Chapter 2002 - 2002. Memories

The dragon struggled and fought, but it couldn't do anything against King Elbas' inscriptions. Noah even punched it whenever it tried to roar in anger, but that still didn't manage to make it accept its situation.

The dragon was going mad. The mindset forced into its head by Heaven and Earth had vanished after it left the barrier. The creature went through countless memories now that it could finally think properly, and immense anger mixed with despair seeped into its suppressed growls.

Those emotions were so intense that King Elbas and Sepunia didn't need Noah to translate those roars. Failing to evaluate the dragon's mental state was impossible, so they didn't need to plan their next step. What they had to do was clear.

King Elbas took out a pill from his figure, and Noah pulled the dragon's mouth upward. Part of the inscriptions that sealed the open and spiked neck created a hole where the cultivator could place the drug and force the creature to eat it.

Sepunia couldn't do anything in that situation.. Her world would only attract the dragons' hatred since it dealt with illusions, so she limited herself to watch as her companions did their best to calm down the creature.

The pill didn't only suppress the dragon's intense emotions. It also improved its awareness for a short time, allowing it to go over its many memories of the prison in seconds. Sadly, the creature didn't feel any better afterward. It could only rely on itself to accept that Heaven and Earth had kept it caged and had played with its mind for countless years.

King Elbas stepped back and made Sepunia follow him to leave Noah alone with the dragon. The magical beasts had always felt an innate hostility toward the humans, and that feature didn't change in the divine ranks. It was better to let a hybrid handle the matter.

A growl tried to come out of the dragon's sealed mouth as the effects of King Elbas' pill waned, but Noah promptly punched its head again. He wasn't using his full strength, but the situation was starting to annoy him.

Noah was a pack leader in front of an inferior specimen. A mere whiff of his aura could force the dragon to submit. Still, he didn't want to be so forceful toward a creature that had suffered so much. Still, he didn't want to wait years for the beast to calm either.

"Heaven and Earth kept you trapped for a long time," Noah growled. "I don't know exactly for how long, but try to get over it quickly. I have things to do."

Those growls made the dragon fall prey to its anger again, but Noah expected that. He let the creature struggle until it eventually accepted that its physical strength wouldn't get it out of that situation.

"Free me!" The dragon roared.

"I will if you behave," Noah responded.

"I didn't escape the cage to become a prisoner again!" The dragon continued.

"You didn't escape," Noah explained. "I opened a path and baited you outside. I've even stopped you from charging right back in while you were prey to your anger."

The dragon roared, but it fell silent afterward. Noah had spoken the truth, but it didn't want to submit so easily. Its pack was still inside the cage, so it couldn't become someone else's underling.

"Let's talk for a bit," Noah growled while crossing his legs. "I will set your entire pack free if you help me."

"Set it free first!" The dragon roared, but intense fear filled its body when Noah glared at it with his reptilian eyes.

The dragon was still angry, but its instincts didn't allow it to forget its position in the food chain. Noah only had the aspect of a rank 8 existence. His eyes were enough to reveal the monster contained in that small figure.

"Do you have more orders for me?" Noah asked in a chilling tone.

The dragon remained silent while lowering its head. Its survival instincts prevented it from making any sound.

"Good," Noah exclaimed. "Let's start from the beginning. How did you end up inside the barrier?"

"My memories are messy," The dragon admitted.

"Tell me what you can," Noah ordered.

The dragon gazed at the island before pointing its eyes at the white cracks among the void. The creature remained silent for a few seconds, but a description soon began. "I remember a life among the light before one of Heaven and Earth's humans attacked my pack. Then, I recall pain. I felt my flesh ripped away from my scales and my throat splitting. I woke up in that land when that suffering ended."

Noah frowned. He expected a far different story, something that involved the appearance of the metal meant to oppose the sky. He could even feel that the dragon wasn't lying, so he felt forced to reevaluate his previous hypotheses about the island.

"I can't say much about the life in those lands," The dragon continued. "I see the light every time I try to remember details. I know that I've lived there for many years and that I've fed on others like me, but everything feels off."

'Heaven and Earth have probably tampered with the important memories,' Noah guessed in his mind.

"Only one detail is clear," The dragon announced. "My first thought when I woke up in those lands would reappear every time I recalled where I was."

The dragon stretched its front legs forward and inspected them. Noah saw confusion in the creature's eyes, and the latter left him speechless with the revelation that followed that gesture. "I recall thinking that these weren't my legs."

Noah's eyes widened as most of his hypotheses crumbled to leave only one unexpected guess intact. It seemed that the dragon's current appearance didn't match its memories. Heaven and Earth had transformed it before sending it to the island.

"I'll go get some of your companions," Noah quickly uttered before moving toward his friends in the distance. "I'll come back soon."

"Wait!" The dragon roared. "Free me of these restrictions!"

Noah ignored the dragon, but a powerful aura suddenly seeped out of it. Noah turned to inspect the creature and noticed that a pitch-black liquid was flowing out of the spikes at its mouth's sides.

King Elbas' formations were forcing the dragon to keep its neck closed, but the spikes there also released that liquid. Noah could see how the golden radiance of the expert's lines dimmed as that substance accumulated on their other side before flowing out of its head.

The sole fact that the dragon had the power to affect King Elbas' inscriptions made Noah shoot back to the creature. The liquid coming out of the beast's mouth was so dark that even the blackness of the void couldn't hide it, but Noah ignored that feature. His focus was on the faint trust that his instincts felt toward the aura that accompanied the substance.

'What is this?' Noah wondered before holding the dragon's head still with a hand and stretching his free arm toward the liquid.

A single drop landed on the back of his hand while he was approaching the tiny waterfall. His mind rejoiced, but his skin started to melt without causing any pain, and that effect spread quickly to the rest of his arm.

Noah couldn't stop what he didn't feel. Even the black hole couldn't understand what was happening, so he quickly drew the Cursed Sword and severed his arm. The corrosion stopped for him, but his limb vanished before it could start to float among the void.