“I must ask. Who is this letter even addressed to. Is there truly anyone in the world capable of figuring out something as complex as a god of living mana?”

Hikaru asked while looking over Yuri, who was immersed in writing a long winded letter over the back of the person who stood in line in front of them.

Wanting to get the letter sent as soon as possible, she only bothered to start writing it once they stood in line for the letter teleportation service at this city’s green tower.

“No no miss, i think you made a grammatical error, it’s your help not you’re help. I can feel a grammatical mistake like that even through my back!”

The man lending his back for Yuri to write on commented on her writing in a correctional tone.

“Oh right! Okay, all done! Thanks backman!”

She patted the man's back.

“My name is bob, and don’t mention it”

The man nodded at them before continuing his standing in the line.

“So. Who is the letter addressed to. My earlier point still stands.”

Hikaru asked once again.

“We do know someone. Someone who actually dealt a lot with creatures made of living mana.”

She smiled, raising her eyebrows at Hikaru, as if the answer should be obvious.

“...You cannot mean. But he is dead.”

He shook his head.

“Is he now? Back in the golden city, when we defeated the dragon made of golden mana..when it exploded into small pieces, i saw something interesting. One of the pieces was bigger than the rest.”

“You mean he survived!? Why did you not mention this before?”

“We got the relic, and i didn’t REALLY care about the city or him for that matter after that, so i just never thought about it..”

Shrugging, she licked the letter before closing it shut in an envelope.

“Even if what you say is true. Even if that mana man did survive..what was his name..”

Hikaru pondered.

“I think it was Tane? Hard to remember, in my mind i always just called him crazy mana dragon guy..”

“That is quite a mouthful.” Hikaru raised a skeptical eyebrow at her choice of nicknames.

“Hey, it’s much easier to say in your mind than with your tongue.”

“Either way. If he did somehow survive. What makes you think he would be willing to help us. We destroyed his plans. Not to mention, how would you even know his adress?”

Asking a very reasonable question, Hikaru looked at Yuri with resignation at whatever mad answer she was about to tell him.

“He will help us because. If he doesn’t everyone including him will die. And to sweeten the deal. He gets to collect information on a real perfect creature of mana, instead of just some dragon that was coloured golden. And finding him..”

Yuri showed the envelope to Hikaru.

“Should be simple. We have his name. And we know the most likely place he will be at. I see no reason for him to be anywhere else, since anywhere else isn’t advanced enough to meet his scientific standards.”

“You are correct.” Hikaru nodded, impressed. “However did you have to write it like that…”

On the front of the envelope, in big black letters. It read: TO TANE, THE GOLDEN DRAGON MAN, IN THE GOLDEN CITY, WHICH MOST DON’T BELIEVE TO EXIST, AND WHICH HE ALSO DESTROYED.

“Aren’t we the ones who destroyed the city by blowing him up..”

“Shhh, don’t worry about the details, as long as he receives the letter!”.

She handed the letter over the receptionist.

“Now..all we have to do is wait.”

“Indeed..”

“Let’s get some pastries! I haven’t had some in a while!”

She suggested.

“Very well.”

He nodded, yet he was still worried over the matters at hand. He doubted they would receive an answer for that letter. They needed a more concrete plan. Something that they knew would work. They couldn’t keep leaving all their decisions to fate. It is best to rely on themselves rather than hope that someone else will manage to bring them salvation.

He had to do it.

He had to come up with a way to defeat his father.

“Excuse me! Miss! Sir!”

The receptionist called out to them as they were leaving.

“You received a response from a...Tane, the ex-golden dragon?”

“...huh.”

Hikaru looked at the receptionist with barely a hint of surprise. He face was almost blank. He couldn’t believe it.

“Awh. We didn’t have time to get any pastries..”

Pouting, Yuri went back and got the letter.

“What are you staring at…?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

She followed his gaze.

“Let’s go, we need to sit down and read this letter!”

She dragged the still shocked Hikaru behind her.

“Guess my resolution was unneeded huh”

--

Sitting in a secluded backstreet, Yuri opened the letter from Tane and began reading it.

