A month passed since Miko decided to kill Darius, and just like Tiamat had said it took him one month to learn the technique he wanted to learn.

Currently, Miko was sitting in front of Hina.

“….This is too weird. You aged over night.”

She was looked at him with a complex expression.

That's to be expected. The Miko in front of her was different from the one she's used to.

He was 5’0, had long hair, and had a more mature face. No, mature wouldn't be the right word. His face was that of a child who was about to enter adolescence.

Miko now had the appearance of a 12-year-old.

“It wasn't over night. You heard them right? My agonizing screams for the last month.”

Miko said as he rest his head on his hand.

“Yeah. I thought you were going to die several times. I was really worried.”

Hina had a worried expression on her face.

“I won't die so easily. Besides that, did make what I asked you to?”

“Yes.”

Hina lifted up a bag she had at her feet, and placed on the table. She opened the bag and took out two things and placed in front of Miko.

They were two Japanese style swords.

One was in a black sheath, the other in a white one. They both had a golden dragon design on the handles.

“Oh! I always wanted a sword!”

Miko excitedly picked up the swords, and pulled the white one from the sheath.

It had a shiny and sharp-looking blade.

Miko admired the blade with sparkling eyes. He looked like a child who just got a new toy.

“This looks cool. It's my first time holding a sword. As expected, a sword is the best way to go in a magical world.”

“I was surprised when you asked me to create a sword like this.”

“Why?”

Miko still didn't take his eyes off the sword even while talking with Hina.

“This type of sword isn't really used that much on this continent, because of its thinness. It breaks to easily.”

“That's because this sword is best used by someone with speed rather than strength. You need more technique to use it than with a double edge one.”

“I see. But can you use it? Didn't you say that this is your first time seeing one?”

“Yeah, because I did kendo.”

“Kendo?”

Kendo was the Japanese form of fencing, developed to train samurai in the art of sword fighting. Normal kendo uses bamboo swords and wear a lot of protective clothing, but Logan found that boring. So he learnt it when he went to Japan, by traveling from dojo to dojo and challenged their top students, without protective clothing. Of course, he got his ass kicked for a long time, but he eventually copied what was used to beat him down, and improved upon it. So he was pretty familiar with how to fight using Japanese style of sword fighting.

“Ah, don't worry about it.”

Of course Hina wouldn't know this, since Japan didn't exist here. But he couldn't fully rule out kendo's existence, since all of Japan's 8 million gods are in this world.

*Creak*

“Argh?”

Miko suddenly felt his bones move on their own.

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He leaned over the table, and groaned.

Hina watched as bulges started to appear under Miko's skin. The bulges then moved as if they were going to their rightful places. She watched this painful sight for almost a minute.

“….So five minutes is my limit.”

Miko had returned to his younger appearance with cold sweat all over his face.

“…How long do you want it to last for?”

“At least an hour.”

“Can you really master it in two months?”

“Yeah. But it won't be easy.”

The technique that Miko used to temporarily age himself was called [Skeletal Reconstruction].

It was a technique that falls under the category of [Body Modification Magic], which was a very dangerous type of magic to learn. If you make a single mistake while using this category of magic, and you'll destroy your body.

The name [Skeletal Reconstruction] makes it self explanatory. It's basically manipulating the bones in your body, and reconstructing your skeleton from scratch.

It was as hard as it sounds. First you need to know everything about the human skeleton. Second, you need a high tolerance for pain, as this technique is extremely painful and delicate; so, you can't stop midway no matter what. Third, you need precise control over the magic in your body; as you will be using it to bind the bones together. And lastly, you need someone to monitor you, and prevent you from going into shock.

Tiamat provided the information, Miko already had the other two, and Hina prevented him from going to shock. That was how Miko learnt this technique.

“You sure are going all out to kill Darius….”

Hina was worried that Miko was going to kill himself before he even fought Darius.

