บท 5: What Must Be Done
<<Activating Unique Skill [Evolver]. Target is currently in a Lake with no oxygen. Target is losing oxygen. In 5 seconds target will cease to live. Creating respiratory organs for underwater....3...2...1... Organs created. Target is sinking. Creating necessary organ for floating...3...2...1... Organ created. Target is unable to freely move in current environment. Creating necessary limbs for movement....3...2...1... Limbs created. Target is too conspicuous in the designated environment. Creating camouflage....3...2...1... Camouflage, created>>
Suddenly, I could breathe. I began coughing as I had been deprived of oxygen for some time. And I realized I had stopped drowning. In fact I was floating towards the surface.
'W-what happened?'
<<The unique skill [Evolver] activated. Target is now amphibious>>
'Amphibious? [Evolver], huh? That's one pretty useful skill. I am so happy I had that skill on me. If not, I'm sure I would have died.'
<<Negative. Your master, Shiro Tatsumaki would have saved you>>
'Could you refrain from calling her my master? I refuse to accept being a slave.'
I requested. I did not like the idea of being a slave to some body. I did not like my current situation at all.
I instinctively knew how to swim now, so I swam around in the lake for a while. It was pretty cool how I managed to go against the water with little resistance. I was enjoying myself to the extent that I forgot about those 2 above the water.
"Tori-chan!! Are you ok?"
I could hear Shiro-san's voice. No, I could feel her voice ringing loudly in my head. I could get a serious headache if this happens every day now. Looks like she was using the soul bond to check up on me, then I had an idea.
'Hey, God's agent. What would happen if I pretend to have died?'
<<You cannot deceive someone who you share a soul bond with. If you were to die, they would feel the disappearance>>
It answered like that. I was disappointed but shrugged it off. For now I just had to respond to her. Then another problem came up. How was I supposed to tell her I was busily swimming in the lake as if I were a fish, even though I was simply a chick?
'Hinotori, I can feel you in the lake. I don't know what's happening but I've sent Kame to help you,
'Kame? Who is Kame?'
Just as I asked that question, a shadow loomed over me. I looked up and saw a massive turtle swimming in my way. It had black skin with jagged rocks for its shell. Its golden eyes stared intently at me. I was guessing that was Kame.
The turtle came over to me and playfully hit me with its head. I wanted to complain, but I was starting to feel dizzy. I could hear a weird ringing sound in my head and the whole world was turning dim.
'What? What is happening to me?'
<<Answer. Master is experiencing the side effects of the Unique Skill [Evolver]. The skill speeds up reactions in the body in order to evolve very quickly to adapt to the environment. Seeing as the current body didn't have enough energy, the body will enter a state of auto rest to recover the energy. Time till recovery of missing energy. 72 hours>>
The only thing I heard him say was "rest".
'Yeah, I think I'll just sleep for a while.'
***
Kame swam up towards the surface and carried the little chick on its back towards the dry ground. It dropped the little bird immediately and looked at it in silence for a bit. It was confused as to what this creature was. It had been taking a nap in its cave when the human it contracted with had called it. It didn't expect for such a reason.
It heard the girl coming closer then it looked at her.
'A new member, huh? Interesting. Looks like she will have her wish fulfilled then.'
He said this because the creature somewhat resembled a bird, although it swam in water.
***
Shiro ran to her little familiar that had collapsed before her very eyes. It was different now. Instead of yellow feathers, it now had beautiful blue scales covering its body, with fins on its sides instead of wings, alongside webbed feet. It even had gills on its neck.
She would've mistaken it for an Elwedristsche. Those creatures looked very similar to Hinotori's current form, except they had antlers and the new-borns were easily 3 times Hinotori's current size.
Another reason why she knew it was him was because of the soul bond they now shared. Although it was now more like a slave contract. She hadn't noticed it at the moment, since it was her first time attempting such a thing.
She looked at its collapsed form with pity in her eyes, then crouched to the ground. She then picked it up with both of her palms and tried to use healing magic.
"[Sacred Arts: Hand of light]"
She casted the light magic on him. The small familiar then began to glow with a bright light as her magic began to work. This was a common spell which could heal open wounds and cure status effects. Unfortunately, it did not have the ability to recover a person's energy, so it was pointless.
Realizing that it was having no effect, she decided to stop. She noticed that it was just sleeping. If so, then there was no need for her to do anything. She just needed to carry it back home. First, she needed to ask about why its form had changed. It was an unprecedented development that it would transform as soon as it entered the lake.
She had come to the conclusion that it was some sort of passive skill that it possessed.
