WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 404: Episode 77: The Last Dragon (1)

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Metatron stared at the ruined conference hall. The Demon Kings and Archangels who had been clutching weapons only moments ago now lay sprawled across the ground.

The fables of good and evil scattered apart.

The effects of the chaos score crossing its critical point were encroaching even into the gray sphere.

One of the angels still conscious reached for him.

[Scribe...]

Crunch!

Michael's heel crushed the angel's head. After kicking aside the dead angel, Michael pulled out the child-sized Archangel he had concealed in his clothes.

The unconscious Archangel dangled from Michael's grip.

[Should I kill Raphael too? It seems a little wasteful to kill him like this...]

[You may leave him alive if you wish. We've completely filled the chaos score.]

[Then what about that Demon King?]

Metatron looked toward the edge of the sphere, where a fierce battle still raged.

Agares stood there, his entire body in tatters.

Asmodeus and the Seekers of the End were launching a combined assault, yet Demon King Agares still hadn't fallen. Fables streamed from his body, and demon-like resentment was carved into his eyes.

Even in the midst of that intense battle, Agares still had cigarettes in his mouth. Not just one, either, but several.

[The stigma A Stick of Strength Lv.??? is active.]

[The stigma A Stick of Agility Lv.??? is active.]

[The stigma A Stick of Mana Lv.??? is active.]

It was Agares's Stigma, [All-Purpose Cigarettes].

It was Agares's specialty as a longtime chain-smoker, a unique Stigma containing a fable that overclocked the performance of his Incarnation body.

Watching Agares withstand the combined attacks of five or six Demon Kings, Asmodeus said,

[As expected, the reputation of the Ruler of Hell's East isn't unfounded. But how long can you keep this up?]

Instead of answering, Agares took out another cigarette and lit it.

Metatron and Michael walked toward him across the cleared battlefield.

Agares said,

[Metatron. Think again. You can't preserve good and evil this way. What meaning is there in being remembered after everyone has been exterminated?]

[If we are remembered, perhaps we can rise again someday.]

[Resurrected? Like that damned fallen angel?]

Michael frowned.

[The demon king King of Fallen Angels has unleashed his Status!]

Agares was driven back as fables poured from his body beneath Michael's storm-like Status.

Still, his gaze remained fixed on Metatron.

[What good is it to survive like that? That isn't us. Even if we return, we won't be Metatron or Agares. We'll only be the Scribe of heaven and the Ruler of Hell's East!]

[That is who we are, Ruler of Hell's East.]

Ancient fables flowed behind Metatron.

They were the fables he had read, lived, and believed in.

[The oldest good smiles.]

The Scribe of heaven. The one who recorded the good of this world.

The being who decided what good was and became its standard.

As Agares looked at his longtime enemy, he too felt the fables drifting calmly around him.

[The oldest evil tilts its head.]

It was the long history of evil he had followed.

A history of resisting good, being excluded, and being punished.

At that moment, Agares felt thousands of years of his life condense into a single comma.

This current would never end.

As long as the Ruler of Hell's East lived and the Scribe of heaven existed. As long as they fought each other and repeated their wars.

Even if Metatron and Agares died, someone else would become the Scribe of heaven and the Ruler of Hell's East.

[If that's good and evil...]

Ptui.

Agares spat a gob of phlegm onto the floor and smiled bitterly.

[Then I'll stop being evil.]

The cigarette at his fingertips shot into the air.

It spun through the air, trailing smoke behind it.

Asmodeus shouted,

[Stop him!]

Swirling smoke wrapped around Agares's entire body.

[The stigma A Stick of Cowardice Lv.??? has activated!]

Pale smoke exploded as attacks poured in.

When the smoke cleared, only a single cigarette rolling across the ground remained. The Seekers of the End retrieved their weapons dejectedly.

Metatron looked down at the cigarette on the floor. Acrid smoke rose from its still-burning tip and drifted through the air.

His rival had left, and now good remained alone.

Was this loneliness, or a sense of liberation? Metatron didn't know.

Someone stepped on a discarded cigarette butt and extinguished it.

[The oldest evil takes notice of a new evil.]

