Chapter 528: Reverse Psychology (Not Really)
Chapter 528: Reverse Psychology (Not Really)
“Uriel…?” Vatyra repeated, rubbing her chin. “I seem to remember that name from somewhere… Wait, didn’t you say you didn’t like feminine names?”
Rael tilted his head. “What’s wrong with Uriel?”
A vein appeared on Vatyra’s forehead, but upon noticing the child not too far away, she held herself back from erasing Rael out of existence.
Vatyra scoffed. “How about Gabriel?”
Rael rolled his eyes and dragged Vatyra over to the child, where the two sat down with wide smiles.
“Look… I’m not sure if you understand us or not, but here’s the deal…”
“If you like the name Uriel, say papa, okay?”
Noticing what Rael was doing, Vatyra chimed in:
“Say mama if you like Gabriel. You like it more, right?”
As if understanding what the two of them were getting at, and seeing their expectant expressions, the child copied Vatyra and placed a hand on his chin, rubbing it in thought.
A few seconds passed, then minutes. Eventually, a determined look appeared on the child’s face as he opened his mouth and finally spoke.
“Seraph-01.”
“Hmm?” Rael tilted his head.
But despite Rael’s momentary confusion, Vatyra seemed to pick up on what the child had just said. Therefore, she pulled Rael away once more, this time somewhere the child couldn’t hear them.
“You know what I just realized?” Vatyra mumbled. “From what I saw in your Mind Realm… this was an experiment of Solenne’s. This child, I mean.”
Rael’s brows furrowed. “And all experiments have code names. Shit…”
Vatyra nodded. “I believe when they were doing experiments on the kid, they named him Seraph. That’s a term I’m familiar with… Seraphs are considered the highest class of angel.”
“I know, I’ve read a few books in the past as well,” Rael said. “So Solenne wanted an army of Seraphs. That’s…”
Rael searched through Jashin’s memories, looking at every despicable thing he had done, simply because at those times, the most information was revealed.
However, no matter how many centuries Rael had combed through, he couldn’t seem to find any indication of Seraphs. There were angels; some were enemies, while most were allies of Solenne.
But that means her experiment didn’t succeed. I wonder why…?
“I think we should stop arguing about his name,” Vatyra said. “It might bring up some buried memories.”
“I agree.” Rael nodded and raised a hand. “We can name him Gabriel.”
“Hmm? No, we’re not about to do that, Rael,” Vatyra replied sternly. “He will be named Uriel.”
Rael’s eyes widened. “But you just—”
“You were trying to be the bigger person, huh?” Vatyra scoffed. “Well, I’ll have you know, baby dragon, that there’s no bigger person than this phoenix. Take your loss on the chin and see how generous I am.”
“…”
I wasn’t even trying to do that though?
Anyway, their argument was resolved abruptly, and so they proceeded back toward the child to announce his name.
But never in their wildest dreams did they expect a small black puppy with white wings to be flying around the child, playing with him.
That sly dog was none other than Burger.
However, due to the amount of power the child had, and the fact that he had no control over it, every time the child jumped up and tried to catch Burger, he brought down more and more of the cave until eventually, a loud rumbling ensued.
<Ding!>
<Dungeon: Festering Cave is collapsing!>
<You have 24 seconds to leave the dungeon before you get trapped inside with no way out!>
“…”
“That’s… is that the dragon I saw in your Mind Realm?” Vatyra mumbled. “I thought I was hallucinating when a dragon walked past me with a king-sized plate of meat… but he was actually real?”
Rael raised his hands dramatically. “Surprise?”
“There’s no time for surprises. I’ll grab Uriel, and you take that stupid dragon. You should’ve told me someone like that was inside your mind. I would’ve had a fun time disciplining him. Tsk tsk…”
With those words, Vatyra vanished out of sight. When she reappeared, she gently grabbed hold of Uriel.
“Uaaaaah!” Uriel raised his hands, and before long, Vatyra moved again, heading straight for the dungeon’s exit.
As for Rael, he slowly walked up to Burger, who was floating around and humming.
“What was that about?” Rael asked with a sigh. “I didn’t take you for a literal dog.”
“Hah. A dog? No, I am a dragon.” Burger didn’t sound too convincing. “However, how could I stand there and let you two take all the glory? As your rightful master and roommate, the least I can do is introduce myself as the child’s uncle. Isn’t that right, papa?”
“…” Rael facepalmed and grabbed Burger by the tail, twirling him around as if he were nothing more than a kid’s plush toy.
And just like that, Rael walked through the portal. The familiar soothing sensation enveloped him before quickly fading as he found himself standing in the forest of Celestara.
It was a real nostalgia trip. He remembered the exact tree that he saw when he first left this dungeon in the past, but unlike then, he came out as an overpowered pay-to-win boss monster.
How ironic… Rael smiled, and with that, the dungeon hidden in the tree vanished. What came of it was the tree cracking slightly.
And of course…
<Ding!>
<Dungeon: Festering Cave has been destroyed!>
<You will no longer passively generate Trell from this dungeon!>
Rael silently paid his respects and then glanced at Vatyra.
She had Uriel slung over her shoulders, and to his surprise, Vatyra summoned a pair of round crimson horns.
Uriel pulled on those horns, and the moment he did, Vatyra turned in the direction he pulled.
Rael was the most speechless he had been in the last month. A being who was at pretty much the pinnacle of power was reduced to nothing more than a first-person gaming controller.
When she realized that he had come out, Vatyra flashed him a victorious smirk and then turned around.
“You’re the ruler of these lands, aren’t you?” Vatyra asked.
“Uhh? Not anymore,” Rael replied flatly. “After everyone lost their memory of me, it wouldn’t be fair to call myself Celestara’s ruler. My wife isn’t even here, so if I step into Celestara claiming to be a ruler, they’d treat me as though I were a bandit.”
“Tsk… call your wife and tell her to come down then,” Vatyra said.
“Well, my wife’s only 50% sure I’m actually her husband. Though don’t worry about it, I have a place where we can crash,” Rael said as he reached into his inventory and pulled out an old key.
That key, of course, was for none other than The Platinum Gacha Boutique, the shop Zafira had gifted him, and the same shop that had previously belonged to her father.