I do not own Hinowa ga Crush or any of the characters.
Enlisted
I narrow my eyes as I stare down the path to the volcano. It's the only place that could possibly have what I need to make another ring like my own for Sheele, a personal project I decided to take care of on a whim. Thanks to my armor, we reached the Volcano in just under a day of travel, where as walking or by horse would take a month.
"Hey, you two!" a skinny man driving a carriage loaded with random odds and ends calls out to Sheele and I, tugging his horse's reins to stop it. "Don't go that way!" He jogs over to us, looking terrified and glancing toward the volcano. "You can't go that way! There's a giant Freak in that volcano! A dragon that lives in the volcano's lava!"
I nod. "Thanks for the info, but that's actually exactly what we're looking for. Don't worry about us."
"It's not you I'm worried about!" the man says, panicked. "If that dragon's slumber is disturbed, my village will be the first to burn!"
"It won't," Sheele says calmly. "We're here to kill it."
The man blinks several times, opens his mouth to speak, and then stares some more. Finally, he finds his voice again. "You're insane!" He grabs a dagger from the back of his waist. "I won't let you!"
"Sir, I sincerely recommend you put that-"
The man cuts me off by stabbing me in the heart. I sigh just before my demon drives his claws through the man's throat, the claws extended to about a foot long, thanks to the new augmentations Sheele and I have finally finished recovering from. After having met the Rakshasa Demons, we both decided we wanted their abilities, so for a little over a year, we regularly injected ourselves with the liquified remains of the same type of Lake Kraken as the Four Rakshasa Demons ate for their powers, with our real demons keeping us alive while we gained the abilities.
My demon retracts his claws and returns control to me. I sigh, shaking my head, and kneel, re-extending the claws and finish the man to stop him from suffering, then wipe his blood off on his shirt.
"No one listens," I say, shaking my head again before drawing my sword. "Come on. Let's go have fun."
Sheele nods and we walk into the volcano together, stopping at the edge of a cliff above the lava, and I kick a small stone into the lava. A moment later, the dragon we're looking for explodes out of it. It's god blood-red scales over most of its sleek body, a mane of orange hair at the base of its skull, and a pair of massive, leathery wings attached to its front legs.
The dragon soars up past us, but I hurl Sheele, and as she passes the dragon, one of her blades slice off its right foreleg and wing. The dragon shrieks in pain, exploding down on the side of the mountain before I flip over the edge of the volcanic shaft, landing beside Sheele.
The dragon roars in rage, expelling a massive wall of flames at us, only for me to extend a hand, the flames parting around us. As soon as they end, Extase flashes blindingly behind me and the dragon recoils. Sheele and I both explode forward, crossing under its throat and slicing it to the dragon's spinal column, then cross again under it, splitting its torso before removing its hind legs. It crashes heavily to the ground, managing a weak, wavering roar that's partially drowned out by the sound of its breath escaping from its slashed throat, then falls still. We both wait several more minutes before streaking forward, both flipping over its neck and severing it the rest of the way.
"That was disappointing," Sheele says, sheathing her blade. "It's a high-class Danger Beast, but I only needed one blade."
"Do we really ever expect a hard fight from Danger Beasts anymore?" I ask.
"Not really," Sheele admits.
"Alright then," I nod. "Let's take this to that merchant's town, along with his stuff, and see if there's a blacksmith."
Sheele nods and tosses the dragon's head over her shoulder before taking the horses reins as she heads for the nearest town, which we hope is the merchant's. I drag the body behind me, and together we make good progress. After barely a few hours, we find the village, who confirm that the merchant was, in fact, from there. We blame his death on the dragon, and I borrow the blacksmith's forge, along with some of the dragon's scales, the organ that let it breath fire, and its wings, tail, and claws. Then, I set to work, forging armor and a ring. It's not exactly fast work, but after having made Akame a sword and repaired Lionel, I'm able to make a perfect replica of my armor, customized to Sheele's body proportions, in a day, using the dragon's blood and the organ I harvested to give it the same powers as mine, with a few drops of my demon's blood as the catalyst, then use a few more drops for the ability to transform into a ring. And it only takes me three days, as opposed to the months it took my ring to be forged.
