“Israel’s” twin fists were wrapped in floating holy letters, like fireflies trapped in prayer. Jacob once wrestled an archangel, so among the Twelve Disciples-class, its highest-output weapon was, in truth, its fists.

Runes draw on the world’s marrow, the power of “concepts” seeded in all things, like springs running under stone.

Gather keywords, braid concepts, pool belief. Pull “fire” from flame, then use “fire” to kindle flame, like a spark birthing a sunrise.

Any ordinary person who learns a basic alchemy circle to add a hint of the occult can tap it at will, like dipping a ladle into a river. That access itself fits the “Alchemist” concept, a key cut to the lock of the world.

The source and return of every concept—some call it the Akashic Record, some the Realm of Archetypes, some the Causal Horizon, like horizons named for different dawns.

……

What the Knight-Captain didn’t expect was this: Balafaruth’s massive body came from Luciferin—the mecha, not the person—reshaped like iron flowing into a dragon mold. Inside that machine, Yekase had already hidden an alchemy circle.

She added it after returning from Cloudlong City, like stitching a charm into a coat’s lining.

Yekase knew Ling Yi would one day itch to try fighting as Balafaruth. Then this ultra-simple [helloworld_1] circle would auto-trigger, plug her into the terminal, and bless her with the classic “Dragon” concept, like a crest hammered onto a shield.

By the Runic Words’ principle of convergence and assimilation, the more Ling Yi’s shape, speech, and moves screamed “dragon,” the stronger the blessing swelled, pushing her toward a true great wyrm, like mist condensing into rain.

In short:

I’m the dragon, more dragon than you!

…Of course, Yekase never expected stage-acting from Ling Yi, who breaks character like a breeze shreds fog. As long as the silhouette scored full marks, she’d be fine to bolt from a real threat, like a hare darting into reeds.

For regular grunts, any form is a slaughter-form. Whatever. Let her play, like a kite running with its own wind.

……

Reality, however, proved Yekase had vastly underestimated Ling Yi’s creativity in this one arena, like underestimating a stream that hides a waterfall.

Ling Yi teamed with Jiang Bailu. Without knowing Yekase’s careful setup, they stumbled into shaping a dragon so dragon that even Ling Yi nearly believed it—Balafaruth, scaled in myth and mirror.

The result—she traded blows with a Twelve Disciples-class unit and held even, like thunder meeting thunder on a night sea.

With Flash Energy’s “evolution” and Mind Energy’s “survival” braided tight, she even unlocked a second form, like a chrysalis splitting under noon heat.

And that wasn’t the end.

In her second form, Ling Yi’s confidence surged like a tide under a full moon.

So she decided to mimic Sky-Dragon’s classic move: the Adorable Star Ascending Crash—working title.

“[ROAR—!]”

Transformed, Balafaruth vaulted skyward, turning into a single red star stitched into the night’s black silk.

She wheeled around the heavens in red light, loop after loop, like a comet tracing circles; half of Europe saw her silhouette. The fidelity spiked again—wildly, brutally, fiercely—dragon dragon dragon dragon dragon! Her presence swelled fiftyfold, a stormfront of will, brushing a true Dragon Lord’s crown; tyrannical mind, feral swagger.

How could “Israel” resist? What strength could it muster against that tide?

Beep, beep, beep…

The Knight-Captain’s monitors chimed with icy alarm tones, like frost on iron.

A powerful attack had locked onto him, a hawk’s shadow falling on a field mouse.

[All units…]

[Prepare to engage.]

Beep-beep-beep… beep.

The alarm cut off—like a string snapped.

Seven vast crimson rings opened in the sky, like halos cast by a blood moon.

Canted at an angle, they lined up like rails, or a stacked magic battery array, all aimed at “Israel” pinned on the earth like a pinned butterfly.

“This is the Dragon’s Extinction Verse!”

Then the ground shuddered, and meteors fell.

Sound lost meaning, like birds falling silent before a wildfire.

Every sensor flashed death-warnings, like red rain.

Everything the eyes could touch—earth, roofs, the forest’s green bones—was drowned in a surging red column, yet held motionless, like insects ambered in light.

Only “Israel” buckled and flowed, armor warping and slumping into molten slag, like ice under a black sun.

His plating was sanctified, resistant like an anti-magic prison forged from Infinite Power. But point-blank Flash Energy tore it like a reed in a typhoon.

Alarms and pop-ups flooded every knight’s senses, a storm inside their helmets. They thrashed and roared, reaching into the flames of judgment toward the black dragon plunging from the sky—

Seize it! Crush it! Annihilate it!

All nonhuman races must kneel, for humanity is the Lord’s anointed steward of creation!

[Ugh—ghk—]

But his hand never reached Balafaruth, only a breath away, like a dream dissolving at dawn.

The light column ebbed. A spring wind drifted through. Red Fort Town fell quiet, like ripples fading on a pond.

Ling Yi glanced at the forest, like a hunter checking the tree line. She didn’t care if the townsfolk still hid nearby. She left one line behind:

“O child of man. Take what you cherish and flee. Do not return.”

She rose into the sky and vanished, like ink diluted into blue.

……

……

Half a month later, she came to the City of Ivalice. Ling Yi barely remembered the location of Yekase’s apartment, like a thread tugging at a needle’s eye. She planned to surprise the doctor with a preemptive visit—only to find the door locked and still.

She sent Yekase a message. No reply, like a pebble tossed into a well.

?

What happened to the doctor?

Anxiety bit first, like frost at the edges. She pinged Jiang Bailu for news. Read, no reply, like a window shuttered with someone breathing behind it.

