What is your plan?

I kept walking towards the colosseum. Gary’s in the center of the dungeon. If this dragon entered through by digging through the arena, then that must mean that’s the shortest route.

Killa would’ve removed the collar if you asked her. Her ability to dissolve material would’ve been sufficient. Why didn’t you tell her about it?

Because I have a feeling that Elveil will know the instant I do that. I don’t know her true capabilities right now, but I was hoping to use her to distract the dragon. Mostly depending on how powerful it is. If I can kill it easily with my lycan form, I will. But if it’s too powerful for that, I will break the collar and use Elveil when she arrives to keep it busy while I rush to Gary and you get the memories I need.

It’s extremely risky. If she can kill the dragon, she will only get stronger.

If I can’t kill it, I hope that she can’t either.

What if she’s already watching your location right now?

Then I was doomed from the start, and nothing I do matters. At least this way, I give it everything I have.

I earned more than a fair share of stares as I headed into the arena. My wandering around didn’t help. I looked for the entrance but couldn’t find it.

As I stood in the stands looking around, not watching the fight between an elf wielding a flaming sword and shield against a rabbit beast man with a bow, my eyes kept being drawn to the sphinx. He’s watching me.

I made my way up to him, and soon I was standing just outside his little box area. The sphinx was about fourteen feet long, and he sat on a pillow. His tail curled lazily around himself as he eyed me with an unsettling curiosity.

I spoke first. “So, what do you want?”

“To congratulate you.” The sphinx’s voice was gentle and happy. “With the brute gone, competitions of strength will again be true.”

Great, another rhyming sphinx. “Do you know about Elveil?”

He nodded. “There is nothing we can do until she breaks the rules. But since we like you, we will give you tools.” The toothy grin on the sphinx was unsettling. It raised a paw and swiped, curled it as if to invite me. “You came here for a reason. What favor may we grant to permit this act of treason?”

I took a few steps forward but stayed out of his reach. “Power.”

He frowned. “We can’t grant that. You have more than most, in fact.”

I pointed to the collar around my neck. “Then I need the time to get power. Can you remove this thing without alerting her?”

He smirked. “That is child’s play.”

He stood up and leaned forward with his mouth wide open. With a slow, drawn out exhalation, mana swam around me. And so did his breath. The smells of tuna, decay, dust, water, and salt hit me like a wall. I closed my nose off as I stared down the throat of the sphinx until a metal clink sounded at my feet.

The straw I had been drinking mana through had turned into a full on ocean crashing down on me. My mana reserves refilled in seconds, and I didn’t feel so vulnerable.

The sphinx tapped a claw on the collar to pick it up and hold it in front of him as he lay back down. “There’s nothing I detest more than an unfair fight. That should solve your plight.”

How did you know the sphinx could and would do that?

I didn’t. Although that really doesn’t change my plans. However, with all my mana, I should be able to challenge the dragon. With the energy Killa gave me, I also don’t have to worry about taking damage. When I kill the dragon, I can eat it to recover any lost energy. If things go well, I’ll have more energy than when I started.

My hands went to feel my free neck. The emptiness of the collar was almost euphoric. But I knew I wasn’t done. “I need to reach Gary. Can you tell me how to reach the dungeon underneath here?”

“We can,” the sphinx answered hesitantly.

The sphinx is being literal with you.

I held out a hand. “Please show me.”

The sphinx stared at me without saying a word. His tail flicked from side to side. He stood up and pushed his pillow to the side. Underneath was a trapdoor.

“Here is the path you seek.” The sphinx raised the collar to his mouth and bit down on it, shattering it. My eyes went wide.

“What did you do that for?”

The sphinx glowered at me. “If you wish to take advantage of the information you gain from the access point, you don’t have the time to kill the dragon or harm it. We suggest you run from your pursuer.”

“You…”

Rina, we suggest you get moving. Hating the sphinx will only waste what little time you have. With this, Elveil will undoubtedly be drawn to fight the dragon now.

I rolled my eyes as I darted to the trapdoor. When I opened it, it led into a dark spiral stairwell. I don’t have time for this.

