Chapter 196:
[Darkness. Were you there?]
The first to recognize Ventasis' presence was fellow deity Poma.
He's been gone since day one, but he's surprised to see Ventasis here, who hasn't been seen in spirit.
[Have you been here all along? I didn't think you were interested in gold.]
[Gold means nothing to me, for all I seek are spirits to claim my rights.]
[]
Ventasis, God of Darkness and Vengeance divinity was unlike any other, granting mercy, love, and compassion.
He was a deity who could be considered evil if he treaded on the wrong foot, a shadowy presence in the world whose concept of darkness is the antithesis of light.
He does not sing of chivalry and justice. He affirms the dark side of mortals and the vengeance of blood.
As such, he is a somewhat marginalized deity in the pantheon. However, his following is steady.
[Karina Dragonia, you swore vengeance and promised me the reward I deserved. Since you borrowed my power to achieve it, it is time to pay the price.]
All manner of dark emotions flocked to the one who seemed to embody the darkness of the world.
Violence, murder, and injustice. Many avengers swear vengeance on the dark god, and gain the power they need to do so.
[You owe me.]
Two hundred years ago, after losing their home to demons, the Archduke of Dragonia and his legions swore vengeance on the Dark One.
It was an oath so soul-destroying that not even the Lionheart King could dissuade them from it, and they pursued their enemies into the Otherworld to exact their revenge.
Now the time has come to pay the price, the Dark One said.
[But, Darkness, the last Northern soldier to die, let alone Archduke Karina, was well over a hundred years ago.]
Souls not favored by the gods wander the netherworlds, reincarnating over and over again. For the past two hundred years, the gods have not accepted any new souls.
Only recently have they gained faith on Earth, recreating the system of Paradise. This other world is beyond their reach.
Even if Ventasis were to come and retrieve them, their souls would be long since scattered.
In the end, the only person Ventasis can claim an old debt from is Karina, who is still alive
"Dark God, as you already know, the mortgaged souls are still in my hands."
At those words, Poma's tortoise eyes turned to Karina. He muttered something about how it couldn't be, but she walked past the mountain of gold and silver treasures without a word.
As Ha-ri followed Karina past the mountain of gold and jewelry that made her dizzy just looking at it, her eyes darted around, and Poma warned her.
[Beware of the gold curse, Ha-ri, these are no mere gold and silver treasures.]
"What, what do you mean?"
[Dragon's gold invites insatiable greed, leads to violence and plunder. Stay awake, this is such a demonic place.]
Ha-ri pursed her lips and followed Karina, not quite understanding Poma's warning, but knowing enough to be wary.
After passing by the dizzying array of gold and silver treasures, they reached the depths of the vault.
One would think that the deeper the vault, the more precious the gems and treasures, but at the end of it all were neatly organized shelves and stones on silk cushions.
Like a shrine, each of these precious stones has a plaque with its own name.
"Delvoske."
"Gaspar
"Jurahan
"Ruina."
The shapes of the stones were so familiar that Ha-ri recognized them at once.
"Magic stones?!"
A special stone that can be obtained by defeating monsters at the gate that no Hunter could fail to recognize.
"Magic Stone"
Ever since the Jeju Island Gate, where Georgic and the Knights of the Lavonian Dawn encountered it, it's been common knowledge that it crystallizes the souls of living creatures.
"Uh, why are there magic stones here?"
"I guess that's what they call them in your world, huh?"
Karina picked up one of the stones, each labeled with a nameplate.
"They're called middle stones, at least that's what I call them. The place they pass through before going to paradise."
With that, Ha-ri realized the story behind the stones.
In the world of Lionheart, when people die, they are reincarnated or admitted to the paradise of the gods, the religious equivalent of heaven and the final destination for all believers.
But what happens to their souls when they die here, in this other world, beyond the reach of the gods' authority?
It was something that Karina could not let go of.
In other words the crystals containing the souls of each and every one of the Northern soldiers who crossed over to the Otherworld with Archduke Karina lay in the treasury.
"These are the men who followed me, who traveled with me to the Other Side. I, Karina Dragonia, am obligated to see to their peaceful end."
[But how to do that]
The souls are molded into stone. It is a technique unknown even to the gods. For the gods who guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife in the first place, forcing a soul to take up residence in stone is akin to blasphemy.
Only demons use such methods.
Karina's use of this method is
[It makes no difference; they are my avengers, too. You, Karina Dragonia, may carry your father's halo, but they are not.]
They are the souls that will rightfully belong to me, Ventasis said.
At that moment.
[No, you are one step too late.]
A great darkness loomed around Karina's shadow. It was huge enough to hold a treasure trove of gold, and even the gods had to look up at its shadow.
[Dragonia.]
Dragonia, the Ancestral Dragon.
The dragon's mind, unchanged by the millennia, is something transcendent.
Even the Gods struggled before this ancient dragon king. This arrogant being, who thought himself greater than the gods, had earned it.
[You're late, gods, descendants of the Dragon Slayer, you're too late.]
The Dragon King's gaze fell upon the gods.
* * * * *
The Hunters and the Knights of the TTG Temple have come to the arena to watch the duel resume after four days with a new challenger.
