After getting rid of the abrupt fear that had appeared in him after listening to the Divine Cockroach's unique wish, Daneel decided to speak to the Ancient Dragon whom he had once again placed in his mind before coming here in the hopes that he might be able to help because it was a matter relating to Godbeasts.
Indeed, on his way to finding Cassandra, Daneel had also dropped off Drakos in his podium as a precaution while he had gone to the Kingdom of Lanthanor to pick up a few trinkets that he thought he might need. He had known that he would be walking into a trap, and one placed by those whose means might well be beyond what he could imagine. Once, already, he had felt how it was to have all of his secrets exposed, and he didn't want to go through it again in case there was someone who was capable of finding out about Drakos like the sect master of the Everlasting Blossoms sect had done.
True, she had also used underhanded methods, but the fact was that he just did not want that to repeat, and hence, Daneel had judged that he would have to go it alone. He didn't know yet whether he had made the right choice, but after the entire ordeal, he had actually been glad that he had made the decision, as the means of the Order might even be greater than what he had expected from someone who had concealed themselves for so long.
If Drakos was exposed, it would lead to a very ugly revelation regarding the truth of many matters that had happened till now, and that was definitely not something that Daneel wanted to go through at the moment.
His relationship with the Ancient Dragon was a bit complex at the moment, because he not lie to this Godbeast like he had done with the sovereigns regarding the feats that he had been able to perform with the help of the system. If he used the same reasons that he had told there, he would be outed in an instant, and the system was something that he was determined to protect and conceal until he was confident that there was no one in the entire world who could even stand toe to toe with him. With time, he could think of some or the other excuse that he could use to tell Drakos regarding it, but until then, he would have to use this web of lies, even though he absolutely hated doing so with someone who had believed in him and stood by him for the longest time.
Putting this aside for the moment, though, he decided to take his advice instead of asking the system and getting himself completely creeped out by the absolutely accurate answer that it would definitely give.
"Err… Drakos? What's going on?"
While he was asking the question, the thrashing continued, but Daneel was relieved because of the message from the system which had told him that the integrity of the Natural Energised Training Chamber was holding up. It had been built with the intention to endure even greater force because training could often be destructive, and hence, all he needed to worry about was how long this would go on for. Even the barriers inside might break if the force increased anymore, and this was possible because he had just noticed that even in the short span of time since he had arrived, the sound had gotten louder and even the musings of the Divine Cockroach had gotten more intense, until she was now not even using any decipherable words and was only making sounds to express the pain that she was going through.
Drakos took a few moments to answer, because he was actually still quite a bit bewildered from the sudden appearance of the king who had taken away his consciousness saying that he needed him.
Drakos had understood the reasons of the king before, when he had said that he wanted to put Drakos in the podium because he didn't want to risk his secrets being exposed again. He had been tempted to tell him that it had been a one-off thing and that it was mainly because of Erin's insatiable appetite for seeing people tongue-tied in front of her, but he hadn't done so, knowing that that incident must have had a huge effect on the king's psyche.
He, himself, had been having quite a large re-evaluation of everything he had thought about the current age after seeing the real path that the king had used to break through.
He had always had a certain arrogance about him, and how could he not? He had had the fortune to be born in the most illustrious of times, and he had always been convinced that there was no way for anything of this age to match up to what had been there before.
On top of that, he was the last living Dragon, and even though he had never succumbed to the ways of his blood, arrogance was something that came naturally to Dragons. His character had still dampened that quite a lot, and although he knew that he might have let it slip a few times while talking to the king, he was confident that he had never come off as some of his other species who sometimes spent days catching prey and then extolling about the rich history of the race of dragons, following which it was said that many actually chose to kill themselves instead of hearing the continuous droning which could get quite repetitive.
Now, though… After seeing the king's power, he had been completely tongue-tied, and he had also only been able to congratulate the king and then stay silent while his mind felt as if it was getting blown into smithereens.
He was a learned individual of the age of the Empire, and he knew exactly the bounds that had always been placed on the Paths that could be taken. In other words, these were the limits of power that anyone at a certain realm could possess, even if they used techniques from the highest of tiers.
The King of Lanthanor had completely smashed apart these bounds, and the amazing thing was that he had done it by actually taking something which had been thought as hopeless in that age.
Where they had failed, he had succeeded, and by putting his twist on it, he had created something that was unprecedented in the entire world.
At that moment, Drakos had actually felt ashamed that he had once thought that there was no way that the king could surpass his father.
That hadn't even been because of his filial feelings- he had simply been sure that there was no way that anyone in this age could hope to do so with the decreased Energy levels.
