Chapter Text
He was losing.
Ryuga was losing, and he was acutely aware of the fact.
Was he going to wait for Kenta and the others to show up so that they could work together to put down a god?
Of course not. He was going to go all-out in a bid to destroy a god.
He chose to ignore that Nemesis, the God of Destruction, had casually shut down his attempts to use his special move, and the one time he had allowed it, he had used a facsimile of L-Drago to stop him. That enraged Ryuga more than anything else. How dare this puny god wield the power of the Dragon Emperor?!
Ryuga consciously chose to ignore that Nemesis was more powerful. He chose to ignore that Nemesis had not used a single special move yet. He chose to ignore that the other legendary bladers were at most two minutes away from helping him. He’d done a number on the God of Destruction; They’d have no problem taking him down together. He chose to ignore that his body was broken. He chose to ignore that his next move would quite possibly be his last.
Because none of that mattered right now.
Another collision of the two beys produced an explosion worthy of being called a nuke, blowing Ryuga off his feet. He was sent cartwheeling through the air, until he eventually crashed into the ground and rolled onto his face.
“Yes, YES! That’s really good! A worm should crawl on the ground like that!”
And then there was Doji. The man was a cockroach, unable to stay dead. Even his voice was disgusting,
“After all, this is the limit of your power!”
An hour ago, Ryuga would have visibly reacted to that. But as he struggled to his feet, he realized that he couldn’t spare him the attention.
“Ahahaha! Now, the power of the Gods will squash you! That is a fitting end for a worm! Ahahahaha!”
“Does he not know how to shut up?” The thought was fleeting in his mind as he finally got back onto his feet.
“What do you have to say? Tell me, in worm words! Ahahahahaha!”
“I will…… Not lose!” Ryuga grunted out, and the fire within him burned just a little bit brighter when he saw that they were visibly taken aback.
“Even if my opponent is a god, I will defeat anyone who stands in my way, do you hear me?!” His body was surrounded by flames and his vision narrowed until Doji and Rago’s lackey were out of the picture. “My name is Ryuga! I reign over this world as the strongest, the Dragon Emperor himself!”
He saw Rago take a step back, and in turn, didn’t spare a second to press the advantage. He flew forwards, a single step carrying him for several feet.
“WAAAAAHHH! Ultimate Move: Dragon Emperor Life Destructor!”
“Ragh! Nemesis!”
He knew that this was it. Unlike with Tsubasa, he was genuinely putting everything he had into this move, which meant that it was going to kill him.
The beys collided, harder than any two beys in history. Had they not been fighting on consecrated ground, they would’ve likely destroyed half the planet. He could feel L-Drago breaking apart, but for an instant, he saw Nemesis get pushed back, and for a second, Rago panicked.
“HHRRRAAAAAAAA!”
Ryuga put everything he had left into that one attack. If Rago could panic, then it meant that Nemesis wasn’t truly invincible, and if he were to die like this, then he would do so with pride. Let it be said that when he died, he took a god with him.
The subsequent explosion nearly cracked the planet in half.
And he knew that it was over.
Gingka’s group arrived seconds later, just in time to miss his great speech, and also just in time to witness his defeat.
The moment the explosion had subsided, he had realized that he was done for.
He had given it his all, and it had been for nothing, as evidenced by Nemesis still going strong, knocking L-Drago back like flicking a bug off one’s shoulder.
“You have done well to last this long against Nemesis!” Rago announced, much more confident than he had been ten seconds ago. “Here is your reward! Take it!”
Ryuga just stood there, unable to react.
“Special Move: Armageddon!”
He felt L-Drago break even further as the blast knocked him off his feet and out cold. He could vaguely feel the impact with the ground as his consciousness faded away.
He had not expected to get it back.
“Not yet, Ryuga.” The voice of L-Drago resonated within his mind. L-Drago must’ve kept him alive, however temporary.