When Metatron looked up, Asmodeus was smiling coyly.

[What a shame. I was planning to take Agares's Wall for myself.]

Metatron looked at Asmodeus and said,

[You will have it soon.]

In any case, their intended goal had been achieved.

[Current chaos score: 100]

The chaos score was full, and the Apocalypse Dragon had entered its resurrection sequence.

Destruction would soon begin.

[The conference hall is collapsing.]

As the gray sphere surrounding the conference hall gradually crumbled, the bodies of Archangels began falling toward the ground.

Perhaps delighted by the sight, Asmodeus asked,

[But is this really all right?]

Metatron remained silent. The time for discussing whether something was right or not had passed long ago.

Looking at the falling angels, Metatron gave the most textbook answer.

[Everything is the will of good. To reach the most ideal ■■.]

■■.

The wish of every Constellation, and the place where the stories of the stars end.

Asmodeus said,

[■■... It seems Constellations who pursue such things all become alike in the end. You truly resemble someone I know, though the two of you have completely opposite alignments.]

Just as Metatron was about to ask who it was, he heard a dragon's howl tear through the sky.

Graaaaaah!

At least several thousand dragons darted through the sky, locked in fierce combat. Explosions rang out without pause. Dragons with torn wings fell to the ground.

It wasn't the sight Metatron had expected.

The Apocalypse Dragon still hadn't resurrected?

[Why are you so surprised? We aren't the only ones pursuing ■■.]

Asmodeus smiled down at the man looking up at them from the ground.

* * *

[The constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon roars!]

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was strong.

He tore dozens of dragons filling the sky apart in an instant as he soared higher, displaying his presence with overwhelmingly domineering Status.

He truly was one of the strongest Constellations in TWSA.

Excited to see her Patron in action, Han Suyeong waved her bandages and shouted,

"I'm proud of you for once, Black Flame Dragon! Kill them all!"

"Go, Chimera Dragon!"

Shin Yuseong clasped her hands together and stared desperately at the sky.

[The presence of Abyssal Black Flame Dragon is growing stronger!]

[The presence of Chimera Dragon is growing stronger!]

Each time Abyssal Black Flame Dragon and Chimera Dragon defeated another dragon, their standing rose as well.

As I watched that glorious battle, even my own heart felt like it was pounding wildly.

I looked at the dragons, then signaled to Junghyeok.

"Got it."

Receiving my signal, Junghyeok moved with my companions.

His task was to contact the surrounding nebulae before the Apocalypse Dragon began moving.

I had work to do as well.

As I watched the dragons in the air one by one, I thought that this wasn't the first time the Apocalypse Dragon had resurrected.

The Apocalypse Dragon from last time was probably among those dragons.

[A few members of the Dragon King species have recognized your existence.]

"This is bad."

Booooom!

I instinctively activated [Electrification] and blocked the Breath. A few members of the Dragon King species glared at me, tilted their heads, then flew away again.

As if they had seen something strange.

What was wrong with them? I wasn't even a dragon.

Then a message appeared.

[You may participate in the Dragon Festival.]

What?

[Would you like to participate in the Dragon Festival?]

The sudden message left me dumbfounded.

No, I might be a Constellation, but I wasn't a dragon. Why was I getting a message like this?

"Why aren't you participating?"

When had they approached? A voice came from right beside me.

I turned toward it without lowering my guard.

A beautiful human of unknown gender stood there. Their bright red hair glowed brilliantly. I couldn't sense any powerful Status from them, but their appearance carried a mysterious air.

A Reincarnator?

That was possible. A very few powerful figures hid their strength on this Island, like One-Punch Invincible Yoo Hoseong.

"I asked why you aren't participating."

"I don't know what you mean, but I'm not qualified."

"Why not? Don't you have a dragon's heart as well?"

Only then did I realize it.

[The Fable Fragment Broken Heart of a Young Gold Dragon stirs!]

Come to think of it, my heart belonged to a Gold Dragon.

It was the Fable Fragment I had once absorbed at the Horizon of the story.

[The Fable Fragment Broken Heart of a Young Gold Dragon wishes to participate in the Dragon Festival.]

