51 Dragons

It was a heavy question to suddenly drop on her.

While their conversation was going rather well…..they both still had many issues they needed to work out between them.

Truthfully, he just wanted to grab hold of her right now and never let go. But they weren't there yet, he hadn't felt like he even earned the right to.

He felt bad about dropping this suddenly, like he was almost guilt-tripping her into quickly making such a large decision. While he felt like she wanted to try and build some kind of relationship, to ask her to essentially bind herself to him for an extended period of time was another matter entirely.

He was rather excited at the prospect of her meeting everyone important to him. He was sure Medusa would adore her. While their relationship was kinda difficult to define at the moment, he cared for her and she for him. He knew her enough to know that she would welcome his estranged daughter.

Arturia would be a little hit or miss. No one knew better than him about the current….issues she had with her own daughter. It would probably do her good to have a 'different' Mordred around to possible ease some of the underlying hostilities that she probably still held. He was rather lucky to have a second life in that it gave him a better perspective on his first. She hadn't had that and the memories still fresh. Shirou of course would probably welcome anything that came his way and the others would most likely default to his judgement.

Percy would probably love to have someone closer to his own 'age' to call family. While his extended family was rather large on his father's side, he doubt the boy would come to consider them such except for maybe a small handful. To have more without the attached politics that came with the godly pantheon would probably be a welcomed feeling. And the fact that combat was in his blood, quite literally, would mean they fight whenever they wanted.

He didn't continue to speak after what he said, giving her time to mull over exactly what he meant.

She was looking at him, with surprise on her face. They had cleared up a lot of air rather quickly. It was a strange feeling for her at the moment. Happiness combined with a mild amount of anger still. All she ever wanted was his recognition and to openly have him give it was….a strange thing to describe. Yet there still was an underlying amount of hatred there. It would take a bit for her to completely forgive him.

As much as she wanted his love, he had hurt her. Her entire existence was basically defined by that pain and now he wanted to remedy that. She would welcome him into her life if she could, but it would take awhile for it to be dissolved in it's entirety.

Even now, she was still skeptical about everything. It almost felt too good to be true.

A few moments later she finally spoke. "You…..would be fine with me meeting your family?" It was a bit more than a whisper. It conveyed her current self-doubts. She knew what she was, not the homunculus part, but what defined her as such.

She was not only his daughter, but technically his niece as well. She was born out of incest even if they never did the 'deed' she was of his sister's DNA. It was probably the most sensitive spot for her. She was…. disgusting in the eyes of the world.

"Mordred….i want you to meet OUR family."

Family, it was such a foreign word to her. Something she never had, something she never thought she would have. She had relatives, people she shared blood with, but never a family. Hell, she considered her horse the closest thing. When he died, she cried for days.

And now, being told that she had one, waiting for her if she wanted….

"Okay." She said meekly. She had a small smile on her face. Not the one when she had an exciting battle, but one that came straight from her heart.

All the tension, the bad feelings and the awkwardness would not alleviate immediately, but it seemed like a weight was lifted from both their shoulders.

They began to idily chat for a bit longer. Alex told her where he was staying, his overall role in the war. Eventually they had to part when Mordred received a message from her master.

They did part on good terms, if still a bit awkward.

***

Alex was….happy with how things turned out. He new her personality going in this, she wasn't one for games or playing coy. He basically laid down all his cards and told her how he felt. His bluntness did work, even if he had trouble conveying it for a while.

He cared about Mordred even before today, but after just talking to her awhile it felt like his parental instincts had went into overdrive. He would try his best to do right by her. If she wanted to travel with him, he would take her across the multiverse, if she wanted to settle down somewhere he would happily find a world where she could live in peace.

It didn't take long for him to make it back 'home'. A small smile adorned his face as he walked through the doors. His bounded field still present and it appeared that it hadn't been set off or tampered with. Though the best it would do against a servant or anything noteworthy would be to merely give him alarm.

He noticed Sieg and Ruler both sitting at the table, a few bags near them and several items laid out across the table.

Ruler gave him a smile and a wave as he entered.

"How was your day?" Alex asked the duo.

"It was good, me and Sieg went shopping and explored the city" Ruler replied. "What about you, you seem rather cheerful?"

"Ah, I….actually ran into Mordred when I was out. I was able to sit down and talk to her for a bit."

"How did that go?" Ruler asked.

"It was good, I don't think she'll be attacking me on sight anymore." He said with a chuckle.

