Black Killer Whale Baby [EN]: Chapter 272

It was then. The Crown Prince’s irises shifted to an unsettling array of colors, a bizarre kaleidoscope. It wasn’t just one color.

They flashed red, then blue, then green, then gold.

Combined with his perfectly sculpted face, he exuded an eerie aura, as if he were not a being of this world.

That wasn’t all.

Mysterious patterns began to surface on the Crown Prince’s face, resembling the scales of a reptile, like a snake or lizard.

Furthermore, something pierced through the Crown Prince’s forehead – a horn.

‘……Dragon?’

Calypso had seen paintings and sculptures of dragons in the Dragon’s Castle [a place known for its dragon lore and artifacts].

It was the same shape as the horns depicted there. The Crown Prince scratched his neck roughly, as if he felt suffocated, and tugged at his collar, trying to unbutton it.

‘Am I supposed to just stand here and wait for his transformation like some damsel in distress?’

Calypso had no intention of becoming the kind of villain in a children’s cartoon who patiently waits for the protagonist to power up.

Thud!

The moment Calypso’s fist shot towards the Crown Prince, he clenched his own fist tightly.

The shockwave created by their colliding fists was powerful enough to send the people around them flying.

Calypso’s eyes widened. The Crown Prince felt a surge of triumph as he saw her expression.

“Ha, haha……! Did you think you were the only one who could become stronger?”

The two people’s fists remained locked in a tense standoff, each radiating a different kind of power.

“No, no.”

The Crown Prince giggled like a madman, appearing completely unhinged, as if he were high on some potent drug.

Calypso retorted with a blank expression.

“You’ve already lost in this life. This is just your pathetic last struggle.”

“Ahaha, yes, Calypso Aquasidel. Does it seem that way to you? But it’s not. It’s not!”

“What?”

“If everyone here dies, and I regress [return to a previous point in time], then I win, right? Huh?”

“Only idiots talk like that.”

A chilling sneer spread across Calypso’s face.

“Yeah, your little pup brain will cling to that delusion until you die.”

The power of water exploded from Calypso’s hand, sending him staggering backward.

Calypso glanced at his chest as he stumbled.

Because he had ripped open his clothes, his chest was fully exposed, revealing something embedded within it.

A stone? Or a jewel?

The red stone pulsed like a heart in the place of his heart.

Blood vessels protruded around the stone, discolored to a dark, ominous black.

The moment Calypso tried to focus on that ominous stone, a dramatic surge of power emanated from the Crown Prince.

‘Crap……!’

Calypso was punched and sent flying backward, crashing into the wall.

Thud!

The throne that had been there shattered into pieces as she collided with it.

Calypso jumped up from the debris, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth.

‘It’s about three times stronger than when our fists collided… Is it even possible to generate this kind of power?’

It had definitely started from the moment that stone embedded in his chest began beating more violently.

Moreover, the power emanating from that stone felt familiar somehow; it was definitely the power of a dragon.

“Ah, so this is what you were thinking after all? Since you didn’t believe you could achieve it with your own power, you decided to embed a piece of a dragon’s corpse?”

“Haha. Thanks to that, I get to see you collapse, and it’s so satisfying!”

The Crown Prince clenched his fist.

“The power of a dragon can transcend time. Why didn’t I think of that in my past life? That’s right……! The reason the great me regressed was because the world chose me. There was a mistake in this life, but…”

I won’t make a mistake in the next life! The Crown Prince’s face lit up with manic joy.

Calypso spat out blood-tinged saliva and waved her hand.

Water divided into several streams, forming a cage around the Crown Prince.

“Tsk, you’re just a pathetic loser. You can never go back to the past with that power.”

A guy who doesn’t even understand the burden of being a regressor is going to go back to the past? No way.

On the other hand, Calypso felt a small sense of unease. Like he said, the power of a dragon deals with space-time.

If that bastard manages to figure out how to wield that power…

The Crown Prince grabbed the bars of the cage. Electricity coursed through them, burning his hands black, but he laughed like a madman, not caring.

“Haha, Calypso Aquasidel. Do you know how my father died?”

“…….”

“He died experimenting with the power to manipulate space-time.”

The Crown Prince spread his hands wide.

The burst of red power and the force shattered Calypso’s water cage.

Calypso, who had anticipated this, struck him with a massive pillar of water, but he was still laughing.

“Thanks to that noble sacrifice, I’m going back to the past! By killing all these people!”

At the same time, black blood vessels protruded onto the Crown Prince’s face.

He no longer resembled the lion beastman he had been before.

His eyes had turned black, making him look like a monster from hell.

“Hahaha, no one can stop me! I’ve been preparing for this for 10 years, or more. No one can stop me!”

Separately from that, the power had become dozens of times stronger than what Calypso had initially felt.

Calypso wasn’t going to stand still either.

“Cut the crap!”

A giant vortex of water slammed into the Crown Prince, and she charged in with a weapon, but she was blocked by some kind of barrier.

“This time too-”

Red sparks flew from the Crown Prince’s entire body. He trembled all over, like an overloaded machine.

“Let’s all die together, Calypso Aquasidel!”

Calypso froze for the first time.

Can I stop that alone?

‘I can stop it, but this place will be ruined.’

The moment she thought that, even greater power flowed out from the Crown Prince.

It’s getting even bigger here?

She was shocked.

What if I was with Dad?

She wanted to see Pierre, who was fighting Devana, but somehow, it felt like something terrible would happen if she turned her head.

‘I can’t stop it.’

But that was just for a moment.

‘If I can’t, I have to make it happen.’

It was clear. If that power bursts out as it is, everyone will die again.

No, will only the imperial family members here die?

