Part 3When Celestial Blood Spills

When Lord Caelus, the Celestial of Mercy, arrived, he was shocked to see me. Then he shook his head. "Thank the heavens, a survivor. The Kirin are not truly extinct."

I looked at him blankly. "What now?"

It took him a moment to understand my question. He sighed. "Rest assured, I will protect you. This time, Lord Azureus went too far. To slaughter your entire race for a whim of the Demon Princess… it was reckless."

"I have already reprimanded him," he continued. "He won't trouble you again."

I couldn't quite follow. "But… Mother told me that murder is a debt paid with life," I said, my voice flat. "Why did you only reprimand him?"

Lord Caelus's compassionate expression cracked. A flicker of anger crossed his face. "Insolence! Do you have any idea who you speak of?"

"He is the Sovereign of this world! The one who defeated the demons, pacified the monsters, and brought a thousand years of peace to all the realms! How dare you entertain the thought of deicide?"

A crushing pressure descended upon me, squeezing the air from my lungs. I opened my mouth to speak, but only a mouthful of blood came out.

I gritted my teeth and forced the words out. "You're wrong."

"My mother told me. This peace was never his achievement alone. Nine-tenths of the Kirin's greatest mages fell in that war. The Dragon Lords have but a few scions left. That is the price that was paid for this 'glorious peace.' It was not his alone."

With every word I spoke, the pressure intensified. Just as I felt my bones turning to dust, my spirit about to be extinguished from the world, the very heavens began to tremble. I felt them—countless of my kind, from every corner of the world, their spirits rushing to my side.

"Lord Caelus, show mercy!"

"Lord Caelus, show mercy!"

"Lord Caelus, show mercy!"

The chorus grew louder and louder. I could hear the roar of dragons, the cry of phoenixes, the howl of tigers… A symphony of spectral beasts forming a shield around me.

And then, I fell into darkness.