Kneeling prostrate on the ground, Lady Augie raised her head in some confusion. Looking at Karen standing before her, she asked with puzzled eyes, "What happened to me?"
Karen walked up to her and simply looked down at her in silence.
Lady Augie turned her head to look at the shattered icebergs scattered about and the piled-up white snow, asking once more in a bewildered tone, "I don't remember what just happened. Did I do something?"
Karen bent down and reached out with both hands, extracting two unmelted ice crystals from the outer edges of Lady Augie's ears. In size and shape, they looked very much like earmuffs.
They served to block auditory communication—which meant that after transforming into a dragon, Lady Augie had deliberately taken precautions against Karen attempting to trigger a lightning strike upon her via memory summons.
This was clearly not something the little bone dragon could have done.
*Clack.*
Karen dropped the pair of earmuff-like ice crystals before Lady Augie.
Lady Augie's breath caught visibly.
Karen spoke, "I believe you were controlled by her. She likely possesses something unique. But I don't believe that as an adult dragon of noble bloodline, you were truly incapable of putting up even the slightest resistance once controlled."
Lady Augie fell silent.
Karen continued, "Those who are deceived often harbor an inclination to be deceived in the first place; you, who were controlled, probably harbored an inclination in your heart to let yourself be controlled as well."
Then, Karen turned his head toward the little bone dragon still frozen inside the massive lump of ice.
"When she launched that special assault against you—one that likely targets your dragon kind specifically—you must have already sensed something, haven't you?"
Lady Augie remained silent.
"It doesn't matter if you don't say it; I can guess. What you must have realized was that even if you were driven mad under her control and crushed me to death, you could still use that excuse to evade punishment from the Church of Order.
"Her extraordinary nature would not only explain why you went berserk and killed me, but would also make the Church of Order brush this incident aside.
"Deliberately getting drunk, throwing a drunken tantrum, and causing devastation; then after sobering up, pointing at the drinking companion whose identity just happens to make the outside world overlook everything that happened at the table.
"It seems this little bone dragon is truly remarkable.
"Still, I'd like to ask you a question. It might be a bit humiliating, even bring disgrace upon myself, but I want to ask anyway.
"That is:
"Lady Augie,
"do you truly hate me so much that you had to kill me?"
The bewildered look on Lady Augie's face vanished entirely. A mocking sneer curled at the corner of her lips as she replied, "Perhaps you truly don't know just how detestable you are."
"Sigh, I knew it would be an awkward answer like that."
"Do you know? I can feel your change—the change in your attitude toward me."
"Oh?"
"The way you treat the dragon race, the way you treat this bone dragon—you will surely become the next Whip-Wielder. Words cannot describe the loathing and disgust I feel toward you. Daina likely feels the same way.
"Beneath your propriety hides a top-down aloofness and contempt toward other races and other lives.
"That feeling makes one wish they could crush you into dust right on the spot!"
"Sigh," Karen sighed. "If you only hate me and want to crush me to death because I'm becoming more and more like the Whip-Wielder, then why don't you make a move against the Whip-Wielder himself?"
"I..."
"Because you're afraid. You fear him. I'd even bet that deep down, you don't actually hate the Whip-Wielder at all, because sufficient dread can cancel out all hatred.
"You say I habitually carry aloofness and contempt. I admit, as a person, I always have a confidence that can't quite be captured in words.
"I also tend to think I'm very clever, think I'm better than others, think I ought to take on certain missions, do things others cannot do, and ponder truths others cannot fathom.
"Actually, all humans are like this. Even if their real lives aren't particularly satisfying, when lying in bed at night, they habitually indulge in some fantasies.
"People need to rely on this for psychological adjustment in daily life; those who can't adjust like this often slip into depression.
"Every year in Wien, many people arrive from the colonies, whether through immigration or smuggling. Even if they were considered middle-class in their home countries, once they arrive in Wien, they can only work the lowest forms of manual labor and suffer racial discrimination and bullying from the Wienese. Yet in their letters to family back home, they always describe Wien as a veritable paradise on earth—as if milk flowed through the streets, telephone poles secreted honey, and even Wien bean paste gave off a fresh, enchanting fragrance.
