The Cultural Mythologies and Supernatural Research Club’s First Mission

The Cultural Mythologies and Supernatural Research Club arrived at their designated location for their field trip. They could taste the salty wind and feel the cool ocean air washing over them like a refreshing wave. Under them, the sand was neatly leveled and looked like something straight out of an internet image. The sun was out in clear view like a bright jewel and the Summer heat felt more warm than smoldering like it was in the city. Tiny puffy white clouds dotted the otherwise immaculate blue sky. It was the perfect day to go the beach!

“Welcome to the beach!” announced Mr. Urushihara with a hearty laugh.

“So, where do we start—?” asked Tatsuya, but he was quickly interrupted by the teacher.

“Let’s enjoy ourselves to the fullest!” announced the teacher.

“W-W-What?!” screamed Tatsuya in disbelief. “I thought we’re here on a mission?!”

“Now, now, Tatsuya, we just got here,” said Mr. Urushihara calmly, brushing away Tatsuya’s previous comment. “Let’s take a little breather before we get started. Besides, we have a lot of time before the night sets. And there’s also tomorrow morning too!”

Tatsuya let out an exasperated sigh. “You know, I’m starting doubt that this field trip has any purpose at all,” he said in a gruff voice.

There was no one at the beach at all—the club literally had the entire place to themselves! And so, by order of the teacher and faculty advisor of the Cultural Mythologies and Supernatural Research Club, the entire club was free to enjoy the beach to their heart’s content before starting their mission! The first thing they all had to do, of course, was to change into their swimsuits.

The boys walked over to a nearby rock and changed behind it. It wasn’t long before Manami, Sasuke, and Daiki all came back out shirtless and wearing beach shorts. Tatsuya, who seemed to be the only that was taking this mission seriously, didn’t pack any beach clothes at all. That’s when Mr. Urushihara unveiled his resourcefulness as a committed teacher and faculty advisor and gave Tatsuya a spare pair of beach shorts that he had brought especially for situations like these. Tatsuya took the shorts but he wasn’t exactly sure if he should be grateful for this. He changed into the beach shorts and discarded his shirt too. Mr. Urushihara had also done the same and revealed that he was wearing the exact same pair of shorts as the ones he had given to Tatsuya.

Meanwhile, the girls walked off to change behind a rock on the other side. While they waited for the girls to finish, the guys headed towards the ocean and basked in the cool salty air. “Say, what do think the girls will look like?” asked Manami with a perverted expression on his face, his tongue was out and he was literally drooling.

“What are you talking about, pray tell?” asked Daiki, pushing his glasses inwards. “I can never keep up with your perverted thoughts.”

“Their swimsuits!” shouted Manami in answer with a pout. His perverted expression quickly returned as he let his imagination run wild. He could already picture them in their swimsuits, running around the beach and having fun…. In his mind: Aika would wear a pink string bikini that accentuated her breasts and perfectly outline her curves while emphasizing her playful nature; Kanjomizu would wear a light blue frill bikini that would highlight her womanly features but also underline her cute and bashful personality; Arashi would wear a hot and sexy white strapless bikini that will undoubtedly raise her sexy and mature levels through the roof and emphasize her perfect butt; Shurai would wear a bright yellow one-piece that highlights her young middle-school-esque body and provide the perfect intermediary between childlike cuteness and adult-oriented appeal; and Sunaji would wear a black bikini that make her breasts, undoubtedly her best feature, stand out and more pronounced like the sexy assets they are. The images had Manami drooling like the dog he is. His fantasy concluded with the swimsuit princesses gathered around him and treating him like a king. “Manami-sama,” echoed their voices in his head.

“Sometimes I wonder how we can even stand his pervertedness,” said Sasuke with an uneasy expression.

“He is truly an enemy to all women,” added Daiki, shaking his head in disapproval.

“I liked it better when he was swamped with love letters from the guys at school,” said Tatsuya. The other two gave him a thumbs up and nodded their heads in agreement with his statement.

