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"How about we pass to the Mayateka ruins, unseal Coatl and bind him to you?" Harudha said.

Had Shiru been a more vocal person, she would have stammered or shouted, what?, but all she did was looked with wide eyes at the oceanic angel.

"Don't be so surprised. Coatl has been seen by many that day, so now he's no longer the legendary god of serpents, but the very tangible god of serpents. The very god of serpents who is perceptible to mind control. Wouldn't want some zealot rekindling any wars by siccing a holy god on the demons, do we?" Tzadkiel added in a cheery tone.

"Off course not, but — "

"Great! Since your trigger-happy boyfriend is presently not around to chop up said god if it look at you the wrong way, we figured we do it right now."

"I'm barely forty years old, you expect me to control an ancient dragon god?"

"Reda could do it. That silly Count figure even did it, from what I hear!"

"Reda has a special mask, had years of experience in mind control and only managed it for less than a minute! Count Collection used a machine, he wasn't perceptible to be counter mind controlled!"

"And you will have the Mon Colle Knights who undid all their plots," Harudha said with in a tone of absolute finality.

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When Shiru and Tzadkiel arrived at the ruined city, it was a the end of a monsoon day. A shower lingered on the horizon to the west, but Tzadkiel had kept the area around the ruins dry. The cloud cover was thin here, allowing a few rays of sunlight through, but these didn't do much to drive away the damp cold. If Shiru hadn't served as a rainbow angel — light management was closely related to atmospheric attitude — the cold would have been distracting.

"This area ought to be more tropical, what's going on?"

"I suspect Coatl has noticed our presence and is drawing in energy," Yabbashael said. "Let's hope it won't make a break for it."

"It ... do we even know a gender?"

"If you're worried you might offend it, don't," Tzadkiel said. "Monsters like Coatl don't care for curtsies despite their intelligence. You'll understand once you're connected."

At that moment, she heard a familiar hello called. Atop the pyramid, next to the stone serpent that was the seal, stood the waving Mon Colle Knights. As she descended to them, she also noticed the professor at the bottom of the ruin, apparently inspecting the engravings.

While Mondo looked as ever, but Rokuna was wearing an adapted variant of the school uniform that was telltale of a certain human academy. She'd kept the pants but shortened the skirt, likely because she did a lot of jumping around, and there was a sign of home made stitches. Shiru was about to compliment the girl on her customization when she said, "Zaha doesn't know about it, does he?"

"It's that obvious? Yes, he is currently not in a position to be told about it," Shiru said with a sigh. "~ Particularly because no angel told either him or me what the plan was. ~"

"You'd have told Zaha if we told you earlier," Tzadkiel said. "It was easier this way."

Mondo crossed his arms and glared up at the wind angel. "Not really a good start for cooperating, now is it?"

"Look, Mon Colle Knight, it's become awfully crowded around this area lately. Lots of curious travelers. We didn't exactly have time to convince Zaha to not be a problem."

"Have you tried trusting him?" Mondo said.

"We'll trust him to mean well, but not to be rational. Coatl is volatile to say the least, and so is Zaha," Yabbashael said.

When the children looked over to Shiru, seeking her words, she reluctantly said, "I'm with you on this, Mondo. However, the elemental angels have a point in someone needing to control Coatl now that everyone knows he is real."

She rather hated how this was played, to be honest, which did not help her doubt. Quietly, but with enough intention that she was sure Rokuna would pick up, she added, "~ I'm just not sure it should be me. ~"

"~ You're one of the elemental angels too, now, ~" Rokuna told her.

"~ Perhaps on energetic level, I am. But I have not been granted the transformation by heaven's mandate and its subsequent powers, and I have no experience with this task. ~"

"So what? We're the Saint Star children! We'll help you as often as we can! If anything, we're experts on spiritual links!" Mondo said with perfect confidence and neglect of privacy settings. Ah, so Rokuna had been sharing the words. Not that Shiru minded much right now.

Tzadkiel and Yabbashael looked confused.

"Conversations happen a lot quicker telepathically," Rokuna said. "Anyway, that's what we do, Shiru. Trust us."

The hint of sadness wasn't lost on Shiru, but she kept from commenting on it, or even thinking too much about the implications. Compared to Coatl, the Dryad's Children were not too problematic.

