Chương 6: The Worst Night

A single sentence from Maddie snapped Hale completely awake. He stammered:"Elias... As in that Sword Master Elias you mentioned earlier?"

"The very same. I poisoned him while rescuing you from the battlefield. That poison requires my blood to concoct an antidote, so he should be hovering between life and death right now. We need to seize this opportunity and end him."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Absolutely not." Hale patted his thin, sweat-slicked chest.

"Look at me. What kind of state am I in to go killing anyone?" Maddie remained entirely unyielding.

"You don't have to do a thing, Master. I will handle it. You only need to bear witness." Before he could protest, she threw a large cloak over his shoulders, scooped him up, and leapt straight out the window. The dragon maid's massive wings unfurled, lifting them both high into the air. Hale almost shrieked, but he quickly realized that waking up half the neighborhood in this situation was a terrible idea, so he clamped his hand over his mouth.

That was also when it finally registered: he was being carried princess-style by a dragon girl. To an outsider, the sight probably lacked any kind of dignity, but honestly, being chauffeured around like this was surprisingly comfortable. Hale still tried his best to reason with her.

"Hey, didn't we come here to hide? If we launch a proactive attack now, aren't we just giving away our position?"

"If Elias is dead, we won't need to hide anymore."

"But it's too dangerous! I don't want you getting hurt. Elias is incredibly strong, isn't he?"

"It is true that he can nullify almost any magic, but I am a Dragonborn. If we are talking pure physical strength, I will not lose to him." Hale wasn't buying it. The crimson-haired youth from his dream earlier was almost certainly Elias. If that was the case, then aside from his magic immunity, the guy possessed monstrous physical strength and unparalleled swordsmanship. A powerful villain like "Hale Wallace" had been bested by him; how could Maddie, who was just a subordinate, expect to win?

"Look, I just don't want you putting yourself in danger for my sake. Can we please just go back?" Maddie didn't answer. Instead, she began her descent. It was only then that Hale realized they were touching down on the apex of the ruined castle in the city center. Maddie looked him dead in the eye, her voice firm.

"Master, you may have lost your memory, but I cannot forget. Elias is the one who severed your right arm. That scars across your face and chest? He caused that too. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill him." Hale was struck dumb, utterly clueless as to how he could explain his current situation to her. He was simply reacting on the instincts of someone from a civilized era; he just couldn't stomach the idea of watching a premeditated murder happen right in front of him without trying to stop it.

Seeing that he had no answer, Maddie unfurled her great draconic wings once more and took off into the night. Hale was left stranded on a jagged pile of rubble, with the nearest safe foothold sitting more than three meters below him. Left with no alternative, he sat down on the hard stone, burying himself deep inside his cloak to ward off the biting night chill. Only now did he have a moment to process the nightmare from earlier. That had to be the final battle between "Hale Wallace" and Sword Master Elias Leasser.

He could only recall fractured images now, but the emotions felt distinct and raw. He couldn't tell if those feelings were lingering residues left behind by this body, or his own emotions from immersing himself in the dream. But what surprised him most was that the dream harbored no resentment, no hatred, and no burning desire for victory. The "Hale Wallace" in that memory had simply wanted to give up. This story originates from a different website.

Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. If he wanted to throw in the towel, why did he even start this war in the first place? Another detail surfaced: Elias had mentioned the name Emma in the dream. This meant Emma was definitely a mutual acquaintance of both "Hale Wallace" and Elias. How did those two even know each other? Hale tried to recall Maddie's summary. They had met at the military academy, right?

As his thoughts drifted, a system notification suddenly materialized before his eyes. Notification The Host has permitted a subordinate to inflict harm upon an innocent civilians. Penalty: +10 Karma Right on cue, a thunderous explosion boomed not too far away. In the dead of the silent night, a pillar of fire erupted from the Leasser estate in Raveno. A rapid succession of fireballs followed, hurtling violently into the stone walls. Panic-stricken screams seemed to echo and magnify in the quiet air.

