42

Chapter 42: Dragonslayer Festival III

Notes:

I'm back! Contrary to the last chapter which took forever to write, this was nigh instant! Sure it's slightly shorter but I think it's a lot better than the last one quality-wise. Combat, character interaction, companionship, this chapter has it all!!! Sorry, lol, I'm excited today. The next chapter will be setting up the climax of this event arc but I did a little groundwork here. It will also finally have the Illpyo-Expy speak because I figured out exactly what I want there. I've damn well teased his existence enough. I hope you all enjoy another chapter and wish you a Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Chapter Text

I abort a swing of my sword, leaping away from a massive tail that crashes into the water's surface where I just was. The dragon takes the opportunity while I'm in mid-air to try to swallow me whole. 

By now they've started to grow to the point where a single tooth is as large as my entire body. Therefore, when the dragon opens its mouth and gets close, it blocks everything else from sight with sheer size. That doesn't stop me from shooting a fireball made of black flames twice the size of my body down its throat.

To give credit where it is due, the dragon still tries to impale me on its teeth even as its throat is consumed by my fire. With my free hand, I grab hold of the nearest fang and pull, launching me back out of its mouth before it can trap me inside.

The titanic body creates tidal waves as it thrashes, futilely attempting to dive underwater to snuff out the flames. No matter how much water it swallows or how deep it descends, the flames use even the water itself as fuel to grow.

I frown as I land back on the water surface and stare at my sword. 

Looking down the edge of the blade I can see chips and rolls from impacts against the scales of the dragons. Their hides are quickly growing too hard for my sword to cut through, even with my physical strength and sword intent to back my swings.

It's getting to the point where my fists and claws are more efficient at harming the dragons than my sword.

To be honest I should have seen this coming sooner. While my skills and body have been improving all this time, my sword is still the same weapon I've been wielding for years. 

Ibaraki-Douji crafted this sword to carry the weight of his revenge but he himself was barely an Ultimate-Class being. He definitely was not a blacksmith. 

This sword will be able to hold on for now if I continue to reinforce it. Still, in the future my opponents will only grow tougher and my sword needs to be able to cut them. If it can't, it's only a burden.

I dismiss my sword, storing it inside my soul, and pay attention to the dragon that has been rising out of the water next to me. It was trying to be stealthy, a testament to how much their intelligence has grown over the past few hours.

When it realizes I've noticed it, the dragon rears its head back and roars. There's an intense stabbing pain in my ears at the sheer volume. Not only that but the displaced air from the roar is enough to start pushing me back across the water.

I roar back at the dragon to cancel out the waveform and growl at it when it's finished. Its tongue flicks out as it slowly slides its head back and forth, trying to find the best angle to strike from. While its actions are clearly serpentine, it doesn't truly have the patience to wait for the ideal moment. 

It is a dragon first and foremost, what need does a dragon have for strategy?

It darts at me swift as lightning and I rush towards it too. Taking advantage of the surprise it feels at me charging it, I pour all my speed into horizontal movement at the last second. My clothes ripple as its head barely passes by me and I plant my feet on the water.

My hips twist and my Ki rushes through my body as my fist extends with full force. The moment my knuckles make contact with the scales just below the dragon's wide eye my Ki explodes through the contact point. The air around my fist briefly compresses and there is a flash of light.

After an instance in which the world seems to go still, the flesh of the dragon ripples and crushes inward. The scales shatter, the nearest ones instantly turning to powder, while scales further away are launched from the dragon's body. The eye directly above my fist can't take the sudden pressure and explodes in a shower of blood.

All in all, it is a satisfying and effective attack.

Except for the fucking dragon still isn't dead. It rears back in pain, head thrashing side-to-side to dispel what must be an ungodly amount of pain. Yet the damage didn't extend deep enough to vaporize the creature's brain as I intended.

The thing is, I developed this technique when fighting the undead in Yomi. I neglected to take into account that nothing in Yomi had its own Ki. Living creatures naturally have an innate resistance to someone forcing massive amounts of Ki into their body and using it as a weapon. The creatures in Yomi have no resistance to Ki because they're already dead.

This means I either need to use far more power to explode creatures with a touch or far more skill. Boy did that piss me off the first time I tried it today.