Professor Hiiragi finally came climbing up the wall, too excited to take the stairs. Shiru had learned that sometimes, humans from the other universe were weird like that, so she didn't comment on it.

"Ah, there you all are! So what exactly will we be doing?" he asked when he climbed on his feet.

"We're going to craft something as close as possible to a divine contract between angel and dragon," Tzadkiel said. "The bond between an angel and their elemental dragons cannot be broken, even if someone summons the dragon. That is why Reda never was able to use Curse Circle on any of them, we keep the Dispel Magic in standby at all times. This kind of contract is constant and versatile beyond a regular summoning contract."

"But Coatl isn't technically an elemental dragon," the professor said. "And you can't cast that contract here like in heaven."

"Not if we cast Curse Circle first," Tzadkiel said. "We also intend to transfer the seal that keeps it asleep, in case it really becomes a problem."

"You know Curse Circle too, Shiru?" Mondo asked.

"In theory I've covered it with Arash, but not practiced," Shiru said, and just to defy the 'let's not ask people things' motif of today she added, "You two will have to help me on this, so would you please merge with me?"

"Off course! That's why we came here!" Mondo said. His optimism was infectious and Shiru couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, if you are then I am ready. But first ..." she said as she looked at the wind and earth angels, "... a little extra security would be in place."

Yabbashael chirped, "Off course we can!" Raising her arms, three massive green circles appeared, each of which produced a dragon : the Emperor Earth Dragon, the Emerald Dragon and the Forest Dragon.

"No Stone Dragon, Mud Dragon or Diamond Dragon?" professor Hiiragi asked.

"I don't want to brag too much," Yabbashael said. Nah, she justed wanted to brag a little, or she'd have left Tzadkiel a chance to summon another dragon. As it stood, three dragons were all that could surround the pyramid without getting in each others way, and the sky above was guarded by the Storm Dragon.

Shiru took a deep breath and took a few steps away from the group. It wasn't really necessary, but it it gave her a sense of ritual. She was about to open her mind to two children and this wasn't something she was comfortable with. Her thoughts were her own, she preferred to keep her worries and weaknesses to herself. It benefited none to know them. Off course, that in itself was a feeling that she refused to let get in the way of what was necessary.

The Mon Colle Knights closed their eyes and were enveloped by a golden light. And then they were just gone with a flash towards her. Within her mind, she heard the echo of the chant, "Adara ... Kadara ... Buu!"

It was surprisingly anti-mystical. Nothing about herself changed, except ... Their presence slowly ebbed into her awareness and she now could see their astral forms aside of her.

"Wow, Shiru! You don't have that much power, but your magical dexterity is great!" Mondo said.

"If this impressed you, just wait until you merge with one of the four elder rulers. That said ..." She had expected an empowering sensation to set to the mergure. It was almost disappointing.

Rokuna giggled. "We think there's a magical cushion effect in place to avoid unsettling the monsters we merge with too much. That's probably why you don't notice much change yet. Just wait till the magic starts, you'll feel then!"

"Alright. Are you ready?" A useless question, she immediately realized. She could feel they were.

"Whenever you are!" Rokuna said anyway.

Shiru spread her wings and distanced herself from the pyramid, recalling how large the creature was. They didn't want to get squashed below it. Tzadkiel gave the professor a lift to the nearby airplane, then he took position opposite of Yabbashael at equal distance from the pyramid, close by the circle of dragons.

A surge of holy power welled up in the magic fields around her. They were right, this was a true difference, her power was so sharp and focused she felt ashamed of ever having thought her ordinary feats were commendable.

"Porta Sacratum - Coatl!" they called in unison. A golden circle flared open above the pyramid and right on the tail of the spell, they cast Curse Circle. Mondo and Rokuna provided the dark energy for it and together they seamlessly fused the energies.

The gate's center started to whirl with light, from which the first green scales emerged. At this moment did Yabbashael use her earth magic to knock over the structure of the seal. Between her, Tzadkiel and Shiru a wider sixgate formed, lifting the god's seal into the summoner's circle.

Coatl emerged with darkening skies and a wave of magic that silence all birds in the rainforest and for a devastating few seconds, the minds of Shiru and the Mon Colle Knights as well.