"Ready?" I ask, once she's got her ring on and we've left the village.
"Ready," Sheele nods, smiling.
Both of us activate our armor, Sheele taking a few minutes to get used to controlling it before we take off, flying back toward Hinowa's village quickly.
I frown as I watch the battle's progress. Soukai is doing well. Hinowa's unit was deployed to the mountain east of Shiranui, a wall that Tenrou has never managed to breach, but as soon as the unit arrived on the mountain, they were attacked by a Tenrou surprise attack. Out of the bandits forced to act as soldiers, they'd already slaughtered most of them. However, one true soldier has my attention. She looks about my age with dark tan skin, black hair, bright yellow eyes, a black robe, and a katana with no tsuba, red scales along the first six inches of the back of the blade, and flames rolling off of it. What's more, the ground around her is smoking in a perfect circle with her at the epicenter.
"Meihou," I muse, thumb brushing over my ring.
"Are we going?" Sheele asks.
"Akame's about to arrive," I say. "There's really no point."
Sheele raises an eyebrow before I smirk, launching myself off the cliff with a blast of flames from my feet, Sheele moving to finish off the last handful of bandits. I land between Hinowa, whose only injury is a cut on the arm, courtesy of this opponent, an opponent who far out-classes Hinowa, and said opponent. At the same moment, Akame lands at my side.
"I was wondering if you'd step in," Akame says, relaxing her stance.
"She's throwing off heat and flames," I say. "I'm better equipped for this."
"True," Akame nods. "She's yours. I'll tend to Tobari."
I glance at Tobari, who was slashed across the abdomen, and nod, drawing my sword and walking forward calmly.
"Another?" the Tenrou commander asks. "Shall I kill you, too?"
"You can try," I say. "My name is Jason. Try not to think badly of me when I kill you."
"Yomihime," the girl said. "And you're a fool to challenge me."
"I've fought worse than you," I smirk. "Shall we?"
Yomihime narrowed her eyes, then exploded forward, slashing rapidly. As I expected, the air around her is as hot as standing amid fire. Even Akame wouldn't be able to ignore it fully. I, however, am wearing my ring, and also fused to a true demon, so I simply smirk as I deflect her one-handed strikes with my own sword also held in only my right hand. After a few moments, she moves both hands to the hilt, and I do the same, still fending her off without returning the strikes. As she begins to put more and more force into her strikes, my clothes begin to smoke as the air around us heats further and further. I hum thoughtfully just as she leaps backward, turning her body to the side as flames rage along her blade.
"I'll end this!" Yomihime snarls. "Falcon Sweep!"
She explodes forward, arms blurring, however, just as her dozens of strikes are about to land, I borrow my demon's speed and instincts, deflecting them all before slashing as I step past her. Except, it's not a fatal blow like it should have been. Most of the strike is deflected by her blade, allowing her to escape with only a gash in her side. I raise my eyebrows at her as she staggers away, eyes wide with surprise and fear, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
"Go," I say calmly, sheathing my sword. "We'll meet again and you'll have your chance."
She turns instantly, leaping away at the same time as deflecting Akame's blade. Akame narrows her eyes, watching Yomihime flee, then rounds on me.
"You let her leave?" Akame asks. "You?"
I stare after Yomihime for a long few moments before turning to the others as Sheele lands beside me, frowning slightly.
"What happened?" Sheele asks.
"I let her go," I say.
"Why?" Sheele asks.
"Because we're going to recruit her," I say. "That heat wasn't her sword. It was her. She's half Danger Beast."
"You're sure?" Sheele asks.
"Yeah," I nod. "She's probably only with Tenrou because she's been shunned everywhere else. We can recruit her."
Sheele nods. "Alright. She'll be useful."
I nod and we walk back to the main force of the unit with the others.
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