Ciel's body continued to linger at the bottom of the black sea.
She reached out her hand, counting the fingers and nails that were properly in place. No claws. No bones.
The sea's surface beyond her fingers was so distant, like a night's sky meant only to be admired.
Swoosh!
A strong current sliced through the black sea, ascending Ciel with it.
—-------
Over in the surface world, a serene moonlight cast down on the white lily, whose petals were dropping one by one.
All the monsters bowed in respect, their formation a circle like admirers to a celebrity debut.
Until a strong heatwave suddenly surged, warping the air itself.
Every groan fell away, replaced by a dead silence as the monsters all glared upward.
There was an intruder.
Above the monsters' circle, a humanoid figure flew and observed with sharp, green eyes, its very existence radiating a fiery aura.
Her golden hair flowed freely in the wind, and the horns in her head curved with a majestic pride.
The black dress she adorned had intricate golden patterns, with the red fabric inside to give it a fierce look.
A dragon. Worse, a Dragon that was capable enough to turn human.
Soon, the monsters roared, shaking the ground itself.
They unleashed a storm of attack: beams of light shot from snarling mouths, arrows shot from drawn bows, and swords thrown from gauntleted arms.
The Dragon hovered above, unmoved. "
That single word sent another heatwave across the air. Arrows disintegrated from their tips, with the beams of light melting into the breeze.
Swords unhanded from grips as all the monsters disintegrated from head down, crumbling to dust as they fell onto the earth.
The Dragon unfolded her wings and dove to the centre of the circle.
With a loud bang, the tremendous impact scattered away the survivors in a blast of wind, leaving behind only ashen remains.
She then glanced at the white lily, the petals refusing to falter under her spell or descend.
Her nails then stretched and elongated into sharp, beast-like claws, growls escaping under her bated breath.
As the last petal from the lily fell, the moon finally left the sky to hang in the horizon, leaving the flower's bare body to be consumed by a pool of shadow.
The dragon frowned. She was the Principal of the Shadowhunter Academy, an institution dedicated to hunting the 'Shadebeasts', monsters made from shadows.
So her boundless knowledge and experience easily dictated this to be the birth of a Queen, one so close to her residence and the academy itself no less.
Yet instead of an earth-shattering event like back then, the event was oddly calm, her mana-sensitive heart failing to detect any malice.
Alas, a hand crept up from the shadow, as Dragon shielded herself with the claws, ready to defend against any onslaught.
Yet that hand's movement was strange: it first pressed upon the soil with its palm, savouring the rough sensation that came with the coarse earth.
Then, when a white head poked out of the shadow, a pair of black eyes met the Principal's glare straight on-
Then immediately panicked and dug back down to the shadowy pool.
The dragon froze, her jaws gaping at perhaps the most cowardly Queen she had yet to encounter.
She expected a threat. Yet that girl was strangely, unadmittedly, and very irritatingly-
Cute.
—--------
[ Quest: Submit and earn admission to the Shadowhunter Academy. ]
[ Reward: Level +3; Starter Skill; Race Selection ]
[ Be warned, Ciel, that the Dragon rarely took in shadebeasts as prisoners. ]
[ Please request
Ciel pouted, her white hair staying afloat in the black sea.
The surface of the water was now so close, yet the Dragon's glare still burned deep in her memory.
Even if the last sight of the dragon's expression was warmth, she must have faked it. Ciel knew the enemies like the dragon that came with a 'Queen', unexcluded now to herself.
'And that dragon…I recognise her.'
Did she have any chance against that walking disaster? Ciel folded her hands and floated upside down. Air escaped desperately from her brain, a sensation she found oddly comfortable.
"Status."
Curious, her gaze drew to the only companion, embodied behind indifferent lines of texts.
[ Lifeform 'Ciel' registered. Initialising… ]
[ Name: Ciel ]
[ Status ]
Name: Ciel
Race: Unassigned; Queen(?)
Mastery: Unassigned
Level: 1
HP: 70/70
MP: 100/100
SP: 0
[ Stats ]
STR (Strength): 5
AGI (Agility): 7
VIT (Vitality): 5
INT (Intelligence): 5
CHA (Charisma): 15
[ Skills ]
None.
[ Note – Queen's Bane System ]
Awaiting Race Selection & Starter Skill...
Harsh. Very harsh.
Ciel chuckled in defeat. The price for humanity was steep, and that included stripping away any strength she could conserve to run away.
Feeling her end was near, her wandourous gaze locked onto the water's surface.
The moon was nowhere to be found. Instead, only the starry night was reflected, each glow drawing in Ciel's innocent imagination.
Then a simple hilted boot stepped across the reflection, snuffing out all of Ciel's wonders, as her eyes met the familiar green glare.
Ciel's palms covered her mouth and muffled out any sound, yet the Dragon then kneeled, her knuckle giving a few knocks on the sea's surface.
Or rather, from the Dragon's perspective, the shadow pooling on the cold, hard earth, lacking a certain white-haired creature from earlier.
The stuffy sounds of knocking send tremors through the black sea, perhaps in awe of the Dragon's might.
Just as confusion swept through Ciel's features, she let out a gasp as the Dragon's hand stretched back, ankle crooked like a bowstring.
Her lips began to mutter something Ciel recognised:
Ciel didn't hesitate and swam down the black sea, her limbs flailing flimsily, unused to their lightweightness-
But with a firm hold on her shoulder, she was pulled up from the black sea, up from the shadowy Earth.
And before Ciel could blink, she was up on the surface, carried by both her armpits like a newborn baby.
A very beautiful and laughable scene, if not for her small size that dwarfed against the tall Dragon-
And how her opponent's scowl seemed to deepen more and more upon looking at her.
Ciel's eyes glimmered. The breeze caressing her bare body was comforting, unlike the dusty wind that sliced against the rough skin of her old body.
She flashed a smile at the Dragon. "Greetings!"
The energy from her voice, too light and casual, irked the Principal, the grip tightening on Ciel.
"Give me a reason not to kill you. Right now." The Dragon huffed out.
------------
Author's note:
To not take up the word count and disrupt the pacing, I will post the status screen for ciel at the author's note every chapter! Feel free to click in if you need a check!