章 8: 7th Adversary: Opening New Doors
While Miko was meeting one of his favorite writers, Momo, who was called back by the clan, was in the middle of a meeting. Or you could say that it was an interrogation session.
"Momo, you know why we called you back, right?"
One of the clan elders glared at her who was sitting by a table.
"Of course. It's the same thing that you've been pestering me about the last couple of days."
Momo didn't hide her irritation.
"If you know, stop playing around!"
The elder slammed his fist on a table.
"How did Miko convince Her Grace to make him her Proxy?!"
"Like I said, he didn't persuade her. Tia picked him herself."
"Insolent! We've told you to stop addressing her in that manner!"
Another elder shouted.
"She was the one who told me to call her that."
"What a rebellious girl."
Another elder added.
"I guess you get that from your father, or could it have been your mother?"
Disgust was painted all over his face.
"Elder, I'll appreciate it if you leave my parents out of this."
Momo's voice was trembling.
"We must speak of them to remind you of your position."
Another Elder replied.
"Your father, who married into our clan, killed the previous emperor and carried out a massive purge with your older brother as his accomplice. Don't forget that you are on thin ice. You could be executed the moment you mess up."
Momo's eye twitched.
"Are you threatening me, Elder?"
Her voice was cold as she started to release a dark magic power.
"Keep calm child or you might get hurt."
The elder released an oppressive pressure that glued Momo where she sat.
"I see that Krow is giving you all courage."
Momo spat out under the pressure.
"But I wonder how much courage you would have in front of the emperor?"
She forced a smile.
":....."
The elder withdrew his power with a sour expression.
"I won't allow myself to be pressured by any of you no matter what standing I have in this clan."
Momo slammed her hands on the table.
"I'll say this for the last time, Miko was chosen by Tia herself. There was no trickery involved. Moreover, do you think he can trick the world's oldest Heavenly Being?"
"..."
"Even if you consider him a freak of nature there has to be a limit."
She stood up.
"I'm leaving. I know that you guys are only running wild because the royal family is away with the Grand Elders and Branch leaders. Otherwise, scrubs like yourselves wouldn't have the balls to try and intimidate me."
She smiled.
"I assure you that my uncles Rihan and Nova will hear of this."
"?!"
The elders' expressions all became bitter at the mention of those names.
"Even if you're willing to defy my grandfather because you know that he has to show some restraint as emperor, I know that you can't do the same with those two."
She smirked.
"That's because they don't care what positions you hold, they will kill you if they want to."
After saying that, she walked out of the room. But not before saying-
"Tell Krow that he shouldn't harass Miko too much, otherwise the mother hen will stop caring as well. I'm sure he doesn't want to piss her too much. After all, it's game over if she calls back the empress."
She left the room with the elders all having ugly expressions.
"That brat!"
One of the elders slammed his fist against the wall.
"How dare she threaten us like that?! She's just the daughter of a traitor!"
"Calm down. She wants to get you riled up."
His colleague held his shoulder.
"She's a crafty fox like her father. She also has the recklessness of her mother. Not to mention, us taking action would only worsen Lord Krow's position."
He released him.
"The highest ranking members of the clan are at the annual meeting with the Flameheart and Saevus Clans. Before they return, we must find a way to discreetly dispose of Miko without leaving anything that would connect to Lord Krow."
He became silent for a bit before.
"….Send word to all of our servants! They are only to observe Miko for now, we will tell them to act when the perfect opportunity presents itself!"
"Yes!"
"You met Hinami Akume?"
A couple of hours later, Momo regrouped with Miko and Tia who came back to the mortal world. They were now on the outskirts of the city where Miko spends most of his time sleeping in trees.
"Yeah. She was pretty interesting."
Miko was eating a large fruit that Tia brought back from her realm in the Summit Of The Gods.
"I can't believe such a famous writer was interested in you to the point of stalking you."
Momo was also eating the fruit.
"Is she really that famous, that girl?"
Momo nodded to Tia's question.
"She debuted at the age of 12 with a comic called the Black Eagle, which became a hit with children of all ages in the empire."
"Comic? She wasn't a novelist?"
"She started as a comic artist and ventured into writing novels a few years later."
