[AN: Surprise!

Alright, first I'd like to thank our generous donors! *.* Thank you very much! ]

Edit 8th June 2015: Updated to a PR version! All thanks for cleaning this one from my mistakes go to nf_zeta-san! Thank you!

Both the Black and White Wolf stood there stunned. They simply couldn't comprehend what was happening before their eyes. The violet aura that had formed around the small boy was so dense that it was visible to the naked eye! And it even put a feeling of tremendous pressure on them...

Those two adults were trembling before a small child!

However that only lasted for a moment. Belien immediately summoned his M-Collos and took a combat stance. Instinctively he understood that whatever the thing in front of him was, it was certainly a threat. A huge one too.

[: Artes, prepare yourself. We will attack 'it' together.]

[: Roger.]

A smile appeared on the boy's face. A predatory smile that made the men clad in 5m pure Alchemical Metal tremble.

What is a Dragon?

In the Flow World, the Dragon Realm had a huge variety of those. Starting from a small Draglizards to human-sized Dragonlings and even up to the enormous transformed forms of the Elder Knight Dragons.

Marcdrak had attained been complete peak of that race and was classified as a Prime Dragon. For all of the beings in the Flow world, the stronger they became the more perfected their appearance becomes. It was a natural law. And the most perfect form that even Gods assumed was the humanoid one.

In the presence of a Prime Dragon, even the colossal Elder Knight Dragons had to bow their heads, not to mention that he, the Adamantine Dragon, also had the exalted authority of the Dragon Monarch.

Normally higher tier dragons possessed the special ability known as (Dragonic Transformation) which made them capable of switching between their (Dragon Form) and (Human Form). That ability was the main difference between the lower tiered dragons and the higher dragons.

However there was an exception to that rule...

Prime Dragons did not use that ability or more like they disdain using it, that's because they were way above that level.

(Draconic Sacred Beast)

An ability to create and then summon a separate Dragon body from pure Flow whose power surpasses any (Dragon Form) to serve the Prime Dragon as his mount, what's more with both of them present the Prime Dragon's power is actually doubled. That's because he could use abilities of both forms simultaneously!

At the White Wolf's signal, both men rushed at the small boy at the same time.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

Countless claws poured down on Vorst, but he simply dodged it with extreme precision. Right now his body was overflowing with power, but he also had to utilize it carefully. Although he already signed his death contract he still needs to destroy the opponents before him before his soul crumbles. Right now he was in a very volatile state, one wrong move and he would immediately perish... An anger appeared in his eyes.

[Vorst: You want to target MY girls? You wish to kill MY girls? Unforgivable. (Ice breath)]

He raised his hand.

Above his head a circular formation appeared, this one was different from runes, normally that one is only visible to the chosen ones, namely witches. However even those two Wolves could see this one. Violet light shone brightly, from the magic formation a semi-transparent silhouette of a dragon head appeared.

He pointed his hand at the white M-Collos.

The dragon opened his mouth and a freezing wave was released. In an instant a temperature inside the room dropped by tens of degrees, but that was just a side effect.. The one who suffered most was definitely the White Fang Belien. He attempted to dodge that move but it still hit the right half of his M-Collos. The results were disastrous, that half was completely ruined - frozen to the core, his mechanical left leg crumbled and broke away. Though frozen, he felt like the right part of his body was burning! A groan escaped his mouth as he desperately focused on fighting the excruciating pain.

A second shot would definitely finish him off but at that moment the Black Wolf Artes attacked the boy. A smirk appeared on the Neo-Aris' face.

[Vorst: So you want to die first huh? I shall entertain your wish. (Bite)]

Again a circular magic formation appeared, with that the pilot of the black machine paled.

[Artes: Shit. No. Back off. Just die!]

A dragon head appeared one more time and this time it directly lunged towards the target as his jaws easily crushed through the opponent's guard. With just one move Artes' M-Collos lost his claws, left hand and a large portion of the torso.

A two meter black sword appeared in the hands of the small boy. The blade was way longer than his height but Vorst didn't seem to have any problems wielding it.

[Vorst: Invoke the (Omen of Destruction)]

And with just that he slashed towards the black machine. Artes desperately clawed towards the blade that was going for the kill. Without any problems black blade just cut past everything like cutting through butter, be it weapon, hand or metallic torso.

