I am Onyx, a proud member of the dragon race and an Onyx Dragon who reigns at the absolute summit of the world's ecosystem.
At this very moment, I found myself locked in combat with a lone human.
Humans are fragile things.
Yet, they are remarkable creatures who have mastered the art of passing down their wisdom to subsequent generations, allowing them to flourish through the ages.
And they are foolish.
Perhaps it is the price of their overpopulation, or the consequence of possessing knowledge beyond their station, but they frequently slaughter their own kind, thinning their numbers in bouts of senseless violence.
Yet, they have always intrigued me.
Whether it was a product of the instability inherent in their nature or the result of survival instincts stimulated by the Mana saturation of this world, I have encountered those who could truly reach the heights of a dragon during my long life.
In the human tongue, such individuals are hailed as heroes.
The boy standing before me possessed an air that suggested he might one day tread upon that hallowed ground.
"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
With a roar that shook the heavens, I beat my wings and focused my Magic Power.
The resulting winds were transformed by the sheer density of a dragon's magic into a massive, churning tornado. An ordinary man, no matter how many of his kind he rallied, would have been scoured from the earth in an instant. This boy, however, was different.
He stared straight at me from the heart of the vortex, stepping forward with his sword held low.
There was no trace of fear in those eyes. He accurately identified my vitals and lunged into the offensive.
"—!"
With a powerful thrust, the tip of his blade sought my eye. I felt a sharp sensation, as if the space protected by my dense Magic Power was being forcibly pried open.
Hmph. He made clever use of his Barrier.
But a dragon is not so fragile that such a trick would suffice.
"GUOOOOOH!"
I swatted the boy away with my idle tail.
Clad in impenetrable Dragon Scales and possessing limbs with claws that could rend steel, we dragons—complete with wings, tails, and fangs—reign as the flawless, ultimate lifeforms.
Huhahaha!
I had allowed myself to get caught up in the thrill of the moment, striking him with more force than I had intended. The boy collided with the crags of the Bald Mountain, disappearing beneath a cascade of shattered stone and rubble.
Had he died?
Humans were fragile, after all.
However, he pulled himself from the wreckage immediately and began to sprint toward me once more. Whether I struck him with my claws, lashed him with my tail, or buffeted him with my wings, he stood before me again and again.
Watching his persistence, I found myself actually enjoying the exchange.
Ah, I remember now.
There was another like him, long ago.
"—Are you still coming, boy?"
"Yeah. I can still go."
I felt a surge of potent Magic Power radiating from the boy's eyes as he nodded. The shroud of magic covering his body grew even denser.
Though I rarely indulge in sentimentality, his appearance forced me to look back upon the past.
There had been someone else, once.
A human with those very same eyes.
A man who refused to yield a single inch against a dragon, and at the end of a battle that lasted seven days, finally managed the impossible feat of befriending a dragon despite being a mere human.
That man's name was—Laguna Brave.
Coincidentally, it was the same name as the boy standing before me now.
Even the circumstances of our meeting were remarkably similar. The ancestor had stood before me to protect his people, and this boy now stood before me in much the same way.
Both of them held their ground at the absolute brink of death, snapping at me with the genuine intent to slay a dragon, only to reveal a disturbing, ecstatic smile in the heat of battle.
"Onyx! Ahahahaha! Dragons really are incredible!"
"Do not take such a casual interest in dragons, you worm. It is nauseating."
"How mean!"
They weren't merely similar; it was as if they were one and the same.
The only true difference was that the first Laguna’s strength had already reached full maturity, while this boy’s power did not yet reach my feet.
However, that was a trivial matter.
What strange karma was this? After hundreds of years, a human with the same name and the same eyes was born in the land bearing his predecessor's name to face a dragon once more.
Dragons do not believe in "destiny." Such a concept is a human fabrication. If I were to exhale my hellfire, everything would simply turn to ash.
Yet, when I look at humans, the phrase "history repeats itself" feels like an immutable truth. After all, I was witnessing that repetition firsthand.
And so, I decided to observe the boy's eventual fate.
Would he descend into madness, or would he become a hero?
Regrettably, I could not fulfill the promise I made to my sister, but I would nonetheless lend this boy a portion of my strength. Of course, I would only do so occasionally; I found it distasteful how he immediately grew overconfident and tried to summon me whenever I showed the slightest bit of humility.
"Onyx! Are you spacing out?"
"Hmph. Your attacks were so lukewarm that I grew bored."
"That's frustrating! Hey, could you try getting a little serious for the finish?"
"Do not ask so flippantly. I am a dragon who ranks higher than your own king."
"But we’re friends, aren’t we?"
"I shall kill you. I will show you what it means to be serious. Learn the weight of your own arrogance."
The only one I ever permitted to call me a friend was that man.
The boy was a close existence, but he was a different person entirely. He could save his nonsense for the day his blade finally managed to scrape my Dragon Scales and draw blood.
I took to the sky, looking down upon the boy as I unleashed a torrent of Scorching Hellfire.
"Gah!"
I had successfully chipped away at his precious Barrier.
That Barrier was no longer the Sanctuary it once was—a taboo defense fueled by infinite Magic Power. With the boy's current capacity, he would be lucky to escape with nothing more than minor burns over his entire body.
He was still weak. Compared to that man, he was truly weak.
But that meant he could still turn back.
The human vessel is far too small to hold a dragon’s friendship.
To do so, one must become a monster wearing human skin.
That man suffered for it.
My sister grieved for it.
Boy, are you truly prepared to repeat that cycle as well?