Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no “Kokoro”-

Chapter 8.1

In a dimly lit forest. Two figures were facing each other in front of the wreckage of a collapsed and burned hut.

One was Nozomu Bountis, a young man with katana at his waist.

He was dressed in a white Solminati Academy uniform and was taking a deep breath with a tense expression on his face.

The other was Zonne, an old man with a white beard, wearing a robe.

He had come to the city as Tiamat's observer and was staring intently and seriously at the young man in front of him with his wrinkled arms folded.

A tense atmosphere filled the air between them.

Eventually, Nozomu put his hand on his chest and clenched his palm as if grabbing something.

Then, as soon as he shook off his clenched hand, an enormous torrent of power became scattered out in all directions.

"Guu!"

Nozomu let out a cry of anguish.

Perhaps Tiamat's power was running through his body along with intense pain, his face tensed up, and his palms were clenched until they turned white.

Nevertheless, Nozomu desperately tried to control the rampaging power.

With his eyes tightly closed, he kept focusing his consciousness within himself.

The power that was being scattered around him like a storm gradually subsided.

However, Nozomu's expression became more distorted than before, and soon his skin began to tear with a tearing sound. Facing Tiamat's immense power, the self-inflicted wounds had begun.

Even so, Nozomu refused to be subdued by this power.

He kept consolidating his mind, not caring about his own blood dripping.

(Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!)

Some of the leaked power roared vindictively, blowing away the pebbles and sand in the area.

Then, part of the overflowing power entangled Zonne as if to strangle him. It was as if it were speaking for the will of the master of the power.

Zonne, however, showed no particular sign of trying to stop the light of chaos that was entwining around him, and he watched the scene before him with a fixed gaze.

After a few minutes, there was a loud *snap!* sound. Along with that reverberating sound, the blood flowing from Nozomu's laceration increased all at once.

At that moment, Zonne opened his mouth.

"That's enough."

At exactly the same time as he said those words, the power that Nozomu had released subsided.

The raging power subsided as soon as the invisible chains wrapped around Nozomu's body. At the same time, Nozomu fell to his knees, crumpling to the ground.

"Haa, haa, haa..."

Rough breathing leaked from Nozomu's mouth, and blood dripped down from the open wound, smearing the ground with a red color.

Zonne quickly deployed magic to heal the wounds on Nozomu's body and at the same time washed away the blood and smell that had seeped into his uniform.

The purpose of the two of them being in this forest was to control Tiamat's power.

It was to learn how to control the spirit, the main source of the dragon's power, and the power of the element.

However, as far as Nozomu was concerned, the results were not good.

"It's been about two weeks since I started training. I'd say I'm about ten seconds ahead of where I was the first time."

"For the past week or so, it's been ...... stabilizing ..."

While Nozomu looked disappointed, Zonne showed no sign of concern.

"Your body is still that of a human being. As long as you can't control your powers, you can't expect to improve your growth."

[Soul-Sealing Chain]

Nozomu's unique skill, the lifeline that held him together.

Nozomu's goal was to master this unique skill.

However, in the two weeks, since he began training, Nozomu had shown no signs of being able to control this skill.

"How does one control one's unique skill in the first place?"

"Your unique skill as a Dragon Slayer is slightly different from the original form of the ability. The Dragon Slayer's skill is a form of instinctive control of the dragon's power that you have taken in. And this skill is somewhat different for each individual. It's similar to what you call 'Ability'."

Unique Skill is basically a general term for the powers and abilities possessed by a particular species. Abilities, on the other hand, are a general term for abilities possessed by an individual.

In that sense, the Dragon Slayer's unique skill can be considered either of them.

"However, since the form of your unique skill itself originated from yourself, you are the only one who can learn it. In that case, you have no choice but to keep asking yourself about your own abilities."

After speaking up to that point, Zonne changed the subject.

"So, how was the other assignment going? Were you able to sense the presence of the spirits?"

He tried to control his powers by unifying his mind while releasing his power to the limit. Another task was to sense the presence of spirits around him.

The power of the dragon is the power of the spirits. The power of the elements. It is the fundamental power that builds this world.

Mastery of spirit magic is nothing more than indirect contact with this power. But for Nozomu, it could be a different approach to controlling the power he had taken in. For this reason, he was also attempting to master spirit magic.

"Not at all......"

"Hmm, you can't even sense the spirits around you, can you? Even though you've taken a spirit into your body as a Dragon Slayer, your body is still that of a human. At this rate, isn't it hopeless to master spirit magic? ......"

The first step in learning spirit magic is to sense the spirits that exist around him.

Next, communicate with the spirits he has sensed.

Finally, he transfers his power to the spirit, makes a contract with it, and borrows its power.

However, Nozomu had already stumbled on the first step.

At first, without releasing his power, he tried to sense the spirits around him through mind unification. However, he could not sense them at all.