???

What were those two up to?

…Could it be the legendary… “secret date”?

“T-this feels a bit…”

Ling Yi knew there was something hazy between the doctor and her disciple. But as a pure-hearted good youth, she’d never chased down what that “hazy” meant, like fog she refused to part with her hands.

Had it already advanced to dating?!

No way?!

Heat rushed to Ling Yi’s cheeks like cherry blossoms blown open, yet a dangerous curiosity budded, whispering show me. Even she couldn’t say why. She reached for the apartment door, fingertips cautious as moth wings.

With Flash Energy, she could pop the lock without a scratch… What would those two be doing inside?

—Click.

The door opened from within.

It was Rice Rice.

“…?”

“Here for the doctor?”

Rice Rice spoke—using Yekase’s voice, like a flute from a cat’s mouth.

Ling Yi wobbled with shock. “Mm, mm…”

Then again, Rice Rice was an alien, and had been Yekase for a few days. Talking wasn’t strange, like a parrot wearing a lab coat.

“I was about to pick her up. Wait inside.”

“Eh? Pick her up? Where is she? Can’t she come back herself?”

“She had a falling-out with her assistant.”

“Bailu-jie? They… even they fight?”

In Ling Yi’s mind, Yekase and Jiang Bailu had never argued, not once. Even half a year ago, when she first got the Blade Armor and Jiang Bailu went off the deep end and attacked them, they could talk face to face, like two cliffs sharing the same sea wind.

For them to break, to the point the doctor needed Rice Rice to “bring her home”… had things gone that wrong? Did they fight?

“I’m coming too!” Ling Yi said at once, like a spark leaping.

Rice Rice didn’t answer, which was consent. One human, one cat took a hover platform toward Bangli University, like leaves carried by a steady current.

They went straight to the lab.

Rice Rice popped the lock with a slick tentacle, and slid into the dim room. Ling Yi followed and hit the lights, like dawn flooding a cave.

…Yekase was lying on the lab bench, boiling mango pomelo sago in a 500 ml beaker over an alcohol lamp, like a witch brewing sweetness.

“Huh?”

The scene was too surreal; Ling Yi’s mind blue-screened, like a dropped crystal.

“You’re out already,” Rice Rice said, voice a calm ripple.

“Mm. The stacks filled, so I came out,” Yekase answered, like a drawer closed.

“Share the drink.”

“You’re a cat. You can’t have—hey, hey, don’t change shape here. Fine, I’ll share.”

Groaning, Yekase fetched a 50 ml mini-beaker and poured a doll-sized cup, sliding it to Rice Rice, who had hopped onto the bench like a smug otter.

“Ah, Doctor, I want some too—”

Food and drink first is never wrong—after half a year, Ling Yi’s coping had evolved, like armor gaining a second plate.

Yekase sighed and split another 100 ml from the remaining 450 for Ling Yi. She took a sip. Mixed by someone who drinks full sugar daily, it was sweet enough to sting, like honey poured on sunlight.

“—No, wait!”

Ling Yi suddenly shouted, like a bell struck.

“Not tasty?”

“No, I just remembered why I came!”

She widened her clear eyes at Yekase and asked, word by word, like beads sliding on a string:

“Doctor, are you dating Bailu-jie?”

“—Pfft!”

Yekase sprayed mango pomelo sago like a burst of rain.

“Ah, guilty! You are dating!”

“No! We’re not!”

“Bailu-jie told us on Sky Island, ‘The doctor doesn’t understand people’ and ‘The doctor can’t love.’ Turns out that was misdirection! So underhanded!”

“She said that too…”

Yekase scratched her head, lost for words, like a compass spinning.

Jiang Bailu had ignored time and place to play rough with her more than once. But this time was over the line. Yekase had a sinking sense that Bailu might leave to do something, and so wanted to plant a sharp memory before she went, skipping the messy farewell and the explaining, like tearing a letter instead of reading it.

Anger bubbled, but then Yekase realized—wasn’t this what the people she left behind always felt? Like shadows stretching when the sun runs.

“I…”

How had she been carried all this time, how had she been trusted—like a child shouldered through a crowd?

Yekase lowered her head, dazed, like a lantern guttering.

“Since that ‘can’t love’ and ‘doesn’t understand people’ were misunderstandings, then I should have the right to compete, right?” Ling Yi slid under Yekase’s lowered face, like a fox peeking under a gate.

“Eh? Compete… No, why can’t we all be together? Why fixate on a one-to-one? It’s not like if she’s here, I’ll stop caring for you.”

Yekase’s confusion wasn’t an act; Ling Yi believed, doubted, then re-confirmed her thought-pattern, like testing a bridge’s planks.

This person’s view of love was twisted to the root.

She had once lost, and didn’t even remember losing; and remembering it hurt her worse, laying on guilt like wet clothes.

So—Yekase wouldn’t lose anyone she cherished again. She wouldn’t lean toward anyone who leaned on her, like refusing to tilt even when the wind begged.

Ling Yi, Jiang Bailu, Lu Yao, Ivaris—she would be their best friend and supporter, but never a lover. Never the “only.”

That was the “price” she chose to pay, like coin offered at a shrine.

“…It’s okay.”

Ling Yi hugged her from below, arms like warm ribbons.

“You’ve always supported me. It’s my turn to support you. Listen, okay? I’ll never betray you. I’ll believe every word you say to me, even if I know you’re lying. I’ll do every task you give me, even with no reason given.”

“……”

“Because I like TS girls the most.”

“Could you please not say that to the space between my legs?”