Kuro walked up toward the giant prison door as his shadow soldiers, other than his knight-rank soldiers and Gluttony, went back into his shadow.
Kuro looked at the ancient-looking door one last time before touching it.
Tti-ring!
[The prison warden has been defeated.]
[The Sealed Prison is now unlocked.]
[Do you wish to enter?]
"Yes."
Kuro took a deep breath before pushing on the door. After using quite a lot of strength, the door budges and creaks.
Slowly, it opened up and Kuro felt a blast of wind and dust hit his face.
Kuro stepped back momentarily as the door continued to open by itself.
Kuro nodded, not looking away from the now fully opened entrance. The darkness inside was unnerving—an oppressive quiet stretching far beyond what his eyes could see.
Without another word, Kuro stepped forward, the cold stone floor beneath him echoing with each step.
Kuro looks around as he keeps his vigilance, in case of attacks. Soon, he reaches a large chamber. Its stone walls are lined with chains and cages.
However, Kuro was not looking at the chains or cages. He looks at the enormous white-scaled figure that is shackled by all of the chains inside the chamber.
Kuro could feel the breath of the figure, although barely. Kuro didn't go near it but instead sent some of his shadow soldiers to move around it and touch it to see if it would respond.
At first, there was no response from the figure. The shadow soldiers got more daring and one even jumped on the head of the figure.
It seems that getting jumped on its head woke the figure up as a deep pained sound echoes through the chamber.
"You. You are not Scaris. I can't sense Photon Energy from you. So why are you here?" The voice asked Kuro as it lifted its head. The chains click and clang against each other as the beast moves.
Kuro was finally able to see the white-scaled figure as he took in a deep dust-filled air. "Dragon?"
Kuro took a cautious step back, his eyes scanning the dragon, trying to take in every detail. The creature was massive, its scales shimmering even in the dim light, though the chains that bound it were an unsettling contrast to its majestic form. The dragon's eyes gleamed with ancient wisdom and, perhaps, a touch of bitterness as if it had been imprisoned for centuries.
"Oh? You haven't seen one before?"
"I've heard of dragons, but…" Kuro paused, trying to gauge the dragon's mood, "I haven't seen one personally."
The dragon's head tilted slightly. "Haven't seen one? Even though dragons are everywhere? Unless this is not the sixth floor."
"We are currently on the first floor," Kuro stated.
"Also, my name is Kuro. I have just defeated Scaris to get access to this prison." Kuro introduces himself since he doesn't sense any hostility from the dragon.
The dragon nodded to Kuro. Kuro waited for it to introduce itself but it seemed the dragon got bored and lowered its head to sleep further.
"You're not going to introduce yourself?" Kuro decided to ask since the silence felt awkward.
The dragon's eyes flickered open again at Kuro's question, its gaze slightly annoyed but not hostile. It let out a low, rumbling sigh that shook the dust in the chamber like a breeze through dry leaves.
"Introduce myself?" The dragon's voice was thick with a kind of ancient weariness as if it hadn't cared for such pleasantries in centuries. "I suppose there's no harm in that." The dragon's head lifted again slowly.
"I am Kisara, daughter of the White Dragon Emperor and the last of the White Dragon Clan," Kisara said, but Kuro can feel that she hasn't introduced herself in centuries.
"The last of the White Dragon Clan…" Kuro murmured to himself. He once again heard about the White Dragon Emperor, as well as the last descendant that Scaris spoke about.
Kuro took a step closer but remained wary, maintaining his distance as he continued to observe the dragon, Kisara. The chains that bound her were massive, each one seemingly forged from a material Kuro didn't recognize, glowing faintly with an unnatural light.
"So, how long have you been here?" Kuro asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He wasn't sure what the dragon's motives were or how much she had been affected by the centuries of imprisonment, but he couldn't help but feel sympathy for her.
Kisara's eyes flickered to him, her gaze intense for a moment before she closed them again, letting out a soft, rumbling sigh. "Longer than you can fathom," she said. Her voice carried the weight of years, of centuries perhaps, spent in this desolate place. "I was sealed away here, bound by chains stronger than any magic or force you may know. It was not by my will that I was imprisoned here. But that is not your concern."
Kuro, sensing the dragon's unwillingness to dwell on the past, chose not to press further. Instead, he glanced around the chamber, noticing the cages and chains.
"Then do you wish to be free?" Kuro asks Kisara. "Do you wish to get revenge?"
