System Prompt – Blood Pact Reward Unlocked
> [DING!]
Congratulations, Host. You have completed the First Blood Pact.
Special Reward Granted:
Set of 13 Dragger Blades – [Unnamed Series]
Description: Forged in void flame and tempered in silence.
Each Dragger bonds with the bloodline and element of its Crossholder.
• Dragger Count: 13
• Status: Evolvable
• Element (1st Dragger): Shadow Flame
These are not blades. These are fangs of fate.
---
Ray stood before a floating black box—hovering mid-air, etched in scarlet veins pulsing like a heart.
With one gesture, it opened.
Inside, 13 curved draggers—each black as night, with faintly glowing red veins. They looked as though they were alive.
Ray picked the first.
It was cold.
Then it pulsed—matching the rhythm of his heartbeat.
> "A blade for my shadows," Ray whispered. "A blade for my dragons."
He turned to White.
> "Take it. This is your other half. Your sword. Your sentence. Your soul."
White held the dragger.
The moment he gripped it, flames of shadow and red flickered along the blade's edge.
> The weapon hummed. Recognized him. Accepted him.
---
The Dragger's Oath
Ray raised two fingers and drew a mark in the air.
The 13 Cross sigil burned briefly over the blade, and etched itself onto White's wrist, just above the blood dragon's mark.
Two marks. One bond.
Ray spoke:
> "This is not a weapon.
This is judgement.
If you kill with hate, it will consume you.
If you kill with purpose, it will grow with you.
This dragger is yours. Not to carry... but to earn.
Every kill it makes writes your legend."
---
System Prompt – 1st Dragger Bonded
> [DING!]
Dragger Bond Registered – 1/13
Name: [To be named by White]
Element: Shadow Flame
Status: Evolving
Bonus Unlocked:
15% assassination effectiveness in darkness
Soul Sync: Dragon and Dragger
Thirteen will rise with thirteen blades. Thirteen marks. Thirteen dooms.
---
Ray closed the black box and sealed it again.
> "Twelve blades remain.
Twelve shadows yet to rise.
But today, we are no longer a thought.
We are a threat."
Ray stood before White.
"You are White," Ray said. "The beginning. The one who rose when there was nothing."
He turned his hand and summoned the blood dragon—coiling in midair like smoke, its red eyes watching, waiting.
"I name you Ake, for you are mine. My shadow. My first."
Then he raised the black blade glowing with silent flame.
"You are Ika, the blade that cuts fate. One soul, one fang."
White knelt.
> "I am Ake.
My dragon is Ika.
My life is for the Cross."
The oath sealed in silence.
---
Six Months Later
Time flowed.
The 13 Cross's secret base had expanded. Ake had grown—strong, sharp, quiet. He mastered his dragon and his dragger. He was a shadow that could kill without a sound.
Ray smiled in his quiet chamber.
> "The second Cross must rise."
---
Her Name Was Leah
The city outside the palace was a dirty jewel—bright lights, filthy corners. Ray wandered in disguise, wrapped in the Faceless Technique.
Then he saw her.
Standing before a tavern, arguing with three men.
Tall. Long legs. Slender waist. A gaze that could stop a war. She moved like a flame, arrogant yet calm.
Ray whispered, "A country girl with the heart of a queen."
He stepped in.
One gesture, and the three men were unconscious.
She didn't thank him.
She glared.
> "Did I ask for your help?"
Ray grinned.
> "No. That's why I gave it."
She was furious—but her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
---
The Second Cross
Name: Leah
Given Name: Red
> "From today," Ray said, "you are not a peasant.
You are Red, the second dragon of the 13 Cross."
She stared at him.
> "What if I refuse?"
> "Then go. But remember this—there is a kingdom inside you. I only want to let it out."
---
Back at the Palace
Whispers grew.
> "Prince Ray took a prostitute?"
"He's become a hooligan like his father's enemies."
"Wasting money on a country girl…"
Ray didn't care.
In fact, he smiled.
He called White.
White walked in, saw Red, and nodded.
> "Good potential. Strong soul. Good bones."
Red scoffed. "So I'm a chicken now?"
White smiled. "No. A phoenix."
---
End of Chapter