"Girl, unfortunately, someone has already beaten you to it"
"beaten me to it?" she replied confusedly
"Yes, an intruder... Better to say an unfilial boy has already dived into calibres ocean"
"Wait what"
"He won't survive the test so there is no way he can come back alive, however, once the test is taken there is a 50-year cooldown so you won't be able to success me now"
"You are joking!" ariel was despaired, to say the least.
Just who was this intruder that dared spoil her plans and take the treasure from her
"Girl do I dare joke about matters such as this"
'Shit it's getting angry, I can feel my skin starting to burn from the temperature increase'
"Sorry most noble one, pardon my behaviour, you naturally are the greatest and jokes are not worthy of you"
"hmph girl, you know it best"
and as such, the temperature started to decrease and the atmosphere mellowed at her mellifluous attitude.
'whew, I've got to get out of here this is the worst, but who is this intruder that's able to get past a dragon?'
as she stood quickly pondering how to proceed
"girl it's probably best you leave, it is truly a shame your mana is perfect to carry on my lineage but alas"
"very well, I must thank you o noble one, I shall be on my way"
and just as Ariel was headed for the exit with a look of solemn. From the silver pool, bubbles erupted onto the surface, until emerging from the water, a figure cropping out of the water onto the ground with new bright Auburn highlights at the end of his silver hair. emanating confidence and vigor which mostly exuded from a bright sharp steeled red sword he was holding in his hands.
"that's mine!" both ariel and the dragon exclaimed outwardly
"Girl, you dare lay claim to my treasure, And boy! How did you survive the test?!"
Lotus ignored the dragon almost as if it was an ant and sceptically looked at the girl, scanning her up and down, he felt a sense of familiarity towards her but couldn't pinpoint it.
Ariel looked intriguingly back at Lotus almost as if she felt the same sense of familiarity towards him but immediately dismissed it to focus on the luminous blood red sword that pulsed in his hands. she then remembered her situation and nervously looked at the dragon, "venerable one, I do not dare, I only meant that it is I who should bestow the treasure back to you"
'venerable one?, why is she sucking up to this waist of space' Lotus scoffed to himself
"Boy, Answer…"
"what, you old dog, who gave you permission to speak " Lotus' peeve response aggravated the dragon to the point that before the dialogue between them could even unnecessarily progress
"Boooooooom!" the dragon stepped down with flares of fire spouting from the ground, immediately followed up by directly attempting to step onto lotus, however Lotus maneuvered himself to the side with unnatural speed, in line with that the dragon conjured mana into his lungs and breathed out pure wind which blew Lotus away, smacking him emphatically into the cave wall straight onto his knees
*coughs and spits out a shot of blood
heavily winded by the attack he picked himself off from his knees and in a hoarse tone looked at Ariel and stated something that shocked them both
"Hey, I don't know who you are, but if you want this sword you can have it, if you help me take down this dragon instead of standing around like a statue"
"What for real?" her eyes widened
"You dare girl"
"I'm serious I don't need this anyways, it's a cool sword though"
"a-al-alright I'll help cover you, if your serious" she responded in a tone of confusion, 'cool sword? it's rumoured divine treasure and you just called it a cool sword.
"Girl you were to be my successor and now betray me"
she scoffed "who wants to be a successor of some egotistical old bag"
"haha your cool, I like you" Lotus
was enjoying the chaos.
She blushed "who wants to be liked by you"
"hmph I shall be burying two intruders"
Lotus turned his focus back to the dragon and a look of determination showed, gripping the sword tighter he swang it towards the dragon and an arc of fire went towards it, only to be nullified by a protective force field
"I will show you those who try to claim my life will be the ones pleading for there's" Lotus said menacingly