Chapter 316: A Dragon’s Answer

Chapter 316: A Dragon’s Answer

Jin nearly called a surrender before the first wave passed.

Glitch’s roar scraped into a sound he’d never heard from him, and the pain through the bond made his own shoulders tense. He had agreed to this. That knowledge was worse than the noise.

"Back a step," Jin said, needing to know he would answer.

Glitch stepped back with him and lowered his head toward Mantle.

The tiger had paused at the roar. Now it tested their guard with a quick approach, forcing Glitch to turn his horns into its path. The lizard did, and Sera moved sideways rather than bringing Mantle straight onto the points.

Jin checked the brief readings during her withdrawal.

[Transfer in progress]

[Bond alignment: holding]

[Internal circulation: holding]

Glitch was hurting, but his feet were under him and he was still tracking both threats. Jin swallowed the surrender sitting in his throat.

"Easy," he murmured. "I’m watching."

They gave ground through the next two approaches. Jin kept moving behind Glitch’s shoulders, touching him only when the angle permitted. Sera tested the change without committing herself, and Mantle snapped at a foreleg before withdrawing beyond the horns.

The transfer finished within the minute.

[Sync complete.]

[Rank 1 Novice, 9-Star — peak development reached]

[Quality: Silver (Peak) — unchanged]

[Existing injuries: unchanged]

Jin felt the difference when Glitch braced against the next hit. His stance settled promptly, without the little delay that had been making each retreat worse. Mantle still forced him back, but this time he checked the tiger with his horns before it could follow.

Blood continued down his shoulder. The shallow cut from Redoubt remained visible beneath the new damage. Jin hadn’t expected those wounds to close, yet some foolish part of him had hoped anyway.

Glitch glanced back and drew his lips from his teeth.

Jin knew that expression. Usually it appeared when the lizard had done something he considered impressive and wanted somebody to notice.

"You’re bleeding on me," Jin told him, his voice unsteady. "Don’t look so pleased."

The response through the bond was warm and stubborn. Glitch wanted him to stop worrying.

Jin kept the appraisal open.

For the moment, the transfer had achieved exactly what the Engine promised. It had also failed to solve the problem in front of them. Mantle remained stronger, Sera remained fresh, and Glitch had received growth rather than the rest he needed.

The tiger approached again, lightning snapping along its pale ruff.

Glitch flinched at the sound. Jin felt the expectation of another shock, the body’s hesitation before doing something it knew would hurt.

Then that hesitation eased.

He watched Glitch set his injured shoulder toward the attack. The fatigue tremor remained, but his head no longer jerked at every crackle. His awareness through the bond became startlingly clear.

He wasn’t forgetting the pain. He was looking past it.

[New Astral Skill Learned: Draconic Will]

[A dragon’s will does not bow to the heavens, the earth, or the shadow of death.]

[Effect: preserves clarity under fear, mental pressure, and pain.]

[Physical injury and exhaustion remain effective.]

Ten skills.

Jin’s excitement caught against that number. Gravity Press had already pushed Glitch beyond Silver’s usual capacity. There would be a cost to carrying another, even with whatever his bloodline was doing now.

He barely had time to register it before Glitch drew a deep breath.

Draconic Dread gathered around them. Jin recognized the pressure, but the uncertainty he’d felt beneath the earlier emissions was gone. Glitch faced Mantle with an unwavering intention that made Jin’s skin prickle.

The roar struck as the tiger started forward.

Mantle recoiled in a lightning-assisted bound, landing several meters behind its previous position.

Sera hadn’t given a command.

For a heartbeat she remained where she was, one hand raised toward a beast that had unexpectedly left her side. Then she moved back with it, keeping Glitch in view.

Jin stared.

We made it run?

Only a few strides. Only for a moment. But the Gold tiger had been coming to hurt them, and now it was braced well outside their reach with its ears pressed back.

The sudden quiet made Jin aware of Glitch’s rough breathing beside him.

Elsa leaned forward so quickly her mother caught her elbow.

