Chapter 346: Assimilation

Early Evening - Late Summer : The Tree of Prayer, Valtivar | Siratha

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"So, you're going to finally reveal yourself, huh?"

There was a short pause before the air next to my ear gently vibrated, relaying a deep draconic voice. "I was originally going to give it some more time, but there is no point in delaying it further."

I paused before turning my head slightly and shooting a gaze up into the branches of a nearby treant, meeting the stare of a beautiful draconic woman confidently sipping a glass of piotita on the roof of the most expensive tavern in town, overlooking the base of the Tree of Prayer. "Is that so?" It was Hera.

Taking a casual sip, she leaned up against the railing, cloaking all but two of the wings sprouting from her back to avoid people raising suspicions of her. "Well, as you said the other day, I should strike while the iron is hot."

It had been about a week and a half since the ceremony began at that point, and with me not feeling comfortable leaving Lief alone after the appearance of Baldur, I had simply loitered around her at the base of the Tree of Prayer, cloaked with light magic while speaking to Hera about what was to come. "I meant that as more of a general statement." *pat* I continued as I laid my head back down. "The iron has already started to cool. You wouldn't want to hit it now."

She smirked as she leaned into the railing. "Hoh? And what makes you think that?"

"The assimilation of Bahamut and Siratha was when the iron was struck; the moment of reformation that cleaned out the 'impurities' and started a new era where dragons could start openly worshiping a Diety other than Bahamut... It's a change not everyone could accept, but things have finally started to stabilize. If my family or I were fully backing you with your sudden reappearance, I'm sure it would raise suspicions about our intentions. It would be too much change too fast and just destabilize things... It would make the iron brittle."

"Not necessarily..." She took a quick sip of her drink as she looked down at a young dragon and elf playing together in the street. "Currently, there are two main groups in Bahamut: those that support Siratha and those that do not, both sides will despise me. However, the disdain I'd receive from those who support Siratha's growing power and influence would be quelled by your support, and those who don't like the assimilation would be quelled by me, a demigod capable of filling the gap Bahamut has left vacant for so long."

I immediately raised my eyebrows with an unconvinced look. "But you're forgetting the public sentiment toward you... What makes you think the people who don't like me would automatically accept you?"

"Because in their eyes, even if you are supporting me, I am your opposition... As it stands, Bahamut has no God or even demigods. If you wanted to, you could flip the table on them and rule Bahamut whether they wanted it or not. No one could stop you..." She let out a short breath before moving her gaze back to me. "With me, they would have a force that can oppose you, a power that can keep you in check... Even if my reputation puts a bad taste in their mouth, they would have to deal with it in order to gain my strength."

-I didn't think about that...- It was actually a pretty solid plan, appealing to public sentiment in order to take the upper hand. Her only issue would be getting the support of those within the Elder Hall and highly influential figures like Amphitrite and Myles to preemptively quell what would be the leading voices of the opposition. -Although there will always be those that speak up...- "What do you plan to do about those that use your sudden usurpment of political power to spark a rebellion?"

"Well, more than likely, it would be sparked by those who were related to the original slandering of my name or are on the side of the Holy Kingdom, seeing it as an opportunity to sow discourse."

-So she wants to use it as an opportunity to clean out the rest of the traitors as well...- "It seems like you've got it all figured out, huh... Just don't forget to at least get the Elder Hall on your side before you do anything crazy..." Although there was still a lingering worry in the back of my mind, I simply shook it off as it appeared. "When are you planning on leaving?"

"Haha, you say that like you aren't coming with me." Quickly finishing her drink, she moved the cup away with her aura to refill it. "I plan to wait for Lief to awaken. I doubt that will be too far away."

-That's true...- After a week and a half, Lief's condition had progressed greatly, and even though it took a little longer than I expected, she had almost entirely finished her evolution. "She'll probably wake up at some point today." -In the meantime, I need to figure out what I'm going to do with Krystallo...-

Ever since the ceremony began, she had stuck to Hera like glue, receiving some lessons on politics, public image, and magic from her while receiving guidance from Ilios or me occasionally. But that didn't mean everything was perfect even if she herself didn't notice.

