(Yuuta's POV)
"Elena's in danger…"
The words rang through my skull like a siren—relentless, deafening, smothering every other thought.
A little kid—barely old enough to tie their shoes—had said she went off with someone named Rock.
Rock?
I didn't know the name. Didn't care.
All I knew was that Elena was out there.
And I wasn't.
I barely registered my legs moving. The panic had already kicked in, and logic hadn't even tried to keep up.
"Elena—!" I lunged for the hallway door, heart jackhammering in my chest.
But the moment I cracked it open—
"Yuuta!"
A hand yanked my collar back so hard my feet left the floor—and I was slammed into the cold tiles like a sack of bricks.
Air. Gone.
I choked, the impact rattling my spine.
Hovering above me, Erika stood—shaking, wild-eyed. Her voice hit me like broken glass.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to get us all killed?!"
I tried to push up, but she kicked the door shut with her heel and dropped her knee to my chest, pinning me.
"My daughter's out there!" I barked, my voice cracking under the weight of it. "With a stranger! No... a terriosit, I don't care what the risk is—she's out there alone!"
"And what if the guards saw that door open, huh?!" she shot back. "What then?! You want them storming in here, gunning down these kids while you're out playing desperate hero?!"
"I don't care!" I shouted. "I don't—I can't just sit here while—!"
SLAP.
Her hand struck fast.
The room froze.
My skin stung where her palm met cheek. Not from the force… but from the shock of it.
I looked up.
Erika's hands were trembling. But her voice?
Steel.
"Snap out of it."
I said nothing.
She didn't wait.
"Look at them!" Erika shouted, She pointed behind her—toward the children, hiding in corners, watching with tear-filled eyes.
"Look at their eyes! Don't you see it? They're scared out of their damn minds—terrified! But still… still they're clinging to you like you're their last hope!"
She grabbed my shirt and shook me.
"They think you'll save them, Yuuta! Even when death is crawling down their backs, they're putting their trust in you! And what are you doing?! Throwing that away because you're panicking?!"
Her voice cracked—not from weakness, but from the weight of everything pressing down on us.
"You think you're the only one who's scared to lose someone?! Then grow the hell up! We don't have the luxury to fall apart. Not now. Not when they're watching us!"
I clenched my fists.
Her voice lowered.
"You screw up again, and you won't just lose her. You'll lose them too."
My breath caught.
And slowly… finally… the fire in my chest began to cool.
I turned, truly seeing them now—the quiet little faces peeking around crates, clutching at each other like the floor might vanish beneath them.
Tiny hearts… hoping I'd lead them to safety.
"...I'm sorry," I whispered. "I—I just…"
"I know," Erika said softly, stepping back. "We all feel it. But if you want to help Elena… start here."
I nodded.
Then reached into my jacket and pulled out the map Zeke had given me hours ago.
A crude drawing—lines and notes scribbled in barely legible script. But I had stared at it long enough to know one thing:
There was a way out.
"There," I pointed, tapping the eastern quadrant. "Beneath the old servant wing. There's a chamber. It might connect to an escape tunnel from the war era."
Erika squinted. "You sure?"
"Nope," I said, voice flat. "But it's our best shot."
Without another word, she moved. Swift. Quiet. Precise.
We led the kids down an old corridor—walls lined with moss, floors cracked and uneven. At the far end, she found it: a slightly-loose stone panel in the wall, almost invisible unless you knew exactly where to look.
Erika grunted, pressing her weight against it—and it slid open with a low, hollow groan.
Behind it, a tunnel yawned into darkness. Wood-lined. Narrow. Freezing.
"…Royal servant tunnel," she whispered. "From before the Academy turned military."
I knelt and gestured the kids forward. "One at a time. Stay quiet. Stay low."
They obeyed.
No crying. No screaming.
Just tiny footsteps, one by one, crawling toward a sliver of safety.
Erika led from the front.
