Chapter 35: Dragonification
"Kekeke! Ya' sure 'bout this? Fiancé-kun." Halibel bellowed, taking a drag from his pipe as he stood in the estate's courtyard, his posture easygoing as ever. "I'm not one ta' pull my punches, honestly, I ain't even sure if I know how ta' do that in the first place. Never been in a situation where I needed ta' before, ya'know? I'm an all-or-nothin' kinda guy."
At Alduin's request, Halibel had decided to humor the young Buné with a spar that the former intended to use to test out his newly awakened clan trait, the very one responsible for his father's immense physical prowess—Dragonification.
A power that could either propel one to the heights of the supernatural world's supreme species, or drown them in its overwhelming luster.
Since Alduin hadn't had the chance to do so against the feeble operatives the elders had sent at him, he believed now was a good time to remedy that missed opportunity. At least to help him get a little bit of experience with it before heading to Kuoh Town, it'd be pretty embarrassing if it were to backfire if a situation arose when he needed to use it after all.
"Don't sweat it," he chuckled in return, a sliver of nervousness leaking out of his tone. "I don't really know what's going to happen either. Dragonification's supposed to be quite the unstable power in the hands of a rookie like me. I doubt I'll have much control over it, especially on my first attempt."
Halibel stroked his chin, examining Alduin's expression.
Oh? Fiancé-kun's genuinely scared of his own power… interesting! I ain't ever had the chance ta' witness his old man in action, assuming we'll end up at odds with ta' geezer, this could be a good taster.
"Well, I am ta' Lady's humble servant, and she wants ya' strong." Halibel shrugged. "I'll do ma' utmost to give ya' a good run for yer' money. You can go ahead and let er' rip, fiancé-kun."
"Thanks," he smiled appreciatively.
Alduin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused his concentration. Unlike with his Dryad abilities, he didn't need to be taught how to activate Dragonification.
It had been implanted into his mind after he completed his awakening ceremony, it was instinctual, all he needed to do was will it—and the draconic energy coursing through his blood would respond to him. It had been there ever since he left Mount Selvaro, he was simply hesitant to activate it.
Unfortunately, getting Sebastian to hand him some tips and tricks wasn't an option. He didn't have enough time left before he needed to head to the human world, where he'd basically be entirely on his own when it came to mastering his Dragonification.
Then again, he was no stranger to challenging himself.
Crack!
Halibel breathed a bemused chortle, observing as radiant, verdant wisps of draconic energy flared to life around Alduin's being.
The Knight's senses as a wolfman, a rare species of Youkai capable of using Youjutsu, kicked into overdrive. His canine nose twitched intensely as he felt the changes occurring in Alduin's body.
Fascinating… it seems his body's altering the balance between his devil and draconic blood. In his passive state, I'd say it's around 80% in favour of his devil side, but now that's starting ta' reverse during the activation process.
He let out an inquisitive hum, his curiosity in Alduin's paternal bloodline rising by the second.
But there's something else mixed in there… could it be?
Though Alduin himself didn't seem to realize it, at least not immediately since he was fully immersed in transforming himself, the grass, foliage, and all sorts of vegetation—including that of the cherry blossom trees Roygun had implanted in the courtyard began to undergo a shift.
So that's what yer' old man had in mind…
Natural energy was being sucked out of the greenery around Alduin, and being absorbed straight into his body despite him making no active effort to do so. At least that was as much as a lesser Senjutsu practitioner could decipher. Halibel, on the other hand, could see a step further.
He could see precisely where the Ki was flowing within him.
It's headed straight towards his noggin'… that's ta' most dangerous area a Senjutsu practitioner can direct their Ki to since it's the most delicate, even the smallest misstep can lead ta' permanent brain damage… but not only is he pulling it off, he's doing so subconsciously!
Halibel chuckled again, only this time he seemed more—shaky. The Ki inside Alduin's brain was targeting his amygdala and prefrontal cortex, the components responsible for regulating one's temper.
In other words, the Ki was working to suppress Alduin's anger and keep him as calm as possible while he called upon his Dragonification.
Halibel's eyes lit up in realization.
