#174 Final Preparations

*RUMBLE* The ground began to shake violently and Kiyomi quickly arrived near Taeko and Mear who still had dumbfounded expression while looking at the volcano.

Kiyomi started pulling Taeko's sleeve with her beak which finally woke her up.

"Hm? Do you want us to leave? But what about Akashi?!" Taeko exclaimed when she felt Kiyomi's intentions.

"If she wants us to leave that means that Akashi's life isn't in danger plus there isn't anything we can do. He is the one who can control flames, we are just humans in front of active volcano!" Mera also recovered and explained while jumping on Kiyomi's back and extending her hand towards Taeko.

Taeko gritted her teeth and grabbed Mera's hand and got up on Kiyomi's back before they took off, leaving all unimportant things in the camp.

When they were safe distance above the island, the volcano finally erupted as surges of lava started spewing everywhere and all Danger Beasts started to run towards the edge of the island.

"!!! Where is he?" Taeko kept attentively observing everything happening not to miss a single detail.

"?! There!" Mera pointed over Taeko's shoulder towards the figure that just burst out from the volcano along the lava.

Kiyomi quickly flew down to catch Akashi and the girls helped by catching him.

They put him down on their thighs, Mera wasn't really thinking about those things in such dangerous situations and just let Akashi rest on her thighs. Taeko actually glared at her for a split second but she quickly turned to Akashi to check on him.

*cough* *Huff* *huff* "haha" Akashi was out of the breath but he still found the strength to laugh a bit.

"? Where did those clothes came from?" Only now Mera noticed that Akashi was actually wearing strange clothes that completely didn't suit his style of clothing he always wore. He was currently wearing a big, open, long-sleeved black shirt, exposing his bare chest. Then he was wearing dark blue pants, both of the clothes were tried together by a pure crimson belt.

Taeko glanced at Mera with a strange look for questioning his clothes instead of making sure he is alright.

"Akashi, are you alright?" Taeko asked gently as she put her hand behind his head to support it and with the other hand, she kept caressing his cheek.

"Never been better, sorry for worrying you, you too Mera" Akashi said while looking at Taeko before he also glanced at Mera with a teasing smile.

"Hmph, if you are fine then everything is alright." Mera said and threw her head to the side, avoiding eye contact with him.

However, Akashi completely ignored her words as he looked in front of him, at the sky.

Special Class: Kagutsuchi (+60 Cha, +30 Int, +20 Const, +10 Str, +10 Agi) [INACTIVE]

[Strength: 47 (95)]

[Agility: 50 (96)]

[Intelligence: 50 (89)]

[Constitution: 48 (88)]

[Charisma: 40 (106)]

Free Stat points: 18

[Health: 159/1000]

[Energy: 0/2500]

'If I already had confidence in winning without training and by expecting a big improvement from Esdeath, right now I can say that I will truly let her feel how it feels to be dominated!' Akashi thought with a wide smile while looking at the INACTIVE status of his new Special Class.

'He looks completely the same as before if I don't count his clothes...so why does he feel so different?! Why does it feel like I want to respect him even more? What the hell is this?!' Mera thought while frowning, she was completely confused by this huge change in Akashi's presence.

"Kiyomi, let's fly back" Akashi muttered in low voice before closing his eyes out of the exhaustion. The only thing that was keeping him awake was adrenaline but that already disappeared under Taeko's gently caressing of his cheek.

"*sigh* Looks like he is fine" Taeko sighed in relief before pulling Akashi's head to her ample chest with closed eyes.

After seeing this, even Mera who was playing to be indifferent couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Be careful not to suffocate him in his sleep" Mera said with a teasing smile and Taeko quickly put him back down on her thighs with a faint blush on her face while folding her arms right under her breasts.

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When Akashi woke up, he noticed that he was already lying on the bed in his room in the Capital.

He could hear low voices behind the door talking, he immediately recognized them as Taeko and his parents to which he began holding his head with an already tired expression just from what was about to happen when they get to know he is awake.

Coincidentally after enjoying 5 minutes of lazily lying in the bed, his parents and Taeko walked in, noticing that he is finally awake.

"Akashi!" All of them exclaimed as Taeko run to his bed.

"Yo" Akashi said while holding up his hand in greeting. His father chuckled but his mother actually got a bit mad.

"Don't "yo" me!" This was the first sentence he heard before Akashi turned off his mind to ignore the rest of her ranting.

"-understood?" Finally, his mother ended and asked something he completely ignored.

"Yes, I love you" Akashi said with an innocent smile and his mother actually couldn't help but gently smile at him which completely shocked Taeko and Akashi's father.

'Didn't he completely ignore her?!' Jun thought since it was more than evident from Akashi's expression but when he said those words, his mother completely turned over a new leaf.

'Akashi is so close to his parents? It's actually nice to see this...' Taeko thought with a slightly sad smile since she was an orphan and didn't even remember her parents.

