Oh yeah, it's that time of the *Insert time measurement unit here*.
Been a hot minute since I last updated, so that's what I'll be doing!...
After thanking the story's sponsors of course! A great and massive thank you to Joshua G., Shen, FromTheDeep and Tyric Gaia for supporting this work!
If you'd like to join the ranks of legends like them, you can do so by going to " Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz " and giving me a tip! As always, it is not mandatory, and simply the fact that you're reading and enjoying the story is great enough, but every bit of help is appreciated!
Piece of warning, this chapter will be involving some pretty explicit body horror. Be aware.
Now, let us begin.
"Regular character speech"
"Differently inflectioned character speech" (Whispering, hissing, etc)
"Powerful character speech" (Backed by killing intent, presence, sheer raw power, etc)
'Regular character thoughts'
'Mind reading/Telepathic conversation'
[Ddraig speaking out loud]
[Ddraig speaking telepathically to Issei]
'Ddraig/Powerful being thinking'
Aika rode the golf cart her butler Kinben was driving in silence, her gaze seemingly leagues away and a tiny smile on her face as she thought back to the fun she had at the festival with Issei and Lilith, before the knowledge of her upcoming 'family time' came back to the forefront of her mind, causing her smile to turn into a deep frown, something that Kinben caught on the rear view mirror.
"Young lady Kiryuu, is this ride making you uncomfortable in any way? If it is, I will endeavour to ensure-"
"Don't worry, Kinben," Aika said with a small smile, "The ride is impeccable, as always."
"Then whatever could it be that has you frowning so, young lady Kiryuu? Are you being bothered by someone? Because I would not mind going out and teaching them a lesson, if need be."
Aika chuckled lightly at her butler's protective streak, patting his shoulder as she answered.
"It's not that, Kinben, don't worry! It's just..." Her previously returned smile faded again, her brows furrowing more and more as she spoke. "Dealing with my parents... It's not easy..."
The two elapsed back into silence after that, the only sound around being that of the golf cart's wheels gliding along a wide paved path. It halted with a mild screech of rubber on stone, allowing Aika to hop off of it and stretch, before turning towards the doors of her home.
"Young lady Kiryuu."
Aika's hand stopped on the doorknob as she looked back towards Kinben, who adjusted his glasses before speaking.
"Sir and Lady Kiryuu... They may not often be present, but they care for you future, miss."
Aika sighed before turning back and making her way into her house, something which didn't really tell Kinben anything in regards to her frame of mind at the moment. Having delivered young lady Kiryuu, Kinben returned to his task of fulfilling the other tasks a butler of his caliber was expected to.
Ignoring the click of the door closing behind her, Aika took off her shoes before calling out.
"I'm home!"
Changing into her indoor slippers was no task at all, and soon enough she was making her way towards her room, all the while cursing internally.
'I know that big homes are a meant to be great displays of class, pedigree, wealth and all that jazz, and I won't pretend that I don't appreciate all the extra space, but... It's a freaking pain in the butt to have to walk for 15 to 20 minutes between my bedroom and the main entrance!'
So lost in her thoughts, Aika almost missed the voice that called out to her.
"In here, Aika, darling."
Almost was the effective word. By the time she had broken out of her distracted fugue and processed the message, her feet had already carried her over towards the source of the voice, the sitting room.
Entering the sitting room, Aika saw three people seated around a table bearing a kettle, a jar of tea leaves and cups, as well as various sweets and salty snacks, both western and japanese.
The first person she laid eyes on was a college-aged girl with the same general hair color as her own, though unlike her slightly messy hair that was done up in a pair of pigtails reaching right around the chest region in length, the older girl wore her tidy and noticeably well-groomed butt-length hair loose. The older girl's body was more well developed than Aika's, bearing a pair of high C-cup breasts and hips that, especially in comparison to the average slender japanese woman, were noticeably shapely. Her face was slightly longer, with the rest of her facial features easily allowing her to be considered a beauty, especially his golden eyes, just a shade darker than Aika's.
She was Aika's older sister, Kiryuu Mira.
Aika had a moment to take in her apologetic smile, before the same voice as before spoke.
"It is good to finally see you after such a long time, darling! We wouldn't even know to wait for you here were it not for your sister telling us of this school activity of yours."
Aika shot Mira a quick glare, a glare that Mira sheepishly turned away to avoid, before allowing her focus to fall back on the speaker.
Standing at 5'8" - 5'6" without heels - tall, possessing auburn-colored hair carefully cut and styled into a straight neck-length bob that could easily be pictured in a top businesswoman, narrow and upturned amber-colored eyes, slightly down-turned lips with a healthy dose of sensibly-applied lipstick, a small nose, a pair of D-cup breasts and a thin waist and wide hips, this woman was beautiful, in a cold and businesslike way, something accentuated by her black skirt suit and pantyhose combo. Her name was Kiryuu Hokkyoku, and most wouldn't hesitate to - behind her back, of course - call her an absolute MILF.
Aika simply called her mother.
Before Aika could formulate an answer, a second voice piped in.
"Had we known of this event beforehand, we would've gone and picked you up on our own."
The speaker this time was a man. Standing at 5'9", with slick hair parted to one side, wearing a noticeably expensive suit and leather shoes. His narrow eyes were light brown in color, his nose somewhat was long, though not so to an unpleasant degree, and his lips were very thin. His shoulders weren't particularly wide, yet one couldn't help but feel as if he exuded the air of someone that simply filled any room her was in.
