and even its memories can still cause trouble, it is, after all, the soul of Livegard, and to be on the safe side, it is best to handle it properly.

He looked at Alessa and suddenly realized that this was why she had come.

"Ms. Alessa, did you foresee all of this back then?"

Fang Zheng asked, recalling the night he and the other party captured Eliusis. At that time, the Dragon Queen acted strangely and even talked to him about the Dark Dragon.

The other party must have sensed Livegard's presence at that time and figured out the logic behind it, since it was a power from the same source as her.

Alessa nodded gently. "I am an individual that split off from the power of Livegard. Theoretically speaking, my soul is not actually complete, but I was able to become a complete individual after absorbing its power."

Upon hearing her words, Luo Hao and Papararren, who were standing nearby, tensed up, and even the big cat-man gripped the other sword at his waist.

After all, people haven't forgotten that this one was actually a dark dragon, and even a historically famous one.

Fang Zheng, however, didn't care. He was willing to give her a chance. The essence of power has no black or white distinction; it depends only on the person wielding it. At least so far, the Dragon Queen hadn't shown any malice.

He couldn't question her motives without reason, especially since Alessa hadn't regained her power yet. Even if she had other plans, he was confident he could control the dragon queen.

Alessa glanced at him, and seeing that he remained unmoved, she breathed a sigh of relief. "I can merge with Livegard's soul, but I cannot completely erase its existence. The Dark Dragon is immortal, even at the soul level. So I said, if you want to kill it completely, you will need another method."

"what way?"

“You already knew,” Alessa said. “You killed a dark dragon, have you forgotten?”

"Nicholus?" Fang Zheng was about to ask—was the dragon witch really dead? But Ms. Misu was clearly still alive. During the war in the North, he had caught a glimpse of the enemy's dragon army from afar.

But then he suddenly remembered something. Misu had also only inherited the power of the Dragon Witch, but she was still herself from beginning to end. Otherwise, her dragon army would not have dared to invade human territory.

Where exactly does the problem lie?
A sudden inspiration struck him, and he looked at the white knight he controlled with disbelief, from which Nini had just emerged.

Could it be Nini—

Alessa saw through his thoughts and nodded calmly. She even looked at the little girl with a hint of envy. "The new life born from the golden flames, although still a dragon soul, is completely different from us and has become a brand new existence. It is no longer bound by that eternal curse."

“So,” she said, “you only need to do what you did before, let Livegard’s soul be baptized and reborn from the golden flames, and from then on, there will be no more King of Dragons in this world.”

“But I don’t know where Nini came from,” Fang Zheng was bewildered. He still didn’t understand why his second dragon soul was born.

Now Alessa is going to create a third dragon soul for him?
“It’s very simple,” Alessa said. “The golden flame ring no longer has a master, but it was originally created to contain the dark dragon soul and the power of the verdant green. You just need to absorb its remaining power when I merge with its soul. When the time is right, a dragon soul will naturally be born from the golden flame.”

"It's that simple?"

Fang Zheng was a little incredulous. Normally, a person can only contract one dragon soul. Two dragon souls are already a fantasy. How did he seem to have become a dragon soul register?

And what is the underlying principle?
However, Alessa did not answer directly, but instead asked:

"Ready?"

"Wait a minute," Fang Zheng asked cautiously, "Won't this have any impact on me and Miss Tata?"

Has Nini had any influence on you?

"No... no."

“That’s fine then,” Alessa said impatiently. “Let’s get started. They don’t have much time left.”

She pointed to Leonard and his group.

The other knights gathered around; with the seal broken, the temporal turbulence here was returning to normal. Leonard and his group had been listening to their story about the past.

But the images of these people are gradually becoming blurred.

Fang Zheng had some doubts, feeling that the logic there was not quite right, but as Alessa said, he didn't have much time left to make a decision.

He looked at Loren and saw that the other woman nodded to him, clearly ready to face the final outcome. Therefore, he also nodded to the Dragon Queen.

Okay, let's begin.

...(End of chapter)