A large surge of nano-photons indicated the death of the foe. Vorst turned his head towards the other one...

Belien was scared out of his mind.

What the fuck was that? What was that thing?

Now, it was time for the finishing move...

A demon-like Aura was surrounding the small boy causing irresistible fear in Belien. From an objective view it was a battle between a 5 meter tall metal giant and a small child whose height was not even 1.5m. But for the damaged white M-Collos he felt like he met with the Grim Reaper incarnate.

Suddenly.

Pain.

A sudden bolt of pain surged through the body of the small child.

Cough.

Vorst coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Sensing the chance White Wolf hurriedly scurried away. He threw away his M-Collos behind and flew off just with his M-Armor.

[Vorst: Huuh. H. Cough... (Fire... ball) Cough...]

Another circle and a dragon's head released a fire ball upon the fleeing white machine. But due to his poor condition Marc's aim was off and he only managed to wound his opponent...

Violet eyes were staring at the place where his foe just disappeared. He closed his eyes... He couldn't sense its presence anymore either. If he wanted to then he would be able to give a chase to completely annihilate him. However if he did that he would definitely forfeit all of his remaining time, which wasn't that long to begin with. And he still wished to accomplish something else. The small boy took several deep breaths to calm down the raging powers that threatened to end his life right away.

To be honest, a normal person after receiving the sacred (Dragon Awakening) would immediately explode from the sheer amount of surging power. Truly, to be able to not only utilize that power, but also still live this long was a feat only possible for the Adamantine Dragon...

[--Vorst--: It's fine now.]

He sent a telepathic message to three girls who were several kilometers away.

Mersa was a capable girl, and at this moment she already broke free from the effects of the (Sleep) rune. Hearing this voice blue haired girl released the restrictive barrier that held her back. Finally free Mersa immediately hurried over. Two others also arrived right after her. Right now Vorst's aura has already reverted back to normal, same with his eyes.

[Vorst: Mer-chan. Aria. Celina.]

[Nova: Vorst, are you alright?]

Mersa completely collapsed... She saw the state the boy was... Maybe she instinctively figured his condition...

[Vorst: Aria, come. I have something for you. Though it's regrettably still unfinished.]

With that he passed her a pad. Seemingly normal one, but this particular one contained various Runic techniques, seals and formations. Even though he called it unfinished the amount of magic knowledge inside it surpassed all of the records of the previous witches combined.

Although Nova didn't know what was inside she held onto that thing tightly. Because she understood... The sleeves on his arms were full of his blood, though he wiped it off carefully there was still a trace of it on the corner of his mouth. 19 years old girl couldn't hold back her tears anymore.

[--Lily--: Why don't you just give Celina a bit of love? Don't you feel bad for her?]

[--Calla--: Mhm, this is a last time so just give her a reward, we will share her burden too.]

[--Marc--: Huh...]

[--Calla--: At this point bit more damage won't seriously matter.]

[--Marc--: ... *sigh* Very well.]

He didn't like to hurt them further but since they already explicitly said that...

[Vorst: Celina.]

[Celina: V-vorst-chan...]

[Vorst: This is a gift.]

As he patted her head he allowed a link to be formed.

Celina only had enough affection to offer him one part of herself, and that was her mind. But even with just that she still experienced a sub-trans. One must know that sub-transformations are a rare occurrence that do not just simply happen when someone wishes for it. Tiger girl's eyes were already full of tears - right now she didn't really cared that there was a change to her fur color.

Red tigers were a BHigh sub-race...

With that he moved to the last part.

With a slow but steady steps he walked towards the White Wolf Princess. Right now her appearance wasn't even close to be called a 'princess'. Right she was only a simple hopeless girl. Deep in despair her eyes completely lost her shine, the usual energetic her was completely gone. At this moment she was truly broken.

He put down the black blade and knelt down to hug her.

Feeling his warmth she woke up from the stagnation.

[Mersa: Vor-chan. No. This can't be true...]

[Vorst: Shh. I'll entrust that blade to Mer-chan.]

[Mersa: No, I don't need any blade, so please...]

[Vorst: Shh..]

[Mersa: No...]

