old memories

Elder virion pov

After seeing that Arthur is a reincarnation I was a bit shock but did care if he Arthur or grey he is just Arthur Eleanor was right it doesn't matter. But After hearing what the voice said about Arthur training I kinda feel bad about even making him a Lance he expires died hundreds and thousands of times it explained why he didn't care about getting hurt in a fight and it also explained why did he get so strong in such a sort time I am tired from being the commander in this I forgot about Arthur even thou he was mentally unstable from losing his father I send him to fight again now I lost my country my son my daughter in law my student all i have are tessia and rinia left as I was in my thoughts I looked around to see what kind of expression everyone had on there after hearing this information first I looked at tessia she was broken she lost almost everyone she loved right Infront of her eyes and so had a expression less face no reaction at all I am worried about her then I looked at Eleanor she had tears in her eyes she was about to cry the same goes to everyone including myself just as I was thinking the voice spoke again (so if everyone had settled down let's continue and l am going to add some more people soon but not right now and now l am going to show you all someone special to Arthur the daughter of lord indrath and mother of Sylvie Arthur bond so please stay quiet)at that the become bright again then it started

"W-What are you?" I managed to stammer out.

Despite having lived two lives, what my eyes saw, my brain refused to believe. A monster, for a lack of a better word, which easily towered over ten meters high, was seated cross-legged, on a crudely carved throne of jagged stone with an arm lazily supporting its head. With petrifying red eyes that gazed down at me, while menacing, carried an oddly tranquil quality. Two massive horns protruded out the of sides of its head, arched down and around it's skull, curving up to a point near the front, reminding me of something almost akin to a crown. It had a mouth with two fangs peeking out of its lips and while its body was adorned in a sleek black armor that had neither decorations nor embellishments, it still glowed with the quality of a priceless treasure.

Reiterating the fact that I was once a king, still, this being that stood before me now made me embarrassed of even having the nerve to call myself one. No, the one sitting on that giant throne was a being that would make even the most unfaithful heretics bow down in submission.

Yet here it was, in all of its glory… with its head resting on its arm, while its other hand nonchalantly scratched its nose.

What I had failed to notice until now, though, because of the dim lighting in the cave and its body being completely black, was that this being had a gaping hole in the side of it's chest, blood continuously oozing out.

"We finally meet," it repeated with a lazy half smile that revealed a row of pointed teeth.

I tried getting up, but failed halfway and end up back on my butt, my face still slack from the shock of what my eyes were seeing.

"Bugs will fly into your mouth if you keep it open that wide."

Great. At least it has a sense of humor.

"As for what I am, I won't say anything more than what you can see from looking," the horned humanoid monster said with its eyes seeming to gaze straight through me."It is going to take to a while for me to open a dimensional rift that will transport you to your house, so until then, just be patient and wait here. There are special roots that grow here. You will be able to live off those until I finish," it sighed.

That's right. That's what I was here to do. I managed to regain a bit of my composure and I stood up, walking a little closer to the being.

Giving a courteous bow, I replied, "Thank you for everything you've done for me and what you will do. If there is any way I can repay you, I will do for you whatever is in my power."

"Such good manners for a child. Do not worry; I am expecting neither a favor nor your gratitude. I am simply doing this for my own amusement. Come! Sit here closer to me and keep me company. I haven't talked to anyone in a while," the being laughed, patting an area of its throne for me to sit on.

I climbed up the platform rather awkwardly, forgetting to use mana to just jump up, and I propped myself on the throne next to the being.

"Uhh… excuse me for being rude, but you don't exactly look like a lady. How should I exactly address you as?" I said, making eye contact with the being.

"You're right. I don't exactly look like a lady, now do I? I wonder why I said that. My name is Sylvia," she replied, letting out a soft chuckle.

This giant demon lord-like monster looked like anything but a Sylvia to me, but I chose to keep that to myself.

"Elder Sylvia, do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

"Go ahead young one, although I may not be able to answer everything."

I immediately rattled off all of the questions that had been on my mind ever since waking up and after meeting Sylvia. "Where is this place? Why were you here all alone? Where did you come from? Why do you have that huge wound? … Why did you save me?

We talked about all sorts of things to pass the time as she prepared to open a portal. At one point, she asked me how I was able to use mana so well at my age.

"I was under the impression that amongst humans, the earliest mage to have awakened so far was the age of ten, and even then, because the child couldn't grasp how to use it, there was very little he could do with it. Yet, not only have you already formed your mana core, but, by the way you use your mana, you seem to be more efficient than a lot of full-fledged mages."

I just shrugged, feeling oddly proud by her compliment. "My parents said I was a genius or something. I can read really well and I get what the pictures and words in the books are saying."

A few more days trickled by as Sylvia continued preparing the portal.

In a regretful tone, she explained one day, "The spell will take some time in order for it to be completely safe. I do not wish for you to land in a destination you are not familiar with. Even one inconsistency can lead to you being transported a couple hundred meters off the ground. Please be patient; you will be able to see your loved ones soon."

I nodded and said that as long as I knew they're alive, I was fine with waiting. It beat trying to climb back up the edge of the mountain.

These past couple of days, while I trained my mana core and chatted with Sylvia, I noticed a few things.

nose.

