Beyond Cloudfall - Chapter 6
What happened that night in the tavern, the things we said, neither of us ever mentioned them again after that.
By daybreak, it had turned into a dark and ridiculous delusion that hung between us.
Night after night, Tarus City is filled with music and revelry—shallow desires are always easier to face than sincerity.
With the Evil Demon’s reappearance, the dark shadow of “Doomsday” rapidly spreads across Philos’s lands, which burn with the flames of war that arise in
The numerous Legions of Justitia, both large and small, wage war all over the planet under the banner of a crusade to exterminate the Evil Demon. Anyone who defies the Legion is branded a “sinner” and brought before the Court of Justitia.
The Sacred Judicator’s authority trembles on , as long-brewing resentments finally erupt due to the demon’s return.
Yet, Sylus and I pay no heed, the footprints of our plunder spreading across nearly the entire planet.
However… amidst this feast of desires, alongside my growing ambitions for revenge, there is still that cursed cloud floating above the fate shared between myself and the dragon.
Judicator’s Oracle: Please, please don’t kill me! If you spare my life, I’ll… I’ll do anything!
Judicator’s Oracle: Right, money—I have many treasures! All scraped together from different regions. They’re in the inner hall, the key is here—ugh!
Black and red mist drifts by, leaving the master of the Sanctuary twitching on the ground.
I take the key from his stiff hand, spinning it on my pinky as I follow Sylus into the
I already can’t remember we’ve plundered—
The guards and traps here are sophisticated enough to even injure Sylus, but it’s such a shame that there is such an incompetent master.
MC: That group of guards outside, I fear they never imagined that the one they’re loyally serving to the death is
MC: Though, has our reputation already spread this far?
Sylus: After raiding so many places in succession, I thought you would have some self-awareness.
Sylus shows little interest, his gaze sweeping over the treasures behind the door before looking away. His eyes linger on something behind a gauze curtain not far away—
The wind lifts the curtain, revealing a massive pipe organ embedded in the wall, glinting in the sunset.
Sylus: An unexpected reward.
I smile, set down the jewels and walk over, lifting my skirt as I sit properly at the organ.
Mellifluous music resounds through the hall as the wind sweeps through the building, thin sunlight adding a magnificent harmony to the melody.
As the section ends, silence once again returns to the Sanctuary.
Sylus: Why aren’t you playing anymore?
I rise to go retrieve the greatsword resting beside the organ.
MC: Requiems are meant to comfort the dead. But the souls in the Sanctuary don’t deserve it.
I tiptoe close to Sylus, but spin away the moment he narrows his eyes, twirling on my toes and stepping onto the stairs.
MC: When they were alive, they were holy and venerated enough. I certainly don’t want to sing hymns for their hypocritical souls.
MC: What I want—
My fingertips brush over the famous painting hanging on the wall. Turning around, I lift my skirt and take a seat on the sacred throne at the top of the steps.
Pointing my toes, I reach for the dragon as he steps onto the last stair. As he leans forward, I gently pull him toward me.
MC: Is to live as I please and die passionately without regrets.
Our breaths mingle as our heartbeats intertwine and resonate.
Light and shadow ripples in his eyes as the corner of his lips slowly curve upwards. With a flick of his tail, I’m as he coils his tail around my waist and pulls me close.
Sylus: Do you know what your soul smells like?
Meeting my gaze, he provocatively lowers his head inch by inch, his exhalations grazing against the pulse beating in my neck.
Sylus: It’s just like strong liquor with grains of salt dropped in—forever boiling, forever insatiable.
A tremor seems to rise from deep within my body, the brand in the hollow of my neck nearly burning with an searing pain.
At this moment, what is it that boils within the dragon’s body?
I don’t retreat. From this intimate distance, I gently reach out and touch his lashes.
MC: Then what about you?
MC: Your desire… what is it?
The light of the setting sun casts everything in a hazy glow, falling on his brow bone and rolling across his Adam’s apple.
He doesn’t speak. I take it as tacit permission, but just before I touch his right eye, my wrist is suddenly firmly gripped.
MC: !
The moment our skin touches, flashes of blood red rush before my eyes—
A boy covered in bloodstains turns his head in an darkness. It seems to be—
Sylus: You ask too many questions.
His words pierce through the illusion and I return to myself. Sylus has already released my hand, but as he turns, an ominous blood-red light glints in his eyes.
MC: …Where are you going?
Sylus: I never ask you where you’re going.
MC: It’s a shame I can’t learn how to be more tactful.
The brand on my shoulder throbs with searing pain as I circle around before him, blocking his path.
