Chapter 69

"Shall we give it a try?"

"Yeah."

I answered almost without thinking.

I answered immediately because I trust Chris.

Chris wouldn't say something without being sure, and she wouldn't trick me either.

If she suggested it, there must be something definite about it.

In that case, there's no reason not to do it.

I nodded and then called out loudly,

"Rae! Come here for a moment!"

Right after I called out loudly, Rae came running over with a thudding sound.

She had been running around in the Parsolon and came back at the same speed.

And—thud!

She jumped and pounced on me.

I caught Rae.

"Did Dad call?"

"Yeah, I have a favor to ask."

As I said this, I slowly put Rae down on the ground.

"Can you make a contract with me?"

"How do I do it?"

"Chris."

"Sure."

Chris nodded and created a magic circle that she was already familiar with next to Rae and me.

I went first, slicing the pad of my finger and letting a drop of blood fall into the magic circle.

After showing her how to do it, I turned to Rae.

"Can you do the same?"

"Got it!"

Because I had shown her how to do it, Rae did the same.

She flapped her short, undeveloped front legs, made a cut on her own skin, and let the blood fall into the magic circle in the same way.

The contract magic.

My blood and Rae's blood mixed and turned into light.

The light was absorbed into my body.

Now, with this—

Thump—

My heart gave a particularly large jump.

At the same time, the "world" changed completely.

The scenery around me, all the colors, were "inverted."

White turned to black, and black turned to white.

All the colors changed to their opposites.

At the same time, everything stopped.

Chris, Rae, Colette, and everything else.

Even the wind stopped, as if the world itself had stopped.

"What's going on...?"

As I tilted my head, the situation changed further.

From the light of the inverted magic circle, a human figure appeared.

It was—someone who looked exactly like me.

The figure that appeared in front of me was so identical to me that it felt like looking into a mirror.

In the inverted world, something that looked like me but was not inverted.

As I tilted my head, wondering what it was—

"—Transformation!!"

I shouted and transformed into a dragon person.

Even so, I couldn't avoid it.

The other had transformed first.

He transformed into the same dragon person form and came at me.

The transformation barely managed to complete, but I was hit by a punch that felt like it had gone through my right cheek.

I was blown away, spinning in the air.

"Hmph!"

Still, the transformation had worked.

I kicked the air to cancel out the spinning.

When the spinning stopped, I glared at the opponent.

Fresh blood spewed from my mouth, flying through the air.

On the other side, a dragon person that looked like me was there.

I kicked the air and charged.

I closed in on the lookalike and counterattacked.

I threw a punch at close range.

I gripped both arms and unleashed a rapid series of punches without breathing.

The lookalike did the same.

He met me head-on and unleashed the same rapid series of punches.

"—! Roar!"

With a roar, I unleashed even more rapid punches.

I increased the density of my punches.

I threw punches with all my might, but—my opponent threw punches at the same speed, and we exchanged hundreds of punches in an instant.

It was a perfect stalemate.

The speed and power were exactly the same as mine.

Not just the appearance, but the abilities were exactly the same.

What's going on?

Suddenly, I realized something.

In the midst of the rapid punches, I noticed that it felt "long."

Is it because the dragon person form can last longer in this inverted world?

I thought so, but it seemed to be different.

I saw a bit of blood in the corner of my vision.

It was the blood I had spat out when I was hit and blown away.

It was slowly diffusing in the air.

It wasn't that the transformation lasted longer.

It was just that with an opponent of the same speed, I could do more in a short time, making the perceived time longer.

The dragon person transformation, which usually runs out of energy in a few seconds, had already lasted nearly thirty seconds in my perception.

Just exchanging punches wouldn't get us anywhere.

So, I used the momentum of the punch exchange to land on the ground.

As soon as I landed, I kicked off the ground and approached the lookalike's blind spot.

But it didn't work.

Even if I approached with all my might, the opponent had the same speed and power as me.

He responded to my attempt to attack from the blind spot and faced me head-on to counterattack.

