CHAPTER 428: CHAPTER 258: HOW DARE YOU! (2)

I’m not some savior! I have already saved a world from Tiamat’s grasp, why won’t it let me go? Why must it choose me!

Why!!!

Just thinking about this near-cursed ability.

Thinking about everything he had experienced while caught in this temporal curse.

Thinking about how he had been killed by Tiamat 1,432 times, until Tiamat could no longer kill him, and how he went from initially resisting to gradually becoming numb and indifferent, killing Tiamat 13,627 times...

Just thinking about all this, even Bahamut, who inherited the ’perfect’ divine traits of his elder brother Vorre, couldn’t help but feel genuine sorrow and anger.

Sorrow for the cycle of events that seemed unchangeable, like reincarnation.

Anger at the destiny and mission forcibly imposed upon him.

This led to him irrationally directing his anger towards the being that disturbed his eternal slumber on The Slaying King Star and roused him prematurely from his beautiful dream.

After all, in the numbing repetition of an apparently unchangeable curse, the illusory sleep was his only chance to catch his breath.

Looking at Tiamat, who knew nothing of this, Bahamut even felt a bit envious. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

At least no matter how many times he killed her, Tiamat always remained the one who dared to love and hate.

Unlike him, who, in this endless repetition, felt that he was becoming an entity so unfamiliar that even he would not recognize himself. An entity... that, in order to break this curse, began to waver in his principles and to resort to... any method, becoming a wretch that his past self would have loathed and despised.

I’m so tired...

Should I just let Tiamat kill me once?

That way, he could rest for a while in that imprisoned slumber.

Sloth...

No, how could I have such a slothful idea?

Bahamut suddenly became alert, raising his claw to touch his somewhat stinging eyelids.

There lay a wound that even the life force of a Dragon God had not healed to date. A wound slashed by David’s incomplete god-slaying sword.

That Red Dragon, what kind of ability does he have? It seems to be the first time I’ve encountered it...?

He seems to be called... David Uthos?

No, in the starry sky of Toriel, I seem to have seen him once before? Was it him? Was it he who created the opportunity for me to break free ahead of time?

Bahamut quickly realized something was wrong with his own condition.

It was as if... he had been afflicted by another ’curse’.

Yet this curse instilled in him, the King of the North Wind, a sense of Pride, and filled him with Wrath.

He actually found himself envying Tiamat’s ’ignorance,’ and, in despair, thought of giving up and just letting it all go?

But his thought processes, numbed by countless cycles of repetition, were slightly stimulated by this array of ’negative’ emotions.

Yes, how long had it been since he had felt such clear emotions arising from within?

He could distinctly feel the long-missed sensation of hunger.

He also regained the desire to change his current situation and the future.

Even... looking at Tiamat charging straight towards him, observing Her beautifully curved draconic figure, he sensed a swelling feeling within his cloaca...

Lust...

Damn it! She is my sister!

My soul has been tainted by that damned Red Dragon by some unknown means!

Wrath!

Wait!

Wait, wait, wait!

As Bahamut’s previously numb thoughts began to whirl with unprecedented frenzy under the influence of the ’Seven Sins,’ he was unaware that emotions can be contagious. Especially for Tiamat, the emotionally expressive Mother of Evil Dragons.

The fleeting ’Lust’ in Bahamut’s eyes was also captured by Her.

What does that mean?

This caused Tiamat, who was continuously spewing an array of Dragon Breath with all her might, to have her five heads freeze and momentarily stall.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

This utterly disgusting creature, daring to look at me with such blasphemous eyes!

How dare he!!!

Then, completely ignited by Bahamut’s fury, she roared, "Hypocrite! Accept my wrath, and then... Die—!!!!!"

The soaring Chromatic Dragon Mother in the sky once again charged at Bahamut with all her might.

This time, she attacked with such full force that the power of the ’Seed of Chaos,’ brought from another world, condensed in Tiamat’s striking claws into a vortex that twisted both reality and the void, as if to devour the world itself.

The sudden appearance of this chaotic force even caused the neighboring Abyssal Depths and the Grey Wilderness of Hades to react drastically.

The Will of the Abyss sensed this foreign yet kindred power! It revealed a longing for Tiamat, the ’Traveler’!

Facing Tiamat, who went all out from the start, even Bahamut was shocked. This was completely different from their countless previous duels!

But facing Tiamat’s direct use of the primal force of chaos, he couldn’t use Teleportation, nor could he dodge! He had no choice but to meet force with force!

But who knew what this would bring? The Grey Wilderness itself might completely collapse. Yet, he had finally sensed an opportunity for change in this very moment... Such regret.

Bahamut, the King of the North Wind, at this moment, managed to restrain his innate Pride, bowed his noble head, and shouted to the charging Tiamat, "My sister Tiamat! I was wrong!! Spare this dragon!!!"

"...Huh?" The corners of Tiamat’s five mouths gaped simultaneously.

The mighty King of the North Wind, my eternal nemesis with whom I’ve fought countless life-and-death battles, actually... admitted he was wrong and submitted to me?

The sight even made the baffled Tiamat wonder if she was dreaming. Her instincts urged her to raise a claw and give her foe a chance to repent.

But it was like an intercontinental ballistic missile from Blue Star, armed with a nuclear warhead, already launched and about to hit its target. At such high speeds, it was impossible to stop!

And Bahamut, facing Tiamat’s silence, could only assume she had no intention of negotiating with him. With a sigh, Bahamut lifted his head once more. He had no choice but to stomp his foot and charge forward, much like that Demigod from Mesopotamia who had challenged the Goddess of Chaos.

Towards Tiamat he surged, with all his might.

"Sorry, this time, I absolutely can’t die..." he murmured.

"...Tiamat! My... sister..."

"If there’s a chance, in our... next life..."

"Goodbye!"

"Farewell..."

In the next moment, the two fully committed Dragon Gods, one red and one silver, fatefully collided.

[Sea of Chaos—Drown the Earth]

—Tiamat

[The World’s Creation—Platinum Star]

—Bahamut

A dazzling light, like a singularity exploding, erupted. Light flooded the Grey Wilderness of Hades.

Then, the very foundation of this world utterly collapsed.