Estate oft the Red Dragons
The main gate stands open; Ryujin is still out. Quietly Lucil slides open the panel to Mai's room and lays her on the bed. Roses everywhere — on curtains, cushions, even the pink bedsheet is woven with thorny vines.
"Little one," he whispers, brushing her hair. "This flower has truly captured you."
As her breathing deepens he leaves and steps into the dojo. Tatami mats creak as he sits cross-legged. A single paper lantern casts warm gold across the floor.
He sinks into meditation. Mana pulses; ruby-red veins ripple beneath his skin, sliding up his neck, over his shoulders and arms. His irises ignite into molten red.
– And suddenly he stands atop a wind-blown mountain ridge. A tattooed rose mandala coils across his back. Beside him stands a woman with hollow eyes and a gentle smile.
"Lucil, will you kill them all?" Her voice sounds like cracked bells.
He nods as if the verdict has already been passed. "Silver will kill them otherwise."
"Lucil, please—" Her whisper breaks as she presses a hand to her heart. Roses burst from the stone winding around her legs.
"I'm sorry I can't see you anym—"
Before the word fades Lucil leans forward and kisses her. Cold lips, the bittersweet taste of tears.
"I will always love you." he whispers. "That's why I wear the roses—forever."
He jolts awake. Thorn vines sprout from the tatami. Blood-red buds bloom across the walls up to the rafters.
"Guess I drifted off." he mutters.
Rei stands before him, lantern in hand, her face caught between wonder and a quiet fear, her eyes fixed on the sea of roses his meditation has left behind.
"Wow… you looked so peaceful, my son."
Lucil straightens. "Hey, Mom."
She sits across from him watching the thorns recede.
"Why won't you accept your clan's teachings?"
Lucil leans back lazily. "My own magic is enough."
"You were just out with the White Dragons' son, right?"
"Yeah," Lucil shrugs.
Rei smiles faintly. "What if we all just ran away—together?"
He looks her over—and notices the blue bruises on her throat. His eyes narrow.
"What did Ryujin do to you?"
Without hesitation he grabs a kendo stick from the rack. Rei tries to follow but he's already burst through the sliding door.
Ryujin stands in the gravel garden fixated on the evening sky.
Lucil's patience snaps. "Rose Accel — Blood Break!"
Energy surges through his veins. He lunges.
Ryujin draws a steel fighting staff from his belt and raises a hand. "Lucil, calm yourself."
"What did you do to Mother?"
Lucil's voice trembles with fury.
Rei rushes out desperately gripping the doorframe.
"She refuses to obey." Ryujin says coldly. "The war, Lucil. The White Dragons…"
His voice fractures caught between old pain and disappointment. "They've slaughtered our family again and again, desecrated their bodies, forged weapons from their bones. Do you think I'll let that happen again?"
He speaks the words of a spell: "Tek to ma, se ta vi!"
Reddish-white smoke bursts from the ground, swallowing the garden in its entirety, the wall, the sky—all becomes a smoldering domain.
Lucil gasps. Raw magic fractures press against his skin like icy shards. Still he lifts the wooden sword. His veins blaze blood-red.
"You're going to kill everyone! You don't see where this ends. No matter how many times it happens—she's still our mother."
Rei offers him a desperate smile, one hand covering her bruises.
The smoke tightens. Lucil closes his eyes. His voice drops to a whisper:
"Endless Rose — Red World"
Rose vines tear through the gravel laden ground and into the air enclosing the smoke barrier like living chains.
The deep-red blossoms breathe in the haze like poison—and bloom even darker. The domain groans, fractures, breaks apart. Petals rise up in swirling currents.
Ryujin stares into the sea of roses. For a moment doubt flickers in his dark-blue eyes. Lucil stands at the vortex's heart, kendo stick lowered, shoulders square—every muscle poised for the next word, the next blow.
The domain unravels. Ryujin makes one last attempt: A jolt rends the air, fractured space-time tears toward Lucil like claws meant to flail him.