So that's what it is! It's his Sallos bloodline acting up with some typa' self-preservation protocol! It's suppressing ta' supposed infectious wrath his Buné bloodline comes with, his old man must've planned this! There's no other explanation for why he'd marry someone like ta' Black Widow!
Bit by bit, Alduin's skin began to harden, taking a drastic shift from its usual pale tone to one that was pitch black,riddled with draconic scales that started to cover him whole, starting from his chest area and spreading to the rest of his body like an infection.
The wisps of draconic energy swarming around him like fireflies started to merge, combining into one, unified explosive aura that shot upwards from Alduin's feet as a pillar of searing, verdant light. Covering his figure from Halibel's field of view as his height grew tenfold, and his mass by an even greater amount.
Violent tremors spread through the soil, and to Halibel, it felt like he was standing smack dab in the epicenter of a Magnitude 10 earthquake. Fortunately for him, being a Shinobi meant that his sense of balance was in a league of its own. All he had to do was exert a slight amount of effort to rediscover his balance.
Heh, this is going ta' be fun!
Slowly, the radiant pillar began to fade out, unveiling Alduin's new form that was concealed within.
"Kekeke! Yer' lookin pretty fierce there! Fiancé-kun!"
Halibel couldn't help but grin. Before him stood a regal, towering western dragon, at least ten meters tall, clad entirely in pitch black scales from head to toe, standing on all fours with its head proudly held high.
Four, dark draconic horns rested atop its skull in pairs of two on either side, one pair facing forwards, and the other backwards. Each of them was sharp enough to pierce through even the toughest of metals the Underworld had to offer.
A set of broad draconic wings rested on its back, they were both spread as far as they could, which cast an extensive shadow on the ground beneath.
Its underbelly was a shade lighter than the rest of its body, with bright green markings spread around its chest area like veins, each of them pulsating with draconic energy as if they were outlining the dragon's heart.
This was Alduin's proper draconic form, one that made his achievement as one of the very few Bunés to successfully awaken his clan trait clear to all.
He opened his eyes, the sclera of which had turned completely black and were complemented by the now even brighter, haunting green glow of his irises.
So this is Dragonification…
He turned, meeting Halibel's deeply intrigued stare.
How strange, it's supposed to be exceedingly hard to control. Yet, I don't feel anything of the sort, not even remotely.
He looked down, taking a moment to examine his beastly figure, moving his claws up and down, and allowing his tail to sway from side to side. He had expected going from a human body to that of a towering creature of legend to be no different from learning how to walk all over again, but that wasn't the case.
If anything, it felt natural, like he had been living in this body his whole life. No discomfort. No sense of alien disorientation. Nothing.
He could move just fine.
"If yer' wondering why yer' feeling better than ya' should, I think it's got something ta' do with yer' mama's blood."
"My Sallos bloodline?" Alduin replied, his pitch considerably deeper than before, coupled with a hollow tone.
"It looks like ya' didn't notice, when ya' were transformin' just then. Yer' mind absorbed a truckload of Ki without any input from ya'. It's keeping you all calm and composed right now, even though I'm guessing ya' should be rampaging around like a dragon that just had their treasure stolen."
Even though Alduin's current, scaly face wasn't capable of expressing much, Halibel could tell he was taken aback.
"You mean to tell me my body did it completely on its own? Is that even possible?" He queried, realizing that his father's decision to unite Buné and Sallos blood had been right all along.
"That seems ta' be the case, you'll probably have ta' ask your mama about the specifics. Since it's her cells that are doing all ta' work." Halibel shrugged. "But that's a problem for another time, ya' wanna test yer' might against me, don't ya?" The wolfman grinned, his golden irises glimmering with excitement.
"Yeah," he breathed a low cackle. "I do."
Alduin's wings flapped downwards, propelling him against the ground and up into the air where he could look down on the wolfman from above.
Halibel narrowed his eyes, noticing Alduin's demonic power start to converge around his throat. The dragon's chest puffed, and his cheeks started to inflate.
"Kekeke! Is it just me, or is it getting a little hotter 'round here?"
"Hehe, you're imagining it."
FWOOSH!