"You see, this is a basic human need.
"As for you, you said I hide this emotion. But what about you?
"Just because I'm not as powerful as the Whip-Wielder, you wanted to play along with this accident and crush me to death because I resemble him? You didn't even bother to hide it. Isn't that just bullying the weak while fearing the strong?"
Karen straightened up.
"In truth, I originally felt a sense of reverence toward the dragon race. Reverence born from their sacredness. But once I realized that dragons... are merely ordinary people of larger build, I thought nothing more of it.
"Besides, because you lack even the comfortable appearance of ordinary mortals, in the eyes of someone like me, you don't even qualify for the skin of a peer.
"Do you know? I would revere an Inquisitor who runs a funeral parlor, but I wouldn't revere you, because you haven't earned it—even if you are vastly more powerful than him.
"Oh no, if we analyze the details a bit more: could it be because I wasn't like this at first, and once I came to this realization and shifted my attitude, it dealt you an even greater blow?
"If I had viewed you from the start the same way the Whip-Wielder treats you, perhaps you wouldn't have felt such a disparity.
"However, I happen to be quite petty. I will make sure you face punishment."
Lady Augie said, "Because of this incident? I was under control. Besides, the matter of my father's death is already settled. My mother has already informed me of the decision from above—she will become the new leader of the dragon branch."
"Why are you telling me this? Do you think I no longer possess the leverage to threaten you?"
"I'm talking about... evidence." Lady Augie looked down at the ground below, where the two translucent crystals were already melting away.
"Evidence isn't needed."
"Heh, you're too confident."
"Just who is being too confident?" Karen pointed at Lady Augie's face. "Take a look at yourself—what kind of posture are you in right now? The restriction on you must have been triggered, and the only person capable of activating it is the Whip-Wielder. He must have sensed you reverting to your true form, and probably sensed the violent upheaval in your emotions as well.
"He isn't here right now; he is far, far away at the headquarters in the Dinge Region. He doesn't know the exact circumstances here either, but he doesn't care.
"The moment he thought you might be causing trouble, he locked you directly into a cage, not caring in the least whether this decision would cause irreversible harm to you.
"I habitually project my own behavioral patterns onto others because I keep pets myself, but I realize I was wrong: your standing in the Whip-Wielder's eyes is lower than that of a pet.
"Most importantly, when I said evidence isn't needed... do you think when the Whip-Wielder learns of this, he will need evidence to corroborate his judgment?
"As a dragon of the Whip of Order, don't you know that our Whip of Order only bothers looking for evidence when facing external interference and pressure, just to brush them off or shut their mouths?
"When there is no external interference or scrutiny, our trials often proceed very quickly. And when it comes to dealing with internal personnel, it's even simpler."
Panic began to surface in Lady Augie's eyes, for she recalled the "two" chicken-flavored snacks she had eaten not long ago.
Karen raised the Sword of Diamans, gave it a couple of light shakes, and thrust it directly into Lady Augie's chest.
*Pfft!*
The blade sank in, leaving most of the blade exposed outside.
This was not because Karen had held back, but because even though the dragon constitution was significantly weakened when transformed into human form, the baseline was simply too high. Even diminished, the sword still could not cleanly pierce all the way through.
Lady Augie looked down in disbelief and said in shock, "How dare you..."
Karen began to exert force, like in a tug-of-war, gradually gaining the upper hand inch by inch. Finally, with great difficulty, as the blade pushed deeper and deeper, it pierced through Lady Augie's back.
"Hiss... ah..." Lady Augie let out a cry of agony, then demanded viciously, "You dare kill me?"
"'Dare' is a word I dislike. You should ask, 'You actually mean to kill me?'"
*Hum!*
Karen drew the sword out, shifted to another spot, and thrust it in again.
