✧ Chapter 6 ✧
‘D-Dad?!’
Rivera’s eyes widened when she saw Knox.
He was supposed to be at home, yet here he was, standing right in front of her.
Knox changed his body back into his human form and pulled Rivera tightly into his arms.
After checking that his daughter wasn’t hurt, he let out a relieved sigh.
“Phew—”
Then he immediately turned toward Aura with a distorted expression and spoke coldly.
“I was looking for my child because she wasn’t at home. Then I sensed a powerful magical presence nearby, so I came here just in case.”
His lips trembled with anger.
“Were you the owner of that magical power?”
Aura raised one shoulder with a confused expression.
“What? What exactly are you talking about?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know! Didn’t you use your magic to try to hurt my child? And you even secretly brought her here!”
Huh?
Secretly brought her here?
Her?
Rivera blinked and looked up at Knox.
But Knox’s misunderstanding didn’t end there.
“Not only that, you even broke the barrier I placed on the door!”
Broke the barrier?
What was he talking about now?
‘Ah.’
Suddenly, what had happened before Rivera left the house flashed through her mind.
‘No way.’
Had she really broken the barrier back then?!
That was impossible!
How could she have broken the barrier Dad had created?
Was the barrier somehow defective after all?!
‘No…… There’s no way Dad could have made something like that.’
He was the kind of person who never did anything carelessly.
Even the smallest and simplest things received his full attention and effort.
‘Then why did that barrier……?’
Confusion began to fill Rivera’s mind, but she didn’t have time to think about it.
Knox looked as if he might tear Aura’s throat out at any moment.
“Did you really want to hurt this child that badly? If you truly wanted to, you should have openly come into my home while I was there. Instead, you tried to abduct her! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself as an Elder?”
As Knox’s attitude became more aggressive, Aura placed a hand on her forehead and sighed deeply.
“Haah. I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you’ve gotten yourself into. I was only—”
“Enough! I know that the Elders don’t look favorably upon my child! But even so, how could you try to hurt her in such a despicable way?”
At least you……
I thought that if it were you, you wouldn’t do something like this.
Even if I couldn’t trust the other Elders, I thought I could trust you.
Knox trembled with anger.
With the hand that wasn’t holding Rivera, he released black magic without hesitation.
The black magic immediately transformed into a long sword.
Knox gripped the sword tightly.
Then he lowered his voice.
“I’m disappointed in you, Aura.”
He pointed the tip of the sword at her.
As the situation became more serious, Rivera’s face turned pale.
‘N-No! I need to become friends with the dragons! How did things become such a mess the moment I met one?!’
What about my grand plan?!
Desperate, Rivera grabbed Knox’s clothes and pulled them hard, as if it were her only hope.
‘This isn’t what happened, Dad! Please calm down first! Please?!’
Only then did Knox turn his gaze toward Rivera.
But—
“Don’t worry, baby. I won’t let her touch even a single hair on you.”
He misunderstood Rivera’s actions as something she had done out of fear.
So he pulled her even closer into his arms.
Rivera was horrified by the completely opposite result of what she had intended and let out a silent scream.
Meanwhile, Aura quietly looked at the tip of the sword pointed at her.
Then she spoke.
“Are you actually serious right now?”
“Would I be doing this as a joke?”
Knox raised the sharp tip of his sword a little higher.
Aura’s eyes and the tip of Knox’s sword faced each other.
“I won’t forgive anyone who tries to harm my child. Even if…… that person is you!”
“I won’t forgive anyone who tries to harm my child. Even if…… that person is you!”
Tap!
Knox’s feet left the ground.
In an instant, he appeared behind Aura.
Aura noticed his presence and couldn’t simply stand there and take the attack.
She quickly turned around and spread the sky-blue magic that had emerged from her hand through the air.
Bang!
The sky-blue magic spreading from her hand transformed into something shaped like a shield and blocked Knox’s attack.
‘Th-This guy is really serious?!’
To stop this ridiculous situation, Aura released an explosion of magic from her hand and forcefully pushed Knox away.
“Wait! Just listen to what I’m—!”
