[Book 2] That time I got reincarnated as a slime,no, a DRAGON?

3rd Person POV
Cardinal worlds booth

With blood on her land, Ciel looked at Veldanava with a crazed look. Chloe was still unable to catch up with what had happened and was just staring at the corpse of her beloved. Her hands were shaking and her mind was in turmoil. This was the second time. The second time Rimuru had died, and there was nothing she could do. No. There was a lot she could have done. But she didn't.

"Why did you allow that Veldanava?!" Ciel asked completely disregarding all the elegance she had shown up till this point. Right now, she looked nothing more than a crazed killer out for blood. And Veldanava's nonchalance only added to her anger.

But before Veldanava could speak, Rimuru's body began to disintegrate. This brought her attention to her husband's corpse. Previously, when his core had been shattered, he didn't die instantly, though his body did start dispersing. But what caught her eyes was the remnants of his core were nowhere to be found.

All the mana that had left his body quickly started to rearrange itself into a form that she very easily raised and understood. One that she knew from the depths of her heart, Rimuru.

Ciel's eyes widened in surprise, but before she could do anything, Chloe dashed straight at Rimuru and hugged him. Luckily, Rimuru's form had recovered enough of its power to hold for back, or else the two would have been on the ground.

Rimuru's strength quickly rose till the time it reaches its original strength. Ciel ran a quick analysis and saw that even Rimuru's core had returned to its original state. Seeing that he was fine, Ciel just hugged him as well.

"Now do you understand why I did nothing?" Veldanava spoke up, bringing the attention of the hugging trio towards him.

"I did tell you that you won't die till the time you all are within the confines of the core of the Cardinal World. Took the time you guys are here, you cannot be killed." Veldanava continued.

"But I am sure there were many more calmer and better ways to tell us that, instead of attacking my core directly." Rimuru spoke up.

"I know, but what would be the fun in that. But damn, I didn't expect Ciel to be so quick with her feet. She is quite strong. Stronger than what I had expected." Guy, who had also been revived spoke up.

Ciel was someone who became known to Guy, or rather the entire world, only after Rimuru had already defeated Ivarage. She had only ever fought in a single battle, in which she took the position of nothing more than a supporter and an anchor point for Rimuru.

Nobody knew how strong she was. But from the fact that she was very good with diplomacy and tactics, most of the demon lords assumed her to be weaker than them, especially after they became Gods and had no VOTW to rely on.

Yet, they had not expected her to be strong enough to defeat Guy in a single strike. True, it was at a point blank range and Guy couldn't defend or attack considering he was being attacked from two sides.

Ciel, who just noticed that Guy had revived spoke up.

"Oh? Shouldn't you be my slave now? I destroyed your core, so shouldn't you submit to me?" Ciel spoke with venom in her voice as she pointed out the only flaw in a primordial demon.

"Hahaha. That would truly have been a case if I was still under the VOTW, but as I am free from it, there are no such rules." Guy said with a hearty laugh and a grin.

"Doesn't that mean...?" Rimuru looked towards Raine and Mizeri, who seemed to have understood his question.

"We have decided to serve Guy-sama with our own volition." Mizeri spoke up and Raine just nodded.

Hearing this, Rimuru just looked at Guy, who shrugged it off.

"Rimuru.... You are fine, right?" Chloe spoke up in a weak tone. Chloe who was quite till now finally calmed down enough to restart her brain.

"Yes yes. I am fine now. So you don't need to worry." Rimuru tasked to her calmly and tried to calm her down.

"Where are Rudra and the others?" Ciel asked.

"Rudra, Zelanus and Yuuki have already gone for their awakening ceremonies down there. Ruminas is yet to arrive." Veldanava informed.

"Do we have our turns out something?" Rimuru asked after he had finally managed to calm Chloe who was still clinging onto him.

"Not exactly. You can just get on the stage. You will automatically be able to take part. But, you can only go on one at a time, so you might have to wait." Veldanava said.

"I see. So what about them?" I ask as I look at Velzard and Velgrynd. They might be his sisters, but they haven't awakened either, so they should take part as well."

"Since we have the same lineage, our awakening will take place seperately." Velzard replied. Though she told she why, it only left Rimuru with more doubts. Why do they have to do it separately? Does lineage really have something to do, or is it like a benifit.

"What about Veldora?"
"I'll call him when it's time." Veldanava said as he glanced at momentarily at his sisters.

"Ah.... Understood. So should we go to the Awakening ceremony?" Rimuru asked.
"Wait. Are we just going to ignore the fact that Guy tried to kill you?" Ciel asked.

"What else can we do? It's not like we suffered any losses. Also, infighting right now is not a wise choice, after all we have to face Yggdrasil as well."

Hearing Rimuru's explanation, Ciel finally gave up. Suddenly, Rimuru looked around as if he suddenly remembered something.

"Where Shion and Diablo?" Rimuru asked. It was only now that it dawned upon them that not only shion and Diablo, but the demoness trio and Valora were also missing.

"You don't need to worry about them. They'll come here in some time. Same happened with these two." Guy said as he pointed towards Raine and Mizeri.

"They are undergoing their biometric checks." Veldanava spoke up.
"Biometric checkup!? Why do they need to do that?" Rimuru asked surprised.

"Well, even though they are not eligible for the Awakening of Gods ceremony, they are without a doubt strong enough to be called gods. As such, their information will be recorded."

"Wait. Then Benimaru and others are also..."
"Just keep them as a trump card. Every God has a few. There is no time that we need to tell others about them."

"... Very well. Let's go Ciel, Chloe. How are we supposed to go?" Rimuru asked.

"Just go through the door, it will teleport you straight to the arena." Veldanava told them.

"Alright" Rimuru said as he opened the door. There was a bright light with nothing in the other side, but Rimuru just walked through it, followed by Ciel and Chloe.

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I hope you guys like it.