There was also a large battle going on, and among that, he could clearly hear Kenta’s voice.
He instinctively made a blind grab for L-Drago, knowing exactly where his bey would be. Yes, there was one thing left to do. While a younger version of him would’ve done so, he would not let his selfishness cause the end of the world. They were all idealistic fools with no idea of what it meant to reach the next level, except Kenta, but he didn’t have a star fragment, nor had he trained long enough to take Nemesis on.
Without his star fragment, they had no way of stopping Nemesis.
Not that Kenta was doing bad. Even when surrounded by legendary bladers, the shrimp was putting up a fight worthy of being called one, engaging Nemesis head on. Sure, he was losing, and his bey was being destroyed, but the fact that he had lasted this long against Nemesis was no small feat.
He felt a surge of pride as a teacher, finally making a decision without taking himself or his pride in his own strength into consideration.
For the first time, he made a decision that was entirely altruistic. He had nothing to gain from this decision while costing him his last hope of survival. Sure, Nemesis would wipe out 90% of all life, but it was useless to be a god when there was no one to pray to you. He could survive and wait for the opportunity to strike.
But he wasn’t going to do that because this wasn’t about him. This was about the people who barely knew each other yet stood side-by-side to fight a god.
He did not hesitate to give his unofficial pupil a fighting chance as flames engulfed him once more.
But these weren’t L-Drago’s golden flames. These were the white and blue flames of the star fragment which he was expelling, gathering the energy outside his body.
He saw Kenta look at him with hope, and decided to tell him one final fact before his body gave out.
“For one brief shining moment, I got serious. I promised.”
With a roar, he launched a broken L-Drago for what would very likely be the last time.
“Take it, Kenta!”
He put everything he had left into giving Kenta his star fragment. As he did, he could feel his body and his bey finally exceed the limit. He gave a final smile that Kenta would never see, as his body and bey finally disintegrated.
He did not turn into ash, nor did he teleport. It was as if in a final bid for time, L-Drago had freed his spirit from his body by not-quite-consuming it. His death was now inevitable, but at least he now had a few more minutes.
Boy, were those few minutes worth it.
He had been able to watch Kenta beat the crap out of the God of Destruction and had destroyed his number 1 lackey’s bey in one shot. Nemesis had escaped and had returned the favor by destroying everyone, but then Kenta had somehow used Ryuga’s own absorption abilities to gather energy from the entire world. That Hikaru girl had made an appearance and had succeeded in distracting Nemesis for a full five seconds, which spoke more about her guts than her power. But then again, she had faced him after all.
She had gotten absolutely destroyed, of course, but it had given Kenta and Gingka time to launch a final assault. Thanks to Hikaru’s distraction, they were able to launch a brand new joint special move that had finally done the god in.
And then it was done, for good. His work here was done. He had exhausted all of his energy, so he could only hope that when L-Drago managed to pull himself together in a few years, the next Dragon Emperor would realize exactly what they inherited.
He could feel his soul ceasing to exist, but not before something hooked around him and dragged him off, with L-Drago’s spirit in tow.
All of a sudden, he found himself lying on a stone floor, which was a lot more than he could’ve asked for. Motor control was also a blessing. With a grunt of effort, he pushed himself off the ground and took stock of his surroundings. The first thing he saw was L-Drago, still spinning slowly, and his vision tunneled. He ignored the red horned giant behind the mahogany desk. He gently picked up his bey, and only then did he allow his senses to expand.
The red giant made him take a step back. Not out of fear, but sheer bewilderment.
“Who’re you? And where am I?”
The giant peered over his desk and looked down at Ryuga.
“I’m King Yemma, and this is my mahogany desk. As for where you are, well, you’re dead. Or supposed to be. Your body somehow survived dying, which means a lot of paperwork for me.”
“And you’re the God of the Dead, I’m guessing.” Ryuga had adjusted by this point. His spirit was calmer than it had been before.