Instead of whining anymore, I jump up to the dragons head and grab onto the bottom of its destroyed eye. I sigh as hold my breath before launching myself into the cavity, my claws gleaming silver.

A minute of making myself into a human-sized mole later and the dragon stops thrashing due to me clawing my way into its brain. Nasty business that.

It takes me longer to get out too because the thrashing made me forget which way I came in. I have to make a new tunnel and end up popping out of the corpse's forehead.

"Did you have no other way you could have killed that?" I'm immediately accosted as I pop out covered in blood and bits of grey matter.

Suzaku is floating in the air, wreathed in a corona of bluish-white flames and grimacing in disgust.

"Probably. Why would I bother though? How many other people can say they've crawled through a dragons head?" I grin as I burn the viscera off my body.

"I don't think anyone else wants to be able to say that." She says pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Cowards." She shakes her head at that. "What are you doing here anyway, Suzaku? Shouldn't you be racking up your own kill count?"

A dragon launches itself out of the water at her while we're talking. She turns and glares at it, waving a hand as it bursts into flames. I fire a ball of Ki at it that knocks it off course and it falls onto the water, missing Suzaku.

"I'm not here to kill as many dragons as possible. I wasn't baited into a childish competition like you." She twists her wrist and the flames on the dragon flare up further causing it to shriek in agony.

"I'm here to learn the breadth of my new powers and how to best apply them." A pair of wings made of flame burst out from her back and continue to grow until they've extended beyond a dozen metres.

By now the scales have been completely stripped from the dragon and its muscle is burning away.

"You almost make it sound like you aren't having fun," I say casually, watching as some bone starts to show through on the dragon's body.

"I'm not. I'm performing a duty, nothing more." Suzaku says not even glancing away from the dragon she just killed.

"That's odd. If that were the truth, why are you smiling?" She turns to me and the ecstatic grin on her face shifts to shock as her hand touches her cheek.

The flames are cut off instantly in her panic and I sigh when I have to catch her. She forgot her flames were keeping her aloft apparently.

She pushes off me the moment she realizes I've caught her and her flames flare up as she starts to run away. 

"Freak out if you want but don't forget we need to meet when this is done!" I yell as she flies away.

"If you don't come to see me I'll have to visit your clan residence. We both know how that will go!" I'd have to kill a whole lot of people if that happened. Well… maybe it's fine if she doesn't come to see me first.

"Who has a moral crisis on a battlefield?" I mutter to the dragon's corpse. "Pick a better time and place for that shit."

I grab one of the smaller bones floating on the water -So triple my height in length and half as thick as my waist- and channel some of the Arrow Intent I was working on in Yomi through it. The bone shapes itself into a more aerodynamic projectile and gains a vicious point. 

After testing the balance, I spin on my heels tossing it like a javelin through the forehead of the nearest dragon.

I click my tongue when it gets embedded in the dragon's forehead but doesn't continue deeper. Their bodies are tougher than mine and they just hatched hours ago! I might develop an inferiority complex if this keeps up!

"RAAAGH!" The redheaded berserker drops from the sky onto the dragon I hit. There is steam rising off his reddened skin as he starts tearing through the scales of the dragon.

In spite of myself, I let out an appreciative noise at the sheer ferocity her rips through its skull with. Flesh, bone, and scales fly through the air as he rips his way into its brain. Well, I'm clearly not the only one to do that anymore.

"You make an excellent spear bearer, Ibaraki! You assisted my brother perfectly!" The blond Viking says from beside me.

The Norse flying boat pulled up next to me while I was watching the spectacle apparently. "No problem, it would have taken more effort than it's worth for me to do the same. I just popped out of one dragon skull, I don't want to repeat that so soon."

"I apologize that we stole your kill, Ibaraki," Rossweisse says from her position at the helm, looking genuinely apologetic.

"It's fine, really. Things are slowing down and berserkers need to work through their rage anyway, right?" Rossweisse beams and nods."

"Yes, Agnar should come back to himself after killing that dragon." Sure enough, the screams of rage are dying down. Or maybe he's just further inside the dragon's body…

"You guys noticed it too then?" I say, hopping up on the flying boat.

