[TWS] Chapter 261 – Final Steps Before the Return

Inside the core chamber, Atra, Sidr, and the girls stood on the sidelines and observed the center where Asterios lay underneath the Spire’s Heart in his True Dragon form. At first, it looked like he just curled up into himself and fell asleep, but the few women who were more attuned to the spiritual energy began noticing changes. Those changes weren’t connected only to Asterios but also to the giant crystal.

While it might have looked like Asterios was pretty much taking a pleasant nap since his breathing and heartbeat had slowed down, they realized that the Spire’s Heart was slowly beginning to match that rhythm. Before long, they could feel two faint heartbeats echoing throughout the chamber. It felt bizarre but, in the end, the heart of the World Serpent had been used in the creation of the core so it wasn’t that unimaginable for it to resonate with Asterios.

About half an hour passed in that calm atmosphere until the rhythm was broken. Prepared for any possible unexpected outbursts, Selene and Bryn were ready to activate their respective defensive techniques. Fortunately, it didn’t look like anything dangerous was going to happen this time as Asterios lazily opened his crimson, draconic eyes after the heartbeats completely settled.

He raised his massive frame and stretched a little, spreading his wings to the sides. Giving a quick glance at the ladies standing on the side, he chuckled inwardly. No matter how many Miria saw him as a True Dragon, she always had a truly thrilled and enamored expression. He was sure it would take a long time before she got used to it enough not to burst out with joy at such a sight on every possible occasion.

Asterios recalled his transformation while walking towards the group of women and soon appeared in front of them back in his human form.

“And, how was it, Master?” Bryn was the first one to ask.

“It definitely helped. I managed to dig out a little bit more of the locked memories but the seal is still in the way.” He scratched the back of his head.

“One step at a time, my Lord.” Selene showed a soft smile as her single, fluffy tail swayed behind her.

“Yeah! Don’t get discouraged, Master! Maybe when you meditate here regularly, you will unlock all of them!” Miria tried to cheer him up, assuming a determined expression.

He nodded at her appreciatively. “Thanks. Anything new is good. Let me quickly fill you in on what I saw. I will share the memories with whoever is connected with me and Umbra will do the same for the others if that’s alright.”

Noticing his gaze on them, Sidr and Atra exchanged glances and nodded too. Without further ado, Asterios let the girls see the memory while Umbra replayed it with the two valkyrjas. Since it wasn’t long, everyone was done in just a few minutes and came back from the short show more or less at the same time.

“So, it’s just a bit before the operation, when they haven’t arrived here yet,” Silvia commented, rubbing her chin while contemplating the new information.

“The notebooks did imply it but it looks like Red really had become close enough with the valkyrjas for them to give him access to not just the Spire but also lots of archives,” Bryn said after her.

“It might have been due to him being a True Dragon,” Miria added. “And if that happened before the Cataclysm, maybe he even met the gods. Perhaps they liked Dragons? Well, except for the World Serpent since they killed that one for its heart.”

“Considering how ancient he seems, it wouldn’t be that impossible.” Selene nodded to herself. “He must have been really surprised with Kaguya after finding this realm in its current state.”

“Imagine how much we could possibly learn from someone who was alive during that era…” Atra gazed into nothingness dreamily.

“I’m more interested in what Asterios did in that memory. It seemed to give Red a little scare and certainly looked a bit ominous.” Grea squinted her eyes while pondering.

“I feel like it was somewhat familiar,” Asterios finally joined in. “But, I’m not exactly sure how.”

They all racked their brains together until Miria gasped quietly.

“Maybe it wasn’t exactly like that, but didn’t it partially feel like when Umbra told us about his encounter with Kaguya?” The panthergirl tapped her soft lips. “Though, instead of a hand, it was a big, red claw that created cuts in the space, no?”

~That’s correct,~ Umbra confirmed it himself. ~It did look similar to a forceful tear in the fabric of the dimension. But, travel through such is extremely dangerous and risky because you can’t really control where the breach may lead you. That means leaving almost everything to luck. I don’t think it was pure luck that she entered and left our realm through those.~

“What if Red managed to find a way?” Tina pondered out loud. “He was researching a lot of things, right? Maybe he figured out something? Maybe it’s even linked to Summoning Magic?”

“It’s not that improbable,” Asterios agreed. “If he was sending Kaguya to different realms, or even if they were jumping from one to another just like he mentioned in the memory, he had to have a way to do that. I don’t think True Dragons can just casually break through such boundaries. At least not red or black ones.”

“How can you be sure, Master? You haven’t tried yet. Back when you were a baby, you clearly were already able to cut through the fabric of dimensions. Maybe you can do it now.” Miria tilted her head at him adorably.

