Amon stood across the duelling ring from Seraphina, with Tiamat quietly standing at his right side, her arms crossed over her chest. Seraphina cradled her familiar in her arms, gently petting its back to keep it calm.
Following Professor Oberyn's theoretical lecture, every student had to participate in a mandatory familiar duel. The rules were straightforward: no lethal spells, no permanent physical harm, and victory meant knocking out or rendering the opponent's familiar unable to fight.
However, for Amon, Oberyn set extremely strict parameters. Tiamat was restricted to utilising precisely 0.1% of her total power output. The professor's reasoning was entirely pragmatic—a creature such as Tiamat possessed unfathomable power, and even a casual, stray breath from her could disintegrate the academy grounds in an instant.
To enforce this restriction, Oberyn had produced a pair of specialised magi-tech cuffs that locked around Tiamat's wrists to dampen her power forcibly. Tiamat had made her intense disdain for the contraptions abundantly clear, but a single, quiet request from Amon was all it took for her to submit to wearing them without further incident.
Amon had initially assumed he would be paired against one of the other top-tier combatants in the class. When he stepped into the ring and realised his designated opponent was none other than Seraphina, a surge of deep annoyance flashed through him—though his blindfolded face remained impeccably composed.
"Professor, I am strongly against this arrangement," Amon stated smoothly, his tone carrying a mild, flat edge. "This is a completely one-sided match, and I have zero desire to engage in combat against my friend."
"Too bad, Mr Crown," Oberyn chuckled good-naturedly, giving his Bird of Wisdom another gentle chin scratch. "This duel is mandatory for the curriculum. Furthermore, for you specifically, the outcome of this match accounts for precisely 9% of your upcoming monthly exam."
"Is that not blatant discrimination?" Amon deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.
"Your entire existence is a walking act of discrimination against the rest of this Academy, Amon," Oberyn replied, his voice smooth and calm, yet laced with an undeniable, teasing smirk. "So I consider it entirely fair if I discriminate just a little bit against you in return."
"Why did I ever think it would be entertaining to indulge the schemes that snake of a Prosecutor Biologist laid out for me?" Amon grumbled internally, a pulse of irritation running through his thoughts. "I am going to make that bastard pay for this inconvenience one way or another."
Across the duelling arena, Seraphina lowered her familiar to the ground. It was a tiny, snowy-white dragon—barely the size of a domestic cat. Yet despite its adorable size, its scales shimmered with a majestic, ethereal brilliance; its small wings were soft and fluffy, and its bright golden eyes sparkled with innocent, fiery curiosity.
"Shiro, this is going to be a tough fight, but I know you can do it! I believe in you!" Seraphina encouraged, giving her familiar one last affectionate pet.
The small dragon chirped excitedly, hopping out of Seraphina's arms and landing gracefully on the dirt. It flared its tiny wings, puffing out its chest and glaring up at Tiamat with a remarkably determined expression.
"Master, shall I unleash my Magic?" Tiamat asked calmly, tilting her head slightly toward Amon.
"You can't use your Singularity-Class magic, and even if those cuffs allowed it, I wouldn't permit it," Amon replied casually, adjusting his stance. "Besides, dropping Singularity-Class magic on a fledgling S-Rank Star Dragon is the very definition of overkill."
"So, what you are implying is that I should rely on Dark Magic instead," Tiamat murmured, her icy gaze settling back onto the tiny white dragon.
"Use that, and do not make the mistake of looking down on it," Amon warned in a low, serious tone. "With those restraining cuffs capping your output at a fraction of a percentage, you are effectively in the same strength bracket as that dragon right now. Treat this like a real fight."
The fledgling Star Dragon reared back, its chest expanding as pure galactic energy surged through its small throat. Opening its maw, it unleashed a blinding, starlight-infused dragon breath directly at Tiamat.
Unmoved, Tiamat casually raised a single hand. A dense, pitch-black barrier erupted from the dirt, encapsulating her completely and absorbing the cosmic beam without giving an inch.
"Shadow Blockade," she uttered softly, her voice cool and detached behind the dark construct.