He was Kiryuu Yohei, Aika's father.
Aika suppressed any lingering irritation towards her parents, her tone convincingly inviting as she spoke.
"Hello mother, father. It is such a surprise to see you here. Present."
"Surprise?" Yohei spoke in genuine puzzlement. "We had made it known ahead of time that we would be home around this time period."
"Well..." Aika's voice was as sickly-sweet as she answered, "After every other time when you promised to be there and ended up cancelling, I have come to expect it."
Yohei and Mira cringed at that, while Hokkyoku spoke in a tone so light and relaxed that it had to have seen extensive practice.
"Don't worry, Aika darling, we're here now."
"Yes, now."
The different emphasis Aika put into the word was nowhere near subtle, but then again, she wasn't trying to be.
Eager to move beyond this conversation filled with verbal landmines, Yohei cut off both his wife and youngest daughter, his tone showing interest as he spoke.
"So, Aika, darling, tell us a bit about this event you've come from?"
Sighing, Aika took a seat on the sofa, accepting a teacup from one of the home's various maids and leaning back into her seat, something which drew a reproachful look from her mother that she reacted to with a roll of her eyes, and taking a sip of the hot tea before speaking up.
"A new school has opened here in town, and as a celebration, they opened their doors to various people, primarily students and staff from the few other schools around, including Kuoh's various levels of education, meaning that myself and everyone else from my school got the option of going."
"And what about the festival itself?"
"It had many things, including games and vendor booths. It was as if a summer festival took a wrong turn in the calendar and landed here and now."
The semi-sarcastic toned joke at the end of the sentence gave Yohei the hope that Aika was opening up just the slightest bit, something that motivated him to get her to keep talking.
"And what about you, specifically? What sorts of things did you do there, and what did you think of the festival?"
"Well, a friend of mine studies at that academy," Aika started, "So my friends and I knew about what the event would be before it was actually announced to our school. We only knew we weren't going to be watching class before, not that we'd be going to a festival. We split up as soon as we got there."
A small, yet sincere smile made itself visible on Aika's lips as she spoke.
"The others split up, but Ise and I stuck together, and we ended up watching a genuinely great play from their very talented drama club. Then, we went to a few shooting booths. I figured out the trick and was winning pretty easily, but Ise just needed one bit of good luck to get the biggest prize!
"After that we met up with Lilith, my friend that actually studies at that other school, and we went around a few other booths and had fun."
Hokkyoku spoke up this time, seizing an opportunity to try to get closer to Aika.
"Wow, the way you talk about her, this Ise girl must be really good friends with you, huh?"
Aika blinked, not having realized the fact that her family had misunderstood things, and acted with the intent to correct this.
"Err... Ise isn't a girl."
It was Aika's parents' turn to blink slowly, their minds working to push away the confusion they felt, before Yohei spoke up.
"Really? But, what you said implied that this Ise person studied with you..."
"That's because he does. Kuoh dropped the all-girls label."
"What?"
While Yohei's reaction was pure surprise, Hokkyoku's was surprise mixed with a heavy dose of irritation as she spoke.
"What were they thinking? They can't simply make such a big change and say nothing to the parents of the students!"
Aika's face twisted into visible annoyance, her tone cold as she spoke.
"They sent packets with us at the end of the previous school year talking about these changes, and I recall handing one of them to each of you."
Yohei cringed again, while Hokkyoku seemed unconcerned with Aika's mood, simply speaking in a decisive tone.
"That's no longer important. What's important now is that we'll have to take the time to find you a new, proper school."
"And what exactly is wrong with Kuoh?"
While Yohei and Mira easily identified the sort of verbal mine that had just been set and intended to steer far clear of it, Hokkyoku seemed to be either oblivious or uncaring of it as she answered.
"It's co-ed. Allowing boys and girls to mingle during the time period where their hormones are at their most intense and active is a great mistake, as it leads to mutual distractions, and possible other issues. It's only proper for you to go to an all-girls school."
"I'm not changing schools!"
"And why ever would you not?"
"Because I've studied at Kuoh for years, and that's where I made many friends, and met my boyfriend!"
The word boyfriend caused the Yohei to freeze and Mira's eyes to widen to the extreme, while Hokkyoku's narrowed dangerously.
"W-wha-" Yohei choked out, "What was that about a b-b-boyfriend?"
Before Aika could respond, Hokkyoku spoke up, her words directed towards her husband.
"Dear, if you could call Kuoh's headmaster and cancel Aika's enrolment, we could-"
"See, this is exactly what I hate about you guys!"
Aika's shouted words had the three other Kiryuu family members staring at her in shock, as they hadn't ever seen her lose her cool before. Uncaring of their shock, Aika continued.
"Not only are you guys so absent that I can't even count on your presence when you promise you'll be there, you are either so absentminded or so negligent that you never even read the information packets I had given you! And now, after being absent for the overwhelming majority of my life, you decide to just butt in and, uncaring of my own thoughts, feelings and opinions, start making choices for me?
"No! I'm not just going to take it!"
Aika stormed off after those words, her angry stomps still being heard in the sitting room for quite a while after she had left.
The three older members of the Kiryuu family sat there in a frozen silence for a while, before Mira muttered under her breath.
"So it was a boyfriend..."
Her muttered words drew the questioning gazes of both her parents, prompting her to elaborate.