I took the rear, constantly glancing back, heart thudding like a war drum against my ribs.
Even as I whispered calming words, even as I smiled for their sake…
Inside, another voice wouldn't shut up.
Move faster. Get them out. Then find her.
Because this wasn't the end.
Not even close.
Elena was still waiting.
And I wasn't going to stop…
not until she was back in my arms.
The tunnel felt like it was swallowing us whole.
The air was damp and musty, clinging to our skin like sweat on a bad dream. The walls were close—too close. Every breath echoed back at us, bounced between the stone, whispering like ghosts. It wasn't panic yet, but it was there… beneath the surface. Waiting.
We had only the dim beams from our phone flashlights to guide us—wobbly circles of light trembling against ancient bricks.
The kids didn't speak much. Just small sounds—a sniffle here, a gasp there. But they moved. That was what mattered.
They kept going.
So did I.
Step by step. Breath by breath.
Giving up wasn't even a conversation.
Then, after what felt like hours…
A soft light shimmered in the distance.
"…Light," someone whispered.
The word passed through the tunnel like a prayer. A spark of belief.
Erika didn't hesitate.
She pushed through the line, boots scraping against the uneven ground, and when she reached the door—an old, rust-covered slab of metal bolted into stone—she didn't wait.
BANG.
With one fierce kick, the door groaned, then gave way.
Creeeaaaak.
A wave of golden morning light poured through the crack. Then more. It flooded the tunnel like a blessing, warm and real and… alive.
We had made it.
The kids stared, blinking hard as they stepped out into the open. A quiet gasp rolled through them, one after another, like they weren't sure it was real.
It was.
We were outside.
The sky above us was a pale, cloudy blue—thick with early mist. The cold air hit our faces like a second chance.
Erika stood at the edge, shoulders heaving. For a moment, she just stood there. Breathing. Alive.
Then her phone buzzed in her coat pocket—signal restored.
She let out a gasp and immediately turned away, stepping to the side and dialing with shaking fingers. Her voice dropped low and fast, all sharp edges and clipped words as she spoke into the receiver.
I didn't listen.
My focus was on the kids.
One by one, I helped them out of the tunnel—checking hands, counting heads, making sure no one was left behind. A little boy tripped, and I caught him before he hit the ground. Another girl started to cry when she saw the sun, and I knelt beside her, whispering soft things I didn't even remember saying.
And then… the last pair of feet stepped onto the grass.
I exhaled.
A full breath. Deep and heavy. It was the first time I'd felt it in hours.
Then I turned.
Erika was still on the phone, barking orders to someone—probably the agency. Relief and panic warred on her face like a battlefield.
I took a step toward her.
"I've done my part," I said softly.
She paused mid-sentence. "What?"
I met her eyes.
"If I don't come back…"
She froze.
"…Tell Erza I loved her."
Her lips parted, a protest already forming.
But I didn't let her speak.
I turned back to the tunnel.
And I slammed the door shut behind me.
BAM.
"Yuuta!"
Her voice shattered against the metal.
I heard her boots pounding toward the door.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
"What are you doing!? Don't—Yuuta, don't do this!"
She was shouting now. Her voice cracked on the last word.
"Don't go back! Please, don't be stupid!"
But I didn't stop.
I didn't even look back.
Because by then… I was already running.
Running back into the dark.
Back into danger.
Back into the cursed walls of that godforsaken academy.
Because somewhere inside—
She was still waiting.
My daughter.
Elena.
And for me, there was no world, no war, no heaven or hell more important than that.
(Erza's POV)
According to Sara's latest report, Allen Manstar is now officially designated as the main villain of Earth's current threat level.
About time.
A demon who's managed to walk this planet for over a thousand years—hiding behind fake identities, exploiting loopholes in old contracts, slipping beneath every technological net Earth's governments have ever cast.
And still… not a single agency has stopped him.
Disgraceful.
But that wasn't what bothered me most.
