As the searing pain tie through Draco's frame, he felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation emanating from the raw, oozing stumps where his majestic horns had once been.

  A deep, pulsing ringing reverberated in his ears, while a severe, debilitating migraihrobbed within his skull, the agony intense enough to momentarily eclipse the anguish radiating from the rest of his battered body.

  It was as if his entire head was being torn apart from the inside, his skull being remolded and reshaped from the ground up.

  Draashed his teeth, his es crag uhe pressure, he had nearly bitten off his tongue while g his jaw.

  However he quickly regained his senses, avoiding a disastrous oute.

  He strengthened his will to ehe uing torment, knowing that this was a necessary step to fulfil his goals.

  He had desired the powers and prowess that came with the forced and quick evolution of his species, and this rice he had willingly agreed to pay.

  ‘E ot get any worse than this,’ he thought, trying to reassure himself as the migraine subsided ever so slightly with time.

  Little did he know that this was merely the beginning of his ordeal.

  Minutes felt like hours as Draco wrestled with the all-ing anguish, his entire world narrowing to the excruciating pain that wracked his entire being.

  Soon, the agony in his head began to subside signifitly, much to his immense relief.

  However, the pain radiating from the rest of his body still felt almost unbearable.

  Bahamut who had been overseeing Draco's transformation, watched his face, struggling to keep her posure.

  Seeing the slightest hint of relief wash over Draco's features and his struggle to get up, she quickly approached him, i on her assistance.

  "Let me help you up," Bahamut said softly, reag out to grasp Draco's arm and support his weakened frame.

  Yet, Draco quickly stopped her, realizing that his body had bee hypersensitive to even the slightest toubsp;

  The parts of his skin that were in tact with the makeshift bed of pillows beside him felt as if they were on fire, and he khat aernal stimution would only serve to exacerbate his suffering.

  Gritting his teeth, Draao push himself up onto his feet, despite the searing pain radiating from every joint and muscle.

  But just as he found his bance, a sudden, siing snapping sound echoed through the room, causing both Drad Bahamut to freeze in dread.

  To Draco's horror, he felt his femur bone snap, the sharp, jagged edges tearing through his flesh.

  Before he could even scream in agony, the rest of his bones followed suit, shattering in rapid succession.

  His mind fell into a state of shock, uo process the overwhelmiions assaulting his body.

  Draco's form crumpled to the pillows beside him in a resounding, siing thud, his limbs twisted at unnatural angles.

  Bahamut watched, her eyes wide with a mixture of horror, revulsion and fasation, as Draco's tail stid and stiff, the only part of him that seemed intact, protruding from the odd, fleshy pool that had once been his body.

  The goddess had withe evolution of many dragonkin before, but never had she seen a transformation quite like this.

  A bckish-red liquid began to ooze from Draco's deformed body, the thick, viscous fluid carrying a peculiar stench of fresh, new bones.

  To Bahamut's astonishment, the liquid soon began to move with a life of its own, coalesg inte, egg-shaped sphere.

  As the sphere hardehe room fell silent, save for the soft, rhythmic beating of a heart.

  "Is it over?" Bahamut whispered to herself, her fingers gently trag the surface of the strange, pulsihat now rested amidst the pillows.

  She was cautious, fearful that any sudden movements might disrupt the delicate process unfolding before her.

  Draco's transformation had taken an ued and uling turn, and Bahamut couldn't help but wonder what would emerge from the enigmatic shell.

  ……………………………………………………………………..

  An hour had passed since Draco had retreated into his egg to undergo the transformative process.

  Bahamut stood by, watg and waiting anxiously, unsure of how long the process would take.

  She had initially estimated it to be a retively quick affair, sting no more than an hour at most, but the slow pace of the ges unfolding within the bckish-red shell told a different story.

  Bahamut found herself tempted to briefly tap into her arum, the vast well of divine power at her disposal, in an effort to gain a more detailed insight into Draco's transformation.

  However, she quickly dismissed the idea, knowing that su a would likely draw the unwatention of the ods – a situation she was keen to avoid.

  As Bahamut tinued her vigil, a soft, muffled knog sound echoed through the room, interrupting her ption. She perked up, her ears straining to dis the source of the noise.

  "Draco, is that you? Are y to unicate with me?" Bahamut asked, pressing her ear against the egg's surface.

  The knog came again, and Bahamut realized with a sheepish realization that the sound was not emanating from the egg, but rather from the door to her room.

  "Oh," she muttered, feeling a bit embarrassed by her mistake.

  Quickly opening the door, Bahamut found Vasiliki standing oher side, with the rest of the familia members gathered behiheir expressions a mix of curiosity and .

  ‘Ah, how could I have fotten,’ Bahamut thought, mentally chastising herself. Draco had entered her room to undergo his level up, a process that should have taken only a few minutes, but it had been over an hour, and the room had been cloaked in a veil of silence due to the sileng magic tool he had pced on the door.

  "What is that?" Vasiliki asked, her gaze drawn to the rge, bckish-red egg resting on a stack of pillows in the ter of the room.

  Although Vasiliki was curious about the egg, her eyes seemed to tell a different story.

  She rapidly sed the room with her eyes hoping for catch Drad Bahamut i.

  Bahamut could see the movement of Vasiliki's eyes, and she realized that the silly girl’s mind had likely jumped to a very different clusiarding the nature of Draco's exteay in the room.

  With their current ge iionship, Vasiliki robably worried that the two of them had been engaged in some sort of intimate activity.

  "Oh, that's Draco," Bahamut replied, deg to be upfront about the situation. There was no point in hiding what was happening, as the worst had already passed.

  "What?" Vasiliki excimed, her shock evident in her void the expressions of the other familia members who had gathered around the door.

  Cir, Michalis, Eleni, Nikoos, Dimitra, and Vasileios all rushed to the door, their curiosity piqued by Vasiliki's outburst.

  "Sigh, make sure you don't touch it. You don't want to kill your brother, right?" Bahamut said, stepping aside to allow the others to ehe room a a better look at the egg.

  "Whoa, what happened?" Vasileios asked, his eyes wide with wonder.

  Bahamut gave them a brief reting of the events, omitting the mruesome details of Draco's transformation, as she didn't want to arm them unnecessarily.

  "I wonder if I keep these," Vasiliki murmured, her gaze fixed on the discarded horns on the floor.

  "Well, you'll have to ask him when he emerges," Bahamut replied, gesturing towards the egg.

  "So, how long will he be like this?" Nikoos inquired, his brow furrowed with .

  "I don't know," Bahamut admitted, shaking her head.

  "Hey, no toug!" Eleni scolded, catg Cir and Michalis poking at the egg with curious fingers.

  "I guess the guild pns for the evening will be celled," Dimitra observed, her toinged with disappoi.

  "Yes," Bahamut firmed.

  "Anyway, you all shouldn't worry. When his transformation is finished, he will e out. For now, let's go have dinner – it's quite te already," Bahamut suggested, ushering the group out of the room and towards the dining area, hoping to alleviate their s and allow Draco the time he o plete his metamorphosis.