I had to admit that, like testing most theories, it was extremely difficult at first. It reminded me of the exercises my caretaker at the orphanage had showed us when I was younger, the ones where you tried to make each of your arms do something different… except much harder

Practicing this essentially meant being able to fight proficiently while still maintaining a constant inward flow of mana. Sylvia's only advice was that, according to her, an exceptional mage must be able to split his thinking mind into multiple segments in order to process information at efficient speed. While I've never had a teacher tell me to split my mind, I tried doing as she said. Needless to say, I had never tripped over my own body so many times in this and my previous life combined.

This, at least, seemed to get a few hearty chuckles of amusement out of Sylvia.

Two months had passed since then as I kept Sylvia company with stories of my family and the town I was born in, while continuing to improve in the technique thanks to Sylvia's patience and my diligence.

Sylvia refused to tell me the name of this skill, so I named it myself: Mana Rotation.

Over this period of time, it would be an understatement to say I've merely gotten close to Sylvia. She had treated me like her own blood grandson and, in response, I've grown attached to this demon lord grandmother. It was because of our growing relationship that I wasn't able to simply ignore what was happening.

It was frustratingly clear that her wound was growing worse as the portal responsible for taking me home was becoming more distinct.

"Sylvia, please tell me what's happening to your wound? Why is it getting worse? It wasn't like this before! You saying it was only a fester every now and then was clearly a lie! This isn't going to go away on it's own, it's actually getting worse!" I frustratingly voiced my concern one especially bad night after she had vomited a pool of blood.

I paused for a second, struck with realization…

Why didn't I notice this before?

She had been getting worse while creating the portal.

In order to send me home…

She was sacrificing her life so I can meet my family.

Sylvia let out a deep breath, knowing that I had realized what was going on. Managing a sheepish smile, Sylvia whispered, "Art. Yes I am dying. But I will get angry if you blame yourself, thinking that you are causing this. I have been dying for quite a while now. You are doing me a favor by allowing me to leave this forsaken cave a bit faster."

As soon as she finished speaking, a bright golden glow radiated out of her body. Shielding my eyes from going blind, I tried to focus on the shape forming from where Sylvia once sat. In place of the ten-meter titan-like figure was a dragon even larger. From her snout to the end of her tail, she was a clad in a pearl white coat of shimmering scales. Beneath her iridescent lavender eyes were glowing golden runes that marked her neck and ran down to spread around her body and tail like a sacred engravings. These markings reminded me of a very elegant, almost celestial, tribal pattern, branching out harmoniously and with purpose like carefully placed vines. The dragon's wings were pure white adorned with white bladed feathers so fine and sharp that they could put swords forged by master smiths to shame.

The golden light enveloping the dragon dimmed until it fully replaced the once titan-shaped being.

"There now… Do I look a bit more like a Sylvia?" Sylvia let out a toothy smirk.

"S-Sylvia?? Y..you're a dragon?" I said.

"Now That I am in this form, we do not have much time. Yes, I am something you humans refer to us as 'a dragon'. The reason I am dying is because I had been inflicted with this wound after narrowly escaping from my captors. I had sensed one of them approaching dangerously close a few days ago, so I feel that my time of hiding is drawing to an end. This form will alert them of my location, which is why I only have time to explain what is necessary. I am giving you this to take care of from now on."

One of her bladed wings unfolded and revealed a translucent, rainbow-colored stone the size of two fists. With a myriad of colors and shades, this stone resonated an aura that made me hesitate in holding it, as if I wasn't worthy.

Without waiting for me to respond, she continued, "Everything will reveal itself when the time comes so just hold onto this and do not let anyone know that you have this. Most will not know what it is but everyone will be attracted by the aura it emits."

Sylvia then proceeded to pluck a feather from her wings with her claw and hand it to me. "Wrap the stone in this to conceal it."

After doing as told, the once divine radiant stone merely appeared to be a smooth white rock, pretty, but ordinary

right now. As for me, I would rather die than go back to where he is," Sylvia said, impatience and anger mixed in her voice.

"No! I won't let you die here. If you refuse to go with him, then please, just come with me!" I begged.

"Unfortunately I cannot go with you. You will forever be in danger if any one of them finds out you have had contact with me. I need to stay here."

Sylvia gently wiped my cheeks with a claw, her draconic eyes lined with what I saw as tears.

"You asked me once, why I chose to save you. The truth was to satisfy my own greed. I wanted to keep you as my own child even for just a little bit. I intentionally prolonged the transportation spell because I wished to spend more time with you, but it seems I didn't even have the chance to finish it. I'm sorry, little Art, for my selfishness but I have one last request to make… can you be my grandson and call me grandmother just this once?"

"NOO! I don't care about all of that! I'll say it as much as you want if you come with me! Grandma! Grandma! You can't! Not like this!"

"I-I-I… Please, I'm begging you, just come with me. I-I don't know what you did but everything is frozen right now; we can escape! Please, Grandmother, don't go. Not like this!" I held on to Sylvia's claw, desperately trying to pull her away with me.

In my last moment with her, Sylvia's face blossomed into such a beautiful smile that I swear I thought I saw a human.

I could barely make out the words she said, before she pushed me into the portal.

"Thank you my child."

Elder virion pov

As the screen want blank bairon lean closer to me and said, general virion isn't that the scythe that attacked the castle,he is also the one that attacked Arthur and tessia when they were coming back I responded so who was this scythe he has been involved in the most important incident in this war and before the war what kind of rank was he on I thought just as I was thinking the voice spoke again (let me introduce the strongest scythe and the right hand man of the leader of alacrya cadell )