"For the last few weeks I've noticed some changes in Aika's behavior. She's been going out really early in the mornings and coming back tired and sweaty, her mood has been noticeably better, and she's been spending more time out after classes, rather than coming straight home and locking herself into her room almost every day."
Yohei's eyes widened at Mira's words, his tone terrified as he spoke.
"Have there been any other changes?"
"Well," Mira begun, "Her grades have been higher than ever before, she seems to be fitter than ever before, easily walking around the manor and going up and down stairs without as much as getting winded, she's even started humming whenever she's distracted."
"We need to have her removed from Kuoh."
Hokkyoku's words got the attention of Mira and Yohei both.
"Aside from the fact that something like this can very easily lead to distractions that could lead to extremely lower grades, there's also the fact that this boyfriend of Aika's may very well be simply trying to use her, and might wind up hurting her. For Kami's sake, if things keep going this way she may end up pregnant!"
Those words shook Yohei almost as much as a punch from a professional heavyweight boxer could have, and he felt the desire to simply agree with his wife and transferring Aika trying to completely fill his mind, yet he pushed it back with willpower and self-control tempered by many years of business, negotiations, and boardroom meetings, turning towards Mira and asking calmly:
"What do you think about it?"
Mira blinked in surprise, while Hokkyoku stared at Yohei in shock, having expected him to instantly back her position up. Yohei, noticing Hokkyoku's gaze on his person, pre-empted her question.
"This is a situation that we have to handle very carefully, wife of mine. Our bond with Aika... It is nowhere near as strong as it could be. If we simply go ahead with this idea of yours we could deal irreparable damage to whichever strained bond we still have, and alienate our daughter from us completely. Rather than acting blindly and allowing ourselves to be guided by knee-jerk reactions, it's best if we hear from the person closest to Aika in both age and bond, before we attempt to figure out a proper solution." Yohei turned back towards an utterly surprised Mira. "So, Mira, what do you think we should take into consideration before acting?"
Mira rubbed her chin thoughtfully, before speaking up.
"Well... First we need to look at mom's list of concerns. Her first concern was for Aika's grades, but as I've already said, she's been performing much better than at any other time, so that's one concern down for now. As for whether her boyfriend is simply trying to hurt her or not, well, we can't just accuse him of doing so for no reason.
"Other than being a short-sighted thing to do, judging someone we don't even know for actions that are simply presumed, it also tells Aika that we don't trust her or her judgement, which is very, very bad. You take the wrong move and you'll stick a wedge between yourselves and her for the rest of our collective lives."
Having heard those words and calmed down somewhat, Hokkyoku spoke up.
"I guess I can understand your points. That means that the best thing we can do is try to meet this boy, no?"
"We can invite him, yes," Yohei spoke, "but not right now. We need to let Aika calm down, lest she things we're trying to gang up on or intimidate her... Boyfriend. For now I say we ignore this... Situation... and stop pressuring Aika. Instead, we try to get to know her better, and get a measure of her sense of judgement and discernment. When Aika feels comfortable and secure enough for it, we can invite her boyfriend over. What do you say?"
Sighing out loud, Hokkyoku nodded in agreement.
The Kiryuu family had a plan.
Unlike her parents, Mira knew Aika well, so she knew that her father's solution wouldn't work. Aika was smart, so she knew that the primary sticking point for her parents would be her boyfriend. That meant that no matter what else was said and done, until this 'boyfriend panic' was settled, she would be unwilling to open up to their parents. The fastest way to resolve this would be the boy.
However, Mira knew that her parent's weren't ready nor willing to hear this. The plan that they made was more likely intended to serve as a limiter for themselves, to keep from acting rashly, rather than a proper solution for the situation, but it was the best they had, and they would grab onto that solution and use it as their rock in the middle of a storm.
That meant that Mira herself would have to intervene.
A pair of knocks to Aika's bedroom door was responded to with a 'GO AWAY!'. Ignoring this, Mira spoke soothingly.
"Aika, it's me, Mira. May I come in, please?"
Silence held between the two for a while, before Aika softly answered.
"Enter."
Mira didn't dawdle, going into Aika's bedroom and eyeing it with great surprise.
'The last time I was in here, this place was full of posters of half-nude men in suggestive poses. Now..."
Mira's eyes moved straight towards Aika's desk, where a small hardcover book rested. She was reaching out for said book, only for it to get snatched out of her reach by Aika's much too swift hands.
Mira raised her hands at the tiny glare sent her way, one without any real heat in it, before making her way to Aika's bed and sitting down right next to her younger sister.
"So, how are you feeling?"
Aika scoffed before answering.
"Disappointed. Angry. Sad. Pretty much the whole gamut of feelings I've already felt towards them before. I mean, they show up whenever they want, trying to act as if they never left in the first place, and want to run my whole life? What gives them the right?"
Sighing lightly, Mira wrapped an arm around Aika's shoulders and pulled her closer before speaking in a soothing tone.
"They're your parents, Aika. Our parents. Sure, they could have, and certainly should have been around much more often, I won't pretend that their absence was completely alright, but they didn't just abandon us or throw us to the wolves. They've been working as hard as they can to make sure that the both of us have our lives and futures secured.
"Part of this desire to 'secure your future' is a fear of boyfriends. Boyfriends are a whole new frontier, they are people who have a tendency to awaken new emotions and behaviours in us, just like us women do for the men, and cause us to change, be this change positive or negative.
