Chapter 44 - Visit To The Fairy Tree

Reiki was now leaving her house to start her journey to the Fairy Tree. She hadn't packed anything except a belt of daggers and the vial of blood; with the break-neck speed a fairy was able to fly at, she would be there in no time.

Without saying anything to Lancelot, she flew off through the east gate. Karu, however was right behind on an arion.

***

Minutes later and they both were far away from Tenshu, Reiki looked like an angel as she flew gracefully above the trees while Karu looked like a crude hunter.

"Hm? Someone's following me?" Reiki thought as she sensed something keeping up with her below.

She slowed down a bit and was about to land on a nearby tree when a ball of jade energy came at her, flapping her wings she moved to the left, dodging the ball cleanly.

"You're quite fast!" Karu revealed himself with a taunt.

Reiki peered through the miniscule number of trees with an infuriated expression when she noticed the man on the arion, giving off a strange killing intent.

"Who are you?!" Reiki shouted, keeping her guards up as she didn't know the level of hostility Karu possessed, but she would soon find out.

Karu scoffed before saying with disdain, "No point in saying that to a dead fairy!" before materialising another energy ball.

Seeing that this person was set on killing her, Reiki got into battle mode. The jade energy ball flew at her but once again she dodged; she wasted no time and activated her clairvoyance, her wings fluttered and released silver dust while runes covered her entire body.

"I won't go down without a fight!" She shouted, the runes becoming so numerous they began hiding her skin, they eventually began condensing in different areas until they resembled a suit of assassin's armor.

「Senrigan mōdo!」(Future Sight Mode)

Reiki's entire body was covered in the runic armor leaving only her eyes, which had gone a transparent yellow and her wings open. This was a transformation a fairy took; pushing their clairvoyant abilities to the limit by using the runes on themselves, a fairy would be able to see into the future, depending on their strength, the distance varied.

"Heh," Karu chuckled, "think that armor can-!"

Before Karu could finish, Reiki was behind him and a large gash was left on his cheek. He turned to see her holding two of her daggers in a backwards grip, with the silver dust surrounding them; The silver dust of a fairy helped them in the accuracy of the sight, hence using it on her daggers to ensure she wouldn't miss.

"Fairies were this powe-!" Karu tried to speak again when the same happened, this time leaving a slice on his neck.

"I can already see what you're about to say so be quiet!" Reiki ordered as she flapped her wings rigorously.

She glared at Karu and noticed the wounds left on him had completely healed! This surprised her, but she had no time to think as another energy mass was coming at her, this time a jade spear.

"Unknown energy, super regeneration. What is he?!" Reiki thought while dodging the spear, only to be greeted by a barrage of energy masses.

Using her top notch flying speed, she dodged all of them, only suffering minor nicks. The battle reached a standstill when she decided to examine Karu's body.

"That same jade-green energy signature!" She pondered as she examined his bloodstream.

Seeing that Reiki had stopped moving, Karu decided to take a head-on approach. Jumping from tree to tree, he reached her.

"Strengthen!" He shouted, activating one of the attributes of the scarib, thereby boosting his strength as he threw a punch.

Reiki reacted quick as lightning and severed his arm using three separate knife slashes, she then kicked him to the ground before flying down after.

"That thing in your chest, it holds your life-force." Reiki said with indifference.

Karu couldn't maneuver in midair and was about to activate another attribute but his words were slower than Reiki's blade; She pierced his scarib with tremendous accuracy and took his life in a single blow as the scarib split in two.

"I suppose I should take his body… but I won't." Reiki muttered as she hovered above Karu's impaled body, before flying off in the direction of the Fairy Tree once more.

***

Given Reiki's constant speed, her destination came in sight just half an hour later. The Fairy Tree was just as one expected- A colossal tree. From the outside it looked like an oversized cherry blossom tree, with a thick trunk and an abundance of leaves that made it impossible to see the top branches.

Reiki flew inside and the view changed; inside was a settlement of circular, wooden houses with one significantly larger and more extravagantly decorated in the centre. Fairies flew across the settlement with almost no one walking on the bridges that connected the houses below.

"Reiki? Reiki Kalen?!" A voice familiar to Reiki called.

Turning around, she saw a short, brown-haired fairy that looked heavily pregnant, instantly Reiki recognized her. They struck up a conversation.

"Mu?! You're pregnant?! Who'd you meet?" Reiki asked as she and her friend hovered while they spoke.

The fairy laughed, "I met a cute male nereid, hehe."

Incidentally, all fairies are female, only seeking out a male from other species to breed. The conversation led them to Reiki's reason for visit and she explained it.

"Well I'm sure the Fairy Queen already knows you're here, good luck." Mu said, ending the conversation.

***

Inside the Queen's Abode, as the fairies referred to it as. Reiki walked down quite a number of halls before she found the queen.

"Ah, right on time." The queen said.

The queen, named Shiva, was absolutely majestic; She was a stunning beauty with golden hair, a pert nose, thin lips and chiseled face. Her clairvoyance was always active which gave her eyes a vibrant gold, the ruby coloured runes formed crowns around the top of her head, neck and shoulders. Her four large, white wings swayed gently as the dust fluttered.

"Fairy Queen Shiva," Reiki said as she did a fairy's bow; hovering above the ground with legs together and wings spread apart while her head hung low and a hand across her chest.

"Be still, my child. I already know your need, present the sample." Shiva said with a subtle voice.

Reiki nodded before handing over the vial of blood, Shiva began analyzing instantly and after a minute, her expression changed from the royal smile to a frightened gaze.

"What is it, Fairy Queen?" Reiki asked, getting worried herself.

Shiva remained silent for a while before she stuttered, "T-This is the blood of a de-de-demon!"

Reiki respectfully asked what she meant and Shiva began explaining.

"About ten thousand years ago," Shiva began, "our kind and the other species used humans before they became dragon hosts as slaves, you already know of this. But there was another race we used, they were called demons.

They possessed a core called the scarib which we used to power many things, we and the others reared them as livestock until… until Minori informed my predecessor after he received dragon force that the demons too had become powerful and were hell bent on getting revenge on us all."

Reiki gasped and was about to comment when she was stopped by Shiva gently raising her hand, continuing.

"We all thought Minori had taken care of them but this blood means that they are still alive. It also means that our kind… and all others are in great danger."

This information was nothing like what Reiki expected, Urusla is apart of a race wanting revenge? she thought, This would explain that man trying to kill me earlier.

"I know what you are thinking," Shiva said, interrupting Reiki's chain of thought, "Do not leave, you will be killed if you do. Please stay here for some time."

Reiki was surprised by her queen's words but knowing that her future sight was one hundred percent accurate, she decided to heed the warnings.

***

Somewhere in the eastern outskirts of Endolis, Karu's body was being devoured by a beast bearing resemblance to a tiger. The beast finished it's meal leaving nothing but bones before something dramatic occurred; jade-green spikes began protruding from it's body while it's eyes grew bright red. It had been changed into a demon beast!

***

Weeks passed and Reiki still hadn't left the Fairy Tree. Urusla noticed this and thought that Karu had taken care of his business, now she was at ease…for now.