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

Chapter 015: Electra

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

"I know you." a female voice sounded. The voice sounded young, enticing, but full of regality and a sense of pride; it was a sense of indifference that instinctively arouses from someone born and bred to be a ruler.

This was the queen of Anazon Forest and it wasn't a wonder now to Siva why the monsters willingly followed and feared her at the same time.

"I can't be wrong now! It's you! I've been searching for you! I've seen you here... before... with your friends... back then you escaped but you wouldn't escape this time around... not that I'm here..."

Siva was startled. The 'queen' walked out of the fire and smoke she created carrying her lithe and sexy figure which was enough to be compared to even Galatea's and Cassiopeia's deliciousness. But her beauty, God, she was even prettier than Scion!

"I know your smell. The moment you appeared in my forest, I knew that it was you! I can't forget this smell of yours. The first time, I wasn't sure that it was you but now... I am sure... now that you're this close to me, I can't mistake the scent coming from the depths of your soul..."

The woman who looked like a MEGA model from a Godly Modeling Agency with a perfect face of one that was perfect to be called a real goddess, made her way in front of Siva.

She wore a brilliantly designed platinum-silver robe with loose ribbons that made it look like she had just gotten out of bath. Aside from her silvery white hair and no-other-color lightning-filled eyes, every aspect of her outward appearance was beautiful, a jewel of the eye in every word... even the burning power of lightning she unconsciously emits aren't the least bit dreadful when seeing her.

And yet, contrary to the tone and words she used, the look in her face when she spoke to Siva was full of hatred and loathing.

Siva, having his playboy side triggered, couldn't help but seductively beam at her, "Have we met in our dreams before?" —this is the [Siva] who lived an unbridled life as an Immortal in the past and isn't the virtuous and upright boy-next-window college son of the Kingsley Doctors of a year ago.

With his cursed state, the effect was obvious.

The Vajra raised her silvery white left brow and a look of disgust appeared on her beautiful face.

Siva was still wearing his edgy magneto helmet, the already repaired one, but his eyes and mouth can still be seen through the Y-shaped openings in it so his attempt to use his tantalizing eyes had a very obvious effect on her.

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror?"

"No, But I know I'm good looking... if you look past my cursed state, you will know that my heart is the purest form of pleasure you can find out there. So, how about we make a bet?"

"..."

The girl looked at him as if she was seeing a clown in a red beret.

"It seems that you do not recognize my aura at all."

"Your aura?"

Siva was confused, this was only their second time meeting and the first wasn't even considered some sort of meeting at all.

"I'm sorry, but have we really met before?"

The woman nodded in understanding. It seems the man really couldn't remember her at any least.

"If that is the case, then do you remember about an Elder Dragon you killed 56 years ago?"

Siva's smile crumbled and he subconsciously took a step back as he stared at the woman in front of him with both trepidation and disbelief, "Are you perhaps a descendant of that Elder Dragon?"

"I AM HIS DAUGHTER!"

CRACKLE!!!

Bluish gold Mana erupted from her hair and like a certain anime character that traded his life in order to kill a strong cat, her silvery-platinum hair served like a node where lightning was released to the sky and the surroundings around them.

The forest swayed at the sudden release of her power and every monster cowered while the three Lapis Lazuli behind Siva trembled in fear at the display of her might... backing away and using her eruption to draw far away as fast as they can.

"You killed him! I will never forget your smell even if you are uglier than you are now!"

Siva was pushed back as strong winds battered his face and his body. Thankfully, he fully deployed all weight of the BMA to hold him in place while using the Absolute Domain as an auxiliary anchor to hold his ground, unlike the three Lapis Lazuli and all the trees and debris around them who got blown away just now from the Vajra's sudden burst.

"I ventured forth in this filthy dry land in order to search for you but as soon as I found your smell, you have already escaped my grasp. If not for the restriction placed in this forest that kept me from escaping, I would have destroyed the surface continents along with your filthy scum long ago."

