Leo slowly opened his eyes and looked around . He had been sleeping on a bed , and felt some weight on his chest . He looked down , only to find Leah embracing him tightly . Looking at her head made him feel guilty .
"I made her worry again ." He laughed at himself in his heart ." And I want to protect her ."
"But this will be the last time ." He thought back to the beast he saw in the mirror . " Even if I have to become a monster , I will protect her ."
Just as he remembered the monster he could become , he remembered the dream he had after he fainted . "That was the Dragon"s G.o.d of death ." He remembered the conversation he had with him as his hand reached for the back of his neck .
He was not even surprised at this point . He had nothing he had received from that G.o.d that could be used instantaneously .
Right now , he had more important things he needed to do .
"I can protect you now " He said as he gently caressed Leah"s hair . Perhaps she was awake the whole time , or she just woke up , but her body tensed up as soon as he touched her head .
" Hey brother , t-that ... " Her voice was very quiet . She seemed scared . " Brother , that gift , did it consume you ? You seemed ... different ."
Her voice was shaking . She felt guilty for forcing her brother to such limits .
When a gift was too powerful for someone to control , the gift took over their consciousness , changing them completely .
" No , I am still here . Your brother is strong , alright ." He said as he continued caressing her hair ." No gift is strong enough to consume me "
" I-it was my fault , wasn"t it ? you did it because of me , didn"t you ?" she said as her body trembled uncontrollably . She started crying and sobbing as her hold on him got even tighter .
" You know I want to protect you willingly . " He said as he brushed her hair aside and made her face him . " Because you are the most precious thing I have "
He didn"t know why , but the words flowed just like water . He couldn"t , or rather , he didn"t want to stop them . She used to be Grimm"s sister , but now , he was Leo Grimm . He wanted to protect her just as much as Grimm did .
He wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and urged her to get ready . " Let"s go , you crybaby . We need to get to helt today . We can"t stay in the empire any longer ."
" Hmm " She meekly nodded her head as she slowly got up . " But you need to promise me something . "
" Sure , what is it ?" He looked at his sister sitting on top of him . He held her hands as she approached his face and whispered in a low voice " Never put yourself in danger ! I don"t want to lose my brother ."
Hearing her words made him feel helpless . " How am I ever supposed to tell her I"m not her brother ?" He thought to himself but never showed any signs of change in his expression .
"Obviously ." He nodded in response and released her hands . She quickly got off of him and scurried out of the room .
"She knew I awakened a gift ." He thought back to what she said . If he was right , she could sense changes in mana .
"She was telling me I changed even before I awakened a gift " He sat up on his bed and thought deeply about her sister"s gift .
"Unless I acted any different than Grimm , there"s only one conclusion"
Sensing a person"s mana without him personally releasing it is almost impossible , especially for mortals with no gifts . They have now way to channel the minimal amount of mana they have , so it stay trapped in them .
But if Leah could sense him changing just by looking at him " Her gift is related to mana , a wizard perhaps ." He thought and remembered all he knew about her gift .
"I don"t know much . Those memories weren"t as useful ."
If she could even sense the change in type of mana when his soul occupied the body , she could be dangerous . " Doesn"t matter . Right now , she isn"t as dangerous "
He got up from the bed and straightened his shirt . " I have magic resistance , so it should be fine . I just need to get stronger . It would be much better if she never knows . "
He imagined what could happen if she found out and clenched his fist . " That will never happen ." He said to himself , but before he realized one of his hands had already manifested a claw .
" It is based on my emotions ." He remembered something . Dragons were arrogant beings . They couldn"t stand not doing what they wanted . He hadn"t received this gift out of nowhere . " A real dragon G.o.d gave me this gift . And my race has changed to dragon ."
He was in no way the same Leo . He stood in front of the mirror , and even though he hadn"t manifested anything but the claw , he saw the beast that lay waiting within him . He pointed his claw at it and said in a voice that only those in the room could possibly hear . " You aren"t me , and I , am not you . You are a slave . A tool for me to use . I control you . You are nothing but a beast . " he slowly got close to the mirror and said in a low voice " I am the real dragon ."
Leah was standing behind the door of the room , bewildered . First his thoughts from before and now what he was saying in the room were things she could directly hear . It was all because of her gift .
[Gift :
> [Psychic][Grade - 8][Magic]
+ Perception boost
+ Aura reading
+ Pyrokinesis
+ Thought reading ]
She had been listening in to his thoughts since she was little . She loved her big brother , and wanted to see him happy . So , she acted weak in front of him . She was already strong enough to be categorized as a middle intermediate rank hero .
" But he didn"t change much . He still puts me before everything else ." Honestly , even she was surprised . At first when her brother died , she knew of it . She had cried herself to sleep on his corpse , after all . It was poison from the empire that killed him . She was going to go back to the empire and die fighting against their forces .
But in the middle of the night , the body , or more precisely , the mana started emitting faint traces of bloodl.u.s.t just like hers . At first , she thought it was her own bloodl.u.s.t increasing , but she soon started hearing thoughts from her brother"s body .
She thought he was alive , but didn"t move anyways , because the thoughts were so peculiar . She listened in for sometime , but then when she heard her brother had died , she almost started crying , but used her gift to control her emotions . She wanted to listen more .
Since then , the more she listened , the more she liked this new brother of hers .
"He isn"t like brother , but at the same time , he is ." She still remember the way he caressed her hair . It was just like how her brother did it . Maybe her brother had changed him , just to protect her .
She remembered the thoughts she was seeing last night right before Leo fainted . She was somewhat crazed herself , but the images she saw , the bloodl.u.s.t in his mana , that she could feel , it scared even her .
" It is much better to continue going how I have ." She thought . As long as she changed by fighting in front of Leo , he would think she just got stronger . " I need to limit myself . If his race has recently changed to dragon , there"s still some time before he can sense mana and use magic ."
She remembered the scene she saw when he thought of the consequences of her knowing . She remembered how he was ready to die to her , and not even try fighting back . " The way he imagined I use perception boost is weird . That"s a nice idea , though ." Boosting someone"s perception to the maximum it can be , then destroying all their sense organs .
He was right about one thing . She knew Grimm"s soul had been swapped . " But I like the new you much better " She said as she smiled and left for her room .