[Rebooting System Functions...]
[System functions has been successful rebooted!]
[Due to System errors, your previous awakening has been deleted.]
[Due to System errors, the hosts Soul-Cores will be reset back to it's default state.]
[You have fulfilled the conditions for a re-awakening!]
[You have successfully sealed the Shadow contract]
[Shadow Beast is now available!]
[Summoning Shadow Beast....]
CLAP!
A blinding flash tore through the sky, lighting up the battlefield as the massive bolt of lightning descended upon Kazuki. The air sizzled for a heartbeat before thunder crashed, shaking the ground as lightning struck.
There was no mistake, it eradicated the two boys, but now there was a problem, that unavoidable light had reached the ears and eyes of the 14 Soul-Squads and any second they'd arrive.
"As expected, these humans will always mess everything u-."
Its eyes widened, chest tightening as if gripped by an invisible hand. A cold chill ran down its jagged spine, and it felt an overwhelming presence far greater than its own.
Immediately, it turned around.
As the smoke cleared, the beast's crimson eyes went wide with horror. He couldn't believe what it was seeing.
Right in front of the beast was Kazuki who could barely stand on his feet, Kirito who laid burnt and nearly vaporised ,and most worrisome of all, the head of a dragon.
"W-what is this?" It's distorted voice echoed like a thunderclap around the forest. As the dust from the lightning strike faded, he found himself staring at a massive purple dragon. Its scales glimmered like burning embers under the sun, and its vast wings throbbed with a dark, menacing energy.
"A-A-A Dragon!?" The beast shouted with fear like it's worst nightmare had just come true, and indeed it did.
The dragon threw back its head and unleashed a thunderous roar. The sound shook the earth, and a violent shockwave blasted outward, ripping through the forest. Trees splintered and toppled in every direction, leaves and branches swirling into the air until nearly the entire area lay flattened beneath the force of its voice.
"What?" Even the dragon could speak, it's voice carried the weight of three thunderclaps. "This isn't Taurus, who brought me here?" It brought it's head down, and saw two boys beneath it's massive form.
Kazuki was paralyzed with fear, he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, even his instincts failed him. And that's because he knew, there was nothing he could do to escape.
"What's this?" It leveled his head down to Kazuki's body, it's purple slited eyes staring into his soul. "Impossible! A human!? A human child summoned me!?"
There was no mistake, it could feel it, the blood of the human within it's veins.
"W-who are you..." Kazuki managed to find his words, but not after nearly pissing his pants.
"I see, so it is true, I don't how you did it, but you managed to seal the shadow contract." The dragon scoffed, raising it's head back to it's original height. "I don't care if you sealed the shadow contract, I will never lend my powers to a human, let alone a kid."
Kazuki couldn't think straight, he didn't understand what the dragon was saying, Shadow contract? What the hell was it talking about?
He couldn't care less about everything he said, all he knew was, right now, this dragon was more an ally than enemy.
"Please..." He pleaded on his last legs, almost unable to move, the lightning bolts did a number on him, and with his level of Soul-Energy, he couldn't last long.
"I don't want your contract... I don't want your power, just kill that bastard..."
The dragon's slited eyes glanced at Kazuki for a moment, before it bursts into a thunderous laughter. It was as if the human child was suggesting that it didn't want his power, a human? Notoriously known for their greed?
"Impossible!" The Soul-Beast finally snapped after breaking through from it's fears. "A human? Summon a dragon? Absurd!"
it pointed it's finger at the sky once again, this time, multiple bolts of lightning rained down at once at the dragon and the two boys, creating many clouds of smoke.
As the smoke cleared out, what happened next left the Soul-Beast cowering in fear. The dragon spread his wide wingspan over the boys, shielding them from the several bolts of lightning.
'I see.' The dragon thought as he found Kazuki shielding Kirito's body.
The dragon's gaze locked onto the Soul-Beast. For an instant, its eyes widened in a sharp jolt, then narrowed, sinking low with a simmering rage.
As the dragon met the beast's eyes, its gaze wavered, like two rivals bound by old grudges, and now the time had come for the dragon to finally settle the score.
"Okay, I'll help you this once human, but not because I want to. No matter what, you cannot let that creature live." Without warning, the dragon unleashed a massive surge of shadow energy, hurling it straight down at Kazuki from it's mouth.
As the torrent of energy faded, the dragon dissolved into a thick cloud of smoke, vanishing back to wherever it had come from. When the haze finally cleared, Kazuki, though barely conscious, seemed to have regained a faint spark of strength.
"No..." The Soul-Beast could hardly believe its eyes. What stood before it was no longer the human child it sought to kill, but something entirely different.
A swirl of dark energy coiled around Kazuki like living shadows, and when he looked down at his palms, his eyes glowed with an eerie purple light. "W-what is this..." He could feel the power rushing through him like an endless river.
But at that point, it didn't matter.
"There's no way... There's no possible way a Primordial beast would help a mere human!" As Kazuki glanced at the beast, only one emotion ran through it, something it never thought it'd feel for a long time.
Fear.
To the beast, what gazed at him wasn't a human, but the silhouette of the entity it feared the most.
"I... I must flee!" It turned around and stretched it's hands forward, and another orange gate opened up, pulsating with energy.
However, before it could enter the gate, it found Kazuki right in front of him.
"Where do you think you're going?." He reached out his hand, and in the next instant, the shadows swirling around his body rushed into his palm, gathering there like a storm ready to burst.
"Shit!" The beast could feel it through all the nerves in it's body, the concentrated power behind the dark energy swelling in Kazuki's hands. It tried to step back, but it was already too late.
"How!? How!?"
"Believe it or not, this is my hour of awakening." Kazuki's eyes shone with a bright white light, as if a higher force had taken over his body. Without thinking, he spoke in a voice that wasn't fully his own. "Raisen."
The beast's eyes and mouth widened in shock, it's crimson pupils shrunk as a sharp pain tore through it's jagged stomach. In the next moment, it was sent flying backward like a speeding bullet, crashing several meters away.
After crashing into the ground several times, the beast finally went still.
Moments later, several translucent blue screens appeared in Kazuki's vision, glowing faintly with inscriptions that appeared one after another, following the chaos that had just unfolded.
[You have successfully defeated all enemies!]
[You have activated a Soul-Core!]
[You have gained a new ability!]
[You have obtained a rune!]
[You have gained a new shadow ability!]