BOOM!

Another burst of lightning streaked out of her body and multiple threads of them actually scattered in a few random direction, burning trees and digging up more debris.

Now, Siva could see the night sky; red, grey, and violet coloured from the gathering thunderclouds that filled almost half of the entire forest.

"My father was a peace advocate! He was the only one who had opposed the Blood Dragon Church and protected the sacred law of the Ancients! But you killed him! YOU. KILLED. MY. FATHER!!!"

BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!!

The corners of her eyes were now filled with tears and from behind her, a silhouette of the Lightning Dragon —a seemingly adorably-looking ball of fur made up of lightning with deep black eyes— had appeared to glare at Siva.

But seeing it, Siva recognized that that 'bright ball of fur' was actually only the lightning aura escaping from that figure within its midst.

What was inside that 'aura' was actually a horse, or a pony —at its current state— and that is the real Lightning Dragon of legends... and this girl is that Lightning Dragon's Physical body!

S-Ranked Monsters...

Dragonkin...

Lesser Dragon...

True Dragon...

Elemental Dragon...

......Elder Dragon!

For an S-Ranked Monster to become a genuine 'True Dragon', there are three ways available —the first is to painstakingly evolve their bloodline into a Dragon's by purely relying on their latent potential, which has a less than 1% chance of succeeding, and turning themselves into Dragonkins.

The second way is when they descended from a real Dragon, turning them to Dragonkins upon birth with innate potentials—which had a 10% chance of them evolving to Lesser Dragons by just maturing, rousing their bloodline lineage while growing up.

And the third way, created by a pure fortuitous and coincidental encounter of an S-Ranked Monster, or any ranked monster at that, with a True Dragon Corpse, skipping the grey zone of a Dragonkin and directly leaping to the Lesser Dragon Stage with a 50% chance of evolving to a genuine True Dragon upon fully maturing enough.

are the three ways of Monsters evolving to a Dragon's bloodline. Of course, Baluga's case is a rare chance of the first scenario as he evolved his Heron Bloodline and became a Dragonkin through rousing his latent potential over time and patience.

—of course, the first two instances are facts while the last instance was merely a legend.

From these three given examples, the Dragon to Dragon offspring has a 100% chance of passing on their traits their progenies.

Given the stages of Dragon Evolution, only when a case of a mixed bloodline will there be declivity on the purity of their Dragon Heritage... and there will always be a decline of purity if a Dragon Bloodline is not on the same level as the other one, as there might even be cases where a failed evolution leads to a bloodline mutation.

It was this condition that gives birth to True Dragon bloodlines infused with the Elements... and they're all still called Elemental Dragons, but considered as not being part of the "Divine Beast" Dragon Race.

It may even be considered a fourth-kind evolution, but there was no chance for them to attain hominid forms and truly belong to the society of high-level Divine Beast Races for they are just True Dragons who managed to infuse Elemental Essence to their Dragon-kin Bloodlines...

In other words, they are still technically "Monsters" who can use and pass on their Elemental Lineage.

But still, for a Monster to evolve from their True Dragon forms into an Elemental Dragon required not only luck on the Monster's part but also a huge amount of hard work and also of the very potential of their own bloodlines.

What more; Elemental Dragons, as displayed right now, are different from True Dragons with abilities to use the Elements, and anything below this state.

Hominid Elemental Dragons are the rightful owners of that prestigious title of a "Divine Beast Race".

—the "Divine Beast" Dragon Race!

While the True Dragons maintained their Dragon Forms as their true bodies, Elemental Dragons and the Elder Dragons are all hominids and their Divine Beast Forms are nothing more than a nonphysical avatar —which categorizes their Elemental Dragon tribe amongst the rest of the Dragon Race.

And among the Lightning Elemental Dragon Tribe, there are also subspecies that defines a lineage's descent and "noble status" in the entire echelon of the Dragon Race.