But Knox didn’t back down after being pushed away.
He charged at her again.
With even more ferocity than before.
And with even more murderous intent.
“Haah.”
Aura realized that she wouldn’t be able to clear up the misunderstanding easily unless she first suppressed his sudden explosion of anger.
In the end—
“I suppose I have no choice.”
With an unhappy expression, she gathered magic in her hand.
A mass of sky-blue magic, larger and more powerful than before, wrapped around her hand.
She stretched both arms forward and was about to attack when—
‘!!!’
She suddenly saw Rivera.
Rivera had buried her face against Knox’s clothes, gripping them tightly like a koala so she wouldn’t fall.
‘Oh! The child!’
Aura had no choice but to pull back her attack.
Taking advantage of that opening, Knox attacked her again.
Aura shouted at him.
“Knox! Are you out of your mind? You’re trying to fight while holding a child!”
“You’re the one who’s out of your mind! And how am I supposed to know that you won’t hurt her again if I put her down?!”
In the end, Aura reached out toward the charging Knox again.
But this time, she focused her magic as much as possible on defense so that Rivera wouldn’t be injured.
Boom! Boom!
Black magic and sky-blue magic collided.
A powerful pressure of wind spread throughout the area.
The trees shook.
The grass swayed wildly.
The sight of the two dragons fighting was so spectacular and fierce that it looked like a scene from a movie.
But for Rivera, who was being shaken around inside Knox’s arms, it was pure torture.
It felt like riding a roller coaster over and over again.
‘Uwaaa— Please stop for a moment! I’m getting so dizzy!’
In the middle of all the chaos, Rivera noticed Laktea.
He was lying flat against the ground, trembling from the powerful wind.
‘Ah! Laktea!’
She wanted to reach out and help him, but he was too far away.
Then—
‘Huh……!’
Laktea’s body began to move.
It looked like he was about to be blown away.
‘Wait! The baby is going to fly away! Dad! Mother! Hey, you two! Look at the baby!!’
Rivera desperately waved the hand she was holding up.
But Knox and Aura were completely focused on each other.
The powerful wind broke trees, tore up the ground, and sent sharp pieces of debris flying through the air.
Crash! Crack!
Then, with a huge cracking sound, something flew past Rivera.
A sharp wooden trunk was flying straight toward Laktea, who was barely holding himself against the ground.
‘No! It’s dangerous!!’
At that moment—
Whoosh!
Just like before, black magic resembling mist burst out from Rivera’s body.
Bang!
It pushed her away and shot toward Laktea like a cannon.
‘Huh?’
W-What?
How did this come out of me?!
Rivera was shocked to suddenly find herself alone.
She moved her eyes around in confusion.
But before she even had time to think, her body was already getting closer to the trembling Laktea.
She didn’t know what was happening, but she instinctively thought she had to save Laktea.
So she stretched her arms wide.
‘Laktea!’
Flash!
The moment she caught him in her arms—
‘Huh? But if I do this……’
‘Aren’t we just going to die together?’
She finally realized the situation.
‘W-Wait! Then this is pointless!’
Even as she rolled through the air while holding Laktea, the huge wooden trunk was still flying toward her.
Rivera held Laktea tightly and squeezed her eyes shut.
And then—
Slash!
Boom!
Not long after she closed her eyes, she heard a loud noise.
She slowly opened her eyes.
“!!”
There was Knox.
He had cut the flying tree trunk in half with his sword in a single strike.
And there was Aura, holding both Rivera and Laktea in her arms.
“Rivera!”
Knox quickly withdrew his magic and snatched Rivera from Aura’s arms.
“Ah, baby! Are you okay?! Baby!”
Rivera slowly raised her head and gave him a faint smile, telling him she was fine.
Of course, her frightened heart still hadn’t calmed down.
A cold sweat ran down her back.
‘Ah, that really scared me.’
Knox was relieved that Rivera wasn’t hurt.
But only for a moment.
He remembered the magic that had burst from Rivera’s body when she had left his arms.
“By the way…… could that just now have been……”
With eyes filled with confusion, Knox looked at his daughter in his arms.
