A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

[“Huh, what do—”] I tried to voice my confusion, but Tasianna immediately interjected.

[“I will give some time—a sixth of a bell. I will not use my true ice mana until then, so let me see if your silver scales can stop my blade’s weeping.”]

[“… You’re on, girlfriend!”] I shouted in Hikari’s stead, but the two of us shared the same annoyance at Tasianna’s declaration. Hikari was fuming, but she was keeping it under wraps, similar to how Tasianna would glare at people whenever she got irritated.

I’m buffing us up, Hikari. Make sure you remember the movement training I’ve learned and what you practiced against the dragoons. Your defence is higher than mine, but you have less explosiveness. Just remember all that, and use those silver scales of yours like how Mom or Yorshka would!

[Various Spell Buffs] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor][Hydra], [Sun, Consume All], and [Halo of Consecretion] were all cast as well, given that Tasianna wasn’t even defending herself as I buffed us up as if there was no threat. Technically, she only said she wouldn’t use her true ice, but that didn’t include her normal wind, water, and her weaker ice spells.

Haha, how strange, how she was turning the situation onto me, now. I still remember that one spar I had with Saori and Tasianna in the Belzac Forest, where I had my friends fight me while I was trapping myself inside a [Sanctuary]. Ha, I held back since I was far stronger than they were back then, and it seemed Tasianna might be copying my “boss battle” play.

Oh, I was fully aware that Tasianna currently had home advantage inside this cradle of ice mana and outleveled me due to my leveling restriction, but, seriously, she was challenging me? My cool-headed maid might have become a bit haughty after she became the “Ice Elemental King.”

Fine. Challenge accepted. Come on, show me what you can do now that you have levels on your side! Ruby Star, come out.

[Gazing Upon The Ruby Star (Owner) (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]Instead of the usual red star, the miniature sun that came out of my solar core was completely blue. Growing until it was about half the size of [Sun, Consume All], I raised an eyebrow, considering it was almost as large as [Sun, Consume All] during Hikari’s battle against he mandragonga. This skill was still a bit finicky, all things considered.

But… this feels weird.

[Hydra] didn’t change much from its usual appearance, probably since it was a slime, but both [Sun, Consume All] and [Halo of Consecretion] lost their fiery, gassy appearances and were more hazy, like a fog or a white breath during winter. I was beginning to think that this wasn’t my body…

‘Stop overthinking things, let’s go!’ Hikari shouted before she activated her methane boosters.

Silver powder fluttered around her wings as she slammed the air with them, attaching itself to her body like a magnet. With a small injection of mana, the silver powder crystallized, hardening our silver scales even further, like resin made to harden wood. Yet, despite everything we’ve done, Tasianna hasn’t cast a single spell. She only raised her rapier, holding it similarly to Vifi’s formal Yok-Style fencing.

Without showing an ounce of mercy, Hikari swung our body around and slashed at Tasianna with our tail, fully armored in crystalline ice after using [Hellblade Edge]. She blocked the attack with her rapier, and while it might not have broken, the force and our higher strength still meant she was unable to block it.

Swatted out of the air, Tasianna was about to crash land before she somersaulted to correct her posture. Wind started to gather around her hand due to [Aerokinesis] before she shot the wind under her, causing the air to freeze solid, creating an ice slide for her to reposition on by casting [Wind Blast].

‘She’s showing off…’

No, she’s trying to teach us! I corrected Hikari, causing her to fall silent for a moment until I continued. That’s just how the spars between us Aurora members work. We clash ideas together, and if something comes out of it, perfect! That’s how Saori, Tasianna, and Ellaine learned how I liked to use my spells with my movements, disruption, and offense.

‘I guess that’s—’

No time to reply! Come, I’m getting an idea of why Tasianna is doing this. Follow up with what I’m thinking. We can probably continue evolving our silver dragon movement tech.

The solar ice gas my silver dragon body produced was essentially liquid hydrogen, only that I could control its state and effect. It could either freeze the air or burn like methane gas, and it was all controlled by mana. The process was akin to how I controlled my [Corrosive Fire]’s various states.