Mondo and Rokuna had never before been linked to any creature this ferocious. They always asked for permission, and so only bound to those who were their friends.
This creature had no concept of friendship, his instinct defined him as solitary.

Coatl had wondered what they were doing, and Shiru inevitably had answered.

She had expected a lot of things, like double vision, sensory disorientation, but not this inability to hold secrets. Her mind was as open to him as his was to her ... why was there still a wall of privacy between her and the children, then?

No time to wonder, because this was when belated double sensory awareness hit. Shiru's eyes had some sense of magnetic fields, but it was nothing compared to the radius Coatl had.

She saw herself through his eyes, so tiny and fragile. He could kill her simply by knocking his wing against her hard enough, to say nothing of the vast magic he held. Burn her up in fire, squash her into the earth, drown her in the waters, suffocate her with stolen wind, turn the light inside against herself. So many ways to kill her, and every reason to do it. If he succeeded, he would be free.

"He's deliberately making it difficult," Rokuna said. "Don't listen to the threats, he knows he can't move beyond the circle with the pyramid's seal still active. Focus on what he sees, we'll keep orientation from our point of view."

"Hey, he does have affinity to the demon element after all," Mondo said, "He just doesn't care for it since all of its unique traits pertain to the mind."

Shiru ignored the memories he sent her of eating living creatures and showed a little smile. "Well, that gives me an angle. We're going to use his own energy against him. With three of us representing one being, we should be able to cast three spells at the same time and do so with his energy."

"You got it!" Mondo reached out through the contract and invoked Coatl's latent affinity to darkness, while Rokuna focused on a feed of holy magic. Here, Shiru brought in Darkness Illusion.

The world turned brighter as Shiru held a perfectly round white sphere between her hands. Cracks of black electricity surrounded it, slowly building demon energy ... it was not unlike art. Instead of light, she panted with knowledge and magic. Despite the dread Coatl fed her through the link, there was something truly exhilarating about it.

Amidst the intense weaving, the physical world had hardly moved. Coatl hovered in the sky above the pyramid, eyes unblinkingly on the tiny angel. Only when Shiru released the sphere did he finally move. Violently he drew back, collided with a barrier of the seal around him and tried to rise up. The Storm Dragon cast a ray of lightning, which Coatl countered with a fireflare. But that moment of distraction was all that was needed for the Darkness Illusion to home in.

When the god felt his primary source of power cut off, the already growing rage turned lethal and shattered what little patience he had. He no longer cared that Mondo and Rokuna had once preserved the world or that he had once willingly sided with Shiru to aid them. They were taking his freedom and so he hated.

The seal started closing in, but his mind absolutely refused to submit, and until he did there was no true contract. He curled back down, mouth wide opened to rain down fire on Shiru.

She felt the rush of the magnetizing air around her, sharp on her wings and skin. If she had needed words to raise a barrier they would have been hit full force, but instead the foce cracked around a last minute shield that the Mon Colle Knights raised.

Finding another obstacle, Coatl paused a mere twenty meters from his prey. Narrow black pupils bore down on them, the head so small compared to the body was the size of a whale. Shiru could not be anything but intimidated, and she acknowledged that feeling lest it hinder her even more.

The bond went two ways. He knew what he did to her, to them. She backed up the children as much as they supported her.

Within this moment, she could see his terrifying simplicity.

Coatl had no companions, no need for ideals or affections, only his instincts, desires and a sharp awareness of the world around him. The details that Shiru saw in the forest and the weather were irrelevant. The concept of beauty didn't even puzzle him, it was discarded and he was almost offended she cared for it. To him, what mattered was only the power of the elements and the scent of prey.

Shiru had never faced such an amoral creature. Even Reda had held a twisted ethical system, one that virtually the opposite of her own, but she had found it easy to argue against. Coatl however had no use for or interest in arguments, view points or even purpose. He had the ability to reason, his aid to the Saint Star Dragon had proved so, but that was only because it was natural for him to defend his territory.

When she realized he was more like a force of nature than an individual — or what she saw as individuality — that was the first time he truly spoke to her.