“You know what, sure, let’s go with that. Now, the thing is that you are only half-dead, which means you’re only half in my jurisdiction. Now while I would do the paperwork, I really don’t have the time because Goku is probably going to die again today. So, I’m going to use the space-time warping abilities of my mahogany desk to send you to someone who will resurrect that half-dead part of you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Let’s see here…… Satou Kazuma, resurrected. Natsuki Subaru, resurrected. Guy hit by a truck, resurrected. Girl hit by a truck, resurrected as a zombie. Not dead guy being summoned by an auto-resurrection spell, there we go!”
Ryuga sighed, mistakenly confusing King Yemma’s chatter for nonsense.
“Now, Ree-ooh-gah,” King Yemma read off a sheet of paper. “Enjoy your new life, and see you next time you die! MAHOGANY!”
With that, Ryuga felt space-time distort around the desk. Had he been at full power, he’d have probably managed to resist, but in his weakened state, he couldn’t stop himself from falling into a dimensional rift.
.
.
.
.
“Great heroes, please come forth and save out world!”
Ryuga, who was still processing, had no time to react before another dimensional rift deposited him in a large room, alongside three others. Robed figures stood all around them, which instantly put him on edge, because it was always the hooded and cloaked ones that stalked him and tried to bend him to their will.
Kenta being the one that had been worth it, but he was an outlier.
However, he had no more time to contemplate as the world spun around him. He may have been afforded the mercy of having the dead half of him resurrected, but the live half meant that he wasn’t fully healed as the other three were. He was fully alive, but his body was almost completely devoid of energy.
He fell to his knees, still clutching L-Drago in his right hand. The robed figures were chanting something, but he neither had the physical strength nor presence of mind to do anything about it. If they were indeed trying to kill him, then there was nothing he could do.
Then again, he was supposed to be dead. What did it matter anyway?
All of a sudden, energy flooded his body and tissue was repaired, and he gasped, everything suddenly becoming clearer.
“Water,” He rasped, realizing that if these people were helping him, then he might as well see how far their hospitality extended. His body needed fuel, and whatever they had done to fix him up had only repaired his body and mind, but hadn’t given him much to make them work. “Food.”
He once more began to sink into unconsciousness, but he knew that he would wake up this time.
But not before he felt wetness against his lips. Detecting an essential component to his well-being, his body summoned a final burst of energy, allowing him to grab the goblet out of the robed figure’s hands and drink its contents in a second.
“More.”
By the time he’d downed a liter and half of water, someone had arrived with a platter of food. It was nowhere near enough, but it would do for now. His left hand lashed out, grabbing fruits and meat, practically shoving everything down his throat. Meat was shredded by his extraordinarily long canines and his molars and pre-molars crushed bone, with his incisors slicing through the tough skin on some of the fruits. At one point, he ate an entire lemon, causing everyone except him to wince.
He was tempted to ask for another plate after devouring the first, but that could wait for later. At least he was coherent now, and as a blader, his body was converting food into energy a lot faster than it would for a normal human.
“Thank….You.” Ryuga said, struggling to say words which he never genuinely said to anyone.
“Shield Hero, what ails you?”
“Is this Shakespeare or something?” Ryuga thought as soon as he heard the man’s speech pattern. “And Shield Hero?”
He looked down to see that his gauntlet meant for storing L-Drago (Which had been lost during the battle against Nemesis, same as his crown) had been replaced by a green shield the size of his forearm and as thick as his waist.
“I fought the God of Destruction and lost. I almost died, but at least the others were able to stop him.”
While he was talking, he looked over L-Drago. Cracks ran throughout his bey, including the one scar Kenta had left on the face bolt. There would be no battling for him until he found a volcano. In his mind, L-Drago gave him a vague direction. Second thing on his agenda, right after listening to what these people wanted. They saved his life; It was the least he could do for them.
