The Return of the Betrayed Heir

13

Alex pushed past the hollow trunk of the ancient tree and stepped into the cave. Osiris sat on his stone chair as usual, shrouded in that familiar, heavy air of mystery. Alex tossed his bag onto the ground with a dull thud. Osiris looked down at him, his face unreadable. "You're back early."

Alex met his gaze with steady determination. "Yeah. I want to pick up right where we left off. I need to get stronger, as fast as possible."

Osiris stood up and walked toward him with calm, deliberate steps. He glanced down at the boy's small frame and raised an eyebrow. "I respect your fire, kid, but your body is still fragile. If you push past your limits right now, you'll end up stunting your growth instead of evolving."

The words stung Alex's pride. Mana surged through his veins, coating his skin in the deep crimson flames unique to the Dragonblood line. A sharp, confident smile touched his lips. "I carry dragon blood. My body is ten times tougher than any regular human's... The blood of gods flows through me."

In Edeya, dragons, griffins, spirits, and phoenixes were revered as divine entities. Those who forged bonds with them were looked upon as descendants of the gods themselves.

A faint, mysterious smile crossed Osiris's face, as if he knew something the rest of the world didn't. "Fair enough," he said quietly. "Your blood isn't ordinary, so I won't treat you like an ordinary kid."

Before Alex could even register the movement, Osiris's arm blurred forward. He snatched Alex by the collar and hurled him straight into the pool of stagnant water in the center of the cave.

Alex hit the water face-first. As he scrambled to push himself up, Osiris drove his palm onto the back of his neck, holding him under. Alex panicked, thrashing his arms as suffocation set in. Tessarion shot out from the shadows to help, but the glowing purple eye on Osiris's forehead flashed, pinning the young dragon to the stone floor with an invisible, crushing weight.

"Inhale it," Osiris's cold voice echoed underwater. "Let it soak into your core."

The glowing Asura Water forced its way into Alex's nose and mouth. Air bubbles escaped his lips as the magical liquid seeped directly into his mana channels. The moment it hit those pathways, they flared with blinding light, expanding and purifying at a terrifying speed.

Asura Water was a legendary substance Osiris had brought from his home realm. It cleansed a child's aura, expanded their mana capacity, and tempered their flesh until it was as tough as forged steel. The longer you survived inside it, the greater the result.

Alex suffered underwater for over seven agonizing minutes before Osiris finally hauled him up and tossed him onto the stone bank. Alex collapsed, coughing violently, throwing up water as tears stung his eyes.

Wiping his mouth, he glared up at his master, gasping for air. "Could've... could've warned me instead of trying to drown me!"

Osiris shrugged impassively. "If I warned you, your body wouldn't have fought it. When your instincts think you're dying, your channels open completely to survive, making your body absorb the water seven times faster."

Alex took a deep, shaky breath, trying to slow his racing heart. "My pulse has never gone this crazy..."

He pushed himself to his feet, clenched his fists, and flared his mana. Energy surged around him with a purity that shocked even him.

(Damn... the mana is moving through my veins faster and cleaner than ever!)

His control over his aura felt effortless now. With a flick of his wrist, he formed a razor-sharp mana blade extending from his arm. In the past, his mana weapons were shaky and brittle because he couldn't control his aura properly. But now, it felt solid and razor-sharp. He darted forward to test his speed; his reactions were instantaneous, the blade cutting the air with a crisp hiss.

A dark, quiet smirk spread across his face as he stared at his hand. (With this kind of foundation... I can't even imagine how far I can go.)

He dispelled the blade and turned to Tessarion. "Did you feel that too?"

Tessarion replied mentally: (Yeah... drawing mana from each other feels totally seamless now.)

Before, pulling mana from his dragon took effort and felt turbulent, but now their energies moved together like a single stream.

Osiris cleared his throat, breaking their momentum. "If you two are done bonding, let's move to actual combat."

Alex nodded, his expression turning sharp. They submerged into the magical water once more, which instantly shifted them to the isolated training grounds.

Osiris took his stance, his tone hard and commanding. "In a real fight, never let fear take over, no matter how much stronger your opponent is. Keep your eyes locked on finding their openings."

Alex memorized the words as Osiris continued: "Every opponent makes a mistake eventually. A real warrior waits for that split second to strike."

Osiris raised his fists. "Let's see how you handle close quarters."

Alex lunged forward instantly, pushing mana into his limbs. He threw a fast jab, but Osiris slipped the punch effortlessly and countered toward his jaw. Alex tucked his elbow to block, but Osiris caught his wrist and drove a heavy kick toward his ribs.