[Vorst: Mer-chan, I should have told you this sooner... I'm not the same Vorst...]

Mersa's head which were buried in his embrace only shook repeatedly.

[Mersa: I-I sort of knew. I-I don't mind at all, so please don't leave me...]

[Vorst: I... I'm sorry.]

[Mersa: No.. No.. Please.. No.. Please Vor-chan...]

He held her gently as she cried in his arms.

Seconds passed.

Minutes...

Crack.

A crack appeared in his crystal core.

With that darkness enveloped him.

[Mersa: NOOOOOOOOO!!]

That was the last thing the black haired boy heard as his consciousness was cut off.

Mistglan arrived too late.

When they noticed the fleeing White M-Armor he knew that something must have happened. Because just as that happened the invading army immediately withdrew using large scale Spatial Jump. A silver flash accelerated to the highest speed in an instant.

Normally using (Instant Blitz) for a simple movement is a complete waste of nano-photons. From an objective point of view that technique used 10 times more photons to cover the same distance as (Blitz) in exchange for only 3 times more speed, and that second one used 500 times more photons compared to ordinary an flight.

But even with that speed...

He arrived too late.

In front of him Mersa was desperately clinging onto the unmoving body of the small boy. Both Celina and Nova standing next to her right now were also openly crying.

Way too late.

Belien Kae.

[???: You couldn't defeat a mere HST? What the fuck are you talking about?]

[???: There is a three major Tiers difference between you and them... What kind of bullshit are you spouting?]

[: That's enough. Belien, you said that you have a recording that can testify to your words.]

Even in the meetings Magnes only would use a communicator.

[Belien: That's right your highness.]

[: Put in on display.]

[???: Right away.]

...

...

...

[???: Just what the fuck was that?]

[???: Are those some sort of new powers?]

[???: The hell...]

[???: Is this fake?]

[???: No, I can testify for this, I took it out directly from his Core.]

[???: That power...]

[???: He overpowered two UCT... (Upper Circle Tier)]

[: And what's your condition right now Belien? After receiving those two attacks?]

[Belien: Your highness, although I managed to survive it, I lost an arm and my core was badly damaged. Right now two of my circles are broken, it will take at least a decade to heal...]

[: Although the boy was using unknown powers, from his state we can be sure that he is certainly dead. The price he had to pay was high, but I guess he managed to achieve his goal. The White Wolf Princess and the Witch of Restriction are still alive, what's more... Enough. Belien, although you failed your mission you managed to get rid of an even higher threat than those two. For that I will keep my word, you will be granted a privilege of a noble of the Crimson Empire and a clearance of a 'F' Ranker.]

[Belien: Thank you your highness.]

With that the transmission ended.

[???: Well, who would have thought that a thing like that existed... I guess we will have to welcome you to the Crimson Empire, White Fang Belien.]

[???: Sigh.. Welcome, I will arrange for some doctors to take care of you. They should reduce your time to heal to three, maybe two years.]

[Belien: Thank you senpai.]

[???: Hmpf, just be sure to avoid laying a hand on our business. As long as you do that you will live.]

...

Nova Aria.

Three months have passed since that day. She just simply couldn't open that pad. It's because... She just simply couldn't. Every time she looked at it she remembered him... And that caused incredible pain in her chest...

During those three months she completely disregarded her training... She was just too weak... Her resolve was too weak.

But today... She managed to come to a place where he rested... To see his face through the glass...

She was with him only for several weeks.

But somehow in only few weeks her world was completely filled with him.

That boy was completely different from everyone. In his arrogance he was completely ignoring everything that happened around him. He only took notice of handful of people or when someone directly called out to him. The confidence he emanated was simply drawing her to him.

Right now Nova was indeed confident. But before? Before she was known as a witch she tasted the despair that the surroundings threw at her. Right now she was confident because the world acknowledged her. But he... He was truly strong, not only his power, his strength, but especially his unwavering gaze that simply deeply etched itself on her soul.

But right now...

He won't ever be able to show that gaze anymore...

...

A resolve was formed.

Therefore she, Nova Aria, will have to do that in his stead.

She will have to be strong in his stead.

And. She will show his power to the world.

With that she gained enough strength to open the pad...

Celina Za.