Realising its frontal assault was ineffective, Shiro snapped its wings and shot skyward. Half a dozen golden magic circles flared into existence behind its small frame, humming with holy power. In a heartbeat, a volley of luminous lances sculpted from raw light magic rained down toward Tiamat at blinding speeds.
Tiamat offered a quiet snap of her cuffed fingers. Her form dissolved into mist, causing the divine projectiles to shatter uselessly against the empty ground. Expecting the dodge, the dragon immediately wheeled around in midair, charging another stellar beam and sweeping its breath toward its flank—catching Tiamat the exact instant her shadow materialised.
The galactic stream struck dead-centre, but Tiamat didn't flinch. With a fluid sweep of her arm, she conjured a sleek, obsidian looking-glass in the air between them at the last second. The incoming star-fire slammed into the dark surface, bending instantly under her spell and deflecting safely toward the sky.
"Nox Mirror," she murmured as the residual cosmic light scattered into nothingness.
"It really is astonishing that every single move from that little dragon hits with S-Rank potency..." Amon observed from the sidelines, genuinely impressed by the creature's calibre. "That was Holy Lance back there—a standard B-Rank Light spell—yet the destruction output easily matched an S-Rank spell..."
"Tiamat, switch tactics and use every other element," Amon instructed casually, a faint, amused smile gracing his lips.
"I am capable of subduing this hatchling using Dark Magic alone, Master," Tiamat replied coolly, her movements a fluid, effortless blur as she deftly dodged another high-speed barrage of stellar dragon breath.
"It is literally standing its ground and resisting the passive dread of a Primordial Beast's presence; you do realise that, right?" Amon noted, adjusting his stance slightly. "Your total output is heavily handicapped by those cuffs, that's true. But you should give the little dragon credit for its sheer tenacity and grant it the honour it deserves. Use every element at your disposal to finish this."
Thanks to the specialised spell crafted by Twilight Silverstone Khalia—[Undying Loyalty], a unique enchantment cast exclusively upon familiars that amplified stats and served as a telepathic mental link based on the familiar's devotion—Seraphina was able to communicate seamlessly with her dragon hatchling, and Amon with Tiamat.
Shiro surged forward at blinding speed, throwing a small yet magium-infused punch directly toward Tiamat's face. Tiamat tilted her head to dodge the blow, instantly manifesting a red magic circle directly beneath the hatchling. A volley of dense fire bullets erupted from the ring.
Shiro beat its fluffy wings, deftly dodging the flames as it backpaddled through the air. A massive, glowing purple circle materialised behind the dragon, from which an immense obsidian sword condensed. Locking onto Tiamat, the blade shot forward with terrifying momentum.
Tiamat offered a crisp snap of her fingers. Time itself ground to a halt, draining all colour from the surrounding arena as reality froze.
Yet, the obsidian blade refused to stop. Its raw momentum began cracking through the temporal stasis, rendering Tiamat's time-stop useless. The sword slammed directly into Tiamat, throwing her backwards through the air—though her flight was abruptly cut short as an oppressive gravitational wave slammed onto her frame, driving her into the dirt.
"Is... that truly just an S-Rank familiar...?" Amon thought, genuine astonishment washing over him behind his blindfold. "It executed an S-Rank Gravity spell on the fly, and flawlessly calibrated the output to ensure non-lethal impact..."
"YOU CAN DO THIS, SHIRO!" Seraphina cheered enthusiastically from the sidelines. "SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF!"
"This is genuinely beginning to irritate me," Tiamat muttered.
With a sharp snap of her fingers, she shattered the gravitational pressure binding her and stood up. Shiro blitzed forward again, spinning tightly in midair to deliver a heavy tail swipe. But this time, Tiamat's hand shot out, snatching the tiny tail mid-swing and hurling the hatchling across the field with overwhelming force.
"Singularity Collapse."
Tiamat extended her cuffed hand toward the airborne dragon.
For one terrifying millisecond, the world completely stopped breathing. Then, a black hole tore open within the centre of the ring.
The sheer force of the spell was catastrophic—the cosmic pull consumed the entire floor of the ring, leaving a colossal, smoking crater in its wake.
Unable to react or weave a defensive spell in time, Shiro was sucked directly into the gravitational vortex. As the spatial rift collapsed, the little Star Dragon lay at the centre of the crater, battered, bruised, and knocked completely unconscious.
