Villain of my own novel

32 years ago.

The age of The Fallen. Exactly 32 years ago, the gods that were worshipped by the people of the planet Antinoüs were finally able to "see" the existence of the beings that they called gods.

These gods did nothing except gain believers on the planet Antinoüs, just like the people stereotypically thought that the gods only gathered believers to make themselves stronger, but that wasn't it. Even though it was true that the gods would cease to exist if they didn't have any believers, that wasn't really the reason they gathered them; it was to show them that those that believed in themselves and their hard work would rise to the top as the things that they built for themselves wouldn't ever betray their trust. As cliché as it seemed, it was the truth.

And soon, approximately half a year later, after the gods' forcible descent, "fanatics," who believed only the god they worshipped to be the strongest, began to act hostile towards other worshippers as their own faith and belief towards the gods they survived began to turn violent, as the gods, who didn't have the ability to make their believers stop doing such atrocious things, garnered the moniker "The Fallen."

And it wasn't even a month later after these acts began that a "hunter" descended; nothing was known about him, but before long, he began to hunt down the gods in a certain pattern. He hunted down many "unknown" but strong gods, 12 to be exact, and disappeared entirely after collecting the cores of the gods he hunted, leaving behind an example for a "perfect being," as the fanatics called, and exactly nine of the gods for the world to hunt down.

Enraged by the fact that a being that looked similar to a human dared to kill the gods many other races worshipped, the entire world itself was thrown into chaos. Other races, such as demi-humans, elves, dwarfs, and beast-men, declared war against the humans after years of a long, exhausting, meaningless war where the humans seemed to have had the upper hand due to the existence of the beings called demi-gods, and exactly when the entire world was drenched in a subtle scent of blood, an existence that none dared to ignore walked to the ruler—the emperor—of the humans and bowed its head, surrendering itself even though it was hailed as the representative of the other races.

It was a war that could have been easily won by the force of the other races if they had the help of the dragons, just like the humans had the help of the demi-gods, but since dragons were "neutral" beings that were restricted from doing anything that went against the laws of the divine, the war was as good as lost.

The representative that surrendered to the humans was none other than the dragon king's daughter, who was declared to be a saint with the purest dragon blood. Due to her heart-breaking, noble sacrifice, the meaningless bad blood between the other races slowly but surely ceased. Due to some fanatics still revolting against the humans, the dragon king, who respected his daughter's noble sacrifice, came forward and initiated a "World Pact."

The pact stated that, with the dragon king's daughter, the saintess, as an offering to the humans to cease the meaningless war, every race in existence would be allied with each other, and none would ever fight for the things that they deemed unnecessary, and the overseer of the pact would be the dragons. There was a hidden meaning in the last condition; it meant that the other races would be forced to suck it up if anything seemed unnecessary in the eyes of the dragons.

As soon as the pact was agreed upon, the pact turned into particles of blinding golden, holy light, and the miniature dust-like particles seeped into the souls of every existence that existed in the world before they forgot every bit of the enmity they had built up over the years and began to live in harmony, as the dragons, who remembered everything, went into seclusion and abandoned the world, disappearing just like the hunter.

(AN: OMNISCIENT POV)

Or so the story of the world unfolded, but there was one more thing that none, except for those in the imperial palace and me, knew about. It was about what happened to the dragon princess, or the saintess, as they called her.

"Hahahahahaha, haaa..." I laughed hysterically behind my ever-scribbling, pitch-black mask and sighed as my laughter neared its end, my face slightly twisted in disgust.

"Disgusting."

***

Present.

A while back.

On a humongous throne sat an ant-like humanoid figure with an exhausted expression on his face.

He gazed at the humongous, dull, but lively city in front of him. Though he called it a city, it was nothing but mountains that surrounded his throne, towering over it. The mountains had several caves, at least a hundred of which were counted, and many dragons were seen flying around from one cave to another with solemn expressions on their faces, but the being sitting on the throne could tell that they were lively, burying the sadness deep inside their hearts.

Even though it had been 32 years since then, which was a long enough time for humans to forget something or someone precious, it couldn't be said to be the same for the dragons, for whom the time flew differently, extremely slowly.

'If I could.... if I just had an opportunity to go against the laws of the divine, I would do whatever I could to get back my daughter!' The dragon king, Mandrasath, swore inwardly.

He regretted what he did 32 years ago. Sometimes he would think of many what-ifs and maybes. What if or maybe he should have made a deal with that "hunter" from that time to annihilate the humans of this world with his own dragon core as the price, and just maybe he would have had chance to hold on to his precious daughter.

"If only I could...." Mandrasath mumbled with a sigh and leaned back, slumping back on his throne with his legs dangling from the edge of the throne.

"!!!!" It was then that he, together with every dragon present, felt somebody enter the barrier that concealed the entire island, the dragons hid masterfully. Sitting back up on the humongous throne, as his aura adjusted itself accordingly to his actions, he waited for the being to enter.

WHOOOOMMM-!!!

Hundreds of humongous dragons flew towards the throne and stood in front of it in two parallel lines, facing each other while forming a canopy with their necks and heads.

STEP-!!

And before a minute passed, a silhouetted figure walked in a slow, calm, and confident manner, with an imperial aura surrounding him. Even though the figure walking towards them was akin to an ant to the dragons, they didn't dare act recklessly because the barrier that concealed their island couldn't ever be passed through with mere luck or a coincidence.

[State your business, human.] Mandrasath said in an irritated tone as he assumed that the figure in front him was a human with his body structure or a dragon like himself, and the latter case seemed slightly absurd because he was the dragon king and he knew of all the dragons in existence. Even though Mandrasath figured the being to be a human, he couldn't discard his skill just because he didn't like humans, so he thought of hearing him out first before deciding what to do with him.

'It is good news if he has some information that would get me involved in the matters of the outside world without going against the laws of the divine.' Mandrasath thought inwardly. His plan now was simple: he was going to hear out what the person in front of him had to say, and if it didn't pique his interest, then he would do a few humanly possible things to get out the information about the outside world.

[Stop!] Mandrasath roared abruptly, and the being walking towards him continued to walk towards the dragonoid canopy, ignoring the dragon king's roar.

STEP-!

[Halt, human!] A red dragon roared, glaring down at the person walking into the canopy.

[Did you not hear my Liege's words?] The red dragon roared again.

"He never spoke to me." The human spoke in an indescribable voice, which made a few dragons shudder subtly.

[You dare speak informally!??] The red dragon roared again.

[My Liege! At your command!] The red dragon roared with his head lowered more than before.

[I certainly had not spoken to the human, Yong.] Mandrasath confirmed the human's words in a calm manner, leaving the dragons slightly baffled by his actions.

[How did you know, human?] Mandrasath asked, and just like the human head just claimed, Mandrasath hadn't spoken to him; his roar was directed at a dragon that was preparing to attack the human as he walked amid the canopy. No, Mandrasath wasn't worried for the human; he was worried about what would happen to the dragon if he attacked the human, whose even subtle aura was giving chills to the dragon king.

[You should never underestimate your opponent, Teera.] Mandrasath said, glancing at a brown dragon from the corner of his eyes because Teera was the one who had readied himself to attack the human.

[My apologies, my Liege.] Teera apologised without a hint of sorry in his tone, showing how "very" apologetic he was.

[Hmm. State your business, human.] Mandrasath nodded his head in approval and said again, glancing at the human that had stepped into the domain of the dragons.

"....."