Kaigo's POV
We were all on board an airship that was taking us to the underworld, I didn't know how I felt about this, either today or tomorrow would be the day when we abandon everyone, but we would also be moving forward the same time.
I peered over at Gasper who was sitting with Issei and Kiba, he seemed to be taking this well as his expression constantly radiated joy from it.
I peered over to Koneko, she seemed to be in the same muddle as I. So, I decided to comfort her. I approached her and stationed myself next to the white haired kitten and asked.
"What's gotten you down?"
"Y'know the other day when you broke down and started crying on my lap," Koneko answered with sorrow in her tone.
"Y-yeah," I stuttered while scratching my right cheek.
"Your words really made an impact on me," she said even more softly than last time.
"I want to stop fighting! I want to run away and forget everything that has happened! I want to live a normal life!"
"What if we can't beat Rias, what if we get kille-" Koneko continued until she was cut off when I pulled her into a hug.
"Don't think like that, please, doubts now will greatly affect what's to come… in a bad way, just think of the best possible outcome when you're in a situation like this," I paused to pull us out of the hug but my hands remained on her shoulders, " 'Kay?"
"...'Kay," Koneko said faintly while wiping developing tears away.
"Kaigo, is Koneko okay?" Gasper was now standing before us looking very concerned.
Koneko blushed and moved backwards while I chuckled and replied,
"She's fine,"
Rias stood up and laid dormant in the middle of the airship, I wasn't too concerned about this as I thought of it as no threat. However seconds after a magic circle engulfed her and she along with the airship vanished, leaving the peerage to fall into a cavern.
Everyone landed safely, but was terrified once our sight bestowed upon an unsettling sight. A colossal dragon, one the size of the ravine itself, confronted us.
Its deep orange eyes scanned each and every one of us, his body had attained a brushed gray but his claws was doused in a very dark red. The last distinguished feature that stood out was the radiant crimson which was his wings.
As soon as the mythical creature was finished scanning us, his wings sprouted and he let out a mighty roar, signifying the intention to fight.
I readied my guard and was about to bring out my balance breaker until I caught a glimpse of an orange and green blur, my sight followed this glint and I saw Koneko about a few metres away from the enemy with her arm pulled back, but she was wide open!
I predicted the next few seconds of that attack and on impulse I directed power to my legs and swung towards Koneko, catching her whilst shielding the white haired girl from the brutal counterattack, we sped towards the wall in seconds, however I managed to rotate and again cushion Koneko's impact, from there I unengraved myself and we both landed on the ground and restarting at square one. Only this time, we were handicapped.
"Kaigo…" Koneko said faintly before snapping back towards the dragon and preparing to attack again.
As dazed as I felt, I grabbed onto her arm, she turned in annoyance but then was shocked to how I was glaring at her. It was a glare filled with disappointment and anger.
"Don't rush in like that!" I hissed, "wait for instructions,"
As soon as I spoke those words Akeno was in the sky and announced,
"Since the king is not present, I, as your queen will take over, Asia, heal Kaigo until he's capable of using his balance breaker, Issei, charge up your dragon shout until I give the signal as for the rest of you buy us time," Akeno now flew into the clouds and started a horrific storm, I guessed she wanted to wipe out the dragon in one shot.
"Kaigo, Kaigo," Gasper approached me and Asia, "i need some of your blo-"
"Yeah, I know," I replied while using my hand to scarcely collect a trace of my blood that streaming from my head.
I extended my hand out and Gasper leaned in to catch and suck up the faint signs of blood that was on my finger. He leaned out and his eyes resonated with bright colours of scarlet and with that he joined the fight.
I took my position and this opportunity to see how Kiba, Xenovia, Koneko and Gasper would handle this.
Kiba and Xenovia were using their blinding speed to its fullest capabilities, as they were striking the dragon from left and right, however is seemed that the swords practically bounced off of the dragon's skin, as for Koneko and Gasper they were also working in unison.
Koneko seemed to be taking many risks by exposing herself while charging and dealing great damage to our enemy, once the creature recovered he'd counter, only to be swiping at air as Gasper would have bailed her out seconds ago.
I didn't notice until now, but I realised that Gasper's fighting style was very peculiar, every chance the young vampire got, he'd warped to a joint or a strange part of the dragon's body and strike it very with great accuracy and control.
Is that a sort of martial arts technique taught to vampires?
Indeed, at a young age a select few vampires are trained and taught about striking pressure point of various creatures. This allows them to either kill or paralyze them, all for the purpose of gaining fresh blood, however in Gasper's case, the only blood he needs is yours.
I was truly shocked at this, more so to when Koneko rushed in. Despite the fact of Gasper being locked up for so long, he still maintained his fighting knowledge. I guess I never recognised because I was always in the midst of a battle.
"Alright Kaigo you should be strong enough to use your balance breaker," Asia strongly confirmed.