*Pfft!*
Having learned from the previous attempt, this thrust went much deeper, but driving it clean through still required slow, sustained force.
"Are you insane?!"
"I've always preferred being reasonable and acting according to the rules, but inexplicable people always show up, screaming and crying, forcing me to strike back in the most outrageous, extreme ways.
"It's not that I'm insane; you were the one who went insane first."
"I had a reason! What excuse do you have?"
"You tried to kill me, and I retaliated in self-defense. Isn't that the best excuse? As for whether the logic holds up or the fallout is severe, I couldn't care less. I know you're very valuable, but I believe my own life is priceless."
Next came the third strike.
Karen left three piercing wounds across Lady Augie's body, dragon blood pouring out unceasingly.
What left Lady Augie most helpless was that she could not struggle or resist at all right now, forced to endure Karen's harm. Then, she saw Karen raise the sword once more, the tip aimed directly between her brows.
"Are you truly going to kill me?"
"Do you think I'm just trying to scare you? My apologies. The reason my movements are so slow isn't because I'm deliberately trying to torture you more, but because your flesh is too tough. Killing you is exhausting."
The tip of the blade pressed against the space between Augie's brows. Karen gripped the hilt with both hands, continuously adjusting the angle for the final plunge.
Augie blurted out, "I was wrong!"
"After I kill you, I'll bow three times to your corpse to express a far more sincere apology."
"I didn't want to kill you at first! I only wanted to play along with her to toy with you, because I knew that when I reverted to my true form, the Whip-Wielder would sense it! I also knew that when my soul was controlled, the Whip-Wielder could detect it, and he could bring all of this to a swift end!
"I just don't know why the Whip-Wielder gave me so much time this time! He must have been busy with other matters, and as the control deepened, I truly couldn't resist anymore near the end!"
"I didn't want to kill you at first either. You won't die of sword wounds, but of excessive blood loss, which has nothing to do with my blade. I assumed my subordinates would arrive shortly to stop the bleeding and treat you, but I don't know why they haven't arrived yet."
Karen began slowly applying pressure, the blade already slicing open the flesh between Augie's brows.
"She carries the aura of the Dragon God! The reason I was controlled by her is that the aura of the Dragon God on her exerts a natural bloodline suppression over me!"
"Dragon God?"
"The Rebel Dragon God—the ancestor of the dragon branch of my Church of the Crypt."
"Oh, no wonder." Karen nodded. "No wonder she has such a temperament."
Yet Karen showed no intention whatsoever of relenting. The blade continued pressing downward; blood had already drenched Augie's entire face.
"If you kill me now, the ice will melt, and she will regain her freedom! You certainly could capture her again, and she wouldn't be able to escape your grasp, but she knows that too, so to avoid being enslaved by you, she'll choose self-destruction the moment the ice melts!"
"If she wanted to self-destruct, wouldn't she have done it already?"
"I don't know that!"
Karen had an epiphany. As he asked that question, a possibility occurred to him: the timing of the little bone dragon's escape was almost identical to when he had forced the skeleton to commit suicide in the Wienese restaurant. Did that mean the restriction placed on the bone dragon by the skeleton had been lifted as a result of the skeleton's suicide?
Augie spoke up, "You still have a chance right now to use soul pressure to force her submission! Although the difficulty is immense, if you kill me now, you will completely lose the chance to possess this bone dragon!
"Can you really bear to part with it? Especially when I can guarantee that she truly possesses the aura of the Dragon God—no, I've already demonstrated it to you!"
Karen drew back the Sword of Diamans. The flesh between Lady Augie's brows had long split open, the skull underneath clearly visible and even bearing an indentation.
"You're right. I can't bear to let it go."
Lady Augie closed her eyes and let out a long breath of relief.
However—
*Slap!*
A burning pain flared across her face.
She opened her eyes and looked at Karen, who had just struck her across the face with the flat of the sword.
Immediately followed by a second slap.