MC: Were those guards just now not enough?
Sylus: …What?
MC: You still want to hide it from me?
I brush aside the hair at my neck, revealing the brand he once left.
MC: Actually… every time you thirst for bloodshed, this brand you left on me also stirs
MC: Lately, it’s been acting up more and more frequently.
Sylus: …
I take one step forward and without hesitation once again caress the rim of his eye.
MC: ?!
The second our skin touches again, the brand suddenly ignites and a familiar agony envelops my entire body.
Sylus: …
I stagger back, wanting to retreat, but faintly, some kind of tether keeps me tightly connected to him.
Sylus: Time and time again, you cross the line…
I don’t know whose power suddenly erupts, flinging me back a few steps. I only manage to steady myself by leaning against the edge of a table.
Raising my head, I see wisps of black mist seeping out from beneath Sylus’s palm as he covers his right eye.
MC: …Sylus, you?!
Thick clouds silently shroud the sky above the Sanctuary as half of his body sinks into shadow. He lowers his arm, panting heavily—
Black and red energy particles drift from the corner of his eye as that pair of eyes are completely engulfed in blood red.
Sylus: Have you forgotten what I truly am?
Heavy mist surges forward, binding my hands and feet. Sylus’s face is hidden in the mist, unable to be clearly seen.
MC: (…There’s something wrong with his current state!)
The shackles around my neck suddenly tighten as the pain from my soul strikes again.
MC: Are you going to devour me? No, you won’t—ugh!
Sylus: I won’t? What, have you told so many lies that you’ve fallen for them yourself?
Sylus: Need I remind you? You are nothing but a soul being raised by a demon.
MC: (That’s not right… This isn’t the real him…!)
The brand in the hollow of my shoulder grows like thorns, constricting my body tighter and tighter.
My strength drains away completely and my vision starts to blur. As my consciousness and senses are stripped away, I am left an empty shell.
Sylus: As long as I wish it, I can feast at any time.
My body instinctively falls into a struggle, and in the vast emptiness before death, the chaotic screams in my mind slowly become clear—
MC: (Devour… Devour him… Consume him…!)
MC: Devour… Devour him…
A thread of pale golden light suddenly spreads from the edge of the brand, flowing into my palm and breaking through the restraints.
A terrifying suffocation consumes my consciousness. Something seems to materialize in my hand, controlling me as I swing it toward Sylus—
Sylus: …!
Warm liquid splatters on my cheek as the blood red greatsword’s phantom form solidifies, fiercely stabbing into his chest.
MC: ?!
His crimson eyes are filled with as the dragon and I silently gaze at each other.
Judicator’s Oracle: The dragon… The Evil Demon has been slain…!
The Judicator’s Oracle, who had burst into the Sanctuary with the Legion of Justitia and witnessed the scene, begins to shout incoherently.
Judicator’s Oracle: Capture it! Quickly capture it!
With a tremble of my hand, the sword dissipates again, turning into a ray of light as it returns into my body.
The force restraining me loosens and I collapse onto the Sanctuary’s bright, clean floor.
MC: No… that sword… I didn’t mean to do this…!
Blood blooms across Sylus’s chest—the blade has already stabbed through his back. In his current wounded state, facing the Legion of Justitia will be too dangerous.
Gritting my teeth, I rise and ruthlessly shove him through the unoccupied white stone door behind us.
The door tightly closes as I turn back, grab a weapon, and point it at the approaching Legion of Justitia.
MC: You all saw it. Not even the Evil Demon can be my opponent. Whoever comes any closer can also die by this sword!
Behind the white stone door, the blood on the floor slowly grows thicker, seeping through the cracks.
Whispers of desire echo in a chaotic clamor as his mind flickers and boils with the color of blood. Sylus’s vision is nearly completely painted crimson.
Ignoring the grave wound inflicted by the greatsword, he only knows that moments ago, the curse had nearly come true—
He nearly had his snatched away and truly killed her.
The murderous desire that has nearly boiled away all reason is unable to subside, and the wounds of his body still haven’t healed.
He half-kneels on the ground. The hand covering his right eye gradually grows sharp claws.
That surge of uncontrollable power pierces through muscle and bone, finally transforming into an enormous pair of wings that unfold from his back.
The Sanctuary’s white bell tower quakes as it’s torn apart from within by a savage force, a deafening roar resounding as it collapses into falling rubble.
The maddened dragon beats its wings and bursts out of the ruins, then plummets toward the ground amidst the screams of the crowd.
Struggling to beat, those wings, along with its tumbling body, raise hurricane winds that nearly flatten every building in its path before finally flying toward the distant black city.
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