A Red Tiger.

The gift left by him.

Who was he?

The boy was not only strong and determined, he was also capable of sacrificing his life for them. How many people were capable of that?

She knew that the world just lost one of the most gentle beings...

A grief filled the teenage girl.

And to forget about it she worked even harder than before.

His legacy.

True. She created the Controlled Bots. However she had no idea how to properly utilize them, the only thing she applied it to was engineering.

But he showed her a completely different world.

She could use them to fight. To fight for her peers. To fight as he did.

To be able to protect what's important to her, just like he did.

And thus Celina Za completely immersed herself in the work completely forgetting about the thing called 'rest'.

Mersa.

Somewhere deep inside she knew that the green-eyed Vorst and the gray-eyed weren't the same person. They simply were too different. But did it really matter that much? She was happy as long as she could spend her time with him...

Why did it had to happen?

It was Belien.

Hatred.

He managed to escape.

He managed to get away.

She wasn't strong enough...

The most talented being in the history?

What a joke.

Where was power when she really needed it?

She needs more power...

To get a revenge for him...

Belien? Heh. In her eyes he is already dead.

No, it will not be just Belien.

She will tear apart every single Ranker in the damned Crimson Empire...

She gently stroke the black blade that he left her...

After that day tears in her eyes became completely frozen.

After he left her fur also changed.

A red color. She liked this one.

The color that was similar to the blood that he shed for her.

Her aptitude was lowered. But who seriously cares about something as small as that?

With regular steps she entered the room where he lay in an enclosed capsule. Today there was already a visitor inside.

[Celina: Ah. I'm sorry.]

Mersa reached her hand to stop the Red Tiger who was hurriedly trying to leave. Today the practice ended earlier so she was on her usual routine to meet 'him' as usual she would spend lunch break with 'him'. It seems like for the past month Celina purposely avoided the 'lunch time' for her...

[Mersa: It's fine. Was Nova-senpai with you earlier?]

[Celina: N-no. It seems like she can't bring herself to visit him.]

[Mersa: I see. From now on there is no need to mind time. I'm sure he will be happier with all of us here.]

A rare smile appeared on her face.

[Celina: Yes...]

Celina also answered her with a smile.

That time Mersa was seriously upset. After the Single Tournament, both Nova and Celina were 'intruding' into her special time with him everyday. However right now it seemed like happy times...

[Claire: ... How is she?]

[Mistglan: Among those three Mersa changed the most.]

[Claire: Indeed.]

[Mistglan: She doesn't even listen to me at all, she just trains and trains and trains. Day, night, evening, dawn, dusk, no matter. She just uses simulator until she collapses.]

[Claire: Last time when we put a limiter on the simulator she went off to solo Crystal Caves...]

[Mistglan: Right... It's better to let her use the simulator. The only time she really rests is lunchtime when she visits him.]

[Claire: And he?]

[Mistglan: No change. Somehow his crystal core stopped cracking. But the damage remains the same, he is in a deep state of coma.]

[Claire: Sigh... And I owe him my life too. Really, for something like this to happen...]

Both of them inside were blaming themselves, if only they took better measures...

[Time: Back to the instant before Marc's core started cracking.]

Inside the Throne Room Marc was sitting with his legs crossed. His soul realm started crumbling, the tremors ran past through his floating castle.

[--Marc--: So this is the end huh?]

Two girls were laying on the violet cushions with their heads resting on his laps.

[--Lily--: It seems like it is.]

Silence continued. Marc was gently playing with hair of those two. At this moment he wished that he would be able to bring all girls that slept inside his soul to this place but he simply had no power left.

[--Marc--: I'm not satisfied...]

[--Calla--: *chuckle* M'lord yearns for the eternal rest but when it finally comes he doesn't like it.]

[--Lily--: Hehe, our Lord Marcdrak is extremely selfish, he wants everything to go his way.]

All three of them laughed together.

[--Marc--: Lily, Calla... I love you.]

Hearing those words both girls were extremely satisfied.

With that his crystal core started cracking.

Darkness descended down on them...

...

...

...

In one of the rooms of the Floating Castle a pair of eyes opened. They were jade-like irises with vertical slit pupils...

[???: Marc... Shujin-sama...]