All three dragon siblings stood together in their human appearances—with horns and tails—but human enough to not look as scary anymore.

Mister Ed joined up with us, he walked over with one of his shields in hand and gestured towards them. The look on his face was quite serious, I understood that all of that must have been bizarre for everyone else to process. It was surprising for us too!

After all, this kind of thing had never happened before. Monsters suddenly spoke, the battle ending before anyone could get hurt. Everything about the situation was off, it went against everything that adventurers stood for—for what they fought against.

I was able to sympathise with his guild's expressions, Arga and I were in their shoes not too long ago after all. Still, Mister Ed didn’t seem all too against the situation either. He must have been following along better than I did because he kept a somewhat calm, yet serious exterior through that entire endeavour.

“So those are her…siblings?” He choked back his surprise.

“Yeah, it looks like it. We hadn’t met them before, but she spoke about them a few times.”

Mister Ed didn’t seem all too pleased with my response. I think he must not have been too thrilled about all those uncertainties, everything seemed guessed and based on hunches at that point.

A beaming smile ran across Arga’s face as she stared at the three of them together. “It’s pretty obvious, isn't it? Look at their faces—you would only look at family that way!”

She was right! I had been so afraid that we weren't giving her a chance to be happy, it made me afraid in return. I didn’t stop to think about what she was missing all that time. With her family at her side for the first time in days, she finally smiled again.

That was all I wanted for her, all I could hope for.

Mister Ed softened his expression and turned away to face his troops. Once again, Arga saw things better than I could. She put not only my heart at ease but from the looks of it, Mister Ed’s as well. We had to wait a little longer though to see if that was truly the case.

He dropped his shield into the ground and created a heavy bang that lifted a small shroud of dirt. With his hand free from the shield, he signalled his guild with a circle formed by his thumb and index finger. It looked to be another one of their signs because as soon as that circle went into the air, a wave of metal objects dropped from fighting positions and relaxed back onto their shoulders and waists.

With the Heavens Gate guild at ease, it gave us the best opportunity to head over and begin our conversation with them.

Mister Ed walked ahead confidently. “Are you two ready?”

Both Arga and I were taken aback by his query and flinched. We looked between each other to make sure we heard right and then back to Mister Ed who hadn’t changed.

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“You want us to go with?” I enquired nervously.

“To talk to the dragons?” Arga added.

“Aren’t you Alice’s protectors? Or has that role been transferred so easily to them?”

It was almost as though a bolt of lightning had surged through the both of us and set off an alarm in my head. The full gravity of his words weighed down on me and forced my foot forward. I could see out of the corner of my eye that I wasn’t alone.

“No—we should go too!”

We approached the siblings and the Crimson dragon was the first to look over. It was the moment I had been dreading from the very second when they arrived. I couldn't avoid it any longer, I needed to face that beast head-on.

I knew it was her brother, that they were possibly even on our side! Still…I had seen the worst side of him already, the side you show to your enemies. Now I had to face him, pretend as though none of that had just happened.

Even if we weren't fighting anymore we still had to stand face to face, that alone was enough to send fear throughout my body—and I wasn’t even close to him at the time!

An emerald glare shifted out the side view of his eyes and met mine. He went straight to me?! Not Mister Ed?! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sweating rocks at that moment but I think I handled myself pretty well.

He was pretty scary but at least he wasn’t in that massive dragon form anymore. It felt a little easier to talk to him—the both of them—when they looked more human.

I dropped my guard slightly and was ready to speak. I opened my mouth but—

I couldn't utter a sound…

The space around us turned black and there was nothing but red mist flowing around me—no it wasn’t just misty—it was aura! Similar to the one I made when using my skills, so how did it end up there?!

My mind was racing hundreds of times faster than usual and I still didn’t have control over my throat, but that soon spread throughout my body. My legs were stuck in place and my hands didn’t have the nerve to shake—if I moved even a muscle it felt as though I would die on the spot.

“…”

I swear—the droplets of sweat on the side of my cheeks must have stopped in their tracks and frozen on the sides of my face. Not even they dared to move.

Just as I felt alone, a figure emerged from the darkness ahead of me. Only three feet away was the crimson dragon, still in his human form. His scarlet hair flowed gently against some sort of breeze.

It was a wind that built up around him but I knew it wasn’t any normal air or breeze, it was pressure. His pressure had materialised into some sort of force that continued to flow out of him.

He stood opposite me with both eyes fixated on mine—he stared past my eyes—like he was seeing through me.

I still couldn't utter a sound, all I had were my thoughts.

So is he evil then, was he just lying to Alice so he could drop our guards and do this? No…he wouldn’t do that to her, I could see it in his smile that he really loved her. This is something else…

The pressure increased and forced me back like a wall of air had hit me. Unable to defend myself I went flying back and hit the ground. I stared up at the sky—empty. Nothing but a black void all around, there was no sign of anything. No sign of existence apart from us.

I felt backed into a corner. Why wouldn’t he say anything? He just continued to stand there looking…looking intimidating.

It clicked!

So that’s all this is then. Just some fight of intimidation, huh? Well, I won’t back down, not if Alice is on the line here! For her I won’t think twice about fighting a dragon, I’ll take on the entire Tower if I have to! If I can’t fight for her now then how could I call myself an adventurer?!

Enraged by my sudden realisation I picked myself up, slowly but surely. My body still felt the full effects of that pressure and barely listened to me but it was coming around. One foot after another I managed to get up and walk ahead. I was slowly regaining full control over my body, I was breaking free of the fear he had on me.

I brought myself closer to him and reached out to him with an open half aimed towards his chest.

The crimson dragon's stare turned sharp, he seemed surprised that I managed to stand at all. I guess it was pretty impressive if it turned his expression like that.

Now then…my turn!