"Haha, of course! With our Valkyrie guiding us it's obvious we knew the dragons are beginning to prioritize growth before meeting their deaths. A futile effort but respectable." Orrin says before tossing back a mug of alcohol.

"Are you all heading back to the beachhead while we wait for the dragons to stop hiding?" Rossweisse nods and brings the boat closer to where Agnar is rampaging.

"There is little point in waiting out here anymore, so yes. Lord Vidar had said that once the first wave passed only a handful of dragons would remain and that they would need to be dragged up to the surface." She waves gestures and a dozen magic circles form a staircase up to the boat.

The redhead, Agnar, leaps up into the boat a second later. 

"Agnar! Stop tracing blood into the boat!" Rossweisse scolds him.

"Of course, you start nagging the moment I get back." He sighs grabbing two mugs and handing one to me.

"Cheers, woman. You're going to want to drink otherwise Rossweisse might bore you to death with her rules." I scoff but accept the alcohol all the same.

"Have fun drinking with your brother, dude. I'm going to talk with the only attractive one here." He shrugs and tosses back his brink.

"Your loss." He grins suddenly and jumps at Orrin slugging him across the face. "You let your guard down, brother!"

Orrin cheerfully responds by ramming his fist in Agnar's gut. "It was you who let his guard down!"

Idiots.

Rossweisse spins the ship around with a turn of the wheel and scans our surroundings for any threats. "I hope you don't mind me hitching a ride back."

I take a sip of the drink I was given and hum happily at the burn of alcohol that hits me surrounded by a nice sweetness. The mug was filled with mead apparently.

"It's hardly an inconvenience, miss Ibaraki." I scowl at the form of address.

"None of that 'miss' stuff Rossweisse. Or should I call you Lady Valkyrie?" She flushes and waves her hands in denial.

"Of course not! I'm sorry if I offended you!" I knock back the rest of my mead and sigh in relief as the mug fills up again. If Rossweisse doesn't chill out I'm going to need a bottomless drink to handle her.

"It's fine. You don't need to be so stiff, we're fellow soldiers on a heroic saga or something like that." I shrug.

"Oh, well thank you then." Her eyes harden as another dragon pops up out of the water in front of us.

She whispers some words under her breath and makes a wide sweeping gesture with both arms. Hundreds of magic circles form a dome around the dragon and a second later they all fire. 

The various beams of magic impact the dragon in a kaleidoscope of light and colour and after a minute of continuous bombardment, there's nothing left in that space except dust.

I whistle appreciatively at the display and Rosswiess fidgets at the helm. "So if you can do that, why have you been only supporting the idiots back there."

She sags where she stands and I notice the sweat on her brow. "I can't consistently perform at such a high output. It takes a lot out of me to do that. Besides, even if I could, I'm a Valkyrie."

I raise an eyebrow, "Yeah, I'm going to need more than that."

"I forgot that you might not be aware of my role, I apologize. Valkyries are guides and protectors of the chosen warriors. It's our honour to serve Lord Odin and his chosen Einherjar." I nod along with the explanation but something about that doesn't sit right to me.

"Okay, I get that. Still, what if you wanted to go kill some dragons or show off your skill? What's wrong with that? You're clearly an amazing magician if you can wield magic like that." She blushes at my praise and bites her lip.

"I'm really not that impressive. I wasn't even able to inherit the position of family head due to my lack of talent." She shakes her head and clears her throat, regaining her professional demeanour. 

"Besides, it isn't right to flaunt what little skill I have when I'm representing my faction." She nods and I notice the boat pick up speed.

Clearly, she doesn't want to talk about this with a stranger and is just too polite not to.

I frown but allow her this retreat she's attempting. Although…

"I'm not an expert in magic, especially not whatever Norse style your family values, so I can't judge that part of what you said. What I do know, however, is that you're incredible with magic."

"If you say you aren't talented, I'll believe you. All that means is you put in an insane amount of work and you're even more incredible for it."

"Have some confidence in yourself, Rossweisse, you wouldn't have been invited here if you didn't deserve it." Without waiting for her response I shoot off the bow of the boat toward the shore.

' Are you trying to plant relationship flags everywhere?' Byakko snarks through our link. ' What's your goal? To walk through a field of flowers without touching a single petal?' 