“A God of Destruction?” A blonde boy with a spear asked. “So you’re like an anime character or something?”
Ryuga was confused, and slightly disturbed by the fact that this kid was fascinated by the idea of a god like Gingka was by a hamburger.
“What’s anime?”
The three boys with weapons gasped.
“Oh, you poor child.” The blonde said.
“Don’t worry, we’ll educate you.” The short one said.
Although he didn’t have the energy to do so, Ryuga was this close to losing his temper. He had not been granted a second chance at life only to be surrounded by people similar to Gingka and his boy band.
Kenta was an exception. Kenta was one of his.
“We have more important matters on our hands.” The boy with the sword said.
“Finally, a voice of reason.” Ryuga thought, exasperated, yet slightly grateful for the subject change.
“Now, why have you brought us here?” Sword boy demanded of the robed figures.
“Brave heroes,” The most important robed figure began, and just from his tone, Ryuga knew that he was about to hear propaganda. “You have been summoned in this time of great need. Please lend us your aid to save the world from destruction!”
“Almost exactly what Gingka said to me. It’s so similar that it’s creepy. But does that mean that there is a God of Destruction here as well?”
Ryuga’s temper slipped just a little at the thought, and the temperature around him instantly jumped a few degrees. He didn’t want any part of this, but at the same time, if there was anyone out there that wanted to destroy a planet, they would have to go through him first.
“No, I’m not doing it.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
“Send us back, and then we’ll talk.”
“Don’t you feel the slightest bit ashamed, summoning us without our consent?”
Ryuga tuned them out at this point. It was clear enough that these guys were idiots. Not ‘Gingka and his gang’ idiots, but ‘Hades Inc. grunts’ idiots. Listening to them was pointless.
He looked down at himself. His pants were torn here and there and his vest was half-gone, revealing his toned core. His cape-coat was gone; Something that would need immediate rectification. He would need another crown, as well as another gauntlet for L-Drago.
“Use the shield.” L-Drago’s voice said in his head. Ryuga looked at it. It was unimpressive, the only irregularity being the green gem in the center. Using L-Drago’s instincts, he brought his bey in contact with the gem. His eyes widened slightly as the bey disappeared into nothingness, but the presence of his dragon was still there.
Then, something flashed before his eyes, some sort of translucent writing in the air that no one else could see.
DRAGON EMPEROR SHIELD {DESTRUCTOR} [DAMAGED] [DEFENSE MODE] UNLOCKED!
ATTACK +10,000
DEFENSE +1,000
STRENGTH + 8,500
HP +3,215
MP +5,000
SP +390
ACTIVE BONUSES: Absorbs 75% of all direct damage taken.
SPECIAL PASSIVE: +50% Boost to healing.
ATTACK MODE: DOUBLE DAMAGE, DEFENSES DOWN BY 70%
SPECIAL PASSIVE: Can unleash damage stored in defense mode.
[DAMAGED]: All buffs reduced by 50%.
“L-Drago, what is this?”
“I do not know. It seems to be some sort of statistic. There is another dormant spirit within the shield, and it seems to operate similarly to me, using the gem to absorb materials to strengthen itself until it can awaken. While it is capable of assimilating the bey in which I reside, I have not allowed it to do so. However, I am able to allow it to partially access our power and abilities. It should be able to change forms now.”
Ryuga willed it, and before his eyes, the shield morphed into a familiar circular shape, forming a multi-layered shield that looked like L-Drago Destructor’s fusion wheel and energy ring, with the green gem replacing the face bolt. It was larger, slightly wider than his shoulders. There were cracks and missing pieces, identical to the ones on the bey.
“If you would follow me, great heroes, I will lead you to the king, who will explain everything.”
Ryuga’s ear twitched as he heard that. There was something in this man’s tone that he did not like. It was nowhere near as bad as Doji or even cat boy, but it was there – A slimy presence that did not care for the suffering they inflicted on others in pursuit of their own pointless goals.
