Two hours later, after Dust had finished his preparations, everyone got kicked out of the room, leaving only him, Sen, and Shieda who insisted on staying to oversee the procedure.
He wondered what will Dust do to fix his problem and to be honest, he did doubt the words of someone who's been dormant for more than a hundred years.
But of all the things Sen prepared to hear, he did not think that Dust would utter a word that will shock him.
"First, you need to stabilize your form. If you can still switch between bodies freely, then your form is still unstable and we need to fix that first before I proceed. Switch to your Fanalis form and do as I say."
"What?! You…how did you know of that name?"
Dust had a confused expression, "what name? Fanalis?"
"Y-yeah…I haven't told anyone that name yet"
Dust was now even more confused. "I don't know…just like I know Leonas is a drow, Risa is an elf, Nivera is a demon, and Shieda is a vallas, I just know that your race is called Fanalis…and it looks like I've…met one before…one that is very important to me…"
'So there are others' Sen was jubilant at the realization. There are others like him. The same race as him. Although he is still human as heart, he had completely accepted the fact that his body and blood are no longer human.
However, Sen just recalled. He was the one who chose the name Fanalis to name the race. It is inconceivable that even if this race exists in this world, it would be called something that he had chosen on a whim.
The feeling that he is a part of a huge cosmic conspiracy intensified in his heart. But now, he decided to focus more on increasing his strength.
At that moment, he remembered when Dust woke up and hugged him abruptly while calling 'Licht'
But that was none of his business and wouldn't pry…although Sen would really like to meet this Licht the Fanalis.
"Wait, did you just say my permanent form?"
"Yes, it is a form taken when Fanalis stabilize their bloodline. I see you've sealed your bloodline memories, although clumsily. That caused it to be even more unstable, it is also the reason why your fused energy is chaotic at the moment."
Sen nodded in understanding. He himself knows nothing about Fanalis, neither does Shieda. Dust here may be the only one who knows more about him, so Sen elected to trust the pixy man. He did as instructed and took off his outer clothing while reverting back to the Fanalis form.
Dust flew behind Sen and placed both of his tiny palms against his back. He hesitated for a second as if something flashed past his mind, making him wince in light pain. In the end, he sighed and spoke, "I...I have a feeling that this will hurt you a lot. But you must endure it. During this process, I will unseal your bloodline memories. It will try and consume you but you will have to fight it will all your will. Follow my instructions to the letter, understand?"
Sen was in fact expecting it to be painful so he took a deep breath and nodded.
Dust did something a world of darkness swallowed Sen…
.
.
.
Pain!
That's all Sen could feel. Pain from every angle, from every bone and every fiber of his being. Just one minute under this state and Sen wants to give up. He wants to scream, 'Dust, get me out', but his throat, mouth, and jaws hurt so much that he couldn't even muster up the strength to utter a single syllable.
Seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours. At this time, Sen became numb with pain. He wasn't even allowed to pass out.
A warm touch he felt on his cheek and the pain lessened. Struggling to open his eyes after great effort, Sen saw the most beautiful sight ever.
She had pale white skin like snow, it shone like an angel's wings, illuminating his darkness. Her eyes were red as the most precious rubies in the entire world, they were big and beautiful. Small nose and hair. Oh, her hair, how that pink silk softly hanged on her shoulders like a veil of soft glistering water. Dimples appeared on her cheek when she smiled at him. Her smile was even the most beautiful he's ever seen. Nivera, Lilith the seer from the dagger vision, Elaila, and all the beautiful women he's met so far couldn't compare to this celestial existence.
He could only see her face due to his weakness but that alone gave him the strength to push beyond his body's limits.
"Who…are you?" he hoarsely asked.
"What have they done to you?" she said with her bell-chime-like voice as she caressed his cheek with her hand. With every touch, the pain was greatly reduced.
"Are you feeling better now?" she softly asked, not answering his question.
Sen nodded, her touch alleviated most of the pain.
She stood up and reached out her hand to him which he eagerly held.
The moment their skins made contact, the space around him warped. From the bleak darkness to refreshing greenery. It was a prairie, a beautiful prairie with flower beds, high trees, and small animals prancing around. There was a small cottage behind the nearby crystal clear lake.
His hands were still holding the red-eyed woman. He now was able to see her full appearance. Her arms were snow white, but her hands, they hand beautiful wavy red tattoos on them. Her ears were long and horizontal, yet complimented her saintly face.