Suddenly, the chick's scales started to morph back into golden feathers, and it soon regained its original form, which further confirmed her suspicions.
'It has a unique skill', she thought
This made her very excited. Not just any creature could acquire a unique skill. Only those blessed by the gods were given this opportunity, which was why she didn't want to use the mana converter to acquire a familiar. Those familiars weren't actually alive according to Sotomura's explanation. They were like machines that could only listen to the will of their master without objection. Such a creature was too boring to acquire the attention of the gods. The only reason why Karma had any sort of blessing was due to the fact that the mana of the Tatsumaki Clan was blessed by the Dragon god.
Even with all these reasons her mother wouldn't understand no matter what. If it wasn't a dragon or a species from the converter, she wouldn't let Shiro keep it. She was hell-bent on keeping up with her scientific exploration, using Shiro as an experiment.
Kame rubbed its head on her shin when she sighed. She patted it on the head and let it disappear to wherever it came from.
"Thanks."
"Ojou-san, the clan head summons you." A cold voice came through the shadows. Shiro gulped and was frozen solid. Not because of the presence that manifested itself directly from the shadows, but because of what it said.
'T-the Clan Head? Mother? W-What could she possibly want with me?'
Suzuki Tatsumaki. The ruthless head of the Tatsumaki clan. A vicious, strategic genius and chief priestess of the Dragon God Fafnir.
Shiro turned around quickly, hiding Hinotori behind her, shaking a little bit.
The owner of the voice was a man completely dressed in black robes. He knelt on one knee. This man, known as Kai, was Shiro's personal bodyguard. He usually completely erased his presence and moved around through the shadows, always monitoring her without interfering unless he believed she absolutely needed it.
Kai was a young man with midnight black hair tied into a ponytail that reached his waist. He wore a face mask, concealing most of his facial features and his eyes were closed as he faced down. He looked to be in his mid-twenties.
"I believe you already know."
He opened his eyes and stared right at her. His eyes glowed a violent purple in the cave and she felt like he was looking right at her soul. Sometimes she felt that he could read her mind, especially after he says things like that. Still, she wanted to continue feigning ignorance.
"I-I have no idea what you are implying."
"That familiar you got without your mother's permission. It won't be like the other times where she ignored."
She had forgotten that he was always watching her so he knew exactly what she was doing when she was doing it. He had been monitoring her every action and had been showing a video feed to her mother through the use of magic.
The current head of the Tatsumaki clan was angry at the scene of Shiro choosing the chick even though there was a dragon available.
"Can't we forget about it this one time?"
She pleaded, but Kai was a by-the-rules, no-nonsense character. He wouldn't listen to her no matter what. So he closed the distance between the two of them with the blink of an eye and used the skill [Shadow Travel], to send both of them away.
-----------------------------------------------------------
For a moment, Shiro could only see black and couldn't breathe. Then suddenly she was thrown out of the darkness and back into light. She instantly knew that Kai had used [Shadow Travel] to get them both out of the [Cave of Ancients]. As for where they were now, she had a fairly good guess.
She was in a dimly lit room, with orbs of blue flames floating around, making vision very difficult. In front of her was a closed sliding door, showing the silhouette of a woman smoking. The woman's eyes shone a bright red through the door as she looked at the new expected guest.
Shiro promptly stood up and dusted herself.
"H-hello, mother."
"Is that how to greet the clan head?" the one sitting behind the door asked and puffed out a bit of smoke, her voice elegant and powerful.
"S-sorry clan head!" The girl immediately bowed down, a cold sweat ran down her face.
"Sit." Shiro sat in a traditional Japanese style and faced the silhouette. Ever since she had been born she had never seen the face of her mother. As the family head and the shrine priestess she was always too busy to leave this shrine – at least that is what Shiro told herself. If she left, it would be for the compulsory "Elder Clans Summit", where the 4 other great clans would meet. Even then, she would leave in a palanquin, so Shiro could never see her face.
"First, I would like to congratulate you on getting your familiar. Could you introduce it to me?" she asked and Shiro beamed with joy. If she could just explain the fact that Hinotori possessed a unique skill to her mother, surely she would have to reconsider.
"Its name is Hinotori-chan, and it's got-"
"That's a strange name to give to a dragon." The clan head interrupted. Shiro began to feel uncomfortable.
"Uh... what? Hinotori-chan is a chick." She said.
"Chick? There are no chicks present in this room. Get serious."
That was when Shiro realized that Hinotori hadn't appeared with her. She searched around and couldn't spot it out. She also couldn't sense the bird's presence in the premises. Due to her soul bond she knew it wasn't remotely close to them.
