Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

Chapter 413: Never Felt Like That Before

"If that's what I need to do to regain your trust, then I should do it. Look closely, Raphael. Behold, my true form."

Everybody would be hesitant to expose their true selves, but Iris did not have a second thought, which meant that her feelings for me were probably genuine.

After I told Iris to reveal her real identity, her body grew so bright that it was blinding. I had to look away and cover my eyes, but my radar was in full operation to sense any of her actions.  Her body was fully covered in light, which meant that she was undergoing a transformation. From what I have observed so far, the brighter and bigger the light, the bigger the transformation.

Since hers was more than like Czarina's, her transformation would be going to be big, really big.

"You better take your distance, Raphael."

"Right."

Taking her words, I used Warp to teleport myself from her. A hundred meters should probably be a safe distance. From here, the blinding lights kept increasing their luminous intensity until they covered most of my vision.

A big, instantaneous transformation should be releasing a lot of energy, as it was something akin to a nuclear fusion where the body collected mana particles from the air to form a new mass. However, I had seen Czarina and Inari transform many times, but they had not caused a nuke so far.

This is a magical world, so some principles of physics don't actually work. Also, mana was structurally different from atoms or other subatomic particles, so it usually did not follow physics.

Like all transformations, Iris's body started to morph at a rapid pace. It was not something grotesque like painfully growing bones and flesh; it was that her body parts were gaining opacity from the head to the tip, and then they became tangible.

In a matter of seconds, her huge transformation came to an end, and once the lights subsided, I looked back, and her true form finally unfolded before my eyes. Upon laying my eyes on her again, my eyes widened not out of terror but in awe.

In front of me was the true form of Iris. The first thing that entered my mind was that her size had exponentially increased. In addition, not a single human feature could be seen on her. To be specific, a huge dragonlike being was standing before me.

"Iris... you... you are actually a dragon?"

"YES, RAPHAEL. THIS IS MY TRUE FORM."

Even in her current form, Iris could still use her voice to talk to me. But it was not her usual feminine, gentle voice; rather, it was like I was hearing multiple pitches of voices overlapping one another. It was different from Czarina's dragon form's voice, which was deep and kind of monstrous.

In terms of appearance, her dragon form was quite different from that of typical western dragons. Her body was so long and slim that she was more like a serpent than a dragon.

Her body was covered with obviously tough scales that glistened with a dark fuchsia hue. Also, the tip of her tail had multicolored feathers on it.

Notably, she was actually long, probably around two hundred meters from the snout to the tip of her tail, making her longer than Czarina's. But due to the difference in their body types, Czarina seemed to be more massive despite being only half of Iris's length.

Iris's head was different from Czarina's either. The head was somewhat a combination of dragonic and avian, with a pair of horns like other dragons. If I were to compare it to modern culture, her head was similar to the King of the Skies of the Monstervere. Her eyes had the same turquoise hue as her human form, but they had typical slit irises of the darker shade.

Apparently, Iris's dragon form was legless, but she had three pairs of multicolored feathered wings on her assumed shoulder areas. Each wing was measured at around fifty meters in length, so she had approximately a hundred meters of wingspan.

She was like that of an Amphitere, but amphiteres only had a pair of bat wings. I guessed that she was like the final evolution of wyrm dragons or something. Now that I thought about it, it probably made sense since she had one as a pet that she sent to test me.

Even though her true form was a dragon...

"NOW THAT YOU HAVE SEEN IT, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME, RAPHAEL."

"Iris... you are so majestic! I don't want to compare, but I think that yours is more beautiful than Czarina's dragon form."

"REALLY? YOU THINK SO? YOU DON'T SEE ME AS A MONSTER?"

"I really meant it, Iris. If I see you as a monster, I should have run away or even attacked you. Besides, if that were the case, I would not have engaged in a romantic relationship with my contracted monsters."

"RAPHAEL..."

When she uttered my name, I could sense the overflowing emotions running through her words. She sounded like she was overwhelmed by my acceptance. It was actually the first time I saw her this emotional.

"If it's you, Iris, I would love you no matter who or what you are. All the time I spent with you, whether they were your facade or your genuine actions, I know that you are caring for me deep inside. You have shown me the real you. That alone already made me believe that you truly loved me, and you definitely deserve to have your feelings reciprocated."

"RAPHAEL... THANK YOU SO MUCH."

After that, Iris gently moved her head in front of me before I put my hands on her snout and caressed it. As I did, I could not help but press my forehead on her snout for additional affection.

A moment later, Iris's body shone again, and then I could not feel her scales. After a few seconds, Iris turned back to her human form again, and this time, her arms were now wrapping around my body, and so did I.

"I never felt so happy in my entire life. Thank you for accepting who I am, Raphael. I love you."

"I love you, too, Iris. Let's seal our love with a kiss."

After a long time, I finally overlapped my lips with hers for the first time.