The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 457: The Same End

If the intention had been to catch him off guard, then congratulations to the Wyvern King, because he had definitely succeeded.

Riley genuinely wasn’t sure what the hell he was supposed to make of that.

For one, he’d definitely stopped. He wasn’t stupid enough to hear something like that and continue charging forward as though the ancient being hadn’t just practically invited him to attack.

But stopping didn’t mean letting his guard down.

The black dragon immediately shifted his weight, keeping the blood sword between himself and the massive figure before him while anticipating an attack from literally any direction.

Sure, it could’ve been goading.

But Riley himself knew perfectly well that sometimes goading was a technique to simply get others to do their bidding.

And what if rushing straight toward that guy was the equivalent of handing himself over on a silver platter?

The wary dragon changed his stance into a more defensive one, his slitted eyes remaining fixed on the Wyvern King as he tried to figure out what sort of game the bastard was playing.

Unfortunately, he almost stumbled forward when that same ancient voice spoke again.

"There isn’t much time. If you’re going to end it, then do it now."

"?!"

Riley stared.

"What?"

His head practically whipped upward as he looked straight at those eyes again. They were reasonably smaller now that he was no longer trapped in that strange void, but still more than large enough to match the colossal body of the Primordial Dragon before him.

Because surely he’d heard that wrong.

"You came all the way here, so what are you doing standing there?"

The question was delivered so expressionlessly that the ex-mortal found himself even more thrown off than he would’ve been had the bastard simply attacked him.

Finally, the black dragon let out a disbelieving scoff.

"And I’m supposed to believe you’re actually telling me to come closer to you? Ha!"

Because what else was he supposed to think?

It sounded insane.

Or, far more likely, like one hell of a trap.

"Did I stutter?" the Wyvern King asked. "Or did you truly believe you’d win otherwise?"

Well.

Spoken exactly like someone who had absolutely no doubts about his own power.

Riley’s grip tightened around his weapon construct, but before he could respond, the atmosphere inside the cavern abruptly changed.

The mana surrounding them shifted almost like a warning.

It wasn’t even an attack. Yet the sheer amount accumulated within that enormous chamber suddenly seemed to press down on everything inside it, making Riley tense immediately.

Had the Wyvern King finally decided to make his move?

Then he heard it.

A groan.

Weak.

Pained.

And coming from somewhere to his side.

The rightfully shocked dragon’s head turned toward the sound.

His heart nearly stopped.

Someone was hanging against the cavern wall.

The figure had been pinned against the massive wall of frozen stone behind them, their bloodied body held unnaturally in place even as their head hung limply forward. Matted strands of hair obscured most of their face, making it difficult for Riley to immediately tell who he was looking at.

But from what little he could make out, the color of that hair was horribly familiar.

"!"

For one terrible moment, Riley thought it was Lady Cirila.

Or worse, his very own Kael.

His heartbeat slammed so violently against his ribs that everything else practically disappeared beneath the sudden rush of blood in his ears.

"You!"

The restraint he’d somehow managed to maintain until then fractured.

His body twisted toward the captive as his wings burst violently from his back, unfurling with enough force to send the surrounding mana scattering. Riley’s eyes burned as he snarled at the Wyvern King, the blood sword in his hand surging dangerously in response to his emotions.

But the ancient being didn’t even react.

"The transfer was delayed by your sudden appearance," he said, as though discussing something completely mundane. "But that one is receiving blood from this body to test whether that heart will be able to withstand it. Once it proves capable of lasting longer, the heart will be transferred over."

Riley froze.

He hadn’t asked.

He hadn’t even been able to form the question.

Yet the Wyvern King had simply explained what was happening with the same complete lack of emotion he’d shown from the beginning.

And somehow, those words cut straight through the rage that had nearly sent Riley charging forward.

Riley’s gaze darted toward the captive again.

He seriously didn’t want to know whose face was hidden beneath that bloodied hair. Just the possibility that it belonged to someone he knew was already making it feel like he couldn’t breathe.

But before he could act on that panic, something else caught his eye.

Runes.

Countless runes had been carved behind and around the restrained figure, layered so densely that Riley immediately stopped himself from rushing over.