Then it hit her. Her mother wouldn't allow for a chick to be her familiar. Professor Sotomura had warned her about it, but she thought at most her mother would just ignore its presence. Kai had already taken Hinotori away with his [Shadow Travel] skill.
Just then, she felt a sharp strike in her soul. It was almost as if someone were ripping her soul apart and it was unbearable. She instantly understood that her soul bond with Hinotori was being cut off. Which meant that Hinotori was dying.
"W-what?"
Her vision became blurry and she could hear ringing in her ears. Her heartbeat felt faster and she felt really dizzy, swooning from side to side.
"What's happening?"
She asked, absolutely confused.
"What must be done."
The clan head responded as she took a smoke. Her voice was a calm and composed as it always was.
"W-WHAT DID YOU DO!!!"
She screamed with bloodshot eyes and bulging veins. The pain sent her into a state of cardiac arrest, instantly knocking her out. Last thing she remembered were those crimson red eyes glowing brightly as they looked down on her.
***
The man emerged from the shadows of a thick tree in front of a lake. It was midnight and the full moon shone brightly. He could hear a timber wolf howl in a distance, but that didn't faze him in the slightest. C rank monsters such as timber wolves were nothing to him.
In his hand he held an unconscious Hinotori and he walked to a riverside. He went on his knees and lifted the bird up with reverence and respect. He begun to look at it with a gaze of awe and excitement.
"Oh yes! After so long. We have recovered the [Divine]!", he screamed happily. "Oh paragons! We need wait no longer. We don't need the empire or the Elder Clans anymore. We can proceed."
"Are you retarded? Shouting in a place like this."
Another voice sounded from behind Kai. He tilted his head back to get a look at the person. Once he identified the person, he cleared his throats then looked back at the chick.
"Sorry for my outburst. It's just that… the [Divine]. After so long. The elders will be happy now."
The new member grinned, then got closer to Kai. He got a closer look at the chick and had an ecstatic look on his face. His leafy green eyes glowed with a faint light of excitement.
"Glorious. We must hurry and inform the others, although I would want to have it a bit more to myself. How greedy of me."
His expression then turned into one of disgust and confusion.
"What the hell is this?" he asked in a low voice.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean the pathetic soul that is joined to the [Divine]'s. It is interrupting the glorious display."
Kai then remembered exactly what happened earlier on.
"The Tatsumaki girl. She forged a Master-servant contract with it."
"WHAT?! She dare?! The Tatsumaki clan have gone too far with their insults. I will go cut her down, right now." The paragon flew into a rage.
"Relax, oh Cardinal. I have an idea." Kai begged and the paragon looked at him with a curious glare.
"Hmm?"
The young assassin began to recite some words. His hands and eyes glowed dark purple and three complex magic circles appeared above the chick.
"[Forbidden Arts: Degenerate]"
Cardinal watched on with intrigue at his action. He immediately understood what Kai was attempting to do. [Degenerate] was a magic spell that allowed a person to breakdown a magic spell to its very fundamental roots. It was an extremely difficult spell to learn, that most people never were able to learn especially since it meant reading the practically innumerable threads that went into a spell and tearing them apart piece by piece in mere seconds. And what Kai was attempting was even more difficult.
"I see. I will be preparing a teleport gate then."
He said, walking behind Kai. He begun the spell for the teleport gate. Kai would have been too exhausted to [Shadow Travel] by the time he was done, so Cardinal took it upon himself to carry both of them back.
He stretched out his hands to begin. A white magic circle, 5m round opened up, but then the circle broke apart.
'Hmmm? Did I make a mistake in the circle formation? Let me try again.'
He tried again, and it didn't work. As a skilled veteran, he immediately recognized this as the work of [Spatial magic] user. Obviously he had considered the possibility of Kai being the source, so he glanced at him, but the young man was still busy with his spell. Which left his first suspicion. Someone else had intentionally trapped him here, still he couldn't sense a presence.
His ears perked up when he heard some sounds coming from the bushes, then a white slash that came faster than he could react, cutting a gaping hole in his chest. Confused, he looked down when the warm blood begun to escape his body. Then he heard clanking sounds.
He looked up again and saw someone in black armor approaching.
"Hey. I was taking a nap over there when that blonde guy over there came. I found it a bit odd that there was a human here, but decided to ignore it. Strangely enough another human appeared. I couldn't allow you to tarnish this place's image any further. This forest used to be completely anti-human. I guess this forest isn't what it used to be, huh? Then again, nothing is what it used to be some centuries back."
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