-While I want to leave her with Lief so she can resume her lessons on politics, I don't think I can...- In recent days, she had stuck with Hera at all times, even out in public or when Hera bought out the roof of the most lavish tavern in town just to silently sip on piotita. [1]

To the elves and demihumans who thought Krystallo was really a demihuman, they had begun spreading rumors that she was perhaps the apostle or child of Dagr, while the dragons who were in touch with the happenings in Bahamut were quick to tie her to the Ragnaroks, saying Hera was her guardian while Mother and Father were busy.

But while such rumors weren't exactly bad since that was all they were, considering the way the Aesir was watching Siratha, I didn't want to risk a target landing on her, as both circulating rumors had the ability to put her in danger. -She needs to go back to Bahamut for a while.. if she stays by Father, it'll only reinforce the idea that she's a Ragnarok, and if she sticks to Lief she'll seem like a young apostle...-

Plus, I didn't have the need to ask Krystallo herself what she wanted because I knew already.

"Sister Hera! Sister Hera! I did it!" Happily trotting up the railing next to Hera was Krystallo, holding out a small, glowing ball of ice.

It was something Hera told her to make in order to improve her fine mana control while isolating it from its surroundings to prevent it from melting at the same time. "Wow! Would you look at that!" Hera's expression lightened instantly. "Hasn't it only been two hours? How did you make it so fast?"

On the outside, it looked like a normal ball of ice, but instead, it was a ball utilizing a very specific fractal pattern that made the sphere essentially disintegrate when any kind of pressure was applied. "It wasn't that bad! I just created a thin disk first like Brother said, then rotated and repeated the pattern to fill the sphere from the inside out!"

Gently picking it up with her aura, Hera inspected it quite closely. "To get the fractal so small as well... Being full of surprises must run in your blood..."

Krystallo immediately puffed up her chest with pride, and before I knew it, a few hours slipped away from me.

Hera and I simply guided Krystallo through a few other spells to work on her control until Ilios eventually got up from his nap with a stretch and trotted over to the railing. -He felt that, huh...-

Even when all the way up in a treant over a dozen kilometers away, he felt the faint vortex of mana around Lief finally come to an end.

It wasn't more than a few seconds after that that her body finally went limp and collapsed to the ground, falling from the kneel that had held since the start of the ceremony. *thump*

-She's finally up, huh?- *pat* Standing up with a stretch, I sat down and looked over her, watching her brain activity slowly increase until finally.

*flutter* Her eyes twitched before slowly opening as she rolled onto her back. "Hmmm..." It was like she was waking up from a good nap... At least until she saw me looming over her.

"AH!" *VWOOM-FWOOOSH* In a flurry of panic, she blasted out her aura and threw herself into a kneel, clearly not remembering what the situation is. "I-I'M S-SORRY MY LORD!" She immediately yelled out with slurred words and a lisp, not yet used to the difference in the strength of her tongue after her evolution.

Oddly enough, I felt an odd pride seeing her kneeling there. She resembled my humanoid form so closely it made me feel like I was looking at my own child. "You just finished your evolution. What is there to be sorry about?"

"Huh?" Finally remembering, she looked down at her pale hands and noticed the black strands of hair hanging next to her face and went wide eyed.

Her hair had turned black, her eyes had turned silver, her tail had gotten longer, and she had even sprouted a single small horn next to her right ear with some dragon scales lining her spine.

But while those changes were enough to nearly completely alter her own identity, the changes inside her body were far greater.

"How do you feel?" I spoke through a smile, more than satisfied with the changes to her body. -I wonder how strong she is now...-

"I.. feel..." She paused as she clenched her fists a few times and ran her hand down her body, through the clothes I had temporarily made for her. "I feel s-so.. different..."

"Well, of course! Did you think an elixir I gave to you would be weak?"

Her eyes slowly lit up as she used her aura to look over herself. "Of course not!" Looking up at me, her eyes sparkled with a childish pride and joy similar to what I would usually see in Krystallo.

But as I was about to offer a simple 'spar', her gaze stiffened with hostility and shot up into the treant behind me.

"Haha, that's just Hera, Lief." I spoke calmly.

But rather than relief, her expression warped to confusion. "Huh?!"

I honestly didn't know what to think of it. -Could you not sense her before?-

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[1] - She was also talking to Vas at those times, the people around just didn't know

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