Chapter 22: The Otaku Goes Deeper (And Everyone Panics)
Earth – The Greenwich Sanctuary
The Ancient One stood before her scrying pool, golden symbols floating in the air around her. Her expression, usually serene, was troubled.
Behind her, shadows twisted and Vladimira Tempesta stepped through, her crimson eyes gleaming in the dim light.
"You summoned me," the Vampire Lord said. "That's either very good news or very bad."
"The boy followed the lifeline."
Vladimira's expression shifted—relief, quickly hidden. "Then he's coming home?"
"No." The Ancient One's voice was quiet. "He followed it, but something interrupted. The connection didn't lead to Earth. It led somewhere else, and then... nothing. He vanished from my sight completely."
The silence stretched.
"Nothing?" Vladimira repeated. "You're the Sorcerer Supreme. Nothing vanishes from your sight."
"This did." The Ancient One turned to face her. "I cannot find him. I cannot sense him. It's as if he was plucked from existence entirely."
Vladimira's composure cracked—just slightly. "He's alive. I would know if he were dead."
"Would you?"
The vampire's eyes flashed. "Yes. I would." She paused. "His companions—the Arrancar, the demon, my Anastasia. They're still at his apartment, waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"For him to come back." Vladimira's voice softened. "They've been there since he disappeared. Five days now."
"The time differential," the Ancient One murmured. "Wherever he is, time moves differently."
"Can you find him?"
The Ancient One was silent for a long moment. "I've searched every realm I can access. Every dimension. Every pocket of reality between. He's not there."
"Then where is he?"
"I don't know." The words seemed to cost her. "I don't know."
---
Meliodas's Apartment – Harlem
Gravi sat on the couch, staring at nothing. She'd been there for hours. Days. Time blurred together.
Lyra paced, her notebook forgotten. Anastasia stood by the window, watching the street below as if expecting Meliodas to walk around the corner at any moment.
Natasha leaned against the wall, her expression carefully neutral. But her eyes kept drifting to the empty space where he'd been.
"It's been five days," Lyra said. "Five days. He's never been gone this long."
Gravi's jaw tightened. "The first time was five days. He came back."
"This is different. The Ancient One can't find him. The vampire lord can't find him." Lyra's voice cracked. "No one can find him."
Anastasia's hands clenched. "He's alive. I would know if he weren't."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
Natasha pushed off the wall. "We need to do something. Sitting here isn't helping."
"Do what?" Gravi's voice was sharp. "We don't know where he is. We don't know how to get there. We don't know anything."
The room fell silent.
Then, faintly, almost imperceptibly—a pulse. Not magical. Not physical. Something deeper.
Everyone felt it.
"What was that?" Lyra whispered.
Anastasia's eyes widened. "I don't know. But it came from... somewhere. Not here."
Gravi stood. "Is it him?"
"I... I can't tell. It's too faint. Too far." Lyra closed her eyes, reaching with her demon senses. "He's alive. I can feel that much. But where... I don't know."
"Then we wait," Gravi said. "We wait and we hope."
---
The Gargantuan Wilds – Somewhere Deep
Meliodas had no idea that five days had passed on Earth.
For him, it had been a single night in Kaelen's cave.
He woke to Bud pulsing urgently against his side.
Through Kaelen's telepathy, the prince's voice echoed in his mind. "Something's wrong. I feel it too."
Meliodas was on his feet in an instant, swords drawn. {Observation Haki} extended, and he felt it—a massive presence, moving toward them. Not fast. But deliberate. Searching.
"It's coming," he sent back.
"What do we do?"
Meliodas looked at Bud. The creature pulsed—not fear, but excitement. The call. Closer.
"It's connected to what Bud's looking for. Whatever's calling him—it's sending something to find us."
"That's good?"
"That depends on whether it wants to eat us or talk to us."
Kaelen's expression through the link said he strongly preferred neither option.
The ground shook.
The titan was close.
---
They ran.
Kaelen's Blink magic let him scout ahead, returning with split-second warnings. Meliodas's {Hyperawareness} tracked the massive presence behind them, gaining slowly but surely.
"It's herding us," Kaelen sent, appearing beside Meliodas after a blink. "Every time I try to find a way around, it shifts direction. It wants us going this way."
"Where's 'this way' leading?"
Kaelen's face went pale even through the telepathic connection. "Deeper. Where the old legends say no one returns from."
