性瘾者

Even though Blanco Palace was a little far from Yule Palace (the emperor’s residence), she still felt the enormous power coming from something that definitely didn’t belong to a human. Thus, she connected the dots and came up with the conclusion that Neoma’s Soul Beast, the one that was currently inside a dragon egg, was about to come out.

And she knew what she needed to do.

[Neoma probably knows I can do it now, so she asked Lewis to fetch me.]

“Lewis, let’s stop here,” Hanna said, then she stopped running when they reached the entrance of the garden. “And stay close to me.”

Lewis told her earlier that Sir Geoffrey Kinsley had already evacuated the servants of the Yule Palace, so she didn’t have to worry about innocent people getting hurt. Still, hiding Neoma’s red dragon from other people’s eyes was her job.

She asked Lewis to stay close to her because she was worried that he would run straight to Neoma when the Soul Beast might go on a rampage.

.....

“I need to stay by Princess Neoma’s side-”

“Come here,” she said, cutting Lewis off. “I know that it’s your duty to stay by Neoma’s side as her knight. But as you can see, His Majesty is with our princess. I’m not saying that you’ll just get in their way. I’m also perfectly aware that you can protect yourself and do your job at the same time. But at times like this, isn’t it better to serve as a support?”

Lewis tilted his head to one side.

“Let Neoma do her thing and only make a move when you need to. I think that would work best for you considering your dynamics,” she explained. “Neoma is the type of person who likes taking the lead, after all. Do you get what I’m saying, Lewis?”

“I do,” Lewis said, then he frowned. “But I don’t like it.”

She laughed softly. “Alright. I won’t force you to listen to me. You may do what you want to do.”

“Okay,” he said, then he walked towards her and stood behind her. “Then I’ll stay here.”

She turned to her with a confused look on her face. “But I thought you don’t like being apart from Neoma when she’s in a fight?”

“Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I won’t. I always have Princess Neoma’s best interest at heart,” Lewis explained. “Moreover, protecting the people Princess Neoma treasures is also a part of my job.”

She smiled and nodded. “I’m glad you know that, Lewis.”

After that, she focused on doing her job.

This was the first time she was going to perform the technique that she learned from her Uncle Garrett. She didn’t want to mess up, so she closed her eyes and focused.

She let her Mana flow down and gather at the sole of her feet.

Then she let her Mana leak out until it reached her shadow.

After that, she “broke” her shadow’s form to make it shapeless. Then she expanded it until the garden’s entire ground was covered with her shadow. The next thing she did was to imagine her shapeless shadow turning into a dome that covered that entire garden.

Her job didn’t end there.

Now that the entire garden was covered with her shadow, she created a Space inside her Shadow Field where reality wouldn’t be affected. Thus, no matter how rough the fight between Neoma and her Soul Beast went, they wouldn’t damage anything inside her Shadow Field.

[I think I did it perfectly.]

She slowly opened her eyes and was relieved to see that she really succeeded.

The entire garden was now covered by her Shadow Field.

It turned out prettier than she expected because now the garden looked like it was covered by a black lace veil. Well, it was pretty similar to the Shadow Veil that the Quinzels were known for. But her Shadow Field was a bit different because of the thousands of tiny black cubes floating inside the field.

Those tiny black cubes were the result of the Space she created in order to protect reality from getting affected by the fight.

“You did well, Lady Hanna,” Lewis complimented her. “You’ve grown stronger.”

Hanna turned to Lewis and smiled proudly. “Thank you, Lewis.”

***

[FIELD ISOLATION?]

Nikolai was pretty impressed by Hanna’s Field Isolation Technique.

It was impressive because it was like the combination of Shadow Veil (the Quinzel’s technique that they used to hide things they wanted to hide) and Field Isolation (the technique where the user would create a space to protect reality from getting damaged).

“Neoma, your future sister-in-law has some impressive skills,” Nikolai said to his daughter. “It was rude of us to worry only about Calyx Dalton for the upcoming match. You should be on your guard around Hanna Quinzel, too.”

“That goes without saying, Papa Boss,” Neoma said, her eyes focused on the growing Red Dragon in front of them. “I bet Hanna could hold her own against Calyx Dalton as well. Like she always says, she’s a hawk- and hawks are the crows’ natural predators.”

He just nodded in agreement, then he analyzed the Red Dragon in front of them.

[Neoma’s Soul Beast’s overall body length is probably around thirty-seven meters, with a wingspan of around forty-six meters.]

“Neoma, how do you plan to deal with your Soul Beast?”

“Papa Boss, do you remember how I made Tteokbokki succumb to me when I first awakened as a de Moonasterio?”

“I remember you telling Nero that you cried until your Soul Beast gave up.”