Blasting ourselves forward, Hikari chased after Tasianna while I started casting five [Banishment Beam] on her. Tasianna countered our spell cast by swiping her rapier, letting water droplets fly from the blade to turn into icicle daggers before shooting it at us using her [Dirge of Eternal Ice]’s [Cryokinesis].

The moment the dagger touched my light spell, the daggers expanded into shields, blocking the five laser beams, while a few daggers slipped through and targeted me. Since [Funeral Blade of Frozen Memories] made all of Tasianna’s attacks ice-aligned, which meant a small punch could freeze a person with true ice, we didn’t want to actually take glancing hits. Even if she wasn’t using true ice mana right now, treating the daggers as real threats able to scare ice elementals made the training a bit more realistic.

In response, I sent my scales flying, parrying the daggers while my molded scales broke as a sacrifice. Their destruction allowed me to pierce through the torrent of ice daggers, nearly catching Tasianna before she used [Wind Blast] to evade me. However, instead of crash landing on her ice slide, Hikari released solar ice gas from our feet, as I told her to, freezing the air to create icicle platforms just like Tasianna did.

Expelling even more gas using [Dreadflare Aura], I flash-froze the gas, creating a half sphere around me that only caught Tasianna by her left leg. She snapped her head around and sliced the portion of the ice encasing her limb, freeing herself before a smirk appeared on her face.

“Barely a moment has passed, and you’re already copying the way the twins and I freeze the air? [Dread Burn] applied, although that is rather redundant against a faefolk,” she said, causing me to feel all giddy while Hikari couldn’t help but complain that I was letting my excitement take over a bit.

Though how couldn’t I? This was a new frontier for me! The tricks I knew from my fire dragon form weren’t completely worthless, but I could add even more to my arsenal. Experimenting with my new body, beyond training Hikari how to fight like a melee combatant, was causing my brain to work like a steam engine.

Activating [Dreadflare Aura], once again, instead of freezing everything with my solar ice gas, I broke the “crystalline bonds”—as the description called them—turning the gas into explosive methane. The solar energy bound to the methane agitated it, causing the frozen half-sphere to explode, launching a shower of ice chunks inside Mom’s nest.

Tasianna’s unique [Dirge of Eternal Ice], though, made it easy for her to take control of the deluge of ice shards, retooling my own attack into her as she molded it into an ogre-sized claymore. As she launched the blade at me, I cast [Warp Point], with the entry in front of me and the exit to Tasianna’s side, forcing her to dodge as the ice blade flew through the spatial opening.

Spatial Rend! Hikari tore through space and time, opening a portal just behind Tasianna as she was evading my redirection, allowing Hikari to thrust our sharp tail through, disarming Tasianna.

As her ice rapier broke apart, returning to its catalyst state to fly back to its mistress, Tasianna flicked her hand, conjuring two [Kraken’s Destruction] above my body, nearly whipping me if I hadn’t dodged back. As the [Spatial Rend] closed, the two water spells quickly turned into ice and formed into a blade almost as large as a rank-A dragon.

Tsk, come on. [Cryokinesis] is being pretty annoying.

The giant ice blade and the flying claymore directed their bladed tip at me, forcing Hikari to rethink our plan, but before we could, I warned her that Tasianna didn’t stop at two spells. She was already preparing two more as I stared at the mana connections forming on her fingers with [Mana Eyes].

“Iceberg Fortress. Sheer Freeze,” Tasianna mumbled as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my foot.

[Detection Sensor] rang the bell of danger, causing me to jerk my foot away as [Sheer Freeze] froze the area where my foot just stood, only to leave me vulnerable to the ice spell forming below me. With two giant swords eyeing me from the sky and a spell readied to bury me in an ice coffin, Hikari panicked as she wasn’t so sure what to do.

I already got you. Purple Flash. Gloria Ascendance.

A purple magic circle formed around me, instantly forming [Gloria Ascendance] for me at triple the mana cost to create an indestructible barrier of light around me. Sadly, the cast was still too late as [Iceberg Fortress] still managed to freeze my legs onto the ground as a giant castle of ice formed around me.