If I can’t stop it here, everyone will be destroyed again this time.

In the 3rd timeline, it was the Dragon Duke’s rampage, but this time, it’s the rampage of that lion pup who forcibly implanted the dragon’s power.

Calypso bit her lip tightly.

She closed her eyes tightly and then opened them. She was prepared.

‘Geez. You never know what’s going to happen in this world.’

Calypso never dwelled on her worries for long.

That was because she had to survive in an environment where she would die if she didn’t make quick decisions.

In this life, no matter what crisis there is, with her new companions and family, and with Ekion and her genius dad, she thought she could overcome anything.

‘Damn it. This is even more powerful than when Ekion went berserk.’

Calypso couldn’t forget the moment the world was destroyed in the 3rd timeline.

That’s why she realized it.

That crazy bastard had somehow found a way to cram the power, several times greater than the dragon’s rampage, into his body and hide it.

But what could she do?

Perhaps the reason Calypso herself had become stronger than in the 3rd timeline was right here.

No, that must be it.

She felt like there was a reason for everything in the world.

‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world?’

Calypso clicked her tongue and quietly gathered her strength.

Pierre, who was continuing the battle, turned his head. He felt an ominous feeling.

He was about to go right away, but he was blocked.

That was because Devana, whom he was fighting, grabbed him, covered in blood.

“No one…… can go.”

Her face was resigned to death.

Devana believed in the Crown Prince’s promise that he would not touch Lily in the next life.

He had handled the dirty and disgusting things of the imperial family, but he also had his own beliefs.

While Devana was holding Pierre with her last breath, Calypso rushed towards the Crown Prince, exploding with all her strength.

-Calypso! Stop!

Would it have been different if Ekion was here? No, I don’t know. The fact that Ekion and his group are late clearly means that something is happening there.

Even if they come here, it was unlikely that they would be in a complete state.

In the end, the only thing she could do was herself. Like in the 3rd timeline.

-Your life is in danger!

‘It’s okay.’

I know that too. Calypso muttered, holding Tuth in one hand.

“Sorry. Thanks for helping me.”

Calypso hesitated and added.

“Let’s meet again.”

Even Calypso herself couldn’t be sure what she meant by that. Whether she meant to defeat that bastard somehow and meet again, or…

With these words, Calypso threw Tuth far away.

She used the power of water to make it fly towards her allies, ensuring it would land safely.

And then she crashed her body into the barrier that surrounded the Crown Prince.

Koo-oong!

When Calypso gave it her all, she was able to penetrate the barrier that the Crown Prince had created.

The Crown Prince was grinning, his face now almost devoid of reason.

“What, what is it? Why did you chase me all the way here?”

“Yeah. This is the first time I’ve ever been so obsessed in my life. Feels good, doesn’t it?”

“…….”

“So, die.”

Calypso grabbed the weapon she was most familiar with in her hand.

The weapon shattered into pieces with a clanging sound the moment it touched the Crown Prince.

It was okay.

Because she knew this would happen.

Calypso focused her strength on her fist. The fist she extended was grabbed by the Crown Prince’s hand.

“You know it too, right? The dragon’s power I have has been properly activated. Now, your power won’t work.”

“Ah. Like Ekion, who you made go berserk?”

Calypso didn’t lose her composure at all, even though her fist was grabbed.

“You’re so funny.”

“……What?”

“Why do you think only you have a trump card? Are all the villains’ minds similar?”

“…….”

“You’re selfish, vile, and a lion pup who only cares about himself.”

The Crown Prince realized that Calypso’s fist was excessively cold. But it was already too late.

“There are more things in the world that you don’t know.”

Calypso tried everything to stop the dragon’s rampage in the 3rd timeline.

She faced death after a desperate struggle until the end.

The power of water was truly limitless in its uses – a power that could do anything related to water and the sea, like freezing that bastard’s hand right now.

“I realized one thing: real dragons are damn sturdy.”

“……Wh-what, is this!”

“So their bodies don’t freeze easily at all. Neither their hearts nor their organs.”

The Crown Prince’s trump card was always shown when he was about to die or when he rushed in to kill everyone.

And Calypso’s trump card was no different from his.

“Thank you so much. I found out because you shouted that you had become a half-baked dragon.”

“Agh, let go, let go! Let go of me!”

“Your body is still circulating blood, and your skin is the soft skin of a lion, right?”

“Ugh, ah, aaaaaagh!”

Why didn’t she use it from the beginning?

Of course. Calypso wanted to be happy with everyone in this life.

She wanted to experience a life where she had a ‘next’ time. Her dream was to die of old age.

“You made me use something I never wanted to use in any case.”

“M-my, my body, ah, ah, aaaaaagh!”

“The price is your death.”

Calypso’s voice, as she said this, steadily slowed down. It couldn’t be helped.

Because as she was freezing the Crown Prince’s body, Calypso’s body was also freezing along with it.

This was the same as when she was looking at the Dragon Duke before her death in the 3rd timeline.

The reason why she couldn’t move even though the streets of Seoul were in front of her was because her body was frozen.

“Regression? Don’t even dream about it.”

Calypso’s final ability devoured Calypso herself. It was an ability she had decided never to use again.

But what could she do? She didn’t want to see everyone die again.

“Even if you really regress…”

I have no choice but to step in.

Calypso grinned.

“You will be defeated by me in that timeline.”

It was a shame that things had turned out this way. But when she thought about it, it didn’t seem so bad to see this bastard’s last struggle end like this.

“Ah, ah. No. No……!”

Calypso felt his heart freezing over.

As expected, even if he succeeded in using the power, it seemed difficult to become a dragon all the way to his flesh.

“There is no next life for you.”

I am the regressor, not you.