Ceres arrived on the desecrated grounds of Limguard. Undead walked the land aimlessly yet seemingly ignored her own arrival. Everything for as far as her eyes could see had died. No plants or animals seemed to live in this area, and even the sky appeared gray. As though a curse kept the sun from shining over the land.

“This is evil. How could someone do this to the world?” Ceres walked past the undead as they ignored her presence and made her way to a castle of bone in the remains of what was once a small farming village near the outskirts. As she walked, she began to feel reverence from the various undead creatures left here to protect the castle as though she were their Lord.

The stench of death, while strong, was nothing to a dragon, and she mostly ignored it as she made her way to the castle where creatures with strange features stood guard with blades fifteen feet long and bodies made from a combination of multiple animals.

“Blood of our creator. You may enter this place. Please do not cause trouble.” They said in unison as the door to enter the castle was opened.

This castle was bare of anything that could resemble art. There were no pictures, nor was there a rug or even concrete ground; instead, various plants could be seen growing indoors, somehow adapted to grow even here on top of trees and a few cattle. Keeping to the cattle were a few well-dressed zombies.

As Ceres made her way to the throne room, she came into contact with a creature around twelve feet tall with six arms and six excessively large wings. Their lower torso to the waist like that of a horse. Its bull-like head was covered by a mask of bone as its horns curved outwards.

“You are not the blood of my creator. But I sense a bond. Why have you come?”

“To meet with Cordelia. She called me here.”

“Then you may take the door to the right. Touch nothing, and do not use magic here. Otherwise, the defenses may see you as an intruder.” Malistic, one of the thirteen demon lords that rule over the Abyss, took a seat on his throne of bones and began to continue gathering sacrifices. The ritual was still functioning, and every scout dying was another soldier in his dark army.

Ceres walked through the door that seemingly opened itself and found what seemed to be a gallery of portraits resembling people she’d met.

Their ages date back eighty or so years, given how it started with a young man with red hair standing behind a kid with blue hair. Before moving to a group of three with a young woman with black hair and glasses, the kid was a little taller, and the red-haired man wore a familiar eyepatch. After that, an orc toddler seemingly joined, and the blue-haired boy was gone. A large gap occurred, and the orc was now a late adolescent. The blue-haired boy had become a man, and a woman with blond hair and regal features replaced the black-haired woman. A smaller gap led the red-haired man to take on a forlorn look with two babes in his arms. The blond-haired woman was missing, and the blue-haired man she recognized as Charles was holding onto a green-haired woman. The orc had gotten much larger over time and seemed to look about arms crossed, his clothes covered in white powder as though he had been cooking right before.

Ceres watched as everyone except the older man and his two children. As they aged into adolescents, teenagers, and then young adults. The son appeared later, holding a small babe in his arms, his green eye looking down at them beside a short woman. An eyepatch resembling his father’s over his right eye.

The portraits on that end of the family ended, and Cordelia’s began going down to a red-haired baby laying in a basket, their eyes closed, body seemingly lifeless. Two girls seemed to grow exponentially while said baby stayed the same those few years.

The paintings ended there, and she arrived at a doorway.

Entering the next room. Ceres placed a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. For what came out could be a roar, and she didn’t want to break what she saw.

A large tube held a tiny human-shaped in a fetal position, a head of black hair trailing behind them along with a familiar mole next to their eye and a face that reminded her of Kyrion. The creature, however, seemed to lack something, a spark of life. It wasn’t alive yet. It had a beating heart. Its body grew slowly.

A red-haired woman with tired eyes looked at a clipboard and then back at the figure in the tube. “Hello Ceres. Did you come here to assist in project Rion?”

“No, I’m here because I’d be useless in the tournament. If my nature was discovered then i’d bring nothing but more attention than what we already have. During our battle in that dungeon I learned how weak I was. I would be dead had Kyrion not soloed that monster.”

“So you came here for power?”

“I came because I was curious about your offer to increase my draconic potential.”

“That’s simple, you need to consume the blood of a dragon slayer or one of their descendents.”

“What?”

“You heard me. You’ll need to consume the potential of a Sigfried.”

“One that has killed nine of my kind?” Ceres took a step back.

“Correct. I have, the object of power already. We just need to make a bond.”

“A what?”

“You heard me. You need to make a bond of blood with me.”

“That doesn’t seem very wise. Given what you told me about yourself.”

“No, but it will allow the bond to go three ways. My body can hold the power it should also be able to reawaken my core and will be quite temporary. Power for power, and I won’t be killing anyone.”

Ceres considered it; the answer should be yes, but Cordelia could skirt around the restriction as far as she knew. “What do you want this power for?”

“To give birth to the real Kyrion.” Cordelia said bluntly.

“Eh?”

“Exactly that. The Kyrion you knew is my son, but that isn’t his name, there’s a reason most in the family don’t use it. Names can be powerful when invoked by powerful magic. For example, most curses and death spells require knowing the target’s full name to truly be effective.”

“And you knew he’d be the target of such?”

“Of course. It would be foolish to assume otherwise given the circumstances. There is also an aspect of his birth that I can’t tell you about myself.”

“I see. So this is Psycho?”

“It is a homunculus made from Kyrion’s DNA and natural regeneration accelerated with high levels of magic.”

