7 Chapter 7 - Infiltration

It took a while for Takumi to get used to the feeling of being another creature so he took his time flying, he went closer to the ground in order to keep track of his path.

Ever since his journey as a dragon host began, this was the first time he's actually been alone but that was the least of his problems, the thing that bothered him the most was not the fact that he could only protect himself, but some thing more trivial.

He couldn't stand to be in a body outside of his magnificent own. So he perched on a relatively tall tree and released the transformarion.

He didn't move for a while, the area didn't give him much visibility so even if he was concealed by the fog, he couldn't see what was out there so he saw it best to stay hidden.

He swatted an insect against his face then he glanced at his ring, "hmm, I wonder if this thing can give me an invisibility suit." he thought to himself while fondling the piece of jewelry.

He couldn't find a use for the ring besides what he'd already seen until now and got somewhat upset then the voice of the water dragon Mizuko was heard.

"You'll need to break through my water element to do something like that." said the calm, subtle voice.

Takumi was confused and further asked what she meant by break through and why she's able to communicate with her outside the dragon realm. She answered all his questions with the utmost intelligence and made it easy for him to understand, she said that to break through was to achieve the many techniques and attributes associated with his elements which was split up into growths and scales.

Each dragon host held five growths which were listed in ascending order as: Intital Dragon, Phased Dragon, Premier Dragon, Master Dragon and finally Emperor Dragon. Each growth held ten scales which varied depending on the element and after breaking through the tenth scale of a growth would the dragon host reach the next. She then added that the dragon realm was only for full on contact between them and not for merely speaking.

Takumi followed the instructions to the letter and broke through to [Water Dragon | Second Scale; Subtle Step] which allowed him to be able to slip through the cracks of the human senses like a flowing stream.

He was left on his own once more at that point and so he used his new found skill and tried it out. The ring's gemstone switched to a blue sheen and his dragon mark appeared with a hydra wrapped around the original image, a calm but cold force emerged from his body and his silver hair waved in the breeze, he then found himself clad in a tightly fitting sapphire coloured suit which covered every part of his body with the exception of his eyes. Mizuko recommended that he hide his weapon in the dragon realm due it's length so he could gain more stealth and he did just that.

The enthusiastic hero examined his new gear and was very pleased, "I should give Gyotan a better thank you when I return," he smiled and then sprung from tree to tree on his way to the demon kingdom.

He easily flew from each branch without making a single sound, he then arrived at a valley, Takumi went to lower ground and looked between the hills and found that the valley was where the kingdom was located. It looked like something he had seen before in a game, it had a large castle in the centre with what seemed to be towns enclosing it.

"How can there be towns in a demon kingdom?" He questioned as he slowly drew closer.

As he got to where a paved road started a large pulsing sound was given and he was violently flung backwards, "Fuck, a force field," he pouted, Kage's voice switched places with Mizuko's and Takumi learned that he could slice it open for a small window of time since the moon dragon could manipulate space and hearing that made a large, sly grin form across Takumi's face.

He called for his sword from the dragon realm, and held it tightly at the guard with one arm and activated his moon dragon force.

"Takumi! Wait for us!" The two female voices belonged to Luna and Ichika running towards Takumi.

They had both given up their non-human forms and joined Takumi by his side, he gave a quick but strong vertical slice and the force field showed a dark colour and an eye shaped opening was formed, the three scouts jumped through one by one with Takumi going last.

The castle town looked completely different inside the barrier than on the outside, the road towards the wall which normally enclosed the city was jagged with thorny vines and at the top of the wall were six guards, looking very attentive.

"Let's take them out, quickly," Luna told and Ichika agreed Takumi's arrogance resurfaced and he proposed that the one who beats them the fastest would get all the credit of the mission and as soon as he finished his sentence the two females were off.

Takumi, who was still holding his sword jumped to the remaining area of the wall which held two absent minded guards, they noticed him as he landed and both charged.

Takumi in turn jumped high causing the two underlings to collide. He then sent his sword straight through their heads the blood gushed all over Takumi's face and vanished right after, along with the bodies and as the very satisfied hero went to meet up with the others he stopped to wonder why he had no reaction to the fact that he just killed someone.

"I definitely won," Takumi said with a grin as they rejoined each other on the other side of the wall, the two women looked at each other as if there was a secret to be kept.

The three found themselves in a town on the north end of the castle, they went to the highest building they could find as to get a wider view and to avoid being spotted. The townsfolk seemed to be enslaved by the former queen but the reason was unknown.

"I think we'll need to blend in to gain the information we need" Ichika thought and after some deliberation they knew exactly how to do so.