"Magic Archon Aureya Draith… What are you doing here? The last I heard you were meant to be in the Pinyang province of the southern empire co-ordinating the ascension exams." Archon Alzareth said sharply, his arms folded across his crimson robes.
"Hoho…" The dark-haired woman; Archon Draith chuckled before responding, as she stepped forward, heels clicking against the enchanted stone of the mage platform.
Her smile was the kind that could both charm a snake and send shivers down a dragon's spine.
"Don't tell me you are not happy to see me after all these years Alzy?" Archon Draith replied as an intoxicating smile spreed across her lips.
The way she said his name was teasing,too familiar, too deliberate making the onlookers wonder if something had actually happened between both parties.
Alzareth's eyes narrowed. "That hasn't answered my question."
In a blink, the temperature dropped, The beautiful smile suddenly vanished from Aureya Draith's face.
A wave of magical aura surged outward from her, brushing against his defenses with the elegance so captivating and speed that seemed so fast for the normal human eye to follow… Archon Draith's magical aura cold an sharp pressed down like a serpent flexing its muscles.
But Alzareth stood unmoved, releasing his own aura in a sudden flare of red light. The platform groaned beneath the clashing forces as both parties came to a standstill.
"Hoho… It seemed you haven't lost your touch despite old age eeh" Archon Draith said coolly, withdrawing her aura with a sly smirk.
However, before Archon Alzareth Could respond, a more familiar voice cut in… Lady Stacy's voice followed shaky with disbelief.
"Auntie?! What are you doing here?!" Lady Stacy Fredrick blinked, almost stumbling off her seat.
Archon Draith turned like a dancer, one hand on her hip, the other raised dramatically. "And look who we have here… If it isn't my darling niece eeh… My! You've grown taller than I expected… How is your old man?" She asked.
The spectators were stunned.
Even Old Man Frank, who had cracked a smile upon her arrival, now squinted, trying to piece together the web.
"What?! How… How are they even related? How don't i now all these?" Old man frank thought as he watched the drama.
But It wasn't just him… all grandmasters and masters present where equaly as shocked… Archon Alzareth not being an exception.
Stacy was about to respond when a faraway scream echoed across the field, as all eyes turned…
***
While all this commotion went on below the platform, Davi sat frozen as he kept on receiving status update from the system… heart hammering in his chest as Nimue's scream tore across the arena.
It was over 30 minutes that Nimue had began releasing the dark origin from within herself and about one hour since they concluded the last exam.
[Ding!]
[Bond Sync Increased: 30.02%]
[Purification Process… 8%]
[Ding!]
[New Info Feature Added: Strength Status]
[Ding!]
[Combat Role Increased: Ambush Specialist (23.45%>42.12%) | Terrain Modifier (1.002%> 6.702%)]
[Ding!]
[Notable Traits Increased!]
[Wisp Veins (Status: Poor > Good): Allows silent movement through shallow earth]
[Rotfangs (Status: Not Bad> Good): Necrotic tail venom inflicts slow-acting poison]
[Ding!]
[New Sub-Element Acquired: Darkness]
[Ding!]
[Bond Sync Increased: 33.05%]
[Purification Process… 12%]
[Ding!]
[Staus: Injured>Healing]
[Ding!]
[Host's pet has met the requirements for evolution!]
[Host give access to commence evolution from Rank E > Rank D]
[yes]/[No]
"Yes!" Davi responded Immediately.
This time however he did so inwardly not wanting to arouse suspition.
[Ding!]
[Bond Sync Increased: 35.05%]
[Evolution Process… 0.09%]
"I don't know who you are… or what kind of force you've unleashed" Davi thought, eyes fixed on the flickering system screen as lines of glowing text shimmered and faded before his eyes.
"But thank you… for this gift." he thought inwardly.
His heart thumped in quiet disbelief.
The pulsing dark light that had wrapped around Gravilis moments ago still echoed faintly through the air.
"If not for you… I might've failed the mission to revive Gravilis" he admitted inwardly.
"There's no telling whether I'd have ever found the right ingredients, let alone survived long enough to use them. A temporary Sight is one thing, but gathering rare healing herbs in a hostile forest? That's suicide for someone like me whoo has no idea of what this world is all about."
He leaned forward slightly, peering at Gravilis although he could not see now being reborn.
"I didn't even know beasts like you could evolve so suddenly," he thought, awe laced with dread.
"And it wasn't even me…" He thought sadly as this reminded him how weak he was and why he needed strength.
He read the notification again slowly and carefully.
"Origin Energy… That's what triggered it. That's what pushed Gravilis into awakening… But what is Origin Energy?"
A shiver ran down his spine.
Not from the cold, but from a quiet truth dawning in his mind.
"Something powerful? Or maybe even beyond the people watching from those towers and thrones?" He speculated.
