Chapter 69 - Dumb Idea

Takumi's creepy smile only grew wider as he reviewed the plan forming in his mind.

He quickly sat in the lotus position on the rug below him then turned his attention to the box of cultivation resources. Pouring every single crystal into his interlocked palms, he shut his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Kage asked, feeling an unexplained tinge of worry.

Takumi didn't answer, he concentrated on the crystals in his palms and took slow, deep breaths. He finally felt a spiritual connection with the crystals.

"I don't think this is a good idea, honey." Mizuko warned, she was also ignored.

"I agree, remember those things are still in the testing phases," repeated Daichi only to receive the same answer.

Slowly but surely, the connection with the crystals grew stronger. Until they eventually gave off the same feeling of having one pressed against his forehead. He began absorbing the dragon force from the crystals.

Inside the Dragon Realm, all three dragons took worried glances at each other as they felt the state of Takumi's body and spirit.

A flood of raw dragon force coursed through Takumi's body, the ki inside his breath chamber was beginning to act as if it was getting overrun by this abundance of energy that shouldn't belong there.

Takumi gritted his teeth as a slight feeling of pain hit him. But he pulled through, his yearning for strength wasn't motivated by the norms, such as being able to slaughter all enemies or protect those one loved. No, Takumi's reason for getting stronger came from one thing: his narcissism, for without it, he feared he would be nothing.

The crystals slowly began disintegrating, they numbered nearing the hundreds so it wasn't noticeable.

The dragon force rapidly overpowered the ki. Forcing the energies to mix, producing dragon ki, the pain intensified but Takumi pressed on.

To one looking upon him, they would be able to feel the suffocating energy radiating from his body. His energy levels slowly rose but his cultivation levels did not, he was too focused on absorbing the energy that he unconsciously cast aside the thought of directing the energy to it's respective elements.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye and only a meagre number of crystals remained. And in the next couple of seconds, they all vanished, only replaced by a hill of pink dust in Takumi's palms.

"Haaahhhh…" Releasing a sigh of satisfaction, Takumi swung his hand dispersing the dust.

"See that wasn't so ba- GRK!-"

Takumi clutched his abdomen as a wave of pain assaulted his body. It felt as if his entire body was burning intensely, the pain was so immense he lost his footing immediately, dropping to his knees.

"Kah! Kah!" A fit of coughs came in accompanied by drops of blood with every hack.

"This is bad," Kage deduced, "The dragon force is tearing him apart since it wasn't attributed, and he can't do it since he's in this state. Daichi, Mizuko, call Lancelot and and any water dragon host, NOW!"

Without any arguments. The two dragon emperors did as they were told.

***

Aiko who was coincidentally close to Takumi's house on her way to Luna was contacted first.

"Dear," Mizuko tapped into Aiko's conciousness, "Takumi's in danger, you need to get to him now!"

Aiko almost tripped when she heard this and was about to ask for details when Mizuko interrupted.

"There's no time, go now!"

***

After relaying the message to Lancelot. He and Aiko made their way to Takumi's house in a matter of seconds.

Kicking his door open, they finally saw why the dragons sounded so worried. Takumi laid flat on the ground letting out weak coughs as blood ran down his cheeks.

"Don't freeze up now," Kage said, with the other two dragons repeating his words, "Do exactly as I say and he'll be alright."

Aiko and Lancelot nodded with determined expressions on their faces as they kneeled next to him, ready to receive instructions.

"Now, both of you place your hands on his chest." Kage directed, which they followed, "Good, Now try to feel the dragon force running through him and slowly use your own dragon force to attribute it to your respective elements. I'll be busy doing my best to take care of the moon element."

After quickly processing the orders they proceeded to lay their palms on Takumi's chest. They closed their eyes and took deep breaths for concentration before they felt the connection with the energy running rampant inside Takumi's breath chamber.

Meanwhile, Kage was having quite a difficult time taking care of the dragon force. With him not being in physical form he was taking the risk of damaging his spirit.

Lancelot was the first to covert the raw dragon force to the earth element. A significant fraction of the energy in Takumi's body had now changed to a yellow color, Lancelot sensed the change and slowly moved his hand down from the chest to the stomach, where the energy settled calmly.

Aiko finally got the hang of it and did the same, the water dragon force settled in its respective core and ceased damaging Takumi's body.

She and Lancelot flopped down breathing heavily. That process to more out of them than expected, but now, with no connection with Kage, all they could do was wait with baited breath.

However, they wouldn't have to wait for long. They had managed to attribute most of the raw dragon force, greatly relieving Kage of the hardest part of the job.

Over half an hour was taken to attribute the dragon force to earth and water. And after a few extra minutes, Kage managed to do the same, which he relayed to Lancelot and Aiko.

Breathing a sigh of relief, they turned their attention to Takumi, who now looked to be in no more pain as his body rested.