“Maybe but it wouldn’t be wise to try.” He placed a hand on top of her head and patted her gently. “It seems to send out and leave traces around the world so we should avoid attracting unwanted attention just like Red said. We might have gotten stronger, but if there really is someone trying to figure out if he is alive, they certainly aren’t low-rank Dragons such as the woman from the past.”

“What he says. Especially when we’ve already basically stopped hiding Ast’s draconic ancestry after he absorbed the other Dragon’s Heart.” Grea scrunched her nose. “But, that would be an extremely useful ability, I’m not gonna lie. I thought that going through summoning gates was the peak of everything but safely traveling through the cracks in dimensions is just something else completely.”

“Well, we will think about it carefully. I’m pretty sure that I do not know the way to do it safely yet. I might be able to recreate the tears but the method of controlling them is a complete mystery.” Asterios sighed lightly.

“It sounds like your past, present, and future are all incredibly enigmatic,” Sidr said from the side after staying silent during the entire conversation.

“It’s been like this since the very beginning.” Miria giggled wryly, sneaking a careful glance at Asterios.

He smiled at her kindly. “There’s nothing we can do about that. Besides living our lives together while trying to slowly gather all the pieces of this puzzle so that the final picture finally makes some sense.”

“Uncovering the secrets of my Lord’s origins is certainly a fun and entertaining activity that never gets boring.” Selene chuckled softly with a ladylike smile.

“I see. After everything you have done for us, we are obliged to aid you in that goal however we can. I can only hope that the knowledge you might find in our realm will be of any help to you. There’s not much more we can offer, unfortunately. The Spire and all the other archives will always be open for you.” Sidr made a light bow, which Atra quickly mirrored.

“That’s already plenty and you both have done a lot for us. We really appreciate it.” Asterios responded with the same.

“What are your plans now, then?” the scholarly Valkyrie asked.

“We will most likely stay here for a little longer to explore a bit more and see if we haven’t missed anything. If we are able to get into Brage’s archives without too many issues this time, we might just do that too,” he replied. “Then, we might jump back home to check on our friends, families, and our town. We shouldn’t neglect it for too long.”

“It should be much easier now.” Atra nodded. “I got my permission to look for clues about Bryn’s halo in a flash. I don’t think they will be able to ignore you anymore after everyone sings praises of the great chivalrous Dragon that blessed our kin with its presence and benevolence.”

Asterios smiled wryly while the girls chuckled. Grea was shooting him small grins, clearly happy about those fancy titles.

“Do let me know if you need anything from the Supervisors. We might be able to vouch for you whenever that becomes necessary,” Sidr suggested. “For now, I’ll respectfully excuse myself. There’s still a lot to do. Would you mind taking me back to the fiftieth floor?”

“Of course not. Thank you again for your assistance. We’ll be in touch.” Asterios shook his head and approached the winged lady.

Atra decided to join them and he transferred them back to the middle of the Spire with Umbra’s help, this time paying a lot more attention to the entire process. If his black half truly had some affinity with this darkness, it would be good to figure it out soon. Being able to move from shadow to shadow without Umbra in case of an unexpected emergency would be a huge advantage. And, it would free the Lord of Shadows from that responsibility, letting him be involved in the battles even more.

After the two women were delivered to their destination, Asterios returned to the core chamber and tried to meditate underneath the giant crystal sphere a few more times. It felt like a beneficial process but he didn’t manage to make a dent in the barrier locking up his memories.

He had already tried various things against it, starting from the Sealing Magic, up to the recent retrieval of his second Dragon’s Heart and synchronizing himself with the Spire’s Heart, but perhaps he was still missing something. All they could do, though, was to bring all the new information they’d gathered back to Radir in hopes that the demon researcher noticed something they might have overlooked.

Finishing his last attempt at using the World Serpent’s heart for his own benefit, Asterios took the girls out of the core chamber and they began exploring the Spire together once more, starting from the very top. They took their sweet time with the entire floors, not just the challenge arenas. Even though each level was more or less the same, there were still minor differences here and there.

Slowly, entire days passed but they were making steady progress. Undertaking all the trials they had previously skipped proved to be great training for everyone. Especially after growing in power, they all needed as much of it as they could get. Both Asterios and the girls had to investigate their new limits and the general feeling of their techniques after he had regained his long-lost half.

It took them about eleven days to reach the bottom of the inverted tower again. Many challenges were simple and just Asterios could overpower them with his draconic abilities so they breezed through multiple floors without breaking a sweat. Most of that time was obviously spent on exploring each level and also interacting with the valkyrjas both in the Spire and back on Odin.

There wasn’t much they had found during their second descent so they returned to Brage shortly after finishing the final trial, taking Atra with them. As she had expected, the Council there was a bit more cooperative this time and no one objected to the permission for their group to visit the core archives. Some discontent was still visible on the faces of a few Councilors but no one went against the majority.

