"Hmm…I guess it's about time we go." Aria said, pausing the conversation she was having with Veldora, much to his dismay.
"D-do you have to? I was getting onto the part where I fought with Dagruel."
"You don't need to tell me, I know it was a draw." Aria smiled knowingly, as she patted Fenrir, signaling him to get ready to go. She had already milked Veldora for all he was worth, whether it be skills or information.
Thanks to him, Aria now had a rough estimate of where she was in the timeline, and she could also use Storm Magic, which required Veldora's specific factor, as her Essence gave her an archive of a elemental-less True Dragon factor.
'I don't even know how that is possible, but who cares, I'm pretty sure I could have learnt True Dragon Magic because of Essence of Blank. More importantly, with the Unique Skill I gained the moment I entered the world, I can actually personally make use of my archive instead of being limited to creating with it. So yeah, using all species intrinsic skills should be possible.'
The Unique Skill she had gained was truly one that suited her; [Evolution].
Aria instinctively knew that the skill allowed her to evolve skills and race in the direction she desires. It had four sub-skills, namely; Thought Acceleration, Organic Domination, Mass Reproduction, and Mimicry.
The first was self-explanatory, she used it to analyse Veldora, and thanks to Living Anomaly or Essence of Blank she was able to increase her thoughts from the usual thousand factor of Unique Skills to over a million.
As for Organic Domination, it gave her total control over organic matter and the ability to analyse it. With this skill, Aria can create, manipulate, shape, transform, heal and/or destroy everything that lives. She could easily manipulate diseases and create biological duplicates or plagues.
Mass Reproduction, on the other hand, was more or less useless for Aria who had her essence. It allowed her to create offspring using biological material that bears her DNA, which also extends to magicules.
Mimicry was probably the most helpful skill from this Unique Skill. Similar to Rimuru, Aria could now replicate an analyzed target's form and racial characteristics, with capabilities equal to or above the original. With this sub-skill, she could easily swap between intrinsic skills of species, by making their specific DNA—or factor dominant.
"W-what? How did you know it ended as a draw?" Veldora was confused as fuck, before realisation hit him, "Could it be that Dagruel already told you?"
"Something like that. Anyways, there is one favour I want to ask of you before I leave, give me a name." Aria asked, or more like she demanded.
"Hm? How can you not have a name if you're an Awakened Demon Lord?" Veldora asked curiously.
'Oh? So that's the conclusion he came to after everything that played out. I can see why.' Aria thoughts lasted less than a nanosecond, before she answered, "I have a name, Aria, but it's not engraved onto my soul."
"Oh, I see. So would you like to be Named 'Aria'?" Veldora said in a understanding tone and asked.
"No need. I will always be Aria, whether the name is engraved or not. Echidna will do." Aria stated with a calm smile.
Veldora who heard her words, couldn't help but look at her with respect, so he asked, "Are you sure you want name your self 'Viper'?"
"I know Echidna means viper, and the name is more suitable for me than you think." Aria hopped off of Fenrir, and while midair, in less than a second, she shifted into her monster form for the first time.
Veldora couldn't help believe what he was seeing, but he had no choice but to, as he had seen her transform before his eyes.
"Boo." If before Veldora had slight doubt, it was all gone when the hundred-headed silver serpent opened its maws, releasing booming voice akin to Aria's.
"W-What are you?"
The serpent's amber eyes shone with a strange light, and its booming voice once again rang out in the sealed cave along with its Haki, "Can you not tell, Brother?"
"What?! [Dragon Spirit Haki]?!" For someone to have that type of intrinsic Haki, it only meant one thing, they were a True Dragon!
"So, will you name me?" Over a hundred eyes locked onto Veldora's sealed form, making him feel uncomfortable, and unfortunately for him, he couldn't look anywhere but her eyes, as the runes along her body made him feel dread.
"A-are you sure you want me to name you, S-sister?" Veldora stuttered the last word meekly.