I remained seated and began to concentrate, with my current condition summoning Byakko's claw would rather difficult.
I shut my eyes and began constructing the devastating claw from scratch, as it slowly formed, I felt the metallic pieces embed onto my arm.
A little time had passed and I was now halfway done, the claw was fully visually both in my mindscape and in the physical world, however a sudden shriek of pain originating from Gasper rushed me, and so came forth a disorted claw.
I stood up and yelled at Akeno
"AKENO, I'm ready!"
She descended from the sky with a very deadly compressed bolt of lightning in her grasp, she shouted
"Everybody disperse, Issei and Kaigo… ATTACK,"
With that order, the knights, bishop and rook dissipated from the dragon and we all attacked. Issei yelled 'dragon shout' and a mighty blast of crimson engulfed the dragon, Akeno released her lightning directly upon its head and I formulated four air fissures, slicing through his arms and legs.
Surely that has to be it
Unfortunately, it is not.
As Hans said those horrific words the smoke disappeared and the dragon remained unscathed. I took matters into my own own hands slowly approached the dragon.
Koneko, I need you to pin the beast down
On it!
Four orange lions came forth and sank their fangs into the dragons feat, pinning it to the ground. From there, I brought forth a magic circle in front of me and 25 others appeared. In stacks of five and circling the dragon.
No Kaigo! You musn't use this attack! Not with that distorted claw!
I ignored the warning and pulled my fist back, a bold dark blue flame originated from my knuckles and I yelled,
"COBALT SMASH,"
My fist swung into the circle and 5 jets of flame were directed at the dragon. I fell to one knee at the immense strain and pain I felt, however I slowly stood back up knowing it wasn't over yet. The flames died down and revealed a very much scathed dragon.
I limped forward and faintly stared into the lava like eyes of the dragon, I didn't want it to end here, not by a stupid trap set up by Rias, I came closer and closer, until I was stopped by a hug and a caring statement from Koneko.
"It's okay, you don't have to push yourself any longer," as this was said she brought us to the ground and was slowly stroking my hair, calming me down in the process.
"But what about the dragon…" I daftly said.
"Just take a look for yourself," the white haired girl answered with care.
I looked slightly forward and saw that the dragon had completed stopped attacking, I averted my gaze and saw that Rias was talking with the peerage, I also noticed that another man was present, one that I hadn't seen before. With that, I sank into Koneko's shoulder and passed out.
Koneko's POV
Once Kaigo passed out I layed him on the ground, my sage power was too depleted to heal him and I'm sure Asia would be unable to either, so I watched over him. Gasper approached and asked.
"What happened to Kaigo?"
"I'm guessing by his last attack, he completely drained all his energy, so his body shut down," I answered in my monotone voice.
The dragon unexpectedly and abruptly leaned in to check on Kaigo's body, his mouth opened and a voice boomed.
"Young Nekomata, What is this boy's name,"
This alarmed me, but that subdued as I firmly said.
"Kaigo… just Kaigo,"
"I will remember that name for the rest of my life, for he would be known as the one who has given me most damage thus far," the dragon once again let out a mighty booming voice, echoing around the canyon.
I inspected the dragon and came to a surprising conclusion, the dragon's entire claw had been doused in red scars his brushed gray skin had been covered in scorch marks and he was panting, it seemed that cobalt smash was as devastating as it sounded.
"Koneko, Gasper… you coming?" Issei yelled.
"Yeah, just a sec!" Gasper replied while helping me lift Kaigo upon my back, from there we entered a rather large magic circle and was taken to the entrance of a massive building.
"Welcome everyone," A maid greeted us while bowing, "we hope you enjoy your stay here."
We entered the palace and I was surprisingly quite passive about our surroundings, even though the furniture, lighting and decor were at their highest standard, I sort of gotten used to it back at the surface.
A couple of encounters and indoor tours led us to dinner, however the maid didn't take any note of Kaigo, so I asked.
"Before we eat, do you think Kaigo can rest somewhere?"
The maid slightly leaned over and was shocked at Kaigo current condition and position.
"Oh, my deepest apologies," she said while approaching me rather quickly, "allow me take him to one of the rooms,"
As soon as she finished, I slipped Kaigo off of my back, into my arms, then into her arms, she then left the kitchen and from there, we all began to eat.
1 hour later
After food, Azazel sent us off to train, I didn't hear what the others were assigned to do, but I was told that I was too dependant on others in battle, the fallen told me to formulate attack strategies with the creatures I created, frankly I found this quite dull and unamusing, however I managed to continue and definetly come up with new battle strategies.
Kaigo's POV
There I was gazing upon the wildfire that engulfed my home, family and now Koneko and Gasper. I was my seven year old self, in shock, in fear, in delusion. I stared helplessly had the glares of Gasper and Koneko .
"Why'd you leave us?" they said maliciously and simoustainly.
