"Gods, I hate the nobility. They breathe arrogance like ordinary people breathe air."
I spent the next few hours as a prisoner in all but name. Prince Folia—that royal bastard—didn't even bother to ask for my cooperation. He simply stated, with the casual indifference of a god, that I would be their servant for as long as we were stranded on this hellish island.
I sat there, sharpening a jagged piece of metal, mentally calculating my chances. Against him? Zero. He could probably kill me twelve times in a single minute without breaking a sweat. His sister, Lady Yulea—or 'Lady Piece of Trash' as I preferred—was perhaps even worse. She had a cold, predatory aura that suggested she could kill me eighteen times in that same minute and enjoy every second of it. My only hope was the guards, but even they looked like seasoned veterans.
As I lost myself in fantasies of their demise, Yulea's voice cut through my thoughts like a whip.
"Hey, you voyeuristic idiot. Move. Make yourself useful instead of staring at us like a starving dog," she snapped. Her eyes were filled with such disgust that it felt like a physical weight.
I felt my jaw clench so hard it ached. I had to stay calm. I had to survive. I squeezed my own hand under my cloak, my nails digging so deep into my palm that blood began to trickle between my fingers. The pain helped ground me.
"As you wish, Lady Blowhard," I muttered, my voice dripping with forced subservience.
The air vanished.
In a heartbeat, Yulea released a pulse of her aura so concentrated it felt like a mountain had been dropped on my shoulders. I was slammed into the obsidian sand, the breath driven from my lungs. I was pinned there, unable to move a finger, while she stared down at her nails as if I weren't even worth her attention.
Desperate and drowning in her pressure, I reached for my Lügen-Magie. I needed a way out. I needed a miracle.
Interestingly, the guards around us had been whispering earlier. I had overheard them misinterpreting my "Human Demon" moniker; they thought I possessed high-level Transformation Magic. They believed my demonic nature wasn't just a name, but a biological fact.
As I channeled my mana through the lens of their belief, something horrific happened. My left arm didn't just glow—it warped.
Muscle fibers tore and re-knitted themselves into black, corded sinew. My skin turned a bruised, obsidian purple, and jagged, bone-like protrusions erupted from my elbow and knuckles. My fingernails lengthened into obsidian talons.
But my body—my human, fragile body—began to reject it.
"AGH—!" I screamed, the sound muffled by the sand.
The pain was beyond anything I had ever experienced. It felt as if the Immortal Guardian, the legendary executioner of the Equal Kingdom of Wationu, was slowly dismembering me with a heated blade. My veins felt like they were filled with molten lead. I truly thought my heart would stop from the sheer agony of the graft.
Just as I felt my consciousness fading, a high-pitched roar echoed through the temple ruins.
Ilea.
My little dragon didn't hesitate. She unleashed a focused stream of Frost-Fire, aiming it directly at Yulea's feet. It wasn't enough to hurt the Princess, but it was enough of a distraction to break her concentration. The crushing weight of the aura vanished.
Prince Folia finally decided to intervene. He stepped between us, his face unreadable. "Yulea, sister... that's enough," he said quietly.
She glared at him, her eyes burning with resentment. "As you wish, Folia. But watch yourself with this filth. He's more dangerous than he looks."
To my absolute disgust, Folia actually walked over and offered me a hand. I wanted to bite it off, but I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet. My left arm was slowly returning to its human shape, leaving the skin raw and smoking.
"Thank you... for the intervention," I rasped, though the words tasted like ash.
Folia didn't let go of my hand immediately. He was looking at my shoulder—at Ilea. "That is a fascinating crossbreed," he mused. "What is its name?"
"Crossbreed?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. "Her name is Ilea."
"Ilea. A beautiful name," he said, his eyes narrowing with a scholar's curiosity. "It's a rare sight. A hybrid of a Frost Dragon and a Soul Dragon."
I froze. I knew Ilea was a Frost Dragon, but a Soul Dragon?
Legends spoke of the Soul Dragons as one of the most terrifyingly powerful races to ever exist. During the ancient wars against the Elves, they were the ultimate harbingers of destruction, capable of attacking the very essence of a being rather than just their physical form. But they were supposed to be extinct—hunted to the brink of nothingness centuries ago.
Folia watched my reaction with a small, knowing grin. He turned his attention back to me. "That trick with the arm... you couldn't do that before, could you? And don't bother lying; it's bad for your health."
My mind raced. I could play dumb. I could stay silent. I could try to weave another lie. But looking into his eyes, I realized he was testing me. He wanted to see if I was a tool worth keeping or a threat worth eliminating.
"You're right," I said, meeting his gaze. "I couldn't do it before. I don't even know why I can do it now. It felt like my body was trying to turn into something it's not."
Folia's grin widened. "Honesty. How refreshing." He patted my shoulder, though the gesture felt more like a threat than a comfort. "I hope you're telling the truth, for your sake."
Our conversation was cut short by a sound from the jungle—a slithering, heavy rasp against the obsidian rocks.
From the shadows emerged Shadow Snakes. They were at least five meters long, their scales shimmering with a dark, oily light that seemed to swallow the small amount of campfire we had managed to light. Their eyes were glowing red slits, and their fangs dripped with a paralyzing venom that hissed as it hit the ground.
"Well," Folia said, drawing a golden-hilted rapier. "It seems the island wants to test our new guest."
I looked at my left arm, which was still trembling from the transformation. I looked at the snakes. I looked at the Prince.
Fine, I thought, the Shadow-Frost in my blood beginning to hum. Let's see what a 'Human Demon' can really do.
Until next time.