Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

Jack returned to the ground after piercing the heart of the mimic he had discovered taking the form of a feline therian, whose body was now lying on the ground in front of him, starting to dissolve into a goo-like substance. He spat on the ground next to the now-dead mimic.

"Fucking mimics," He said with disdain as he began to walk away, passing near the elf who was accompanying the mimic, who was now looking at the corpse with surprise in his eyes. "I don't know what your relation was with the person the mimic had replaced. I'm sorry for your loss," Jack said, putting a hand on the elf's shoulder.

As he walked back to the small squadron of elite soldiers that came with him to track down the mimic, he noticed their faces shift from happiness to very tense and anxious. Jack didn't understand what caused them to show that level of wariness, but he knew better than to ignore it.

As he turned around, he saw the mimic he thought he had killed taking a draconic form he had never seen. It was in moments like these that he cursed his lack of the [Appraisal] skill, but he knew it wouldn't matter as mimics couldn't change the results of a high-level [Appraisal], mainly because he felt that the mimic wasn't that strong, but he now had somehow doubled his strength as he changed forms. It must be an evolution, the thought crossed Jack's mind.

Pulling back the sword, he prepared to engage the mimic yet again.

My bet paid off. The moment I felt his blade touching my chest, I pushed everything I could into [Genetic Dysphoria], hoping the transformation sequence my body passes through would help me survive, and it did. The sword cut through my body as it liquefied, nullifying any damage he would have done otherwise.

As my body reformed, everyone looking at me, with the exception of Farahio, became very tense as I got up. I saw the guy with the black clothes stopping and turning around, eyes widening for a single moment before focusing yet again on me, pulling his sword and preparing to attack me again.

I doubted the same trick would work a second time, so I needed another way to deal with him. He was too strong for me to fight against, I needed to use every advantage I had.

As he kicked off the ground, causing a small crater to appear from where his foot once stood, I drew the temporal energy surrounding us. Another thing I noticed from my true form to those of [Genetic Dysphoria] was that time felt more tangible and easier to control. I knew what to do instinctively.

Pulling all the temporal energy I could as his sword touched my neck, I twisted the flow of the timestream, causing everything to just stop for a few moments, and then causality became reversed, making time move backwards... except I wasn't part of this reversal. I was standing where I started the process, my past self being just a ghost image made from just the light that had reflected from my body, as I wasn't physically there anymore.

This process was draining, very draining. For the few seconds that had passed since I had started reverting time, I was already down to half my MP, but at least it was enough, as the "fight" hadn't taken that long. It was completely one-sided.

I positioned myself near Farahio, though now that I had to lose my humanoid disguise and would probably need to run, I didn't really know why I would try to bring Farahio with me, maybe because he was the only one helping me to get my friends back. Doesn't matter. I had agreed to let him accompany me, and that was what I was going to do.

I prepared the inverted gravity spell, and as soon as I felt the flow of time slowing down, stopping, and resuming its normal flow, I cast it.

I had reverted just a few moments before the black clothed guy had seen me, so for everyone else, a dragon suddenly appeared and took off.

The moment the gravity reversed, Farahio turned rapidly and cast an ice javelin that shot near my head so fast I barely had time to react, and that was with my mind accelerated.

"Denaru?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes, but no time to talk now," I answered as I turned my face to the ground, where the guards looked very confused, with the sole exception of the person who tried to kill me before.

He jumped into a sprint, jumping on top of the wagon before jumping even higher. The resulting force of his jump caused the wagon to explode into a million pieces as he shot upwards way too fast.

Grabbing Farahio with my two hands, as we were just falling upwards with the inverted gravity at that moment, I flapped my wings backwards. I even cast the force spell that pushed me backwards, managing to avoid the trajectory of his blade by a few centimeters as he tried to behead me.

I was honestly impressed with how high up he had jumped as we were currently fifteen meters in the air, and he went even higher with his fast speed, reaching the apex of his jump at around twenty meters upwards.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Turning my body, I began flapping my wings and flying in the direction we were originally traveling to, only to immediately turn my wings and with the help of a wind spell, spin my body sideways and changing my trajectory as I saw the sword that had almost killed me shoot past me, landing in the middle of the forest.

The guy had thrown his sword like a kunai at me. I only managed to dodge because I saw him in the corner of my vision preparing to throw it, and even so, it was a close call.

I saw his annoyed face as he looked at me like I was a pest that had somehow survived his attempt at exterminating me.

I kept flying and occasionally looked back only to see a clear sky, then remembering that I now could fly, I looked downwards, but couldn't see anyone following us.

