Chapter 16: War of Dragons (4)

The massive meteor revealed itself, breaking through the clouds.

In the eyes of the dragons who saw it, there was shock, terror, and despair.

"M-Mother?! What on earth is this?!"

"Mom?! Please calm down!!!"

"Good heavens..."

I've never used my power like this before, but they're making me do this.

"Mom! We were wrong!!! Please forgive us!!!"

"S-Sorry. Mom..."

"If something like that falls, the world will be destroyed! Everything will be smashed to pieces!!!"

The pressure from the giant meteor weighs down on the world. An enormous pressure pours down, so much that even the strong bodies of dragons can't move properly.

Even though the meteor hasn't properly fallen yet, a huge crater begins to form in the plain.

If it's like this just from the precursor, what will happen when that meteor falls?

Of course, this world would be destroyed.

"You underestimated me too much, so I'm just showing you what I can do."

"Mother?!"

"Of course, I don't intend to actually drop that meteor."

Because what I want is not the destruction of this world.

I'm just showing these foolish children a bit of my power.

I looked at the meteor that had fully revealed itself, dispersing the clouds.

A huge meteor burning red as it passes through the atmosphere. A meteor as large as a massive mountain.

If that falls, the crust will be overturned, the magma underground will boil, and the rocks and soil thrown up by the impact will become enormous dust covering the world.

But such destruction wasn't what I wanted.

I gathered magical power in my mouth and breathed it out with all my might.

A silver breath. The nature contained in it was... annihilation.

A breath of destruction that annihilates everything it touches.

A stream of silver, reminiscent of the Milky Way, directly hits the giant meteor.

"Mother's breath...?"

"There's no way such a breath could do anything to that meteor...!"

Despair was still in the children's eyes.

It looked no different from pouring a stream of water on a massive forest fire, so it's natural.

But.

Kuwoong!

As the breath hits the meteor, the situation completely changes.

The breath that touched the meteor pierces through it entirely as if stabbing soft tofu with chopsticks, then slowly spreads over the surface of the meteor.

The silver mist that annihilates everything it touches and returns it to magical power erodes the meteor.

In just a few dozen seconds. From the silver hole, numerous cracks spread out, and the huge meteor is dyed silver, shattering and scattering.

At the sight of the meteor disappearing without leaving a single fragment, the dragons couldn't make a sound.

"Have you forgotten who spread life in this world? Have you forgotten who gave you bodies? If I wanted to, I could destroy this world alone, but you just thought I would remain silent."

Fear settles in the children's eyes. Shock settles in. Dread settles in.

It's already too late. It can't be undone.

But, this was better.

"My children. Return your scales."

I spoke in a low voice.

"You failed to properly control your children. Failed to manage them. Until my patience ran out, you showed no results, and only caused trouble by exploiting loopholes in the rules."

I approached the children nearby.

Sylphid.

"You return to being wind."

"M-Mom!"

As I remove the silver scale from Sylphid's lower jaw, which can't move properly, Sylphid's body scatters into a gust of wind.

It wasn't death or annihilation.

Just because of losing the body, the self was dispersed.

Like with Ifrit, after some time, it will return to its original gale.

"Tethys."

"Uh, Mom..."

"You return to the sea."

"N-No!!"

Tethys shook her head as if not wanting to return, but it was already too late.

Didn't you fail to properly keep my words? Didn't I give you countless chances?

If you didn't want to return so badly, shouldn't you have managed your children well?

Tethys, whose silver scale under the jaw was removed, scattered into water.

When that water flows and flows to the sea, she will open her eyes again.

"Sagarmatha."

"Yes. Sorry, Mom."

"Return to where you should be."

Sagarmatha quietly accepted the punishment for his sins and handed over the silver scale without any resistance.

And so Sagarmatha's shining scales turned into dust and scattered.

The quiet forehead of the world will return to its original place.

"Yggdrasil."

"I'm sorry, Mom. We should have done better..."

"It's always too late for regret. Return to your original form as a tree."