"Anyway, is this your girlfriend?!" Akashi's mother, Ember, questioned with a frown while putting her hands on her hips.

'*sigh* Let's get over this quickly' Akashi thought and got up from his bed, standing next to Taeko.

"Yes!" Akashi replied without any hesitation as he wrapped his arms around Taeko's waist and pulled her towards him. This act caught her off-guard a bit as a faint blush appeared on her face but she still wrapped her arm around Akashi to show that it's the truth.

"Hmm! Why the hell hadn't you told me about little Taeko sooner?! We already had a nice talk with each other and I know her origin, I would have never cared about her origin!" Ember questioned with an upset expression.

'Oh my god...' Akashi actually rolled his eyes which made his mother narrow her eyes.

"It was because I always had something in my mind. I completely forgot about it but I planned to tell you about it sooner or later." Akashi replied with a helpless smile as he kept hugging Taeko.

"*sigh* Alright...What about that nice woman who also arrived with you?" Ember asked with narrowed eyes and a sly smile.

"? Oh, you mean Mera...She is...um, friend?" Akashi replied a bit awkwardly since their relationship should be just strictly professional but in truth, it was quite complicated with everything that happened so he just called her a friend

His parents wanted to ask him more but Akashi quickly explained that he has to be somewhere in 1 day so it would be better if he could leave right now. They were quite dissatisfied by him leaving right after arriving but they simply let him do whatever he wants since he is an adult.

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"Hey, are you sure you want to go with me and Taeko? She might even attack you." Akashi asked while giving Mera a weird look.

"Please...what happened between me and Esdeath was a long time ago. I bet she doesn't care about that anymore. Plus I want to see this battle of yours, I even prepared some things just in case the battle will get too intense." Mera said with a smile while showing me a little flask filled with light blue liquid.

"Fine" Akashi nodded his head since he had no real reason to refuse and he didn't care as long as she won't intervene.

'I still have 2 more people I can take with me...Should I take Ichika and Kurome? Nah, Ichika is too busy with the kids and it seems like she is really enjoying playing their foster mother. Then I guess Kurome and Poney...' Akashi thought and told Mera and Taeko to wait for him for a bit. He went to ask both Kurome and Poney if they want to join him and they enthusiastically agreed although Poney was still acting a bit awkward, she still wanted to come with him.

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----A few thousands of kilometers away from the Capital, at the enormous plains----

Esdeath was the first to come to this place and she also eradicated all Danger Beasts living in these plains filled with small hills and natural stone pillars erected from the ground...She was currently sitting on the big ice sculpture of the Danger Beast with a bored expression while supporting her head with her hand.

'Hm? He is finally here!' Esdeath raised her head when she noticed some people approaching her location and her eyes shined in light blue color and an excited smile appeared on her face when she saw Akashi.

"Sorry if I am a bit late" Akashi apologized with a smile when he arrived close enough to talk.

"You aren't late, I was here just too early. Anyway, I don't mind the audience but...What the hell is she doing here?!" Esdeath replied and then narrowed her eyes while pointing at Mera who was standing next to Akashi.

'Hm? This expression...it's not a hate pointed towards me because of what I have done in the past but something else...Let's try something!' Mera immediately released a sly smile as he was touching her lower lip with her index finger when she noticed Esdeath's expression.

"What do you mean Esdeath? Am I not allowed to be here to watch my future husband's battle?" Mera asked while giving Esdeath a weird look as she wrapped both of her arms around Akashi, testing her head on his shoulder.

"?!" Both Taeko and Esdeath glared at her while Esdeath began releasing her cold aura around her.

"Wha-?!" While Poney and Kurome were completely confused by these events. They were already aware of who those two are and who Taeko specifically is, that's why they were confused by Mera's act that truly looked believable.

Only Akashi alone had blank expression on his face as he was being hugged by Mera.

'Now that I think about it...why are there only women around me? No, for real, what is this? Do I really have no male friends? Well, I talked quite a lot with Daniel but that's all...' Akashi began contemplating what he has done wrong in his life while tension between Mera, Esdeath and Taeko began to rise.

Esdeath also noticed Taeko's competitiveness so she looked at her as if she was daring her to introduce herself.

"I am Taeko of Oarburgh and also Akashi's wife-to-be" Taeko said without any hesitation while staring into Esdeath's cold blue eyes without any fear. When Taeko said this, Mera finally stopped hugging Akashi as she pouted muttering something along the lines "You are no fun"

"I see, so she was just fooling around..." Esdeath muttered and began observing Taeko from head to toe.

"Alright, enough, are you ready Esdeath?" Akashi stopped them from doing anything before their battle and then he asked with a serious expression.

"More than ever before..." Esdeath replied with a wide smile in anticipation.

"Good...Please go very far away from here." Akashi turned to the girls that came here with him and ordered them to keep their distance.

They wished him good luck while hopping onto Kiyomi's back and she took them to a distant hill from where they could watch the entire battle from a relatively safe distance.