Chapter 315: The Living Dragon Armor

"Talk about bad luck," Wang Yu muttered. "That shop handling our goods got smashed straight through during the fight with the abyssal beast. Honestly, if I hadn't torn out their alchemy furnace and turned it into a bomb, we might've still gotten our order..."

Back at their lodgings, Wang Yu had reunited with his companions and recounted the events he'd experienced in the wizards' district—his run-in with the abyssal beast and what he had learned from Astartes.

"As long as you're not hurt," Avia said, after thoroughly checking him over. "That creature was clearly targeting you. I think it's because there's almost no trace of void on you. That must have been what 'pure' meant."

She found no poison, no lingering curses, no hidden marks. Whatever injuries Wang Yu had sustained were already healed. Scrapes, bruises, and even minor fractures had all been healed by Wang Yu's natural regeneration within minutes of the battle.

Avia was primarily checking for subtler threats. After all, Wang Yu's body had changed.

The golden apple he had consumed—and more recently, the vial of silver dragon's blood—had begun reshaping his physical nature. These were extraordinary substances; the silver dragon's blood, for instance, was a blueprint of draconic physiology and provided a template for structural optimization and anatomical enhancement.

Through relentless training that pushed his body past its limits, Wang Yu's physique had undergone a rapid metamorphosis. His bones grew denser, his muscles more compact and powerful, and his blood pulsed with an ever-expanding vitality.

These gains had rather peculiar side effects. For one, he now craved metal ore. In fact, roughly a third of the ore they sent to the mages for processing had actually been meant for Wang Yu's diet.

Dragon bones were known to be extraordinarily tough, and their scales boasted immense resistance to both magic and force. These defenses came not from innate magic, but from the composition of their bodies—from metallic and mineral elements embedded in their flesh.

But dragons didn't produce these metals or minerals on their own. Rather, they ate them.

Ore was food for dragons. The first meal a dragon whelp consumed after breaking out of its egg was a mouthful of mineral-rich ore that gave its teeth the power to bite through metal.

Now that Wang Yu was a grand knight, he too could bite through metal—though he couldn't have digested it before consuming Aurelian's blood. Now that that blood had been fully assimilated into his body, not only could he consume ore, he could even absorb it.

He could even fuse those minerals into his bones and teeth, gradually eliminating the fractures he always sustained in combat.

And when his body instinctively wanted a particular ore—when it started to look delicious—that meant it likely contained properties his evolving physique could use.

Losing that stock of processed ore had hit hard. He would have nothing to gnaw on for days.

"So Skyborne City really did keep some abyssal beasts in containment," Sieg murmured. "Their storage and security must've been airtight. Not a single abyssal sighting has occurred on the continent in centuries."

"Even the records are sealed," he added. "The Nightblades were once charged with fighting the Abyss, and we have nothing but vague allusions to such beasts. No records whatsoever. That spirit, Astartes, told you more than I've ever known."

Sieg's stance mirrored Wang Yu's: the preservation and study of such monsters made a certain amount of sense. Whether it was wise—well, that depended on the outcome.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"What concerns me," he continued, "is what Astartes mentioned. ‘They're eager to achieve a breakthrough.' Who are ‘they'? And what's made them so desperate for results they'd risk a containment breach?"

That, indeed, was the most troubling part. Whatever pressure had driven "them" to such haste, whatever they were trying to uncover, had led to an abyssal beast escaping into the city.

"Judging by Astartes' position," Avia said thoughtfully, "‘they' are likely the Central Council. And if they're this desperate to research the Abyss..."

Her voice grew taut. The entire continent had been roiled by unrest. Was this... a sign that the Abyss was stirring once more?

"Hmm... Doesn't quite sit right," Wang Yu muttered, rubbing his chin. Something about it nagged at him. He didn't disagree with their reasoning, not exactly, but something felt off.

Their conversation fell silent for a moment. The three exchanged glances and, with unspoken consensus, shelved the discussion for now. Instead, they turned their focus to something they could act on—their next objective within Skyborne City.

