After everything ended in the alley, Rio and Rin returned to the inn in heavy silence. The atmosphere was saturated with anger… but not just any anger.
It was a frozen rage buried deep within, as if it were waiting to explode.
Yui was sitting on the bed, staring at the floor. Her breathing was calm… yet she looked completely broken.
Rio approached her gently.
"Yui… who were they?"
She stayed silent for a moment.
Then she slowly raised her head, her eyes empty… lifeless.
Yui spoke in a faint voice.
"…They were envoys of the King of Valorie."
She paused for a moment, swallowing the lump in her throat.
"…I was his slave… I was nothing more than his favorite toy…
He fed me whatever scraps remained, used my body whenever he wanted, and threw me into a dungeon whenever he got bored…"
A single tear fell.
Then she continued with a sad smile.
"I escaped… and I thought I had finally started a new life…"
"…But he's still chasing me."
Rin's breathing stopped.
The air around him began to tremble.
Cracks spread across the walls.
The windows shattered on their own.
Dense shadows leaked from his body, black like the void itself.
An ocean of dark fury surrounded the entire room.
A single glance from him was enough to make the living wish for death.
Then he stood up.
He raised his head toward the sky…
—and his presence exploded.
It wasn't just the capital that felt the terrifying majesty of his aura.
The entire kingdom, stretching three days of travel without rest, felt his presence.
People collapsed to the ground, trembling in terror.
Animals fled and hid.
Even the sky itself seemed to choke in fear.
It was as if…
—as if the King of Dragons himself had appeared.
Rio spoke calmly.
"Don't rush it. Destroy them slowly."
Rin nodded.
Then he smiled.
A demonic smile… eyes filled with nothing but pure malice.
At that moment, Rin no longer hid his nature.
Not as a human.
But as a dragon… an enemy of mankind, a destroyer of humans.
He unleashed every ounce of darkness and rage within him.
Rin spoke with a voice that sounded like it came from the depths of hell.
"As you wish…
I will weave their ending with threads of agony."
Rin remembered something.
After eating the Fruit of Varis, strange knowledge had entered his mind… forgotten information.
Through it, he learned of an ancient hatred between the Kingdom of Valorie and the neighboring great empire, Karogin.
Karogin was a massive empire located at the center of the continent.
No one dared challenge it.
It was billions of times stronger than Valorie.
Then suddenly…
A devilish idea crossed Rin's mind.
Rin thought to himself:
"No need for direct battle…
I'll make them destroy themselves."
The next day – Inside the Royal Palace of Valorie
The king's advisor was waiting in his chamber when the door suddenly opened.
"Who's there?!"
No answer came.
Only a sword piercing through his heart from behind.
Rin stood there in the shadows.
He had perfectly taken the advisor's appearance.
He closed the door again with a quiet smile.
Then he began his work.
Every night he whispered poison into the king's ears.
"Karogin is planning to attack."
"They've already sent spies into our capital."
"The time has come to prove we are stronger."
Little by little, he manipulated the king's mind.
Until the king became nothing more than a puppet in his hands.
With every word…
Darkness seeped deeper into the king's thoughts.
Until finally—
the spark of war ignited.
War erupted between the two nations.
Fire and blood.
Corpses and armies.
The sky was filled with smoke and black rain.
Throughout it all…
Rin watched from the shadows.
Smiling in the darkness.
Enjoying their collapse.
At one point, while innocent people screamed and begged for help…
Rio stood on the highest peak in the kingdom.
He raised his arm toward the sky…
and moved it slowly—
as if he were a conductor leading an orchestra.
And the screams of humans…
were the music.
Eventually…
The Kingdom of Valorie fell.
Its armies were destroyed.
Its palace burned.
Nothing remained except the cowardly king sitting on his trembling throne, unaware that his end was approaching.
Through that war, the world witnessed two things.
Not only the terrifying brutality of dragons when their family is threatened…
but also the overwhelming might of the Karogin Empire, which destroyed an entire kingdom in a single day.
The massive throne room doors opened.
Rio stepped inside.
His footsteps were heavy…
but calm.
A single glance from him was enough to tear apart a soul.
He approached slowly, his eyes narrowing like a hunting cat.
His gaze never left the king.
Rio spoke coldly.
"This is the fate of those who touch my family."
Rio activated his Hazuki Eye.
A crushing pressure fell upon the king—twenty times his own weight.
The king couldn't endure it.
He collapsed unconscious under the overwhelming force.
But just before Rio could kill him—
someone appeared behind him.
A royal guard.
One of the strongest warriors in the kingdom.
He smiled confidently.
"You won't reach him—"
Then suddenly…
he went silent.
Rio didn't say anything.
He simply glanced sideways and whispered.
"Who's there?"
Then—
he vanished.
In the next instant he appeared before the guard.
He had broken the sound barrier.
His voice arrived one second after his body moved.
Rio smiled with a bloody grin.
"…Kagutsuchi."
His sword moved.
Faster than a blink.
A single slash.
Rio stood behind the guard.
His blade covered in blood.
The guard trembled.
"…Impossible… what… what did you—"
Something warm ran down his neck.
Only then did he realize…
his head had been cut off.
He saw his own body collapse before him.
The End of the Throne
Rio approached the unconscious king.
He looked down at him with pure disdain.
"You are not worthy of dying by my hand…"
"You will live as a coward, forever chased by the curse of fear."
He turned and walked away.
Leaving behind nothing but…
an empty throne.
To be continued…