He swallowed hard, forcing the lump in his throat down.
"And this new affinity… Darkness…?" He thought.
It didn't feel different… Not in any obvious way; yet the world felt quieter around him, as if something unseen was paying attention now… Breathing with him.
"What does Darkness affinity really mean? Is it evil? Cursed?" He thought.
Davi rubbed his palm slowly.
"I have no power… No influence… No allies except Russell… I'm not even supposed to be here."
~Sigh
"If not for those bastard Immortals!!!" Davi cursed.
And yet, something had chosen him. Or at the very least, intervened.
"I need to be careful. If someone finds out what happened… if someone stronger than me sees Gravilis for what he's become, what I'm becoming… I might not survive the night"
~Sigh
He closed his eyes briefly and whispered in his heart…
"Still… thank you. Whoever you are." He said referring to Nimue.
[Host's pet was originally at Rank C before it got injured. The sub-origin; darkness the push Gravilis needs to regain his strength!]
[If the purification from the decay that gravilis endured could be purified to 50%, then Gravilis should be able to break into Rank C]
However before Davi could respond…
***
The black mist around Nimue thickened
Alyssia stood a few steps away, stiff as a board. Her beast,eclipse howler, growled lowly, agitated!
She couldn't explain it, Nimue didn't threaten her however the power radiating from her… it made her insides twist
Fear crept up her spine, not of Nimue the girl, but of the thing she might be becoming.
"Is she really a nobody she claimed to be?" She thought.
"Nimue… stop!!!" Alyssia Said after summoning a bit of courage.
Nimue heard nothing, her form trembled violently as shadow veins pulsed across her arms.
Beside her, the small fox-like creature, Shadow as well as Gravilis were both wrapped in a dark cocoon, pulsating with slow, rhythmic light. Unlike the chaos around it, Gravilis' transformation was calm.
Just then, system rang.
[Alert! Alert!! Alert!!!]
[The source of the Sub-Origin Darkness is attempting to override your bond with Gravilis.]
"Override?! No, no, no…" he whispered under his breath.
[Spend 80 Asura Points to assert dominance and rebind control?]
[Yes]/[No]
"Just what choice do I have?" His mind screamed.
Davi had an exact amount of 80 asura points left; however this… this duskwisp drake of his was his key… Davi couldn't afford to lose it.
As he recalled the scream he heard earlier from the princess of blue sky kingdom, he made no hesitation to accept, although loosing the asura points hurt; his main goal was to regain his lost strength and Gravilis was an asset!
"Yes! Do It" Davi commanded inwardly.
[Deducting 80 asura points!]
[Ding!]
[Bond Sync Increased: 38.46%]
[Ding!]
[Evolution Speed Increased… 14.6%]
[Ding!]
[Purification Process… 17%]
"Now that I look at it, it isn't such a bad deal anymore… will he be able to make it past 50% in time?" Davi thought to himself anxiously.
A sudden pulse of dark light flared from the cocoon and then faded.
The crowd looked on, awestruck, uncertain as even Archon Draith and Alzareth where at loss for words.
Just then something stunning took place stunning Davi and the onlookers all the more Russel not being an exception.
Gravilis' cocoon cracked!
A low hum echoed through the field, a single sharp paw emerged sleeker and darker.
Then came the second; and then, in one motion, the dark cocoon shattered like glass.
Mumures arose from all conners of the stage…
"Whose beast does that belong to?"
"Woah!"
"Wasn't this beast just tamed… How could it evolve so quickly?"
"What is even that Dark light?"
"..."
Gravilis had changed.
Where once stood a beast of raw wild muscle and ash-gray hide, now stood a creature reborn of darkness a drake in the truest sense of the word.
She was longer now, leaner, but with a terrible grace that reminded Davi of something old back in the world of forsaken saints.
Her obsidian-black scales shimmered like wet stone beneath the moonlight, layered tightly like an armor.
But it was her tail that chilled Russell to his marrow, It had undergone tremendous change.
In its place now lashed a long, sinuous appendage,a stinger-tipped blade, shaped like a curved scythe at the end of a whip. Not metal, not bone however it was something in between.
It pulsed with a corrosive energy, as if even the air recoiled from it.
Tiny wisps of gray-green mist trailed wherever the tip moved, dissolving grass and insect alike. Not instantly but surely. Decay had taken root in her arsenal, a venomous touch that did not merely kill, but unmade… however this power was only at its infancy stage as she (Gravilis) had stepped fully into Rank D.
What followed was an even more painful scream from Nimue as she suddenly collapsed and fainted as stopping the release of darkness origin energy.
~ROAR!!!
Gravilis Screamed as she announced with dominance.
It seemed like she was saying…
"Master… I am back in action!"
This all happened so fast that all onlookers were mouth wide in astonishment.