Chapter 35

Tears welled in her eyes, and Nero didn't understand their meaning.

The rain that day wasn't heavy, but it lasted for a long time. Late at night, in the courtyard of where the Emperor was temporarily staying.

The air and her clothes were gradually becoming damp. The golden-haired girl's wet hair clung to her face and neck. It should have been uncomfortable, but she didn't seem to mind. She indifferently lifted her face, which had been buried in her knees, and gazed up at the night sky. Countless cold raindrops struck her cheeks.

Upon learning that her teacher, Novia, hadn't actually poisoned her, she had always assumed that she wasn't important enough for him. She felt that she was still the same as before, always on the verge of being abandoned.

Amidst the quiet commotion, Nero felt that only her own breathing was jarringly loud.

The rain gradually intensified, with drops pattering from her soaked hair and the hem of her clothes.

"So cold, incredibly cold," the girl hugged herself, shrinking her body even tighter.

"Why, why didn't you poison me? Teacher, do you hate me? Have you given up on me? Are you going to abandon me..."

Nero felt her heart shattering little by little, as if she had lost the meaning of life. Through the cracks in her heart, which had only just been mended, darkness slowly seeped in. She felt alone, truly alone.

In the few days before Nero returned to Rome, whenever she fell asleep during this period, she would have incredible dreams.

In the pitch-black darkness, she held a cold dagger and stabbed it into her teacher.

Expressionless, emotionless, she just lightly, repeatedly, repeatedly stabbed the blade into Novia.

Her own face was hollow, and she kept striking him. "Why, why..." she seemed to hear her own murmur.

Because it was a dream, she kept quietly killing him in this world that only contained her and her teacher.

"This is so painful, but what should I do?"

After waking up, Nero was so tormented that she couldn't help but tightly embrace the Primal Fire her teacher had given her.

"When did I start to like you?"

"It started from that day, so long ago that I can't even remember. You are special to me."

"It's because I like you, Teacher, that I've become like this. In other words, if I didn't have improper thoughts about you, I wouldn't be like this."

"Could it be that I was born with a destiny of abandonment?"

"When my mother was carrying me, her heart was filled with hope. Because as soon as I was born, my mother would poison me, have an affair, and then divorce my promiscuous and drunken father. My mother's hope was my despair."

"'I wasn't born into this world full of filth by choice either...'"

The girl felt a surge of violent emotion well up within her.

"It is precisely because I am amidst countless kinds of filth that I more intensely crave stars so dazzling they are unbearable to look at."

The blood in her body gradually turned into soft cotton. It wasn't an illusion; if she were to cut her wrist, cotton might actually flow out.

"I am just a puppet, a puppet without any value."

"No wonder I'm always abandoned. It's not that I wasn't valued, but rather that being born by force, being discarded everywhere is the inevitable fate."

For Nero, living had been like watching boring clouds drift across the sky since she was very young.

There was no emotion, no lingering feeling, nothing left in her heart. All that remained were meaningless, valueless words and jarring noises, listed out. She had no desire to look at them, only to stare blankly.

Curled up in this disgusting world, she constantly thought, "I wish this could end soon." However, the world before her showed no signs of ending.

"Everyone's life is probably different. Among them, there must be people filled with vibrant colors, joyful music, outstanding families, and unparalleled happiness. There must be such people, and they surely wouldn't want their lives to end so quickly."

"But in my eyes, my own life has already ended. And it was tasteless, colorless. All that was left was myself, crouching with my head in my hands, discarded carelessly. How could I possibly make anyone happy in such a world?"

"Even if I wanted to remember, it's already impossible. I have no reason to live anymore. My past, as they say, might as well disappear completely, so I can feel at ease."

With dim eyes, Nero grasped the Primal Fire and murmured:

"'If only I had never been born...'"

For the first time, the girl spoke these words, and in that instant, she felt as if she were immersed in a sea of fire. Every minute, every second, her entire body was tormented by that dense reality, as if swimming in a crimson sea of blood, constantly gulping down the foul impurities.

The sea of blood gradually eroded the world she saw, soaking the lower half of her body. She would likely be completely submerged by the sea of blood, eventually dissolving into that scorching, impure ocean.

Nero didn't know why she was there, but her body was filled with dark emotions of surrender, pain, and sorrow, leaving her with no strength to struggle. She wanted to disappear quickly.

