[Arrogant human.] The dragon said, his body convulsing.

His bright scarlet eyes began to shine, his breath became mingled with an eerie red light and his own body began to bulge. The scale that was previously only used for defensive purposes, now protruded their scary and dangerous tip, as though imitating sharp blades.

[I'll pay you back for what you did to me!]

Yet, against all odds, his giant draconic body began to shrink. Smoke even came out around him, hiding him from sight instantly. In a more simple and cute way to describe it, the monster's body seemed to deflate like a balloon.

[Be proud to have pushed me this far.] The dragon continued, his voice slowly becoming more human. [And despair from your foolishness!]

Soon enough, the cloud of smoke he created subsided, making place to the monster's supposedly ‘true form’. A surprisingly humanoid form. No, perhaps, alien is a more appropriate term for his current appearance.

Obviously, he didn't have any clothes, to begin with, so even now he was completely naked. However, his scale seemed to cover him in a way that wouldn't make anyone embarrassed. They acted as his clothes in a way.

Originally, a tail should have protruded from his back, but as Lia had already severed it, nothing out of the normal could be spotted there. Well, apart from a row of pointy scales.

It was the same with his wings. Only his right one was left, though, that didn't seem to bother his ability to fly at all. Finally, the horn he had previously remained perfectly stuck on his head in a majestic display.

Just like Igris, the dragon could clearly be confused with a member of the beastman race. Albeit, compared to the fox girl, his human part was less apparent from his draconic part.

Of course, that isn't to say the beastman race really does exist.

[Don't any of you hope to leave this place alive!] The humanized dragon threatened with a loud scream.

Surprisingly, though, this time no one was struck with fear. They were struck with slight bewilderment. Why? The dragon still had a pretty dreadful appearance and he still exuded a powerful atmosphere, so why didn't fear spread to anyone?

It was because of the height. The dragon was small. He was small, just like a little boy. If we were to use someone as a comparison, then he had the same height as Raven, if not shorter. For information, Raven was 14 years old and shorter than any of the people present. Rena, who was 13 years old, included.

What's more, the dragon's voice didn't sound intimidating anymore. Though, it wasn't cute either. It was more like an adult male talked inside the body of a kid. Truly, a weird sight. And anti-climatic, too.

Nevertheless, for Rin and the others, underestimating the dragon would be a fatal mistake that they wouldn't make.

It was a fact, however, that a chunk of pressure was lifted off of their shoulder.

◇

‘What kind of things would Rin say in this moment?’ Ursa thought, having put herself in a difficult position.

The blonde, who now had Rin's face, was patting the shoulder of a certain girl with a wry smile. That certain girl being Celia, of course. The two girls were currently standing in front of the real Rin's house.

Well, Celia was bending her body downward with her hands on her knees out of exhaustion. It was obvious running nonstop from the port to the mansion wasn't a really good idea for her health. Frankly speaking, she could be commended for not vomiting then and there.

On the other hand Ursa, too, was internally struggling. ‘From what I know, Rin doesn't talk much,’ Impersonating Rin was such a great idea when she thought of it, yet, now, the word wouldn't even get out. ‘But, should I really stay quiet here?!’

One of her most obvious options was to invite Celia inside the house. However, Aiden still being there was the problem. In other situations, there would be no doubt the man would have gotten away long ago. In this specific situation, though, there was no way he would do so. Why?

Because it was funny to see Ursa struggle.

And of course, the blonde herself knew of her boss's fought pattern. A bulge of annoyance appeared on her forehead exactly for that reason. She was at the point where she wanted to let Celia in just to piss Aiden off.

“Y-you okay?” Ursa finally asked after much debate.

Thankfully, for whatever reason, she didn't do so. Yet.

Instead, she just looked at the orange haired-girl who was out of breath. Celia's state was so exhausted, even Ursa felt a little sorry for her. Though, as to why the younger girl was in such a state, she had no clue.

No, in fact, she didn't know anything about Celia in the first place.

You'd think Rin would be more adamant to talk about who her only friend was, but that couldn't be more wrong. Through the time Ursa lived together with her, she had said nothing about Celia except for her name. Every time the blonde brought that subject up, Rin would mercilessly shut her down.

“That's none of your business.”

Those cold words still rang inside Ursa's mind like some kind of warning.

‘Thinking back on it, maybe that really was a warning,’ She thought in retrospect. ‘For me to not approach her friend.’

“I-I'm f-fine.” Celia responded between her pantings. Despite her words, however, she didn't appear fine at all.

Ursa let out a weirdly amused smile. Rin clearly didn't want the blonde to approach the orange girl. And, especially because of that, the blonde woman found it thrilling to do just that.

Just the idea of seeing Rin's face when she'll discover her only friend had been stolen from her was already worth the effort. Moreover, if Celia confuses Ursa over the real Rin, that would be even more worth it.

‘If I play this well, maybe I can live as Rin kagane from now on!!’ Ursa was thrilled, imagining just how far she could go with this charade.

Though, that didn't change the fact she didn't know what to say.

“M-more importantly,” Celia resumed, regaining a bit of strength. “Are you alright?”

“M-me?” Ursa responded, a little startled.

After a short thinking, the blonde figured saying ‘I'm fine’ should be enough as an answer.

However, right as she was about to answer, the orange-haired girl's eyes stopped her from doing so. Somehow, as unrelated as she was to Rin and Celia's friendship, she figured whatever she would say here would sound wrong.

