The Hatchling (4)
A sigil of two hands clasped together, palm to palm.
You have acquired the Privilege Skill <Oath of Destiny>.
Oath of Destiny (10-Star): A Privilege Skill whose name symbolizes magical power and a deep, fated bond, representing the powerful tie between a familiar and its contractor. You may perform a familiar's oath with any being, without exception.
With this Privilege Skill in hand, I was now no different from a Summoner.
[The contract with <Snikle> grows even firmer.]
[The contract with <Dryas> grows even firmer.]
Oath of Destiny had reached even those with whom I had already formed contracts. In time, that would circle back to Snikle and Dryas as nothing but a boon.
I lifted my head and looked at the hatchling. And then—
Sriiing.
The hatchling's closed eyelids curled slowly upward. Golden eyes that seemed to hold the sun itself, glittering. As I stared into those twin pupils, I felt my consciousness begin to sway.
You have encountered the 'Rank' of a supreme being.
Sage's Tome — Status Ailment Resistance has activated.
You have withstood the presence of the supreme rank.
Hatchling or not, the creature carried a rank that made my very flesh tremble. A dragon's child was a dragon, freshly born though it was.
Wooooong.
The moment my gaze locked with the creature's, my mana began to seethe. It had started resonating with the hatchling's own.
FAAASH!
Golden mana spilled out of my body — and at the same time, golden mana began to scatter from the hatchling's as well.
"Whoa!"
"Mana resonance!"
James and his party cried out at the sight.
[Dormant Dragon Blood has been detected within Ascender Kim Hajun.]
[Conditions have been met.]
[You may proceed with the Oath of Destiny with the Gold Dragon Lumina. Do you wish to proceed?]
Oh. Could it be—
It seemed to be thanks to Dragonia, the Privilege Skill I had acquired some time ago. I'd never dreamed that skill would produce a result like this.
Either way, it was an opportunity I could not afford to let slip. The instant the prompt appeared, my will was already made up.
[Proceeding with the Oath of Destiny between Kim Hajun and Lumina.]
Our two mana streams twisted into tangled threads of silk and began winding around one another. In a blank white expanse within my consciousness, I came face to face with Lumina.
Unlike moments before, the little one was brimming with life, brilliant golden scales glittering, hovering in midair on a pair of adorably small wings.
『What is your name?』
The creature's first words were a question of my name. Instinct told me that right now — this very moment — was the single most important instant in the process of forming a familiar's contract.
"My name is Kim Hajun."
『Kim Hajun.』
"That's right. And what's yours?"
『I am Lumina. A hatchling of the Gold Dragon clan.』
As the creature told me its name, its eyes curved into crescent moons.
『Thank you.』
There was real sincerity in the creature's voice. How could there not be? Because of the oath it had sworn with me, it could now hold down an existence that the Tower's restrictions had been tearing apart.
A sharp sting bloomed in my right shoulder, followed by a wash of cool clarity. The so-called Dragon's Imprint must have just been branded into me.
FAAASH!
When the entire process was complete, my vision returned to normal. No more life was draining out of Lumina's body — the same body that, moments ago, had been fading in real time.
Burrr!
A flood of bubbles poured from Lumina's mouth. And at the same time—
Crrrack, crr-crack-crack!
CRANG!!
The test tube shattered, and the liquid inside burst outward.
"Kkyu."
Swept out along with the water, the little one struggled to lift its head from the floor. I gripped it under both arms with both hands and hoisted it up.
"Kkyuu."
Weakly, the hatchling nuzzled its face against my chest.
What's this? Why does it look this bad?
I'd assumed contracting would restore its condition — but while it hadn't gotten any worse, its body hadn't improved from its initial state either.
— Drained to the very brink of dissolution, I'm afraid. A full recovery won't come easily, not right away.
Then what do I do?
— If you would see it healed swiftly, you must take it to the seventh floor of the Tower or above. Only there can its depleted existence be replenished in short order.
Hah.
