6 Chapter 6 - On Enemy Grounds

An early and rather short breakfast started and the enthusiastic Takumi bolted though the door, headed straight for the demon kingdom but as usual, Ichika, who was even more interested in his safety since their conversation the night before, held him back,

"How do plan to defend yourself?"

Takumi looked puzzled at the question and replied, "by slicing up who is an enemy, duh!"

Ichika and Luna, who hid her presence while eavesdropping did an echoing face palm, "You need to learn techniques and skills before even thinking of fighting demons, and there are surely a lot of them under the demon queen's rule." Ichika told him.

Luna further added that getting into the kingdom would require infiltration so he would need to master shapeshifting. The thought of more training made Takumi's exuberance turned into sorrow as he asked how he would learn these techniques.

"Let's start with my training since it's the hardest and the most tiring," Ichika said with a smile, Takumi raised a brow but decided to get it over with.

Ichika began the training by informing Takumi that he would have to enter the dragon realm once more to learn techniques but before Ichika could even complete her explanation, Takumi belted out a cry screaming, "not that again, we don't even have a healing spring this time, I'll get penetrated again!!!"

Luna giggled in the background while Ichika glared at the tearful Takumi, she huffed, "You didn't let me finish, you've been a dragon host for an adequate amount of time so you can simply focus your Ryū no chikara and then see yourself in the same place you were the last time and you'll be there."

Takumi felt satisfied and did exactly as he was told and on the first try he found himself back in the dragon realm, once again in the nude.

"Well look who's back," said the husky voice of the moon dragon Kage, "we've been expecting you."

Takumi waved at the beast then asked about the other two, Kage told him that Daichi has a thing for Mizuko so it would only be the two of them but Takumi seemed more interested in the fact that he was fully naked in front of a man. The dragon realized this instantly and informed him that he could just use his mental strength and make clothing appear then the teaching of techniques would begin.

Takumi clothed himself in some loose clothing and asked what would be the first part if the training.

"Well I wouldn't call it training;" Kage explained, "all we'll be doing here is transferring my fighting techniques to your memory, but be warned it will take really long and might hurt depending on how advanced your mental capacity is."

During this explanation Takumi was overwhelmed with all the information he received but was somewhat discouraged by the thought of more pain, which seemed to be becoming a usual occurrence in these situations but nevertheless he prepared himself the best he could for this experience and the learning began.

Kage placed a claw on his forehead and a purple light shone. Immediately after, a flood of information entered his mind, causing him to grit his teeth in pain. Takumi was a fairly intelligent person so the pain was far less that what a dimwit would feel. The techniques of all three Dragon Emperors who were under the domain of the Moon were passed on, along with some basic fighting techniques similar to 'Kendo' and 'Karate'; just to make sure he knew when and how to execute the techniques in a way that would be more effective.

***

It took three hours in the world of the flesh before Takumi returned, he was greeted by a very upset Ichika who had just been beaten ten times over by Luna in a game called 'Senjō' (battleground) which was similar in technique to 'shougi'; a Japanese variation of chess.

"How was it?" Asked Luna, looking very pleased with her victory, Takumi put on a sly smile and tried his best not to flashback to the horrible experience.

"Totally easy, as expected of myself."

His female companions both turned to each other and exchanged facial expressions, "Is that so?" Ichika asked.

Takumi's gloating showed no end until he was stopped by Luna's request to spar. At that very moment Takumi felt like a solo mouse at a cat convention and kindly refused, asking to be trained in shape shifting instead.

She happily agreed and added that it isn't really training since anyone can do it if they have the mental ability, the conceited smile on Takumi's face broadened as he thanked the gods, "finally something simple."

Luna further instructed him to try to channel his Ryū no chikara on a cellular level and embody the creature he wanted to mimic. After many failed attempts which were accompanied by grotesque forms he finally learned the technique, he excused himself to a short outdoor bathroom break and returned to see Luna and Ichika deep in conversation.

He asked for the details and learned that the village head found out that the helper who the demon queen summoned was the Sun Dragon Host for extra manpower but couldn't bend the person to her evil will. This information meant that their original mission changed from a plunder to a silent search and rescue.

He suggested that since each of them could shapeshift they should do so to make the new task easier. Both females agreed to his plan, mostly because they couldn't come up with one of their own.

Luna added that they should just quickly scout the area from three levels and meet back at her home, Takumi understood the plan and nodded.

"I don't think Luna needs to shapeshift since she already looks like a child," but as soon as the poor guy finished his sentence, a brutal kick to his face was landed by a furious Luna, who seemed to have superb hearing. Ichika slowly shook her head in utter disappointment.

After all that was said and done, Takumi regained consciousness and his two companions seemed ready to set off so he got up, dusted himself off and rushed behind them.

Luna didn't bother to pack a lot of food since it would be better if they returned as soon as possible, the walked on a straight path until they reached an area covered in a dark fog.

"We're close," Ichika deduced, a squeal was heard and the frightened Takumi threw his blade in the direction of the sound.

Luna peered towards it and saw a purple rabbit right before it vanished, with sharp teeth and deadly red eyes. Takumi pulled the sword from the ground and transformed into a crow, implying that he would survey from the sky, Ichika and Luna joined in by changing into a mole and a snake respectively.

They then went their separate ways on a mission to find out as much about this dark kingdom as possible.