The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 468: Without Interference

To be called by a name she hadn’t used in such a long time felt like an acknowledgment of everything she’d gone through just to reach this point.

From being forced to leave her home and her own child in search of her mate, to falling ill with something completely unknown and eventually realizing it might’ve been a testament to the kind of torture her other half was going through.

Then there was the moment she’d been forced to stop searching altogether because continuing had become physically impossible.

Ilyss had been desperate enough to preserve her own life simply to ensure Orryn’s wouldn’t be cut short because of her.

Looking back on all of it now almost felt like a dream, especially when she remembered finally waking from that self-induced coma only to learn that there wasn’t just a possible lead about her mate, but news about her son as well.

She’d nearly passed out all over again after waking in an unfamiliar place, thankfully surrounded by people who’d taken her in after finding her collapsed. Then, while trying to understand where she even was, Ilyss had chanced upon unfamiliar technology showing an all-too-familiar dragon breathing down on the MBE.

She’d almost left right then and there.

Unfortunately, she’d also learned what had happened to Eryndra afterward and was eventually dissuaded from leaving when she could barely even shift forms after spending so long in the state she’d been in.

They told her it was dangerous and as ironic as that was, it was regrettably true when she hadn’t even recovered enough to send a distress signal to her family.

But just when Ilyss had finally regained enough strength to at least make the journey toward the Dravaryn Dominion, those blasted wyverns had attacked the village.

It was a sight that would probably haunt her forever.

Those people who’d helped her were gone, all because she’d been powerless to do anything.

A golden dragon who couldn’t even wipe out a horde of those pseudo-wyverns?

What use was she?

She’d always gone around talking big about what she could do, but at that moment, Ilyss had felt so much worse than a mortal. Those villagers had ended up protecting until the very end when it should’ve been the other way around.

And apparently, failing to do anything when it counted hadn’t been enough.

Because afterward, she’d learned that her body was going to be used to patch up what had to be the bringer of the apocalypse.

Even then, the terror she felt upon understanding that she was going to die couldn’t compare to the regret of knowing she’d come so close yet remained so far away from seeing her family again.

How embarrassing was that?

She was going to die knowing they were at least alive, while punishing them until the very end by leaving them without any idea of what had happened to her.

Worse, she would leave behind the very monster who’d survive because of her blasted body.

Well, that was until the excruciating pain that had practically killed her abruptly disappeared, only for everything to be unexpectedly reversed.

And then came the truth that nearly had Ilyss rethinking her entire life.

Apparently, the being who carried the presence of an impossibly ancient dragon had never intended for any of this to happen in the first place.

For a time, the Wyvern King had still believed there might be another way. But somewhere along the way, he’d realized just how far gone his mate truly was. And once it became clear that no one else might be able to stop them, he’d ended up giving what little life force he hadn’t already handed over to the being crazy enough to confront him directly to Ilyss instead.

Somehow, she’d become the insurance.

So rather than dying as she’d expected, Ilyss had been pulled straight back from death’s door and given one last chance to make things right.

She’d already been late enough when it came to the Wyvern Queen and could only pray she’d at least understood that King’s sentiments in the end.

Because despite how much Ilyss hated Rhazira and everything that woman had done, she was also painfully aware of the things someone could be willing to do for their own mate.

But that was beside the point right now.

Because of all the things she’d been ordered to do, what came next felt like the most important for all of them and the future.

So instead of spilling everything right then and there and finally breaking down, Ilyss was going to suck it up.

At least for now.

__

Her face scrunched up, looking like she was genuinely about to cry at the sound of her own name.

But instead of breaking down, or rushing to be comforted by the woman she had always admired, Ilyss sniffled hard and forced herself to keep going.

"Yes, yes, Auntie, it’s me, Ilyss." She still looked ready to burst into tears, but pressed on desperately. "I’ll explain later. For now, we need to move Kael right away."

At that, the stunned Lady Cirila suddenly remembered exactly who she’d been protecting all this time.

Her stomach dropped in sheer panic the moment she looked down at Kael and truly registered his horrifying condition. Her hands trembled violently as she reached out to touch him, but Cirila forced down the overwhelming urge to cry and scream when Ilyss spoke again.

"Auntie, we can’t use mana right now. We need to do this manually."

"Right. Okay."

The two women, both breathing hard and practically drowning in distress, trudged forward as they supported the battered body of the Dragon Lord between them, carrying him toward the spot Ilyss directed them to.

Only then did Lady Cirila finally look up.

And gasp.

Because there was now a massive and honestly terrifying change in the cavern around them.

Visible threads of mana—no, practically leylines—that definitely hadn’t existed before were growing all around them.

Cirila couldn’t see the full picture from where they were, but as her gaze followed those glowing strands back toward their origin, she realized every single one of them was converging upon one figure.

Riley.

Lady Cirila gasped again as they drew closer.

It was definitely her son-in-law.

But aside from already being in a state of partial draconic shift, Riley’s hair had grown significantly longer. It reminded Cirila of the first time he’d transformed into a mature black dragon, except something about this felt entirely different.

Lady Cirila instinctively stepped forward and almost reached out to him.

Ilyss immediately stopped her.

"We can’t touch him. The whole thing needs to run its course without our interference." She glanced toward the unconscious dragon they were carrying. "At best, only this guy can get close enough."

"What?"

Ilyss looked down at her cousin’s battered body as they attempted to lay him on the ground as close as possible to the man currently turning into some sort of demigod right before their eyes.

Unfortunately, even that proved to be an agonizing task.

Without being able to use their own mana, resisting the raw, pulsing force radiating from the shifting being made every single step feel as though they were trying to push through a mountain.

Eventually, they simply couldn’t go any farther.

It certainly wasn’t Ilyss’s proudest moment, but she had no other choice.

After lowering Kael as carefully as they could, she gave her unconscious cousin one final push toward Riley.

Then Ilyss dropped to her knees.

Her entire body trembled instinctively as she prayed with everything she had.

Both Ilyss and Lady Cirila finally collapsed onto the ground, no longer able to fight against the overwhelming force pressing them down.

"What do we do now, Ilyss?!" Lady Cirila called out over the increasingly deafening hum of energy.

With all the strength draining from her legs now that she’d completed what she needed to do, Ilyss could only stare ahead and mutter, "Now we wait. At best, we pray."

And pray she did.

She prayed that she’d correctly understood and remembered the Wyvern King’s final instructions.

That he hadn’t lied to her.

And most importantly, that the glowing threads now reaching for her cousin weren’t there to kill him.

Because right before their eyes, those visible threads of light began wrapping themselves around Kael.

Lady Cirila’s breath caught.

The glowing leylines gently lifted her unconscious son from the ground, drawing his battered body upward toward the being who seemed to serve as the source of all that terrifying power.

More strands followed.

They wove themselves around Riley and Kael alike, curling around their bodies until the two were gradually cocooned together within an ethereal display of light.

And from where the two women remained helplessly pinned against the ruined cavern floor, neither could do anything but watch as the glowing leylines continued weaving themselves around the pair on a scale that felt less like magic and more like something terrifyingly cosmic.