'What does that even mean?!'

'You're going to need to actually go for a woman eventually, brat. That's what it means.' I can feel him rolling his eyes from here.

'Either woman up or make it clear which ones are just friends. You can't talk about how hot she is in your first meeting and then have a heart to heart in the second if you're only trying to befriend the girl.'

'Shut up ya damn furball!' I growl out embarrassed. 'I'm not a fan of pretty girls moping around. Plus, It's a waste of ability if she hamstrings herself with an inferiority complex, that's it!'

'Besides, I'm not heading to Asgard any time soon. I've got shit to deal with in Kyoto!' I glare at his position on the beachhead as I approach.

'Then don't lead the girl on. You don't even know what you want with the Suzaku girl.' I pout but accept his point. 

It's Suzaku's own fault for being confusing though! If you want to kill me take a swing, if you don't I'll think you're flirting! As an Onmyouji from one of the Principle Clans, she should know that threats of murder that aren't followed through with are basically Oni courtship 101.

' She tried to kill you the first time you met. She just failed.'  I roll my eyes.

'Yes, Byakko, and then she was super nice about it. That is a prime example of a cute Tsundere.' I thought I was supposed to be the oblivious one.

'No, that's just being overpowered by your opponent.' I pinch the bridge of my nose and I land on the beach in front of him.

"She didn't even go after anyone else there. If she wanted to win she could've threatened to kill my sister." Byakko sighs and mutters under his breath.

"That, Ibaraki, is called morality." I wave my hand dismissively. What would a tiger know about human courtship?

A scan over the dragon that Byakko captured. It's a fairly small specimen, about ten feet in height and sixty feet in length. It is prone right now though so standing it would be bigger. It's one of the more reptilian dragons and has pretty dense scales. It'll make a good protector for my little sister which is a plus.

"You did a really good job taming it, Byakko. Other than its head shaking it isn't even trying to run." I nod approvingly as I walk right up to its snout. For some reason the shaking increases.

I reach down and try to pry its mouth open, glaring at it when it resists. "Bad dragon. Open up, now."

I smile at it when it obeys and it must be happy because it tips its head back quickly. I run a finger along the length of one of the teeth and poke one of the fangs. It breaks skin without Touki to stop it and my hand starts to turn black as the cells die.

Grinning I chop my hand off and regrow a new one. My sister will like the fact it's venomous. Hopefully, she can be inspired to make her own variations of the venom.

Its jaws snap shut and I pat it on the snout. "Good dragon!"

"I haven't tamed it. I just paralyzed it since I didn't want to have to hold it down." I freeze at Byakko's words.

"You aren't any better at magic than I am though," I say confused as to how he bound it.

Byakko sighs and lazily flops over onto his side, "I paralyzed it. A quick severing of the spinal cord and it stops moving."

I do a double-take between the two and facepalm. Muttering under my breath I jump up onto the dragon's back, "Is it animal cruelty if another animal did it?"

Who am I kidding? I was out slaughtering this lizards family while Byakko was crippling it. I don't exactly have the moral high ground here.

Placing my palm on its neck I scan it with my Ki before repairing the damage. Slowly reviewing the biological structure like this makes me admire these creatures even more. Their bodies are wonderous things, with incredibly powerful and durable structures throughout. Obviously, it's all magical in the end but the biological components are still cool.

I hop off the dragon once the damage has been repaired.

Predictably it twists its head at me and attempts to bite me. "Moron, I expected you to do that."

For its trouble, it gets punched in the snout and its head bounced back into the sand. I loom over it as I step closer and crack my knuckles.

"Try that again. Let's see how many times I have to show you your place." I leak killing intent as I grin at the jumped up gator.

It backs down and keeps its head low causing me to snort, "I knew you were more evolved than your siblings. Good pet."

I give it a manic grin and it shuts its eyes trying to burrow into the sand further, "Don't think about escaping either or else I'll show you what happens to disobedient pets."

"My rival!" I groan as Senzaemon appears in front of me.

"Hey, Senzaemon, how goes your hunting?" The samurai taps the flank of his horse with his heels causing the white palomino to pose on its hind legs.

