Chapter 21

'How did I end up like this again," Ryuu thought as he rolled over to dodge another breath attack.

Right know he was being hunted by Yu-Long on the orders of the Great Sage and Monkey King, Sun Wukong. It was to test the limits of his battle awareness and stamina.

To make matters worse, Sun Wukong told his partner to put some killing intent into his attacks making Ryuu wonder many a times if he'll be able to survive to see another day.

'Maybe asking him to take me as his legacy disciple was a bit too much,' Ryuu thought bitterly while barely dodging a dragon claw attack from Yu-Long.

'This is gonna be a long day.'

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Flashback

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After settling everything with Serafall and his mother, who both decided to give him a kiss on his cheeks, Ryuu was ready to handle his biggest task yet; convincing the chaos karma dragon to help him!

He had no illusions of his odds of survival, yet it was something he absolutely needed to do. Tiamat was always known for her foul temper; annoy her and you are dead, mention Ddraig and you'll get tortured before death, try to have her serve you; death.

Standing before her cave, which is located in the rather gloomy looking "Familiar Forest", he took a deep breath and shouted, "Lady Tiamat, I've come bearing offerings."

A few minutes past in total quite but Ryuu knew she was on her way. He could feel the ever so slight vibration caused by her moving, probably in her dragon form.

As the vibrations became more frequent and apparent Ryuu readied himself mentally. This would be a crucial step on his path towards greatness.

Not long after Ryuu steadied his resolve a dragon came out of the cave. In her normal dragon form, Tiamat has the appearance of a pale blue Western Dragon with celestial blue scales. (A/N: Copied from the wiki)

Once she was out she first looked around to check if there was anyone else. After making sure it was only Ryuu here she locked eyes with him and askin- no demanding, "who are you little devil and why have you come here?"

Ryuu wasn't suprised that his race was found out immediately, probably because of his smell. He straightened himself and answered her, not looking away from her eyes, "my name is Ryuu, a common devil under Serafall Leviathan. As I've said before, I've come bearing offerings."

This made the dragons' eyebrow arch a bit. She didn't expect the little devil to be so forthcoming with information and respectful during their short but meaningful interaction.

"You didn't come here for no reason. Tell me your desire," she said as the air around Ryuu suddenly turned razor sharp. Little slashes seemed to form on him the longer he just stood there.

Being faced with Tiamats' killing intent wasn't a pleasant experience for him, not at all. He could barely think because of how much he was pressured.

Swallowing down nervously he gritted his teeth and answered her as respectful as he could, "I would like for you to arrange a meeting with the Great Sage Equaling Heaven for me.

I remember that a dragon king became his battle partner therefore I approached you in hopes of establishing communication with him."

Tiamat just stared down at him seemingly in thought. Ryuu was just about to pass out from the pressure when she finally decided to lift it.

Ryuu fell backwards onto his butt huffing and puffing. He finally got a true taste of the powers he's going to face in the future. Despite being on the lower spectrum, at least publicly, Tiamat was able to put him into such an embarassing state making him doubt his training a bit.

While Ryuu lost himself in his newly found insecurities, Tiamat finally snapped out of it. 'This is a first,' she thought. How many millenia has it been that she received a proper offering with an honest request and was able to fulfill it if she so desired.

"Show me your offering young devil," she said her voice having a majesty to it Ryuu couldn't really comprehend right now. It was as if she was suddenly letting her charisma loose like a flood and Ryuu was getting swept up in it.

He bit his tongue making it bleed. He needed the pain to stay conscious and sane. "For the past few years I've been working on a special wine making barrel/cask. (A/N: I think imma use cask from now on) It makes alcoholic beverages within minutes, you just need to provide the ingredients.

My most successful one is the "Dragon Apple Wine" (A/N: right after I wrote this I remembered Tannin. Big OOF.) I got some from the black market in hopes to appeal to you today," Ryuu said while presenting the cask.

Before Tiamat could ask any questions he began to describe her how it works. To say Tiamat was impressed would be playing things down, a lot. To think someone was brazen enough to use different rune systems together like that and be successful to only use it for pleasure which in turn made her question her life choices a bit.

Nevertheless she listened to the end of his explanation before using her claws and carefully picking the cask up just to throw her neck back and chug like there's no tomorrow.

Many tend to forget but dragons have an innate love for alcohol just like they hoard treasures and are with few exceptions (A/N: Ophis?) prideful.

Once she was done she gave a loud 'Puah!' and began laughing/roaring out loud, "delicious! Isn't this too delicious!" Looks like the former goddess fell in love with the [Ultimate Cask]. A light suddenly encompassed her and she turned into her human form.

Tiamat has the appearance of a beautiful woman with straight and long beautiful pale blue hair, dark blue eyes, and a cold atmosphere that radiates from her beauty. She also wears a navy blue skirt, and her entire body is doused with the color of deep blue. (A/N: Shamelessly copied from the wiki)

While Ryuu was busy admiring her beauty she turned her half sharp half content gaze to him and said, "Your wish shall be granted. I will contact Yu-Long and will do everything in my power to make sure you get to meet the monkey brat."

'Yes!' Ryuu was having a victory dance inside his mind but managed to stay composed. He bowed deeply and said, "thank you my lady. Please take one last gift as a sign of my appreciation."

He then gave her what looked like a small book. Seeing her confused stare he started by telling her that it's a manual on how the cask works, where it's limits lay and even how to make a new one should something happen to it.

Tiamat was shocked, after all this thing no matter how trivial it seemed was still a treasure piece of enchantments. She didn't think Ryuu would just hand it over, but after seeing the average life span of the high functioning cask she understood him a bit better.

Given that these casks have so many runes on them, they don't survive for more than a few months before they start breaking down from the inside out. In order for Ryuu to not attract the anger of Tiamat he directly gave her the runic scheme to make her own casks so that she wouldn't have to come and find him everytime she has a problem.

She gave him one last nod before she took the cask and manual and disappeared in her cave. While she was leaving a sligthly gaping Ryuu behind she reminded him, "when I have news I'll contact you by sending one of these familiars after you."

Not bothering with him anymore she just went in while Ryuu could only watch her fading back with a bitter smile.