"No, no, no, that's not what I meant!"
Veldora immediately ducked, his massive form shrinking pathetically.
Bloodline suppression was truly terrifying!
"Tch."
Velzard calmed herself.
Truth be told, she was pondering the same question.
She had noticed the changes in the Jura Forest as well.
However, the labyrinthine illusion created by Treyni and her sisters had little effect on her.
The only issue was that, under the influence of Elemental Force, even the town where Damien resided was concealed.
Magic perception was useless, leaving Velzard with no choice but to conduct a carpet search.
How vast was the Jura Forest?
As the continent's center, its size rivaled that of a large nation.
Destroying it would be easy for Velzard.
But finding one person here was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
If Damien were still present, Velzard's Ultimate Skill would eventually locate him, given time.
The problem was, Damien had already left.
He wasn't even in this world anymore. No matter how powerful her Ultimate Skill was, it couldn't track him across worlds.
"This is a headache..."
Velzard admitted she did want to give Damien a thrashing upon meeting him, to establish her status as the elder sister.
But they were dragons!
Wasn't that just how dragons operated?
She used to spar with her second sister all the time.
And Veldora? He practically grew up under her iron fists.
"If you just surrendered, I wouldn't have to hit you, would I?"
The more Velzard thought about it, the more unwilling she was to leave. "No way. If I just walk away, won't that make me look useless?"
The idea that Damien might not fear her... or worse, think she was insignificant... gnawed at her.
"I can sense his aura vanishing from the Jura Forest."
"So, he's temporarily left?"
"Hmph, this kid dares to play tricks on me."
With that thought, Velzard turned to Veldora. "I'm going to stay here for a while. You don't mind, do you?"
"Huh?"
Veldora froze, but seeing Velzard's serious gaze, he nodded hastily. "No problem, no problem! Stay as long as you like, Nee-sama."
"It's not 'your place' or 'my place'... my home is your home, right?"
"Smart move!"
"Phew..."
Wiping away imaginary sweat, Veldora silently rejoiced at being sealed in the Infinite Prison.
If he were outside, who knew if Velzard might take out her frustrations on him?
It wasn't impossible.
From the moment of his birth, he'd lost count of how many times Velzard had beaten him for the most absurd reasons.
All under the guise of "training."
"With all those magicules, you still don't know how to control them?"
"You're an embarrassment to our dragon kind!"
Shudder...
Recalling the tragedies of his past, Veldora began to mourn for Damien. "I've yet to meet you but don't let this violent woman find you."
Meanwhile, in a corner of the sealed cave, a consciousness from another world stirred from its chaotic slumber.
"This place is..."
"I... didn't I die?"
A round, blue slime began recalling recent events.
Walking down the street with a colleague, a knife-wielding thug appeared.
To protect her junior colleague, she...
"So, I've been reincarnated into another world... as a slime?"
Reaching this conclusion, the future Rimuru... now the still the slime... was so shocked her entire body quivered.
"But why a slime?!"
"No way, I don't want to be a slime!"
No matter how much the slime complained, she couldn't change the fact of her reincarnation as a slime.
Yes, she.
Unlike the original story, the slime wasn't male in her past life but a nearly 30-year-old single woman.
(Note: Rimuru's past life is female due to temporal corrections from Damien's influence. She's not a heroine but a summoned beast, like Ogerpon.)
Otherwise, she was much like the novel's Rimuru.
With Great Sage and Predator... two unique skills... she had immense potential.
Thus, as in the original story, the slime, aided by Great Sage, began the monotonous task of consuming herbs and magic crystals.
"Rimuru has reincarnated?"
Damien, now in the new world, was immediately informed by Violet about Rimuru's early arrival.
He bore no ill will toward Rimuru.
Among countless isekai protagonists, Rimuru's personality and temperament were among the better ones.
Moreover, given the current situation, Rimuru was unlikely to follow the original novel's path.
Why? Because Damien had already walked that road.
"Why did Rimuru arrive so early?"
"Shouldn't it be another two months?"
"It's likely the butterfly effect from your world-traveling."
Violet explained that the process of Rimuru's death and reincarnation involved her soul crossing worlds, a journey that took time.
Damien's Planeswalker skill caused fluctuations in the Cardinal World's space.
This likely accelerated Rimuru's soul reincarnation.
"I see."
Damien accepted the explanation.
He began considering how to handle Rimuru.
Kill her?
That never crossed his mind.
Rimuru was no enemy, and Damien wasn't petty enough to fear or eliminate her just because she was a protagonist.
"Instead of killing or suppressing Rimuru, why not make her part of my strength?"
Rimuru's potential was undeniable, a ceiling-level existence in the Cardinal World, possibly even reaching Veldanava's heights.
How could Damien let such talent slip away?
His ambitions extended far beyond the Star Dragon King.
After witnessed Arceus, he understood the beetwen gap a creator and the creation.
***
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