"Excellent! These dragons are truly worthy opponents." His helmet bobs as he nods. "I've been thinking over catching a dragon of my own but can't see the merit. I have no need of a pet that is weaker than me."

"You like horses though, right?" I say, tilting my head.

"I do. What bearing does that have on this?" I scratch my chin at the question.

I close my eyes as I answer the question, "Well, in the Journey to the West Tripitaka was given a horse by Kuan Yin. The horse was a dragon that Kuan Yin turned into a horse. You could probably ask your patron Hachiman to turn the dragon into a horse for you." 

When I open my eyes, having finished my statement, I hear a noise that sounds suspiciously like sniffling far too close to me. I jump back when the garish white of Senzaemon's helmet fills the entirety of my vision, barely sparing myself from a bear hug.

"My rival, to think you were so intelligent and honourable as well! I've decided, I will bring a second steed home with me today!" He dashes toward the water followed by an irate sounding horse and pulls out… a fishing rod?

"Yahata-sama give me your blessing so with this fishing rod I may bring back a bountiful catch!" The fishing rod shines with divine light and Senzaemon casts the line with preternatural skill, the hook spearing through the waves at insane speeds.

At take an incredulous glance to see if anyone else is watching this and lock eyes with Seiryuu who sighs in commiseration. "Yahata-sama is a kami that fisherman pray to as well." 

"However… to see a divine blessing used like this…" We both shiver in unison. 

The favoured children of heaven are scary deviants. 

"Yes! Come to me my future horse!" With a mighty pull of the fishing rod and a spray of water, a massive dragon is flung into the air.

"This is bullshit, right?" I glance at Seiryuu who nods with a frown.

"Indeed. I have my suspicions as to who this Senzaemon is and this all but confirms it." A flick of the samurai's wrist causes the fishing wire to spiral through the air, tightly coiling around the dragon.

"Heave!" He starts to pull the dragon ashore, his horse grabbing onto the line with its teeth and helping the task.

"There was a family of fanatics that worship Yahata." Seiryuu adjusts his glasses, "They go to… disturbing lengths to follow their patron gods origin story in order for their children to receive his blessing."

"Something must have changed because the Principle Clans thought them all dead. Either someone is recreating their heinous practices or they were not as wiped out as we thought." His grim look contrasts my malicious grin.

"So you guys wipe out human clans too, huh?" Seiryuu glances at me with narrowed eyes.

"Even you would be disgusted with what the 'wives' of that clan went through and the training they forced on their children. It was a divine edict to wipe all traces of them out." I laugh at the joke that is.

"You guys clearly failed another 'Divine edict' there cause we're both still alive." He shakes his head.

"You don't understand. Oni killing people is a tragedy but humans do the same so it can be ignored to an extent. The Yoshishige clan were obsessed with creating the strongest offspring." I grimace at how familiar that sounds.

"Their wives were carefully 'selected' to ensure the best genes were passed. Their children grew up knowing nothing but combat and were only given names once they were acknowledged as samurai." I sigh glancing at the eccentric samurai whose personality suddenly makes more sense.

"Everything extraneous outside combat potential and the traditional arts of the samurai were erased from their lives." I glare at Seiryuu who raises a brow.

"I hate the fact that I'm going to have to do something about this now." He blinks in surprise not understanding what I mean.

"I'm not a stupid beast, dude. I killed my grandfather for doing the same things you're talking about." I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh again wondering why my life is like this. 

Why do I have to get involved in everything? Am I such a bleeding heart?

"We're going to discuss this more after the dragons are all dead." Seiryuu grins at me cheekily and I shut him up before he can comment, "Don't say a word about this or I'll rip your head off. Smug prick."

I can recruit a bunch of super samurai kids into my Yakuza army if I rescue them. I'm confident they won't be too big of an annoyance. It'll also helpfully solve the weakness of my human troops.

My private army is growing!

' Sure, cub, whatever you need to do to justify it. Heaven forbid you simply cared.'  I grumble and glare at the smug tiger.

'I can still make you into a rug,' My eyes narrow as Byakko hides behind the captive dragon.

' Get the Principle Clans to do most of the legwork if you do get involved. You're already burning the candle on both ends as it is.'  I grimace at the gentle rebuke but accept it.

