Chapter 84 - Takumi!!!… Misao!!!

[Earth Dragon | Fourth Scale: Shielding Mountain]

"Stay behind me! Only Misao and I have a chance at beating her!" Takumi shouted at the group, stabbing his blade into the ground as he activated his protection scale.

Pumping his dragon force into the ground, Takumi put his all into protecting those he cared for. Even Misao was genuinely impressed when four, sturdy-looking walls of earth erected themselves before the group.

"Oh?" Seeing the carved dragon in the earth wall, Urusla stopped to admire it… before beginning to give it a pummeling.

Hoping that may have bought them some time, Takumi turned to Misao with an outstretched hand. With a nod, she clutched it and their dragon force connected, allowing them to hear each dragon's voice.

"What should we do?" Takumi asked mentally.

An image of the six Dragon Emperors appeared in their minds, they all sat in a circle looking at each other in horror. Of course, Kage and Haruka looked calmer than the rest.

"This is what you two were summoned here for…" Haruka said, her smart words not hiding her fear, "Lose this battle… and the world will be plunged into an age of darkness."

The two glanced at each other with mixed feelings of fear and determination. Kage was about to speak when…

*SMASH!~*

An earth wall shattered.

"There's no time to waste…" the moon dragon said, "My advice is… go all out. Holding back even a little may significantly decrease your chances, and remember your coordination. Now go!"

After receiving similar words from the other Dragon Emperors, the force link ended and they were brought back to reality. They came back just in time to see another wall smashed out, followed by another booming fit of laughter.

By now Misao was already fuming with anger. The walls covered quite a wide area but judging from Urusla's new power, she could probably leap over them in a single bound. This could only mean one thing…

"She's toying with us…"

It was pretty obvious, this fact. It took more than five punches for Urusla to break a single wall, compared to there last fight where Urusla showed already monstrous power, there was no way her current act would pass.

"Grrrr!" Misao gripped her scythe, "QUIT TOYING WITH US, URUSLA!"

The barrage of punches stopped after that shout. Silence prevailed until Urusla broke it with her giggle.

Immediately after… the remaining walls were decimated. It was unknown whether they were destroyed by a punch or and energy blast, but millions of rock particles came flying at the group.

While the rest of the team covered their eyes from the debris, Takumi and Misao stood strong. The energy they had long begun to circulate around their bodies protected them from such minor damage.

"Hah!" The two wasted no time, as soon as Urusla came into their sights, they attacked.

*Clang!~*

Sword and scythe connected with Urusla's arm. Vibrations passed through their bodies as the Demon Queen's skin was comparable to metal.

The two had to quickly evade as Urusla released a downward punch. The black lightning around her charred the ground where her knuckles landed, creating another crater.

「Moeru Nami!」 (Fireball!)

Misao shot off an elemental attack in mid air. The burning ball of flame ripped through the winds going straight for Urusla's head, a feeling of hope welled up in them from the possibility of an attack landing but that soon changed.

A long, pink piece of flesh wrapped around the fireball before pulling into the a deep abyss disguised as Urusla's mouth!

Unexpected of Urusla, instead of swallowing the nourishing energy… she regurgitated it. With tremendous force, a green ball of flame of increased power was returned to Takumi and Misao.

"Gahh!!" The fireball singed their skin as they rolled across the ground.

The rest of the group watched in horror. Fairy Queen Shiva's usually calm expression was no where to be seen as her wings shivered.

Ichika, however, was devastated, "I can't just stand here and watch!!"

Before anyone could even stop her, she ran out onto the battlefield. Unsheathing her katana and equipping her valykrie armor, she prepared herself to lend any aid she could.

"Ufufufu. New playmate?" Urusla teased as she materialized jade claws on her fingers, pouncing on Ichika.

Takumi saw this and his heart skipped a beat, "Ichika! No!" He shouted as he reached deep within for some speed.

「Rapiddosutorīmu!」 (Rapid Stream!)

That manifested itself as a speed technique of the water dragon force. Takumi sprinted in front of Ichika, leaving a beautiful trail of water in his wake as he managed to protect her.

*Slash!~*

Urusla didn't care if it was the wrong target. She sliced across anyway, leaving four deep gashes in Takumi's stomach. He only let out a wince as he slashed diagonally with his odachi, causing Urusla to block… giving him the opportunity to kick her away into the range of Misao.

"Takumi! You're hurt! Let me help!" Ichika was just seconds away from tears as she saw the bloody claw mark in Takumi's stomach.

Takumi, although touched, knew this was no time to listen to his emotions and let Ichika fight. He slapped away her hand which had just covered his wound in a layer of ice, staring into her eyes as he held her shoulder.

"I SAID STAY BACK!" The anger in his voice startled Ichika, "If there's anyone I truly want to protect… it's you… NOW GO BACK!"

Those words brought out the tears Ichika had been desperately trying to hold back. She walked away slowly, only stopping briefly to look at Takumi.

"…I'll come back alive… I promise!"

With those words, Ichika sniffled before running back to join the rest of the group. Takumi returned to the battlefield where Misao had just barely managed to hold Urusla off.

"Damn you… abandoning your teammate for pussy…" A large gash was seen going down the length of her arm.

Takumi only chuckled before joining the fray. He and Misao released countless blade strikes of their varying elements at Urusla.

Those slashes that weren't dodged only bounced off her skin, leaving nothing but steam. Urusla countered by throwing out a double punch, one so fast that it immediately made contact with their faces, sending them flying back once more.

"Ptoo!" Misao spat out a bloody tooth, "Takumi… this is our last chance! Embodiment scale is the only option I can think of right now!"

Takumi, after wiping blood from his nose, nodded before releasing his energy. Misao's triple casted embodiment scale slowly awakened as Takumi did the same.

[Lunar Embodiment] [Aquatic Embodiment] and [Earthen Embodiment] were all casted simultaneously. Creating an array of energy around him.

Streams of water cascaded down his arms, an earth suit of armor formed over his vital areas and two mini-moons formed on either shoulder.

With the addition of their weapons, similar arrays of energy surrounded them too. They now had an aura comparable to Urusla's although still less.

"One attack!!" Misao shouted before taking a deep breath.

With a reverberating battle cry, the two charged at Urusla. Their weapons beamed violently with energy as they jumped, ready to cut the Demon Queen down.

"MOON'S BLADE!!"

"SUN'S SICKLE!!"

All hope seemed to be placed on this final attack. As the purple and gold light blocked out the natural time of day, everyone swore this would be what was needed to end this. That was until…

Everything stopped.

The energy disappeared, the weapons fell with a loud clank and a large cloud of dust left the rest of the group blinded.

"HAHAHA!" Urusla's booming laughter stirred up the winds, blowing away the cloud and revealing a harrowing sight.

Takumi and Misao were held up in midair. Not by their necks, but by Urusla's hands which had burrowed themselves deep in the two's chests. They vomitted blood profusely as the life left their bodies in seconds.