Bright green flames came crashing down from Alduin's maw onto the ground below him, the intensity at least five times as strong in comparison to when he used his draconic breath against the assassins, and naturally—the coverage was greater, far greater, enough to engulf the entire courtyard in a sea of fire.
Yet strangely enough, the trajectory of his masterfully controlled draconic breath seemed to avoid all of the cherry blossom trees below him.
Those are some good survival instincts ya' got there fiancé-kun, the Lady would slaughter ya' if you burned those.
Halibel could see the confusion in Alduin's eyes as the flames remained only seconds away from scorching him whole, after all, the wolfman had made no apparent attempt to defend himself. The current strength of Alduin's draconic breath was enough to threaten even more experienced Ultimate-Class devils, especially one like Halibel that didn't specialize in defense.
So why wasn't he making any attempt to raise his guard?
The searing flames washed over the grassy expanse, entirely and utterly eviscerating every little piece of vegetation unfortunate enough to have been swallowed by them.
Something's off, immediately, Alduin's suspicion was aroused. I was tracking his Ki signature carefully, but I still didn't sense anything even at the moment of impact. His eyes continued to survey the battlefield, centered around where Halibel had been standing.
"Lookin' for little ol' me?" Halibel spoke from a position Alduin couldn't even begin to fathom.
He was standing on his back!
"How—?!"
"Nothin' much, just a simple cloning trick, that's all." Halibel snickered while spinning his kiseru between his claws.
"Cloning my ass! The Ki signature coming from you and your 'clone' down there was the exact same! It's almost like it was—"
"—just as strong as me?" Halibel cut in. "Yeah, that's because it was."
"What?!" Alduin was no stranger to cloning techniques, his mother had taught him how to create wood clones after all. However, techniques in that category usually came at a cost—forcing the caster to split their power to create versions of themselves that were actually capable of physical interaction with the world.
For the clone on the ground to have the same amount of power as Halibel was unthinkable, sure, illusionary clones also existed, which didn't require a power slip at the cost of not being capable of any physical interaction, hence why they were "illusionary"—but Alduin was more than capable of discerning the difference between them.
"Ya' see, my folks are kinda special even among Yokai. I usually specialize in curses by infusing ma' fur into weapons and such, but they also taught me some other fancy tricks when I was a youngster. For example, we can use our fur to create hollow and physical clones, though most of them can only make one. I, on the other hand, can make two, kekeke—quite impressive ain't I?"
Alduin was left speechless. Sure, merely two clones sounded underwhelming on paper, but these were actual clones, the technique Halibel just described had nothing to do with splitting one's strength, on the contrary, the wolfman was straight up increasing it!
"If yer' interested in learning it, I'm afraid I'll have ta' disappoint ya'. Our cloning is more of a bloodline trick, it's not something I can teach so ta' say."
"I see why Roygun chose you as her Knight." He had yet to meet the rest of her peerage, but if they were anything like Halibel, her blitzkrieg-like advancement through the Underworld's Top 10 was significantly more understandable. "I'm guessing your piece has mutated if you've been serving her all this time with a power as ridiculous as that?"
Halibel frowned. "Ridiculous? Ya' got some nerve saying that after transforming into a fuckin' dragon! Also, I think ya' mean pieces, not piece. Granted, only one of them mutated, I'm still tryna' figure out how to get the other to do so. It ain't an easy endeavor y'know?"
Sometimes, a single Evil Piece isn't enough to reincarnate someone, requiring the use of multiple to compensate for the target's higher value. However, only multiple of the same piece can be used, and in Halibel's case, Roygun had used both of her Knight pieces to reincarnate him. The strongest wolfman to exist in the history of his species.
"Anyhow, are we going ta' continue our spar or not? Yer' not going ta' learn much just hovering there and yapping with me." Halibel folded his arms, patiently waiting for Alduin to make his move.
It was hard to tell because of his stone-cold, reptilian features, but Halibel could've sworn Alduin just smirked at him.
"I already have."
"Oh?" Halibel lifted an eyebrow. Roots had started to crawl their way across Alduin's back, covering every part of his broad figure save for his wings, which he needed to keep light and unconstrained.
