After zooming past the night sky, Sumr dove to a clearing, the grasses wilting at the impact.
There was a peculiar small house before them. The wooden inn settled itself while surrounded by a forest, trees still humming with the vigilant owls and buzzy insects.
With a gesture from Sumr, the door slid open at her command.
Then, with a grunt, she threw the white-haired Queen inside, her small body gliding across the interior.
Ciel embraced herself for impact, only to land and roll on a bed, ending with her back crashing against a wall.
Wincing, Ciel chuckled out. "Good throw."
The Dragon huffed, and with a click of her fingers, the room was set alight. Their sources were from fireflies at the ceiling, swarming inside lanterns made of iron and glass walls.
Ciel first marvelled at this sight, at the mattress below her, then at the desk filled with docunts at the side closest to her, the uncleaned kitchen at the other.
Her gaze drifted to the tall ceiling above her, the light of the academy cast at the windows.
Even now, it buzzed with activities at nightti, when shadebeasts appeared the most frequently.
Surprisingly, her first destination was not in an interrogation room.
"My ho will be your residence for now. Anyone would be suspicious if I landed you directly at the academy ground, a risk I couldn’t afford, either, not knowing if you deceived about your strength."
Sumr said casually as she turned to the kitchen, adorning herself with a pink apron. "Suit yourself. You’ll be observed here in a few days before heading there to be dissected."
Ignoring the threat, Ciel observed the small room, then the Dragon again, her golden hair sprawling down the pink apron freely.
A smile blood on her lips. "You look like a housewife."
"I will kill you. Right now."
The bloodlust in Sumr’s voice was unmistakably real, even as she fashioned herself with a wok and a pan.
Ciel chuckled at the Dragon’s brewing rage, before busying herself with a certain System panel.
[ Welco to the Queen’s Bane System, Ciel. ]
[ Here, you will beco the Greatest weapon against the Queens of Shadebeasts, a hunter for the hunters. ]
The white-haired queen frowned. She wished for a peaceful life, but hunting shadebeasts had no part in it.
Yet the System had an undeniable effect in keeping her clarity attached now, and she would be dood if she dismissed it so easily.
She hated the feeling of being bound to another greater power, but she didn’t necessarily dislike repaying a lifelong favour.
Though her allegiance seed to always lie with those who wanted to kill or enslave her. How... amusing.
With a nod, a few options soon appeared in the panels.
[ Reward compiling...]
[ Level: 1 -> 4 ]
[ SP - Stat Point: 0 - > 3 ]
[ Starter Skill Selection: ]
Shadow Mastery
Description: Drawing your nature as a shadebeast, any magic related to shadow will have 500% Proficiency. Be warned that your beastly nature will be amplified upon selection.
Ice mastery
Description: Draws upon the power of Ice at your command. Ice Magic will have 100% proficiency.
Moon Mastery
Description: The moonlight will be yours and yours alone. Magic related to Moonlight will have 300% proficiency. However, you can no longer learn any other elent until level 25.
Ciel’s brows furrowed together, her mind quickly weighing her options.
She rejected Shadow Mastery and Ice Mastery inwardly. The forr bore too much risk, while the latter’s advantage was nonexistent.
And if there were an academy, she might have to take an exam that Sumr forced her to attend. Ciel would know.
She invaded it countless tis before, after all.
Therefore-
"Moon Mastery."
Ensuring her safety with enough strength, but not enough to earn Sumr’s suspicion, was the priority.
A queen could have her own cheat a little, no?
The mont she made her choice, strength stread up her veins like rivers, her brain suddenly feeling light with a refreshing coolness.
Moonlight exploded in her sharpened vision. It soon folded back to itself, and Ciel could observe its every trace, hue and outline with their deepened connection.
She paused, then peeked at the Dragon, who flipped an egg with a magnificent spin on her pan.
Ciel made an awkward face. But after a mont of Ciel fidgeting with herself, the Dragon rely spun around and walked over, her step careful.
Placing the plate of egg and ham sandwich onto the desk, their gazes finally t.
Sumr’s green eyes scanned Ciel from head to toe, the ire palpable in the air, as if she had already known Ciel’s sudden burst of power.