"For the people who barely managed to get to know you from a child and that are already feeling guilty over it and trying to make it up to you, how terrifying must it be to see that their child is reaching the next level of their development, and turning into someone possible fully different from who they were?
"Our parents are afraid, Aika. They're afraid that your boyfriend will lead you to change so much that they can't even recognize you, and they're afraid of the idea of never really connecting with you. So please, give them a chance."
Mira's words left Aika thinking for a while, before answering.
"What do you think I can do to end all of this?"
"Bring your boyfriend over. Let our parents get to know him, to see if he's a good person or a bad person, and all that. Introducing them, as awkward as it may sound - and likely be - is the best way to get mom and dad to give you more space."
Having said that, Mira pulled her sister into another one-sided hug before leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Aika stared at her phone, her desire to call Issei and invite him over warring with her fear of her parents embarrassing her. She spent the rest of the night staring at her phone.
Shanmai Xu walked amongst the crowds of japanese civilians with a sneer on his face. Weakness was the thing he loathed above all others, followed up shortly by ignorance, and all of these fools possessed both of these traits.
Back in his homeland, the people knew to be respectful and reverent towards him, both because of the fact that he was part of the Shanmai family, and because they were aware of his achievements in the art.
Here, everybody looked at him as if he were just any other person in the street, and it was infuriating!
He would have already carved his name into the collective consciousness of the town were it not for the fact that he had been ordered to maintain discretion.
Still, just because the people were weak and ignorant didn't mean that he couldn't appreciate the variety of booths there were, as well as their various types of food.
He stopped in front of a variety of food stands, his ego aching every time he didn't simply have the shop owners offering him something and was instead forced to actually spend money, before he kept moving on, deeper and deeper into the festival grounds.
Soon enough, Xu had reached an empty stretch of the city, likely a result of almost everybody attending the festival, something that was very good while taking his intent for the night into account.
"The lot of you can come out now."
Five men, two of them old, two of them middle-aged and one of them young, suddenly appeared in front of Xu, as if they had simply teleported there.
The five of them clasped their hands together and bowed politely towards Xu, before speaking up.
"Liu clan, Liu Xunjie!"
"Fengli clan, Fengli Bishou!"
"Diqiu clan, Diqiu Jianta!"
"Huimie clan, Huimie Daji!"
"Bagong clan, Bagong Yanzi!"
"WE ALL GREET SUPERIOR SHANMAI!"
Xu eyed each and every single one of the present men imperiously, his gaze showing no traces of surprise, before speaking up.
"Where are Shumei, of the Quantou clan, and Yonggan, of the Bugou clan?"
Liu Xunjie, the youngest of the people present, spoke up in answer.
"Senior Shumei has not made himself present, nor has he communicated any delays or absences, superior Shanmai, and neither has senior Yonggan."
"I see..." Xu looked down at his feet with a slight frown, shaking off a few grains of sand from his shoe before speaking up, yet not directly to the five men in front of him.
"Would you, mysterious watcher, happen to know the whereabouts of these two?"
BOOM!
Something large and heavy fell from the sky and landed near the chinese martial artists, raising a cloud of sand that, paired with the nighttime, made it difficult to see anything more than a silhouette.
"Far as I know, this Shumei fella must be sharin' livin' space with them worms deep below. 'Least, that's what I heard in Hadano. He must'a pissed off tha wrong person, since his whole damn home up and got blown up."
The sand cloud thinned slightly, revealing a few more details of the silhouette, such as the fact that it was a tall man, at least 6' in height, with a very muscular, extremely wide-shouldered build.
"An' tha' old fuck Yonggan... I did'im in. Couldn't'a happen' ta better people, since their fuckin' clan members decided to pick on my Tsuyoi family. I didn't get 'ta do it for Shumei, but I at least getta smoke ya invadin' asses."
The sand cloud abated completely, revealing the fact that the speaker was a bald man with a pierced face, his build thick with bulging, throbbing muscles. He wore only a pair of pants, leaving his upper body completely bare, revealing a fully colored lion tattoo on his chest.
"How... Interesting..." Xu spoke while fixing the man with an unimpressed gaze. "And who might you be?"
The man flexed his muscles hard, the shock wave released by that act alone being enough to cause the sand around them to flux and flow at around ankle-level, and for the clothes worn by the majority of the chinese martial artists to shake wildly.
Xu's clothes were the exception.
" 'AM TSUYOI HAKAI, A PROUD ENFORCER OF THE TSUYOI FAMILY!"
Xu eyed Hakai dispassionately, before turning to the five martial artists that stood in front of him.
"Kill him."
The five didn't hesitate, each of them dashing straight at Hakai, all of them preparing their individual techniques.
"STREAM FLOW STRIKE!"
Bishou, one of the middle-aged men, was the first to reach Hakai, his knife-hand strikes flowing with his movement and striking towards the throat, chest, kidneys and liver, only for each of them to be countered with a single hard punch, something that pushed Bishou back.
Yanzi was the next one to strike, his kick coming from behind Hakai and flying straight for his spine. Hakai, however, seemed to sense this attack, spinning out of the way of the kick and retaliating with a back fist aimed at Yanzi's face, which the old man barely succeeded in blocking.