The surprise attack was thwarted, but if this continued, it wouldn't get us anywhere.

I increased my speed to the limit and flew around, launching attacks.

The opponent did the same.

As the battle dragged on (probably no more than two seconds in real time), I realized something.

It wasn't just the speed and power, but the actions were the same.

I was doing the same movements and actions that I had actually done in the past while in dragon person form.

It was so identical that it felt like I was looking in a mirror.

A perfect stalemate, and if this continued, it would be a draw no matter how long it went on.

—But I realized something.

The opponent had transformed first.

If that was the case, the biggest weakness of the dragon person form, the energy depletion, should come to the opponent first.

If the opponent transformed first and caught me off guard, then when the opponent runs out of energy, it would be my turn.

And I knew when that would happen.

Just before I ran out of energy.

Alright, then I can win.

That wasn't good.

The moment I clearly thought I could win, there was a moment of relaxation.

That moment of relaxation became a decisive opening, and the lookalike flew into my guard.

He got into an attack stance.

In an instant, the "world" slowed down even more.

The movements of the lookalike in dragon person form were so slow that it felt like he was mocking me.

I thought, "If it's this slow, I can do it"—but.

"—!"

I couldn't move.

I tried to move, but I couldn't.

No, that's not it.

I could move, but only at the same "slowness" as the opponent.

In the next moment, various scenes floated up in front of me.

It was like a digest of my life so far.

A flash of my life.

The phrase came to mind, and I understood that I had shown a decisive opening to the lookalike and would be finished this way.

It was too late.

An opponent with the same abilities, speed, and power as me.

Once I showed such a decisive opening, there was no way out.

I gave up.

...

...

...

At that moment.

Time slowed down even more, as if it had completely stopped.

And a voice, as if descending from the heavens, came down.

—Beyond the limit

"—!"

I reacted to those words before I could fully understand their meaning.

My body reacted and started moving.

The world, which had stopped, began to move slowly again.

I firmly planted my foot and kicked off, jumping to the side.

The "world" was almost stopped.

In that almost stopped world, I released all my energy.

I probably had enough energy to move for another second, but I released it all in a fraction of that time.

Once the speed exceeded a certain level, it couldn't be followed by the eye, creating an afterimage that made it look like I had multiplied.

I multiplied into a hundred.

I multiplied into a hundred and surrounded the lookalike.

And—simultaneous attack.

"Hundred Dragons... Burst Charge!"

I unleashed a hundred punches in an instant on the lookalike.

In the next moment, the "world" shattered like glass.

It shattered, and particles of light rained down.

The lookalike, who had received a hundred dragon person punches, distorted, burst, and shattered into pieces.

Then, my "senses" fully returned.

"Hahaha, it seems we've broken through one shell, my dear friend."

"...Yeah."

I nodded, looked at Chris, and smiled back.

Then, I checked my body's condition.

"Colette, do you still have any dragon stones?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah."

Colette, who was confused and didn't understand what had happened, responded to my request and brought out a dragon stone.

I swallowed it, replenished the energy I had consumed, and transformed again.

Then, I checked my dragon person form.

I moved lightly to check my speed and the condition of my body.

"...I see."

"What happened?"

"There are two things."

I held up two fingers in a peace sign.

"One is that I have a new 'technique.' It consumes more energy, but it's much stronger."

"Is that so... What about the other one?"

"If I don't use the technique, the energy consumption has returned to the low level before I incorporated the claws of the original Baraul, but the speed of the claws remains."

"Um... So?"

"Hahaha, it means the energy consumption for the claws is gone."

"Right."

I nodded clearly.

"R-Right."

"Indeed, well done, my dear friend. You've grown, no, evolved well."

Chris said this and laughed heartily.

I also—smiled a little.

By incorporating the claws left by Rae's parents and making a contract with Rae, who had a unique dragon tool, I received the benefits of increased abilities while completely eliminating the drawbacks.

Evolution.

I strongly felt that I had stepped into the next stage of the dragon person form.

With this evolution, Chapter 4 ends. How was it?

I have a favor to ask.

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