Kisara's eyes flickered open again at Kuro's question, and for a long moment, she said nothing. Her gaze was far off, as though lost in memories too old to be easily recalled. The chains around her creaked softly as she shifted, a faint but noticeable tremor running through her massive form. It was clear that the weight of time had not only bound her physically but emotionally as well.
Finally, her voice came again. "Freedom…" she began as if tasting the word, letting it roll on her tongue. "Freedom is a curious thing. I have not felt it in so long that it almost seems foreign to me. What is it worth, after centuries of imprisonment?"
Kuro could feel the weight of her words, the bitterness that lingered beneath them.
"And revenge?" she continued, her voice shifting slightly, a cold edge slipping through. "Revenge is a powerful motivator, one that has fueled many in the past. But what would I seek revenge for? My clan? My family? Or those who bound me here? I have not seen them in so long, I doubt they still walk the world."
"Then do you not want revenge?" Kuro asks in confusion. "If I were in your shoes, I would want to destroy all those who put me in chains and lock me up."
"I don't need revenge," Kisara muttered as she looked at Kuro. "I want to be free. Free of this prison, free of the chains that have held me down for far too long."
Her gaze flickered to him, and for the first time since he'd met her, there was a flicker of something softer in her eyes—a spark of hope, buried deep beneath the weight of her centuries-long captivity.
"Then," she said. "Break these chains and set me free. If you can do so, I will forever be bound to you. Through life and death. Through thick and thin."
Kuro, who heard her paused what he was doing. "Did you just propose to me?"
Kisara's eyes widened slightly, her expression shifting in a way that Kuro couldn't quite decipher. For a moment, the air in the chamber felt thick with tension. Then, slowly, she let out a low, rumbling chuckle—a sound that seemed to reverberate through the stone walls.
"Propose?" she repeated, her voice low and amused. "No. I did not propose to you. I simply offered a bond—one of necessity and respect. It is not something light, nor something easily given."
She pauses, looking at Kuro. "If you free me, I will owe you. A debt that can never be fully repaid. That is what I meant. But if you wish to see it as something more…" She tilted her head slightly, a faint smile pulling at the corner of her lips. "That is your choice."
Kuro blinked in surprise, not expecting such an answer.
He cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. "Well, I didn't expect you to phrase it that way. But…" Kuro hesitated for a moment. "I'll take your offer seriously. I intend to free you, Kisara, but not out of some obligation or bond. I do it because I believe you deserve to be free."
When Kuro said that, his eyes lost their light for a second, as if he was remembering his past self on earth. "No one deserves to be chained and beaten down by those around them. NO ONE!"
Kisara's eyes narrowed slightly, sensing the sudden shift in Kuro's demeanor. The intensity of his words, the way his eyes dimmed with the weight of some distant memory, didn't go unnoticed. For a brief moment, there was silence between them—heavy and thick, as if Kuro's declaration had reached through the centuries and touched something deep within her.
She studied him, her gaze softening, not just from the words he spoke but from the raw emotion that had seeped into his voice. She could feel the weight of his past, the echoes of something long buried.
"You speak with such conviction," Kisara said quietly, her voice surprisingly gentle.
Kuro stood there for a moment, his eyes still distant, his thoughts a million miles away. His fists clenched at his sides as memories of his past self on Earth surged through him—times when he'd felt helpless, trapped, and unable to break free from the chains of his existence. The oppression he'd faced, the way life had often felt like a prison of its own, made his heartache. The idea of anyone—be it a dragon, a human, or any living being—being confined and tortured, trapped in a cycle of suffering, made something inside him snap.
"Because I know what it's like," Kuro said, his voice hardening, but still laced with the pain of his own experience. "No one should be made to feel like they're less than who they are. No one should be forced to live like a caged animal, beaten down by those who think they have the right to control them."
Kisara let out a long, low rumble, the sound more contemplative than anything. "I see. In that case, Kuro, you may very well be the one to break my chains. I may have been here for far too long to remember what it means to hope, but you…" Her gaze softened once again, the ancient wisdom in her eyes finally giving way to something resembling trust. "You may just be the one who can change it all."
Kuro's eyes locked onto hers, feeling the weight of her gaze.
"Then let's do it," Kuro said, his voice firm and determined once again, the flicker of doubt gone from his eyes. "Let's break your chains, Kisara."
And with that, Kuro took his first step toward freeing Kisara.