Wordless mockery accompanied acute awareness of just how small she was compared not to Coatl, but the world in all directions, sky above, time in past and future.

As if it were news to her.

She gave a wasted smile, more for herself than the creature before her. Small before her mother, inconsequential in the war, unable to save her brother and she was to tremor before this primitive sense of superiority?

One thing she had that Coatl did not : intricacy. Inadvertently he mocked him in return : wasn't he held in place by a weaving of lesser powers? Could he blow up what he couldn't see or feel? Break a complexity it never had bothered to understand? The wall around her mind grew thicker, blinding him where she could still see.

Slowly, the god pulled his head back. Though the sky remained dark, its power ebbed to peace and his wings folded a little.

The deal was considered, his obedience in exchange for a relative freedom.

There was no definite answer, no oath or vow or promise. No duration given, she would have to prove herself over and over in face of his newborn hatred. However, for now, his instinct for freedom folded that feeling back up and placed it on hold. To the right was an earth angel, who could use her powers to restore the detached seal within seconds and there were dragons who could hurl single but strong attacks at him.

So be it.

"That's it?" Mondo said, evident disappointment echoing through Shiru. "I thought there was going to be an epic acknowledgment of you as its master."

"Even binding tiny Vesper to Zaha was more dramatic," Rokuna said. Then again, that one had a far more dramatic stage.

"We have one more thing to do, actually," Shiru told them. In her mind she showed what Yabbashael and Tzadkiel were about to do.

"Ah!" Rokuna said. "Perfect, we'll cement the spells into its new form that way!"

Shiru nodded at the two other angels, and they started a chant that narrowed the outer circle around Coatl. The inner summoning circle had not yet faded entirely, and it merged with the outer one.

Coatl hesitated, but Shiru stressed that if he wanted his freedom, that was the bind he had to take. He gave her a look, then with exagerated slowness curled over his own back and down through the circle.

"~ Shiru, name him! ~" Tzadkiel called.

"Quetzalcoatl!"

Shiru felt an unknown force draw into her mind and imagination. There was a natural template of reason to follow, but it was hers to color. Well, she was the rainbow spinning angel for a reason. As Coatl's body transformed, muscles strengthened and shape became superior channel to magic, his colors changed to Shiru's vision.

No monochrome emerged, the ascended dragon was thickly scaled in lime and sea green over a moss belly, a tin row of golden scales separating them. Purple feathered jutted from head to tail. Most telling was the change in his wings, going from once dull green to a butterfly-rich array of greens, yellows and black, tipped with orange blotches.

Rokuna clasped astral hands together. "It's beautiful! We should paint together some time!"

"Aww, like I need to be left in the dust even more," Mondo said, laughing nevertheless.

Shiru couldn't quite share the wonder of the children, because she was rapidly becoming tired. When she landed, the feeling of grass beneath her bare feet was a little more alien now, a little more distant. Coatl's overpowering presence robbed some of her focus, she felt the pyramid as he lowered himself and curled around it.

Coatl waited for Mondo and Rokuna to separate from her and exploit a potential weakness in her power. However, the spells stayed in place even after the children emerged in the physical world.

"It would be kinda awkward to say victory of justice now, right? We didn't really win a battle," Mondo said. "And we don't know yet whether Coatl is actually going to behave."

"You can do it if you'd like to, I don't mind," Shiru said.

"Nah, we'll save it for later," Rokuna said. She held up a hand to give a little support to Shiru, who was threatening just lose her balance.

Yabbashael and Tzadkiel landed at their side.

"Well done," Yabbashael said cheerfully. "But I think he's a little too large yet. Let me fix that." She raised a glowing sphere in her palm and Coatl shrunk in accordance to her magic. In the end, he was a mere ten meters long.

"I could make him smaller, but for now it's probably better he can't creep away in any small spaces, like those in your observatory."

Through her, he tried to listen to Yabbashael's words. This was an unknown experience for him, he had never needed to pay attention to details before. Now it mattered because he wanted out and did not understand enough.

This meant spoken language was lost on him, not even the translating magic of the world helped. He really was an animal, albeit a very intelligent one.

He let her knew he was of the age before magic changed the world. What did that mean?

He didn't care to tell. Perhaps though, he expected, she would learn to force him.

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