Hale bolted upright like a coiled spring. Is that Maddie?! He narrowed his eyes, tracking the distant clash, but from his vantage point, he could only catch flashes of fireballs and whips of flame illuminating the dark. Before he could even process a move, several more identical notifications popped up in a row, practically spamming his vision. He hadn't even managed to shave off a single Karma point yet, and here already a whole new heap had been added.

"Why the hell am I getting penalized?! It's not like I could do anything to stop her!" Hale yelled furiously into the empty air. Still, at the moment, he couldn't actually feel any physical detriment from the rising Karma score, so his anger was mostly just pure annoyance at being punished for someone else's antics. Within seconds, the tide of the battle across town shifted. The incoming fireballs looked as though they were being sliced cleanly in half mid-air.

The panicked screams gradually gave way to ecstatic cheers. Hale could see the clash visibly migrating away from its origin point. Moments later, he spotted Maddie's wings heading back in his direction, with a lone silhouette leaping seamlessly from rooftop to rooftop right behind her. It was Elias. He was intentionally drawing Maddie away from the civilian residential areas to fight in an uninhabited zone—this collapsed castle. What a stand-up guy, Hale thought to himself.

But if they're going to throw down right here, where the hell am I supposed to hide? As the battle drew closer, Hale realized that despite her ability to fly, Maddie wasn't holding any advantage over Elias whatsoever. Her flames couldn't lay a finger on him, and her close-quarters strikes were yielding little to no results. Illuminated by the flashes of fire, Hale noticed that Maddie's tail had fully emerged. Both her hands and feet had transformed entirely into draconic talons.

She was just a hair's breadth away from undergoing a complete dragonification. Hale suddenly remembered Ryan's warning from that afternoon: once a dragonborn fully turns into a dragon, they might never be able to become human again.

"Maddie, stop!" Hale screamed, but he was too far away. Fully locked into the life-or-death duel, Maddie couldn't hear a thing. Hale clenched his lone fist. Maddie was the very first person he had met in this world; he couldn't bear the thought of losing her. But what could he possibly do? Hale opened his stats panel again, scrolling through it at lightning speed. Then, one particular skill caught his eye. [Sky Walk] Since it's called a 'walk,' that means it uses feet, not hands, right?

With no time to overthink, Hale channeled the same sensation he had utilized to manifest the fireball. Only this time, he attempted to connect with the atmospheric energy through his feet. It worked. Hale felt a sudden surge of pressure beneath his soles lifting him upward. But that was also the exact moment he realized he had absolutely zero balance. He needed both hands to stabilize his posture and steer himself accurately through the air.

But it was too late to abort; the wind beneath his feet had already coalesced into a violent thrust. Left with no other option, he could only let the propulsion hurl him diagonally upward, rocketing straight toward Maddie.

"Catch me!" Hale shrieked, desperately trying to avoid free-falling to his death. Both Maddie and Elias were caught completely off guard by his sudden airborne intrusion. Elias's descending blade froze mid-air, forcing him to abort his momentum and drop onto a nearby roof. Maddie beat her wings, catching Hale perfectly out of mid-air before carrying him back down to the safety of the ruined castle floors. Hale's head was spinning so violently he could barely stand.

He was reasonably certain he had just burned through every last drop of his remaining Mana. Maddie's voice flared, a volatile mix of anger and sheer panic.

"What on earth do you think you were doing?!" Hale grabbed her shoulder to steady his wobbling footing, snapping back, "Stopping you, what does it look like?!"

"I was on the verge of killing him!"

"No, you weren't! You were on the verge of turning into a full-blown dragon!"

"So what?! Turning into a dragon would have made me stronger—" Hale roared, cutting her off entirely, "But then I would lose you! You're the only person I have left by my side! If you turn into a mindless dragon and fly away, how the hell am I supposed to survive in this place?!"