Tsk. Too late on the cast when she needed so much time to cast. Those two [Kraken’s Destruction] really were just bait to create an opening.

‘… Right, just have to remain calm. Even with our legs frozen in place, the rest of our body is doing well,’ Hikari realized. ‘She used two spells to set up a trap. Just like how you taught her… I could have realized something was up if I had just kept moving.’

Got it in one go. Sadly, we’re pretty much fucked.

“Good try, Lady Hikari. Until our next spar,” Tasianna said before she threw what looked like a thermos made from ice into the sky. She then waved at us as the thermos attached itself to the castle.

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Just as the [Gloria Ascendance] ran out, the [Iceberg Fortress] formed into a large ball before it was shot out of Mom’s nest by a powerful [Wind Blast]. Ping-ponging against the wall, the sphere was eventually caught by Shay, before he threw me over to Beth as her unique skill, gained from becoming [Hestia’s Imperial Guard], [Drifting Silver] activated.

Drifting Silver: Embracing an oath of defence, increase Vitality and Wisdom by 15% in the presence of any in possession of the titles [Hestia’s Imperial Guard] or [The Light]. Draconic energy production is increased while true ice mana is being used, while also causing the scales of the owner to produce silver powder that hardens them, increasing their Vitality and Wisdom by 15%. Increase Vitality, Wisdom, and Agility by 10% if true ice mana is the predominant mana type in the area. Improves the natural [Drifting Snow Wyvern] racial skills and its evolutions or mutations Shay was the spear, and Beth became the shield. It did feel a bit flattering that, unlike Shay, who could only use his unique skill properly as long as there was [Draconic Aura] around, Beth required either me or one of my trusted retainers to be around. I guess it did speak of their individual personalities.

Admittedly, I did feel like Beth was putting herself in the same box as Tasianna once did, with all that dedication for me. The unique skill marked her real resolve to protect the people around her, which included her brother, but I wished she would be a bit more selfish.

One thing Tasianna had taught me through our trip was that even my friends had trouble finding what they really wanted to do. Sometimes, melancholy wouldn’t be too obvious. With how much the three of them have been taking care of me, I should try even harder to help them when I can.

… Though maybe I should speak about it at another time. Being stuck in an icy coffin while Beth and Shay escorted my body up felt a bit embarrassing, even if Hikari was the one in control. We were then thrown out like an unruly customer inside a bar, before our coffin broke apart, freeing us as if it was commanded to do so.

[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]‘That was—’ Hikari and I said in unison as we stared at the ceiling of our nest, before we both let out a deep sigh. ‘Shit!’

Amazing!

However, somehow, our thoughts diverged at that sentence’s end. Our mental selves turned to look at each other inside our mind, with Hikari looking at me in confusion while I just shrugged with an awkward smile.

‘That was amazing to you?’ she asked.

Of course! I shouted, feeling my mind stimulated to the point I couldn’t help but want to jump right back into the spar. Since when have I ever not been happy about my friends getting stronger? That was the entire problem we had back in the Belzac Forest, and was the main motivation for Saori and Tasianna! They wanted to get stronger than me! That same fire Tasianna told us had disappeared! And, would you look at that, she outfoxed us and beat us, even if it wasn’t a fight to the death. It doesn’t matter if the rules align with hers. If I am not strong enough to just bulldoze through some rules, then what do you expect us to do when she releases her Territory?

‘Huh? Territory? Tasianna hasn’t developed hers yet.’

You’re misunderstanding it, then. Mom’s entire nest is the perfect environment for somebody with [Cryokinesis] to fight it. While we fight inside it, she is the one with the upper hand, even if we use our own Territory. After all, unlike us, she has true ice. Her ice, fundamentally, is stronger than ours since true ice can just ignore the [Ice Resistance] on a person unless they possess true ice mana as well! Plus, her [Glacial Witch’s Wardress] gives her plenty of free damage and defensive buffs by simply being inside an ice mana-filled area.

‘… I see,’ Hikari nodded, memorizing what I said like a good student.