It wasn't Allen's power, or the corruption he wove through their politics like an infection.
No, what made my blood simmer was the fact that Earth's so-called "defense forces" treated him like a myth. A rumor. A ghost story for bureaucrats too lazy to chase the truth.
Allen didn't need brute force to conquer this world.
He only needed their apathy.
Pathetic.
Still… the true problem?
Me.
Somewhere in my mind, I caught myself comparing him to Muzan—What was that show called, Shit, I found myself thinking about anime. Again.
I let out a low growl, rubbing my temple.
Damn You Mortal.
That idiot and his ridiculous "family movie nights."
Thanks to him and that walking fossil of a grandfather, I've been forced to watch everything from cooking competitions to demon-slaying fantasies where hero lost his family and he has only little sister.
And now, my once-proud dragon brain is tainted. Polluted with pop culture.
Curse you, idoit Mortal.
My comm crystal buzzed on the table beside me.
I glanced at it lazily at first, assuming it was another routine status update. Probably Fiona reporting someone's late coffee delivery again.
But then—Sara's voice broke through, laced with panic.
"Chief! We need help—we need backup!"
My head snapped toward the comm.
Sara never panicked.
I stood at once, crossing the room with swift, precise steps. The so-called "elite captains" barely moved, lounging in their leather chairs like fashion models playing soldiers.
Useless.
I leaned over Sara's console.
"What happened?"
She looked up at me—face pale, jaw clenched. "We lost communication with Unit 9."
Just then, a faint voice cut through the comm.
"Big sister… Erza… can you—kzzt—hear me?"
Erika.
Her voice was trembling. Choppy. Weak.
"We got hijacked… by someone called Mobius… they captured Elena… I—I think they're after… your brother…"
"Yuuta… is in danger…he went in alone."
The line cut.
Silence.
Fiona tried to reestablish the link, her fingers flying across the console—but her expression said it all.
"Connection's dead," she whispered. "They jammed the frequency."
My whole body went still. "YUUTA IS IN DANGER".
(Sara Venom's POV)
The silence in the room wasn't ordinary.
It was the kind of silence that draped itself over the skin like a wet cloth—heavy, smothering, cold. Not a peaceful quiet.
Not the kind that follows relief.
This silence…
It felt like the breath the world holds before something terrible happens.
And maybe—just maybe—I should've known this was coming.
Allen had always been elusive demon.
A whisper in a storm. A name spoken in low tones by terrified men.
He'd been working in the shadows long before I ever joined the Directorate.
It made sense, in a horrifying way, that he was tied to them.
Mobius.
I swallowed hard.
I should've put it together sooner. The patterns. The disappearances. The data blackouts.
I had the pieces.
I just hadn't seen the full picture.
But even that realization—sharp and terrifying as it was—faded to dust when she moved.
I didn't hear her.
I felt her.
Before her voice, before her steps, before anything…
Came the pressure.....Killing Intent.
It rolled across the room like an invisible wave, thick and unnatural, warping the very air around us.
It pressed down on my shoulders until I felt my knees start to bend.
My lungs tightened, as if the oxygen itself had thinned.
The temperature dropped—not metaphorically. Literally.
Frost crawled up the metal legs of the conference table.
Breath became visible mist.
And one by one, the guards—trained, armed, lethal—collapsed to the floor.
No warning.
No resistance.
Just—gone.
Unconscious.
Crushed by the weight of her killing intent.
I couldn't even turn to look at her.
My neck was locked in place.
It took every ounce of effort to shift my eyes across the room.
And there she was.
Erza.
Standing still.
Not speaking.
Not moving.
Not needing to.
She didn't have to yell or flare her power like some unstable brute.
No—
Her presence alone commanded silence.
Her expression was unreadable, carved from something ancient and unmoving.
Her eyes glowed faintly—not with fire, but with ice.
Cold.
Deadly.
There was no emotion on her face.
Only quiet intent.
