LXXVI: Two Dragons.

The crowd began to celebrate the return of their heroes, yes, they had been driven back from the forest in the final stretch that ended this contest, but it was the damage done to the elves that kept expectations high, no doubt this world was very strange, even in a situation where a woman could have been left a widow and without her children, she was celebrating because those horrible elves had paid the price.

People stood at the entrance and watched as armored soldiers, hooded wizards, and some important people entered the rhythm of the crowd's shouts and screams. 

Marie was a little embarrassed by the crowd's enthusiasm; she was a soldier in her former life and well, it's not as if one gets recognized that way, especially when they lose. She expected complaints, gossip, and things to be thrown at her, but no, and even people chanted her nickname when they saw her. 

"Smile a little boss, many are here for you," Jessica told her jokingly, causing Susie, who was standing next to her, to burst out laughing as well. 

"Oh great dragoness, did you notice the lustful looks of some of the men and women in the crowd? Wow, you seem to have captivated them not only with your strength but with your looks as well," Susie joked, causing Jessica to confirm with her eyes.

"It seems to be true, many are looking at your powerful legs, they sure want you to crush their heads with your thighs," the white-haired girl said with a smile. 

The blonde's face blushed a little at these comments, but then she simply raised her head slightly, showing her inherent pride as a dragon. Seone, who was behind her, heard all the comments of her two companions. 

A bit jealous, he released his impulse without restraint, the deadly silence that was characteristic of this ability now tinged with a powerful murderous intent that spread throughout the place, quieting the screams of the cold people a bit, but then the screams returned, this time focused on him. 

"Wow, that guy's pretty strong," Marcus said, tracing the release of the impulse back to Seone, but choosing to look only sideways at him, not wanting to be noticed by a guy who could be just as annoying as Leona. 

"I know, he's strong and good-looking, but he has the scent of that dragon girl, they might be a couple," Leona was excited to have seen another strong person she was interested in, but only to fight. 

Dragons respected the mates of their kind, only the evil and crazy dragons would try to steal the mate of another of their kind. Leona also noticed other strong humans who urged her to fight, she almost wanted to jump at them, but she controlled herself against all her desires. 

She was a fighting maniac, not an idiot, if she went out now they would most likely see her as a troublemaker and execute her, or maybe they would all gang up on her, not that they were 'honorable warriors', they were experienced soldiers who would surely pounce on her like hyenas. 

As if sensing the intensity of Leona's gaze, Seone, who had been scolded by Ron for his unnecessary display of power, looked out into the crowd, searching for someone in particular. 

Then her eyes met Leona's, making the atmosphere between them tense, it was obvious they had to fight each other because they could feel the strength of the other.

"That girl is strong, and she has a similar vibe to Marie," said Ron, who noticed Seone's gaze and bumped into Leona, who also noticed him. 

"He has an intense thirst for battle," Axel said, curious to see what his companions saw, meeting Leona's intense gaze. 

"She reminds me of Natsu, could that be her heritage or a deception? It would make sense that she has a draconic aura," added John, who scanned the unknown girl a bit with a spell, but the girl seemed to notice and invalidated part of the scan with her power. 

"What a rude wizard," Leona complained under her breath after using her magic to invalidate a blatant evaluation spell cast by the blond wizard. 

Still, meeting interesting people so early made her light up, and she wanted to fight them when she got the chance, which she hoped would be soon. Only it couldn't be today, it would be too hard.

"Come on, we should get out of here and wait for a chance to do what we need to do without so many people around," Marcus told her, pulling Leona out of her staring exchange with the returning boys. 

But as Leona was about to leave, she felt a piercing gaze fall upon her, and when she turned, she noticed it was Marie looking back at her with her golden eyes. Both women stood still, the world seemed to disappear, only they were left in a gray environment. 

"What do you want?" asked Marie with a hint of annoyance in her tone. 

"I just want to look for strong people to fight, you are strong, I just want to fight," Leona said without fear of the situation she was in now. 

"Really? Just like that?" Marie didn't doubt the truth of the girl's words, she was just a little surprised by the apparent simplicity of the girl's words. 

"You wanted a conspiracy? I'm just crazy about fighting, and so are you, you have that smell, the smell of a fighter like me," Leona said with a smile that revealed her sharp teeth. 

"Oh, I guess I can give you that fight, after all, we are very closely related to dragons," Marie found herself interested in Leona's desire to fight, and if she could compare herself to someone who followed a similar path to her, well, that made things even better. 

"Go to this place tomorrow, it's some training grounds I usually use and where we can fight, after all, it's only a short time until this show is over, I could use a fight against someone strong like you to get better, no one knows what things can suddenly happen", not knowing that her words raised the biggest flag in all of history so far, Marie continued to give Leona directions how to get to the training ground. 

