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 god 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 god 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 god 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 bloodlust just like hers . At first , she thought it was her own bloodlust 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 bloodlust 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 .