Chapter 182
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Arsha's Shadow Dragon
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arsha wouldn't have survived either.
That is...
"Father threw himself into the jaws of death to save Arsha."
Mother would have tried to help him, too.
It had been a disaster from the start.
But what did any of that matter to Arsha?
Even if it hadn't been because of her, their last words to their parents would feel like nails hammered into their hearts—petulant complaints that sealed their fate.
"Overkill."
[Confirmed.]
"Don't you think this is a bit much for an eleven-year-old to handle?"
[We judge so.]
"What to do about this."
I pondered, then asked,
"In your view, what's the right move?"
I was speaking to the seal etched on the back of Arsha's hand, but I wasn't really expecting an answer.
Even the King of the Forbidden Realm was still a demon beast at heart.
How could a demon beast possibly understand human psychology?
In truth, the seal hadn't done anything special. It had simply shown Arsha's dream from moments ago and called it a day, as if that was all it needed to do.
From a child's point of view... the only option was to bury those painful memories under a mountain of new, fun experiences.
Luna was a familiar presence to Melissa and me, but to Arsha, she was just a pretty big sister who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Luna silently pulled some ice cream from the fridge and offered it to Arsha, who was peeking out from behind my leg, clutching it tightly. But outsiders still seemed intimidating to her.
So Luna used food to coax her, gradually easing her wariness.
"Be a good listener. I am to become Leon's mate."
"M-mate... marriage!"
Arsha's eyes went wide.
"Which means Arsha and I will soon be family."
"Wow... whoa..."
Arsha let out a soft gasp, her cheeks flushing pink in pure, childlike admiration.
"Pretty big sis and... Big Brother..."
"Shall I tell cute Arsha some old tales?"
"Y-yes... old tales?"
"Stories of the world from long, long ago."
Stories I'd never heard before. Even if she'd been sealed away for ages, Luna had lived through those ancient times—her tales had to be like living history books.
"Wh-what kind?"
"Hm..."
Luna thought for a moment, then said,
"The story of a hero who slew a demon dragon to protect his kingdom."
"I wanna hear it!"
Arsha's eyes sparkled in an instant.
Had there been a tale like that?
"It's a story I heard from someone else."
Luna spoke calmly, as if reciting something etched deep in her memory.
She actually seemed pretty good with kids.
An archangel without a sense of self.
Now that I knew Luna was an archangel, her awkward speech patterns and muted emotions made perfect sense.
That childlike quality about her probably made her a great fit.
In fact, Luna's tales were surprisingly detailed, drawing Arsha in completely.
With ice cream in hand, she was glued to every word. Looked like she'd be occupied for a while.
Leaving Arsha absorbed in Luna's stories, I headed out to the mansion's expansive garden grounds.
Alright, time to get to what I'd originally planned.
I opened a pocket dimension in the middle of the open space and retrieved the heart of the demon dragon Varil that I'd taken from the Holy Kingdom.
The black heart—about the size of a human torso—was still faintly pulsing, even without its owner.
Its body had been completely purified by Luna's divinity, extinguishing even the black flames clinging to it.
The aftermath had greatly diluted its twisted demon dragon power, but powerful mana still circulated within.
Dragon heart.
A dragon heart was a massive mana reservoir, a self-sustaining circulation system... and a data cluster that defined the dragon itself.
I set the heart down and pulled out the top-grade magic stone I'd received from an elder of the Gaifen Mage Tower.
Varil's heart was contaminated.
Luna's divinity could only destroy it outright; fine-tuning it into the form I wanted was impossible.
In this state, even turning it into an undead would be useless.
So, modification it was.
I activated the heart of the Machine God, resonating it with Varil's heart and the top-grade magic stone.
Suddenly, the magic stone began to flow like liquid, morphing into droplets that seeped into the heart.
Top-grade magic stone and dragon heart.
The forced fusion triggered a violent rejection reaction from the heart.
The shockwaves rippled outward.
No way. I couldn't waste something this precious.
I activated all seven rotating rings around my own heart, unfurling a massive barrier spell circle.
The enormous mana pouring from Varil's heart scattered wildly, trying to dissipate in every direction amid the explosive reaction energy. But my barrier contained it, forcing it to rage internally.
The pressure built slowly, like a nuclear fission building to critical mass, but I crushed it down with even vaster mana.
Normally, processing something like this would be idiotic and reckless.
Regular mages or necromancers just didn't have that much mana.
They'd need preparations to suppress the extreme reaction and a space sturdy enough to contain it.
But that didn't apply to me.
I filled any gaps with raw mana and sealed the escaping energy with overwhelming force.
It was closer to standard elemental magic than necromancy.
It had to be.
What I was doing wasn't the necromancers' usual undead spells—it was replacing the base material for a new undead.
The energy in the top-grade magic stone was immense, but compared to Varil's heart, it was a mere drop in the ocean.