He saw the three others that had been summoned with him looking at his shield, only barely holding themselves back from asking a flood of questions.
His body complained as they were led up a few flights of stairs. Clearly, he had plenty of healing to do. While they had somehow fixed up his broken bones, they had been unable to completely repair tissue. A good night’s sleep and food would fix up most of it, so there was no issue. Besides, his daily life was far more strenuous.
They entered what Ryuga identified as the throne room. He had explored his fair share of abandoned civilizations to know what he was talking about. There were two thrones at the focus with the larger one being empty. Clearly, the ruler was dead or away while the consort was in charge.
L-Drago had been a weapon of warrior kings. From Moses to Ceasar to Alexander to Genghis Khan to Hitler. They knew how royalty worked.
Ryuga also knew that since the most important figure in the country was absent for the summoning of the people who were supposed to save the world, they had to be dead, or there was some insidious scheme going on, most likely masterminded by the cloaked guys.
Very likely the one whispering in the King’s ear.
“Welcome, heroes of legend,” The King began. “I am Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, king of Melromarc. Please, introduce yourselves.”
While in multiple alternate realities, the sword, bow, or spear heroes would’ve introduced themselves first, none of those realities had Ryuga as the shield hero.
Ryuga’s eyes flashed as he flexed his aura for an instant. He barely had anything left, not enough to make even a deer flee, but it was enough to give three teenage boys with no combat experience pause.
“My name is Ryuga,” He said, carefully taking note of everyone’s reactions. They may have saved him, but that did not mean that their actions were altruistic. “I am the Dragon Emperor.”
He could physically feel the silence. None of them knew of his reputation for them to understand exactly who they were standing in the presence of. Some were focused on his bedraggled state, looking nothing like the emperor he claimed to be. A select few looked at his muscles and the numerous scars that told a story of a hardened warrior.
“Amaki Ren. I’m 16, and a high-school student.” Sword boy said flatly.
“Kitamura Motoyasu. I’m 21 and in college.” Spear boy said with way too much confidence.
“Kawasumi Itsuki. I’m 17 and also in high school.”
“I see,” The old king said. “Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, right?”
Had this been a younger Ryuga, they would’ve all witnessed a dethroning right there. It was in fact possible for it to still happen once Ryuga had food and sleep. But in the state he was in now, he was simply too tired to care about a random king who was most likely a consort who was plotting behind the rightful ruler’s back while falling hook, line, and sinker for the honeyed words of random cloaked people. He would help them for saving his life, but the amount of courtesy he showed them in the future was already halfway down the drain.
“Our world is plagued by what we call ‘The waves of calamity’. The sky will tear open, and monsters will swarm our kingdom with the intent to kill us all. The waves will keep getting stronger over time until they are stopped, or our world comes to an end. We barely managed to hold out against the first, which is why we have summoned you, heroes of legend. The dragon hourglass indicates that the next wave will occur within a month.
“As wielders of the four legendary weapons, you will be able to grow indefinitely with the help of the status magic that has been granted to you.”
“Magic,” L-Drago spoke in Ryuga’s head. “That’s a new one. If this is the cause of the statistic that we saw when the shield accessed our power, then it is logical to conclude that it is the shield’s way of communicating with you while it is still dormant.”
“So, it will go through a rapid set of minor transformations while accumulating power, and this is its way of showing what powers I’m gaining from it?”
“Yes. We will have to experiment. I can identify about a thousand materials that it needs, but there’s hundreds of thousands that I cannot see, and like me, there is room for elements unknown to it.”
“Hopefully it won’t need undiscovered elements to awaken.”
In the background, he heard someone say something about something in the corner of his vision. He had ignored it until then, assuming that it was just his vision going blurry after a near-death experience. He focused on it, and once more, he could see the translucent words in the air.