I activated my lycan form and jumped down the center of the stairwell.

This action is unrecommended. Terminal velocity will still cause damage to you when you land.

Then I guess I don’t land with terminal velocity. What’s terminal velocity?

The constant speed that a free-falling object eventually reaches when air resistance prevents further acceleration from gravity.

Thankfully, I never hit terminal velocity. The stairwell wasn’t deep enough for that. When I landed, the stone floor fractured into a small crater. I weighed half a ton, after all. There were a few fractures across the bones in my feet and legs.

Orange, if my bones now hold mana like my battery, would they explode when they fracture or are destroyed?

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Orange appeared in front of me, using the projectors in my eyes. “Yes. But the resulting explosion will be minor comparatively. Your body’s defense is more than enough to handle it without causing a chain reaction of explosions.”

I nodded as I deactivated my lycan form. “Good to know. But could something cause a chain reaction and explode all my bones and then set off my battery?”

Orange nodded and frowned. “Yes, but an attack like that would already cause enough damage to you that your exploding bones wouldn’t be the worst of your worries.”

“Blunt,” I groan.

There was a door at the bottom, and I could feel substantial heat emanating from it. I opened the door to a hellscape. It looked like I stepped into the center of a volcano. Streams of lava flowed between sections of dark rocks. Several waterfalls of lava fed the streams from holes in the ceiling. One would think the place was perfectly lit, but the lava didn’t add any light. Only the small periodic gouts of flames from a rock falling into the lava would grant any temporary light.

My body temperature rose to over six hundred degrees. “Orange, what kind of temperatures does it take to melt my skin?”

“The darksteel alloy your skin is composed of won’t melt until it hits seven thousand five hundred degrees Fahrenheit,” she answered almost nonchalantly.

One quick readout of my infrared vision told me the lava was only two thousand five hundred degrees Fahrenheit. “So it won’t melt my skin.”

“Correct, but it will damage your tendons and muscles, which have a much lower melting point. Also, your brain can’t handle temperatures beyond a thousand. The components will suffer damage.” Orange pointed to the lava. “So we suggest you don’t go swimming, if that’s what you were wondering.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. Was it good?”

I couldn’t hold back the laugh. “Not even remotely.”

Orange stared at me blankly. “But you’re laughing. Isn’t that the usual sign of a successful joke? Killa makes jokes like that.”

I waved my hand. “Your expression at attempting humor was funny.” I gave her an honest smile. “Seeing you try is a great step forward. It was a great first attempt.”

Orange crossed her arms and tapped a finger on her chin. “What did I do wrong? Was it the lead-up? The timing? The punch line?”

I smirked. “The topic. Not everyone finds dark humor like that amusing. I was never planning on jumping in the lava. I just wanted to know if I find that dragon.” An idea popped into my head. “Which is stronger, a dragon or a blade devil?”

Orange didn’t break her thinking pose. “Dragons, always. But if you want to create a dragon form, you have even less of a chance than with a blade devil.”

I tilted my head. “Why?”

“Because dragons are greedy, prideful, and slothful. None of the sins you possess.”

I pointed to her. “Why did you phrase it like that? Not to mention, Aquantula did the same thing when talking about Killa and her gluttony.”

Orange held out her hands and created seven orbs of different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, pink, purple, and black. “Every mortal has some level of each of the seven deadly sins in them.” She pointed to the yellow orb. “Some just struggle with one or two more than others. Killa struggles with gluttony.” She pointed to the pink. “Shadara struggles with lust.”

The black, orange, and purple orbs floated up. “Dragons exemplify greed, pride, and sloth more than most other creatures.” The red orb glowed brighter. “Blade devils are one of the many incarnations of wrath.”

I nodded to the orbs. “So if everyone has these sins, which do I struggle with?”

Orange pointed to the green orb. “Envy is your worst one. Though you don’t struggle with many. Your growing pride could lead to problems in the future.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Envy, really?” I then looked down at a hand where I let a small trail of shadow magic trace my fingers. “And to be fair, my confidence is growing in my powers. Confidence is only a step away from pride.”