"Are…are you, like me?" he hesitantly asked. He didn't want this woman to disappear.
"Yes," she shyly answered. "I'm also a Fanalis"
Sen smiled even more brightly and turned his gaze to the wooden cottage. "is that your home?"
A chuckle more pleasing the ears than anything he's ever heard escaped from her mouth. "You silly. That is 'our' home"
"Our home" Sen muttered under his breath. "Yes, silly me, that is our home. Let's go to our home"
Hand in hand, they joyfully ran towards the cottage.
.
.
Meanwhile, outside in the Zacharias mansion, Shieda and Dust were panicking.
"what is happening to him"
Dust was more composed, but his voice also hid the uneasiness. "that idiot!" he cursed, "he's falling for the bloodline memories so hard. He's barely putting up any resistance."
"What should we do? Can you stop the process?" Sheida sked but Dust shook his head and added more fuel to the fire.
"No, in fact, I just unsealed his bloodline memories, but they have been accumulating for quite some time now, so when they attacked him, they were actually much stronger than before."
"Then why start the stabilization now? Isn't it dangerous to do that now?"
"It precisely because of that. Right now, that idiot is putting absolutely no resistance to the bloodline memories. If I start the process, it will increase the risk on his body but would also help him shake off the allure of those memories."
Shieda looked at Sen, his Fanalis body was thrashing on the ground madly, he had to find some leather belts and tie him lest he injures himself or others.
"How will this work?" he asked after a while.
Dust answered, "The entire process has three-part. The first is unsealing the memories. The second, stabilizing his permanent form. And the last is extracting Mana to from the fused energy to cover the whole fused energy core and make him into a pure mage."
"Okay then, what do I need to do?" in fact, Dust came to Shieda before this started and asked him to be here when performing this procedure. Shieda had asked him why and he said that there is a chance he would need his strength during this whole thing.
"Just keep his body as still as you can"
Dust chanted something and the next second, he was covered in blue mist from head to toe.
Something flickered in Shieda's eyes as he looked at the mist. He tried to recall what he had heard about a pixy elf's mist, but couldn't. 'Maybe it's ancient knowledge' he thought before shrugging his shoulders and concentrating on Sen.
The mist slowly expanded from Dust's body until it took the shape of a cylindrical rod.
Slowly, Dust willed the mist rod towards Sen's body. It entered him through the chest. With each centimeter, the pain Sen's body felt has visibly gotten worse.
"Arghhh"
A blood-curling scream escaped Sen's mouth but that was not the least of it. His body started expanding rapidly. Scales covered his skin and a huge tail grew from his back.
"Quick, beat him! He's turning into a dragon" Dust shouted.
Shieda heard him and felt that there was no time to ask for an explanation so he launched himself at Sen, Mana coated his arms. Mages are not physically strong, but Shieda was a special case. He manipulated Mana to cover his body like a glove, granting him an unbreakable armor of manna.
'Bang!'
Bang!'
Hit after hit, he delivered to Sen's stomach, back, and face. Whenever he saw an area getting scaled, he sent a direct hit.
The transformation stopped and they heaved a sigh of relief. But soon again, Sen began transforming again, this time it was faster than before. From a Fanalis, a tall pink-haired elf replaced Sen.
Before Shieda placed another hit, Dust stopped him. Only hit when I say. It's okay if he changes into something his size. But a dragon is bigger than this hall and it would be hard to bring him back after that.
Sen's elven body morphed once more, this time a nine-tailed fox humanoid beastmen.
This scenario continued for hours, the rod of mist is now halfway in Sen's chest. During this time, his form flickered between an elf, an Orc, an ice elf, a naga, a plant woman, a ferocious vampire, and lastly a humanoid figure of Mana.
Shieda was tired from all the beatings he gave Sen. Although they did manage to stabilize his size, Sen attempted to turn into a dragon, a giant worm, and many oversized creatures many times.
Sen's body started growing once more and turning dark purple, blue, and pale white in color. Shieda followed the routine and was about to strike Sen again. Yet, who would've known that Sen who had put up zero resistance until now, would swing his arms and fling the unguarded Shieda aside?
"Damn it!"
Shieda rushed back to Sen, yet it was too late. Sen had already completed morphing. He became a dragon; no, a demon; actually it was both, and neither, it was the crying demon Grot!