Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 29: The King’s Judgement (3)

Dragon Raja 3

Golden light shone on her forehead.

“How did you end up like this? My princess is all messed up!” Someone gently touched her head, speaking softly, “Get up, Renata.”

Renata vaguely saw those puppy-like, pleading eyes swaying in front of her. Had the fighter jets left? Her mind was muddled. Zero had woken up, and now she was dying.

“I’m going to die,” she said softly, tears streaming down her face.

Zero squatted beside her, looking at the mass of blood and flesh indifferently. “You silly girl, why didn’t you run toward me? I could’ve taken care of them for you.”

Renata didn’t know how to respond. She couldn’t feel pain anymore—the explosion had destroyed some of her nerves. Darkness gradually covered her vision; it was the shadow of death enveloping her. She reached out, fumbling in the air, wanting to hold Zero’s hand, to feel a bit of warmth.

“On this journey, we will not abandon or betray each other, until the end of death,” she mumbled.

Zero was silent for a long moment before he sighed. “Silly girl, have you never been lied to? Vows are the least reliable thing in the world! People only keep their promises when you still have value to them. Now that you’re all blown up like this, you’re of no use to me anymore—so there’s no need for me to keep my promise.” He stroked her charred golden hair. “But this makes me feel like I’m a bad person, you’ve added to my guilt! Okay, fine, I am a bad person, but I hate owing people anything.”

“Let’s renew the contract. From now on, I will always keep you by my side, never abandoning, never leaving you. But you have to stay useful to me; if one day you’re no longer useful, I will still throw you away.”

“But I’m dying,” Renata’s voice grew weaker.

“No, Renata, you won’t die. Do you remember Papaver radicatum? It doesn’t die. There’s always a kind of life in this world that dies only to return.” Zero placed the white iron box in her hand. A pale yellow Arctic poppy bloomed in the extreme cold, its green stem reminiscent of spring.

“I once promised to give you freedom as your birthday gift, and you said it was your only birthday gift. Every girl should have a birthday present—a girl without a birthday present is very pitiful.” He kissed Renata on the lips, “Live on, Renata. There are so many beautiful things out there you have yet to experience, like hugging, kissing, and the love between a man and a woman. So, don’t die.”

He placed Renata down on the ice, cupping snow and covering her face, reciting ancient words. In her daze, Renata saw ripples—warm water, with a pair of strong arms supporting her, lowering her into the warmth. It was a baptism, a rebirth. Zero, bathed in sunlight, held her from the water and kissed her lips.

It was a welcoming gesture, as if reunited after thousands of years apart—so joyful, so familiar. Between them existed a contract forged over millennia, a pact that brought the dead back to life and made withered flowers bloom again. Today, he had finally returned with this contract to declare to the world his right to her.

That was her fate!

The squadron leader couldn’t believe his eyes—the boy in the straitjacket slowly stood up from the ice, his thin back straightening defiantly against the wind. Just a little more pressure, and all the rockets in the cluster would be fired, but he couldn’t—his finger trembled.

Zero kicked open the lid of the ammunition box, picking up a bullet and casually placing it in the air. The bullet floated above his head, shaking as if defying Earth’s gravity. He placed one bullet after another, like a god arranging stars in a newly created sky. The large-caliber machine gun bullets began to tremble, like a group of spirits awakening from a dream, the mottled brass bullets glistening faintly, ancient patterns surfacing.

Zero looked coldly at the approaching Su-27. “She waited her whole life for her first birthday gift—do you really want to take that away?”

He punched into the void, and the primers of all the bullets were struck! Hundreds of bullets fired simultaneously, a barrage aimed at the Su-27, so dense they collided mid-air! More bullets rose from the ammunition box, sliding along an invisible path to the positions Zero had designated, and then fired.

The squadron leader pressed the fire button.

Zero laughed wildly, sweeping out sheets of bullets with a wave of his hand. All the cluster rockets were destroyed, the Su-27’s fuselage pierced by countless bullets. It flew over Zero’s head before exploding into a massive fireball.

The wingman, Swallow, witnessed it all, stunned beyond belief. The boy on the ice could no longer be considered “human.” With just a wave of his hand, he unleashed an attack like the “CIWS” on an American cruiser. He seemed to hold all the powers in the world, and any one of them could take Swallow’s life in an instant.

“Calling Swallow! Calling Swallow! What’s going on? White Stork’s signal disappeared!” The voice of the deputy squadron leader came through the headset.

Swallow shouted as if blessed by a deity, “Prepare all your weapons! Prepare all your weapons! I’ll send the coordinates immediately! Drop everything you’ve got on those coordinates! It’s a monster! A monster!”

The deputy squadron leader was stunned. Though Swallow was the squadron leader’s wingman, he was also an ace pilot. No ace pilot would ever request fire support like that. The rest of the squadron—eight fully armed Su-27 fighters—were approaching. If they unleashed all their weapons, they’d flatten a five-square-kilometer area. Some of them even carried bunker-buster bombs.

“Don’t wait! Beyond-visual-range attack! Hurry! The squadron leader was destroyed by that target! It’s a superweapon!” Swallow shouted.

He dared not say it was a boy—otherwise, the deputy squadron leader would think he’d gone mad and insist on taking a look. Swallow knew that waiting for his comrades to enter visual range would be too late. No one knew what else the boy was capable of. The laws of physics seemed to mean nothing to him. The only way was to bury him under overwhelming firepower!

“Understood! Targeting coordinates provided by Swallow. Ground missiles ready! Bunker-buster bombs ready! Cluster rockets ready!” The deputy squadron leader ordered.

Zero raised his head, staring at the aircraft sparkling like stars in the southern sky, sensing the approaching tide of danger. He closed his eyes, amplifying his hearing almost infinitely, able to discern the beeping of ground-to-surface missiles and bunker-buster bombs, the clicking sound of cluster rockets being positioned in their chambers, and the rolling of machine gun belts. But the ammunition box at his feet was empty; he was already defenseless.

“Sometimes I see you as pitifully insignificant, but most of the time, your stupidity is unforgivable!” Zero looked up at the sky. Wings of white bone broke out from his spine, the airflow lifting him into the air. Zero spread his arms, resembling Jesus bound to the cross, seeming to convulse slightly in pain. Raging black energy poured from his eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears, gathering and snaking around his body, moving at high speed.

Series Navigation

<< Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 28: The King’s Judgement (2)Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 30: The King’s Judgement (4) >>