“DNA?”

“Something that came from him directly.” Cordelia didn’t want to have that conversation.

“Where did you get it?”

“I’m his mother, getting a strand of hair, dead skin cells, or even unnecessary organs. Is easy.”

“Unnecessary…Like what, and don’t lie to me.”

“An eye, some baby teeth, one kidney, and an appendix. Some brain tissue as well although that was collected from a bad brain aneurysm when he was little. As though a portion of his brian was sealed by a powerful spell.”

Ceres winced. “You took so much…”

“The kidney and appendix regenerated when he gained his healing ability and his body was flooded with power. The eye however…” Cordelia looked away.

“She got that from me, baby wyrm.” A figure with dark hair and golden eyes with rotating irises revealed itself.

“Wait. You’re that bastard that stole his eye!” Ceres looked at him and then at Cordelia and scowled.

“While I am indeed a bastard his eye was given to me on request. I could have tried to kill him and failed given that the expert nearby wouldn’t have let me do so.” Maldain tilted his head to the side.

Ceres stared at the golden-eyed man for a long while.

“Your eyes are quite pretty themselves.”

Ceres took a step away.

“Fine. Fine… Can’t take a joke.” Maldain looked away.

“When did you get here? Why are you here?”

“Ah. Right, that blue haired demon asked me to give you this.” Maldain tossed Cordelia an orb.

“Is this the fragment?” Cordelia asked.

“Correct. We can’t wait to see if you succeed. For the creation of complete beings will be paramount in our goals.”

Ceres tilted her head. “So.. You took his eye to give to his mother?”

“I took his eye so that I could steal one from a foe of mine. From a certain demon lord.”

“Is his soul still there?”

“It is. Albeit dormant. Your brother could be resurrected albeit partially.”

“I see.”

“Uh… So you need my blood to put magic into some sort of ritual?”

“I need your blood so that I may fill in the last requirement for awakening the gluttonous serpent within his blood. For that’s what’s born when one absorbs the potential of 10 dragons. That power will transfer through your link and into him. Both of you will get stronger, much stronger. With the power feeding into me and this little one.” Cordelia didn’t say, but she clearly meant the figure in the pod.

“Power fine..I Ceres offer up my blood so that we may form a bond.” Ceres cut her hand with a taloned nail.

“I, Cordelia Antonia Delarosa Falknir Mosley, offer up my true name and blood for this bond.” Cordelia cut her own hand and wrapped it around Ceres’.

A magical circle appeared underneath them as power left Ceres and entered Cordelia, rebuilding a core and filling her body with mana, its nature fixing her damaged body from the inside. Which was quite surprising.

“Charles! Why did you tell me he had to win to fix my core?”

“I said that it was a way.” Charles appeared next to Maldain.

“Why lie then.”

“Because I’m after the best outcome for my family. You will need that power to come out as one of the dominant personalities after your second calling. Which will be quite soon.”

“I see…” Cordelia didn’t seem pleased with that answer as she handed Ceres the vial of blood.

“Umm. Do you need me here for this discussion?” Ceres asked.

“No. Drink this, it should give you what you need.” Cordelia handed her the vial of silver liquid.

Ceres stared at it and then consumed it. Moments later, everything went dark for the young dragon. As a 10-sided stone polyhedron encased her.

“What’s going on?” Cordelia asked Charles.

“Draconic Bloodline Ascension. Which is to be expected. We’ll have to wait ten years for it to complete, the good news is our enemy will be helping us make up the difference and an ally will give us a great boost near the end.” Charles stated as he stepped away. A crack immediately formed on the stone chrysalis.

“With this, the pieces have been placed on the board. All I can do is watch for now.” A figure with swirling irises sat before a cauldron watching the scene play out.

Their swirling eyes take in the world around them. The corpses, belonging to the army of 1000 sent to dispatch him, lay broken as the entity casually erased their minds and stole their powers, adding them to his black book. A merchant didn’t waste anything that could be sold later.

Imala looked at her world from her position above. A solemn look in the goddess’s eyes told a story.

Things were going to get chaotic soon. She traded five years with the Greater Architect of time for a boon. Her world was close to ending soon, regardless of the endless conflicts that raged on and her last continent at risk of becoming a dead wasteland in less than twenty years. Imala hated her role in this situation, for Project Rion wouldn’t have existed without her meddling. The creation of a fateless, with a body to hold planets worth of a population, required old magic. Magic was sealed by the First Shepherd for its ability to corrupt and drive those who touched it madly as they gained power at a prodigious rate.

It all started when she let a newborn with too much mana and potential die before it could be born. Then, after living through hundreds of failures, the soul made a connection. From there, she watched through two more failures. One where the boy ended up healthy and another where their body wasn’t properly resurrected, and the soul of another was born. A whole soul, one without gaps. One that shot through the ranks at high speed before becoming a monster. The first Kyrion was the first artificial Lord. A being of death and hate. One is unsuitable for fixing anything.

Soon the universe will have a Second Shepard. A new world, one without this twisted requirement of being born broken. A place where the price for power isn’t being taken from their loved ones. One where the heavens are closer, and someone in her position could take more hands-on actions when an outside entity begins to destroy her world to break the seal on the Betrayer of Souls.