“That was a lie, Papa Boss.”

“I thought so,” he said, not surprised by his daughter’s confession. After all, even back then, he never believed that Neoma tamed her Soul Beast by simply crying. “Did you beat it to a pulp?”

“Yep,” his daughter said proudly. “And I’ll do it again.”

Nikolai let out a chuckle. “I want to see my daughter beat up a full-grown dragon.”

“You’re in for a treat then, Papa Boss,” Neoma said while cracking her knuckles. “But this time, I’ll knock Tteokbokki out in one punch.”

***

NEOMA gathered a huge amount of Mana in her right hand.

Tteokbokki finally stopped growing. He was still making angry dragon noises, and his mouth was now emitting smoke. Plus, she could tell his dragon’s power was getting stronger and stronger.

[Ah, he’s gonna breathe fire.]

She wouldn’t let Tteokbokki do that.

“Mochi, flight magic,” Neoma said. Then a cold breeze immediately lifted her, making her giggle because Mochi’s wind power always felt gentle to her. “Thanks.”

Now that she was covered with Mochi’s flight magic, she was free to move as if she was wings.

Actually, she could have just used her own rose wings to fly.

But she concentrated all her strength to her fist. She intended to finish the “fight” as quickly as possible. Thus, she went all out right away.

[Here goes nothing.]

She shot up to the sky until she was at Tteokbokki’s eye level.

Her Soul Beast’s eyes were glowing red. When she entered the dragon’s field of vision, it instantly opened its mouth to roar or something.

That was when she attacked.

She did a front flip in the air, then she landed gracefully on Tteokbokki’s nose. It was a little hot in there was smoke coming out of his nostrils. Thus, without further ado, she got down on one knee and punched Tteokbokki’s nose until he was forced to close his mouth.

The impact of her punch was no joke.

She didn’t feel pain because her fist was covered with Coat (her protective barrier), but Tteokbokki felt the full power of her punch. Thus, the dragon’s angry noises turned into a loud cry as he plunged to the ground- creating a vast crater when the enormous dragon finally fell.

Then she watched her poor Soul Beast fall to the ground with a loud and destructive thud while she was still floating in the air. Everything was crushed under Tteokbokki’s fallen body, and the crater produced by the impact destroyed the ground.

She surveyed the area and was relieved to see that her Papa Boss was safe. There was a bluish wall in front of her father, and it was no doubt a barrier made from his Moonglow.

From the corner of her eye, she also saw Hanna and Lewis.

Lewis was standing in front of Hanna protectively, but the tiny black cubes in front of Lewis seemed like a barrier created by Hanna.

[Thank goodness everyone is safe.]

“Sorry, Tteokbokki,” Neoma whispered to herself while looking at the unconscious Tteokbokki on the ground. “But this small amount of violence is our love language.”

***

“WHY DID my Tteokbokki shrink?” Neoma asked, confused. When she landed on her feet, she was surprised to see that Tteokbokki returned to his baby form. If her estimation was correct, then his body length would be around four feet. “Did my punch bring him back to his baby form?”

“You’re not that great, Neoma de Moonasterio.”

She didn’t need to turn around to know it was William who dissed her.

[Again.]

William appeared on her left side while Manu appeared on her right side.

“Your Soul Beast shrank of his own volition,” Manu explained. “But it’s a good thing. Adult dragons could control their body size according to what they wanted. Most adult dragons become more comfortable using their human forms, too. So don’t be surprised if your Soul Beast turns into his human form soon, Neoma de Moonasterio.”

She remembered what Tteokbokki looked like in his human form, but she also remembered that Crimson was the dominant personality when her Soul Beast was in his human form.

[No, thanks.]

It wasn’t like she hated Crimson. She just didn’t have the time to deal with Crimson’s unending rage, since her priority right now was to rescue her Mama Boss.

.....

[I’ll deal with Tteokbokki’s dual personality later.]

“I can tell that the dragon grew up well,” the Grand Spirit said while nodding his head in approval. “Neoma de Moonasterio, get ready.”

“Huh?”

“What’s with the stupefied face for?” William asked with furrowed eyebrows. “We’re going to the Black Ocean to save Mona- now.”

Neoma covered her mouth when she gasped. “Now?”

[I’m finally going to meet my Mama Boss!]

***

NEOMA smiled when Tteokbokki, who was currently lying down on her bed, finally opened his eyes. “Good morning, Tteokbokki.”

She said ‘Tteokbokki,’ but she wasn’t sure which personality overtook the dragon’s body at the moment.

It didn’t take her long to find out, though.

“How did you get so big, thug princess?!”

‘Thug princess?’

Aww... it was her Tteokkbokki!