Chapter 4/4 for this week. Last chapter of the week guys. Enjoy.

Within the central district, a small grey fox was basking in the morning sun. As it yawned while sticking its tongue out, its eyes opened just the slightest bit to spy on the humans undergoing physical training in the courtyard. The past few days had been utterly boring. The only fun it had was during the battle to defend the city, where it finally got to exercise a little. Even then, there was no need to use any of its powers so it was a breeze.

Hopping off from the brick-red tiled roof of the mansion, Kronos stretched his limbs before strolling through the courtyard. The recruits paid him no mind as he stood by and watched, yawning occasionally. His contractor had gone off on her own outside the city, but he could still feel her presence. Thanks to their special bond, he could always tell where she was at any time.

The morning passed by quite uneventfully. He left the mansion and leapt along the rooftops, exploring the city at his own whim. Humans. There were way too many humans for his liking. As he buried the urge to send all of them to the netherworld, Kronos felt a shearing pain in his shoulder. “Kina,” he thought as his eyes narrowed to form 2 slits. He knew she was in trouble.

Quickly dashing his way over the city wall, Kronos instantly melded with the shadows of the forest, heading directly to where Kina was. Within a split second, he was past the wall of broodmothers, spying on Kina from the darkness. He saw she had been defeated, her arm torn off and legs immobilized. Her mind was in a disarray as he felt it through their bond.

“Haaah...” he sighed, “This kid was too overconfident. Looks like she bit off more than she could chew,” he thought to himself. “Seems like I’m left with no choice. At least she was smart to conserve her mana pool.”

Draining every last drop of Kina’s mana in one swift motion, Kronos dove in front of Kina just before a man swung his sword down on her, forming a large grey bubble. The bubble swirled violently, draining even more mana from the surroundings. With the drain, came the obvious effect it had on the apes as limbs began falling off and injuries reappearing. Without the mana to support the regenerative abilities they were granted, one by one the apes howled in pain as they fell where they stood, forming a large pool of blood.

The grey bubble existed for no more than 5 seconds, after which is dispersed, as if it was smoke being carried away by the wind. What was left behind was a small fox, clearly over-exhausted as it panted heavily. Kina was nowhere to be seen, which left the man confused and irritated. He was so close to finally being able to morph into her form, taking her abilities for himself, and yet now, she slipped out of his grasp in the last second.

Kronos raised his tired head and sneered at the man, before darting into the shadows once more with the last of his strength. Then he disappeared, as if he had never been there.

[[Deep within Demon territory]]

Kina opened her eyes, the sudden darkness slowly melting away to reveal a blood red glow from the moon. There she was, sitting amongst some protruding roots, leaning against a tree. Her arm was still clutching the blood sword, laying there limply next to her feet. There was a burning headache, as well as a stinging sensation in her shoulder.

“I’m alive?” She asked herself, checking her body’s condition. Everything seemed fine, except her mana was dangerously low, hence the headache that signaled the start of mana exhaustion. Deciding that it was best if she regrew her limb first, Kina urged her mana to boost her regeneration, only to realize that something was draining her mana as fast as she could generate. What shocked her even more, was that the usual dark spot within her mana core where Kronos resided, was absent.

Without Kronos, without her boundless mana, and without the ability to wield the blood sword to its full potential, Kina was nothing more than a regular run-on-the-mill girl. And this girl, was not only crippled, but was stuck in the middle of god knows where and god knows when.

Calming herself down and channeling what little mana she could spare, she focused on healing her arm as it took its own sweet time to grow. There was no way to rush it. She sat there, leaning against the tree trunk observing the moon.

“I see, so that direction is west huh,” she muttered, picking up her arm and the sword with her left hand. It was fortunate that the sword was almost weightless, considering its size, if not, Kina who was not even able to use mana enhancements would have to leave it behind.

Slowly trudging her way through the dense undergrowth, she hacked away at the ferns and vines using her sword. Her arm was dangling from her belt, tied to her waist by some vines she found. After some calm and rational thinking, she could only conclude that Kronos must have done something to save her, and the price for his actions was her mana.

Naturally, anything related to Kronos would mean something related to temporal shifts. She just didn’t know for far forward in time or backwards Kronos had sent her. Assuming her physical location had not changed, she either moved into a very distant future where the forest had grown back after her battle, or back in time before the battle even occurred. Either way, she was unfamiliar with how much mana such a skill cost and so, was unable to accurately determine her current location in the timeline.

Along the way, she tested her abilities, wanting to get a firm grasp on her limits. She could cast very basic spells which could at most serve as a distraction. She could teleport once. Transforming into dragon form was not possible, neither was flight. Her mana threads were weak and flimsy, dissipating after only 20m. Even her mana foothold could only support her weight for a few seconds before breaking. Feeling a little downcast at her disability, she continued on her path towards the city, worried about how she was going to make it through the broodmother wall. As the saying went, you only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low. Without her mind-blowing abilities, she felt so powerless, even though to normal people, she would still be considered an accomplished mage.