I snapped my fingers, smiling as I thought of what Mom must have felt when she set all of this up. It’s the same training as before. She wants us to keep training and is dangling a prize of a rank S monster’s material before us. Instead of just [Ice Resistance], she wants us to train our silver dragon body. She’s essentially telling us to stop slacking off on paperwork and to get back to training.

‘Though what exactly are we supposed to work on? Most of our important skills are at max level or close to it. It just feels weird that our training progress can’t be shown since the main training is to mentally harden me up, and to invent ways to use our silver dragon form,’ Hikari grumbled, probably still irritated that we lost against Tasianna in that fashion. I might have thrown logic at her, but I guess our values branched out on how we should feel about training.

True. Skill promotion is faaar harder for us now. Training our stats can’t bridge the difference between a true ice user and us, but you know what will? Custom spells. Fire spells turn into ice, and vice versa. [Corrosive Fire] can trap our solar ice gas when we produce the ice, and [White Flames] are complete crystals. Not to mention… [Symphonie des Feuergottes]. Maybe we start experimenting a bit?

“Princess Hikari,” Shay called, breaking our moment of thought as he presented a cup of iced tea to me. “Tasianna’s present to you.”

“The thermos… this smells exactly like the tea Tasianna likes to make for Hestia,” she said before giving back control over our body to me. Once my scales were back to crimson, I took a sip, feeling like I could melt away. “… Same as always. Same tea leaves, same aroma, same boiling method. Nothing has changed, even if it’s iced tea. She hasn’t lost her touch even a bit.”

[“Hehe, she served that same iced tea to us. We have you to thank for the treat, I see.”]

I raised my head as I heard that familiar voice, only to turn around to a bunch of signals running towards me. My eyes widened when numerous lesser and normal ice elementals charged at me, with their crackling icicle bodies, dancing around me as if I were some ritualistic sacrifice.

[“Haha, I apologize, Your Highness. The little ones are completely enraptured by our king’s beverages.”]

I turned away from the smaller elementals to look at the shadow cast at me, seeing a giant elk made from ice slowly walking towards me.

“Ah, Elk!” I called towards one of the few friendly ice elementals during the operation to save Tasianna. “So you were hiding inside the mountain? Totally missed you back at the village.”

They nodded, prompting me to mention the tea, causing the greater elemental to bellow another laugh. [“Our trip back to the top of the glacier took a while due to the little ones, you see. Furthermore, due to the Water Elemental Emperor destroying everything, it took us a while to finish our pilgrimage. Tasianna made sure to appease the little one with her tea, as it was the easiest consumable for her to transport. The ‘thermos,’ as she called it, was far larger than the one Shayatierus is carrying.”]

“Honestly, understandable. I don’t think you have much access to tea leaves this far north.”

[“Nay, boiling leaf water isn’t some strange idea to us. It is more like we cannot produce the heat to brew it. But, I guess it is also true that we have no access to fine tea leaves here. Much of it is being imported from the south, I presume.”]

I nodded, remembering the ludicrous amount of tea imports we had in our ledgers.

[“That is why the young are so frantic. Would you mind sharing with them, Your Highness?”]

“Sure, sure, but you really don’t have to say ‘your highness’ all the time, you know? Even if you are now Mom’s subordinate, I like to keep it casual. Unlike with the other greaters, you were one of the few who actually showed some care for Tasianna. Formalities aren’t needed between us,” I said as I had Shay and Beth share the rest of the tea with the elementals.

Elk smiled for a moment before shaking their head. [“No. Some of the greaters still feel uncomfortable under Empress Melloxtressa. Many are still hardliners who are not appeased despite Yothmlak’s ruined reputation. What I do is to show respect to our king and to remind all that this is our punishment. The deaths of the other ice dragonkin were not necessary after Yothmlak’s death. Yet, some remained silent, many supported the mandragonga.”]

I guess you can’t break through that mindset.

[“In any case, we are doing fine, Your Highness. Empress Melloxtressa told us to do whatever we want while keeping her Territory safe, so we are already granted enough freedom to maintain our lifestyle. The youngs are still as rambunctious as always.”]

I nodded before turning into a silver dragon, allowing Hikari to stroke some of the elementals who assumed a cute animal’s appearance. I didn’t want to carress them with how much fire mana I had, after all.