RYUGA
THE DRAGON EMPEROR
THE HERO OF THE SHIELD
AGE: 17
LEVEL 1
EXP: 0/20
ATTACK: 2,174 +5,000
DEFENSE: 4,371 + 500
STRENGTH: 1,372 + 4,250
MAGIC: 77
PHYSICAL RESISTANCE: 119
MAGICAL RESISTANCE: 21
HP: 20/5,713 + 1,607.5
MP: 12/9,999 + 2,500
SP: 2/1,006 + 195
STATUS EFFECTS:
Shield of the Dragon Emperor (Defense): 25% healing boost
Shield of the Dragon Emperor (Defense): 37.5% Direct damage absorption
“It seems as though the shield also gains power as you gain power,” L-Drago said. “It allows you to absorb life force from things that you kill.”
Priority three. Razing a forest and everything in it to see exactly how this would work.
“Only level 1?” Sword boy said. “We can’t fight like this.”
“I always thought that isekai protagonists started off overpowered.” Spear-boy said.
“Fool,” Ryuga thought. “No one starts off overpowered. You have to earn it.”
“Not to worry, heroes. Tomorrow, you will be assigned party members so that you may level up and prepare for the waves.”
“Hold on,” Bow-boy said, frowning. “Why can’t the four of us party up? With the exception of a caster, this is the ideal party composition.”
“While that is true,” The king said, sighing. “Legend says that the four legendary weapons will inhibit each other’s progress if they are too close to each other. Only when the waves arrive can the weapons work together in harmony.”
“I’m impressed. He actually told a full truth with no deception or malice.” L-Drago thought.
“Not that it matters,” Ryuga thought back. “We’ll be going our own way regardless.”
“There’s another thing I wanted to ask,” Sword-boy said. “How do you know where the waves will occur? How are we supposed to get there in time?”
“You needn’t worry about that, noble sword hero. Once you register with the Dragon Hourglass, you will automatically be teleported to the wave’s location moments before it begins.”
“I also hope that you don’t think that you can trick us,” Bow boy said. “We won’t let you just use us and throw us away when we are no longer useful to you.”
“Don’t worry, heroes,” The robed man said. “You will all be rewarded handsomely as the saviors of the kingdom. Even if we were to betray you, the people would not.”
“That sounds acceptable to me,” Spear boy said. “Just hold up your end of the deal and we’re golden.”
“Very well then, heroes, let us adjourn for today. You will be given party members tomorrow, but until then, you may relax in the rooms we have prepared for you and eat to your hearts’ content.”
Ryuga walked behind the servant who was leading them to the banquet chamber, but he was ignoring all of those that surrounded him for the most part, focusing on his conversation with L-Drago.
“I knew that robed guy was suspicious from the beginning. He wants to use us as a pawn in his insignificant game of politics.”
“We will consume him, slowly,” L-Drago responded. “We will repay the kingdom’s service to us by saving it, but he is not acting in the kingdom’s interests. Right now, I lack the ability to discover more or travel. We will need to do this using the old ways.”
“There will be time for that later. First, we need to regain our strength and deal with the spies that are watching us.”
“The king’s man is hostile, but the woman only observes. She is aware of his presence, but he is not aware of hers. Neither are aware that we have detected them.”
“So, the king is plotting behind his wife’s back, but she had the foresight to leave her spies behind. But it does not matter. By tomorrow, my body will be able to deal with both of them. We’ll wait for them to make the first move.”
L-Drago’s presence receded as they ended their conversation, just in time for them to walk into the banquet hall, featuring a long table which was almost overflowing with food.
Ryuga did not bother to hold back. His hands crammed food into his mouth without manners or decorum. By the time the three others sat down, he had cleaned three dishes completely, and was hungering for more. The consequences for using the ultimate move to its fullest, immediately followed up by giving up his star fragment, were severe. He needed the energy.
