Ch-192. ***I Am the Legion***
—
At last, the one who had broken free of the cocoon and stepped out into the world reached enlightenment.
She awakened reason, ascended to the rank befitting a Dragon God, and became a far more complete existence.
However, everything comes with a price.
The Karma of the Dragon God forcibly imposed the obligation of a *Guardian* upon her — thrust the duty onto her shoulders.
Since she had accepted it, she was to protect this Earth.
That, they told her, was her *destiny*.
*I am the Queen of the Bloodspawns.*
But the Blade Queen resisted that so-called destiny.
Before becoming a Dragon God, she was the one and only queen of the Bloodspawn.
Their monarch — the one who would lead them.
*The name my Primordial God bestowed upon me is Hana. It means the beginning of all things. It means the one and only.*
…Hana.
The number that stands at the beginning of everything.
Primordial God Randolph surely had a reason when he named her “Hana.”
The Blade Queen pursued that meaning — that truth — and before long, she reached her realization.
*I am the Legion.*
She *was* the legion, and the legion *was* her.
She was the all and the one — the one and only existence.
The Karma of the Dragon God could not diminish the authority she originally possessed.
If anything, it merely served to remind her of her rightful qualification.
As she awakened, the Bloodspawns began to change as well.
—Glory to Lord Hana!
—Evolve! Become worthy of our sovereign!
—We are the one and we are the all!
—Connect! Fuse our consciousness — let everything become one!
—Transcend! Break the limit and go beyond!
Rapidly.
At a speed impossible through nature alone, the Bloodspawns transformed — both body and mind.
Watching her legion change, the Blade Queen Hana finally knelt before her Primordial God.
“I shall punish the ignorant who dare oppose my Primordial God, and return.”
Even without words, she could feel His will.
Primordial God Randolph.
She and her legion acknowledged *only* Randolph as God.
His enemy was the legion’s enemy.
And so she marched to the battlefield alone.
To hold Issera at bay until the legion’s evolution was complete.
*So this is my first enemy.*
The Blade Queen was truly disappointed.
Issera too commanded a legion.
But his legion was nothing more than disposable tools.
He called it a legion — but it was not a legion.
It was nothing more than scarecrows born of a ruler’s ignorance.
Even if one collects a pile of scarecrows, one never calls them a “legion.”
—Evolution complete!
—Grant us permission to deploy!
—More materials!
—Better genes!
The Bloodspawns craved evolution.
They sought stronger genes — to be reborn as higher beings.
Thus the Blade Queen granted her legion permission to march.
“I am the Legion.”
And she would show these scarecrows the true meaning of a *legion*.
—
—
The Seventh Demon Lord Basara quietly gazed at empty space.
The completed Dragon Vein had vanished from sight — but just moments before, she had witnessed the “Dragon God” emerging from it.
“Hm. A peculiar one, aren’t you?”
A new Dragon God.
One clearly different from every Dragon God she had ever seen.
A truly strange sensation.
She couldn’t define it at all.
For Basara, that fact alone was monumental.
*A being I cannot define?*
Had such a thing ever existed?
It wasn’t overwhelming power that made her shudder.
Nor did it seem weak.
Yet she felt — she would not be able to win.
There was an instinctive repulsion emanating from that “Dragon God.”
…Yes. Repulsion.
More accurately, *disgust*.
Like how a human recoils and flees at the sight of an insect.
A human is not weaker than an insect, yet it is the disgust that makes them avoid it.
To Basara, that “Dragon God” was that kind of presence.
Something she absolutely did not want to confront.
*Is that the Dragon God Wilhelm created?*
If so, then he truly made something bizarre.
Among all Dragon Gods to ever exist, that one was undeniably the most unusual.
It surely possessed the strangest nature — and the strangest weakness.
*The Dragon God has appeared, yet Wilhelm’s true body has not. That must be related to the weakness of the Dragon God.*
Though she couldn’t witness Wilhelm’s true body, the discovery was by no means insignificant.
Basara had read everything.
The Dragon God and Wilhelm’s body concealed within the Dragon Vein — the two were bound by an immense fate.
Would her younger brother Issera realize this?
Should she warn him before it was too late?
Basara smiled.
“Little brother… if you’re not careful, you’ll die again.”
…If he failed to discover it for himself, then he could only die once more.
—
—
A Dragon God is a solitary existence.
A lone guardian who protects the world.
They do not bear anyone upon their shoulders, nor do they possess a legion.
Perfect neutrality.
They must devote themselves solely to the world.
*That is supposed to be a Dragon God?*
Issera could not shake his doubt.
The newly born Dragon God of Blades possessed her own legion.
The Bloodspawns.
That accursed race.
*But… could the Bloodspawns fly?*
The most famous monster of the Bloodspawn was the Desert Queen, ruler of Faisalmer.
That monster had ruled the city for ages, shedding its skin again and again.
As far as Isera knew, the Bloodspawn had wing-like structures — but they could not fly.
Those “wings” were more like giant mouths than anything else.
And yet the Bloodspawns before him altered the shape of those “giant mouths” to take to the sky.