[“Our king still has much to learn,”] Elk suddenly said. [“She still needs time to fully acclimate to her new form. She still hasn’t managed to create a custom spell using her newfound powers, you must know. This trial is both for you and her. She still seeks inspiration to manifest her Territory. I beseech you, Your Highness, grow stronger so you may push her to grow as well.”]

[“What nonsense. With Vifi’s addition, my spot as the strongest in Aurora was starting to be contested, and now we have Tasianna as the strongest fairy in existence. Don’t worry, Elk. I won’t let her take even second place. Those places belong to Vifi or me!”] I declared before finishing my tea to get ready to go back into the tunnel. “All right, I’m heading back in! Tasianna, if you can hear me—beware!”

… She did beware, and I was sent back out in a similar fashion to before, without lasting for even ten minutes. Okay… Mom was quite right about this trial needing some time, ‘cause Tasianna working inside a place that was practically her domain was very inconvenient for me.

She used [Delayed Cast] to just prepare a ton of spells in advance, this time. She’s just turning Mom’s nest into a real boss stage, or a dungeon room filled to the brim with traps.

Every trip I make into Mom’s nest would have a “dungeon master” who had perfect control over the ice mana inside that room, who would prepare multiple spells in advance to kick out its intruders. Furthermore, Tasianna also told me that the sparring would continue until dinner time, where I would be forced to stop attempting the trial.

The conditions were pretty stringent, and the first thing I had to do was to figure out how to avoid all of Tasianna’s [Delayed Cast] spells. Time would never be on my side since Tasianna’s [Glacial Witch’s Wardress] would give her a 100% mana regeneration boost as long as the area around her was drenched in ice-mana. I couldn’t enter and remain in my fire dragon form for too long, since my [Ice Resistance] was still level eight. I would just freeze.

So I have no other way, huh? ‘Break me. Burn me. Eviscrate me.’ You weren’t kidding, huh?

Even if I managed to avoid all the traps and survive until the ten-minute mark, my ice mana would lose to hers. I could weaken Tasianna if I turned back into a fire dragon and exploded everything, but that would only make me even more vulnerable to Tasianna’s ice. If she somehow managed to learn a Territory, I would have to use my Territory. No, I had to use it anyway.

There were no rules stating I couldn’t fight Tasianna from outside of Mom’s Nest, nor did she say anything about sabotaging things from a save spot. I could duel Tasianna from the outside where the sun was, giving me my advantage… though I would love to avoid having to destroy my home to do so.

Regardless of what my end plan was, it was clear that today would not be the day I beat Tasianna. Still, I would love to continue sparring with her, yet leaving her inside that nest for all this time would be a bit unfair to her.

“Beth, could you give Tasianna a message that today’s trial will end? I do want to continue sparring with her, though, but above ground.”

[“Yes, your commands are heard, my lady,”] Beth said before flying off.

With Shay, I invited the elementals to follow with me down to the village, where I saw multiple dragoons entering and exiting the subspace, with Grimnir’s voice booming how the runes on their armor weren’t “given enough effort to.”

“Oi, get that damn idiot to start brushing his armor, lass! Makes me want to pull off my hair with how shoddy his maintenance skills are!”

Ahahah, Grimnir…

Once Tasianna finally arrived, I invited Shay and Beth to help Hikari and me learn how to fight as a silver dragon, including how to use our ice like armor and weapons at the same time. Three days then passed as we kept this routine going, with me attempting to defeat Tasianna during the morning, while we stopped during lunchtime for food and spars with the elementals and dragoons watching us.

Though that peacefulness didn’t last for too long as my dragoons sighted the first wave of interlopers flying towards us, before a second came just behind them… and then a third and fourth. Four factions… I should have probably expected that.

Four days were plenty of time for Uriahn to arrive on Frozen Nest, and that would inevitably lead to his father wishing to talk with me. Considering Forminaxtrass’s attitude to the holy dragonkin, the powder keg finally exploded as Uncle Alex, Galiladrak, Forminaxtrass, and Yuilengreill arrived in Nordor Valley.