“Hm..? Guess it’s very short, since he did respond very quickly..”

She showed Hikaru the letter.

All that was written on it were three words. On my way.

“Indeed. This also does not implicate that he has accepted our request of his assistance.”

Hikaru warned her.

“True..

“Well if he gets here, all we have to do is capture him and make him work for us, by force if we have to..”

Smiling innocently, she looked at Hikaru.

“Very well, i will apprehend him if need be.”

“Thank you~” Hugging his arm, she clung to him while they waited for the arrival of the one they invited.

They did not have to wait very long. For before the sun could set, they could see something glimmering in the distance. Something in the opposite side of the sunset.

A glimmering gold. Two glimmering gold wings.

Attached to what appeared to be a human.

These were wings that they recognised. It was the wings made in the image of a dragon.

They lacked the accompanying great body of the giant lizard, yet were still impressive displays of aerial prowess.

With each flap of their giant span, the golden wings blew away a bit of the dark mana tainted air around them.

The wings arrived above them, lowering themselves gently, descending while shrinking.

Until their owner was floating right above them.

“You sure arrived quickly, didn’t you”

She commented on the appearance of Tane.

The only things she received in response was a glare. A glare from eyes that had ceased to be human. They were eyes of golden.

Mana circulating violently within them.

“I see you’ve done a bit of an image change…? You’re no longer a big flying gecko?”

She commented upon Tane’s new appearance. Unlike his previous self when they previously met. He was no longer a gigantic golden dragon made exclusively from mana.

Although it was difficult to call him human. His appearance certainly looked human.

However, if one looked close enough. One might notice that the shade of his skin is not due to a tan. But due to it being made of gold mana. In fact everything about him, including his clothes, was made of golden mana which was somehow manipulated into taking the shape most close to what one might assume to be a normal human.

“I do want to kill you…”

Tane muttered to himself, before lowering himself onto the ground. His wings dissipating completely.

“Yes, it’s nice to see you too, he’s even ruder than your sister huh Hikaru?”

Yuri said with a snide smile.

“Don’t try and joke with me.” Tane spit out “You got in my way, destroyed my great dragon form which i worked so hard to achieve.”

“Yeah well. You had a relic we really wanted. Besides you seem to be doing fine without it?”

“..I have been able to replicate a portion of the relics power. Either way. We are enemies. What makes you think you can just send me a letter asking for help as if we were old acquaintances.”

The golden wings formed out of Tane’s back once again, holding them above himself, obscuring the light of the moon and filling the backstreet with his golden mana shine.

“Because. I’m offering you an opportunity. To study something very similiar to yourself..”

She shrugged.

“You mentioned that in the letter..a fallen true god. As tempting as that does sound. I have more than enough research to fill several lifetimes, besides i am very busy.”

Tane smiled.

“Hopefully you don’t mind. But i shifted the blame of the destruction of the golden city on you. You’re gaining a lot of fame as a..let’s say harbinger of death. Luckily i was there to drive you off. In fact, i did more than that. With the theft of our relic which was the core of our city. I had to come up with different ways to convert Nature mana into usable mana. Which i was able to do because of my research. I am praised as a saviour and a god in the golden city. I don’t have any need to prove myself anymore. So what could you possibly offer me.”

“...You still came here didn’t you. That means you’re curious. You said you were considered a god over there..? Wouldn’t you want to be considered a god everywhere else as well?”

Raising an eyebrow, she looked at Tane with a glimmer in her eyes.

“I already am. Don’t you see how i am made almost exclusively of mana. Only a god is able of achieving something like this”

“I see that..but you know. That mana..it’s very weak compared to a real god. Wouldn’t you want to learn how make the mana you produce..of denser quality?”

Pulling him along on his curiousity, Yuri looked off to the side while wondering, glancing back to see how Tane reacted.

“Can’t you feel it? The wind, it's charged with dark mana. That’s the god’s, Fenrir’s mana. It suffocates those who are even near it. And he isn’t even close to this city yet. That’s what it takes to be a god. That suffocating feeling..you like it don’t you, you want it, right?”