“We’re here!” announced Aika. The girls had finished changing and came out to join the others. “What do you think of our swimsuits?” she asked the guys.

Tatsuya would be lying if he said he wasn’t amazed. The swimsuits they wore literally took his breath away. Aika had on a cute crimson red bikini that wasn’t flashy in the least, but still emphasized her inhuman beauty and perfectly proportioned body as well as her playful personality. Kanjomizu wore a very cute navy blue tank top and bottoms combo that perfectly encapsulated her cute demure personality while still showing off her dynamite body. Arashi had on a sexy silver-white sling bikini that perfectly aligned with her mature and risqué character and showed off her curves in a very alluring way. Shurai wore a bright yellow frilly strapless halter-neck bikini that retained her childlike innocence but still displayed her undeniable cuteness on an equal footing with the other girls. Sunaji had on a fancy light brown string bikini that perfectly emphasized her voluptuous body but with an elegant flair to remind others of her position as a lady.

“What do you think, Darling?” asked Aika, bending forward with her arms clasped under her in a pose. Tatsuya blushed a very deep crimson color. He was speechless to say the least. Aika winked at him and sent his heart racing a thousand times a minute. He wasn’t expecting this beautiful view at all.

Kanjomizu pulled back her hair and blushed a bright shade of red. However, she wore a small smile to show that she at least enjoyed being noticed by her Love. She avoided his eyes and rubbed her arms together in an obvious show of bashfulness, but the smile was still present.

Arashi threw her right arm behind her head in a pose and said, “Are you enjoying this, Tatsuya?” She flashed him a wink and added in a seductive voice, “Let’s have some fun in the waters together. Maybe you’ll even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of what’s underneath my swimsuit.”

“A-A-Acchan!” yelled Tatsuya with flustered cheeks.

Shurai ran up to Tatsuya with a small smile and said, “Let’s eat seafood together.” It didn’t take long for her to sink deep into a fantasy of the possibilities of what food could be found here. “Crab, lobster, shrimp, clams, mussels, sea bass…,” she mumbled to herself with a dazed expression and drooling lips.

Sunaji had her arms wrapped across her chest and was turned away from the others. She wore a frown and said, “Just so you know, I didn’t want to change into this revealing outfit, but the other princesses insisted and said that it was a formality to wear these swimsuits when going to the beach.”

“You look very good in it,” complimented Tatsuya.

His words sent a shock through Sunaji and she quickly turned to him with her body shaking. “I-I-I don’t need your praise!” she yelled at him with reddened cheeks. “What do you know anyway? Besides, I bet you were imagining demoralizing things about me! That’s just like the malapert mooncalf you are! You’re nothing but a perverted varlet!”

The Python princess’ attitude flipped a switch in Tatsuya’s brain and his entire body became poised for battle. “Don’t you think that’s going to far?!” he yelled back at her angrily. “You could at least be thankful to someone who offered you a genuine compliment!”

“Compliment? Enough of your brabble! Fie, I say! Your so called compliment is nothing but a statement meant to chicane innocent woman like me! That is low even for a varlet like you!” argued back Sunaji. (“Brabble” = “dumb argument”; “Chicane” = “deception”). Both of them eyed daggers at each other with neither one budging.

“Should we do something?” Sasuke asked Daiki.

“It is best to let sleeping dragons lie,” replied Daiki wisely.

“You’re right,” agreed Sasuke with a small chuckle.

Mr. Urushihara intervened and grabbed Tatsuya, tearing him away from the stare-down for better or for worse. He then produced a bottle of sunscreen and said, “Say, Tatsuya, why don’t you help the girls put on sunscreen? Wouldn’t want them to get damaged now, would we?”

“Why?” came Tatsuya with a raised eyebrow.

“Beach knowledge 101,” replied Mr. Urushihara, handing Tatsuya the bottle and quickly walking away while laughing heartily to himself.

“Darling!” called Aika. She ran up to him and noticed the bottle in his hands. “What is that?” she asked.

