Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

I followed the directions provided to me by the person I helped escape until we were out of the… whatever that place was. We left through a hidden door inside an empty house in the outskirts of the city, and she provided instructions for me to walk through various alleys and deserted streets until we reached a small shed in a poorer area of the city near the outer wall.

Inside the shed, there wasn't anything worth noting but a few basic furniture, a chair, a small table, and a bed. I helped the woman into the bed, and she asked me to break the other shackles she still had, one on the other arm, one in each leg, and one on her neck that glowed slightly.

It took me about an hour and a half to cut through all of them, with the one in her neck being the strongest of them, having a slightly anti-magic effect that kept disrupting my spell, I had to hold it together by force for it not to break down.

After all the shackles were broken, she massaged her arm and her neck before looking at me. I was a few meters away from her, giving her some space. She got up and went to the door before closing it and locking it.

"Ehmm?" I made a confused noise as I looked at her.

"Thank you for getting me out of there. I can't believe those wyvernfuckers used poison to debilitate me," she said. "It has been weeks since I've been captured. They don't really know how to torture high-leveled people, but they have someone intelligent enough to know they needed to use those skill dampeners on me."

"You're… welcome?" I answered. I didn't know where she was going with that.

"That's why I won't kill you without asking first." Suddenly, I froze in place, my heart beating wildly. It was the same sensation Jack had on me. How did she have the same skill or spell as Jack had? I didn't understand.

My breath quickened as I stared at her. She moved slowly, her injuries healing at a visible rate. She reached for the chair and pulled it in front of me, sitting down on it as a sword made out of ice cristalyzed on her right hand and was pointed directly to my face.

"Are you a mimic?" She asked. I couldn't respond, the pressure she was emitting was making my mind go blank. She seemed to notice it, and suddenly the pressure vanished.

I fell to the ground, gasping for air. My heart seemed like it was going to explode in my chest, and I could feel my fur rise all over my body.

"I will ask again, are you a mimic?" She repeated the question. "And don't try to say to me it is a transformation skill. I know those, and they can't transform you into a creature smaller than you are."

After a few ragged breaths, I managed to calm down enough to speak.

"I-it is a skill," I started. When I heard her starting to say something, I quickly cut her off. "Unique– it is a unique skill."

I could feel her gaze on me, even if I was currently looking at the ground.

"And why should I believe in you? You could just be lying about it," she stated.

"It's called [Genetic Dysphoria]," I said, hoping giving the name was enough. Deep inside, I knew she couldn't hurt me. Worst case scenario, the loop reset, and I was back in the inn with an additional mental scar, it's not like Jack didn't give me enough of those. I could still feel the cold metal blade on my neck, even while transformed. The problem was that whatever skill or magic she and Jack had that could paralyze me with fear, it made me forget that and feel like my life was really in danger.

"Hmm," I heard her humming. "Let's say I believe in you, at least for now. I don't have an [Appraisal] with a high enough level to confirm that."

I had recovered enough to look at her. She had her left hand over her chin, deep in thought, and her right hand still held the ice sword, but it wasn't pointed at me anymore, but at the ground. I could see the wooden planks freezing where the tip of the sword met the planks.

I was really considering just triggering the loop and reverting back, I wasn't sure if helping her escape was worth the hassle I got.

"Yeah, no." She shook her head. For a moment, I thought she was going to kill me, just like Jack, but her next words disproved that thought. "I'm not good at investigative work, better let these kinds of things to Max or Jack."

That made my mind stop on its tracks. Was that the same Jack or someone else with the same name? How unlucky was I to meet someone who knew the person hunting me? It should just be a coincidence, right? It couldn't be the same person. Jack is a common name, right?

"By Jack," I started questioning her, observing her expressions as I asked. "Do you mean a human who wears a black overall filled with protection runes?"

"Oh, do you know him?" She asked innocently.

My expression darkened a bit. How was I this unlucky? At least she didn't try to kill me on sight, like him, though, I guess she was going to try to kill me, just chose not to.

"Oh, I see," she nodded. "I'm surprised you are alive. Jack isn't as easygoing as I am."

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My expression darkened a bit further as all the memories of me being beheaded flashed through my mind, my neck burning as the sensation of his sword across multiple loops overlapped on top of each other. I unconsciously placed my hand over the burning area.

"I see…" She looked at me. "I don't know how you pulled it off, but tricking Jack to think you're dead is no easy feat. I don't know how he does it, but it's almost like he has a sixth sense to know where his targets are."

"It's a skill," I said.

"A skill that revives you?" She asked. "That's handy."

"I meant Jack," I corrected her.

"Huh?"

"Jack has a skill, or knows a spell, I don't know which, that allows him to look into the future or the past. That's how he tracks his targets."

"Oohh," she let out a surprised sound, understanding clicking in her head. "That's how he seems to know whenever I try to play a trick on him. Still, to have something that can fool a skill like that and make him think you're dead is very handy as well."

