Two Years Later

  The wind rustled through the forest clearing as Kazuki deflected a massive beast’s strike with his reinforced dagger. With a shout, Yuno pierced the creature’s leg with a spear of ice, and Kael followed with a spinning kick that shattered the beast’s core. The dust settled.

  "That’s another one down," Kael said, wiping sweat from his brow.

  Just beyond the trees, a glowing figure landed with barely a sound—wings folding behind her, clawed fingers slowly shifting back to smooth skin. Her horns retreated. The tail vanished. The draconic eyes softened into something more human.

  Lumina touched down with grace and walked toward them, her long hair flowing behind her like silken fire. At a glance, she looked fifteen—taller than Kazuki, more composed than any child should be.

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  "Too slow," she said with a smug grin.

  Kazuki groaned. "You're fifteen, we're fourteen! This doesn't feel right!"

  "Technically," Yuno muttered, "she's only two. Mentally fifteen though? I blame her freakish dragon genes."

  Kael burst into laughter. "Our daughter’s older than her dad, huh?"

  Kairyuuha appeared behind them in a flicker of light, arms crossed. “Stop calling me that.”

  “Papa~!” Lumina sang, skipping to him and linking her arm through his. “They’re bullying me again!”

  He sighed but didn’t pull away. “They’re not wrong.”

  Despite the jokes, his thoughts weighed heavily. In private, he had tried dozens of solutions: reinforcement runes, soul dampening, temporal locking spells, even fragmentary time-diversion circles. All failed.

  She’s aging exactly as projected. At this rate… she’ll be twenty in four more years. And if I still don’t find a solution—

  His gaze softened as Lumina looked up at him, eyes filled with life and curiosity.

  I’m running out of time.

  Yet outwardly, he smiled. “You handled that beast well.”

  “Of course,” she said proudly. “Hybrid form is stable now. I only transform in battle. I know how the villagers look at me otherwise.”

  “She’s smarter than us too,” Yuno whispered to Kael. “This isn’t fair.”

  The group burst into laughter again, and for a moment, the tension faded. But in Kairyuuha’s mind, the clock ticked louder.