*Slap!*
The reason he didn't use his hand was that Karen knew full well that if he slapped her with his bare hand, it would hurt him far more than it hurt her.
After delivering the blows, Karen sheathed the Sword of Diamans across his back, shook his wrist, and offered an apologetic smile. "I originally intended to hit you just once, but one side was red while the other was normal, which was rather asymmetrical. You look much better now."
Augie: "..."
Karen walked over to the giant block of ice. The little bone dragon was frozen inside, but her gaze could still convey her emotions.
When Lady Augie reverted to human form and was bound, the little bone dragon had been somewhat bewildered. But when Karen drove the sword into Lady Augie's body, excitement and approval showed in the little bone dragon's eyes.
She had never considered Augie, an adult frost giant dragon, as one of her kin; in her eyes, Augie was merely "livestock."
Karen stopped before the block of ice, looking at her.
She glared back at Karen with utter disdain; if she could move, she likely would have held her neck high at this moment.
"I quite admire you," Karen said, placing his hand against the ice. "This wild, untamed spirit of rebellion."
Karen closed his eyes and began seeping his soul power inside.
In truth, having pursued his target all the way here, his condition had already been far from optimal due to his earlier tracing of the skeleton's true self, and the prolonged skirmish with Lady Augie had drained him even more.
Yet there was no alternative; if he still wanted to try taming this bone dragon, this was his only window of opportunity.
As the soul power continuously flooded in, the bone dragon closed her eyes as well, actively welcoming Karen's soul consciousness.
A smile curled at Karen's lips. He didn't take this as a favorable start; rather, unable to move her body, the little creature was simply agreeing to shift to another battlefield to take a bite out of him.
Only... compared to physical combat in reality, Karen was actually far more adept at contests on the soul level. The little bone dragon's willing acceptance was precisely what Karen wanted, as well as the outcome he had anticipated based on her personality.
...
*Buzz!*
An illusory space, strewn with jagged white bones, thick with gloomy, chilling undead aura everywhere.
Karen's form, condensed from his soul consciousness, materialized here. Immediately, he began to step backward.
*Boom!*
A bone dragon crashed heavily into the spot where Karen had stood just moments before. Though the strike missed, she instantly threw her head up and glared fixedly at Karen. At the same time, the space behind Karen began compressing rapidly, and barrier walls bristling with sharp bone spikes bore down upon him.
She intended to exploit her home-field advantage to shred this portion of Karen's soul consciousness that had dared to venture inside.
"Gate of Order."
Karen stood still, but projections of the Gate of Samsara manifested all around him on every side like newly erected walls, forcefully jamming the dense bone spikes and halting their inward crush.
"I'd like to have a proper chat with you. I admire your rebellion. I don't see it as naughtiness; on the contrary, I see it as a devotion akin to faith. I can allow you to keep it, and I will even help you nurture and cultivate it.
"This is my promise to you."
"Roar!"
Evidently, the bone dragon placed no faith in Karen's words. She lunged forward aggressively, slamming her true soul body against the Gate of Samsara again and again amidst resonant soul rumbles.
Watching this scene, Karen felt both amused and somewhat pitying. She was far too young, completely ignorant of combat techniques, purely carrying her physical instincts into this soul duel.
She was a diamond in the rough. If he could subdue her, Purr would gain a new little follower, and Kevin might get a new little sister. Besides, she was a bone dragon with no flesh on her bones, so Kevin couldn't possibly want to eat her.
After another futile crash against the Gate of Samsara, the bone dragon paused briefly. Surrounding undead aura was continuously pulled toward her to sustain her soul body, which had begun showing signs of dispersion from the repeated collisions.
Karen continued speaking, "You have tremendous potential. In all likelihood, you carry the legacy of the Rebel Dragon God within you..."
The bone dragon raised her head, glaring viciously at Karen. Karen's words should have been high praise for dragonkind, but she acted as though she had suffered a monstrous insult, roaring in stammering, fury-choked rage:
"That's... the Rebel Dragon God... raised... like livestock...!"
Chapter 631