The Golden Dragons expansion needs to take priority when I get back. I can't be gallivanting around Japan playing hero. I'm an Oni, not a one-woman envoy of justice or something equally as stupid.

I slap my cheeks and throw those thoughts to the back of my mind as I stroll over to the Roc Demon King perched on his pile of corpses.

"Quite the haul you have there, Chongyun." He grins as he plucks a bone fragment out of his teeth. 

"I was a bit hungry." I laugh as he shrugs.

"I don't think anyone missed that." One of my clones drags over a dragon corpse from my pile and I tear off some meat.

"I'm not really interested in battling it out with you and Bikou for the most kills. He's leading by the way." I chew on the meat humming in response.

Swallowing I point at him, "He's winning by one right now. I'm not worried. There are at least a dozen dragons left in the depths that I can sense."

"Fair enough, though he probably knows that too." I nod not doubting that. With the tutelage of Sun Wukong, it would be odd if Bikou's Ki sense wasn't equal or greater than mine.

"Of course, I know that!" Speak of the devil. He strolls up and tosses his arm around my shoulder.

"I hope you're ready to lose Ibaraki. I'm already trying to figure out what to use that favour for." Bikou yelps as I sweep his legs out from underneath him. That changes to a laugh when he catches himself with his tail and springs back up.

"I haven't even begun to put effort into this. Don't be surprised if you fail to get a single kill once they stop hiding." I say crossing my arms with a cocky smirk.

"Hah, and you think I have? Dream on!" I hear a scoff from someone approaching.

"Awfully arrogant aren't you two?" Yu Wei glides up to us on a snowflake and Suzaku lands, carried upon wings of fire.

I make eye contact with Suzaku and she smiles gently. Apparently, she has gotten over her breakdown from earlier.

Bikou laughs off the accusation easily, "It isn't arrogance if it's the truth! We're the strongest here!"

Both Bikou and I glance off at the Korean representative simultaneously coming to the same conclusion - We're the strongest who have shown their skills. Bikou must have noticed that guys Ki too and the skill with which he blocked the dragon's breath salvo.

"Excuse me, Miss Yu Wei?" I say getting the woman's attention.

"Yes, Ibaraki?" She says tilting her head.

"You're the disciple of a Daoist Immortal, correct?" She nods looking confused.

"I am, my master is the Frozen Lotus Immortal. Why do you ask?" I grin in excitement.

"Does that mean you have some mystic treasures?" She smiles and nods.

"Yes, my master gave me some treasures to ensure I was protected. I can show you some if you would like?" I nod excitedly and I can see the others want to see too.

She pulls out a long thin needle that seems to be formed from solid ice, "This is a treasure that my master gave me called 'The Yang Severing Needle'. My master said that if a beast ever approaches me I simply stab them with this and no matter their defence they will never harden again."

I blink at the odd wording and feel something is off about that. Curiously, Bikou and Chongyun shiver in terror. Suzaku looks like she's holding back laughter in contrast to the men. 

Yu Wei doesn't notice anything and puts the needle away, pulling out a small crystal hammer. "My master calls this the 'Origin Globe Smasher'. She said that if someone is doggedly pursuing me I only need to throw this at them and it will unerringly smash the root of their vitality."

Bikou and Chongyun are starting to slowly creep away now and Suzaku is outright giggling. That feeling that something is off is increasing with every treasure that Yu Wei pulls out. I can't quite put my finger on it though. Maybe there is an error with the translation spell that allows us all to communicate.

"I have a few more I can show you all." She starts to dig around in her pocket dimension for another treasure when Feng Meng appears.

"I think they've seen enough, Yu Wei." She blinks and nods quickly.

"Alright, Brother Feng." Bikou and Chungyun sigh in relief and Suzaku wipes a tear away.

"Your clone was displaying some expert archery out there, Ibaraki." The big man compliments with a smile.

"Thanks. Don't downplay your own skills though, I managed to catch more than a few deadly shots from your own bow." He scratches the back of his head and lets out a proud laugh.

"I'm more of a sniper so it's natural for a single shot from my bow to be more deadly. You make up for that in sheer bombardment without being too far behind in power." I smile and rip off a small piece of dragon meat and toss it in my mouth.

