"How long until complete assimilation?" In his mental world, Dante conversed with the enormous dragon in front of him.
"A week, continue your cultivation and soon you'll be able to shed your female body," she said, looking at him; her breathtaking golden eyes settled upon him, and she finally queried, "Do you know what will happen, correct?"
"My body will recreate itself; at this moment, I need to be in a protected location," he remarked, and Eldrax perched on his shoulders in a small form.
"Eldrax will protect Dante!" she exclaimed excitedly, rubbing her face against Dante's. "Yes, yes, Eldrax, Dante's dragon!" he replied in a comical tone.
"And what about Ziriel's body?" Dante inquired, and the Dragon pointed to the newly destroyed cocoon; the being was still inside, but there were several cracks.
"They will switch places," she replied, and Dante was slightly surprised; in his head, that body was supposed to be destroyed.
"So, I'll still be able to use that form?" he questioned and received a nod in response. "Ziriel, this body you named is part of your life essence. If you destroy it, you'll lose your strength, a considerable part of it," she replied, and Dante was surprised.
"I thought it was just a form," he responded, and Voralith disagreed. "No. Let's call that body in the cocoon Dante and you Ziriel. Dante was created through my essence and yours, the demonic essence and the draconic demonic essence. Ziriel is the human part that remained from both. After all, we were humans before, but that couldn't support the body for long.
That's why Ziriel's body inherited all the human essence. It's basically an extra form you have to manage all your lineages. Although you're a complete hybrid, basically all human traits went into your female body. It's complicated to analyze this way, after all, it's also the first time I've seen something like this.
So, I find it impressive that everything is working naturally, especially the dragons' ability with vampires'. You basically created a new metamorphosis ability. It's really surprising, even for me, who has seen it all."
"That sounds complicated," Dante said, looking at his body, and then Merlin and Arthur appeared by his side.
"You better start training to withstand the transition. You've only manifested your appearance; the strength of the body itself won't be as easy to handle," Arthur said, looking at the body in the cocoon.
"I agree, magic will also be very potent initially, with the power of darkness and the sun, maybe your body can have some reaction," Merlin commented. Dante didn't have many options; he was betting on this to defeat everyone until he reached Ethan.
"I could have killed him there... no, it wasn't worth it. It would be nothing but pointless revenge if he just died. I'll make him see everything he has vanish. I'll make every ounce of greed he felt slightly transformed into his punishment. Every person who suffered, every person who died because of what he did, he'll pay.
For everything, absolutely everything."
Dante's thoughts were becoming concrete; soon he could destroy everything Ethan fought to achieve, but there was a problem.
"Master." The sound of Aaralyn echoed in his world, and he opened his eyes to see her in front of him. She didn't wait for him to ask and began speaking. "I found something..."
"Tell me."
"It's an auction; the slaves are auctioned off in a venue south of the city, in one of the poor areas. Only nobles can enter, and apparently... it's a black market."
"The children?" He questioned, but Aaralyn couldn't answer accurately. "It's hard to say, I don't know if they could still be alive."
"Assuming the worst, do you think it's just exterminating everything, what do you think?" He asked, and Aaralyn nodded. "Naturally, I don't like massacres, but that's beside the point when it comes to nobles enslaving people..."
This is a very recurring issue within the nobility. The title of nobility is often accompanied by distorted thoughts and dogmas from ancient times that continue to this day.
Being noble doesn't equate to being a noble person.
The title of nobility bestowed is always a means to an end; greedy individuals become nobles much more quickly, either by earning their place in the world or being born into a family that once did the same.
This is the hierarchical pyramid of the Empire, the problem itself would never really be solved; those who follow and betray the empire are always the same, people seeking what's best for themselves rather than for the Kingdom.
Hence, the existence of the black market and slavery. Although slavery isn't permitted, who would dare to tell a noble that it isn't? Even the Emperor himself has slaves, hidden as servants.
Or do you think it's natural for a palace to have so many maids who earn little to be there and only have the right to visit their families on their holidays?
Of course not, slavery is ingrained in every corner, even in the outskirts, where few people have access to education, they are slaves to the world's illegal system.
A child born under these conditions can be easily corrupted, and this was a problem that seemed like the current emperor turned a blind eye to, and even if he tried to fix this situation, the nobles wouldn't allow it.
This Empire was slowly collapsing, not just because of Etham's schemes, but because Emperor Adam himself made poor administrative decisions.
And this led to Dante's current scenario, where he was caught in a two-way war, where one side had absolute power and support, and the other had only him. Velryna is strong, but that doesn't mean she could effectively fight against hordes of knights. He knows her strength, but he has never seen her truly fight alone, as the times he saw her fight, he was by her side.
In a common scenario, he would want to just enjoy life and travel in search of his lost wives, but now, it was different. He had something that someone he loved wanted to protect, so he could no longer close his eyes.
Dante, with his red hair floating in the air, looked towards a sort of makeshift tent, 'You only have two hours with this form.' It was the time he could keep his true body active before having to revert to being Ziriel again.
"Does the information check out?" He questioned Aaralyn, who flew magically beside him. "Yes, there's a hatch that leads to the location, nobles enter through another way," she said, and he wasted no more time.
He donned a black mask, and his horns vanished with magic; then, he dropped at the entrance of the small tent, a sharp sword at his waist, which he drew.
As he opened the tent, a fat man stood before him. He quickly queried, "Who are you... " Dante's sword slit the man's throat, causing him to fall immediately to the ground. He didn't kill him blindly; there was a brooch on his chest that Aaralyn had confirmed to be from the organization of this event.
Ahead, beyond the body, was a kind of hatch; it was actually like a door, but he didn't even bother to find the key.
[Burn] He used fire magic. After ten seconds, the hatch melted completely, and he was faced with a long staircase, with many steps. He glanced at the entrance, and Aaralyn entered; again, she leaped onto his shadow, and he heard "I'll stay within your shadow, watching your back." A distorted voice, but he knew it was Aaralyn.
"I'm counting on you," he replied and sheathed his sword, finally descending the flight of stairs.
The stairs, at some point, spiraled downward, and Dante continued to descend for a few minutes. Of course, he was cautious, but at the same time, he felt nothing but pure natural energy; it was as if no really powerful mage was nearby, which was impressive considering this was a place of the Black Market.
Finally, the stairs ceased, and a noble wooden door with golden carvings appeared, and he slowly opened it.
His first sight was something strange because he didn't imagine that something like this lay beneath the earth; he was faced with a luxurious corridor, with a red carpet, luxurious paintings, and the like; fortunately, no one was in the corridor.
"On the left, there's a large concentration of magic; I sense several people with noble auras of magic. At the same time, on the right, there are several weak presences, and even beasts," Aaralyn said as Dante began to approach the door, at first, it seemed like just an ordinary door...
but it was actually a hidden door; after opening the door, again, a flight of stairs that led directly into darkness.
[Candle] Dante pronounced, and a small flame like a candle appeared on his finger; he then began to illuminate the way, descending the stairs... He found himself faced with a scene, one he never wanted to see...