Aleon's words sealed my lips. That was something I couldn't fix on the spot.
Should I ask James first?
But the thought of entrusting Lumina to someone else left a bad taste in my mouth. However favorable James had been toward me all this while, I hadn't had the time to gauge just how deep that goodwill ran.
They say you may know the depths of ten miles of water, but never those of a single mile of the human heart. I couldn't simply place blind faith in James and hand Lumina over.
And James still has to break the curse carried in the Demonic Dragon Blood.
If breaking it truly required the blood or flesh of a real dragon, could James resist coveting Lumina? I had no way of knowing.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, huh.
I wore a worried expression as I looked down at Lumina, squirming in my arms.
"Unknown! What in the world happened? Don't tell me you've taken that hatchling as your familiar?"
While I'd been lost in thought, Ivan came rushing over, his face a mask of disbelief. He must have been truly stunned — the excess flesh on his frame was visibly trembling.
"Yes. That's how it turned out."
"Good heavens!"
Ivan clutched his head in both hands and let out a cry.
"Sophie! James! Unknown has taken this hatchling as his familiar! Is that even possible?!"
"Good heavens. A hatchling, as a familiar..."
"Hah. I never imagined we'd find ourselves in a situation like this."
Sophie and James looked every bit as shaken. Fair enough — hadn't even the Sky Tower's system itself declared it? The first time a dragon had ever been contracted as a familiar. This was an unprecedented event no one alive could have imagined.
"But is the hatchling all right? It looks terribly pale."
"It does. It seems utterly drained."
"I don't think it's simply from being trapped in that tube so long, either."
To their eyes, too, Lumina's condition appeared grave indeed.
"Well, you see..."
I was just about to add a precise explanation of Lumina's state when it happened.
KWAAAAAAAH!
"...!"
A flesh-crawling storm of mana erupted on the sixth floor.
"What now?"
We scrambled back up to the sixth floor in haste. And there we saw it — the shattered warp gate, and the mana it had released converging upon a single point.
"Fall back."
We widened the distance between ourselves and that flow of mana, staying on guard so as not to be swept up in it. Around the time we passed the midpoint of the sixth floor—
KWAAAAAH!
The mana changed color. A jet-black demonic mana that seemed it would devour light itself.
Ziiiing!
A single line drew itself through the heart of the black mana, then split open, top and bottom. Between them emerged pupils of deepest jet. Yes — what the black mana had painted was a colossal eye.
"Th-that's—!"
"What... what is that."
Sophie stumbled backward, her face twisted with fear. Ivan and James likewise narrowed their brows and swallowed hard.
The corrosion assailing your mind is being repelled.
I was no freer of its influence than the rest. It was the Sage's Tome that held back the force trying to erode my mind.
"Kkyuung—"
The problem was Lumina. Already drained of all strength, the hatchling burrowed deeper into my chest, shivering in tiny tremors.
『S...care...d...』
Lumina's voice wavered faint as a candleflame before the wind.
Aleon!
The moment I called for him in desperation—
— Cover the hatchling with your Sage's Robe, at once!
At his words, I pulled the Sage's Robe forward to its very hem and draped it over Lumina's body. At once, the hatchling's breathing — which had sounded as though it might stop entirely — steadied a little.
"What... what in God's name is that thing?"
Ivan asked, his voice shaking. The black eyes gazed down at us, unblinking. One brief look was enough to send chills racing across my entire body.
It was James who answered Ivan's question.
"That... is the Abyss."
"The Abyss?"
"Yes. That is the transcendent being that Tiamut serves."
"Ah!"
At James's words, Ivan shuddered as though struck by lightning. He had long known the truth of it — that the being Tiamut served was why James had never lightly moved against the syndicate. He'd never understood why a man with James's strength behaved so cautiously. But seeing this thing with his own eyes, his thinking had changed.
"This is madness," Ivan said, wiping cold sweat from his brow.
Then, the Abyss's gaze shifted.
Suuuuuh.
What now?