Jianta, the second middle aged man, and Daji, the second old man, were the next ones to reach Hakai, each of them standing at both of his sides and striking out at once with killing intent, Jianta with a pair of daggers, and Daji with a fist wrapped in chains.
Hakai surprised both men by not trying to dodge, block or defend himself in any way.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
A series of cracks sounded out, resulting in a wide-eyed Jianta staring at his daggers that were now as good as dust, while Daji grit his teeth to keep himself from shouting in pain from the breaking of his arm.
The two were surprised even further when each of Hakai's hands palmed one of their faces, before they felt their bodies being slammed into one-another, then tossed towards the other repelled fighters as if they were as much as garbage.
"THE ART OF THUNDER WRANGLING!"
A bolt of of electricity as thick as the average man's arm slammed into the standing form of Hakai, resulting in a large explosion of light and sand that obscured everyone's vision.
The four other fighters stared at Xunjie with shock, while even Xu gave him a rather appreciative look.
"Junior Xunjie," Xu spoke up, "It is a pleasant surprise that you've already grasped the art of projecting your ki in the form of an element at your age. The Liu clan was wise to place their hopes on you."
Xunjie, wiping the few beads of sweat that had built up on his forehead, gave Xu a respectful bow.
"Thank you for your kind words, superior Xu, but this one has not yet fully learned the art. Were grandfather here, he would've created something five times stronger than this with a flick of a finger."
"Indeed that may be the case," Xu said with a nod, "However he was much older than you when he first gained the ability to use your art of thunder wrangling. When you reach his age, how much stronger do you think you'll be?"
"NOW THA'S A QUESTION HE WON'T HAFTA ANSWER!"
The chinese martial artists looked back at the source of the voice, the five fighters with shock, and Xu with narrowed eyes. They watched as the cloud of sand and smoke was washed away by a strong sea breeze, revealing the form of Hakai standing in the center of a smoking crater, the edges showing slight signs of vitrification.
The only difference on his person was a mild scorch mark on his chest.
"You fuckers say yer super strong and unbeatable and all that crap, but ya can barely scratch me! Now, Imma hit back!"
An explosion sounded out, coinciding with the deepening and widening of the crater created by the explosion of thunder.
BOOM!
Xunjie's eyes widened extremely, his heart nearly stopping at the sight of Hakai's fist, which had been heading straight towards his face, halted by Xu's hand, the back of said hand almost touching his nose.
Xunjie hurriedly jumped back, reuniting with the four others that had saluted Xu alongside him, the five marital artists watching the clash between the Hakai and Xu with wide and attentive eyes.
"Hoh~... Fer you ta actually stop my punch... Not too bad..."
"The strength of your strike was not wholly inadequate."
The gazes of the two met, sparks all but appearing between them before their limbs turned into blurs as they struck at one-another, each clash causing the sand under them to billow outwards, and shock waves to wash over the seaside.
"HA!"
"Hnh!"
The two clashed once again, Hakai's fist against Xu's kick, something that caused them both to be blasted backwards, forcing them to dig their feet into the sand to slow themselves to a stop.
"THA'S WHA' 'M TALKIN' 'BOUT!"
The longer the fight went, the more fun Hakai had, his eyes shining with a manic gleam, while Xu maintained his composed exterior. Despite this, though, it was undeniable to him that this battle was causing his aged heart to pump with a level of strength and excitement that it hadn't shown in years.
"YER GOOD OL' MAN, BUT IMMA START FIGHTIN' SERIOUS NOW!"
"Heh, you stole the words right out of my mo-"
OPPA-OPPA-OPPAI OPPAI!
OPPA-OPPA-OPPA OPPAI!
FIGHTING FOR LOVE, FIGHTING FOR HEART!
AGAINST THE DARK, PURI PURI OPPAI!
OPPA-OPPA-OPPA OPPAI...
Everybody present froze at once, before their gazes shifted over towards the source of the ridiculous song, which was behind a large stone at the edge of the sand.
-A few minutes earlier-
Two days. Two days of tortuous awkwardness had passed for Aika, as she saw her parents take every given opportunity to stare at her, only to look away whenever they made eye contact. They would walk up to her with the visible intent to start a conversation, only to stop mid-sentence, stammer out some sort of excuse and move away.
It was starting to drive her nuts!
Aika had no idea what to do about this situation... No.
She looked towards he sister, receiving only a knowing nod, and giving one of her own in answer.
Whipping out her phone, Aika dialed in and hit call before she had the time to second-guess herself, tapping the fingers of her free hand on her skirt as the she waited for the call to connect.
Beep!
-Back to the Present-
Issei stared at his ringing phone incredulously, before sighing inwardly.
'When I won my new outfit at the cork shooting game I thought that maybe good luck had decided to settle itself in my life, but then something like this goes and happens. I've never been called at this time of the day before in my entire life, and the first time that I am, it happens just at the right moment to expose me to the guys I'd been successfully watching while undetected.'
He looked at the screen of his phone, eyes eyes widening at the sight of Aika's name.
Click!
He hurried to answer the call, placing the phone against the side of his mask and speaking in hused tones.
"Hey Ise!"
"Hey babe!"
"Are you busy right now?"
"I'm at work, but I have a minute to talk, what's up?"
"Well, I told you about how my parents are in town, right?"
"Yeah, and you didn't sound particularly thrilled about it."
"Yeah, can't say I was, or am, for that matter, but that's not very important right now. You see... My parents sort of want to meet you. Would you be free this next weekend?"