Like a storm had paused, briefly, to ask a question before it decided whether or not to wipe out everything in sight.
Even Fiona—stoic, deadly Fiona—was kneeling, her hand gripping the edge of a desk for support, her breath shallow, her eyes wide with something dangerously close to fear.
All around us, the tech began to fail.
First the monitors blinked.
Then the lights flickered and dimmed.
Even the hum of the ventilation died away until there was nothing left.
Just her.
Then, Erza spoke.
Her voice was soft.
Too soft for how it hit.
"Who is Mobius?"
Three words.
But the weight of them felt like a blade pressed against my throat.
I opened my mouth. Tried to speak.
Nothing came out.
I was a veteran of dozens of war rooms.
I'd held my ground in global tribunals, sat across monsters disguised as men.
But nothing—nothing—had prepared me for this.
Still, I tried to salvage it.
A piece of me still thought I could.
I forced a breath. Then a smile that felt like broken glass across my teeth.
"Erza…" I began, carefully, slowly, like I was trying not to wake a sleeping god. "We're handling it. I promise. Yuuta and Elena will be rescued. We're already moving. This is under control."
The lie tasted bitter on my tongue.
She didn't respond.
Didn't even look at me.
Just kept staring into the void of the room, as if she could already see the blood that might be spilled.
Then—
She took a step forward.
And with it, the floor cracked beneath her heel.
Hairline fractures, delicate but deep—like the building itself was splintering under her grief.
"I won't ask again…"
The words were slower this time.
Measured.
Each syllable sharp as broken glass.
"Who. Is. Mobius?"
For a moment, time forgot how to move.
I realized then—
This wasn't fury.
This wasn't desperation.
This was Erza the Altanis Cold blood sword, stripped of the last restraint she'd kept buried for the sake of Yuuta.
This was the woman the legends feared.
The one Kingdom whispered about in closed-door meetings.
The one who could destroy nations Just because she didn't like stall food.
And right now?
She had stopped caring.
To Be Continued...
(Special Author Note – From the Konuari Household)
(Yuuta's POV)
Hey hey—it's me, Yuuta.
Still alive. Still married to a dragon. Somehow.
And guess what?
We finally launched our new novel!
Yep. A fresh slice-of-life story filled with the daily chaos of a totally normal family that just happens to include dragons, magic, and spontaneous near-death experiences.
Wanna know how to find it?
"Can't you focus on this novel already? Why are you promoting another one? We have deadlines, mortal."
That voice came from behind me—calm, cold… deadly.
I didn't have to turn around to know it was Erza.
"…Just shut up already," I mumbled under my breath.
Silence.
The kind of silence that feels like the final countdown.
Grandpa, peacefully sipping his tea nearby, froze mid-sip. Then… clink—he dropped his cup. Shattered. Like my chances of survival.
Elena peeked around the corner, hands pressed together in prayer.
"Papa will be remembered… for at least two generations."
Wait—
Did I say that out loud?
I looked at Grandpa.
He nodded, grim.
"...My dear wife," I said quickly, turning around with a shaky smile, "y-you didn't hear that, right?"
Erza's glare could turn stone to dust.
"You idiot mortal," she growled. "How dare you talk back to me like that?"
"Oops," I laughed nervously. "I forgot who I was talking to… my lovely, extremely patient wife."
She cracked her knuckles, each pop like a ticking clock.
"Come here. Today's the day you finally die."
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I swear—!"
"Heeey~!"
It was Elena—smiling big, holding her plush dragon in one hand and waving like she was a tiny princess on TV.
"Don't worry, readers!" she said with a giggle. "If you wanna read our new story, it's super easy!"
She stepped forward, puffed her cheeks a little like she was getting serious, and said proudly:
✨ "Just go to the search bar and type: My Dragon Family (Konuari Chronicles)!" ✨
Then she twirled around and clapped her hands.
"That's it! Now go read it before Mama turns Papa into ice again~!"
…Too late.