"I didn't…" I replied with no life in my voice.
"Why aren't you helping us?" the two mocked.
"I can't," I hopelessly answered as I attempted to stand up, only to be forced back down to my knees by a supernatural wind.
"You're pathetic," the two spat while the flames engulfed them, charring their skin, "you haven't grown at all since then, you've only grown weaker,"
"That's… that's not true!" I cried.
I silently watched as their body crumbled, only leaving their heads floating in the smoked sky, slowly but surely they began to dissipate.
"STOP!" I yelled, snapping back into reality and springing forward from a bed.
My breathing intensified as I felt bullets of sweat roll down my forehead, I scanned around and discovered that I was not at my room.
"COBALT SMASH!"
"It's okay, you don't have to push yourself any longer,"
I deduced that I was in a spare room in the Gremory residence. I calmed down and rested my head on my pillow, a few minutes had passed of dexterous acts with my knife until I heard my door open. My head snapped to the sound, only to see a maid.
"Ah, I see you're awake young Kaigo," the maid formally stated.
"And so I am," I joked, "Say, do you know where the rest of the peerage is?"
"They set off to train, however I am uneducated of when their arrival is scheduled," the silver haired woman replied
"Okay, do you mind if I take a shower?" I inquired half sheepishly.
"Not at all!" the maid exclaimed, "you are our guest, come now I will guide you,"
I did as I was told and stepped out of my bed, however I instantly fell limp onto my knees, probably due to the devastating cobalt smash. I attempted to get up, but I felt a strong force pin me down. From there…
My heart stopped.
My heart stopped at the hallucination my mind had formulated, I was back in the wildfire! And Koneko and Gasper were standing before me.
"NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!" I whaled bringing out my already opened kinfe.
"WHY'D YOU LEAVE US!?" the two ghostly figures screeched.
Even though every fibre of my being was set on breaking this illusion, I slightly hesitated at the act I was about to carry out, but sooner than later, I managed to sink my knife into my shoulder, the sickly 'squelch' sound it made brought me back to reality as well as the excruciating pain. The first sight I was treated to was a very concerned maid asking.
"Sir, are you alright? Are your injuries still that severe?"
"I… need…. water," I managed to puff out, and with my request the maid took her leave.
I leaned against the wall, eyes widened, breath erratic and hand covering my face, I was completely shocked at what just happened. The knife remained in my shoulder and blood started to ooze out.
Why? Why was this happening. Sure my nightmares have only been getting worse by the day, but I can't recall the last time I had a peaceful dream or not a nightmare for that regard.
I summoned Hans, and he appeared before me, even though he was tiger and was still shocked from my recent experience I could tell he was concerned as well.
"Kaigo do yo-" Byakko started before I abruptly cut him off.
"Do you think… you can heal…. this wound," I yet again panted, slowly but smoothly attaining my knife from my shoulder.
Hans did as I was told and raised a paw to my wound, it took no time healing and as soon as the white tiger finished the maid entered with a rather large cup of water.
She handed it to me silently, I took one look at it and doused myself in it, my vision lightened my pain eased and my heart returned to its normal pace, I stood up and asked with joy.
"Right, now where were the shower's again?"
The silver haired women led me to the a slight variation of a shower, she led me to a massive room containing two tubs filled with steaming water, I thanked her and before I shut the door, I asked her for her name, she told me it was Grayfia, and with that I sank in and began relaxing.
20 minutes later
A few minutes had passed by of dead silence, I as usual became restless and started to form my balance breaker. Just like in the fight with the dragon, I started from scratch, and in roughly around 3 minutes it formed.
Instead of flickering into and out of existence, the claw maintained its form, I tested its compatibility with my will and gently caused my right arm to quiver, this caused a blue fissure in the air and thus the water violently rippled. Seems like it worked, but I knew that it took way too long to form. I wonder if their was a way to form it in a split second with this amount of power. My brainstorming ended up in vain as I dissolved the claw of byakko and exited the bath.
I dried myself up and summoned up a black t-shirt with very small holes, only half engraved into the shirt and also a black tracksuit with two gray lines running down the left leg. As for my feet, I wore some black and white trainers.
As I approached my room, I heard a knock on the main entrance of this huge mansion, I made my way to the sound and found the whole peerage entering.
"Ahh, I'm glad to see you're up," Kiba said
"Yeah… so how did training go?" I inquired.
"We had to cut it short because all three factions will be attending another meeting in the underworld, and I wanted everyone to get plenty of rest," Rias unexpectedly answered while coming up behind me.
"Good, I'm beat!" Issei huffed while limping his way to the elevator instead of taking the stairs.
With that comment everyone dismissed themselves, I already took a bath so I headed straight to bed.
Before long I felt two others tuck themselves in with me, I allowed them to stay and began my slumber, slightly scared of what was to come in the future.