When the golden-haired girl came back to her senses, she realized the sea of blood had risen to her chest. Her legs and arms, engulfed by the dark bloody sea, were no longer felt.

"So, this way, it will be easier."

She thought this, but it was also unexpressed anger.

"It must be because I am someone who shouldn't exist that I am all alone."

"'I'm all alone now...'"

The words involuntarily escaped her lips, and the girl cried. Not silent sobs, but a wail like she had when she was a child.

"'...But I don't even know why I'm alive, yet at the moment of disappearing, I feel pain. Why is that? Tell me, Teacher.'"

It was truly incredible. Even though the girl's brain had pathologically ceased to function, her body, which had supported her for over a decade, was now, against its owner's will, still yearning to see that person again. Therefore, Nero's body moved once more.

And so, six days passed, and Nero returned to Rome. The first thing she did was go to see her teacher, Novia.

"'Teacher, I'm back...'"

She slightly opened her emerald green eyes and spoke with a weak voice.

"'Welcome back, Nero. Are you alright...'"

Novia looked at the extremely haggard Nero. The girl's eyes were like a puppet's, devoid of any emotional ripples.

And in his vision, overlapping figures appeared: a small, slender body holding something, a face very similar to Nero's, and her posture seemed to be overlapping.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little sleepy, a good nap will fix it..."

The girl's nasal voice was clearly from crying. Novia stood in the bright and dazzling sunlight, staring directly at her.

"Then rest here with me. After you've rested, I have something to tell you."

At this moment, Nero's mind was filled with a cacophony shouting a certain name.

Ah, I'm disappearing, I'm losing myself.

So hot, why am I here?

What am I, why am I here again, who is Draco, why does this sea of blood call me like this?

Nero's consciousness was gradually enveloped by darkness, and she felt her body slowly falling. This was her last sensation.

In her mind, as she slowly lost everything, only a strange name and a sentence kept repeating—

"Teacher, please, don't abandon me..."

066: I can't, I can't...

"Be careful, Novia, Nero she... is turning into a dragon!"

Melusine, who had been waiting in the spear for Novia to call her out, felt the strongest dragon perceive the immense magic surging from deep within this human's body. It was transforming into a dragon in a way she had never witnessed before, twisting the surrounding space with its magic.

Moreover, this wasn't a simple case of becoming a dragon due to extreme desire. It was a regression to some origin, some source, as if Nero herself was a dragon, and her previous human identity was merely a false image living in the world.

This wasn't a human transforming into a beast; on the contrary, it was a beast that had descended upon the human world in a form perfectly suited to this world, and this was its true nature.

"...I understand."

Novia understood perfectly that the dragon Melusine spoke of was undoubtedly the Beast of Sodom. Just being brushed by the ominous red magic she exuded made him feel as if his mind was about to be devoured.

Melusine and Novia both perceived it in an instant—it was as if the entire blood-red sea, tens of thousands of kilometers long, was staring at them.

With Melusine's magical support and his own learned magic, Novia achieved instantaneous movement that surpassed human reaction speed and arrived before Nero.

"Don't come near... me!"

Clutching her head with one hand and holding the Primal Fire with the other, Nero stumbled backward, waving her hand as Novia approached.

The way the girl held her sword now was laughable, a stark contrast to her demeanor on the battlefield. Despite this, she exuded an indescribable aura of danger, reminiscent of death. And the Primal Fire, in Novia's eyes, also erupted with the same ominous red magic.

"Nero, I don't understand why you think that, but I won't abandon you, and I won't let go."

Novia said in a calm tone.

"Hahaha, why, why won't you abandon me... What value do I have to you? Even without the throne, even if it wasn't me, you could easily find someone to replace me! Tell me! Tell me, what value do I have to you... I have no value in living..."

The golden-haired girl's voice trembled as she whispered intermittently, "I don't want to be abandoned... I... did nothing wrong... I will never forgive—I will—burn—the world—I will drag you into the mud and burn you to ashes..."

The frenzied golden-haired girl's pupils bloodshot. Her backward steps instantly turned into a rapid charge forward, raising the Primal Fire and swinging it down at Novia—

At this moment, Nero momentarily returned to her senses. She let go of the Primal Fire in her hand, and it fell to the ground.