“...I will help you. But only to access the wealth of data hidden within a god. Getting access to the inside workings of a true god is only something I. an existence closest to that of a god, should be allowed”

Tane nodded, the golden mana his skin comprised off, swirling around strangely, excitedly.

“...Yikes. Creepy god complex much?”

Yuri whispered back at Hikaru, who only smiled awkwardly and nodded.

“Tch, the likes of you mortals, wouldn’t understand the thoughts of an existence so close to a god!”

Shaking his head at the whisper he overheard, Tane dismissed it.

Looking at Hikaru, she snickered slightly.

(Wouldn’t he just be so surprised if he knew what Hikaru really was.)

“So what is it you hope to achieve with my help? I will warn you, if you expected me to weaken or defeat a creature whose residue mana reaches so far out, simply because i’m an expert. You would be telling me to walk into my grave.”

Tane warned them.

“If you don’t help us, you would be walking into your grave anyway, considering how said god’s goal is to remove humanity from existence..”

Yuri corrected him.

“Then i am in luck. As i don’t qualify as a human any longer”

“Hah.” She sighed “We don’t need you to do anything like that. We need you to get into this god’s mind. And just..alter it slightly.”

“...You must be joking. That is arguably much more difficult than straight out attempting to destroy him”

Looking at her, like one would look at a chimp who tried to eat a banana without peeling it, Tane curled his upper lip at her.

“But it’s possible, right?”

“It’s not a question of whether it's possible. It’s a question of me not being willing to throw away my life. There are far too many inventions to create now that the golden city is under my control. No laws to stop me.”

“Then is there any way we can make it so you aren’t at any risk of losing your life?”

She asked.

“Not unless you have a way to make a god use most of its mana. Say overcoming an obstacle or an enemy. Which wouldn’t work, considering that to a god, anything you can throw at it would be like a buzzing fly. Not just a normal fly, but a fruit fly. An especially small fruit fly.”

“Yes, you made your point. Shut up about flies..” Yuri visibly relaxed “Then it should be no problem for you if we accomplish that?”

“You? Even with your above normal warrior..friend?”

“Boyfriend.” She corrected him with a slight blush and a glance at Hikaru, who smiled slightly back at her, while trying to look serious, resulting in him looking slightly awkward. Which to Yuri’s eyes was especially cute.

“..Boyfriend. sure. “Tane corrected himself with a shake of his head.

“Even with him, i doubt it would hold the attention of a god for more than a moment. I need much more than that. To alter the mind..it’s possible since it’s purely mana..however. That of a god? I would have to make sure to not be detected. Which is the entire reason i need most of the mana to be concentrated on the outside. Not the inside.”

“How long would you need?”

“There is no way i would be able to give any precise number. We are talking about a living god-”

“Just give me a number!”

“..:Very well. Let’s say half an hour.”

Tane shrugged, giving an arbitrary number that he deduced would be sufficient enough.

“Hm..that would be barely enough i guess..”

She nodded.

“Yuri? I don’t believe i can hold out for that long, even if we managed to retrieve your dagger..”

Looking slightly concerned with Yuri’s optimism, Hikaru put his palm on her head.

“Oh it’s fine, we won’t be the only ones there”

“You must realise, if i do this, i will not be able to help you in any way. I would be physically inside the mind of the god”

Tane said.

“Not you. Everyone else!”

“Everyone else..?”

Both Tane and Hikaru said simultaneously.

“I didn’t ONLY send a letter to Tane you know. That’s why i took so long writing it on that guy’s back. I sent a letter to all our old acquaintances”

Looking at Hikaru with a facial expression that showed she didn’t realise Hikaru had missed that.

“Who did you send it to..? And would they even come..? We don’t know many warriors.”

Hikaru conjected.

“Like i said, Everyone. And they will, and they will bring all their warriors with them”

Smiling ever so brightly, Yuri looked into Hikaru’s eyes, the scene shifting, his dark eyes moving. Glittering until they became a starry night sky.

In this dark sky lit up only by stars.

Countless ships were moving towards Yuri’s location. Ships of every kind of every quality and of every size, in a quantity so big they filled the sky and blocked out the stars themselves.