THE MEETING

The dragon flew around, roaring and firing beams of energy indiscriminately. Kojo used Spatial magic to absorb the blasts into petals, redirecting them at it. Kojo looked down. Some of the dragon's spawn had made their way into the city. Sharone and the others, however, made quick work of them, tearing them apart before they could do more damage. Rey aided the city guards to direct the people away from danger. Even from all the way up, Kojo noticed long, silky blue hair and Billiam's unmistakable shouts as he hid behind a carriage.

"(That's not very princelike.)"

"Pushover."

The dragon began to flail its tail to shake him off. Kojo ran electricity through the thread, electrocuting the dragon. The dragon kicked Kojo off, sending him flying into a building. It looked down at the fleeing people. A girl wandered around, lost among the fleeing civilians.

"Mommy! Mommy, where are you?" she said with tears in her eyes. The dragon landed and looked down at her. It charged up, preparing to fire.

"Hyper Thought."

Time slowed.

Kojo appeared in front of the dragon.

With his hyper thought, his perception was heightened, so while he was moving super fast, he perceived the world as moving slowly. He charged up his fist and threw a punch, stopping a few centimeters from the dragon's throat. He then went around it, attacking it with poison. He then moved behind and grabbed its tail, throwing it over his head. He made several magic circles at a calculated distance away. He turned to the girl. He smiled, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"Okay, let's find your mom," Kojo said, carrying her. He saw a woman struggling to come forward but was being stopped by some soldiers.

"Yeah, that's probably her," he said, taking the girl to her mother.

In real time, the dragon was blasted into the ground as Kojo's spells activated.

The crowd looked on in bewilderment, unsure of what had just happened.

Kojo walked toward the downed beast. It got up and roared.

"This is dragging on too much," he said, busting his knuckles.

"(And please try to minimize collateral damage. The city's in bad shape as it is.)"

"I'll be careful," Kojo said, shooting a bullet of compressed air at the dragon. It dodged, and a building got blown away.

"Hehe, oops."

Sysia sighed.

Kojo flew into the air in a cloud, and the dragon flew after him. Kojo flew above the clouds and dodged as the dragon tried to bite him. He moved around it, extending one of his threads. He froze it and ran electricity through it, swinging around it and winding it while hitting it with wind and fire combos midair. The dragon twisted and turned, trying to catch him while flying above the clouds. Kojo noticed that the atmosphere had begun to thin.

"(It's trying to starve you of oxygen.)"

Kojo ran on the dragon's back toward its head and wrapped the whip around its mouth like a rein, trying to control its direction, but the dragon caught the whip and pulled it off. Kojo increased the electricity output, but it did a spin, throwing him upward and opened its mouth to swallow him. He made a cloud and used it to push himself down, causing a shockwave, and summoned Caliburn at that exact moment he severed, dodging its jaws and cutting its wing. It knocked him away with its tail and fired an energy beam indiscriminately. Kojo propelled himself using wind and held on to the dragon's back.

Kojo looked down and saw the outline of the Capitol below as they fell.

"Wow, it really does look like a diamond from way up here."

"(That's a terrible idea.)"

"Got a better one?" Kojo asked. Sysia was silent.

"You better not die, or I'll kill you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said, showering the dragon with a rain of ice spikes which pierced its skin.

Sharone killed the last of the monsters. She looked up and saw two figures falling through the clouds.

The dragon aimed at him as he fell and charged up a beam and aimed at Kojo.

"I have to dodge and let the city take the damage, or take the hit. Then there's option three." He used the wind to push himself upward while swinging his sword, slashing the dragon in the throat. The dragon choked as the energy charged out of control.

"Seal."

Kojo made a barrier around the dragon. It exploded, clearing the clouds above the city and the neighboring area. The corpse fell to the ground.

"Mimic: Wings."

Leathery wings appeared on Kojo's back, then burst into purple flames. Silver feathers grew from them, and Kojo caught himself in midair.

The people looked at him. As he floated above them, his silver wings gleaming in the sunlight.

"It's an angel," a woman said.

"Hmm. Not too bad. Thanks, Sysia."

"(Hmmph.)"

He landed on the ground, and the wings disappeared.

Billiam stepped forward.

"You imbecile! Look at the damage you've caused!" he yelled. "And look at the number of people who've gotten hurt. You're supposed to be a hero, but your recklessness has caused this much damage, and people have gotten hurt."

The people began to murmur.

"(I see what he's doing. He's trying to use his words to sway the people into blaming you.)"

"That bastard," Kojo thought, clenching his fist.

"Hey, don't say that," Sharone stepped forward.

"If it wasn't for Kojo's efforts, there would be even more damage, and people could have died."

"But no one would have gotten hurt if he'd done his job," someone said.

"My shoe is completely destroyed. What do you expect me to do now?" someone else said. Many more people complained.

"Please calm down," Klara said, arriving with Adriana and Vanessa.

"Even though there was a significant amount of collateral, no one got any life-threatening injuries, and in the end, the beast was slain. Instead of apportioning blame, why don't you look for a solution to the current situation? After all, it's not like pointing fingers is going to change anything," Klara said. Her response seemed to calm the crowd down.

"Tch," Billiam glared at his sister.

"But still, he has to atone," someone said.

"Yeah."

"I heard he's a foreigner."

"We can't let him just walk away." The crowd became agitated again, and they began moving forward. The guards tried to stop them. Someone picked up a stone and threw it at Kojo. He caught it, his eyes reddened a bit, then he sighed.

"Look, I know that some of you were injured and that some among you lost some property. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is. The past cannot be changed. However, it was due to my incompetence as your champion that there was excess damage."

He bowed.

"Please accept my apology for failing in my duties." The people were taken aback by this show of humility.

A woman carrying her child came up.

"I know this isn't the right time, but thank you, sir, for saving my daughter," she said. The little girl turned and looked at him.

"T-Thank you, sir, for saving me and my mother," she said. Kojo straightened and smiled, patting her on the head. The woman then walked away with her daughter.

"You idiots, you really are a worthless bunch, following a coward and turning on the man who saved you," Vanessa said harshly.

"You all better get out of here before I count to three," she said.

"Three!" she yelled, pointing her staff at them. They quickly dispersed. She sighed.

"Honestly, I'm surprised how they're so easily influenced," she said as the staff sank into a portal on the ground. She turned to Kojo.

"You made the right call. Appealing to their conscience was a good way to escape the situation."

"(But you were totally thinking of threatening them.)"

Saleem watched from a rooftop before covering her head with a hood and walking away.

Bishop Rigarde sat inside a dark room illuminated by a single red crystal which floated at the center. Figures of other people appeared around the crystal, their forms translucent like a holographic projection. Plus Rigarde, they were 12 in number.

"Why did you call this meeting, Bishop?" Olson asked casually.

"It is time for we, The Apostles Of Doom, to discuss our progress in our goal to revive Lord Minatori. This meeting, however, is to deliberate on the most recent threat. We need to decide how we're going to deal with Kojo Atari."