Chapter 169: Dragon and Demon
Kwaaang!
With a deafening explosion, the wall of the Student Council room collapsed.
Kiiiiing!
At the same time, a beam of light filled my entire vision.
I instinctively raised my palm to block it.
A horrifying pain shot through me as my hand burned away completely.
This was... Dragon Breath.
The Dragon race's innate Authority that condensed the mana present in nature before firing it.
Its destructive power was on an entirely different level from a Drake's.
Even though I had blocked it in haste, my hand had still been completely incinerated.
My charred black arm could no longer maintain its shape and crumbled apart.
The astonishing part was that even this had merely been a restrained warning attack.
That was rather excessive for a greeting.
Hadn't Helena already informed him of the situation?
Helena and everyone around us cried out in alarm.
“Father! Please calm down first and let's talk!”
“Helena, do you even know what is standing beside you?!”
Oliver's eyes had split vertically like those of a reptile.
His gaze was directed at me.
Yet he wasn't actually looking at me.
He was looking beyond me...
Into something much deeper.
Had he somehow seen a fragment of the End?
If one's Dragon Eyes had reached the pinnacle of mastery, it wasn't impossible.
After all, no one here knew about the End.
I had considered the possibility, but I was still caught off guard.
I didn't want anyone else to learn about the End.
Especially not the Sword Emperor and Chun Ga-eun.
It was a truth that would one day inevitably be revealed, but at the very least, today wasn't that day.
The next instant, his figure disappeared.
An overwhelming killing intent accompanied it.
The killing intent was so intense that I couldn't even discern the direction of the attack.
At this rate, the battle was going to escalate.
That would be troublesome.
It hadn't been long since the Demon assault.
If Oliver and I fought here now, it would create a serious problem.
At that moment, a sword flew through the air.
Seeing it, I leaped forward and caught it.
At the same time, countless torrents of Sword Aura poured down like rain.
Gripping the sword, I unleashed Sky Cleaving by combining the Power of Superhuman Strength with the Power of Severance.
A gigantic formless slash bisected the countless streams of Sword Aura.
A sword engraved with countless magical symbols and ancient script stabbed into the ground.
A tiny white point spread outward from the blade, devouring the surrounding space.
Dokbon.
This was its first ability.
At least inside here, the commotion wouldn't spread outside.
Oliver, who had been flying through the air, landed.
His eyes still weren't looking at me.
“I understand why you're acting this way, but how about we talk for a bit? Lord Helena's father.”
“Who are you calling father?”
At last, he responded.
“Then... Lord Oliver? Let's at least talk—”
“Talk? Even after seeing the colossal abyss curled up deep inside you? I don't care what Helena told me. You are dangerous. Far more dangerous than Pandemonium's High-ranking Executives.”
This was precisely why I hadn't told anyone about the End.
Heroes were people who sacrificed themselves for the greater good.
They had always been taught to sacrifice the few for the many.
Which meant that once they learned the truth...
They would undoubtedly try to kill me.
And Oliver Raiders was someone whose convictions and beliefs were especially unwavering.
In other words, he wasn't someone who could be reasoned with.
As expected, mana began gathering around him once more.
This was becoming a real headache.
I couldn't kill him.
But completely subduing someone as powerful as Oliver was equally impossible for me.
His strength was on par with mine...
Or perhaps even greater.
For now, my only option was to survive his attacks while creating an opportunity for dialogue.
He extended his hand.
Countless bullets of mana shot toward me.
It wasn't magic.
It was simply a divine feat created through pure mana manipulation.
This was what made dragons so terrifying.
They weren't only supreme masters of mana worthy of being called the rulers of magic...
Their physical abilities were equally flawless.
Dragon scales couldn't be scratched even by Sword Aura.
Their breath destroyed everything.
This...
Was Helena's completed form.
He charged forward like a raging tempest.
The Jet-Black Sword intercepted Oliver's blade.
Even after activating the Power of Superhuman Strength, I couldn't force him back at all.
Then a mighty roar erupted from his mouth.
The dragon's roar itself became a will that crushed down upon my body.
But it had no effect on me.
Because I possessed Demon Pressure.
The power that plunged those who witnessed it into despair and terror.
Demons were also a higher species that stood shoulder to shoulder with dragons.
The powers of two supreme higher species collided.
Had anyone else been caught nearby, the collision of our auras alone would have made countless people collapse, foaming at the mouth.
Our swords locked together as we met each other's eyes.
“Lord Oliver.”
“Don't look at the monster inside me.”
“Look at me.”
“At who I am.”
“At what kind of person I truly am.”
Oliver's eyes wavered upon hearing Sungwoo's words.
Look at me.
Those words...
Were the very words Helena had screamed through tears at him long ago, when he had lost his wife and become consumed by revenge.
But back then...
He had turned away from Helena's cries.
Even after killing the Demon who murdered his wife...
The flames burning within his heart had never died down.
Instead...
That directionless fire called rage had devoured him instead.
Ignoring Helena's desperate pleas became the greatest regret of Oliver's life.
Why had those memories suddenly resurfaced now?
His gaze shifted toward Yoo Sungwoo.
With Dragon Eyes capable of piercing through all creation, Oliver could see a fragment of the colossal evil hidden within him.
Those blazing golden eyes alone were enough to steal one's breath.
It felt as though that gaze alone could swallow existence whole.
