"How repulsive, I honestly do not like that sick look that woman has at all," Beatrice commented, wrinkling her nose with evident disgust upon seeing the intense expression of lust on Lise’s face.
"I do not think you should blame her so harshly," Irina, the elven princess, commented, taking a cautious step forward to better observe the dragoness’s strange behavior.
"It must be due to her elemental nature. For a dragon that feeds on primordial darkness, being in front of such a pure source must be exactly like having a ravenous hunger after weeks of starvation, right?" Irina added, trying to find biological logic to the matter.
"Ha ha, no. Do not be so naive," Ivis said, letting out a dry laugh and crossing her arms as she pointed at Lise with her thumb.
The water dragoness shook her head, completely dismissing the elf’s theory.
"You see me completely calm, do you not?" Ivis continued, looking at the group of girls. "I mean, of course I perfectly notice that he, as a simple human being, gives off a strange, dense dark power that is curious and appetizing to me. But I am not going to go crazy or drool like she is doing," Ivis said, pointing at Lise with a clear mocking tone.
Lise, completely ignoring all the derogatory comments and judgmental looks raining down on her, advanced toward the center of the shattered hall.
Her steps were slow, but possessed an almost hypnotic rhythm, echoing against the broken floor of the throne room. She did not take her two-toned eyes, the silver and the light blue, off Ryan’s figure.
A deep, intoxicating smile formed on the dragoness’s lips. The air around her began to become freezing and dense, laden with an immensely ancient magical pressure.
"When the moon enters the crimson full moon, the black rose withers from desolation, and silence corrupts the inner world..." Lise murmured without stopping her steps, with a voice that seemed to resonate directly in the minds of everyone present.
"How impatient she turned out to be," Ophelia commented, observing the scene from the side with her arms crossed.
"But everything turned out well in the end, did it not?" Ivis said, shrugging her shoulders, satisfied not to have to keep fighting against the wind dragoness.
’Is she conjuring?’ Ryan thought, watching the woman approach with latent curiosity.
Karol, who possessed the greatest magical knowledge in the group, watched the dragoness approach her leader. Her blue eyes widened as she immediately recognized the ancient words and the mana flow occurring before them.
"...never in my life did I think I would live long enough to see a true dragon conjure a loyalty contract," Karol said, her voice trembling with pure excitement and awe.
The girls in the group watched in silence, holding their breath and not daring to look away from something considered absolutely unique in the world.
The simple fact of establishing a bond with a high-ranking dragon was something that, according to all the historical records of the church and the magic academies, no human being had ever managed to survive or accomplish.
Lise’s delicate humanoid body suddenly lit up. An intricate, glowing magic circle of blue and silver appeared spinning slowly beneath the soles of her boots, emitting a hum of pure power.
She continued walking with total elegance, focused solely and exclusively on Ryan, who stood firm and immovable in the center of the shattered throne room.
"You will see that cosmic ocean that reflects the infinite sadness of the cosmos... et cetera, et cetera," Lise continued, quickening her pace and slurring the last words with an evident tone of boredom and urgency.
The dragoness closed the remaining distance, stopping mere centimeters from Ryan’s chest.
Without asking for any kind of permission, she took the human’s right hand with both hands and slowly raised it up to her own face level.
"That fool..." Ophelia said, letting out a heavy sigh and placing her hand on her forehead.
"Wait a minute, did she just cut short a legendary incantation?!" Karol asked, feeling all her years of rigorous magical study crumbling at seeing the dragoness’s lack of respect for ancient chants.
"Could that even be done without the spell failing?" Alicia asked, her eyes wide with astonishment, twitching her wolf ears from side to side.
Before anyone could answer the mages’ doubt, Lise acted.
With a quick, surprising movement, she took Ryan’s index finger, opened her lips, and bit it hard using her sharp dragon fangs. The human skin gave way instantly, causing a thick drop of crimson blood to well up.
"Hey!" Helen, Beatrice, and Mirian yelled in unison, immediately taking a step forward and readying their weapons upon seeing the strange woman hurt their leader right before their eyes.
Ryan did not flinch at the slight sharp pain in his finger. He kept his hand still, without trying to push the dragoness away, and simply turned his head to look at the demon queen with a clear expression of doubt.
"Ophelia, is it really supposed to be like this?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ophelia cleared her throat, looking extremely uncomfortable by the dragoness’s behavior. The demon queen looked away, avoiding eye contact with the human.
"Yes, well... let’s say more or less," Ophelia replied, scratching her cheek.
"What do you mean by more or less?" Ryan countered, demanding a clear answer as he felt the dragoness’s fangs release his finger.
Faced with that questioning, Lise ignored the chaos around her. She lifted Ryan’s bleeding finger with extreme delicacy and let the heavy drop of human blood fall directly onto the base of the sharp, glowing horn protruding from the center of her forehead.
The moment Ryan’s blood touched the magical horn, time seemed to stand still throughout the hall.
The magic circle spinning beneath Lise’s feet expanded violently in a blinding flash of light, covering the floor and completely enveloping both of them in a whirlwind of pure, ancient energy. The wind howled inside the castle, whipping the hair of everyone present.
After a few intense seconds, the immense light suddenly diminished. The magic circle fragmented in the air, transforming into two intricate, ancient glowing symbols that pulsed like living hearts.
The symbols split in the air. Each fragment grew smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared, swiftly entering its respective chest and fusing their souls and magic into an unbreakable bond that the system itself recognized in the silence of Ryan’s mind.
The wind calmed down, and the light faded, leaving only the pale lighting of the throne room.
"The pact has been successfully finalized, my beloved master," Lise said, breaking the silence.
The dragoness stepped even closer to Ryan, completely invading his personal space. She looked up at him with two-toned eyes laden with an immense and unseemly desire, licking her lips slowly.
"From this moment on, I will be entirely yours forever, Master." Lise declared, with a voice so sweet and dangerous that it promised to bring Ryan an absurd amount of problems in the near future.