"I'm wondering when you plan to explain or at least stop carrying me like I'm just a travel snack," I heard Farahio's voice cutting through the wind with the help of magic as I felt a pulse of magicules with the sound. Turning once more to look backwards and then downwards, I slowly descended my altitude until I dropped him to the ground before falling to the ground myself in a kind of crash-landing. My current anxiety making me miss my landing.

"Now," Farahio said as he dusted his clothes. "I don't remember you telling me that you were a shapeshifter… Although, you did say that you had a skill that changed your form, but I imagined it was one of those skills that increased muscle mass or changed your size, not literally shapeshift" He then eyed my torn clothes that became like this after I transformed back, the pressure from my body rebuilding itself was enough to tear through the fabric. "You were right about your clothes."

"Sorry about the kidnapping. I just didn't have time to do anything else," I apologized.

"Bah, don't worry. Though you did startle me. I almost took your head off with an ice spell. You're lucky I recognized your aura," He said, making me remember how quickly he had reacted when I appeared behind him after the time reversal. "Anyway. Why were the elite soldiers of Flamecrest, and even a guy from the special division from Praxus, trying to off you?"

"They think I'm a mimic," I answered. Farahio just looked confused at me before asking.

"You aren't?"

"No, I'm not," I said, feeling somewhat irritated that people would mistake me for those chest-like creatures. "I'm a dragon, as you can currently see."

"I mean. You can look like a dragon now, doesn't mean you are one." He said.

"No. I'm literally a dragon, an Ouroboros Dragon. The skill I told you about is what allows me to change my species based on the species I killed. I'm not exactly sure on the specifics as to how it unlocks a species for me."

"So… Your therian form?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"A bandit I found in the forest near Flamecrest. He and his gang had robbed and killed their victims. I kinda lost control and killed them, unlocking that form after it."

"I see," he said, but then shrugged. "I don't really mind. Even if you were a mimic, your status as a summoned being is enough for me to ignore your species, although being a dragon is even more fascinating. I never heard of the Ouroboros species before."

"Why the hostility towards mimics?" I asked. This only happened because they mistook me for one. The guy with black clothes probably has a skill to see into the past and future, that's how he knew who I was and where I was.

"It's a long story that I suggest we talk while we are on the move, flying preferably. Those guys won't give up until you are dead," he said, and then with a small step he started flying with a small air vortex behind him, blowing him upwards. I flapped my wings and jumped, following Farahio as he increased his speed.

As I approached him again, I felt as the air around us stilled only around our heads, stopping the sound of the wind from reaching us so that we could continue speaking.

"It's a very long story," he started. "So I'll try to give you a very, ver,y very brief summary." He waited for me to nod before continuing. "Mimics are a species from the old territory of the Flesh Dragon. After the Blood Dragon killed him in a territorial dispute and absorbed his own territory, mimics were one of the many creatures that fled from that territory to this one. If this were any other place, they would have been annihilated by the dragon, but the Dragon King isn't like the others, so he let them roam free. Unfortunately for us, mimics are an invasive species that reproduce by infecting others. They were only discovered after a few kingdoms were under their control, and after an assassination attempt gone wrong exposed their true nature. After many many years in an extermination attempt, mimics are considered extinct, but a small squadron of high elite people are still on the active for when mimics are discovered."

"I see…" So, basically, mimics did what mimics do, and they went full-on holy crusade on them. Though I'm curious as to the dragons he spoke about. "By the way. Who are the Flesh dragon, Blood dragon, and Dragon King you told me?"

He looked at me with an incredulous face before remembering something.

"Oh, right. You're not from this world. Honestly, I don't really know how to explain it. The Dragon King is the Dragon King… You might learn more during the dragon festival in a few weeks."

"Okay…?"

"It's just that it's so basic knowledge that I don't know how to explain, at least not as we fly through the plains," He said. I only nodded in response. "By the way. Now that we are already flying. We might as well go directly to Dorarma."

"Lead the way," I said. I had no idea where Dorarma was, so if Farahio was going to lead me there, I would just accept.

"That way, we will lose the guys on our tail more easily, as they would need to search for us in every city between here and Dorarma. Even if they know where we are going, they won't be able to go there directly because we might change our minds and go to another place." He then looked at my tail. "It's a figure of speech, by the way. They aren't really on your tail."

"I know that," I said as he flew through the sky. My anxiety from them somehow finding us and attacking us, stopping me from enjoying the sensation of flight properly.