I removed the scale from under Yggdrasil's jaw, and Yggdrasil's green scales changed into leaves of the same color and scattered.

When buds sprout again on the huge tree that is Yggdrasil's original form, leaves grow, and flowers bloom, it will awaken.

"Shamash."

"Uh, Mom..."

"Shamash."

"I-I'm sorry. I... I..."

"Shamash."

I called Shamash's name three times, and only then did Shamash offer the scale.

"I... really... I'm sorry..."

"This is punishment. Punishment for not properly managing your children."

"Mom..."

"And it's also punishment for me. Punishment for not properly managing you all. Punishment for taking away the bodies of precious children, even if we're not connected by blood."

I removed Shamash's silver scale, and Shamash disappeared into dazzling light.

And finally.

"Erebos."

"Mother."

The child like pitch-black darkness looked up at me.

"Do you have anything left to say?"

"I'm sorry. I was too foolish. I was too hasty."

"You shouldn't have apologized to me. You should have apologized to your children."

How must the children have felt, having to be sacrificed for the greed of the parent they trusted and followed?

Nevertheless, how must that child who followed the parent's orders have felt?

That's why I couldn't just leave Erebos alone.

Because he was smarter than the other children, because he was a good child who wanted family.

I couldn't just leave him alone.

"Return to darkness."

I should have paid more attention. No, could I have paid more attention than now? If I turned back time and did it again, could I have gotten a better result?

I don't know. I couldn't know.

I was just tired.

"I'll take back the scale."

I placed my hand on the scale under Erebos's jaw.

"Kuk!"

For a moment, there was an explosion of magical power in Erebos's silver scale.

"Erebos? What did you just do?"

"I'm sorry, Mother."

Perhaps because of the explosion, the silver scale under Erebos's jaw was split into two pieces.

"I'm truly sorry."

And then, Erebos instantly sank into the shadows and disappeared.

"Erebos? Erebos?!"

Even when I called the name again, Erebos didn't answer.

[Erebos! Appear!]

Even though I called with sincerity and magical power, Erebos didn't reveal himself.

Did he not want to have his scale taken away that badly?

How could he have been so greedy?

I just wanted to live peacefully with the other children.

Where did it go wrong? Was it from the beginning? Was it giving scales to the children? Or was it that those children wanted to share scales with other dinosaurs like I did?

I was just heartbroken.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Creation God Dragon is a unique belief of the Lizardmen, maintained by the belief that a huge silver dragon created this world, and that those who sin will be taken away by the Destruction God Dragon who pairs with the Creation God Dragon. It's a primitive faith.

Academics argue that the origin of this faith lies in primitive dragon worship, and they say that the age when numerous dragons ruled the earth in ancient times, the Age of Dragons, is the root of this faith.

For the primitive Lizardmen who became the inhabitants of the earth before humans, the existence of strong and fearsome dragons must have been truly god-like beings.

And in this Creation God Dragon faith, they mention the existence of a Destruction God Dragon that ends everything, saying that when this world becomes full of sin, the benevolent Creation God Dragon becomes disappointed with everything and becomes the Destruction God Dragon that destroys the world.

The Lizardmen say that the obsidian spear gifted by the Creation God Dragon is evidence of the Creation God Dragon's existence, and that due to the sins and anger of war that filled the age when numerous dragons existed, the Destruction God Dragon opened its eyes.

They claim that afterwards, the Destruction God Dragon destroyed most of the dragons that disappointed it, but the academic world doesn't accept such claims.

Among the causes pointed out for the end of the Age of Dragons, the most likely is destruction by a huge meteor. The claim is that countless dragons burned their own lives to stop a meteor large enough to destroy this world from falling.

This is claimed to be evidenced by the fact that the results of dating numerous dragon corpses excavated from dragon graves and the thick magical power layer created by the enormous magical power used to destroy the meteor were created at the same time, and it is currently accepted as the most likely theory.

- The Lizardmen's Faith. The Creation God Dragon.

And the Age of Dragons.