"SHIRO!" Seraphina cried out in panic, vaulting over the arena barrier without a second thought and rushing frantically toward the smoking crater.
"You went overboard, Tiamat," Amon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he surveyed the sheer destruction wrought upon the duelling ring. "You could have easily secured the win without resorting to powerful Gravity magic..."
"I merely demonstrated the vast chasm that lies between us and granted the hatchling the honour of standing up to me; that is all," Tiamat replied indifferently, turning her back on the crater as she prepared to walk out of the arena.
At that exact moment, a violent, radiant surge of pure magium erupted from the depths of the pit, freezing Tiamat in her tracks and forcing her to glance back over her shoulder.
"Don't you dare walk away," a small, cute voice echoed softly from the lingering dust clouds. "I am not done yet."
As the smoke cleared, a little girl who looked no older than six stood shakily in the centre of the crater. She had pristine, snowy-white hair, fiery golden eyes, smooth pale skin, an impossibly adorable face, and a jagged, white horn on the right side of her head, pointing upwards. She wore a frilly, white lolita dress complete with matching white gloves, stockings, and delicate shoes. Remarkably, all her previous injuries had vanished—though her trembling knees made it abundantly clear that her mana reserves were completely exhausted.
Seraphina stopped dead in her tracks, her jaw dropping in utter shock. "Shiro...?" she breathed, her voice trembling with disbelief.
Hearing her call, the little girl turned toward Seraphina, and her bright golden eyes instantly lit up with pure joy.
"Mama!" She squealed, attempting to sprint toward Seraphina, only to stumble over her weak legs and fall to her knees. Seraphina snapped out of her stupor, dropping into the crater and wrapping her arms tightly around the child, pulling her close to her chest.
. . .
Inside Professor Oberyn's sprawling laboratory, Amon, Seraphina, and Tiamat stood gathered around his central desk. Shiro was fast asleep in Seraphina's tender embrace, clinging tightly to her and resting her small, snow-white head against Seraphina's shoulder.
Tiamat stood directly beside Amon with her arms crossed over her chest, staring down at Oberyn with a frigid, unblinking glare now that her wrists were completely free of those restrictive cuffs.
"Oberyn, I need an explanation for this," Amon said, his tone composed but carrying an unmistakable edge of demand. "Why did Seraphina's familiar suddenly undergo a human transformation into a young child? What is happening here?"
"To put it simply," Oberyn replied, offering a serene, unbothered smile as he idly toyed with the metallic cuffs resting on his desk, "Miss Nightfallen came to consult me roughly a week ago regarding her familiar. She expressed concern that despite nurturing and caring for the hatchling as if it were her very own daughter, it had shown zero physical growth since being summoned."
He paused, setting the runic cuffs aside before rising smoothly from his chair.
"Given that she managed to contract a Star Dragon—an extraordinarily rare, high-tier entity whose life cycle is almost entirely undocumented in any archive that I am aware of—I was tasked with devising a method to stimulate its development," Oberyn explained, stepping over to Seraphina and gently patting the sleeping child's head with a soft expression. "Typically, standard dragon familiars require a brief window of two to three weeks to mature into their juvenile or adult forms, though variations naturally occur depending on the specific lineage."
He looked toward Amon, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
"My initial hypothesis was that the hatchling demanded an immense, concentrated influx of high-density magium to kickstart its growth phase," Oberyn continued smoothly. "I advised Miss Nightfallen to channel her personal magium into the creature continuously. However, she informed me that despite pouring her energy into the hatchling every single day since its summoning, there had been no visible change whatsoever."
The pieces clicked in Amon's mind instantly, and he deadpanned at Oberyn.
"So, you had the crazy idea to use my familiar's magium as a battery for Shiro's growth, since I have two Primordial Beasts by my side and their magium quality is unfathomably supreme. You orchestrated an elaborate facade with today's lesson and made Tiamat fight Shiro. Those restrictive cuffs had a hidden magic circuit that siphoned an almost imperceptible portion of magium from Tiamat's reserves and poured it into Shiro. That would explain why you made us all use that spell, [Undying Loyalty], because it did what it was supposed to do, and it worked as a medium to channel the magium into Shiro from Tiamat."