Still, like jump-starting a car engine with a small spark, it was enough to twist the heart's structure and kickstart a self-sustaining reaction.
Or rather, it was overkill—the thing guzzled way more than necessary.
Anyway, it consumed far more mana than expected, but Varil's heart—now resonating with the magic stone's energy—began to shrink before my eyes.
Even its form was changing.
The twisted demon dragon heart, infused with pure mana, transformed into something akin to a dragon heart... but utterly different.
"Never imagined I'd create something like this outside Labyrinthos."
The massive isolation spell circle and the countless arrays reshaping the heart all vanished at once.
"You... what the hell are you doing?"
Despite my efforts to contain it, Varil's heart had been too potent. I could feel everyone in the mansion staring at me.
"O-Oppa..."
There was Arsha, looking at me with a face full of fear.
"Arsha."
I reached out to her, but she reflexively ducked behind Luna.
Her wariness was gone—she'd already grown close to Luna.
Even so, this reaction was a bit much.
"Arsha?"
"Hic..."
Arsha was showing fear far beyond what was normal.
As if she could sense the massive mana torrent that others couldn't.
[Arsha Cascadia is contracted with the King of the Forbidden Realm. Her senses may be far sharper than others...]
"Ah!!"
Only then did I realize why Arsha had been instantly terrified of me.
This was a terrible outcome.
Shocked as if the world had ended, I called to Arsha again.
"Arsha, is Oppa scary?"
"...S-sorry."
"Ah..."
"Idiot."
Melissa shook her head.
I couldn't let it end like this.
I racked my brain.
Kids love dinosaurs, right?
Yeah. Since it had come to this, maybe showing her the finished product would help.
"Arsha, don't be like that. Let me show you something cool."
With those words, I gripped the now palm-sized heart in one hand.
It pulsed faintly, but this was no longer a living thing.
It was a massive power source—practically a lifeform in its own right.
[Wraith Transformation]
I turned it straight into an undead.
A massive resistance surged from the heart, trying to disrupt my magic.
Of course, it didn't last long.
Death Lord-level dominance was no joke.
Soon, black mist began pouring from the heart.
I'd already stored its form.
The mist coalesced into a massive shape, and a huge black-misted creature slowly raised its head.
"Whoa, whoa..."
Arsha gasped at the sight.
Unlike my other undead shrouded in black mist, this one bore no trace of its demon dragon origins.
Instead, it overflowed with ultra-pure elemental mana—a completely new breed of undead.
I'd crammed it full of custom options and tweaks, so it had turned into something unexpectedly fun.
Other wraith-type undead might shift forms if I willed it, but their fundamental attributes never changed.
This one was different—born from my own experiences and memories.
Not just the form, but its very essence had shifted.
Shadow Dragon.
Melissa freaked out at the sight of the massive dragon slowly expanding its form, while Luna looked intrigued.
"First time seeing a dragon structured like this. Where'd you get it?"
"Made it from Varil's heart. Tweaked it a little."
To be precise, this undead was closer to a chimera.
To create it, I'd torn apart how many dragons in Labyrinthos?
Back then, it had only been theoretically possible.
You couldn't use powers from other halls in a given one.
But now? My arsenal was diverse enough to turn theory into reality.
That was when it happened.
"Ah, aaaah!"
Terrified, Arsha plopped down on her butt.
She was trembling violently—far more scared than I'd anticipated.
Damn.
At my gesture, the shadow contracted at blinding speed.
Suddenly, pristine white dragon bones emerged from what hadn't been visible before.
And then—crunch!!
A bizarre sound echoed from the bones as they melted like liquid and rapidly shrank.
Down to the size of a housecat.
The little, dainty dragon-shaped thing wrapped itself in black mist once more.
"Eek! So... so cute..."
Arsha, who had been terrified moments ago, couldn't tear her eyes away from the now-adorable creature.
She'd always shown a lot of interest in cats and dogs.
"Arsha, wanna name it? It was just born."
All its wraith data was recorded in my circles.
Like uploading info to a computer.
Arsha looked up at me in surprise.
"Me?"
"Yeah. It wants you to name it, too."
The newborn Shadow Dragon turned to me.
(I never agreed to that?)
Play cute or get reset if she fears you.
Catching my intent from my glare, it whimpered and rubbed its head against Arsha's hand.
Wraith undead obeyed orders without ego.
But I'd already confirmed that named-tier ones—like Death Knights or Wuyoung—could develop egos in special cases.
Arsha started scared, but soon repeated petting it gently.
Tsk. That's all you got?
Eyeing me nervously, the Shadow Dragon suddenly flopped over and exposed its belly.
"Kyarruk!"
Arsha burst into giggles at the sight. It was pretty cute.
Good job. You just saved your own skin.
Sensing my approval, it desperately hammed up the cuteness.
That was when—
"Young Master!! A summons has arrived from the royal castle!"
One of the maids came running up, calling out urgently.
The royal castle? Why would they summon me?