Orange lowered her head. “We don’t mean to be negative. You seek constant companionship. That isn’t wrong. Your fear of loneliness is a form of envy for those who can be self-sufficient. Before you came to the Nexus, you were lonely, and now that you’ve established relationships, you can’t bear to lose them. This reflects an envious desire to fill a void within yourself.”

Her words were a splash of cold water and, on a deeply emotional level, hurt. But I buried the pain and changed the subject. “And I’m guessing these sins have to do with whether I can see myself as one?”

Orange nodded. “Correct. We will be, in essence, teaching you how to be wrathful. Rewriting a personality for three sins would be difficult. But also remember, a person’s sins are only one small aspect of their entire person. Devil’s admittedly have less to them as they are a bit more straightforward.”

“You, for example, are self-sacrificing, loyal, opportunistic, honest, caring, and so much more. Dragons are just as varied as people can be and should be treated as individuals, not as monsters. There’s a lot to learn from dragons if you take the time to learn from them. They have a wealth of knowledge greater than most libraries due to their long lives and hoarding nature. You just have to find one willing to teach you.”

“Using the word ‘sin’ is misleading, but it rightly serves as a warning to those who indulge in or pursue those aspects of themselves,” Orange finished.

I smirked. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve got this whole being a person thing down already.”

Orange scratched at her cheek and looked away from me. “There’s a big difference between having knowledge and using it.”

I waved down the path between two rivers of lava. “Let’s not forget why we came down here in the first place. Elveil’s coming. So let’s find that dragon, shall we?”

“That would be prudent,” Orange said before disappearing.

When she turned off my projectors, there was the subtle pain of loneliness again. She knows me too well. I’ve become addicted to having someone around.

But I understood her reasoning. Her projection gave off quite a bit of light, giving my location away. At least this way, I didn’t have to worry as much about the dragon getting the jump on me. Although, I had no idea where I was going.

The cavern was massive, with rivers of lava, large pillars of stone, and waterfalls of more lava that made it hard to see too far ahead. With each step I took inward, the temperature rose slightly. Eventually, it stopped rising once it reached eight hundred degrees.

The air was thick and heavy, carrying the overwhelming scent of sulfur that stung. I nearly turned my sense of smell off. Thankfully I didn’t need to breathe, keeping my internal temperature from rising any further.

There was still plenty of heat taking a toll on my body. My muscles were expanding due to the heat restricting my range of movement slightly. It was even causing the air to distort into an almost mirage-like appearance.

The floor beneath my feet was rough and uneven. The patchwork of jagged rocks and scorched earth would’ve been a long series of trip hazards if I didn’t use my shadow magic to both silence my footsteps and even the ground out. Small cracks in the ground acted as vents of extreme heat, which I avoided.

The sound of the lava was a low, ominous rumble, punctuated by the occasional hiss and crackle as the molten rock cooled and solidified in places. Until a rhythmic pounding sounded in the walls. Elveil’s coming, and she’s digging through the walls.

I noticed that there was a concave bowl towards the center that wasn’t filled with lava. But before I could head that direction, a wall exploded in a shower of fire and debris. Barreling through several pillars before coming to a stop, Elveil’s monstrous reverse griffon body stood on a section of the stone barely large enough to hold her.

Her lion fur was black and identical to my hair, absorbing all the light that got near it. Her glowing red eyes practically illuminated the area in front of her like head lamps. The feathers on her back half and wings were a pinkish silver metal. Deadly claws attached to her paws dug into the ground passively.

She looked around for a brief moment before lowering her head down on me directly. A devious, toothy grin spread across her face. It was like she was hoping for this moment. “Someone’s been a bad, bad pet.” Her voice shook the entire cave.

From the other side of me and Elveil, sprouted an eruption of lava. Out from the flames came a gigantic lizard. It was the dragon. Shimmering red scales clinked as the dragon climbed on the rock behind me. The ground shook as it stood even taller than Elveil as its long neck and horns reached towards the ceiling. It’s two massive bat-like wings spread wide, still dripping with lava. All four of its legs were thicker than I was tall and tipped with even more intimidating claws.

It looked down at Elveil and then at me. “You’ve made a mess. You will burn!”