Its regard bore down on me alone. The thing had begun staring straight at me, and no one else.
Sage's Tome — Status Ailment Resistance has activated.
The target's rank is exalted beyond measure. Resistance only partially successful.
Ah.
My head swam. Cold sweat began to run in rivulets. My stomach churned; I felt I would be sick. My legs threatened to give out beneath me where I stood.
"U...n...k...nown!"
"G...et... a... gr...ip...!"
"H...ey... lo...ok...!"
Someone was shouting my name; someone else was yelling at me to pull myself together; another to look. Their voices came to me in fragments as my skull spun in circles. Instinct told me that if I closed my eyes here, something terrible would happen — and so I endured, and endured again, desperate to keep them open.
You think something like this is going to take ME down?
I had come all this way to reach this place. Even if the very devils of hell clawed at my ankles, I would not be dragged down.
GRAAAAAAAAH!
Straining with everything I had, I clenched my eyes against the pressure. Then, like fireworks detonating behind my skull, a profound sense of release came flooding in.
[You have withstood the <Soul Erosion> of ??? through sheer unyielding will.]
[You have crossed a gulf of rank as vast as heaven and earth — a moment that can only be called miraculous.]
[By the Tower's authority, a penalty is imposed upon ??? for violating its rules.]
[??? has suffered a loss of mental strength.]
[Ascender Kim Hajun's Spirit stat has permanently increased by +5.]
WHOOSH!
My mind snapped into crystalline clarity.
Oh? What's this?
A permanent boost to my Spirit stat — the last thing I'd expected. A calamity had turned to fortune in a single breath.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
Their concern ran deeper than I'd anticipated. Feeling the sincerity behind their gazes, I steadied my ragged breathing.
"But how exactly are we supposed to deal with that thing?"
The real question now was what to do about the Abyss itself.
One careless move and I have a feeling things will go very badly.
The thing was all but beckoning us to attack it, flaunting itself like an open invitation. It felt off. Deeply off. Moments ago, the Tower had clamped restrictions on it for some violation of the rules — so wasn't it possible that the moment we attacked, those restrictions would come undone?
— Sound judgment. I'd say the odds of exactly that are very high indeed.
At Aleon's words, a dry smile tugged at the corner of my mind. That had been a hair's breadth from catastrophe.
"I don't think we should strike first," I said. At my words, James and his party nodded and held their ground, making no rash moves. They too had sensed, however dimly, what I had felt.
Well — the calibre of the Seven Ascenders was never to be underestimated, after all.
So what now? Could we simply withdraw like this? We were warily staring down the Abyss, neither side moving, when—
Yet another unforeseen upheaval struck.
CRRAAAAAAANGE!!
An immense mass of mana began gathering from the outskirts of the sixth floor — a magnitude of power so vast it raised gooseflesh from skin to bone.
"Now what?"
"N-no way... th-this mana..."
Had Sophie recognized the owner of this mana? She was trembling all over, on the verge of panic.
Why is she like that?
Judging by its sheer size, it seemed hardly lesser than the Abyss itself.
FAAAAAAASH!
Presently, a man and a woman emerged from within the swirling vortex of mana. Their beauty transcended anything of mortal origin.
"Found it."
The instant I looked into the eyes of those two figures, I knew at once — why Sophie had reacted the way she had, and what these two truly were.
— Dragons! And not just any — Ancient Dragons, both of them!
Yes. Their identities were none other than dragons.
Good heavens. Was the likes of a dragon always this easy to spot?
Why they had appeared wasn't hard to guess. It had to be because of the hatchling in my arms — Lumina. My eyes widened. The thought flashed through my mind that these two might just be the answer to Lumina's problem.
GAAAAAAAHHH—!
Then the Abyss flared with open hostility toward the two newly arrived dragons.
"Something that should never have existed here has shown itself."
The dragons, in turn, spat words thick with wariness at the Abyss.
And so a new phase opened before us. Dragons and the Abyss — and, wedged awkwardly in between, us.