Alex brought his other arm down just in time to catch the impact.

(If my body hadn't been toughened by the Asura Water, my arm and ribs would be shattered right now!)

They traded blows in a rapid blur. Spotting a minor gap when Osiris raised his guard, Alex seized the moment and launched a fierce left uppercut toward his master's chin.

In mid-air, Osiris casually dropped into a full vertical split, dodging the uppercut entirely and catching Alex's wrist with his foot.

Alex froze, staring in sheer disbelief at the man's absurd flexibility. 

"Keep your head in the fight!" Osiris barked, driving a straight right through Alex's guard that sent the boy flying across the dirt floor.

Alex crashed hard, feeling the right side of his face cave in under the strike. He dragged himself up, channeling mana to heal his face, but the damaged tissue refused to close.

Wiping away blood, he winced. "Damn it... that was just one punch!"

"It wasn't just a punch," Osiris said coldly. "It was laced with concentrated Asura energy. Your basic healing won't fix that."

Osiris walked over, placed a hand on Alex's face, and set the bones and tissue back in place within seconds. Then he warned, "Asura Water is volatile. If you didn't have dragon blood, it would've torn your internal organs apart. Don't be stupid and rush things. You'll get ridiculously strong... just trust the training."

Alex nodded. He knew that blending his past-life combat experience with Osiris's techniques would eventually turn him into an unstoppable force. Still, letting go of the past wasn't easy; old memories reminded him daily that strength was the only thing that kept people from walking over you.

He knew his brother Baelon would do whatever it took to eliminate him from the succession line before he grew up, especially if he noticed how fast Alex was progressing. In his past life, Alex killed Baelon in the war after his power awakened late. But now, his power was surfacing at age six, which meant their eventual clash would be far more vicious.

Alex made a silent vow: (History won't remember the Golden Dragon as a weak, pathetic disgrace like last time... It will record me as the greatest entity to ever walk this land.)

Osiris offered a slight smile. "Ready for more?"

Alex raised his fists, matching his smirk. "Let's go."

They sparred for hours. Osiris pushed his speed and pressure, but with his heightened reflexes and the Asura Water's effects, Alex adapted faster with every exchange.

By the time they finished, Alex was sprawled on his back, breathing heavily and completely drained, while Osiris stood with his hands folded behind his back, not a single drop of sweat on him.

"That's enough for today," Osiris said smoothly. "Go home and rest. You've been staying here too long lately, and I don't need the manor's dragons sniffing around my mountain."

Alex sat up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Don't worry, that won't happen. I don't want anyone finding out about you either."

Osiris nodded. His purple third eye flashed a soft light that enveloped Alex, instantly transporting him back outside the ancient tree trunk in the forest.

Alex looked around and grumbled, "You could've at least handed me my bag!"

Right on cue, his backpack dropped out of thin air, landing next to his feet. Alex smirked. "Damn... he really hears everything."

He slung the bag over his shoulder and started walking back. Tessarion slipped out from his shadow and stretched. (Finished already?)

Alex glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Haven't you been sleeping way too much lately?"

(It's not regular sleep,) the dragon countered. (I'm training my mana while I sleep. It's deep meditation.)

Alex was caught off guard. "I've never heard of that. Dragons can do that?"

(Normally, no... but your three-eyed master showed me how.)

Alex smiled. "How does it feel taking lessons from a guy you don't trust?"

(I still don't trust him,) Tessarion admitted. (But despite his secrets, nobody in this world knows as much as he does.)

Alex looked toward the path ahead. "You're right... He belongs to a completely different level, and his strength doesn't make sense. I wonder how many others like him are out there. A family? A clan? An army...?"

If there were others with Osiris's level of power, they could easily take over the entire continent. So why was he hiding in a cave? What was he really after?

Lost in thought, Alex soon reached the edge of the estate. He froze in his tracks when he spotted a massive black dragon resting in the middle of the courtyard. Tessarion immediately emerged from his shadow and bowed his head in deference.

The black dragon possessed two thick horns curving forward like a bull's, alongside two more sweeping backward, forming a terrifying crown that commanded immediate fear.

A cold chill ran down Alex's spine. (I have a really bad feeling about this...)

Alex raised his eyes to his father's study window on the upper floor. A suffocating, pitch-black aura was billowing from within. Deep inside that darkness, two blood-red eyes glowed with fierce rage, locked straight onto him.

Alex could feel his father's fury from across the yard. He knew his mother, Reyla, would run straight to him with complaints, but he never expected Lord Aenys to drop his military duties and return to the estate this fast just to deal with him.