The Tired Ruler of The Mist
"Hey, I still don't get something... How the hell did you know the conditions to summon or manifest a guardian spirit? Didn't you say that every guardian spirit has different manifestation conditions, so how did you know about mine?"
"...Oh... Well..."
He averted his eyes from mine, trying by all means to avoid eye contact. His voice even broke a little.
"It's in the name, 'Guardian', to protect. I figured if I had you in a life-or-death situation, it would come out and protect you."
His explanation made sense, or at least that's what he was trying to accomplish by making his voice sound more confident and steady.
If not for that display of cowardice when I asked him about the manifesting conditions, he would have convinced me.
"If you don't wanna be in a life-or-death situation, you'd better spill what you're hiding from me. Because if that were the truth, the samurai would have manifested in the forest when we were fighting for our lives."
Scary, Asahi thought.
Yes, I was scary.
Scary in a friendly way, but still scary enough that I might exact my vengeance on him if he doesn't tell me everything.
"True... But how do you even know that I am lying? I am the one with information on Guardian Spirits."
"..."
I squint my eyes and look at him with a serious expression. I wasn't flinching.
My silence was hard to bear, or maybe he acted like it was that way, because even under that pressure, he never showed any fear or break.
All this time, this man has been free-spirited. All of this might have just been acting.
"Ok fine... Well, you see... It was a gamble on my part. I wagered you getting hurt and the spirit coming to the rescue before that could happen."
"What? Are you nuts?!"
"Yeah, sorry..."
"You are not sorry! How can you gamble with my life like that?!"
"Wait!..."
He shoves his hand in my face, doing the stop palm.
This guy. Even when I was throwing a fit, he seemed calm as ever, like he had control of the situation - no sweat.
"I know you're mad at me for hurting you and stuff..."
"Hurting me? Mad? You tried to kill me!"
"Look at it this way. You finally have a spirit, and it's higher than Rita both in power and status.
Cool, huh?"
Although I interrupted him, he continued talking regardless.
He does make a valid point.
Instead of looking at the downsides that didn't even happen, I should be overjoyed at the great outcome, that is, a guardian spirit.
The past is death, and the present is life. Though what could've happened didn't happen, it doesn't matter if the present is good and the future is brimming with new possibilities.
"Fine. I guess I can let it slide this time."
"See. I knew you'd understand if you just saw it my way."
"Tsk!"
I couldn't stay angry forever, and besides, I just reunited with an old friend who healed my master's wounds, bringing her from the brink of death. I also retrieved my memories, and now, I have something or someone who can make me stronger.
The era of me being useless is coming to an end, and there was no time to be angry or frustrated.
"Hey, you spirit, what is your name?"
The whole time we were seated and talking, the spirit opened its eyes for the first time.
He looked at me and said, "I am what my master calls me."
"...Huh?"
What he said reminded me of the first time I talked to him when he manifested during the battle. The way he insisted on calling me his master and how he carried himself.
Now he was saying something I couldn't quite make out.
"Do guardian spirits not have names or something?"
Now I asked Asahi, the so-called sage of spirits.
Since he knows everything about spirits, he should be able to make out why the samurai answered the way he did.
"I don't know."
"Useless."
I turn my attention back to the samurai.
Now that I get a good look at him, he truly is a being of extraordinary power. I mean, just sitting there, he was exuding an astronomical amount of mana.
Mana that really made him a spirit.
The color of his mana was black and white, harmoniously meshing together, not fighting for dominance.
Looking at me with a face of indifference and stillness, I got a glimpse of his eyes. They were deep, like the eyes of someone who has the will to protect and yet still resents causing harm.
Although one who wishes to protect must bear the weight of harming others.
His black hair almost resembled mine, but his was more dignified and well-maintained. The bangs on his face stood out because of their white color.
The majority of his hair was black, only his bangs were white.
This spirit was cool as Asahi was overjoyed about, but he was the solemn type - always serious.
This could be attributed to his mission or will to protect his master.
"Then what does your master call you?"
"..."
I asked the samurai, forgetting that he refers to me as his master and that he spawned out of nowhere to protect me from Asahi's attack earlier.
This is all new to me, being a master, having a spirit, it is all things I never imagined having in this life. It somehow slipped my mind that I am indeed the master of a spirit now, which is why the samurai just looked at me, confused as to why I referred to myself in the third person, talking as if the master is someone else.
