Chapter 528 Dagon
Silence.
What else would exist after the sight that had just been force-fed to the people who had just watched such a horror take place?
Adonis, Lucielle, Brutus, and Belle… they all stared very frighteningly at the Divine Beast—Fallen Deity Dagon—who had easily destroyed their enemies for them.
There was, however, one question on their mind after seeing this.
'Are we next?'
As if to answer their question, Dagon cast its gaze on the humans before it. It had no eyes, but it could perfectly perceive everything around it; probably even better than those who had perfect sight.
None of the humans concerned it in the slightest. There was only one that had its full attention at the moment.
—Alicia White, the one who summoned it.
"Grrrr…" Dagon growled, taking a step forward as it began to approach the Grand Tamer.
It had no real mind of its own, now nothing but a creature of pure instinct, so there was no real intelligence or calculated motives behind its actions.
The only reason it marched forward was due to an instinctive directive.
'KILL THE TAMER!'
Dagon was incapable of rational thought, but its instincts told it that if the Tamer lived, then there was a chance that it would be captured and held captive by a power it could never hope to resist.
No one desired to be subservient to another—especially an entity weaker than them.
As such, Dagon marched forward with obvious animosity oozing from it as it growled.
Its prey was unmoving, so it didn't bother exerting any real power.
It seemed the prey understood her fate.
She was going to die by its hand, and just like the fallen lizards that had perished moments before, her fate was sealed.
The only problem were the sacks of meat who stood in front of her, supposedly trying their hardest to protect her from its grasp.
There were four of them in total, none of them posing any real threat to it. As a result, it didn't really exert itself and kept marching forward.
Then, it reached their presence.
"[Divi—]!"
~WHAP!~
A single slap from Dagon caused the blond one to fly away, instantly knocked unconscious by the light sleight of the Beast's hand.
The next two were dealt in similar fashion, this time Dagon raising both hands to push them away in swift motion. Just like before, they were sent flying like canons, despite the creature not putting any real strength in its attack.
To the being, they were nothing but mild hindrances that could easily be shifted aside for its goal.
All it desired was the Tamer's life.
The last one that stood before it was a blond girl—petite and cute—and she looked incredibly frightened just standing before it.
Something about this girl seemed… different. Dagon could sense something inside her, like a mark that had been placed by a high entity similar to itself.
No… this one was different.
Either way, by process of instinct, Dagon didn't hit the girl. Instead, it carried her by the head—gently, of course—and placed her behind him so she wouldn't get in the way of its task.
She was shivering throughout, probably scared that the Beast would crush her head like what he did to the Dragons. Well, it didn't.
The girl collapsed on the ground, probably passed out, once Dagon took its attention away from her, now staring only at its prey.
"Grrrr…" It growled in a low tone, its hulking stature standing majestically before the one who would soon perish at its hand.
"I knew this would happen…" The Tamer whispered, not that Dagon could understand whatever she was uttering.
It just wanted to kill her.
"At the very least, with this… only I have to die."
Dagon raised its hand, ready to crush her head and have her perish in the most convenient way possible.
"No one needs to be cursed. The enemies will be defeated. And… I'll finally be reunited with Rey and Snow, wherever they are." The smile on her face perplexed Dagon for a moment. It didn't have a mind to properly process emotions such as this, but it still stunned him for a moment.
The others whom it killed depicted fear and terror, yet this one was showing a completely different emotion.
How odd it was…
"The death of a Summoner severs the tether that binds the Summon to the location they appear in. Once I die…" Alicia looked at her fallen comrades and smiled. "... They will be safe."
Dagon would return to the place he emerged from, and—even if it would be for a brief moment—there would be peace.
That was her final gift to humanity; the sacrifice she was willing to pay for a world she despised.
"Do it… kill me." Dagon didn't need her permission to execute her. He would have done so anyway, and that was evidenced by how its hand moved towards her.
Then—
~SQUELCH!~
Another obstacle interfered with Dagon's actions, launching their body to protect Alicia… just in time to save her from being crushed.
The blood that sprayed out belonged to this new obstacle who jumped right in front of her.
He was a teenage boy, muscular for a human. His back faced Dagon, so his face was staring at the Tamer whom he just saved with his sacrificial act.
"I… I guess… I was able to do… something right in the end…" The boy whispered, soon coughing out blood from his tired lips.
A massive, bloody hole had been created on his torso, with Dagon's hand sticking right out of it. Needless to say, the human was a walking corpse at that point.
"B-Billy…?" Alicia whispered, her eyes widened as she watched one of her allies, one who was supposed to still be unconscious, save her from her expected end.
"Y-you… no… why did you… you shouldn't have…" Her whispers were cracked, and tears flowed from her eyes as she watched blood ooze from his body.
"I-I'm sorry. I went ahead and imposed again, didn't I…?" He whispered, a pained smile on his face as he stared at the girl he saved.
The truth was that Billy's was awoken by Alicia's voice. He barely heard what she was saying, but when he opened his eyes, his blurry vision caught the monstrosity known as Dagon standing in front of her.
At that moment, he only thought of one thing.
'Alica! I have to save Alicia!'
Whether this was rooted in his obsession or not was of no consequence to Billy. In that decisive moment, he simply desired to protect the girl he cared about. Hence, he pushed his aching body to its limits and sent himself hurtling right in front of her… causing him to get impaled by the beast in her place.
"I just…" He muttered, his tired eyes looking at the girl.
His sight was blurry, so he could hardly make out her features. Was she crying for him? Was she sad? Was she relieved? He couldn't really tell. But… somewhere within him, he was glad that he was able to help—to be of some kind of use to her, instead of causing her trouble.
"My body… moved on its own. I guess it's because I—"
~SPLOOSH!~
Billy's body instantly exploded into an eruption of blood and flesh as Dagon used his second hand to swipe him away.
The pressure alone was enough to cause his entire flesh to burst.
His words remained unfinished, and the contents of his heart remained unheard. The only thing left of Billy… was the rain of entrails that followed his death.
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