Ast’s party spent three more days reading various records and books. They chose to focus on ancient history in hopes of finding any passages on Dragons, and on the first Sky Queen in search of more details about Bryn’s new halo. Besides the previous notebooks they had noticed during their first visit, they didn’t stumble on any more of Red’s notes. Though, they had picked up a few of those around the fiftieth floor of the Spire. Most of those notes were unfortunately related just to the Spire itself. Especially the healing artifact.

Finishing their business in the archives, they decided to pay a visit to the place where everything had begun. Enjoying an exciting ride on Ast’s back, they returned to Tyr and met up with Bryn’s friends in the Council. The news about their achievements had naturally already reached most of the valkyrjas but everyone eagerly listened to the tales coming from the actual participants of the grand stories. Many still had a hard time believing that Tyr’s Aegis really existed and that it was still working better than well.

Taking one day to rest up and to let Bryn spend some time with her exiled friend, they decided to check on their progress in Tyr’s grand arena before jumping back to Ast’s realm. Thankfully, Skodul had already returned to her post before they reached the military-themed ARK so they didn’t have to worry about the availability of the training battleground. Surprisingly, they even found Krev amongst the valkyrjas practicing on their own and the battle-hardened coliseum veteran joined them with a big smile.

“I thought you’ve already shown everyone that you are at the peak of peaks.” Krev laughed while shaking hands with everyone.

“We aren’t going to show off but just confirm where we stand after we’ve gotten some practice in the Spire,” Asterios replied during the greeting.

“Yeah. I heard that you technically cleared it twice. What an achievement.” She smacked his back with lots of strength.

“Are you not going to try? I would have thought that someone of your caliber would be very eager to challenge herself.” Miria glanced at her curiously.

“I am. That’s why I’m here, to practice more before I dive into that spiral of trials. I want to be in my peak condition before I attempt anything. Besides, the crowd should disperse a little bit in the meantime. Since the challenges take time to restart, there are actual queues on the early floors,” Krev replied with another hearty laugh.

“Smart. It’s definitely just like a newly discovered dungeon,” Silvia commented calmly.

“In any way, it’s not my goal to interrupt whatever you were planning to do so just feel free to ignore me. I would just like to watch,” the silver-winged valkyrja added and everyone nodded in response.

“How do we do this, then?” Miria asked, looking around at the others.

“Let’s just go one-on-one with Asterios. We won’t damage the arena’s equipment too much that way while still being able to gauge our strength properly,” Tina suggested and turned to him. “Are you fine with that?”

“It’s a good idea. It will be a good comparison to the tournament, even though you fought me together through some parts of our final fight,” he agreed. “Who’s first?”

“Me, Master, me!” Miria jumped joyfully while waving her furry hand in the air.

He chuckled and nodded. All the other girls gave them some more space and the duo proficient in barriers put a few of them up just in case.

Asterios and Miria took their spots and began shifting at the same time. Black fur covered Miria’s entire body in a flash, turning her facial features into slightly more feral ones faster than her beloved master brought out his scales and draconic features including horns, wings, and such. It looked like he wasn’t planning on going full Dragon right from the beginning.

Miria didn’t give him time to think for too long and launched herself at Asterios with an incredibly quick, zig-zagging charge. Thankfully, his enhanced reflexes allowed him to react appropriately to such a strong frontal assault. After repelling the blows of the strengthened panthergirl, he pushed her back a bit with a well-angled smack of his mighty tail.

Right after doing so and before Miria came at him again, Asterios noticed a stinging sensation and took a peek at his long appendage. His brows rose at the sight of a few shallow cuts over the tough scales covering it. Returning his gaze to his opponent, he found a proud smirk on Miria’s slightly feline snout. A closer look revealed the reason.

She had managed to finetune her mana control to the level allowing her to coat not just her shortswords but even every single claw amongst the ten fingers of her hands with extremely sharp spiritual energy. Focusing on them with his enhanced eyes, he could see that amazing feat very clearly. The shallow lines over his tail were great proof too.

They exchanged blows while competing in speed and strength of their attacks. Asterios had truly to watch out for Miria's agile slices and cuts or he would end up with plenty of those even over the heavily-scaled areas of his body. She knew she had any chances against him only when giving it her all so they went toe-to-toe for a few long minutes during which Miria showcased just how astonishing her skills had become.

After her, came Selene, who obviously entered the tenth stage of her Awakening right away. She turned into a fabulous, ten-tailed fox and Asterios followed suit, turning into a crimson True Dragon. She was slightly smaller than him but it didn’t mean that she couldn’t put up a great fight. They first focused on battling each other using mostly instinctual attacks fitting their beastly forms.