In the back of his mind, he could feel jaws drop all around the room as he continued to demonstrate his insatiable appetite. The three boys that had been summoned with him were frozen in shock, so much so that by the time they remembered to eat, Ryuga had cleaned out the entire table.
“More.”
A servant fainted at that, and a few of the coherent ones went off to get more food.
Ryuga cleaned them out as they came. Fish and other meats disappeared into his jaw along with all the other fancy dishes. Entire pitchers of water vanished down his throat as he gave in to a dragon’s greed.
It took fifteen minutes for Ryuga to stop. He let out a burp that shook the castle and for the first time in years, he truly allowed himself to relax, slumping back into a chair. He felt his body cool down as his digestive processes slowed down now that he had stopped inhaling food. His body dropped out of survival mode, dulling his senses slightly.
A shortcoming, however temporary.
“Whoa, you really are an anime character!” Spear boy yelled, his tone immediately associating him with the green pony boy.
“How do you eat that much?” Sword boy asked.
“I told you,” Ryuga said. Normally, he would brush them off, but Kenta had changed him, and he was tired. “I fought the God of Destruction alone. I gave it everything I had, and I still lost. I half-died, but the summoning spell must have resurrected the half-dead part. I needed the energy to recover.”
“Does that mean your homeworld was destroyed?”
“No. I lived long enough to see pony boy and Kenta win. The kid grew so much more than I expected.” Ryuga smiled fondly at the memory, even though it was literally half an hour ago.
“How did you unlock that shield, Ryuga?” Bow boy asked. In response, Ryuga willed L-Drago destructor to appear, and his bey materialized in his hand.
“L-Drago allowed the shield to use his power to transform. As far as I can tell, it’s only mimicking L-Drago’s power and abilities and is nowhere close to the real thing.
“Enough about me. I want to know what these floating translucent words mean. You three seem to have an idea of what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?” Sword boy spoke. “This is clearly a video game stat display.”
“Video games? Those useless things that brats bury their noses in?”
“Brats?! How old are you?” Spear boy asked.
“I’m 17, now get to it. What does all of this mean?”
“You mean you’ve never played a video game of any sort before?” Bow boy asked.
“I have better things to do than play games.” Ryuga said, flaring his aura slightly.
“If you haven’t played any games, you’re going to have trouble.” Sword boy added as Bow boy fiddled with something in the air, creating translucent words of his own in the air.
“Well, these are stats, see?” Bow boy said. “They show everything about you. Attack-”
“I know what attack and defense means. What I want to know is what the numbers mean?”
“W-well,” Bow boy stuttered, looking 14 rather than the claimed 17. “The higher the number, the more effective that stat will be.”
“So what do you make of this?” Ryuga asked, making his own translucent characters visible to everyone.
The three looked at the words and numbers for a moment before their eyes popped out of their head.
“How are you this strong?!” Sword boy yelled. “These stats shouldn’t be possible for a level 1!”
“How did you do it?” Bow boy asked. “How did you mod the game?”
“If this is the boost you get, can I have some of this L-Drago thing?” Spear boy asked.
Ryuga was in a good mood. Relatively. He was relaxed for the first time in who knows how long, and it would take a significant amount of effort to get a raise out of him, as opposed to the normal thirty seconds of conversation.
That last comment, however, was too far.
With an unholy roar that shattered windows, he was on the table and in front of the spear hero, looking down on him with glowing red eyes and fire surrounding his body.
“L-Drago. Is. Not. Yours.”
Ryuga’s voice was warped as L-Drago’s guttural tone was added to the mix. Motoyasu could only nod furiously, or it could have been him shivering in fright. Ryuga released a breath and closed his eyes, allowing his aura to die down. When he opened his eyes, they were back to normal, but the angry glare remained. He jumped off the table and walked away.
“Show me where I’ll be sleeping.” He said to the servants who were obviously scared witless.
“Y-y-yes, Sir Sh-shield Hero!”
The other three heroes just sat there, too shocked to react.