Shit.

Whatever those runes did, charging in blindly could trigger them.

The black dragon’s jaw clenched hard enough to hurt as his gaze frantically moved across the formation, trying to determine which parts could be altered or disabled without harming whoever was trapped inside.

"You fucker!"

Riley’s voice tore through the cavern, but that monster just calmly responded with, "You say that when it wouldn’t have happened had you shown up when asked."

He whipped back toward the Wyvern King, all the fear and confusion from moments earlier finally boiling over into outright fury.

"WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT?! COME ON!"

Because there had to be something.

The bastard had practically invited Riley to kill him, willingly explained what was being done to that captive, and still hadn’t made any attempt to attack despite clearly possessing enough power to crush the ex-mortal where he stood.

None of this made any fucking sense.

Yet even faced with Riley’s rage, the Wyvern King’s expression remained completely unchanged.

And when he finally answered, his voice was just as calm as before.

"The same thing as you."

Riley’s head snapped right back toward the Wyvern King.

"The same thing as me?" he repeated incredulously before tightening his grip around the blood sword. "You do realize I’m not seeking just any end, but YOUR end, right?"

There was clearly no time to be sarcastic, and frankly, this wasn’t even remotely how Riley had imagined their confrontation going.

He’d thought there would be mana surges.

A lot of destruction.

Probably an unreasonable amount of screaming while two pretentious overpowered beings tried to tear each other apart.

What he hadn’t prepared for was his supposed opponent standing there and talking to him as though Riley were the one being unnecessarily difficult.

"I am aware," the Wyvern King replied. "How else would you have been able to get this far had that not been the case?"

Riley stilled.

The ancient voice rang through the cavern with the unmistakable tone of an extremely old creature chastising someone significantly younger who just so happened to be Riley.

But the black dragon barely noticed the condescension.

Because something far more important had just clicked into place.

Their arrival.

The suspiciously easy descent through the base. The guards who’d barely reacted to them. The fact that they’d managed to get deeper and deeper into what should’ve been the most heavily protected place in Wyrmfall without triggering a full-scale response.

They’d known something was wrong.

But what if it really hadn’t been because the wyverns guarding this place were incompetent?

What if they—no, truly been allowed in?!

Riley’s expression changed instantly.

"You!"

His wings flared behind him as the realization sent another surge of panic through his already overheated body.

"It was you! What did you do with the others?!"

Because if this bastard had somehow orchestrated their entire entry without even needing to physically move, then what the hell had he done to Kael and Lady Cirila?

His mate had disappeared right beside him.

His mother-in-law had vanished at the exact same time.

And Riley had no way of knowing whether either of them was safe.

"They’re... occupied."

Riley’s eyes widened.

"OCCUPIED?!"

"Yes. This conversation wouldn’t have been possible with such variables present."

"HAH!"

Riley actually barked out the sound in sheer disbelief.

Variables.

This bastard had just referred to his increasingly homicidal husband and mother-in-law as variables as though he’d simply moved a couple of inconvenient objects out of the room.

Yet the Wyvern King didn’t appear remotely bothered by Riley’s reaction.

He looked completely serious.

Which somehow made the whole thing worse.

Riley stared at him for several seconds, almost waiting for the ancient creature to reveal that this was some elaborate attempt at screwing with his head.

Nothing.

Fine.

"You expect me to believe that you deliberately allowed us inside, somehow kept my companions occupied, and dragged me all the way here for what?" Riley demanded, gesturing angrily between them with his weapon. "So I could actually kill you?"

Did Riley actually seem so gullible to this guy that he’d possibly think—

However, just when the ex-mortal was thinking such thoughts, the being before him said, "I didn’t think I’d need to repeat it for someone supposedly smart enough."

An emerald eye twitched at that.

This massive piece of shit.

But before he could decide whether being insulted was enough reason to finally stab first and ask questions later, the Wyvern King’s next words stopped him.

"Or is it just too difficult to believe that not everyone wants to don the body of someone else?"

"!"

The Wyvern King’s eyes locked onto him with heavy, suffocating pressure.

"Who even told you that I wanted any of this?"

"!!!"