"I can't, I can't... I don't want to kill you, I really don't. Teacher, please don't abandon me, okay? I'm very useful, I can do anything, I have great value, don't abandon me. Killing you, I... I really... can't do it... I was wrong, please don't be angry, okay..."

Words involuntarily poured out of her mouth. Nero cried, not with silent sobs, but with the wailing of a child. Her tears of blood never stopped. Her final words were murmured softly, as if her soul had left her. Novia, as if unfazed, washed away her emotions with a steady yet firm voice.

"I promise you, I will not abandon you."

Despite this, the girl continued to cry, even collapsing to her knees and curling into a ball, tears streaming down her face.

'Novia, Nero's transformation is irreversible. What happened just now could be considered a miracle, but it won't be long before she becomes like that again. By then, I'm afraid...'

'I know. Melusine, can you gather and delay the magic on Nero for a few days?'

Holding the still-crying Nero, Novia gently stroked her back to comfort her, communicating with Melusine telepathically.

'Yes, I can. Because this place, from its very beginning, had seven sources of magic specifically stored to deal with situations like this. As long as she doesn't resist, and I guide it a bit, it should be fine.'

Upon learning this, Novia wiped Nero's tears with her hand, then slid her hand across her face and said to her:

"Nero, you need to rest well now. I don't want the flames that have burned so fiercely to be extinguished here, understand?"

He spoke in a soothing tone, like a mother comforting a child, with words a true mother would never say, before gently standing up.

"...I'm very obedient... so... don't abandon me..."

As Nero quietly closed her eyes, Novia, following Melusine's telepathic guidance, activated his magic.

Instantly, the magic from the four directions swirled violently. At almost the same moment, on the seven hills on the eastern side of the Tiber River in the heart of Rome, with Quirinal Hill as the convergence point, Palatine Hill, Aventine Hill, Capitoline Hill, Viminal Hill, Esquiline Hill, and Caelian Hill.

The seven hills that had existed since its founding, the overwhelming 'radiance' of divine-era Aether left by Romulus Quirinus, a god made of man, the immensely grand light formed in that instant, and the void-like flower shadows that corresponded to it, extended towards Nero's location. Simultaneously, multiple layers of thunderbolts were woven around the area.

All of this happened in an instant. Before the people of Rome could even voice many questions, this fantastical scene had vanished.

"...Romulus."

Novia murmured, holding the unconscious Nero, and placed her on the bed.

Then, Melusine, who had manifested, asked.

"What should we do next? I really have no idea. Come to think of it, how did things end up like this...?"

Novia replied to Melusine:

"There's no need to discuss the cause of the problem; it's enough to solve it for now... Let's just do as the prophecy in that Book of Revelation says."

The silver-haired man's emotions were calm. In a short amount of time, he had already decided what needed to be done.

"If Nero is destined to become a beast that burns the world, then I, as her teacher, cannot stand idly by and let her flames harm innocent people. Moreover, this is something that started because of me, and I bear this responsibility..."

"Mhm, okay! I'll stay with you the whole time! Anyway, after everything is over, Novia, you can introduce me to Nero!"

067: Murder

The next day, the morning in Rome was so peaceful that it was as if the massive light and shadow and illusory flower shadows from yesterday were all a hallucination.

The people of Rome said this was because His Majesty the Emperor personally excavated the canal, bringing joy to the gods. For those who had learned magic, this undoubtedly indicated that the empire had preserved ancient mysteries through special methods.

However, inside the Imperial Palace of Rome where Nero resided, Novia was hunched over a desk, furiously writing something.

"Melusine, help me open the window and let some light in."

Upon hearing this, the silver-haired girl, who had been held in Novia's arms, jumped down and obeyed his command, opening the tightly shut window.

The bedroom, which was mainly red, was as quiet as if a funeral was being held. But as Melusine slowly opened the window, a dreamlike scene that made one want to exclaim in admiration unfolded before their eyes. The sky was filled with blue, a dreamlike vista where the blue seemed to stretch endlessly.

"Novia, Novia, what are you writing?"

Melusine was a bit confused. Ever since Novia brought Nero back to the palace yesterday, he hadn't done anything about the Book of Revelation as he'd said. Instead, he had stayed up all night writing something strange, claiming there was only one god.

Although she found it strange that Novia dared to say such a thing, as how could there be only one god? Melusine had been suppressing her urge to ask too many questions to avoid troubling Novia, but deep down, she still wanted to know what Novia was writing.