Although...
"My call sign is Death's Mercy. I do not have what you would call a name, master."
"...? Right, I'm the master. Makes sense."
I snap out of the daze I was in and finally realize that I am his master.
"Where did you come from? What made you come to life? I'm failing to understand that part."
He looked at me, confused again.
From the way he stared at me, it seemed as if I was asking him useless questions that were not aligned with his duties, and were of no importance to consider.
"I do not know... All I know is I am here to serve and protect you, master."
"..."
Spirits do or may come to life from the accumulation of intense emotions or mana, depending on the type of spirit it is. However, once they are alive and breathing, they forget everything.
From the moment they are born anew, with no knowledge of their origin, they protect themselves with the impulse arising from that origin.
An elemental spirit will use their elemental magic from birth as if they know what they are doing. Although the power of their magic and experience do play a part, they will also limit their fighting power.
But as they continue to live and accumulate knowledge, they will gain power.
As we were about to continue our talk and discussion with the spirit, a large amount of mana surged throughout the whole place.
By place I mean the entire land. The plateau where Asahi, Dearth's Mercy, and I were, the forest, and even to the village in the distance below the plateau.
Everywhere the mana could be felt, and it instilled panic amongst the residents of the region.
However, those who knew what it was that was releasing such mana were more frightened than panicked.
The forest was the most restless when feeling the mana surge. The unfamiliar birds and small wyvern dragons flew in the opposite direction from the mana.
Luckily, that direction was not towards us, or we would have had to deal with a stampede of frightened monsters.
The mana was intense, unlike anything I've felt before, or hoped never to feel.
The three of us were on high alert and stood up after feeling that mana.
A cold sweat ran down my neck as I looked in the direction of the mana. The mana was approaching from within the forest. As for the direction or place, all we knew or could ascertain at that moment was that the mana was coming from the forest, and it was slowly approaching us.
Because the forest trees were huge, almost the same size as those in the Zeus Woods, it was hard even to get a look at the thing that was exuding such monstrous amounts of mana.
All we could do was wait to find out.
And as we continued to wait, fear, anxiety, and restlessness continued to seep further into my soul.
"What is going on?!"
"Master, a great foe is heading our way."
"..."
I already suspected that whatever was coming was strong. However, for a spirit to consider it a great foe, just made the feeling that we wouldn't survive fighting this great foe, sink in.
Another hopeless situation was approaching us.
Will I be able to survive this one as well?
"Asahi, what the heck is going on?"
With my voice doing my best to stay calm and not show any fear, I turned to the only person who could know about this, Asahi.
He was a resident of this place and the only one I could ask at the moment.
When I looked at him, he was also fearful of the mana, but he was calmer than any of us.
"It's a dragon... It's no big deal. Just stay calm."
"Ee?"
I could swear I heard him say dragon. Not a wyvern or maybe a giant monster on equal standing as the wyvern, but a dragon.
And did he say it's no big deal either?
"What the...!"
I was about to blow my fuse at him when a gigantic shadow loomed over us.
What does he mean by "it's not a big deal?" It seems pretty big to me.
I looked up, and all I could see was that this monster was as big as they come, and with the sun on its back, its shadow was twice as huge.
The beast hovered above the house as if looking at us, and then with one flap of its wings, it blew a gust of wind down below.
The gust was strong enough to blow away any unsuspecting people. We held on for dear life to not get blown away.
It was as if the dragon were clearing away any rubbish from its landing spot, cause after that display, it came down, and with a loud *thud*, the dragon landed on the spot where Asahi and I were fighting.
Dust flew as the ground rumbled beneath our feet.
Oh... my God... I thought
Breath catching in my throat.
This huge monster was intimidating, and all it did was land on the ground and stand there staring at us.
Then Asahi moved, walking towards the dragon.
I just watched him as he continued to walk. I couldn't move; rather, I was terrified to move. How could I not be when this beast is standing in front of me?
I just looked at it. This truly is a dragon. The books didn't do justice in capturing the terrifying presence of this beast. Even comparing it to the descriptions in the books would be considered an insult to its honor.
I continued to watch Asahi walk towards it with bated breath until he bowed in front of it, prostrating himself on one knee before the dragon.
"lord Zeraff... It is a pleasure to see you again."
"..."
I was confused and frightened at the same time. Why was he prostrating himself before the dragon as if they knew each other?
