New Mission

In the city of faith, Tamaki is slouching on top of a bench taking in the sun.

As kids run around him playing with a ball. The ball gets stuck on a tree and the kids look up with a sadden expression. Tamaki opens one of his eyes and notices the sad kids looking up at the stuck ball.

A kid pulls his jacket pointing at the ball asking Tamaki for help.

He sits back up and gestures to him to leave him alone, and the kid with an upset face walks away calling him a meanie.

But once he turns around, Tamaki summons a tiny portal and pokes his finger through, pushing the ball down.

The kids watched as it fell and continued to play.

Raina: "Didn't know you were a sucker for kids"

Tamaki doesn't look in her direction and just sits there trying to pretend she's not there.

Raina: "Hey you awake?"

She starts to tap his head repeatedly. Tamaki with a tired expression looks over at her, Raina looks back with excitement.

Raina: "What are we gonna do today!?"

Tamaki sighed and then pulled out a piece of paper about his mission.

Tamaki: "We're heading to the city of lust today"

Raina: "Wha-Why?!"

Tamaki: "Read the paper dumbass"

She grabs and skims through it.

Raina: "So they suspect people from the worshippers are in the city of lust"

Tamaki: "Seems like you're not that dumb after you read"

He starts to point and laugh and Raina retaliates.

The bickering went on for a while until they finally made it to the port.

Raina: "How long are we going to be gone for?"

Tamaki: "Probably a day or 2, really just depends because the person we're investigating isn't known all too well."

Tamaki looks down at a paper file of a woman.

 Name: Layla

Rank: Paladin

Height: 6 ft

Weight: 178 pounds

Age: 39

Species: Fox Hybrid

Magic: Unknown

Magic type: Unknown

Background: Layla, also known as the Fox Paladin, grew up on the surface and was part of a large slave trading scandal and after it fell apart she was recorded onto the Monster Hunter database. Soon after becoming a Paladin, she becomes one of the owners of the largest sex laundering companies within the 2nd city of lust.

Tamaki's thoughts: "Seems like how she became a paladin is unknown currently, and her document barely has anything on it, She is good at hiding it seems"

Raina: "What are you thinking about?"

Tamaki: "Just checking up on the person who we are investigating"

He passes her Layla documents and looks through her, eventually she ends up on the species.

Raina: "Fox hybrid!?"

Tamaki: "Hm? What about it?"

Raina: "I thought they were wiped out, from what I've heard some foxes can control one's soul and manipulate it through their bloodline, so they were wiped out and some were kept alive as slaves. I'd never think that one made it out alive"

Tamaki: "Why that?"

Raina: "From what I've heard those who were slaves, specifically for intercourse have a 2% survival rate until you reach the number of years required for the slave contract to expire"

Tamaki: "Never knew"

As they sit down in the airship there where a bunch of citizens boarding too, looking for a good time they talk about what they are going to do in the city of lust and others are just couples that just want to the love district which is much smaller than the lust district but celebrates the tradition of love.

As the door closes for the airship, Tamaki sits down with his arms crossed looking down and Raina just looks around in curiosity.

Tamaki: "If you want something to do try polishing your blade a bit, it's a precious weapon that was entrusted to me by a long-gone friend so make sure to keep it in good condition"

Raina: "R-R-Right!"

Tamaki pulls out tools to use to polish a sword and passes it to her. Raina pulls out the Wakizashi. It was beautiful, the dark black handle and the shiny black hilt shaped like the moon reminded Raina that she never got a good look at it whenever she used it.

The wavy pattern and the razor-sharp edge complement each other. After a while of polishing, she saw a marking on the bottom side of the blade that was covered in imperfections. As she looks at the mark it is a kanji.

It was familiar as a memory sparked through her head, and one word repeated a couple of times after seeing it.

Tsukuyomi

She just stared at it for a while as she recalled that time against the monster lizard, as the hand of pure light placed on her shoulder she felt a warmth recalling it, and with that warmth, she felt power coursing through her veins. More than ever, within that split second.

Tamaki: "Hey Raina"

He snapped in front of her face.

Raina snaps back to reality and looks around as people are leaving the airship.

Tamaki: "We made it, so stop daydreaming"

Raina put away her blade quickly and handed back the polishing tools.

Raina: "Thank you for letting me borrow them"

Tamaki: "Hey, don't worry about it. Let's just get to the city and finish up the mission"

Raina: "Of course!"

As she jumped off her seat and walked behind Tamaki, one of the crew members started to observe them closely after Tamaki said "Mission".

As they walk off the airship they observe the colorful and bright city lights coming out of buildings. Women holding up signs and men getting kicked out. This city was lively and constantly having business.

As they walk through, women walk up to Tamaki offering him services only to be met with a cold glance. The more they walk through the more colorful it gets, with women smoking pipes on balconies, moans coming from the 2nd floor of the buildings, and beautiful women dancing on the side of the streets.

As Raina looked around she always felt disturbed while walking, like someone around the corner would grab her and drag her away. Even with her teacher around she couldn't shake off this feeling of being watched.

Back inside a large tower, Layla was looking at an orb with Raina and Tamaki coming from it.

Layla: "Only sending 1 paladin, how foolish is the king"

As she looks back at the orb, she looks closer at Tamaki.

Soon she grabbed the orb and lay down on her bed with the orb right in front of her.

Layla: "Why do I feel like I know you…?"

A memory pops into her head, a memory of a man wearing black clothing with Navy blue hair and a bright smile on his face looking down with his hand reaching out.

Layla: "I am losing my edge, to compare this man to that one is like comparing dirt to gold"

Layla puts the orb back and holds a pillow close to herself. As she holds it her eyes fill up with regret and misery.

Layla: "Where did you go… Ryu"