The Last Ruler: The Return of the Goddess
The ruler of winter

After the incident, they returned to the sofa and looked at Zico who was being helped by Yi. It was indeed shocking when a dragon became like that just because it came to that place, they had not even had time to actually land on its mountain.

" So you're saying... Is there a castle made of ice on top of those mountains??" israhi asked after hearing all the explanations of Altair about the place.

Making the attention of Altair who was originally in the book in his hand was so focused on him, "Yes. It's a pretty big castle, it's occupied by a few monsters and a living snow puppet. And I'm sure there was someone in that place" Altair said.

At the same time, his eyes sharpened, and he continued. " He's the one who told all those monsters to attack us and hurt Zico."

That could have happened. Coupled with the fact, that there might be someone controlling those monsters, he must be a person with rare abilities to be able to do so. But why is he there? And why would he bring a blizzard to a place around the mountains like this??

" Do you know anything about this, Miss Mira?" Aksa then asked about it to the person who should know better among them.

Honey, Mira shook her head about this strange incident. " I've never experienced anything like this" he said.

" Even those of you who have traveled all over the world as well??" Remilia could hardly believe it.

But there is no reason for Mira to lie to them, even though she has gone to various places and seen various things. He had never seen this phenomenon.

There are some events that are almost similar, but it is impossible for monsters to bring storms and change the weather continuously for months like this. They did not have enough strength to bring about this kind of disaster...

...Unless there's another factor.

" ...A Ruler."

Hearing that from Altair, made everyone immediately turn their attention to him. To Altair who was still looking at the book in his hand...

" He might be a Ruler. The rulers can control monsters, and it makes sense if the weather changes because of them. They have a slightly greater power than dragons, so it makes sense that the young Zico would be like that. And judging by how he spreads ice and snow, he might be the Ruler of winter. That means the Crystal is an ice Crystal" Altair said more clearly later.

He raised his head to look at the friends, who were immediately presented with a curious expression from Remilia, Derrick and Aksa. They don't understand what he's saying...

" What is Ruler? What do you mean they're a king or something?" ask Aksa who is really super confused by this.

Remilia who heard him then gave his assumption, "Maybe he meant the leader of the monsters, so" he said.

Derrick stared in silence.

Altair who heard that only smiled awkwardly, he forgot that friends might not know about it. He himself obtained the information from the book he had taken from the library of the imperial palace. And the only one in the world.

But then....

" It could be, the Rulers are always full of hatred." Yi had it right justifying that.

Altair was surprised by it, "Yi! You know about Ruler??" he immediately wondered with both eyes sparkling brightly.

Yi who saw his enthusiasm smiled at him, "Yes, a Phoenix has a long life. I've met some Ruler" he replied.

" Wow..."

" Some of them are Ruler of Lightning, Ruler of Wind and Ruler of Domination."

" Woah..!!"

Even so, the uninitiated remained confused by their conversation.

" I've also heard of it from the previous Emperor." murmured Mira while thinking about it there.

Israhi then asked, "Well, what made that person possessed by Crystal and turned into Ruler?" he asked like that.

" Even Israhi knows!" but Altair was busy admiring himself. He did not expect that Israhi would also know.

Israhi was speechless with that, as it was only natural that she knew considering she was someone who was also as long-lived as Yi. The reason he is a demon... Yeah, half.

" Let's talk about something else. Please explain to the people there what 'Ruler' is'." Israhi also switched the conversation and pointed at Derrick, Remilia and Aksa who still did not know.

" Oh.." Altair remembered it, and he began to explain it briefly...

" 'Ruler' is a human being controlled by Crystal Tears, it is a Crystal that stores a lot of negative energy and can infect the human and make them its host. Humans who have turned into Ruler will lose their sanity and only know destruction as a pleasure, they have enormous and destructive power. Because of that his existence was equated with disaster" said Altair.

" So they're like parasites, but they don't work like parasites. Didn't she??" derrick asked after hearing that.

Altair nodded confirming, it is almost similar if the two are juxtaposed.

" Then, how do you restore the human who has turned into Ruler back to his will?" ask Aksa later.

" By removing those Crystal Tears, usually they will be in the chest of the Rulers, right in the heart. But, of course, how to get it out must also be careful, otherwise the person will die. And although it was stabbed, it was also unable to kill them. The crystal was like making a special space in the body, and could only be pulled out in a special way as well."

Altair flipped through the pages of the book, there was an explanation of how to pull the Crystal Tears, but the spell she could not understand. But it was the same writing as the one in this book that he could read.

" Then what about the attack??"

" Hmm??"

Altair was distracted by Israhi's question again, she looked at him.

" If the attack can even make a dragon like this, then how does one deal with it. Doesn't that mean Ruler has a very different power from creatures in general."

Altair was silent for a while, then he nodded his head. " Yes, Ruler does not absorb nature's magic like most creatures. They absorbed a special energy called 'Tearsnano', it was the energy that appeared when the holy war took place, it was about 100,000 years ago. If I'm not wrong, from what I read in this book, he said that Crystal tears is also originally a fragment of god. But I don't know why it's contaminated with dark energy." she explained.

" I've never heard the name energy like that." Remilia then chimed in.

" I don't know. But Tearsnano is not intended for ordinary humans, those infected with Tearsnano will turn into crazy creatures or get diseases that are difficult to cure. And the stricken animal could be a monster. That's why we have to stop it."

Altair then closed the book in his hand and looked at his friends, others looked serious there while Aksa..

" We?? You mean, all of us??" he seemed to be hesitant about the mission this time.

But Altair nodded her head and smiled brightly, "Of course, only we know about this and know how to stop that Ruler" he replied.

Aksa could not say anything more with it, just right from earlier he felt a bad feeling. Apparently this is what he was going to say.

Remilia chuckled beside him, as if she knew what Aksa was thinking that looked resigned now. He did not want to come, but could not refuse either.