"Did you see that?" she asked. "Dad, the tiger backed away."

"I saw," Arthur said.

He didn’t know what had changed. The display still showed nine-Star, and the blood on Glitch’s shoulder was painfully clear. But the boy behind him had stopped retreating for the first time in several minutes.

Elena’s fingers tightened around Elsa’s arm.

"Then can they stop now?" she asked.

On-screen, the tiger raised its head again.

Mantle stared toward Glitch, then dug its foreclaws into the grit.

Its ruff rose with a fresh crackle. The sound it made toward Sera was low and furious, accompanied by a sharp turn of its head.

Jin couldn’t hear their bond. He could still recognize the indignation in the tiger’s stance. Glitch looked much the same when something frightened him and he decided it had no right to.

Sera placed a hand briefly against Mantle’s neck. Her expression had changed from surprise to concentration.

"All right," she said. "With me."

Pale light gathered around her hands in short pulses. Mantle’s ruff answered, its own lightning brightening in the same rhythm.

Jin shifted with Glitch as the tiger took a testing step. Sera stayed several paces behind it, adjusting the intervals between her pulses until the two patterns matched.

He had expected another burst toward himself. Instead, the energy passed into the tiger’s existing enhancement, sharpening the crackle around its forelegs.

She was helping Mantle do something it could already do, at a level it hadn’t shown them yet.

Sera exhaled through her teeth. Maintaining that rhythm was costing her. It also made Jin very grateful she had not started the fight with it.

Then his private display changed again.

[Temporary Combination Activated: Imitation Draconic Heart] ℯ

[Components: Draconic Dread + Draconic Will]

[Physical combat output: +100%]

[Exertion beyond normal fatigue limits enabled.]

[No healing. No energy restoration.]

[Warning: escalating internal strain. Prolonged use may cause fatal physical collapse.]

[Even a dragon must survive its victory. Convincing it of that may prove difficult.]

Jin’s mouth went dry.

Don’t make jokes about him.

The last line disappeared as he narrowed the display to the readings he needed. Glitch’s circulation was still coherent. Internal strain had started rising, while his wounds and depleted energy remained exactly as they were.

This wasn’t another learned skill. The two draconic abilities were working together, pushing a tired body into an output it should not have been sustaining.

Jin crouched slightly behind the shoulder as Mantle shifted opposite them. He couldn’t spend the next exchange staring at a warning.

"Left," he said, testing Glitch’s response.

The lizard moved with him at once. No stumble, no delayed command. Through the bond came that same fierce intention, now steadier than Jin’s own nerves.

He sent back the condition they had agreed upon. If Glitch lost his footing or stopped answering, Jin would end it. Wanting to win would not change that.

Glitch acknowledged him and faced the tiger.

From the commentary box, a voice rose above the returning noise.

"Possibly a bloodline response—we’re seeing a change in his stance as well. That could be a combat epiphany."

Jin heard enough to understand that they were guessing. Nobody out there knew about the transfer. He scarcely understood the rest himself.

He glanced toward Marris while the beasts measured each other. She stood beside the official at the rail, watching Glitch rather than the display above the arena. Jin met her eyes and gave a short nod. Her hand stayed near the rail, ready. Knowing she could still take the decision away from him was a relief he hadn’t expected.

Sera’s pulses quickened. Mantle lowered its body, lightning gathering around its forequarters, and Jin saw where the attack was going.

"Brace."

Glitch settled across all four feet.

The tiger crossed the gap in a blazing rush. Jin moved behind Glitch’s near shoulder as the two beasts collided, expecting to have to retreat with him.

The impact jarred up through the soles of his shoes. Glitch slid less than a body-length and held.

Beneath his forefeet, the reinforced surface split into two jagged cracks.

Jin caught his balance and looked past the horns. Mantle was pushing against them, unable to drive him farther. Sera’s eyes widened as she adjusted her hands.

For the first time, Glitch could hold the stronger beast in place.

Beside the private strain reading, a warning brightened.