Transforming back to her human form in a moment, a teasing smile spread across her lips, "Oh my~ Is big brother Veldora trying to win some brownie points from his little sister~?" She said, while using [Thought Communication] to make him understand the concept of 'brownie points'.
"S-so that's what it is…I-I guess you could say that I am, both Velzard and Velgrynd always attack me for no reason, so I don't want my little sister to do the same." Veldora admitted, in a rather pitiful way at that.
Aria who heard his complaint couldn't help but roll her eyes. No reason? Bah! Who was he kidding! He had literally destroyed Luminous' kingdom.
"Then you have no need to worry, I'm not so easy to piss off, so hurry up and name me, you don't want to piss me off now do you?" Aria said the first part nonchalantly, while flashing a gentle smile as she said the second half.
Not easy to piss off? What bullshit! Veldora really wanted to roar at the injustice he was experiencing.
But of course he didn't, from their interactions so far, he could tell that this little sister of his is way more reasonable then their older sisters—something that actually made him shed a tear, it means her older counterparts hadn't polluted her mind.
It was an achievement that deserved a, 'Subarashii! Ahem. If I keep her waiting too long she might snap.'
Clearing his throat to recover whatever dignity he had remaining, the Storm Dragon announced, "Starting from today, you shall be known as Echidna!!!"
"I guess that's it, huh?" Aria muttered as she clenched and unclenched her hand, unsurprised at barely feeling any change.
"Mhm. It was Equal Naming, so you wouldn't feel your strength increase much, Echidna."
"You can call me Aria, it's the name I have more attachment to, and only those who I'll come to consider friends and family will be allowed to call me by it." Aria stated.
Veldora couldn't help feel happy at what he heard, a sister of his actually considered him family! It was probably the best happiest news of his life! Still, he felt that this could be better, so he suggested, "Aria, since the naming we did is known as Equal Naming, wouldn't it better if we shared a name too?"
"Are you really trying to gaslight me, Veldora?" Aria eyed him with an amused smile.
"Of course not! Actually, what does gaslight mean, is it some sort of attack?"
"Nothing. Anyhow, I do not mind sharing a name with you, it'll actually make things more convenient and interesting for me in the future." Aria said with a smug smile, as if she knew something he didn't.
"Convenient?"
"Don't think too much. Tempest. That shall be surname we will share, so from now on you shall be known as Veldora Tempest, and I, Aria Echidna Tempest."
"What a good name, sister! Starting from today I'll be Veldora Tempest!"
"That's enough. You don't need to shout anymore." Aria said, making him immediately shut up.
"…."
"Good. Now it's time Fenrir and I finally leave." Aria reminded, making Fenrir who was ignored all this time perk up, while throwing a glare at the stupid Lizard who has hogged all his Mother's attention.
Aria who saw this chuckled and reassured him, "Don't worry dear, your fur will always be better than his scales."
"Of course, Mother!" Fenrir gave Veldora a look that Aria could somehow decipher as, 'Heh. Shame on you stupid lizard, I'll always be Mother's favourite.'
"Fenrir, you really are cute!" Aria couldn't help but laugh as she pet him, the wolf of course relished her affection.
"…."
Veldora, on the other hand, was depressed. His majestic scales apparently couldn't compare to mere fur! But before he could dwell on whether he should change his scales, Aria's voice sounded.
"See you later Veldora. By the way, you don't have to worry about dying to get out of the [Infinity Prison], just remember, if you meet an intelligent slime, you're free to grant them our shared name." Veldora couldn't even give a response, as Aria had already walked through a portal she created.
'But an intelligent slime? This new sister of mine might really not be as sane as I thought.'
***
A/N: Shorter than previous chapters, but hope you enjoy.
By the way, try recommend titles for Aria as a True Dragon, the ones I currently have in mind are:
Deviant Dragon (I was considering this TBH).
Monstrosity Dragon.
Aberrant Dragon.
Chaos Dragon (This one is kinda cliche in my opinion).