CH 161

Estian would often wonder what he’d do if his true form was revealed when he met new people, and the answer was always the same: kill them. By killing them, he’d be able to hide the fact that he was a monster that survived by consuming everyone in its path. However, when he considered this question one night as he watched Cecile sleeping, he realized he could never take her life. Thus, he swore to never let her find out.

He convinced himself that even if she laid eyes on him in this form, she wouldn’t recognize him. How could she? How could anyone imagine a human being could look like this? And yet, Cecile had recognized him immediately. ‘What do I do now?’ Estian didn’t have an answer. While he was at a loss, the voices within him began crawling to the surface.

‘Estian says he can’t kill her.’

‘Then, there’s no helping it. We should kill her for him.’

‘Yeah! Estian has been killing all of them until now, after all. Let’s kill that one for him.’

“No!” Estian cried desperately at the voices, but he couldn’t move. The voices restrained him, assuring they’d take care of it for him. He tried to struggle, but the voices overpowered him. Delighted at being able to act for Estian for the first time, they were using all their power.

“Run away!” Estian shouted at Cecile. Even though he knew running was futile, that was all he could do. It would be simple for this monstrous body of his to kill Cecile. The voices were growing stronger and stronger, and had completely taken control of his body.

‘Huh? What’s that?’ one of the voices exclaimed in surprise.

A bright gate was opening in the sky above the city of Etia. In contrast from the darkness and death that filled the city, something began to drop rapidly from beyond the bright gate.

‘What’s that?’

‘Beats me, it’s my first time seeing this. There was nothing like that in the lab.’

As the voices commented in confusion, Estian turned to look at the gates and instantly recognized the familiar figures dropping through the gate.

“Girgantia?” he murmured. The four-winged flying creature was a little bigger than he remembered, but it was definitely the Girgantia he knew. And he wasn’t alone—Tania, Richard, and even Aled were riding on the dragon, as the dived straight towards Cecile.

‘Who cares. Let’s kill them too.’ The bewildered children’s voices quickly pushed past their confusion, and began to act.

“No!” Estian resisted. He couldn’t stay helpless like this. Regardless of how impossible it might be, he needed to do what he could to stop the voices in order to provide a fighting chance for Girgantia and the others to save Cecile. He desperately held his grotesque mass of a body covering the dukedom of Etia back.

‘Estian? What’s the matter? Why are you stopping us!’ the voices called out in surprise. It was natural for them to be shocked, as ever since they escaped the laboratory, Estian’s will was the voices’s will, and theirs was his. But for the first time, this was not the case.

Estian glanced in the direction of Cecile, and to his relief, he saw four wings flapping out of the window. It was clear that Girgantia and the others had found Cecile. He grew increasingly more frantic in holding back his body.

‘They saved her! Run away. Hurry. Go farther. Quickly take Cecile and…’ he thought. But to his surprise, Girgantia began flying straight towards him. Why? How come? Why were they heading towards him instead of fleeing? Caught off guard by the inexplicable situation, Estian ended up losing his control.

‘Kill!’ As soon as one of the voices shouted, the black mass spread across the entire city instantly transformed into thousands of sharp spears of darkness pointed at Girgantia, which ripped through the air and shot into the sky.

The dragon narrowly dodged the spears as it continued straight towards Estian. He could see Cecile—her platinum blonde hair fluttered madly in the wind, her face was covered in wounds, and her green eyes, shining brightly through it all, were fixed on him.

‘Impossible!’ It was impossible. How could Cecile recognize him? How was she able to find and lock eyes with his, despite being immersed in the deepest depths of his gigantic body? Yet, he felt without a doubt that she was looking right at him.

It was then that Cecile raised the scepter in her hand. “Estian!” she cried. In that instant, a golden light enveloped the world.