"We still need to have an archery competition after this. Especially now that I've seen what you can do with that bow of yours!" The Chinese archer grins and we bump fists.

Suddenly, Suzaku's stomach grumbles and we all turn to her.

She blushes at the attention which is adorable. "Close your eyes for a second, Suzaku."

She looks at me confused but doesn't see the harm in it and does so. I cut off a small piece of the dragon meat and summon some fire to cook it. When I approach Suzaku with the meat, the humans in the group move to protest.

The dragon meat is poisonous to humans, especially the flesh of Jormungandr's children. It is therefore natural of them to think me doing this is an attempt at poisoning Suzaku. However, both Bikou and Chongyun wave them off, having sensed what I have easily. Yu Wei and Feng Meng both calm down at that, respecting the judgement of their fellow representatives. 

The humans might not be as attuned to the change or find it as obvious as us but Suzaku isn't exactly human at this point. I think her inheritance of the Vermillion Bird was more complete than it was meant to be.

Suzaku's mouth opens of its own accord when the scent of the roasted dragon flesh hits her nose. I pop the piece of meat in and she moans when it melts in her melt. I blush at the sound because holy hell is that erotic and it gets worse when she leans forward and licks the juice off my finger.

Her eyes snap open and she shocks me when instead of being embarrassed she smirks. Her eyes sparkle as I clear my throat, "That was delicious, Ibaraki."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." I force down my blush determined not to have this turned around on me.

She bats her eyelashes and I curse inwardly. "Can I have some more?"

On one hand, I don't want to share… on the other I'm very weak…

"Of course," I say with a grin, glaring at Bikou when he makes a whip noise.

' We just had a conversation about your flirting.'  Byakko drawls unimpressed.

I grumble as I cook another piece of dragon flesh. 'She's hot though…'

When I turn around Suzaku's smile has dimmed and is more forced. Still, she takes the second piece of dragon flesh and eats it. She closes her eyes again and as she chews the smile becomes more real.

"I find that it tastes a bit like alligator just better," I say, figuring more mundane talk will help her get around her hang-ups on this. My statement gets some baffled looks from the others. 

"Where the hell have you eaten alligator in Japan? Did you break into a zoo?" Feng Meng says.

"I'm allowed to travel! Alligator meat is eaten in a lot of the Southern United States." I pout. Sure, I haven't actually been there in this life but I remember what it tastes like.

Suzaku smiles, "I thought this meat tastes similar to fish."

"That's probably the Leviathan ancestry showing through. Magical hybrids taste weird like that." Chongyun interjects getting a nod from me. Tengu tasted like an odd mix of poultry and human. I probably shouldn't say that out loud…

Speaking of Tengu, where is Shinobu?

I glance around the beach not finding her. Rossweisse and the others have made it back so nobody is out on the water that I can see either.

"I'll be back in a bit." After saying so I head off to the Norse boat, quickly arriving.

I cup my hands around my mouth and yell up to the bow, "Hey, Rossweisse!"

After a second her white hair pops over the rail and she looks at me curiously. "Yes, Ibaraki?"

"Have you seen Shinobu around?" She blinks not comprehending and I remember they don't know each other.

"The Tengu Heiress from my team, about yea big," I use my hand to approximate her height stopping at just under my nose. "Black hair, lithe build, tosses around wind magic and stabs things."

Rossweisse shakes her head, "No, sorry. She's not on board with us at least." 

Where the hell is she then?

"Alright, thanks anyway Rossweisse!" Frowning I look around the beach again.

' She might have left? You would have been able to tell if someone died in the range of your Ki sense.'  True, it is fairly obvious but with all the dragons dying I might have missed it. That would be sad if she did die, she was so determined to get stronger.

Ugh, I don't want to think about this right now. The dragons aren't surfacing right now and I don't want to try swimming down to get them. What should I do instead?

' Go bother that Haneul kid. You're interested in him too right?'  I grin at Byakko's suggestion.

'Hell yeah! This is why I keep you around, buddy!' The Korean representatives head turns as I launch myself down the beach toward him. 

I land in a shower of sand a few feet from him with a wide grin. "My name is Ibaraki! Nice to meet you!"