Vasuki was a Dragon King —the Lord of the Naga Serpents, the top most and noblest of status from the rest of the Lightning Dragon Tribes!

But everything that has a beginning has an end.

The "Naga Serpent Lineage" ended with him with the Grand Invasion of the Devil Gods —the event precursor to the Ragnarok.

And so with the end of the Naga Serpent Lineage, there was a vacant seat amongst the Eight Dragon King Lineages —which Siva had no care for at all.

Yet right now, Siva was looking at one of the most beautiful and noblest form of the Lightning Dragon Tribe... and he was so fascinated by it that he can't help but marvel at the sight.

"A Lightning Kirin! Although you're very young and impetuous... you are still a Noble Lineage from the Lightning Dragon Tribe... but... but you should be with your herd, why are you alone here?"

(AN: do not be confused guys. Further iteration in the echelon of the Dragon Race will follow suit so hold your questions with your marshmallows)

By now, Siva already forgot about his earlier effort to seduce the princess. He was now just a 'God' in the middle of admiring a rare and nostalgic sight.

The reason why she was considered "young" in a Dragon Race's perspective is because her avatar was nothing more than a 'fur ball' compared to true Lightning Kirins that had a golden brown horn that will sprout on their heads which defines their noble status and power upon adulthood.

Also, to define a true adult "Lightning Kirin" from a youngling like this is simple: all the adult "Kirins", in general, regardless of their Elemental Tribe, are all Unicorns —their horns look the same with the skin being their sole differentiation.

Lightning Kirins are all "White Unicorns" and adults of their species have reserved auras with a bigger and nobler physique.

The darker the golden color of their horns, is the older they are, the stronger they are, and the more their auras are reserved.

This Vajra —this Lightning Dragon— doesn't even have her horn yet, does giving her age away.

Forget about being scary, just looking at her avatar was enough to make anyone love her in every way possible, what more when added her beautiful self that could bewitch any man...

She could destroy just any other Terran Kingdom!

"YOU... you have no right to speak of them as if you know them! Because of you, my family was in a dire strait since our patriarch that protected us all these years from the aggressive domination of the Blood Dragon Church is now dead. You brought the doom of my family... so in return, I will bring you to them to justify and avenge my father's death!"

[Energy Levels absorption are spiking to 0.003% per second right now... keep on angering her! Tell her about the dirty things you've been thinking about since earlier. It may help make her release more energy!]

"..."

Cortana's advice, of all the times it was helpful, is, right now, metaphorically hard to swallow. If taken literally, it was a sound advice. But if taken in a very normal person's perspective, it sounds like a pervy sage's fetish rumblings.

—just what kind of scum do you think I am...?!!

Siva already has (a) lover(s), but that didn't mean that he could forget about his past activities, nor could he just forget about his own standards...

Back then, he wasn't sure if his life in the Terran Universe was real or not, whether he had been a transmigrating soul or not in another universe, or if he had been trapped by a sadistic author inside his novel because he was ordered to by their bastardly publisher who wanted to monopolize everything that exists under the sun.

Because of that, he got drunk into thinking that he had really been transmigrated into a different world by some hand of luck... and ended up making big messes whenever he felt like it.

He had experienced many women and knew just how fragile some of them are.

He had also experienced heartbreaks many times, but in everything he did, he never once forgotten his love for Samantha... no matter which bed he'd spend the night with —even if it's a princess or a priestess of a random God's Church.

Of all the things he did with women, he was never a fan of being a sadistic and heartless bastard who made women cry out of habit.

In fact, in all his time as an Immortal, NEVER ONCE did Siva intentionally made a woman cry. It may well be said they are his weakness —if not, then, given his power and ability, it would be a wonder how the almighty Sefirah made a mess of his mind.

Seeing the crying beautiful lady, that's full of hate and anger in front of him, Siva's earlier playfulness and p****rted imagination and inclination to follow his adjutant's advice came to a stop.