From the sidelines, it looked like two giant predators tussling with each other, perhaps contending for the territory or some prey. Lots of growling filled the vicinity of their bout, broken by some yips, barks, but also the sounds of battle between entities of such a tier. Selene’s teeth and claws had a slightly harder time penetrating Ast’s scales than Miria’s sharpened nails.

But, what the panthergirl didn’t have, were the external spiritual circuits.

After activating them while in her fox goddess form, they not only brought a blue glow to her fur but also covered it with a layer of demonic-looking spiritual armor of pure cyan. It looked like a bigger version of the set she could manifest over her more humanoid body. Everything was scaled to the difference in size and all the details related to her vulpine shape were correctly adjusted, including the helmet with a long feather.

Ast’s attacks became much less effective when they hit the magnificent armor instead of anything else. She competed against Ast’s fire with her spiritual arts for a good while before relenting the position to the next person, who was Tina.

As for the young Summoner lady, she managed to achieve something unexpected.

When blue scales began covering her skin, Asterios and the others were sure that she was once more borrowing the defensive strength of her Water Serpent familiar, but a few unusual details surfaced too. Those details appeared in the form of deep blue vertical pupils, two sharp horns sprouting from the side of her head and pointing straight up, and two leathery wings behind her back, joined by a thick tail down below them.

It turned out that Tina had found a way to somehow use Ast’s characteristics just like any of her other summons, using the deep bond the two of them shared. It was something that utterly shocked even Grea, causing the eyes of the demon woman to almost pop out from surprise. Curious about her performance, Asterios returned to his humanoid form with the same features materialized too and they began their duel.

He certainly predicted Tina being able to freely wield wind and water elements from her other familiars, but he didn’t expect to be hit with fire too. The smart, blue-haired girl utilized all three of them to confuse and attack him with impressive firepower. She didn’t even use Hydran directly, instead choosing to fight more like a talented Mage, chucking various techniques of so many elements at her opponent all at once.

But, such a tactic was extremely taxing and Tina conceded after about fifteen minutes of back and forth with Asterios, ending up completely drained. Miria and Selene helped her rest on the side while Silvia entered the fight. Asterios withdrew his draconic qualities and waited for the princess to make the first move.

Silvia smiled at him faintly and strongly hit the ground with the butt of her staff. The see-through, spiritual armor materialized over her black coat and a beautiful, amber tiara started hovering around her forehead.

But, contrary to Ast’s belief, that wasn’t the end.

More mana surged out of her body and it was quickly followed by sudden ignition. The orange flames consumed Silvia’s entire figure for a moment and quickly assumed her feminine shape, turning her into something close to Aura. Except for a pair of full amber eyes in the same style as Grea’s, there was no other feature on the princess’ face. Wild flames licking the air above them replaced her lush hair.

She closely resembled an Elemental, still wearing her spiritual armor, much brighter than the fire that covered her figure. Silvia started her assault first and completed her dances and spells at an astonishing speed. The rain of fire and sea of flames didn’t give Asterios a single moment to rest. Even though he was proud of his fire resistance, Silvia’s honest efforts did feel scary.

In the end, Asterios came on top in that contest. But, their exchange was so heated that they had to change locations around the arena due to how damaged and melted the floor underneath them had become halfway into their duel. They could have inflicted some serious damage if they had been in a real fight there.

Bryn had been rejuvenating and healing everyone around, including the other valkyrjas inside the coliseum, so she didn’t really have to participate, but she volunteered on her own. With her new, more developed, and beautiful halo, she repelled multiple of Ast’s attacks of all kinds, from physical to fire, while using her powerful barriers. She snuck an offensive spell based on light now and then but Bryn decided to present the growth of her supportive skills first.

Finally, last but not least, Grea had her turn alongside Aura. For the two, there was not much change after Asterios had grown in strength. But, that was natural considering the fact that Grea had just one familiar at that moment, quite fresh at that.

She was able to act as a proxy between Ast’s and Aura’s energies, empowering her companion to the utmost of her and their limits. With so much draconic mana, Aura could even mimic an entire True Dragon with her mist, but that was obviously not yet perfect. She needed much more practice, and possibly some more summons in her master’s team.

All in all, Asterios fared mostly against Aura while Grea trained with the big crossbow they had found in the Spire’s armory a while ago. Everyone acknowledged the duo’s strength, knowing how much Grea had improved from the almost powerless scholar back in the day.

Wrapping up their sparring session, they gathered together to discuss everything alongside the flabbergasted Skodul and extremely satisfied Krev. The two valkyrjas pointed out things from a complete outsider’s perspective while they shared comments with each other. Asterios gave and received many pointers. Everyone had clear goals of what they wanted to further develop.

Soon, after a good rest, they were ready to visit Kraedorion for the first time in a good while. They were all excited about what awaited them.