Even their bodies were subtly changed.
Optimized — as though made lighter — for perfect flight.
*…So that’s the weakness!*
Ah.
Only then did Issera realize.
The weakness of that Blade Dragon God.
It was that “legion.”
She called herself the legion, and no Dragon God had ever possessed one.
That was absolute proof that the legion itself was her weakness.
*If I kill them all, she’ll die too.*
As soon as the realization struck, a smile formed on Issera’s lips.
Finally beginning to struggle, she must have revealed her weakness.
“Agnis. Annihilate those insects.”
Agnis, the Spirit King of Fire.
The absolute sovereign of the Spirit Realm, Issera’s spear that pierced everything.
Even though his power was greatly diminished in the Middle Realm, he was still strong enough to topple the Dragon God Lucaria.
Issera had sacrificed so much to form a contract with Agnis.
Those filthy Bloodspawns would be obliterated instantly—
“Agnis… why are you not moving?”
Despite the command, Agnis only stood there, arms crossed.
Frowning, Issera questioned him — but he remained unresponsive.
His gaze was fixed on one single place.
*Reaper.*
It was Death.
A being who manipulated warp at will.
The one who must have severed their portal.
Agnis stared at that Reaper — like he could bore a hole through him.
*…Unbelievable.*
His spear no longer obeyed him.
Since their contract, nothing like this had ever happened.
What in the world *was* that Reaper?
Family reunited after ages apart?
Impossible — spirits do not have family.
“Tch.”
Issera clicked his tongue and shook his head.
It didn’t matter.
Even without Agnis, he could crush Bloodspawns beneath his *legion.*
No matter how many they were and how tightly they clustered, they were still Bloodspawns.
Cursed, pathetically weak creatures — inferior lifeforms born without origin.
Demons, on the other hand—
Demons were born of Mana and existed solely to serve the Demon King. They were a legion.
Until now he had been unable to focus, forced to deal with the Dragon God Lucaria and that damned woman — but when it came to legion-versus-legion combat, there was nothing Issera excelled at more.
“Legion — annihilate those insects.”
He would sweep them away without mercy.
—
—
I quietly looked around the Dragon Vein.
Hana — fully realized as a Dragon God.
She had already marched into battle with her blood-bound kin.
*The weakness of the Dragon God… to think that it would be me.*
Hana’s weakness was none other than myself.
I slowly recalled the trait of the Dragon God.
> **“Dragon God – The Devoted: Can only be damaged while Randolph is being attacked. Immune to all other forms of harm.”**
It didn’t mean she shared pain with me.
It meant literally: only while *I* was under attack could Hana be harmed.
*In other words, as long as I remain hidden here, Hana is invincible.*
A completed Dragon Vein does not reveal itself.
It takes numerous procedures to even enter it.
Unless Issera targeted this Dragon Vein directly, Hana would remain untouchable so long as I was here.
And I began to wonder—
Would Issera manage to discover Hana’s weakness?
*If it were Basara, that monstrous instinct of hers would have uncovered it.*
Had the opponent been Basara, we might have already been discovered.
Her danger-sensing ability was, in some respects, even more extraordinary than the White King.
That miraculous ability to dismantle anything before her — utterly unrivaled.
What Basara dismantled and absorbed as her own was not just techniques.
Basara could turn everything of her opponent into her own.
But Issera was different.
…Therefore, Issera could not defeat Hana.
Never.
—
—
Issera felt like he was dreaming.
It all had to be a lie.
*Those things… those are not normal Bloodspawns.*
A confident battle — legion against legion.
But the war did not unfold as he imagined.
Because the Bloodspawns flying in the sky suddenly began to explode.
Bang! Bang! BOOOOM!
Touching contact triggered detonation — blood rained down.
And the rain of blood possessed a monstrous acidity, melting demon flesh and skin on contact.
There was no way to block it.
For that was a true suicide attack — one paid with life.
They burst themselves to inflict damage on the enemy.
And the damage transferred directly to Issera.
*At this rate… this is dangerous.*
His instincts screamed.
That was true danger.
Attacks born of self-mutilation were not true suicide.
True suicide was sacrifice.
These creatures — they willingly offered all life.
That alone could inflict fatal wounds on Issera.
A forced detonation by command should have meant nothing.
It shouldn’t have worked.
Or so he thought.
Sssssss—
But when the Bloodspawn’s blood touched his skin, it burned through him, leaving a wound that would not heal.
Even Myrion’s regenerative ability did not activate.
Issera reeled in horror.
*What… what am I supposed to do?*
He could not run.
The surroundings were sealed, and he could not open warp.
His body trembled faintly.
That mutated Dragon God was unlike any Dragon God he had ever met.
*I am the legion.*
That phrase.
It meant the Dragon God *herself* **was** the legion.
The one and the all — the all and the one.
That was why a Dragon God — who should never possess a legion — could possess one.
Only now did Issera understand that meaning, and his pupils shook violently.
*If this continues… I’ll die!*
…If this continued, the only end awaiting him was death.