"Yeah, I think I should be free for that weekend, so I'll be there barring some sort of medical or family emergency."
"Okay, that's great! Now I'll let you get back to your work!"
"Okay, hun. Love you!"
Having said that, Issei disconnected the call before putting his phone away.
"Love you!"
Beep!
Mira, Yohei and Hokkyoku stared at Aika, her frozen posture and unseeing gaze scaring them a fair bit.
"Aika..." Mira spoke in a soothing tone, something that had unfortunately become habitual these last few days, as it meant there was conflict and intense emotions. "What's wrong? What did he say?"
"He said that he loved me..."
Aika's mumbled response was followed by a large blush spreading across her face. Her tone had gone louder than a mumble, but was still quite below her usual speaking voice as she absent-mindedly informed her family.
"He said he'll be here next weekend as long as there're no emergencies."
Having said that, the brunette's mouth shifted into a massive grin, lecherous giggles filling the air around her as she ambled out of the room they were in, heading to her own room with perverted intent written all over her face.
Forcing a smile onto her face, Mira spoke towards her still frozen parents.
"I guess we'll be meeting him over lunch this weekend?"
Hakai, Xu and all of the other martial artists were still staring incredulously at the rock, only for their eyes to widen further at the figure that came out from behind it.
The figure was taller than the average japanese adult, standing at 5 feet and 9 inches (179.8 CM), and was clad in a white, long-sleeved, ankle-length outer robe, with a red dragon coiled around the length of the robe and its head resting over his right shoulder. Between the slits along the sides of the lower part of the robe, a pair of grey colored shaolin pants and socks could be seen, ending in a pair of black, cotton kung fu shoes.
However, the most striking part of the figure was its face, or rather, the mask that covered it.
Well... Simply calling it a mask would not do it justice.
I was something more akin to a helmet, due to the fact that it covered the entirety of the wearer's head, rather than just the face. It was blood red in color, and depicted the visage of an eastern dragon, with a textured forehead done in the pattern of interconnected scales, a ridged, elongated snout with a wide pair of nostrils, with sharp red spikes taking the place of the usual beard. The eyebrows were ridged, and bore spikes similar to those of the beard. A pair of white horns poked out from his forehead, both of them sharp and branching. The eyes of the mask shone with a solid green glow, making it impossible to meet the gaze of it's wearer.
The most striking part of the mask, though, was it's mouth.
Wickedly sharp teeth were constantly visible on the mask, with the corners of the mouth seemingly stretching all the way from ear to ear. Despite this, none of the watchers were really certain whether the mask's grin was friendly, or something much more sinister.
"Sorry about that!" The tense mood that had sprung up when the masked figure came into view vanished altogether at the sight of him sheepishly scratching the back of its head. "I really had to take that call."
Having regained his composure, Xu spoke up.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
The figure tilted it's head, causing the already poor lighting of the deserted seaside to hit it's face at an angle that obscured the majority of it, leaving only the burning green orbs, sharp horns and wide grin - now exuding a particularly menacing and bloodthirsty feeling - visible.
"I'm the one that personally destroyed the Quantou clan, and slaughtered Quantou Shumei. As to why I'm here..."
Everybody's eyes widened as the masked figure disappeared, only for their mouths to follow suit at the sight of it standing back-to-back with Xu.
"I am here to have words with you."
Xu turned around with a knife hand chop, yet he struck only air as the masked figure was already standing in front of Hakai, who looked serious for the first time in the entire night.
"I'm going to need to talk to Xu, so you can't kill him. You can play with the other ones if you wish, though. Now pick up your toys and go. Shoo! Shoo!"
"Heh... Heh heh... HAHAHAHAHA!"
Hakai threw his head back and laughed raucously, one of his large hands covering his pierced face as he did. His laughs persisted for quite a while, visibly unnerving the weaker martial artists, and causing even Xu to frown deeply.
"Hah... Heh..." After his laughter wound down, the sight of his face twisted into a rictus of fury could be seen through the gaps of his fingers, large, thick veins throbbing along his face and bald forehead.
"NEVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE HAVE I BEEN TREATED SO POORLY, AS IF I WERE AS MUCH AS A FILTHY FUCKING DOG! YOU ARE PISSING ME THE FUCK OFF!"
A powerful breeze started up around Hakai, whipping up the sand around them. Even behind the thin cloud of sand, the light blue outline that appeared around his body could be seen. Rather, it was even more striking then.
"STEEL STRONG BODY!"
Hakai took one step out of the sand cloud, and all present could have sworn that at the moment his foot touched the ground, a ripple spread out, and the ground underneath them shook.
Soon enough Hakai was looking down at the masked man, his bare chest almost being touched by the mask's snout. With a sinister grin that conveyed his full anger marking his face, he spoke sinisterly.
"Any last words?"
"Just two." The masked man - Issei - spoke. "Deep breath."
Hakai tilted his head in confusion.
"Wha-Urk!"
Anything else he intended to say was interrupted by the fist that had embedded itself in his gut, right below his diaphragm, causing the air to rush out of his lungs in it's entirety, and leaving him grounded, his arms wrapped around his torso as he desperately struggled for air.
He turned towards Xu after that, his mild tone causing the old martial artist to gulp, copious amounts of sweat rolling down his forehead and neck.
"We're going to have a good, long talk, Xu."