One after the other, they shot towards Halibel, determined either to bind him or outright pierce through his fur.
"So this is yer' mama's Wood Manipulation, neat." Halibel popped his kiseru back into his mouth and unsheathed the katana hanging by his hip. Confident in the speed and precision of his swordplay to deal with the roots without the need to evade.
"Do you honestly think I'd make it that easy?"
Swoosh!
But before Halibel could get to slicing and dicing, Alduin's speed picked up—immensely so. To the point where Halibel had no choice but to crouch down and latch onto Alduin's scales, feeling the air jettison through his fur as the Buné performed all sorts of aerobatic tricks in the air.
The hell? How's he able ta' move this fast with such a bulky body? His weight should be holding him down!
Halibel glanced at Alduin's wings, his eyes quickly widening in realization.
So that's how it is! He's enveloped them in Wind Magic to boost his momentum!
All the while, the roots continued to move towards him, their speed and trajectory unchanged.
Kekeke! That's some serious control ya' got there fiancé-kun! Not bad! Not bad at all!
To Alduin's shock, Halibel didn't hesitate to jump right off. Leaving himself exposed and full of openings while he was airborne, set on a collision course with the ground beneath him, neglecting even to use the wings he had obtained upon being reincarnated as a devil.
The roots shot towards him, approaching him from each side and leaving him with no room to escape.
However, Halibel, being the person he was, had already planned everything out. He ripped into his fur, taking a chunk out and tossing it into the air. Creating another version of himself out of thin air, a physical clone.
"Yo, it looks like ya' got yourself in quite the pickle, huh?" The clone cackled, folding its arms behind its neck and free-falling without so much as a lick of concern.
"Yup, mind lending me a hand here? I might be able to cut a fair amount of those roots, but I doubt I'll be able to keep up long enough while I'm up in the air like this, not on ma' lonesome at least."
"Sure," the clone smirked. "That's what I'm here for, isn't it? Though we gotta hand it to fiancé-kun, he's pretty good at puttin' the pressure onto us ain't he?"
"Yeah, no kiddin'."
Both Halibels put their feet together, crouching and pushing off against one another to evade most of the roots, and using their kunai to deal with the remaining ones that altered their course to track their repositioning.
"You move well," Alduin complimented him, however, the dragon's voice was still filled with confidence despite having his attack thwarted.
"Hey," the clone began. "You sense that, don't ya'?"
"I do," Halibel sighed, gracefully landing back on the courtyard's grassy surface.
The blades of grass around them all grew animate, rising and intertwining with one another to form about a dozen, humanoid-shaped figures. All of which were wielding an assortment of weapons composed of wood, and strangely enough, had a pair of horns on their head, shaped exactly like Alduins'.
He was using the grass puppets that his mother had once used against him, or more accurately, bullied him with, as per usual.
"Oi, original me." The clone narrowed its eyes. "These golems, they're all imbued with draconic energy, aren't they?"
"That would appear to be ta' case. Mama and Papa Buné clearly trained him well, having this level of mastery over his bloodlines is one thing—but knowing how to combine them as a unified force is another." Halibel let out a thoughtful hum. "Honestly, I don't think it'd be a stretch ta' say he could compete with some of ta' Top 10 Pawns in a genuine battle."
"You could be right," the clone nodded, though only half-convinced. "Though I'd argue he's still lacking a bit of experience, those guys can be quite tricky when it comes to their tactics."
"True dat," Halibel affirmed.
"You know I can hear you two, right?" Alduin landed beside them, standing only a few feet behind his summons.
"Yeah, I know," Halibel replied. "I was just taking a little breather," he rolled his shoulders, a satisfying pop resounding from his joints. "Now, are we gonna continue? Or are ya' just going to pose there all menacingly and whatnot?"
"Hey, I was just showing some manners by not going too hard on you, old man. Wouldn't want to bruise your ego too much. Since you're about to learn I'm capable of a lot more than challenging a top Pawn, Knight-san."
"Oh?" Halibel pulled out another chunk of fur, summoning his second physical clone. "Bring it on then!"
———
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