"Do you mind if I bring a friend?" asked Leona, not wanting to leave Marcus alone, for although she didn't show much interest, she was concerned about the situation her friend was in.

"Never mind, my friends will be there as well," Marie replied with some difficulty, the skill she was using was taking a bit of a toll on her now, so she decided to end it. 

"See you later," Marie said goodbye, who was then stopped by a worried Seone. 

Marie had just used a special technique that dragons possessed to talk to each other privately, it can only be used by dragons and the recipient must also be a dragon or have some sort of relationship with them. 

"Yeah... only I've arranged a fight for tomorrow with that girl you were looking at," Marie said with a bit of complaint in her voice, which made Seone look at her with a smile. 

"Well, I hope you have fun," he replied, kissing her on the forehead, making the blonde smile at the affection her partner was showing her. 

"Get a room," Axel interrupted her, who fled as Seone took the sword and tried to cut him off, all in humor of course.

Outside of the heavy atmosphere during the war, this kind of interaction was somewhat endearing. They had to be much more serious during the military campaign, so they couldn't share in this way. 

Even if it didn't last too long, only almost two months, for those who experienced it, even for veterans, it was long, tedious, an event that, although they were relatively well, the war left them with certain after-effects that they hoped would improve with time. 

That was one of the reasons Marie had agreed to fight Leona, she needed to release the stress gradually, not build it up and then explode. Although, tonight she was sure to have a very long night with Seone, something she had been looking forward to since the last time they were together.

But while the boys were discussing what to cook tomorrow to set the mood for the fight Marie was going to have, someone else, a person who liked to see interesting things, got wind of the situation. 

"Oh, I can't miss this," the masked woman said as she watched the Sunflower City from a distance. 

Next to her was a somewhat muscular man, his white hair dancing wildly in the wind, his temperament was cold, and his expression was serious. Something special about him was his eyes, purple eyes with rings in them. 

Yes, it was our former Rinnegan boy, his name was Yang Peng, and now his whole being was different from before, he seemed calmer, more relaxed, and even had a certain impulse emanating from him, one that strangely possessed a certain majesty, as strange as it seemed. 

He didn't say much, left behind was the spoiled boy who wasted 10 months for nothing, and only recently was he able to get the points needed to finish this show alive, all the while seriously training his skills, all with the help of that strange masked woman. 

"Little one, tomorrow you'll fight and you'll see that dragon girl again who hurt you so badly, what do you think?" asked Venus, in case you didn't remember, that was the name of the woman with Majora's mask on her face. 

Yang just snorted and crossed her arms as she used her visual abilities to scan the city, careful not to alert the sensitive people with good senses there.

"I just want to test myself against strong people, I don't expect to win, but to improve," he said, showing his maturity. 

He had improved a lot in that time, he was even able to meet Thor and become friends with him, a real friend indeed. The boy had a knack for getting to know people and gaining their trust. Yang felt that not only his strength had improved, but also his mind. 

His mind was no longer as fragile as before, he was no longer the despicable trash he was, being burned alive had taught him that. That and his pride made him think he was powerful, when now, in his current state, he knew exactly how weak he was. 

Now he just wanted to erase his memory, if it wouldn't be harmful, just so he wouldn't have to remember the stupid things he said, did, and thought. All the time he had been training and fighting under Venus' guidance, he had realized his true worthlessness, his deep weakness, how he had become as despicable as that red-haired character in that soft hentai series.

"Well, we can invite Thor too, he wants to meet his friend, and I want him to have a good time," Venus said with an obvious tone of happiness in her voice.

"I think so, he told me a lot about him and his strength, I'd like to meet him," Yang replied, remembering Thor's words about Seone.

He told her about the time they fought together, as well as with other powerful reincarnates and even their boss Damian, against a very powerful being named Fenrir. Even though he was wounded and it was a group fight, Thor told him mostly about Seone's abilities. 

He also told him about the fight between the Belmont Boy and Damian, which made him think, because even though it was something told, he could feel the immensity of the power those two wielded, especially the vampire.

That's why Yang realized that even now he wasn't strong enough to face those people, he even doubted that he could beat Leona or Marie, but he just wanted to advance further, to make up for the time he lost. Before he had only talent, only bad choices, and no effort. 

Now he had everything, at least he wanted to be close to those powerful guys, at least be around when something important happened. Unbeknownst to him, his wishes would come true in the not-too-distant future. 

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AN: Yehi! 1K collections! We need to celebrate!

Also, please read my original novel My Magical Daily Life, maybe is your cup of tea.