I'd wondered why my heart had been beating so violently. Was this why?

The Reincarnator asked,

"If you are truly a dragon, you should be furious at this situation."

"What situation?"

"The situation where great dragons are used as nothing more than material for a Scenario."

My wildly beating heart seemed to cool, very slowly.

The Reincarnator continued.

"Good and evil, communication, reincarnation... Within the great themes of the Star Stream, dragons have been used without end. If you are a dragon as well, participate in the festival. Become the Last Dragon that will enact the apocalypse, contribute to the world's destruction, and witness the end of the Scenario that deprived you of your existence."

I studied the Reincarnator closely.

Good and evil, communication, reincarnation... A Reincarnator who had lived a very long time could have experienced all of those themes of the Star Stream.

If they had truly lived for a very, very long time.

After thinking for a moment, I said,

"Not every story in the Scenarios is filled only with unhappiness. There are things we can discover because the Scenarios exist. You might not know because you've only been on the Island of Reincarnators, but the Scenarios are definitely changing."

I hated myself for saying it, though half of it was sincere.

In the distance, I saw Junghyeok and my companions meeting with the Constellations.

The Reincarnator looked at the same sight and said,

"Changing? How have the Scenarios changed? Can dragons and monsters become the protagonists of fables now?"

"Fables like that already exist."

"But they aren't popular, are they?"

"Some popular fables exist too. They existed in the past as well. You know that. “Song of the Nibelungs,” or “Legend of Saint George”..."

"Dragons weren't the protagonists of those stories."

A few dragons lost their way in the air, collided, and fell.

The Reincarnator continued.

"Dragons were always beings to be hunted. Called the source of all evil, they were shabby villains who kidnapped human princesses or gathered gold and such. Thinking about it now, it's absurd. Why would dragons care about gold or females of other species?"

"Those aren't the only stories. There are many Scenarios where dragons come to the human world, play prominent roles, and enjoy themselves. For example..."

"'A dragon polymorphed into a beautiful human.' Do you really think that's a pure dragon?"

I couldn't say anything.

The Reincarnator said,

"Even tens of thousands of years ago, the way dragons were used had always been the same. In the end, those stories were Scenarios for other species, for Constellations."

With every word, an unusual Status seeped into the Reincarnator's voice.

"There wasn't a single Scenario that treated dragons as dragons. Dragons were always consumed, defined, and made into targets to conquer in the Scenarios. It probably isn't much different now."

Breathing was gradually becoming difficult. The air around me was changing.

Status strong enough to bind even me, a fabled-grade Constellation.

Black Flame Dragon, roaring in the sky, was flying toward us.

Looking at Black Flame Dragon, I said,

"I'll change that."

"You? How?"

"I'll make sure dragons never become unhappy again."

[The constellation Secretive Plotter is looking at you.]

The gazes of the stars were gathering.

[The overwhelming majority of Constellations are looking at you.]

[Many Constellations are shocked by what they see beside you!]

The Reincarnator looked at me with expressionless eyes.

"Interesting."

The Reincarnator's appearance began to change.

Polymorph.

A spell favored by dragons that enjoyed amusement.

"Even tens of thousands of years ago, a dokkaebi made me a similar offer. The dokkaebi said they would create a world where dragons could become the masters of the Scenarios."

My vision went dark. My five senses wouldn't obey me. My dimming vision shook wildly, and fables streamed from my nose.

Yuseong, who had been cheering, collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Suyeong was bleeding from her mouth and nose as she looked at me. Through the ringing that felt ready to burst my eardrums, I heard Suyeong's message.

-Kim, Dokja, what's, happening...?

My hands and feet trembled violently.

Sitting on the ground, I struggled to lift my head.

Could something like this truly be called Status?

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire tells you to run!]

[The constellation Queen of the Darkest Spring looks at you with an urgent expression!]

[The constellation Father of the Rich Night...!]

Distant draconic language flooded into my ears.

[The dokkaebi who deceived me became the Dokkaebi King.]

The sun vanished, and the world was covered by someone's shadow.

The dragon of the end. The Final Dragon of the Apocalypse had finally spread its wings of calamity.

Footnotes:

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