“It can't be help. You have to do at least this to kill someone like that. Besides, my 6-year-old body can't wield a sword.”

“Will a sword really make a difference?”

“Don't know. But I need it in order to use the martial art I created. Without it, I'll definitely be killed.”

“I see.”

The martial art Logan created by combining several fighting styles, was created so that he could fight in almost any situation.

Of course, this wasn't something anyone could do. He was only able to create it, because of the special genes he possessed; which was superior to most.

“I also need to master this.”

Miko stretched his arm out and showed it Hina. She looked at arm for a while, and then it happened.

“Scales?!”

The skin on Miko's arm turned rough and shiny. It looked less of human’s and more of a reptile’s. This surprised Hina.

“Yeah. Looks like my transformation into a dragon is still continuing.”

Miko’s body recently underwent more changes.

First one he noticed was that his skin occasionally turned into scales. Second was that his pupil would sometimes looked like that of an alligator or some other reptile. The finally thing he noticed had to do with the magic inside his body.

It was increasing rapidly and it was more violent than before. Tiamat explained that this was the side-effect of learning [Skeletal Reconstruction]. Because he used his magic in an odd way for so long, it grew larger and wilder. But it wasn't like he didn't have control of it. The magic was just reflecting Miko's nature.

“I can't really control it, but I want to be able to turn my skin like this in a split second.”

“That would be cool!”

Hina was looking at Miko's arm with sparkling eyes. She looked like how he looked with the sword.

“I heard that dragon scales are practically indestructible! Hey, can I stab you!”

“Sure.”

Hina then took a knife from her waist and stabbed Miko's arm with it. The result was, it broke.

“Amazing!”

“….You know, it shocks me that you didn't even hesitate to stab a knife in my arm.”

Miko sighed and sat back in his chair.

“The only problem I have left, is to think of a sure kill way to kill Darius.”

“Didn't you say that you have a plan for that?”

“In war, one plan won't be enough to gain victory. You need several back up plans as well.”

Miko has thought of several ways on how to kill Darius, however he wasn't satisfied with them. Most of them required a great sacrifice.

For example, if he sacrificed one of the trio he would be able to kill Darius. But, he didn't want to do that.

It wasn't that he couldn't do something so heartless. It's just that it would be a waste of potential.

Miko believed that trio could become handy in the long run. He also need them to draw out Klick.

“Meh, I'll think of something.”

(You could learn how to use my powers for once.)

Suddenly Tiamat started talking to him.

“What are you talking about? I've been using your powers. How do you explain my dragon features.”

“……..”

Hina realized that Miko was talking with Tiamat and remained quiet.

(That's because of my blood. Your grandfather can do everything you can and more. He can even turn into a full dragon.)

“Seriously?”

(Yeah. My blood is strong in him, that's why.)

“I see.”

(You've only been focusing on aspect of my powers as a dragon. Recall what you know about me. About Tiamat from the mythologies.)

“All I know about Tiamat……Ah. Tiamat was originally the goddess of the sea that gave birth to all life. Mother of all the first Babylonian gods. Born from chaos, and chaos herself. In the finale battle against the rebelling gods, she unleashed dragons, scorpion-men, centaurs, Minotaurs, and all kinds of monsters unto the world. In the end, she was also the first to take the form of a dragon, making her the first dragon.”

(There's still more but that will do.)

“I see. I really haven't used any of your abilities. I've only used fire and my dragon features to fight.”

(That's why I said you've only been using your own abilities. As my proxy you should have control over the sea, chaos, reality, monsters, and creation. Although, it's not like you can just get up and use them.)

“I get it. So I should add more variety to the magic I use.”

Miko put on a pondering expression and then-

“Oh. I can do that.”

He got an idea, and turned to Hina.

“Hina.”

“Yes.”

Hina quickly answered because she was curious what Miko was going to do next.

Miko looked at such a Hina said-

“How much money would it cost me if I accidentally destroyed the High Class District?”