She trudged on for hours, eventually coming to a stop as her patience wore thin. How many days is it going to take her just to reach the broodmother perimeter? Even when flying at top speed, it took her hours to get to where she was, and yet now she was walking the way back. She wanted so desperately to open her locker scroll to retrieve the tablet and signal for one of the harriers to pick her up, but the scroll was damaged in her fight earlier. Feeling frustrated, she howled in anguish as she swung her sword at a random tree, slicing the trunk cleanly.

*PLOP!*

Suddenly, Kina felt something squirming on her head. It had fallen from when the tree fell. Quickly brushing it off, she saw it struggle to flip itself over. It was a leathery lizard, no bigger than a Chihuahua. The most prominent feature though, was that it had 3 legs. It would seem that very much like her, it had lost a limb sometime during its lifespan, except it could not regrow the limb.

Cowering in fear, the lizard stumbled as it tried to escape, climbing as hard as it could up another tree only to fall repeatedly because of the missing leg. Kina watched it struggle, before a feeling of familiarity overcame her. For an unknown reason, she picked up the little fella by its waist and looked at it right in its little yellow eyes. She felt drawn to it somehow, either its was out of pity, or out of empathy for having lost a limb, Kina decided to sit down to rest, still firmly holding the lizard in her left hand.

It on the other hand, simply shook in fear, not even daring to move a single muscle. It had been in a similar situation before, where a nasty bird caught it and brought it back to the nest as a plaything for the chicks. Playing dead seemed to help it keep its life as the chicks lost interest. However, even though it kept its life, it lost its arm during an especially rough bout of toss and catch played by the chicks.

Sensing that the little dog sized lizard was scared out of its skin, Kina began gently stroking its head, showing a motherly side she never knew. By the time the moon had set, the lizard seemed convinced that this human would not kill it, though her intentions were still unclear at this moment. Kina had dozed off briefly as she felt that the lizard was no longer squirming. Its padded feet felt similar to a cat’s paw, but without the claws. Similarly, the lizard snuggled up against Kina’s warm body, feeling for once in its lifetime, safety and security.

By morning, Kina was awakened by a tugging feeling at her belt. Looking down, she saw that the lizard had managed to escape her embrace and was currently, pulling on one of her fingers from her broken off arm. Thinking that it might be hungry, Kina decided to give the arm to the lizard. She had originally brought the arm along, hoping to use it as bait in case a predator came along. Since it was to be thrown away, she decided it could be used as food for the lizard that seemed intent on taking a bite with its soft toothless jaws.

After 20 minutes of tugging and pulling, the lizard was exhausted, but had finally managed to tear a small bite-sized piece of flesh from the arm. With glee, it quickly swallowed the piece of meat, before proceeding to take another turn at the arm.

From the side Kina stared at the lizard in awe. With every bite of flesh, a bright blue light seemed to travel from its brain down its spine and to the limbs from under its translucent skin. It seemed as though the nerves lit up with every bite. Very quickly, the once leathery skin began to harden and thicken, forming a layer of scales. Its paws turned into sharp claws that dug into the tree roots. With its new found weapons, the lizard began tearing away at the flesh at even greater speeds.

What followed were a series of transformation that resulted in a being that when seen for the first time would not be believable that it was once the weak feeble lizard. The missing limb grew back quickly, and by the time the arm was half gone, the limb was fully grown, with scales and claws and all. While the lizard did not grow much bigger, its body became somewhat of a sturdier build, gaining muscles rapidly and starting to resemble a small wingless dragon. Even then, its voracious appetite did not seem to end, devouring the arm as even greater speeds.

“No way… so that’s why you felt so familiar… Tyrant Bandit Dragon. That explains why you didn’t attack us back then. You thought the me back then was me. Looks like I better take good care of you. You will make a good addition to my forces,” Kina muttered as she began grinning.

By the time the lizard was done with Kina’s arm, it had grown considerably, now the size of an adolescent Labrador. It was covered in thick black scales not unlike Kina’s dragon form. 3 rows of sharp teeth adorned both jaws and a pair of bright yellow eyes that seemed to stare right into her soul.

“Let’s go shall we?” Kina asked, standing up and picking up her sword. “Let’s go find some tasty things for you to eat. I want to see just how powerful you can become.” The lizard seemed to understand what she was saying, and obediently followed behind her, constantly snapping its jaws at insects that flew too close. Its appetite never seemed to end.

So i've been reading the comments in the earlier chapter. Kudos to you Dragrath. You are the only one who guessed the situation correctly.

Donation status: 27/50