I looked at her, a sad smile plastered on my face. "I didn't," I said.

She raised an eyebrow at my answer.

"I'm in a time loop triggered by my death. I'm still alive in this loop for the simplest reason that Jack hasn't arrived yet. Now that the magical storm has been dissipated, it's only a matter of time until he finds me, unless I trigger the loop earlier." I didn't even know why I told her that, it was like I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Every time he finds me, I freeze in terror because of something he does, and then he beheads me like I'm some sort of plague, even looking at me in disgust." I could feel tears forming in my eyes. "I tried to talk with him, many, many times. But it doesn't matter, he won't listen to me. All the times I tried to plead with him to at least listen to me, his eyes turned into pure rage and disgust, and I-I"

It was a good thing that I hadn't gotten up from the floor, because I would've fallen back down. Tears flowed from my eyes, wetting my fur before falling onto the ground. I had already cried, many times, even, during the loop resets, but the feeling of being overwhelmed refused to fade away. I could try and follow the God of Light's advice and take it slow, but it couldn't change the fact that everything still happened.

"Oh, ehmm," she sounded lost at what to do. I then felt a hand on my head, caressing my fur. "There, there. It's okay now… Gods, I'm not good with children, what should I do?"

It took me a few minutes to stop crying. I was still on the floor, but I managed to get up, although with a few missteps as my legs were still weak.

"Sorry you had to see that," I said, trying to clean my face with my arm, but all I did was spread my tears to the rest of my face and my arm, wetting more of my fur.

"It's alright," she said. "It seems you've gone through a lot."

She looked at the ceiling for a few moments before returning her gaze to me.

"Still, time loops, eh? It sounds both a blessing and a curse."

I chuckled at her remark. "You have no idea."

"I guess this means that if I had killed you earlier instead of asking-"

"The loop would reset, and nothing of this would've happened," I completed her phrase. "And, I'm sorry to say this, but if you had done that, I probably wouldn't come back to help you."

"It's fine, I completely understand," she said casually. "Besides, they were only doing physical damage to me. I kept quiet until we ran into that guy because I wanted to see where you would take me. I was thinking you were a mimic back then."

I nodded, unsure as to how to continue the conversation or how to end it.

"Say," she said after various seconds of silence. "How many times did you face Jack?"

I grimaced. "I didn't keep track of that."

"Oh, right. Sorry," she apologized. "It's just that you seem so affected by my bloodlust, but it seems like you've met Jack's many times."

"Bloodlust?" I asked. "What is that?"

She looked at me, confused. "You don't know what bloodlust is?"

"I may look like a 7-year-old child," I said. "But I think you noticed how I don't act like one."

"Yeah, that's the reason I thought you were a mimic."

I nodded, understanding her reasoning. "I don't know if you'll believe me, but let's just say that, from your point of view, a few weeks ago I was living my life and would celebrate my 19th birthday when I was ripped from my world and tossed into this one. I didn't even know what skills were, and magic was a thing of fairy tales."

"It seems a bit hard to believe it," she said. I just nodded at her and looked at the ceiling.

"I know, but it's the truth," I said. "If you consider the time I've spent inside time loops since I arrived at this world, I've been here for a bit over a year now. Around a month if you disregard the time loops."

I looked at her. "Would you expect a 1-year-old to know what 'bloodlust' is?"

She observed me carefully, trying to see if I was deceiving her, but then sighed. "It sounds impossible, but you don't seem to be trying to lie to me, so I'll have to take your word for it."

She got up and walked over to a cabinet, opened it, and grabbed a container and two cups. She poured a golden liquid into the cups and gave me one as she drank the one she was still holding.

I looked at the liquid and then at her. "It's juice. I don't drink while at work," she said.

I took a sip of the liquid. It tasted like apples with a hint of oranges and grapes.

"Bloodlust isn't a skill or a spell," she said as she took another drink of the juice. "It's more of a mental state that affects your aura. Do you know what aura is?"

"I do," I said as I took another drink of the juice.

She nodded before continuing. "It mainly affects the target of the bloodlust, causing a very serious panic reaction in them. Just like you must have experienced many, many times." She waited for me to nod before continuing the explanation. "It's one of the first things soldiers learn how to not be affected by, and many hunters as well. The stronger the trainer is, the worse the training is. My own was one of the strongest people I've ever met. I guess you can imagine how it went."

"Very poorly?" I asked.

"You betcha," she laughed. "It took me months before I could just stand against him, and another one before I could do anything else."

"Would you… Would you mind teaching me?" I asked. I don't know where that came out from, but I was glad I asked.

She smiled at me, a smile that sent shivers down my spine, the smile of a predator. "Let's start your training, right now."

It was the last thing I heard before I was back on the floor, heart pounding and muscles locked into place.