"Legends?"
"In my kingdom, we have stories about this forest. Passed down for generations." Kaelen's mental voice dropped. "They say the deeper you go, the closer you get to the place where the first dragons slept. Where an ancient dragon was sealed away eons ago."
Meliodas blinked. "An ancient dragon?"
"Yes. The oldest, most powerful of them all. The legends say it was sealed away where no one could find it." Kaelen shook his head. "Everyone thinks they're just stories to scare children."
"But you don't think that?"
"In this world, legends about this forest? They're not myths." Kaelen met his eyes. "They're warnings. Every story, every tale—they all came from someone who survived long enough to tell them. We just stopped believing because believing meant the danger was real."
Bud pulsed—agreement, excitement. Yes. Need. Must go.
Meliodas looked ahead. "Then we're going into the legends."
"Yes."
"...And you're still coming?"
Kaelen's mental laugh was desperate, defiant. "I told you. I'm done with the 'can't' ".
They ran.
---
The forest changed as they went deeper.
The trees grew taller, older, their bark covered in runes that pulsed with ancient light. The ground became softer, more organic—like walking on the skin of some sleeping giant. The air grew thick with magic, so dense Meliodas could taste it. The ambient infusion he'd accepted earlier hummed in his veins, stronger now, resonating with the power of this place.
Kaelen's Blink became harder to use—the spatial magic interfered with by the sheer power in the atmosphere.
"I can't go as far," he admitted. "Something's blocking me."
"We're close."
Bud pulsed—confirmation. Very close.
The titan behind them had stopped. Not because it had given up—because it had done its job. They were where it wanted them.
Ahead, the forest opened into a clearing.
And in that clearing stood something that shouldn't exist.
---
It was a structure—ancient, crumbling, but unmistakably built. Pillars of black stone rose toward the canopy, carved with images of dragons, titans, battles that spanned ages. A doorway loomed at its center, large enough for beings the size of buildings.
Kaelen stared, his face pale. Through the link, Meliodas felt his shock. "The Dragon's Sanctum."
"You know it?"
"Every child in every kingdom knows the stories. The place where the first dragons gathered. Where the ancient one was sealed away." His mental voice dropped to a whisper. "The stories say it was lost. That no one could ever find it."
"Your legends said it was real."
"All legends about this forest are real." Kaelen looked at him with haunted eyes. "That's what makes it so terrifying."
Meliodas's {Knowledge Mage} activated, feeding him fragments.
---
[LOCATION: THE DRAGON'S SANCTUM]
An ancient structure predating the current civilizations of this world.
Built by the first dragons—the progenitors of all draconic life.
Sealed for millennials.
Until now.
Bud's presence has awakened it.
Inside rests the crystal core of a dragon whelp—a young dragon, born in this world, left behind when its parent ascended to a higher realm.
The legends of this world remember it as "ancient" because they have no concept of what true cosmic dragons are.
This core contains the whelp's memories, its essence, a trace of a soul.
For Bud, this is not just a call.
It is an inheritance.
---
Meliodas read the notification and understood.
The legends were wrong—or rather, incomplete. The humans of this world called it ancient because they had no frame of reference. Compared to them, any dragon was ancient. But compared to what Bud came from? This was a child. A whelp. Left behind.
And Bud needed what was inside.
"What's wrong?" Kaelen asked, sensing his distraction.
"Nothing. Just... processing."
Bud pulsed—impatience, longing. Inside. Need. Now.
Meliodas looked at Bud. At the creature that had followed him from the Birth World, that had become his friend, his responsibility.
"We have to go in."
Kaelen grabbed his arm. "You can't be serious. If even half the legends are true—"
"All the legends are true. You said it yourself."
"That's not comforting!"
Meliodas met his eyes. "Bud needs something in there. Something important. I'm not leaving him."
Kaelen stared at him for a long moment. Then he straightened his shoulders.
"I'm still coming with you."
"Why?"
"Because I've spent my whole life being told what I can't do. Can't claim my birthright. Can't be a prince. Can't survive." He met Meliodas's eyes. "I'm done with can't. And if the legends are true, then maybe—just maybe—there's something in there that can help me too."
Meliodas smiled. "Then let's go."
They walked toward the doorway.
The ground shook one last time—not a warning, but an acknowledgment. The titan had done its job. Now it was their turn.
They stepped inside.
---
[END OF CHAPTER 22]