If merely a fragment was this terrifying...
What would happen if the thing sealed inside ever emerged?
He could say it with absolute certainty.
'The world will surely perish.'
Yet...
His hand refused to move.
Certainly, the opponent before him was overwhelmingly powerful.
But more than that...
The words Sungwoo had spoken overlapped perfectly with the words Helena had once spoken.
Only then did Oliver realize why he had been wavering.
It had been exactly the same back then.
He had known that if he ignored his daughter's words, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Even so...
He had cowardly justified himself, convincing himself that even if he regretted it, his actions were still the right thing to do.
In reality...
He had merely wanted to vent the flames raging inside his heart.
Yet he had deceived himself into believing it was all for Helena's future and safety.
And what had been the result?
Helena had suffered wounds that could never heal.
After that...
She closed her heart to everyone.
Outwardly...
She remained a polite and admirable daughter.
But buried deep within her heart were resentment and hatred.
What if...
The same thing happened again?
Certainly...
The person before him harbored a colossal evil.
Yet despite containing such an existence...
He remained himself.
No...
He almost looked like a prison confining that immense evil.
Perhaps...
Oliver had been so overwhelmed by the immeasurable evil that he had failed to see the real person hidden beneath it.
Or perhaps...
He simply hadn't wanted to see him.
Because he was the only person to whom his daughter had ever opened her heart...
And the very one who had left the deepest scar upon it.
It was nothing more than ugly jealousy.
Sungwoo continued trying to talk.
He blocked every attack...
Yet never once counterattacked.
The young man before him was every bit as powerful as Oliver himself.
If both of them truly fought with everything they had...
No one could predict who would survive.
If they genuinely intended to kill each other...
One of them would certainly die.
And even the survivor would be left mortally wounded.
Then a thought suddenly crossed Oliver's mind.
What if this battle continued...
Until either Sungwoo or he himself died?
He remembered Helena screaming at him.
He remembered how devastated she had been after learning that Yoo Sungwoo was a Demon.
For days...
She had refused food and water...
Withering like a flower deprived of rain.
'If I kill him...'
'Helena will resent me for the rest of her life.'
But...
If he were the one who died...
Would Helena truly resent Sungwoo?
The moment that thought took root...
Fear gripped him.
Using the regrets of his past as a lesson...
This time, Oliver chose to trust his instincts.
The force suppressing Yoo Sungwoo gradually weakened.
His vertically slit pupils slowly returned to normal human eyes.
Only then did he truly see the person standing before him with their swords crossed.
A handsome young man with jet-black hair...
And blazing golden eyes.
Yoo Sungwoo's golden eyes resembled those of the End.
'But at the same time...'
'They're different.'
The Demon's eyes he had seen seemed capable of devouring everything.
But Yoo Sungwoo's eyes...
Shone like a light illuminating the world.
Seeing Oliver lower his sword and release his strength, Sungwoo stared at him with a bewildered expression.
He clearly hadn't expected his words to work.
There was still caution in Oliver's gaze.
But the murderous intent from before had vanished.
“Why did you suddenly stop attacking?”
Oliver answered bitterly.
“A thought suddenly crossed my mind.”
“If I were to kill you in this battle, Helena would resent me for the rest of her life.”
“But if you were to kill me...”
“I wondered whether Helena would truly resent you.”
“......”
“I can clearly picture Helena hating me.”
“But no matter how hard I try...”
“I can't picture Helena hating you for my sake...”
His expression looked indescribably bitter.
“I apologize for suddenly attacking you with Dragon Breath.”
“The moment I saw that colossal evil, I became too agitated.”
“All I could think about was eliminating it before it awakened.”
Watching the now composed Oliver, Sungwoo quietly sighed in relief.
'Thank goodness the trigger worked.'
Look at me.
Those words were Oliver's reverse scale.
They were both the beginning of the collapse of his relationship with Helena...
And the magical phrase that restored their broken bond.
Even in Become a Hero, those very words served as the opening and closing line of the father-daughter storyline, ultimately restoring their relationship and awakening Helena's true power.
Knowing that story...
Sungwoo had deliberately spoken those words.
“I accept your apology.”
“But in return, I'd appreciate it if you kept what you saw today to yourself.”
“...Very well.”
“But one day, you must properly explain everything.”
“I swear that after I finish searching for Hero Baek Hyun-joong...”
“I'll explain everything to everyone.”
From the beginning...
The main characters entering the Fragment alongside Sungwoo would naturally learn the truth once they met Baek Hyun-joong.
The real concern was the Sword Emperor and Chun Ga-eun.
However...
If Baek Hyun-joong could reveal a way to stop the revival of the End...
Then explaining everything afterward wouldn't be difficult.
Afterward, Oliver went outside and explained his sudden attack to everyone.
Since they had already agreed on their story beforehand...
Nothing particularly troublesome happened.
Everyone present already knew about Oliver's hatred toward Demons and the tragedy of his past.
Since both sides claimed they had resolved the misunderstanding, everyone simply accepted it and moved on.
Of course...
There was one person who couldn't forgive him.
Helena was furious over Oliver's actions.
Not only had his actions been wrong...
But Helena's resentment toward Oliver already ran deep.
Unlike in the game...
The conflict between father and daughter remained hopelessly tangled.
Watching the two of them...
I realized it would take a very long time before their relationship could truly be repaired.