"Hmm….She must be really talented to do both."
"She is. She won awards as an illustrator, writer, and comic artist by the time she was 16. She's the definition of an artistic genius."
"Are you a fan of hers as well?"
Momo nodded.
"The No Face King, Golden Paradox, The Star's Funeral, Dancing On Nails, I loved all of those novels and comics by her."
"By the way, the book that made me her fan 'Golden Paradox' was borrowed from Momo by Nina."
Miko added.
"Man, I wish I could've met her. Instead, I had to deal with the elders' nonsense."
Momo couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.
"She said she'll search me out again if she's in a slump. So I'm sure you'll get to meet her eventually."
Miko finished the fruit and began to clean himself up.
"Anyway, Momo. I've discovered something shocking about myself."
"What is it?"
Miko straightened his fingers for her to see. His fingernails grew sharp and pointy like blades.
"I have claws."
"Oh? That's cool."
Momo did the same thing and released claws of her own.
"You were never able to do that despite being part Dragon. Looks like becoming Tia's Proxy made your dragon blood awaken."
She put her claws away.
"Do you have fangs outside of your Black Beast Form now?"
Miko nodded and showed off some sharp fangs in his mouth.
"That's cool."
Momo continued to eat the heavenly fruit.
"Also…."
Miko flexed his back muscles and his shirt tore open and a pair of dragon wings appeared behind him.
"And these too."
"Cough! Cough!"
Momo choked on the fruit.
"W-Wings?! Only Gramps and the other Branch Leaders have those."
"That's because my blood is very strong in them, considering they're my grandchildren."
Tia rubbed her hands over Miko's azure wings.
"Miko is my Proxy so his body will change to fit my powers. That means becoming like me. Forget wings, he'll be able to turn into a dragon in the future, just like Nero and my other grandchildren."
"I can also breathe underwater by the way."
Miko added.
"Make sense, since Tia is a water dragon and the personification of the sea itself. It should've been easy to figure out you could from that much information."
Momo nodded as if she understood something.
"No, I found out by accident."
"….How?"
"I fell asleep in the bath and woke up underwater an hour later."
"Huh? You fell asleep?"
Miko nodded.
"I'm used to sleeping for at 15 hours a day, but I've been too busy to sleep as of late, so I passed out the moment I laid down."
"…..Every day, you surprise me more and more."
Momo shook her head with a sigh.
"However, I think this is a great opportunity to learn the Dragna techniques that you couldn't."
There were several reasons why Miko was regarded as an abomination by those around him. The first was definitely the events around his birth. The second was the obvious inhuman traits that he gave off when angered. The third was his inability to use the inherent abilities of the Dragna Clan, despite being a direct descendent. It wasn't just the Dragna abilities, he couldn't use any abilities belonging to any of the bloodlines present in him. It was as if he was something completely different from everyone else. To find the cause, several tests were done on his body and blood, but no one could figure out the reason. This just made it even scarier.
"Ah, I forgot. You couldn't use any of my abilities before this."
Miko nodded to Tia.
"Not only I wasn't able to use any draconic abilities like the rest of my clan, but I also wasn't able to use most forms of power to the same extent as others. I could only use magic and alchemy at the basic level."
"And yet, you were hailed as a monstrous genius?"
"That's because I excelled at Vita and was born with a strong body. I also found ways to make basic magic attacks as powerful as advanced ones, or even more powerful. To do that, I trained and mastered them to the highest level possible."
"Vita, huh? That power humans can draw from your soul and transform it into physical energy and use it for a variety of things from attacks to healing. It's an interesting power, too bad you have to be part human to use it."
"I may be an irregular but I still have human blood in my veins, so maybe that's why I can use it. I'm so good at it that it makes up for my lack of magic abilities."
"But that's not the only thing."
Tia smiled and playfully poked Miko's chest.
"You possess a sinister power that falls into its own category."
"Yeah, but I can't control it. It mostly activated on its own whenever I'm feeling an intense emotion."
"But being a proxy is starting to open up new doors for you. I think it's the perfect time to capitalize on it."
Momo stood up with a smirk.
"It's been a long time so how about a little spar to make you realize how much you need to improve."
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