The re-evaluation had changed a lot of things in Drakos's mind, and he had actually noticed that even after all these years, he had matured again, and that was actually not really surprising as Dragons had always been known to have extensive lifespans during which they became mature a different ages. There was even a Dragon who was famous for acting childlike until he was thousands of years old, at which point he finally grew up and directly turned into a wizened sage.
Since then, Drakos had been fired up, and he had wanted to put his all to help the king to accomplish everything that he wished while putting aside all of the notions that had bound him until now.
Yet, that was when he had been placed in the podium, and after that, he was in this situation.
Coming back to the present, though, he had to admit that it was something that could be written down in the legends as one of the most peculiar to have ever happened to anyone.
He was controlling his laughter, mainly because he did not want the king to wish that he hadn't asked him.
The Divine Cockroach had set its eyes on the King because of the breakthrough he had exhibited to the world, but sadly, it was destined to be disappointed, because a limitation of the transformations of a Shapeshifter was that although they could imitate everything else, they could not act as forebears of a species. Hence, even though the mating could occur, the Divine Cockroach would not get what she wanted.
He hastened to tell this, as he did not want anyone to act on wrong information and then find themselves with memories that might not be pleasant, at all. Divine Cockroaches were well known for their terrifyingly fast mating speeds, and because the one in front of them was breaking through, after she became a Hero, it was possible that she might be able to finish it even before the king could react, which would end up being a right proper disaster.
So, he said, "Young King, she wishes to mate with you. However, she thinks that you're a Bloodline possessor, which is not the case. Even with Bloodline possessors, the chance to pass on the Bloodline is incredibly low, and it might require probably thousands of making sessions. Er… I should have given you the other answer first."
Drakos said this because the words 'thousands of mating sessions' had made the king shudder.
"You are able to use the powers of Godbeasts because of the Shapeshifter Bloodline, and it is a limitation of that Bloodline that it is not possible to pass on one's seed using mating, as there is none present in a transformation. Please be sure to convince the Divine Cockroach of this as quickly as possible after she breaks through, before she does something that both of you might regret. For all Godbeasts, it is actually a painful process. We also get the ability to turn into any form we wish, and that is why you find many Hero level Godbeasts actually adopting a human form to roam the world. As she was present from that age, she must have been taught how to do so, as they are part of the teachings that are passed down by former generations. If you want to keep your secret, I propose that you tell her something different, such as that the original possessor of your Bloodline was a mutant in the sense that he could not mate. Yes, that would be perfect. Oh, by the way, there will be one last outburst of power, and I propose that you teleport away the Training Chamber first, as it might be damaged in the process."
As soon as Daneel heard this, he decided to take no chances.
While he was speaking, the thrashing had actually started to die down, and the sounds had also begun to slowly change back into musings.
He first teleported away the Chamber, as Drakos had said, which revealed a really strange sight.
Skrr's body which had been shining with fluorescent scales that had almost seemed beautiful before was actually bloody, and she was already at least 3 times the size of what she had been before.
Even as he watched, she kept growing, but still, he decided that this was the best time to make it clear.
After all, being mated with by something that was ten times his size…was definitely not the way he wanted to go.
"My bloodline is from a mutant that can't mate!"
"Aw!"
"Aw!"
Right as he did so, he felt as if his heart was in his throat, as he heard two distinct replies, both in the tongue of the Divine Cockroach.
One was from the Divine Cockroach in front of him.
The other…was from behind him.
His face flushing with shock, Daneel whirled around to find that two figures had just appeared at a spot just a few feet away from him.
One of them was a stunning lady with incredibly thick thighs which were exposed even though she was wearing a purple dress, and strangely, she had two antennae on her forehead that almost looked like those of a cockroach's.
She had an almost predatory look in her green eyes which would make anyone take a step back with fear as she looked at Daneel, but his eyes were rooted on the person beside him.
It was Cain, and with a start, the man who had called himself the 'Reaper' smiled slightly and said, "Oh, we meet again, King of Lanthanor. I guess you detected the call of the Divine Cockroach because of your Bloodline. For your sake, I hope that you spoke the truth. Melissa, here…has inadvertently caused the deaths of many in pursuit of her goal to prolong her species."
As soon as he said these words, the woman actually punched Cain's shoulder and said something that raised the hairs on Daneel's hand as he stared at her with abject horror.
"Oh, please, Cain. They died happily, you should have seen their faces! Anyway, this one's cute. I'm tempted to try even if he might not be lying. Trust me, honey. By the time I'm done, you'll wish you were…"