Only now did he take her circumstances seriously and considered the things that he had done when he went on his —second to the— last rampage.

—and only now did he realize that his father, or the Neth Kingsley of the past four years he'd spent his time with, had been telling him over and over... and it was even the same set of words he heard when they met again in the Genesis Chamber.

Every time he resorts to violence to solve all of his problems, it will only put out the fire on the surface but never extinguish the spark that caused the fire.

Violence begets suffering; suffering begets hate; hate begets violence; and the cycle will never end.

For the umpteenth time, he cursed his twisted self and cursed at this weakness. Even if he wanted to control it, there was something in him preventing all his efforts to put a stop to the other side of his Godly self —Siva, the Blood Immortal.

He felt truly afraid of himself this time.

What if in the future, he did it again and hurt all the good people around him without knowing it?

—that voice...

—it's inside me... it's still there... it wasn't Mefisto!

Only now did he recall the lingering feeling of that voice whispering to his ear, telling him what to do, and making him lose his sanity.

How was it able to influence him? Why is that voice becoming stronger whenever he was mad?

Last time, he destroyed half of Dragona...

This time... he destroyed half of Alexandria...

What will he destroy next time?

Each time, he felt that the amount of time he spent in that blacked out state was longer than just a few hours. The first time, he was told that he spent a good three hours destroying Dragona "as" Mefisto.

This time, Siva felt that the blacked out state lasted for a good seven or maybe even eight hours.

When he first landed in Alexandria, it was still the morning, but when he came to, it was already the afternoon... and given the time difference between Alexandria and the Anazon Forest, the four or five hours difference as enough to tell Siva of just how long he was in that blacked out state.

—someone took over my body this time...just like the first time, but slightly different.

—the first time left an impression of revenge while this time's possession left the impression of drive and purpose...

—but both wanted death and destruction...

—both wanted to shed blood.

Siva's gaze fixed at the 'girl' and couldn't help but feel sorry for what he had done.

—did Gabriel know? He probably did.

Only now did Siva realize that perhaps the reason why Gabriel sent him, specifically, in this place was not ONLY because he wanted to punish Siva, but it was to also make him realize what he was in the past and what he might still be in the near future.

Alexandria, and as well as Dragona, were just small consequences of his unbalanced sanity.

—did Gabriel want me to atone for this sin?

—perhaps...

—and this is better punishment to me than being a prisoner, beaten everyday as a sinner...

He might not have consciously known about it, but Gaia told him that he did kill an Elder Dragon back then, 56 years ago... and now that he learned the consequences of him killing that Elder Dragon who sounded as if he only wanted to stop his rampage back then, he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of shame towards himself and what he'd done.

Just because I didn't know what happened doesn't mean I wasn't the one who did it.

Gabriel knew about it because he was the keeper of the Book of Legends in the Magus Archive only until recently.

To Siva, he now had a sense of respect for Gabriel who had unique ways on how to punish him. This is a punishment crueler than physically beating him and pulling out his nails and castrating him.

(AN: nope. Castration is still the worse punishment to a guy... ever... in all honesty! I get the shivers just thinking about not being able to meditate after watching some research materials)

But still, Gabriel was aware that Siva will still feel a sense of something heavy to the heart.

With all his internal turmoil put into place, Siva now felt that taking responsibility over his actions of the time back then, now, will help him at least put some sort of lid to properly control and prevent this kind of event from happening again in the future.

Taking responsibility of it now is also part of him as [Siva] whose style was built upon the path taken by real men.

—taking responsibility...

'It's easier said than done.'

The Lightning Kirins —no— the entire Divine Beast Race as a whole, is different than Terrans. They're fanatic worshipers of the Laws of Strength and the possibility of them wishing for his death —on the very basis, alone, of him killing their Patriarch— is a very possibility in itself as well.

He breathed in, and out, then removed his helmet and put it back to his inventory, looking straight at the Female Vajra ho was now in the middle of forming a lightning prison to encase Siva inside it.