'Could you let the ones in the city know that I will be going back in a while?'
[Of course.]
'Is Veldora in the Labyrinth?'
[Yes, he hasn't learned to control his strength fully at the moment. If we had let him fight it would have done more harm to the city than if we just left him to protect the Labyrinth.]
'So he has been lazing around? I thought he said he was practicing to control his strength?'
[...he has been practicing… but more in the "how to look cool while fighting" way. He is creating his own fighting style combining styles from the manga he read about.]
*sigh*
'Is it actually a good fighting style?'
[For fighting without holding back? Surprisingly, yes. But he hasn't practiced keeping destruction to a minimum.]
'Let's go'
Appearing near Veldora and Ramiris I said hi to them.
"Rimuru! Are you ok?! Are the attackers gone?" Ramiris asked as she flew all around me checking for injuries.
"Of course he is ok, my brother is super strong. And if he really was in trouble he can always call for my help." Said Veldora as he patted my back and got closer and whispered. "But when is it going to be my turn to fight?"
Once Ramiris finished doing laps around me she landed on my head.
"I'm ok. The enemy has been defeated. Tempest took a little bit of damage but we ended up gaining way more than we lost. It won't take long to fix the damaged areas. Actually, I came here with a request for Veldora."
"Whatcha need?"
"You know how I had used my skill to help you get out of the imprisonment? I could use that skill to analyze you. I held off on asking since I probably wouldn't have been able to handle the magicules you have but I should be able to do it now."
"Oh? Are you talking about the bossy- I mean- Very nice and helpful skill that has done absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever." Veldora spoke as cold sweat appeared on his back.
"You've met?"
"Oh yeah, she kept on anno- I mean- give helpful reminders to get back to work analyzing the imprisonment skill whenever I got distracted reading manga."
"What?" Ramiris asked from my head.
"Don't worry about it" I said while patting her tiny head.
"Stop doing that," She said as she hid using my hair to hide her blush.
"So, what do you think?"
"Sure, just let me know what to do."
"Well all you have to do is stand still. I will analyze you and then if I need to I can bring you back using our soul corridor connection and my skill Veldora. We should go to a bigger room, I think it would be better if you are in your dragon form."
Once all the preparations were ready I stood in front of the gigantic storm dragon.
"Alright bro, see ya in a bit. I'm ready." Veldora said as he lowered all of his defenses.
Placing my hand on his body I answered.
"Thanks again. This should only take a few moments."
[Yaldabaoth's Gluttony has been activated.]
My body turned into a slime and began to cover Veldora's entire body. The reason we had waited to do this was because of how risky it was to consume a true dragon. Veldora's magicules, as a true dragon, were special and incredibly hard to consume. Yet thanks to him trying his best to control his strength at this moment it wasn't such a painful experience.
Yaldabaoth was hungrily consuming all of the magicules that were struggling to not rampage. Ciel was analyzing and organizing everything so that everything went smoothly. The magicules being swiftly integrated into my own body.
Ciel was commanding Yaldabaoth meticulously to consume everything without losing any stray magicules and soon enough we had reached Veldora's core. The most important part that made him who he was. If it ever got damaged it would mean Veldora would die and he would then have to reincarnate. The new storm dragon would have the same soul but not his memories. However, that wasn't a worry for Veldora anymore.
I had told him of the skill I had obtained when I had released him from the unlimited imprisonment, and that as long as I lived he would never die. The way I understood it was that his true soul, or at least a part of it, was stored inside of me. And that it would make a "backup" of Veldora in case he ever died. That was the work of the subskill Restore Storm Dragon.
The core in front of me was consumed. And the very next moment I heard Ciel announce.
[The analysis of Veldora through Yaldabaoth has been successfully completed. From now on, it has become possible to transform your body into the same as the True Dragon Race. Do you want to evolve?]
'Yes.'
[The Ultimate skill Veldanava is reacting to the evolution.]
For the last time in the day, I felt my strength grow once again. The already massive magicule storage I had up until the point it matched Veldora's and even slightly surpassed them. I felt some small changes in my body as my mind had gone completely dark.
[New skills have been added to Veldanava.
The skill True Dragon Form Transformation has been acquired.
The skill Faust, Lord of Investigation has been integrated into Veldanava. Gaining the skill Probability manipulation.
True dragon's aura has been acquired.
True dragon magic has been acquired. (Veldanava, Veldora.)
You have evolved into a true dragon.]
[Activating Veldora, Lord of Storms' Restore Storm Dragon.]
"Bwuahahahahahaha"
I opened my eyes to see Veldora standing in front of me.