Zonne thought that the cause might be the [Soul-Sealing Chain], so he instructed him to try to sense the spirits with his power released, but the results were not good.

Sensing the presence of spirits was something that very few human beings were able to do, but there were times when someone who could sense the presence of spirits rarely appeared among humans. Most of the time, though, it was buried under a lot of made-up stories.

The reason why humans were unable to obtain spirit magic was because of the second step. That was because it was almost impossible for humans to communicate clearly with spirits.

However, both the Qi and the magic that humans used were based on the power of the soul, which was originally called the origin elements. It was said that there were people in the past, with time and training, who could handle the origin elements by themselves.

Nozomu has the strongest dragon in his body. Nozomu thought that he might be able to use spirit magic, but so far there was no sign of that happening.

A color of disappointment dyed Nozomu's face.

"What are you so depressed about? Control of the unique skill, mastery of spirit magic. Both of these things can't be done overnight by a mere mortal. Until now, countless great men have tried and failed. Did you think that you, a halfling, could manage to do it?"

Zonne directed his words at Nozomu as if to provoke him.

Nozomu bit his lip in frustration. Then suddenly the old man gave a mocking smile.

"Or do you want to give up?"

"Are you kidding me? If I were to give up just because of something like this, I wouldn't have asked you to train me in the first place."

Nozomu immediately retorted to Zonne's provocation.

There was a powerful light in his eyes.

Just because of something like this? At most, he had only a dozen cuts and a few torn blood vessels.

Even if he vomited blood, he would definitely muster his will to show his absolute control, then slap the old man back with a provocative smile.

Zonne quietly deepened the smile on his lips as he saw Nozomu looking straight back at him.

Nozomu also smiled back. He had the same feeling when he was trained by his master in the past.

"Alright then. To learn is to imitate. And that the only way for you to truly master it is to repeat it over and over again..."

Nozomu whipped his limp body into a standing position.

There was no way for him to learn it with just a little practice. He needed to repeat it until it was literally engraved into his body. He reminded himself once again that it was a repetition of this process.

"But, to think that you..."

"What is it, Old Master?"

"... No, it's nothing"

Seeing Nozomu standing up, Zonnen let out a hint of an implication.

Nozomu asked what was wrong, but Zonne only replied vaguely and fell silent.

A strange silence flowed between them.

Nozomu looked at Zonne, who had fallen silent, and slowly opened his mouth.

"Hey, Old Master. What happened to Tiamat 5,000 years ago?"

"Are you curious about her?"

"To be honest, I thought Tiamat was just a nuisance at first. It's true that I've been helped by this power, but at the same time, it also gave Iris and the others trouble. It's just..."

"......?"

A doubt welled up inside him. As if to confirm it, Nozomu took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He held his breath for a second, then slowly exhaled the air in his lungs, and slowly opened his mouth.

"I feel like we're alike somehow. Me, and her..."

Upon hearing Nozomu's words, Zonne stroked his beard while in thought.

"You have not seen all of Tiamat's past, have you?"

"All I know is that she built a country with your son, Mikael, and it was destroyed."

The scene that Nozom saw was the appearance of the already destroyed country, the dead dragons, and Tiamat suffering from the power she had taken in.

And Tiamat was rejected by Mikael, to whom she clung, and broke down in despair and anger.

However, Nozomu had no idea how that happened.

It was certain that something happened.

That time. When he turned his blade on Irisdina and the others in sync with Tiamat's anger, Nozomu could hear the gentle voices of Tiamat and Mikael.

"It's just... I wonder if Tiamat has been betrayed..."

However, every part was fragmentary, and even though Nozomu knew what had happened, he had no idea what caused it.

"Hmmm... I might be able to tell you, but honestly, I can't tell you much. Even though I know what happened to Arharant, I'm still an outsider after all..."

"Arharant?"

"It's the name of the country that Tiamat and Mikael created. The name has long since been buried and lost in the annals of human history..."

Arharant. Nozomu had never heard of it.

"Outsider? ... What do you mean?"

"That's exactly what it means. If you want to know about it, there is someone more qualified than I am."

Zonne looked at Nozomu and then he suddenly put his hand on the ground.

"Well then, let's go home."

"Ah~! Wait ..."

"We, the Dragon Race, have sealed Arharant and Tiamat, but if you want to know more about it, there is someone more qualified to tell you than I am. Wait until the time comes..."

Shortly after Nozomu raised his voice in protest, countless magic circles danced and glowed in the air.

In the next instant, the two figures suddenly disappeared from the forest.

=================================

When the white light illuminating his vision subsided, Nozomu was confronted with a vast, dimly lit space.

At his feet, a complicated and bizarre magic character was laid out, giving off a faint light.

He is now in the basement of the martial arts garden at the Solminati Academy, where a magic formation that generates a magic barrier is laid out.

"Looks like you have returned."

A heavy, low voice echoed through the dimly lit basement. When Nozomu turned his gaze toward the voice, he saw a man of mature age standing there, clad in white and silver armor.