Vulcanus had already been defeated, and the large man who had challenged Leon, whoever he was, had come as a matter of duty, not to waste time.
"What is the king thinking?"
It was Soo-ho who spoke up while waiting for the match while Jae-hyuk responded with a question.
"What?"
"In order to solve the problem of the dragon curse, Karina must give birth to a child to inherit the dragon's heart."
Karina had already told the Knights of the Burning Sword and others.
The dragon blood and heart of the first archduke who slayed the Ancestral Dragon also carried the curse of the Ancestral Dragon.
It has given each successive Archduke immense power, but it has also produced a side effect: dragonization.
Dragonization: simply put, to become a dragon.
Dragonia was the greatest and most enormous dragon of all, his flesh could reach out and grasp volcanoes, and the breath from his nape was said to have scorched continents.
The size of the dragon king's soul was beyond the power of even the gods to control, and they could only slow the symptoms, not stop them.
"Karina has been implanted with the dragon's heart for so long that she must urgently find a successor, right?"
"Indeed."
"Then why is His Majesty interfering with his daughter's marriage? It's a bit much for a father to prevent his daughter from marrying."
At that, Jae-hyuk agreed. He felt that Leon's behavior had always been out of the ordinary and his values different from those of modern Earthlings.
His viciousness in protecting his daughter from the thieves who wanted to steal her.
"Yes. Even for His Majesty, this is a bit odd."
Karina's dragon curse was so public that anyone from Lionheart, including the Knights of the Burning Sword, knew about it.
It was nothing new for the Grand Duchess of Dragonia to delay and then reset the process through succession.
Leon's actions in turning away the suitors as he did now were not only a hindrance to the quest, but a threat to Karina's life.
"His Majesty doesn't know that."
"Hmph!"
"My queen?!"
Beatrice, who was sitting in the audience as usual with Yappy and Chun So-yeon, interrupted their conversation.
"As the two of you suspected, His Majesty is intentionally sabotaging Archduke Karina's succession."
Honestly, it's hard to sympathize with a father with a daughter. But when your daughter's life is on the line, even the most selfish of fathers will have no choice.
"Then why is His Majesty interfering with Karina's marriage?"
"Purely as a father, he expects to see the love that shines like a star' that he envisions."
"Love that shines like a star'?"
"His Majesty is quite the romantic."
Beatrice smiled bitterly, remembering Leon's tendencies.
A romantic, for a man who was so bossy, authoritarian, and selfish when it came to matters of love. Even the Goddess of the Moon and Chastity could not help but forgive the Lionheart King in the end.
That makes him a very difficult character to get to know, but it's clear from the outset that Leon wants love to be part of Karina's marriage.
He doesn't want his daughter's marriage and the process of having children to be one of promiscuity and manipulation.
That's a very un-royal valuethat he's a romantic.
"And another thing. His Majesty wants the dragon's heart back."
"What?"
"Is that possible?"
At this unexpected turn of events, the two men shared a puzzled look.
"In essence, the Dragon's Heart was held by His Majesty, the former Grand Duke, so it's not impossible, and His Majesty is"
[Today, a new challenge has been issued to the invincible champion, who will challenge the Lionheart King !!!]
At that moment, Leon entered the dueling arena, and the whole place erupted.
* * * * *
"I will take back the dragon's heart from Karina."
[]
The gods were silent for a moment at Leon's declaration for they guessed what it meant, and why Leon had made such a choice.
[Can't you wait until you have children to succeed to the throne?]
"Karina bore the dragon heart for two hundred years."
The implication is simple: the dragonization may have gone too far. Even if Karina is the Holy Knight of Ventasis, this is far beyond the average Archduke dragonheart implantation period.
"Even if she does produce an heir, I doubt Karina will be able to survive until that heir reaches maturity."
[So you're saying you'll have the dragon's heart until then?]
"Exactly."
At those words, Arianna said in a worried voice.
[It is a dragon's heart that has accumulated curses for two hundred years, and even you cannot be free from its curse.]
"However, only I can bear the curse."
Leon is the Lionheart King, a living demigod who is immune to all curses. He believes he can withstand even the two-hundred-year-old curse of the ancestral dragon Dragonia.
This is the choice Leon forces upon Karina: to pass on the curse that consumes her to her father.
[Truly, you are a clumsy family, thinking of each other and yet this is the only way to deal with it]
"Because Im her father, even Castile would have done it."
Leon waited for a new challenger, confident that this duel would end in Karina's defeat.
They say no parent ever wins, but there is a parent everywhere who will sacrifice themselves for their child.
It is this natural love that he hopes Karina will accept. It was the best Leon could do as a father.
But
"Your interference ends today."
It was Karina who stood before the strongest champion whose victory was assured.
[Leon, my avenger, we are too late.]
And back in the Pantheon, the dark god announced his failure with a self-deprecating sigh. The news he delivered was enough to make even the gods swallow hard.
[Karina Dragonia has already surrendered her body and soul to Dragonia.]
To save the souls of the 30,000 Northerners who had followed her Karina had made a deal with the dragon.
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