Chapter 23

Meanwhile.

Out of the sight of humans, beyond their reach in the land of the divine. Kitsune had approached the great master she spoke of. Her head was lowered, her eyes refused to look up at the master until she was given permission. "Kitsune, we have gone over this, your submissive posture is not necessary." Came a deep and commanding feminine voice.

"I know, I just wished to show my sincerity to the great master. I have come offering you more gifts of the Divine," she explained and presented the blankets. The room she stood in appeared nothing more than darkness, there was very little light, but that is also because the great master herself took up the whole space! The walls began to move as the great dragon peered at the offerings of blankets.

"I have waited for these…" peering down, she took in the scent, but paused. "What is this? Someone has touch these before me?" she demanded.

"Great master, please understand…"

"What is going on, Kitsune? Why were these blankets offered to another before me!"

She froze as the voice spiked with anger. She tried to hold her tongue but was unable to. "I… I am tending to a young sorcerer… he has since started his cultivation… to become a dragon," she explained.

The room trembled. "WHAT!"

"Great master, please… understand…"

"NO ONE BECOMES A DRAGON THAT IS NOT BORN OF A DRAGON!" she roared. "You of all know this, every demonic sorcerer, no matter their energy or ability… never rise to become a dragon… I make SURE of that,"

"If you were to meet him… master, please know that he didn't seek this…"

"It matters not!" she protested. "No one, shares our powers like this, all who have tried before them failed!"

Kitsune knew this was trouble, she tried to sooth things over, but the great dragon refused to listen to her. "No sorcerer of the human world is to ever obtain our power… how far along is he?" she asked.

"Merely entering the hatchling stage, he is gathering materials for a nest." Kitsune said meekly. "But please, understand… Itadori isn't an evil sorcerer!" she pleaded.

"Itadori… that is the name of the sorcerer who dares defile the honor of a dragon?" she demanded.

"Please, great one…"

"I have heard enough. Leave,"

She trembled but lowered her head and rushed out of the room. Kitsune shook in fear, she may have just sent her young master to his death!

#

Back at the school.

BASH!

Junpei was having a hard time keeping up with Eso.

Of course, his older brother was smiling throughout the whole thing as he kept getting the upper hand on him. They would clash time and time again, putting everything into their strikes and attempted to throw each other off balance. Junpei found himself on the ground on more than one occasion. Being bulkier makes it harder to move about and avoid strikes.

He was soon to hit the ground again, as he started to sweat blood. "Damn…" he muttered as Eso merely smiled and offered him a hand. He gladly took it as he was brought back to his feet once more.

"You are still not use to the extra weight." Eso explained. "It is more difficult to move about, however, you also need to see that with the extra mass, you can take a hit better."

"I know that, you strike rather hard, if I was in my original form… I would be half way down the courtyard!" he snickered.

"But as this… you are merely moved a few inches. You can take a stronger blow, but we need to work on your delivery of a powerful strike. You sometimes become too reliant on your curse technique than you do your own strength."

He paused to consider the notion, and of course, his older brother was right about it. He depends on his curse ability more often than not, learning to fight should have been a priority before. "Damn…" he muttered.

Eso paused as he considered something. "Junpei, how big can you make yourself now?"

"I think I am at my limit," he explained. "I haven't really pushed myself to hold more blood, but I found I can only contort myself this far."

"That's because you are putting it all in your muscles aren't you?"

He froze to the notion. "Well, that's what Suiryu told me to do."

"But, could you not hold more blood? Granted, you would look more like Sho if you did, but if you held it around your mid section?"

"Give myself a gut?" Junpei asked. "I do admit, I considered that, but at the same time, that limits my mobility even more, as well, if I took a shot to the stomach, I would lose what I gathered. No doubt these guys would puke it out." He said pointing to his extra mouths at his sides.

Eso paused for a moment. "Did... you ever learn what Kechizu could do?" he asked offhandedly.

Junpei nodded. "I have been sort of tinkering with his abilities myself. I scared Principal Yaga when I first came here. He told me not to use blood manipulation so I asked if the other abilities were okay. Kechizu was able to use decay, projectile vomit curse blood. Turned it to acid and melt whatever it landed upon…" Junpei explained.

Eso smiled proudly and nodded. "Indeed he did, how are those abilities working out for you?"

"Well, haven't really needed them yet. It's not that pleasant either…" he shuttered a little. "Still, to know I could puke and melt someone… like a horror movie I saw before…" he muttered.

"It is would be worth learning for yourself, it did melt rock, however, since you have changed so much from Kechizu, perhaps that method is no longer useful to you?"

He never thought about it before, after all, there hasn't been an instant where he needed to melt something fast. Let alone vomit acidic blood! "Perhaps I'll stick with the training program that Suiryu wants me on for now…"

Eso nodded in agreement. "Very well then, another round!"

He nodded in agreement and took his stance to face off against his brother once more.