And when a scoff slipped from the dragon’s lips, Ciel was sure Sumr found out her System, before-
Flop! Her body wobbled with a pyjama slapped onto her chest, the fabric heavy and oversized for her tiny fra.
"Wear so damn clothes."
Ciel’s brows raised, hugging the warm fabric closer to her chest.
Her heart skipped a beat. It must be a sign of sha, she lied to herself.
"That..." Ciel pointed at the al. "Was for ?"
"In your dreams."
Sumr picked the two soft, thick breads up, the egg glowing soft and creamy over the hams, witnessed by the green firefly lanterns from above.
"I haven’t eaten since I needed to rush to a Queen Ascension Site." Sumr glared at the Ciel, whose lips were glazed with saliva. "So stop that creepy look. Your act disgusts ."
Act? Ciel’s shoulders fell, then realised the logic behind Sumr’s guess.
Shadebeasts bore no emotion. They knew slaughters but bore no joy, knew tearing flesh apart but harboured no disgust.
The sa could be said for Ciel, however. She counted those she killed at one point, until she just forgot one day, and moved on.
Ti wore out everything, till even her heartbeat sounded dull.
Yet-
"I’m willing to die for the sandwich."
Ciel muttered out, before smiling with her confidence brewing.
"One bite. Please."
Her small hand clung stubbornly to the large bag of clothes Sumr offered, eyes glimring with a sincerity that the dragon winced at.
"...is this a new mutation of mimic or..." Sumr let out a huge sigh before clutching hard onto her throbbing head. "Alright, don’t look in my general direction for a few minutes. You can have your damn sandwich."
Sumr paused, realising how weak she sounded, before repeating. "I rely lost my appetite. Say a word, and I will throw you outside to sleep in the cold."
Ciel’s eyes bead, her small figure swaying with a heat bubbling up her cheek.
Her heartbeat felt a little fuller now.
After sliding her body into the huge pyjama, Ciel ate the sandwich Sumr offered, sleeves fluttering loosely beneath her wrists.
Her teeth bit into the soft bread, as the taste of egg and ham exploded inside her mouth, causing her eyes to glimr.
Ciel then paused before putting back a poker face to enjoy the al. She couldn’t afford the Dragon suspecting her ’act’ again.
After finishing, her tongue unconsciously licked at her lips, savouring every sprinkle of crust she could find.
Sumr’s face now flickered between softness and caution; the Dragon didn’t know if she should pity or scorn the little Queen.
For ’pretending’? Not quite. Ciel’s fakeness was fickle yet undeniably an act of self-preservation. Flip it, and the dragon easily missed which side of her was real.
Eying the two wounds on Ciel’s knees, the dragon kneeled with enchanted mutterings at her tongue.
The spell painted the red gush back to a healthy pink, the gnashes slowly closing themselves.
Ciel was about to thank her before sothing warm and thick gushed out from her throat. With a few coughs, blood spilt from her lips, stealing a few crumbs of reddened bread she just eaten.
The wraiths of ancient dragons lingered in the form of wounds, revealed only after a peaceful al had settled into sothing more.
A frown flashed by the Dragon. With a glowing palm pressed onto Ciel’s chest, the insides, twisted and mangled, reshaped themselves anew. Slowly, Ciel finally caught a few steady pants in between her coughs.
"That sandwich." The dragon looked away, her gaze distant. "Was not for you. It must have been overcooked."
As the air settled back into her lungs, Ciel breathed out a chuckle, eying the blood-saliva that pooled at her thighs, the tip of her clothes coating a faint red.
"...at least it didn’t stain much."
Ciel’s hand stretched for the wet ss before a hurried hand caught her wrist.
Growling, the dragon muttered out a chant again. The sloppy saliva flowed freely upward before lting into the fabric of space, leaving only traces of smoke behind.
Three dragon chants. Just to heal and sanitise her.
"Thanks-"
Ciel’s gratitude was t with an annoyed grumble.
She would laugh, but upon reevaluating her choices, a flat seriousness washed over her expression.
If Miss Dragon thought even her thanks were irritating-
"As an apology, could you allow a walk outside?"
Then how about compensation instead?
Because she had a few ideas about what to do with the other System’s rewards.
Reviews
All reviews (0)