Xu took half a step back in fright, only for his pride to reassert itself with burning potency, causing his face to shift to a neutral frown that conveyed much less fear than he truly felt as he spoke.
"I do not know who you are, or what you want from me, but since you do know of me, then you must also know of the Shanmai clan and its might. If you touch a single strand of my hair, you will have both the Shanmai clan, and every single one of the other clans it either commands or is allied to chasing after you."
"You know... You're not the first one to threaten me with their family. The first one was Quantou Lin, and, well... We all know how that ended. Knowing that, do you really think I'm going to be scared of your clan, or simply allow you to freely go on your way?"
Issei tilted his head to the side, avoiding a bolt of thunder, before turning his burning gaze towards Xunjie.
"How rude."
One moment Xuenji was just standing there, stupefied at the fact that his attack had been so easily dodged at the range he had fired it from and from outside of the field of view of the masked man, the next one he was flying out of view, while the Issei stood in front of the spot Xuenji previously stood at, his balled fist stretched out.
"Mhm, he flew pretty far away." He turned his head towards the petrified Xu and tilted it curiously. "D'you think he's still alive after that?"
After a few seconds of utter silence other than that of the sea meeting the sand and the few rocks scattered around, Issei shrugged before speaking.
"Probably doesn't matter, since a flight like that will leave him almost completely shattered. Now..."
'ESCAPE!'
This was the thought that roared within the minds of all of the still standing martial artists, however every time they tried to make good on said thought, they felt their legs clenching up, the usual nimbleness and ease of movement they possessed utterly gone under the absolute terror they felt, replaced with a sensation akin to that of a regular person trying to swim against the current of a raging river, all the while wearing lead leg weights.
Issei was now standing in front of Xu in a parallel to the position Hakai stood in front of him in.
"I want you to tell me why the Shanmai clan came to japan, which other clans you know to have come, and why."
"S-senior brother..." Xu spoke in an attempt at a placating tone, "T-there is no need to be like this! If our Shanmai family is operating in your country, it is not out of disrespect! It is just... We knew not that Senior brother had already claimed this territory!"
Despite the fact that the dragon mask was static, Xu almost could have sworn to have seen the green eyes narrowing, something that caused him to panic and start babbling.
"I-if it is the business, then there is no need to be so aggressive! The Shanmai clan would be honored to pay tribute to senior brother's greatness, as we too are being paid handsomely by-Ack!"
Xu's words were halted when something hit his neck at high speed, causing him to fall over limply.
Issei's hand shot up, allowing him to trap whatever it was that was shot towards him between his fingers. He looked down at what had been shot his way, noticing the fact that it looked like some sort of syringe dart, though rather than having a body made out of hard plastic, it had a body of glass.
Issei turned his head towards the general direction that the darts had come from and focused, something that allowed him to spot a small boat a few miles away.
Inside the speedboat there sat a single figure clad in black from head to toe, with not a single inch of skin or strand of hair visible, that held a massive rifle that one would expect to see used against armored vehicles or buildings, with a bipod resting on the bow of the boat.
The figure pulled the trigger twice in quick succession, something that Issei reacted to by tilting his head left and then right.
The figure seemed to give up, pulling it's massive gun back into the boat and starting it.
"Oh no you don't!"
Issei bent his legs, his Tantric Energy surging as he prepared to Shunpo his way towards the escaping boat-
"Ugh... Oof.. ArhgAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Only for his head to snap towards the figure of Shanmai Xu, allowing him to see as Xu gripped his own throat with great urgency and writhed around on the ground, his eyes opened so widely that they seemed as if they were about to pop out.
Issei watched with a sense of horrified curiosity as the man's eyes reddened, until two streams of blood started rolling down them as if they were blood tears. Blood came out of his ears, nostrils and mouth as well, while his mouth remained open in a silent scream.
Soon enough the sounds of bones snapping reached Issei's ears, who watched with a deeper and deeper sense of disgust and horror as the bones fractured in ways that caused them to poke out of Xu's body from all over, with his ribcage all but stabbing it's way out of his torso, leaving his internal organs visible.
His silent scream changed as his mouth keept trying to open even further, resulting in his face ripping apart starting from the corners of his mouth, and going all the way up his cheeks, towards his bleeding ears.
His muscles bulged and pulsed before exploding into a mass of growing, throbbing red flesh, growing to the point that they engulfed the previously exposed bones before forcefully compressing itself, causing the bones to snap back into Xu's body.
His legs kicked out wildly, the muscles of his thighs growing thicker and thicker until they shattered the femurs and knees, only to then pull it back together, but wrong, with the knees pointing back rather than forward, like the legs of a quadruped mammal like a bull, or a goat.
The growing muscles caused Xu's clothes to shred, though Issei was spared his nudity by the thick and copious amounts of fur that grew from almost all over his body.
Xu's head also started changing, his face turning into a fur-covered elongated snout, while the ripped flesh and skin from before and all the way to the ears healed and thickened into a pair of lips. The top of his skull started distending, until a large and thick pair of bull's horns burst through, in a splash of flesh, blood and bone.
The figure finally stopped thrashing and slowly stood up, revealing the fact that despite the majority of its body was covered in fur, the middle of its torso was free of it, and his chest even shone with a red glow.
"ARGHHHHHH!"
"HNNNNNNNNNG!"
Issei's head snapped towards the new screams, and he watched as one of the old men and one of the middle-aged men started undergoing a transformation similar to Xu's.