Hearing Amon's breakdown, the entire laboratory fell into a heavy, dead silence.
The silence was only broken by Oberyn's low, thoroughly amused laughter echoing off the walls.
"I guess there is a very good reason why you became a Prosecutor at such a young age," Oberyn said, his tone bubbling with amusement. "Though you actually made two small mistakes in your brilliant deduction."
He flashed a bright, confident smile as he continued. "The magium siphoned into Shiro wasn't from your Primordial familiar... but directly from you. Furthermore, those restrictive cuffs were genuinely just restrictive cuffs—there were no hidden magic circuits embedded inside them to act as a siphon."
Oberyn strolled back to his desk, plopping into his leather chair and leaning back comfortably with his hands clasped behind his head.
"The spell, [Undying Loyalty], was the true conduit. It was certainly a delicate challenge to deceive your sharp instincts and alter your spell's structure right under your nose, but for someone of Khalia's calibre, rewiring a spell network is child's play."
Amon remained completely still, genuinely taken aback by the revelation. Not only had he made miscalculations in his deduction, but in terms of scheming, he had been utterly outmanoeuvred by Oberyn.
He had sensed from the moment class began that something was subtly off, but he had chosen not to activate his skill, [Mad Mind], to dissect reality. He had wanted to decipher the situation using his raw human intellect.
Yet, even when he believed he had mapped out Oberyn's entire grand design, he hadn't been completely accurate. He had failed to account for subtle variables like Khalia's loyalty spell or Shiro tapping into S-Rank Gravity magic. He had even fixated on the physical cuffs as the primary trick, when they were merely a red herring.
Oberyn's eyes gleamed with a mischievous glint as he leaned forward, adding the final, playful blow:
"Funnily enough, considering it was your magium that fueled her miraculous humanoid evolution... you could technically say that Shiro is now your and Miss Nightfallen's daughter, Amon."
"..." A complete short circuit occurred in Amon's brain. He stood entirely frozen, his jaw subtly slackened behind his blindfold as his usually terrifying processing speed ground to a dead, bewildered halt.
"W-What...?" Seraphina's entire face exploded into a vibrant, brilliant shade of crimson, her voice stammering uncontrollably as she clutched the sleeping child closer to her chest. "W-What a-a-are you sa-saying, Professor...?"
"It is as simple as it sounds, Miss Nightfallen," Oberyn said, offering a casual shrug as if he were discussing the afternoon weather. "Because of your base magium, your 'daughter' was able to manifest the magic you are capable of wielding, effectively inheriting your foundational knowledge. However, because she had a massive, high-density stream of Amon's magium poured directly through her core, she unlocked his repository of knowledge as well—allowing her to effortlessly cast high-tier Gravity Magic."
Oberyn rested his chin on his hands, a smug, highly satisfied grin stretching across his face. "A child, after all, is the ultimate result of a genetic combination of its parents. Shiro was tapping into her parents' gifts."
Amon slowly brought a hand up, pinching the bridge of his nose as he forced his brain to reboot.
"My... daughter...?" Amon thought, his mind wildly spiralling. When he glanced at her, she was sneaking a tiny, hopelessly flustered peek at him from behind Shiro's snowy hair.
"Oberyn," Amon finally spoke, his voice dropping into a dangerously low, frigid register, though his ears were undeniably dusted with a faint, extraordinarily rare hint of pink. "I strongly suggest you choose your next words with extreme care... before I forget that you are technically my senior colleague."
"Master," Tiamat placed a hand on Amon's shoulder, her grip tightening with a subtle, terrifying pressure. "You should have been far more careful. Getting outmanoeuvred by that insolent brat Khalia and this Prosecutor-Biologist scum does not suit you. They literally tricked you into fathering a child with Seraphina." Her voice remained icy and neutral, yet a sharp, murderous edge of raw jealousy vibrated through her words.
"Well, now I fully understand why Shiro was moving with such frightening adeptness during that duel," Oberyn thought to himself, thoroughly enjoying the sheer chaotic aura radiating off the trio. "It seems Mr Crown's 'genes' are far too potent."