He noticed Sieg looking at him oddly and after looking at him as well, he also noticed an odd feeling. He strokes hid chin for a moment then held out his hand as a golden ripple opened up.

Out poped an ornate black axe, one sided and meant to be wielded with one hand. It was a nameless noble phantasm that never made its mark in legends. Its origin was probably somewhere around his own homeland. It had a minor anti-dragon property, similar to the sword he gave to Kaori back in index's world. It had apparently decapitated a dragon welp.

Not too hard to guess why it was unknown. A dragon finds out its baby was killed and its blood on that weapon. The dragon probably went enraged and kill the owner. But regardless, it had soaked in some dragon blood and it did have a minor property added as killing a dragon. Though its rank was [ E ] and it barely qualified as a anti-dragon weapon, but it would serve its purpose.

As he held the weapon, he glanced at Sieg who had a noticeable reaction. Goosebumps appearing, and his body tensing up.

"Ah, I thought so." Alex said with a nod as he put the axe away.

Sieg calmed down almost immediately and Ruler was looking at him oddly.

"Anti-dragon weapon. It appears as though your heart is fully fused and doesn't differentiate itself form the rest of your body."

Before while he had the dragon aspect on him due to the heart being pushed inside, it had yet to truly affect his 'core'. His being is now draconic in nature like Siegfried was. If it was before, the axe would have merely had a suppression effect, but now it would be felt by his entire being even if the effect was miniscule.

Even Alex was affected by it while it was in his hand, though he was able to push away the feeling due to his own training.

"Tell me, do you feel any different than yesterday?" Alex asked the homunculus.

"I feel, calmer. But I also feel like I have more energy." Sieg replied.

"Hmm, have you tried any magecraft recently?"

"No, I haven't. Will there be an issue if I do?"

"I'm not really an expert on the subject, but you may want to test it. Start with something small, your prana should have had a boost now that your heart and you are one."

While both of them had a dragon aspect, it was different in nature. A dragon's core and the heart are different entities.

When Alex fused with the core, it increased his prana to an obscene level even if it laid dormant inside of him. It was the equivalent of magic circuits for a dragon.

For Siegfried and a lesser extent Sieg, they bathed in the blood of a powerful dragon and their bodies went through a metamorphosis. Their bodies became closer to that of a dragon and their prana got a boost as a byproduct. It was the opposite for Alex. While Siegfried was physically closer to a dragon, Alex was conceptually closer and his body got a smaller boost than his prana.

Could also explain why the dragon-slaying hero was less affected by wielding the dragon-slaying weapon than Alex was. While it was 'his' weapon and thus probably wouldn't affect him as much on a normal basis, Alex was conceptually closer to a dragon and thus a conceptual dragon-slaying weapon would have more of a suppression on him.

There were downsides and benefits to either path. Siegfried had an almost impenetrable body, but Alex could use mana burst and had much higher reserves.

As the hours were going by and the sun was going to set soon, they all began to make any preparations they required.

Ruler was quietly making prayers in secluded part of the house. Alex was taking inventory of any weapons he could possibly need from the gate.

And Sieg, he was by himself in his room, staring up at the ceiling as he laid in his bed.

He didn't tell the others about what happened to him last night. It was an odd feeling, keeping something that seemed important to himself and not telling those he trusted. He had a dream, he knew what dreams were but he never had one until he received the heart. But even with his lack of knowledge, something inside of him was telling him that it was not a 'normal' dream.

He dreamed of a large dragon. It was both terrifying and exhilarating. Like he was connected to the phantasmal beast somehow. It was after this dream that he felt the changes that Arthur had asked him about earlier in the day. He knew the name of the dragon that appeared. It's name echoed throughout his soul as the inheritor of Siegfried's heart, It was Fafnir.

At best, it was cryptic and he didn't really understand much about it. But something had changed, something about him felt different. Like he could reach out and grasp an unknown strength that laid hidden beneath the surface. Only....there was something missing. Something that prevented him from making contact with it. A reason, a purpose, something to ignite his soul.

He wanted to help the other two in this fight. Even though Siegfried gave his life so he could live…..he wanted to fight as well. He hadn't known these two for long, yet he felt a connection to them. Especially Ruler. He didn't know why when her face flashed across his mind that he smiled unconsciously. The thought of her getting hurt made him feel weird, something he didn't understand.

He would ask Arthur about it later, for now he dried his best to delve into 'himself' trying to reach it again so he could help.