As we entered the room together, the weight of the ambient mana increased instantly. The air itself felt heavier. Making every breath feel like it had to be forced into my lungs.

Each step closer to the draconic princess made the chamber feel smaller somehow, the glowing chains around her hummed softly with power.

Seeing her strung up like that pulled at something in my chest I couldn’t understand fully, all I knew was we needed to get her out as quickly as possible. My mana sync with the girls was lowering quickly and there was no telling what consequences that would have.

"We need to get her out of there now," I called, stepping closer to the beauty suspended in front of us. "How the fuck do we break these chains?"

Reika’s ears folded back slightly at the question. She slowly circled the room, sniffing the air. "I’ve never smelled magic like this before," she said cautiously. "It isn’t normal... it smells wrong." She continued her search.

Valka’s eyes narrowed at the chains. "No, that’s not quite right," she said quietly. "Not wrong but ancient. Very ancient magic." A grin crossed her face as she reached out only to be forced back by an unknown force. "It’s strong too."

Celeste had already moved toward the glowing runes beneath the princess, her fingers hovering just above the symbols etched into the floor. "These aren’t restraints," she whispered. "They’re moving mana through her, into the dungeon itself... she’s somehow being used to stabilize the area.

The warning windows in my vision started flashing harder, the glowing dicks pulsing bright enough to hurt my eyes.

[ WARNING: DRACONIC PRESENCE DETECTED ]

[ DANGER: MANA SYNC NEARING 30% ]

[ WARNING: FOREIGN MANA SIGNATURE SEEKING COMPATIBILITY ]

"...Why do I suddenly hate the word compatibility?" I muttered. The warning windows in my vision kept flashing harder the closer I got to her, the glowing blue dicks practically strobing against the stone walls of the chamber with every pulse.

"Adrian," Valka warned quietly, her crimson eyes narrowing toward the chains. "Do not get any closer."

"I swear I’m not trying to," I muttered back, even as my feet kept carrying me forward anyway. "My feet wont fucking stop..."

The pressure inside the room had changed. It wasn’t crushing anymore like it had been when we first entered. Now it felt focused, concentrated directly on me like the chains themselves had suddenly noticed I existed.

Golden light slowly spread across the bindings wrapped around the princess’s wrists and waist, the runes carved beneath her suspended body glowing brighter with every step I took toward her.

Reika’s ears flattened tightly against her head as a low growl escaped her throat. "Your scent changed again," she said cautiously. "It’s mixing with hers." They perked back up after realizing her scent also was pulled in.

Celeste looked between me and the glowing seal, her expression growing more uneasy by the second. "The mana inside the chains is reacting to his signatures," she whispered. "That shouldn’t even be possible."

I stopped only a few feet away from the suspended dragon princess, finally getting a close look at the glowing restraints wrapped around her body.

Up close, she looked worse. The chains weren’t just holding her in place, they were feeding mana directly through her. Golden light pulsed beneath her skin with every slow heartbeat, draining her while simultaneously keeping the entire chamber stable.

Then her expression shifted slightly, a small crease of pain crossed her face, followed by a single crystalline tear slipping free from beneath her closed eye. The glowing droplet rolled slowly down her cheek, shimmering with pale blue mana before falling into the darkness below.

Something tightened painfully inside my chest the second I saw it.

The entire chamber fell silent, the humming chains suddenly growing louder in the stillness.

Then the princess inhaled sharply, her body twitching violently against the restraints as every chain around her erupted with blinding golden light.

Every warning window in my vision overlapped until I could barely see the chamber anymore, glowing red alerts stacking on top of each other fast enough to make my head pound.

[ WARNING: FOREIGN MANA CONTACT IMMINENT ]

[ WARNING: SACRED SEAL INSTABILITY DETECTED ]

[ DANGER: COMPATIBILITY THRESHOLD EXCEEDED ]

"What the hell does that even mean?" I hissed, taking another involuntary step toward the suspended dragon princess.

The chains answered for me, the golden light erupted violently through the chamber. It surged through the bindings wrapped around her body like lightning through exposed wires.

The runes beneath her flared bright enough to force me to shield my eyes while the pressure in the room slammed into my chest hard enough to make me stumble.

At the same time, the mana inside my body reacted instantly.

Celeste’s fire mana burned hot beneath my skin while Valka’s dark mana twisted heavily in my chest. Reika’s colder mana surged through my arms like ice water trying desperately to stabilize the other two before they spiraled completely out of control.

"Adrian, get away from her now!" Celeste shouted.

"I’m trying to!"

That was the problem, my body wasn’t listening anymore.

The chains wrapped around the princess rattled violently as another pulse exploded outward from the seal. Thin strands of golden mana stretched through the air toward me, twisting and searching like they were trying to latch onto something inside my chest.

Reika grabbed my arm immediately, her claws digging through my sleeve hard enough to hurt. "Your mana is reacting to it," she growled. "Stop walking."

"I’m not fucking walking!"

Another pulse burst from the chains, stronger this time. The princess gasped sharply against the restraints, her body twitching violently as a visible crack suddenly spread across one of the glowing bindings wrapped around her wrist.

The sound echoed through the chamber like shattering glass, causing everyone to freeze in place.

The princess’s eyes slowly opened. Bright silver eyes locked directly onto mine, ancient exhaustion and pain visible behind them for only a single second before another violent pulse of mana exploded from the seal.

The silver glow in her eyes flickered weakly as she stared directly at me, confusion and exhaustion mixing together behind them.

Then her lips parted slightly.

"...You," she whispered weakly, her voice echoing strangely through the chamber with a second deeper tone hidden beneath it that made the air itself vibrate.

Golden light surged violently across the restraints wrapped around her body, the metallic humming inside the chamber rising into a deafening screech as every warning window in my vision started overlapping on top of each other.

[ WARNING: FOREIGN SIGNATURE ACCEPTED ]

[ DANGER: DRACONIC MANA SYNC INITIATED ]

[ WARNING: USER CORE INSTABILITY RISING ]

"Accepted?" I repeated. "What the fuck does accepted mean?!"

Pain exploded through my chest hard enough to force me to my knees, fire mana surging violently beneath my skin while Valka’s dark mana twisted together with the foreign draconic energy now flooding directly into my body.

It felt like my entire mana network was being stretched apart from the inside as every different signature inside me suddenly started fighting for space all at once.

"Adrian!" Celeste shouted.

I barely heard her over the pain.

The princess jerked violently against the restraints as another loud crack echoed through the chamber, one of the glowing chains wrapped around her arm shattering completely as fragments of golden mana scattered through the air like broken glass.

The entire dungeon began to rumble beneath us immediately afterward.