Veldora was still rambling—loud, animated, and full of energy—as always. He flailed his wings around like an overgrown child, speaking dramatically with every breath like he was performing for an invisible audience.
"And then I said, 'Velgrynd, I didn't mean to destroy that mountain—it tripped me!' Hahaha! Classic, right!?"
Saiki floated midair, staring at him with a neutral expression. Still. Unmoving. Barely blinking.
He slowly ate another spoonful of coffee jelly.
"Yare yare daze…"
After listening to Veldora rant about his siblings for fifteen minutes straight, Saiki finally spoke.
"So… if you're the mighty 'Storm Dragon,' how come you've been sealed in this cave for centuries?"
Veldora froze.
His wing dropped.
His eyes darted left and right.
"I—uh—well… you see, it's a very powerful seal! Obviously! Crafted by an elite Hero with ancient magical knowledge and stuff!"
"Right."
"And I let myself get sealed! Yup! It was all part of my master plan!" he said proudly, chest puffed out.
Saiki stared blankly.
"You tripped on a roof and destroyed a town."
"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"
Saiki exhaled slowly, his voice calm as ever.
"Alright, how about this—I'll free you from the seal… and transform you into a frog."
"WHATTTTTTTTT!?!?"
Veldora's roar shook the cave walls. He recoiled like he'd just been slapped by fate.
"Me?! The majestic, mighty Storm Dragon… reduced to an amphibian!? That's blasphemy!"
"It's called a punishment system," Saiki replied, tapping his temple. "If you go around blowing stuff up again, I'll turn you into a garden pet."
Veldora flinched.
"O-Okay, okay! Geez! That town incident was, like, four hundred years ago. Let it go!"
"No promises."
"Hmph… well—wait, hold on… Did you say you can actually free me!?"
Saiki nodded.
"Of course."
"As in… right now!?"
"Yes."
"W-Wait, seriously?! All this time and all these complicated barrier layers, and you can just undo them!?"
"It's child's play," Saiki said casually.
He floated down and tapped the glowing runes on the seal with a single finger. The entire barrier structure, built by an ancient Hero with layers of divine-class magic, flickered.
FLASH.
CRACK.
SHATTER.
The cave lit up in waves of blue and gold as every barrier rune on the stone walls disintegrated into glimmering fragments, disappearing like fireflies in the wind.
The seal was gone.
Just. Like. That.
Veldora blinked.
His body twitched. He slowly stretched his wings and blinked again.
"...I can move."
He blinked harder.
"...I CAN MOVE!"
His voice echoed thunderously through the cave.
"I'M FREEEEEEEEEEE!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Not so loud."
"SAIKI KUSUO, YOU MAGNIFICENT BALD-LOOKING PINK-HAIRED GENIUS!"
"I'm not bald."
Veldora bounced around the cave—literally bounding like an overgrown puppy dragon, shooting tiny whirlwinds in celebration.
"No more imaginary games! No more rock friends! I'm FREEEEE!!"
"...Yare yare. He's worse than I thought."
Veldora finally stopped spinning mid-air and hovered in front of Saiki.
"So, uh… now what?"
"Now?" Saiki said flatly. "You're my puppet."
"...Excuse me?"
"You work for me. If anyone dangerous shows up, you scare them away."
"W-What am I, a watchdog?!"
"Yes. A dragon-shaped one."
"Unbelievable! I am Veldora, the Storm Drag—"
Saiki raised a finger and Veldora instantly clamped his mouth shut.
"Would you prefer being Veldora the Frog?"
Poof.
Just like that, with a twitch of his finger, Saiki snapped reality into shape.
A puff of pink sparkles.
Silence.
Then...
Ribbit.
Where once stood the mighty Veldora, now sat… a small, squishy green frog, blinking up at Saiki with a look of pure, stunned betrayal.
"R-ribbit…?"
Saiki bent down.
"Still think I'm joking?"
The frog trembled.
"Ribbit…"
"Good."
He snapped again.
Poof.
The frog vanished in a swirl of psychic light—and reappeared as a human.
Standing in Veldora's place was now a tall man with wild golden hair, piercing golden eyes, a lean muscular build, and… no shirt.
At first, he blinked. Then stared at his own hands.
"...W-What happened to my scales?!"
He touched his chest.
"Wait. I have… abs?"
He looked down.
"I'M HUMAN!?"
"You're welcome," Saiki said. "Your dragon form is too big. I'm not keeping a thunder-lizard parked next to my cabin."
Veldora gasped, spinning dramatically.
"This body! This mobility! This perfect hair! I look AMAZING!"
He struck a pose.
Saiki raised a brow.
"Don't get carried away. You were a frog five seconds ago."
"True… but look at me now!"
"You're still loud."
"SILENCE! I am reborn! Call me... Sir Veldora the Handsome!"
"I'll call you 'Frog Number Two' if you mess up."
Veldora froze mid-pose.
"...Understood."
"So let's get the terms straight," Saiki said flatly.
He raised his hand like a teacher listing homework instructions.
"Rule one: Don't destroy anything."
"Right."
"Rule two: If I sense even a hint of chaos from you—frog."
"...Understood."
"And rule three: You follow my orders from now on. No questions asked."
Veldora hesitated for a moment.
Then sighed.
"Fine… but I'm doing this because I respect your power, not because I'm scared of being turned into a frog again."
Saiki glanced at him.
"Ribbit."
"OKAY OKAY I'M SCARED. Geez!"
Saiki floated toward the cave exit.
"Good. Now follow me. I've got a cabin in the forest. You'll stay with me."
"Oooo, forest cabin! Is it big? Cozy? Will you let me decorate?!"
"You're not touching it."