Jihad Raundel.

He is one of the school's executives and the one who provided this place to Zonne.

It was some time after Azel's attack that Nozomu learned of the connection between Zonne and Jihad.

At that time, Nozomu and his friends were summoned to Jihad's office, where they learned that Jihad and Zonne were cooperating with each other.

The [Five Scaled Stones] that Jihad showed them were also provided by Zonne.

After that, a scene unfolded in which Irisdina and the others questioned Zonne and Jihad, but in the end, they were convinced, and thus the cooperative relationship continues.

Jihad then offered this room as a relay point for Nozomu's training.

For Nozomu to train, a place with few people is desirable. That's why it would be impossible for Nozomu to train in the city.

However, even if he were to go to the forest, Nozomu felt that he couldn't spare a second and wasted it just going back and forth from the city to the forest.

Therefore, he proposed to go directly to the forest from the basement of the martial arts garden with Zonne's transfer magic.

As a result, he has been training for the past two weeks, coming and going from this martial arts garden's basement to the forest.

Jihad glanced at Nozomu and frowned slightly, but returned to normal before Nozomu himself noticed.

"Good work, Nozomu-kun. Go home for the day."

"Y-, yes."

Jihad urged Nozomu to go home without saying anything in particular.

Nozomu was still thinking about Zonne's words, but he was unable to overcome the fatigue that engulfed him, and he left the basement while feeling dizzy.

Jihad, who had confirmed that Nozomu had left the basement, quickly approached Zonne and asked in a hushed voice.

"So, how did it go?"

"As usual, there's no sign of him being able to master spirit magic. Based on his best record in the past two weeks, the longest time he can unleash his power is around ten seconds."

"Ten seconds ..."

Jihad repeated the words "ten seconds", then exhaled heavily, as if sighing.

"That's right. Ten seconds, that's..."

"That's amazing ..."

Zonne nodded slowly as if agreeing with Jihad's words.

The power that Nozomu Bountis had taken in was not something that could be contained within the framework of human beings.

The reason why the dragon race created a sealing world to contain it was because it was judged that the immensity and quality of its power could not be overlooked.

Considering this fact, one could understand how amazing ten seconds was.

"The kid himself seems to be dissatisfied tho. He is somewhat impatient to control his power as soon as possible."

Unlike Zonne and Jihad's perception, Nozomu was somewhat dissatisfied with this result.

He probably understood that this was not an easy thing to do.

However, the fact that he had twice turned his blade against his friends seemed to have lingered in his mind.

"Shouldn't you tell him?"

"I don't want him to lose his tension, and it may also have the opposite effect. That would be more dangerous. It is necessary to maintain a sense of tension while continuing his training."

This might make Nozomu impatient, but it's definitely the tension that was driving him to train.

Besides, Nozomu had once used his training as an escape, and from what Zonne had seen, it seemed that Nozomu still wasn't completely immersed in training.

Instead of vague delusions, he needed to continue his training after facing the reality.

"I'll leave it to the ladies to decide how to handle it. That would be more effective and the boy would be happy, wouldn't it? As for me, I'm envious of him..."

"Zonne-dono ..."

Indeed, the reason why Nozomu is now immersed in his training is because of Irisdina and the others. If that was the case, they would be better suited to appease Nozomu.

The second part of the dialogue is a bit too personal, but that's a convincing reason.

"The boy, however, has been through such training once before. The training may be different, but he seems to have a grasp of the essential points."

"I thought so..."

"He already mastered the art of katana technique at such a young age. His instinctive sense of knowing the line between life and death is superior to any other human being I've ever seen."

What impressed Zonne even more was Nozomu's concentration during his training.

He was on the verge of sustaining a fatal wound from self-destruction, and as soon as Zonne stopped him, he reapplied the [Soul-Sealing Chains] to his own body.

"He can do unreasonable things. That's why he's always been reckless. But he knows the line between life and death. Even after all this time, I'm starting to worry about him."

"Whenever I train him, I'm always on the edge of my seat. Good grief, after all this time, I got such a ridiculous disciple..."

Zonne let out a deep sigh, sympathizing with Nozomu's master and teachers, whom he had never met.

As a teacher, there might be some students who made them worry like him.

"Alright, now, I understand Nozomu-kun's situation. I have a meeting in the morning, so if you'll excuse me."

"The opening ceremony of a festival, right? There's a lot of talk about it in town. There are a lot of events coming up."

"Yes, I hope there won't be any disturbances."

After bowing to Zonne, Jihad left the basement.

After seeing Jihad off, Zonne glanced at the basement floor.

"Tiamat and Mikael. Has time that had been stopped for 5,000 years started to move?..."

He remained expressionless and kept staring at the floor as if to confirm something.

Eventually, Zonne looked up and activated the transfer magic.

All that remained was the light of a shining magic circle in the dimly lit basement.