Avia opened a Gate of Phases. Together, they stepped into the Seed of Eden's Pocket Dimension. Noelle, carrying a large chest, was waiting for them. She set it down beside her brother, the weight of her half-formed draconic aura suppressing the vitality of what lay inside.

"Professor, be ready," Avia warned. "If the scholars in this city are correct, the material used to forge this armor came from the flesh of a primordial beast—the Behemoth itself.

"Only a fragment remains," Avia added. "But Behemoth was likely a lifeform beyond even the dragons. Once this armor is fully nourished, it may no longer bow to your draconic will. It might try to seize your body."

This was the Nameless Demon Armor, an artifact they'd acquired long ago from the orc Emmon. Avia had been studying it ever since. Now, at last, she had deciphered its nature and even found a way to alter it.

What she had uncovered was that Wang Yu could not wear it. It was simply incompatible with him.

The reason was simple. The armor siphoned life force from its wearer and bequeathed a portion of Behemoth's dormant power in return, granting staggering magical resistance and raw durability.

But it came at a cost. To wear the Nameless Demon Armor, one needed the ability to dominate it. The force of presence known as aura or pressure wasn't exclusive to dragons. All living things possessed an aura, but it could vary greatly in strength. A cat's aura was relatively weak, but still overwhelming to a mouse.

The Nameless Demon Armor could only be equipped by those who had enough aura to counter the residual fragments of the Behemoth's essence. The longer one wore it, the more life force it would absorb, the stronger it would become, and the greater the aura required to suppress it.

And if that suppression were ever to falter, the wearer would immediately be attacked by the Nameless Demon Armor.

Wang Yu was unique in that he had no aura whatsoever. If he were to wear it, the Nameless Demon Armor would start to attack him right away.

So the armor had remained unused—until now.

During Sieg's battle with Aurelian, the artificial magic circuits etched into his body had been damaged beyond repair. Unlike natural circuits, these couldn't regenerate.

Avia had found a solution. She would etch the circuits not into flesh, but into living armor—armor that could heal itself. By bonding the armor to Sieg's dragon body, she could create a living magic array, one immune to the usual flaws.

As a dragon, Sieg's aura was overwhelming—more than enough to suppress the armor's hunger.

Moreover, the armor itself was a powerful magical medium. Behemoth was a creature of immense magical prowess, and the armor's magical resistance actually resulted from a sophisticated form of mana inversion.

The Nameless Demon Armor molded itself to Sieg's body. The match was perfect. Almost too perfect. The only question was... would the armor be content to remain subordinate when it was worn by a true dragon?

"I believe I can control it," Sieg said calmly. "To mend what is broken, a trial is all but expected."

He stepped to the chest, removed his outer coat, and opened the lid. Inside lay the living armor, already stirring from the blood it had been fed.

With slow, deliberate motion, Sieg donned the armor. As he began shifting into his dragon form, the armor writhed but did not resist. Enveloped by the full weight of Sieg's draconic aura, it submitted.

Rib-like protrusions unfurled, spreading across his lengthening body and locking into place over his crimson scales. In the gaps, sinewy black tissue grown from the armor itself stretched and bound the plating together.

Intricate glyphs and mana circuits shimmered into being, carved out in painstaking detail after Avia's long, careful study of the armor.

From the spine of the armor, a thin, sinewy thread snaked out and penetrated into his flesh, fusing dragon and armor into one. The thread, the Nameless Demon Armor's weak spot, was now protected by Sieg's dragon scales and the armor itself.

In mere minutes, his dragon form was fully clad by the armor. His red scales were nowhere to be seen. Sieg now stood cloaked in black.

"How does it feel?" Wang Yu asked from the side, ready to strike if anything were to go wrong.

The armor suddenly glowed with magic, lighting up and dimming with every heartbeat. Sieg opened his eyes, feeling the power coursing through him.

The magic circuits... they moved with him and lived within him. They were no mere engravings. They were his in a very real sense.

"I feel... incredible," Sieg said softly. "It has submitted to me. I am whole. Stronger than ever before."

Thus was born the union of dragon and behemoth.

The Nameless Demon Armor had found its master and become the Living Dragon Armor.