"Can I at least hang a banner that says 'Storm Dragon Lives'?"
"Do you want to be frog-shaped again?"
"Nope! Cabin's perfect the way it is!"
As they walked out of the ancient sealed cavern, the air outside felt different.
Fresher.
For the first time in centuries, Veldora took in the sunlight—not as a monster, but as a man.
He stretched his arms.
"The sky… the wind… the warmth… I'M ALIVE!!"
"You were never dead."
"Still! This is a new era! My rebirth! The world will tremble—!"
Saiki stopped and turned to him.
Just one look.
"...Frog."
Veldora coughed.
"—Tremble with admiration… of my subtle, peaceful ways. Heh."
The sunlight broke through the canopy of the Jura Forest as Saiki and his newest "roommate," the human-shaped Storm Dragon Veldora, arrived at a small clearing.
Nestled among the trees was a modest wooden cabin—clean, quiet, with just enough space for a solitary life.
Veldora stopped dead in his tracks.
"...This is it?"
Saiki walked ahead and opened the door with his mind.
"Yes."
Veldora squinted.
"Where's the obsidian tower? The golden pillars? The flying battle fortress?!"
"I'm not an anime villain."
"But you could be! Look at your vibe! All you're missing is a dark throne and dramatic monologues!"
Saiki sighed and floated inside, setting his coffee jelly on the table before sitting cross-legged in the air.
"I didn't free you so we could cosplay. I freed you to keep the forest quiet."
"So what's your plan then, oh mighty psychic?" Veldora asked, plopping himself onto a couch that immediately groaned under his weight. "Someone with your power could literally take over this world."
Saiki didn't even blink.
"I'm not interested."
"...Huh?"
"I just want a peaceful life. One without noise, drama, or global armies trying to 'test their strength' on me."
"You mean like what would happen if people found out I was free?"
Saiki blinked.
He froze mid-jelly bite.
"...Oh right."
While Saiki had masked Veldora's aura instinctively, he forgot that for centuries, Veldora's signature presence had been like a storm cloud hovering over the Cardinal World.
Now? That cloud was gone.
And the world was freaking out.
Inside the royal palace, King Gazel Dwargo slammed his fist on a table.
"What do you mean 'the presence disappeared'?!"
His generals looked nervous.
"S-Sire, the magicule scanners we've used to keep tabs on the Storm Dragon… they all went dark."
"You're telling me Veldora just vanished?"
"That's exactly what we're telling you."
"Assemble the army. If that dragon is unsealed, we may already be doomed."
In Blumund...The king was shaking as he downed his fifth glass of wine.
"T-The dragon… the one sealed in Jura… it's gone?!"
"Yes, Your Majesty," his advisor said, pale as a ghost. "The magic field collapsed entirely. It's as if it never existed."
"Notify the Guild! Send for Fuze! We need answers!"
Empress Elmesia stood still in the sacred garden, her eyes narrowed.
"Something is amiss. A piece of the natural cycle has... shifted."
"Your Majesty?" her guards asked.
"The wind no longer howls from the West. The seal of the Storm Dragon has fallen…"
A cup shattered on the floor of the frozen castle.
Guy Crimson, the Demon Lord of Pride, stood silent, eyes glowing faintly red.
Beside him, Velzard, the White Ice Dragon, looked visibly disturbed.
"His aura… it's gone," she whispered. "Veldora's seal—it's broken."
Guy clicked his tongue.
"And no one saw it happen."
"We need to move."
Inside the divine cathedral, Luminous Valentine stopped her steps.
"The storm has… quieted."
Hinata Sakaguchi, her right hand, looked up.
"Is something wrong?"
"Veldora… is no longer bound."
In the capital of the Eastern Empire, Velgrynd, the Red Flame Dragon, was mid-training with soldiers when she suddenly stopped.
Her expression shifted from focused… to alarmed.
"...He's free."
In the throne room, Emperor Rudra leaned back in his chair, amused.
"So, little Veldora finally woke up, huh?"
"This could throw the world into chaos."
"Perfect," Rudra smirked. "Things were getting boring."
Back at the Cabin…
Saiki blinked again.
"Yeah… if I don't do something, this world's going to implode."
He sighed.
"Yare yare daze."
Saiki floated off the floor, eyes glowing faintly pink. No aura. No pressure. Just… overwhelming power.
He closed his eyes and spoke in his head.
"Alright. Let's rewrite this mess."
—Across the entire planet:
All memories of Veldora's magicule disappearance? Gone.
All sensor systems? Reset.
All suspicion? Erased.
The seal? Back in their minds.
Reality? Altered.
"Veldora is still sealed. No one felt anything. Everything is normal."
He snapped his fingers.
Back in Dwargon, Gazel blinked.
"...Wait, what were we talking about again?"
His generals looked around.
"No idea, sire."
In Sarion, Elmesia refocused on her tea.
"The wind is lovely today."
In the Ice Continent, Guy yawned.
"False alarm. Probably indigestion."
In the Eastern Empire, Velgrynd looked confused.
"Why did I feel like I forgot something…?"
Back in the cabin, Veldora had been watching Saiki the whole time—mouth open, eyes wide.
He had felt it.
The entire planet's consciousness had just been rewritten like a chalkboard being erased.
"...W-What did you just do?"
Saiki casually returned to his jelly, spoon in hand.
"Nothing major. Just wiped the minds of everyone in this world."
"...Wiped. Their. Minds."
"Yeah. That way no one comes knocking on your door."
"YOU ERASED A PLANET'S MEMORY LIKE YOU WERE DELETING A TEXT MESSAGE!! WHO ARE YOU!?"
"Someone who wants peace and jelly."
Slurp.