Chapter 21- Diabolical

Aegis and Lancelot immediately abandoned their game and hurried to observe the situation, running out the village a few yards where the body was reportedly located; the stench of rotting flesh and blood hit them before they even reached the area.

Accompanied by the guard who made the report, they reached the scene of the crime; the sight was so grotesque it made Aegis throw up in her mouth a little. The male body had a mist dragon mark (A derived element of the wind force) on the left arm which signified that he tried to fight his way out and failed since when a dragon host died when using a dragon mark it would be stained there in death; the other side of the body had blue jade crystals protruding from all over the body and a long, irregular shaped horn in the head. The body had wounds not of outside interference but from what seemed like internal explosions, the dried up blood had seeped through the countless cracks and holes all over his body, the eyes weren't even closed and were partially gouged out; the death seemed brutal.

Lancelot finally got over the trauma of seeing one of his fellow countrymen dead in such a repugnant manner, he finally reached for the letter that was strapped to the neck. Aegis soon got over the shock as well and watched as her father got ready to read the letter, removing it from the blood stained enveloped held a letter which read:

~My dearest, Lancelot

Give me my daughter and no more of your beloved townspeople will end up like this, try anything stupid and I'll do much worse.

Demonically, Urusla~

Aegis noticed her father's frozen expression of shock as he fell to his knees and took the letter, reading it put her in a state of fear for her life and the lives of those she cared about, the cruelty of her mother's diabolical request brought a flood of tears to her eyes. She dropped the letter and ran straight to the main building.

"Sir? What's our next move?," the guard gently shook Lancelot out of his state of shock as she helped him off the ground, his mind was for the first time in a long while unsure of what to do next; he took up his comrade's body and did a quick cremation after which he would lock himself in his quarters in attempt to hatch a plan stop this madness.

***

"Alright, let's get into it." Arata took a seat on a flat rock as he began to instruct his pupil in the way of ki release; the technique was simple now that the breath points were opened and functional, all that he needed to do now was learn how to release the ki and then he could move on to using it in combat.

Arata explained that the process of ki release was the easiest part of learning the manipulation technique, he elaborated by adding that Takumi would first need to release a wave of ki from all of the breath points so that ki on the outside and inside of the body would be balanced; after that is accomplished the next step is to concentrate the ki from both sides on a specific area then eject it onto the target.

Takumi asked for an example which Arata was glad to give, he rose from his dusty seat and took off the top piece of his clothes; he took a deep breath as he slid his right leg a far distance behind his back and took a gracefully wide stance, his large torso jolted as he let out the breath in a sharp wind.

He slowly released his ki of the subtle nature, forming a bright yellow aura around his body in order for Takumi to catch every single step, "I'll show you in two different strikes so watch keenly," Arata brought the back leg in front of him then lifted it into the air and after focusing the ki on it, he brought it down with great force and smashed into the ground of the cliff; a large slab of rock was broken out and flew into the air which was then smashed into pieces after Arata focused his ki on his fist.

The amazement showed boldly on Takumi's face as he witnessed the dust and rubble falling like rain and due to his knack for visual learning, he caught on instantly. Arata once again took a seat as he watched the student try to master the technique.

***

Luna whistled cheerfully kicking her feet as she sat on top of one of the buildings in the village, the area felt nothing like a pocket dimension but more like another world, everything was as it would be on the outside but more tranquil, "why'd I even leave here? It's so peaceful," she thought as she took a long breath of air.

Looking out into the distance she could see Ichika laying flat on her back on the verandah of a house holding Minori's notes staring at them with a melancholy glare, she seemed very deep in thought, most likely from the unpleasant information it held.

Luna jumped off the roof in an attempt to cheer Ichika up, she ran over to the house she was in and after scaling the low railing, landed on top of her, "don't look so down, get up, let's play!"

Ichika groaned, dropping the book on her face and telling Luna to leave her alone but she wouldn't give up as she grabbed the book and took off, she playfully taunted Ichika who had no choice but to run after her.

Luna had a lot of speed for her small size but she still couldn't outrun Ichika, who had changed back into a cat; as they ran around the village, they knocked over many belongings of the residents until finally they both gave up and returned to where the chase begun.

Laughing loudly they sat on the railing of the house, Luna felt pleased that she managed to bring the laughter back on the face of the usually playful Ichika, she returned the book and comforted her unsettled thoughts.

The two had a good laugh as they made jokes on random topics, they enjoyed each other's company, their friendship which spanned over many years was full of fun times that they gladly reminisced on. Their conversation went on for hours until they eventually began making jokes about Takumi and his first encounters with Ichika.

The topic of Takumi brought back not only hilarious memories but one specific memory which planted a seed of doubt in Ichika's heart, "Hey Luna… why were you naked in Takumi's bed the other day?" this question didn't shock Luna, since she was very much used to Ichika being oblivious to sexual matters and this gave her the opportunity to play some mind games, as she enjoyed doing.

She took up the small Ichika on her shoulder and whispered in her pointed ear that she and Takumi had sex; the confused Ichika had no idea what Luna spoke of and unfortunately for her, she asked what it was.

"Well," Luna's voice went abnormally low, "It's when a man puts a long thing between your legs th…" Ichika stopped the deep sexual explanation with a shout of surprise after jumping from her shoulder, she was certain that such a thing couldn't be possible.

A roaring laughter exploded from Luna's voice as she clutched her stomach seeing Ichika's priceless expression of embarrassment, the excessive chuckling grew even louder until Luna completely lost her balance, falling off the rail in a tumble.

"…if…you don't…believe me…grab…a book…and find…out!" Luna tried her very best to speak clearly as her eyes watered with laughter, Ichika pouted with twitching whiskers, she watched the amusement on Luna's face at her expense and decided to do her own research, she ran off on all fours leaving Luna there to die of laughter.

***

Urusla sat on her throne with legs crossed at the knees braiding her hair as she hummed a dark tune; A wide, sinister smile went from ear to ear as she thought of her major role in the resurrection of Kotsukuo.

The final braid was twisted when someone knocked on the throne room's door, Urusla granted permission of entry which revealed a thin built male demon coming to deliver a message, "My queen," he bowed in respect as he portrayed the news, "come quickly, the labs have had a breakthrough,"

She got up quickly and commanded that she be taken there post haste. They walked briskly down two halls which brought them to a large room that resembled a modern laboratory, the servant led Urusla to a large capsule-shaped containment unit filled with a jelly liquid and held a nude woman unconscious inside, "we've taken care of the issue of the dragon emperor's connection to dragon hosts and also upped the dosage of demon blood ma'am, but we've yet to test it in the field."

Urusla walked closer to the capsule and observed the woman, a long black crystal horn protruded from the left side of her head and glowing green veins pumped through her skin, she was a pure dragon host of the water element; Urusla was absolutely pleased to see such promising results and began to laugh in a wicked cackle, "We'll test her out in a month's time."

As she walked away, the woman's body shook and her eyes, with a bright green iris surrounded by a cracking dark shaded sclera opened.

*Blink*