"Long time no see!" Veldora said as he laughed.
"That's the only correct way to spell it" I answered.
"Huh?"
"Hehe, Bwuahahahahaha" I started laughing at my own stupid joke. And even if he didn't get it he also began to laugh as well.
Ramiris flew from the side where she was expecting back onto her favorite place, my head.
"Are you guys done?"
"Yes, let's get the people back in Tempest."
…
After some hours I was in my office with Diablo.
"Kufufufufu, my lord. Is it just me or have you become more magnificent."
"..."
"My lord doesn't have to answer. For I know he becomes greater with each passing day." Diablo looked ready to begin singing my praises so I just stopped him there.
"Actually, Diablo. Do you know why I called you here?"
"Of course, we will follow what you have always done whenever we are attacked by an enemy. Take over their country so that they don't annoy my lord again!"
"Yes, that would be normal procedure. However, the problem now is that the invaders aren't from one location. Granbell had built his army with people from all over the western countries and states."
A wide smile appeared on his face before he spoke with even more excitement.
"You don't have to worry about that at all my lord. All I ask is that you let me go for some time and I will return with some assistants. I promise I will not disappoint you. I do not want to miss another of your speeches. So please do inform me if you ever plan to have one while I am away."
"I assume they are all demons and they are going to need bodies, right?"
"You are correct Lord Rimuru. If it will inconvenience you I will only bring the most capable demons and I will make their bodies myself."
"No need to worry about that I can make all of the bodies. Bring as many people as you want, just do be aware that we will need to make accommodations for them. Take as much time as you need, I trust you will do a good job."
"Kufufufufufu, it brings me joy to know that my lord trusts me this much. I will leave at this moment so that I can return as fast as possible."
Diablo vowed down to me and vanished.
It wasn't long after Diablo left that I felt a strong presence rushing over to my location. It was the little nuke.
Bursting through the door where she sensed my location Milim yelled.
"Rimuru! Are you ok? I felt my dragon's aura in Tempest. He is really strong!"
Calming down the nervous Milim I answered.
"It's ok, we are not in danger anymore."
My words made Milim go completely quiet and she began to tremble a little.
"Did you… Is the chaos dragon dead?" Her voice was trembling and some tears were beginning to form in her eyes.
"No," I said as I took out a dragon's egg.
The body of the chaos dragon had been damaged to the point that all of his cells had assimilated with the chaotic energy, and they would collapse the moment that chaos was removed. So even if I brought him back with his old body the dragon would struggle to heal and be extremely weakened.
The core and soul of the dragon were salvageable though. With Sariel and Asmodeous' control of the soul, it had been completely healed and stabilized. And since the soul was connected to the core it had also been restored.
Using Origin: Creation and Ciel's directions I had built a new body for the dragon, and it was now in an egg ready to be born anew.
The moment Milim saw the large egg she walked slowly and touched it with her eyes glowing.
"It's really you… and you're back to normal."
The tears that had formed in her eyes when she thought her first friend had died began to flow out. But this time they were tears of happiness as she delicately grabbed the egg and hugged it.
I quickly created a nest for it using extremely soft threads that would keep the egg warm and placed it on the desk.
Milim spent a few minutes holding the egg before she placed it on the nest. She had finally reunited with her first friend and the only family she had left. When he had died she had gone mad with anger and had become a demon lord. Her evolution into a demon lord allowed her friend and pet to come back to life. Yet, he had changed.
He had gone crazy and nothing she did was able to bring it back to normal. So she was forced to lock him away, as she was incapable of killing him. This day, however, she had felt him heading towards Tempest. And she worried that something might happen to Tempest.
What if Tempest was destroyed and I ended up hating her because of it?
What if I was killed?
What if her dragon got killed?
What if everyone in Tempest died including me and her dragon?
Yet all of her worries had gone away the moment she saw the egg. She was emotionally exhausted from worrying. So after she had placed the egg on the nest she walked up to me and gave me a weak hug.
I returned the hug and with one hand I began to caress her head.
"You don't have to worry anymore."
Trying to get her to smile again I said.
"You know, the moment I saw him I knew he was somehow related to you. So I made sure to keep him safe."
She tightened the hug before asking
"How did you know?" She asked weakly.
"Well, you are my little nuke. And he gave me big nuke vibes."
She released a small giggle before she said.
"If that's the case I guess I don't mind being your little nuke."
Taking out a jar of honey I asked her.
"Do you want some more honey?"
She once again made the hug tighter.
"Not right now. I think I like this more…. Thank you for saving him."
Returning the honey jar to the storage and caressing her head once again I answered.
"My pleasure."