Never in her life had she seen someone look so serious before. And that was factoring the bunch of sweat Celia's body was covered in.

“You called for me, right?” The orange girl exclaimed, a little distressed. “You said you didn't know what to do anymore!”

The blonde panicked a little.

‘Why is this turning into a drama!?’ She thought.

Ursa really had no clue as to what to say. At this point, maybe staying quiet would have been the best option for her. Yet, even that seemed to be a bad move. She didn't know why, but she felt like the girl in front of her would unmask her immediately if she made a mistake.

‘No, that's impossible!’ Ursa refuted, internally shaking her head. ‘Even without my top-notch acting skill, my illusion are always perfect! Even if she finds something a little odd, there's no way she'll know I'm actually not Rin.’

However, as soon as those thoughts left her, Celia moved her hand toward fake-Rin's shoulder.

Nothing is ever perfect. No matter how high and indiscernible from reality Ursa's singularity is, its fatal flaw is that it'll never be real. In short, if Celia touched her right now, logically it wouldn't be Rin's body that she would feel. It would be Ursa's, who was a little taller.

Of course, maybe that too, wouldn't be enough to deduce fake-Rin's real identity but, either way, Ursa moved and grabbed Celia's hand in panic. The latter inadvertently let out a shriek as a result.

“I-I'm fine, alright.” Ursa expressed rapidly, still in a panic.

She quickly let go of Celia's hand after she said her bit and turned to look away. Internally, Ursa rayed being an actress from her what-to-do list. This wasn't as fun as she thought it to be. It was stressful.

Still, weirdly enough, she wanted to continue the play for a while longer. Her gut feeling told her something interesting was bound to happen.

“H-how about we go somewhere else for now?”

Thus, her personality showing a little, she asked Celia out.

The place in front of Rin's house was quiet normally, but for some strange reason, right now it was strangely filled with passersby. The area wasn't that frequented so, although it couldn't be called a crowd, it was abnormal for so many people to be present around.

Ursa knew Myriad quite a bit so she had a few number of quiet places in mind where she could talk with Celia peacefully. She wanted to take the girl to one of those places, of course not to do anything weird (although the thought strongly crossed her mind). She figured it would be better than just staying in front of Rin's house.

As such, she turned her back to Celia, implying silently for the girl to follow her. ‘Rin doesn't talk much, so I don't need to talk much either!’—was the thought she strongly believed. From where did she obtain the confidence of fooling Rin's friend even more was a mystery no one will ever know.

“...Who are you?”

Though, an even bigger mystery was how Celia figured out Ursa's impersonation.

◇

“Well then, guys,” Abel shouted atop the building he was in. “Are you all ready to die!?”

Similar to Talia, Gram's central city, Galia, finished evacuating its citizens. However, as opposed to the former, none of Ark's Elite remained to guard the town. Instead, the entirety of the Atlas Family stayed to replace them.

And for the information, all of them were Elite, too.

“...Why the heck are you saying those horrible words?” Another man answered Abel's words from behind him.

The man's name was Cirion, a black-skinned man. He had brown hair and black eyes coupled with a pretty normal face. His most distinguishing feature would be his height, who was, at a glance, well above the 2-meter threshold. Despite that though, his corpulence appeared to be rather slim in comparison.

Abel briefly looked at him with a sad smile. “Because I need to.”

As usual, next to Abel was his wife, firmly holding his hand to comfort him. The woman didn't say any words anymore because, at this point, she assumed it wouldn't be necessary anymore.

And that was enough for Abel. His resolve was already made.

Seeing that, Cirion couldn't help but return the wry smile. “You know...” He said, scratching the back of his head with hesitation. “None of us will say anything if you two decided to flee.”

For Cirion, Abel was his brother. They were cousins in reality, but, their bond wasn't any less stronger. The threat they were going to face today would possibly wipe out the entire Atlas Family.

Don't get it wrong, Cirion wasn't adamant to die and would do everything to protect his lineage. However, will and determination alone wouldn't be enough this time around. That's why, he wished for at least Abel, who had a family—a wife to care for, to survive at all costs.

Moreover...

“...You've done more than enough for this family.” Cirion continued. “We all know that. That's why—”

“—You want me to be a deserter?” Abel finished his phrase with contempt.

Abel rolled his eyes with a look saying Cirion's words were stupid. He looked ahead of him once again, towards the other member of his family. He clenched his hand that was holding his wife's before he let out a sigh.

“Nope, I won't flee.” Then, he expressed, all the while wondering why everyone wanted the contrary. “I will stand and fight alongside all of you.”

To that, no one cheered, and just casted their head downward, in a mix of relief yet regretful expression. Cirion was especially frustrated as he gritted his teeth. For those who didn't know better, it might appear like Abel's presence was not wanted.

However, it was quite the contrary. Because he was the best one of them, they all wished for his happiness. And it was all too obvious that if he stayed, no happy ending would come his way.

“Come on guys!” Despite that, Abel seemed to not care at all.

Of course, deep inside him, he did care. However, thanks to his earlier conversation with his wife, he decided to take the example of a certain someone.

[“Don't worry,” A figure long gone from this world, yet still had a great impact on it. “I'll protect all of you!”]

“Let us take the title of strongest from the Kagane!” Abel said one last time, swearing to protect his family and his wife.

A short minute after, a 'Rift' opened.