*You don't have to call me sir. Despite my majestic appearance, I'm the you of the primordial elementals.

  - Right... Syphus-san, what's a young, powerful dragon like you doing in su isoted pce? Shouldn't you be... I don't know, on top of a mountain?

  Flush~~

  What? Suddenly, the pressure on my body eased. Was it because of him?

  The air is less dense now, and the surrounding enviro seems much less hostile. The corrosion still persists, but in a subtle way, almost tained around it. Curious... since he himself was the source of it.

  - Hm? What happened?

  *Hmph... Again... Showing myself off in this state to a human would be something to be ashamed of for teuries.

  - Is there a problem?

  *You're really curious, aren't you? But I don't think it's a problem to share it with you. As you've seen for yourself, my power makes it seem like I shouldn't be in a pce like this... But the truth is that I isoted myself of my own free will.

  - Of my own free will?

  *You may have noticed that the corrosion in this cave is prevalent. That's because of my power. Since I didn't want to deal with inferior and annoying creatures, I used my abilities to create a sanctuary for myself.

  Sanctuary? A putrid pce, taken over by a gloomy corrosion... Indeed, beauty is something subjective. If that's how he sees his own power, who am I tue?

  - But what made you isote yourself?

  *It's not a story worthy of glory, but I tell you a few details. It was about two hundred years ago... Being a primordial dragon, I o test my strength somehow. But I had no idea of the territory I was in... and, uionally, I ended up destroying aire city.

  Uionally?

  *That's when someone had to stop me - a formidable oppo who was fighting for humanity. I may have uimated her for a moment, but I soon realized that I had to fight for real. ht ended in a draw. She reized the threat I posed and was forced to retreat, but not before inflig a severe wound on me. Although it healed me, it wasn't enough to tain my own power.

  - You were holding back?

  *Being an abyssal dragon, I'm always holding back. If I don't, I'll be ed by my own corrosion. Even though I'm a primordial, I'm only the third of this i lineage. My predecessors weren't as lucky... But, as you see, I've found my own way of dealing with it.

  - That's curious... But also iing. Are you tellihat a human was able to hurt you? He must have been a formidable oppo.

  *Ihey say she was known as the Heroine Blessed by Heavenly Prote. Humans with a gift lio Light magic are problematic. Although I face them, it's an opposite element to mine... As much as I hate to admit it.

  - “Heroine of the Light”... Sounds like the kind onist I'd see in an RPG.

  *Her power was inferior to mine, but her abilities gave her aal advantage. She wounded me with a ueique called [Spectral Cut]. My [Abyssal Fmes] mao hold out for a while, but she was wise enough to retreat. If she were older... there's no doubt that she would have beaten me.

  He's been isoted for two hundred years. For a dragouries are nothing. But still... it's a long time. I feel agonized if I py a single game for more than an hour without switg to something else. He spent two turies in this pce as if it were nothing.

  - If he's recovered from his injury and spent all that time here... shouldn't his abyssal power be tained?

  *os such as fire, water, earth and air evolve and adapt over the turies. But the more plex elements - like Light and Shadow, which is my case - are different. Some are born with the gift of trolling them and live as their loy allows. However, when I was wounded, my power came into direct flict with the Light. To heal myself, I had to e an absurd amount of my own corrosion. The result was an overload... and this had the opposite effect. You may have already uood what I was getting at.

  - ...You're dying.

  *Precisely.

  He 't tain his own power... and it's taking its toll.

  It reminds me of a disease from my world. Even if the symptoms are trolled, the patient's life expecy remains reduced. In more serious cases... it be fatal. Maybe that's what's happening to him.

  His corrosion is something abstract, but destructive. It influehe surrounding enviro in a ive way... and now it's ing ba him. His end will be slow. Agonizing.

  Damn... And he chose to isote himself because of it.

  - Hey... You mentioher primordial dragons. Doesn't that make them brothers? Why didn't you ask them for help?

  *And show them my sorry state? Hmph. I'd rather die in this isoted pce than show weakness. As a primordial, keeping up appearances is essential if my status is not to fall. Besides, being a primordial doesn't make us brothers. We just share the same title... nothing more.

  - So... that's it? You're simply acceptih?

  *Precisely.

  He pauses.

  *But... dying by one's own power sounds ie.

  He raises his eyes to me, his voice carrying a weight that chills me.

  *Human... could you grant me o wish?

  - Wish...? What could I do for a dragon like you?

  *Kill me.

  - What's that?

  ***

  Let me see... I'd better recap what's happened so far.

  I was reviewing my colleagues' files, cheg spreadsheets as usual and writing a pile of reports of my own. As usual, I ended up overw myself and pushing my body to the limit of exhaustion until, well... I died.

  But, trary to what I expected, I didn't receive any kind of diviribution. Instead, I woke up in another world. And it wasn't just any world. It was one dominated by magiething that, in theory, should be surprising to anyone in my position. Imagine expl an unknown pce, going on adventures, maybe even finding true love at the end of the journey... But apparently, I skipped a few steps. Now I'm faced with something unthinkable... SLAYING A DRAGON!

  Yes, I know. It sounds surreal if it were said to any normal person. But, well, that's my reality now.

  - I'm sorry, Syphus-San... what did you just say?

  *Don't pretend you don't uand, human. You know very well what I want. I want you to kill me.

  Vaku