"What the fuck!?"
Issei's horrified exclamation drew the focus of Minotaur Xu, who let out a loud roar.
"ROAGHHHHHH!"
The roar caught Issei's attention, prompting him to turn his focus back towards Xu, only to be met with a gaping wide mouth that gave Issei an unimpeded view down a Minotaur's throat. The masks' eyes shone with a higher intensity at the sight of a red glow building up in the back of the Minotaur's throat.
WOOSH
A torrent of flames erupted from the Minotaur's mouth, completely flooding the place Issei stood at.
Glkt!
Issei reappeared beside the Minotaur, his hand thrust into his side all the way down to the wrist and into the general area of where a kidney would be on a human, due to the height diference between them.
"*%$# !"
The Minotaur let out an indistinct roar before letting a backhand fly towards Issei, who ducked the blow, before pulling his hand from the Minotaur's body and jumping back, creating a certain amount of distance.
'Alright, so right when I'm about to get some juicy information, something hits my source. This something was a dart, shot by a mysterious figure on a boat miles away, and whatever it was that was within the dart, it resulted in my source turning into a fucking Minotaur.'
Eyeing Mino-Xu, Issei clicked his tongue.
'A Minotaur that breathes fire, and that recovers from wounds fucking fast, if that sealing split on his side says anything about it. Great. So, Ddraig, got any advice?'
[Regenerators are the fucking worst, but there are ways to work around this. As a general rule, their healing factor tends to depend on their magical reserves, and the more injuries they have to heal from, or the more intense and life-threatening the injuries are, the higher the drain on their magic reserves are. Drain their magic reserves enough, and they completely lose their ability to regenerate. Another method is to find or create a weapon, spell or ritual that is capable of suppressing or ignoring healing. Other than that, I can only think of hitting it with an instakill attack that completely obliterates it, or damages it so much that it's incapable of healing from it.]
'Basically, regenerators are bullshit, hit them really hard and really fast, and find a way to ignore regeneration in the future, to avoid this sort of situation. Got it.'
Issei pointed a finger towards the Minotaur, allowing a yellow ball of crackling electricity the size of a marble to appear at the tip of said finger.
"Kindly, die."
Balls of lightning fired consecutively towards the Minotaur, rapidly ripping holes into the entirety of its body. Before any single hole had the time to close up, two or three more balls of lightning had already slammed into it, widening it further.
The Minotaur tried to step towards Issei, only to take a lightning bullet to each of its eyes. Soon enough the Minotaur started staggering in place, the red glow within its chest intensifying to an extreme degree.
The red glow started going up from its hole-covered torso towards its throat, before flames started uncontrollably pouring out of it's mouth, nostrils, ears, and even from the holes in its torso. Staggering one last time, the Minotaur let out a flaming belch before it fell over, dead.
After shooting it with a few more lightning bullets in the head to ensure that it was really dead, Issei turned his focus towards the other two Minotaurs, only to watch as one of them swatted the previously downed Hakai away, sending him on a long flight, while the other one seemed content with punching the corpse of one of the martial artists, despite the fact that it was little more than red past all over the sand.
The last martial artist's body was split in two, the torso to one side and the legs to the other.
"Alright, I'm about fucking done with you two."
Issei pointed a hand towards each of the Minotaurs.
"Fucking die."
A beam of electricity as thick as a human's torso flew from each of Issei's hands, lighting up the dark beach with a flash of blinding light. When the flash of light cleared, all that was left of the two minotaurs were two pairs of standing legs, which didn't take long to fall over, dead.
That, and a pair of 'trenches' in the ocean, which quickly got refilled with water after the beams vanished.
Issei pulled the last dart from his pocket, his eyes narrowed as he watched a brownish-colored liquid with the consistency of water sloshing within the glass syringe.
'It looks so harmless, but the damage it deals...'
Issei sighed, allowing his indignation to leave him as he stored the dart and pulled out his work phone. He dialed the only number it had saved, and as soon as the call was picked up, he spoke up without giving the person on the other side any time to do so.
"XXXX Beach at Tsuchiura city. When you see a restaurant with a white roof, just keep going south until you reach an area without any homes, restaurants, or just people in general. Send at least two trucks, and people capable of cleaning up copious amounts of blood, guts and all other sorts of nastiness. Also, be aware that you will be paying out the nose for this one."
He disconnected the call before Susanoo could respond, before allowing his gaze to fall back on Mino-Xu's corpse.
"When I find the person or people behind this... I am going to murderize them."
[You know, I like it a lot more when you're like this, than when you're drooling after your girls' bodies. Can you be like this all the time?]
Issei scoffed at that.
'I'm angry, Ddraig, not Emo.'
Shaking his head, Issei sat down on the sand as he waited for the clean-up crew.
His day ended with him watching the sun rising over the ocean, all the while suited and masked people scraped bits and pieces of Minotaur off of the sand, and loaded them into a truck.
-Chapter, End!-
Okay, I know that I don't usually do this, but I'll do it now.
I have just recently joined a discord for those who enjoy writing and reading fanfiction, and I have to say that I don't regret doing so. The people there are great, the conversations can range from shitposting to serious story talk based on the channel you're at, and it's just generally a great server to be. If you feel like you can withstand an elevated amount of degeneracy and want to join us, you can do so at " Dis cord -dot gg -slash- V54pcwA ". Anyways, see you next update!