Lucil takes a single step forward.
"Blood Unleash."
Every rose petal detonates at once. The shockwave condenses into a sphere—then hurls forward like rolling thunder.
Ryujin understands in a heartbeat: any movement means death. The hatred in Lucil's eyes freezes him.
Then a massive ruby-red radiance engulfs the entire estate. Behind Lucil rises a dragon made of rose petals. Its wings stretch into the night and its jaw sparks with blood-red fire.
Ryujin gasps. "Th–that can't be real. What are you?"
Lucil's voice is iron. "Touch Rei or Mai again and I will prepare for you the slowest, most agonizing death this world can bear."
Ryujin stares at the dragon. "You could end the war by yourself!"
Lucil raises the wooden sword like it bears divine judgment and roars: "Got it?"
The spell breaks. Ryujin snaps awake with sweat on his brows, knees collapsing—not in surrender but because his body won't obey any of his commands. Behind his lowered temple hatred smolders.
Rei rushes to him. "Lucil, what… what was that?"
Lucil's red veins fade. "Ah… sorry, Mom. Hot-blooded, you know. Lost it for a second." He shoots Ryujin a deathly glare. "I serve no pitiful weakling."
For a moment Ryujin thinks it was all a fever dream illusion. Lucil turns and vanishes among the cherry trees.
Rei kneels beside her husband. "Stop it, Ryujin. Talk to him. Without Lucil, we lose everything. But our children want to live—not wage war."
Ryujin lifts his head. The garden is now all quiet. No roses. No smoke. No cracks. Not a single soul aside from Lucil, Rei and Ryujin seems to have noticed.
He laughs soundlessly like a man doubting his own sanity.
Then Rei understands. "Wait… none of this happened."
She runs into the dojo.
Lucil sits with legs crossed, all relaxed as if he never moved a single centimeter. A single solitary rose petal floats over his open palm.
Goosebumps crawl down Rei's spine. Her son quietly lifts his head—and smiles.
Rei wipes sweat from her brow. "That illusion… it felt completely real."
Lucil tilts his head. "How did you know?"
"The explosion should've startled the whole clan," she whispers. "But no one moved. From the start, it was just us."
Lucil laughs softly — a sound like clinking glass rings everywhere. He snaps his fingers.
Rose petals flicker bursting into sparks — and the entire world flips upright. Sounds echo: wooden strikes, weapon clashes, muffled voices. Ten Red Dragon students freeze mid-motion and stare at Lucil and Rei.
Ryujin rushes from the main hall locking eyes with Lucil. The tremor in his hands betrays his rejuvenated hatred. More clan members flood past, glancing only briefly at the pair. Rei bears a razor-thin smile.
"Illusionist…" she murmurs.
An old man in a scarlet robe steps up beside Ryujin. A draconic magic circle burns in his eyes.
"Elder," Ryujin grinds out, "is there any illusion that can overwrite an entire domain?"
The elder stays silent until the quietness begins to burn around him. "No… at least not anymore." His voice falls quiet. "In forbidden apocrypha there are whispers — but that would be hocus-pocus. Such magic could tear the world apart."
Ryujin scans the untouched garden. Laughs — soundless, half sunken in madness.
Lucil slips into Mai's room. She blinks sleepily then hisses loudly "Stalker!"
But her mana flares for a heartbeat. Her eyes confirm:
No illusion between her and Lucil.
She exhales.
"Good girl," Lucil says.
"Only praise me if I manage to fool you." She grins.
Lucil chuckles, slides the door shut and walks the dark hallway to his bare room: cracked wall, scattered clothes, a futon hastily centered on the floor. He lies down, his eyes drifting to the full moon through a suspicious gap in the masonry.
A melancholic smile crosses his face. "I like life here…" A quiet sigh. "Please, this time… just let it be."
Outside the wind stirs up the trees — as if it knows wishes like these rarely come true in a world of mages.