“Sunscreen,” Tatsuya told her.

“It’s for rubbing on your skin so that you don’t get burnt by the sun’s rays,” explained Sasuke, who had popped up right beside Tatsuya. He flashed his friend a wink and a thumbs up.

“Then Darling, would you mind rubbing some on me?” asked Aika.

“Y-Y-You can do that yourself,” insisted Tatsuya with beet red cheeks.

“But how will she be able to protect her back?” reasoned Sasuke.

Fast forward a few seconds later and Tatsuya found himself pouring sunscreen on his hands with Aika lying on her front on top a blanket set out by Sasuke. She untied the string on her back to give Tatsuya unrestricted access to the entirety of her back. With shaky hands, Tatsuya lightly touched Aika’s skin. The Draco princess let out a moan and said, “That feels good, Darling.”

“I-I-Is that so,” stuttered Tatsuya in a soft voice. He proceeded to rub the sunscreen all over her baby-smooth back. He had never felt skin so smooth and soft before; it made him imagine that he was rubbing sunscreen on delicate and fluffy marshmallows.

“What is this indecent act?!” exclaimed Sunaji with flustered cheeks. Her knees were shaking with embarrassment as she pointed a shaky finger at the scene before her with wide-eyes.

“This feels really good,” Aika told the Python princess. “You should try it too, Princess Lady.”

“Never will I participate in such an indecent act!” announced Sunaji adamantly.

“But sunscreen is important for your skin so that you don’t burned by the sun,” Tatsuya told her matter-of-factly.

“Yup,” agreed Aika with a smile.

“I-I-Is that so,” muttered Sunaji awkwardly. Her cheeks lightened a bit but still had a rosy tint to them. “Well, if it’s an important ritual like you said…,” she said with an embarrassed frown. “I guess I’ll put it on too,” she announced strongly.

“Yes, yes, I’ll put it on for you!” shouted Manami happily, running up to the princess.

Sunaji quickly unleashed a megaton punch and sent him flying into the sky. “You lewd malapert varlet!” she yelled out in fury. Disillusioned by the former’s obvious perverted intentions, Sunaji marched off to another part of the beach in disgust.

A little while later, Sasuke had called everyone to gather round. Mr. Urushihara brought out a watermelon for them and handed Sasuke a blindfold and baseball bat. “Let’s play the watermelon splitting game!” announced Sasuke cheerfully.

“Watermelon splitting game?” wondered Kanjomizu.

“It’s just like the name,” Tatsuya told her. “We each take turns to try to split the watermelon apart while blindfolded. Once the watermelon is split, we eat it. That’s all there is to it.”

“That sounds fun,” agreed Kanjomizu with a nod.

The watermelon was placed on top a blanket provided by Mr. Urushihara. Sasuke went first to demonstrate how the game is played. He put on the blindfold and was spun around three times by Daiki and Manami. He was ready to start and the others started to shout out hints to lead him towards the watermelon. A few minutes passed and he was unsuccessful in splitting the watermelon. The group switched people and continued the game.

Everyone had a go at it, but it was Shurai who succeeded in locating the watermelon and splitting it apart. She didn’t even need to rely on the others’ directions to locate the whereabouts of her target. The watermelon was beautifully split apart and shared between everyone.

Although Tatsuya took this mission more seriously than the others, he couldn’t help but find himself enjoying this peaceful and happy atmosphere with all of his friends. Seeing their happy faces warmed his body and put his soul at ease. He deeply wished for this moment to never end.

“This is nice,” said Sunaji with a smile. She was sitting next to Tatsuya and didn’t seem to be aware of her closeness to the malapert mooncalf. Or perhaps she was aware but didn’t seem to mind it at all because of the dominating happy atmosphere.

“Yep, it is,” agreed Tatsuya.

“Of course it would be more extraordinary if you wouldn’t defile me with those scurvy eyes of yours,” she added with a frown, turning her face away from him. (“Scurvy” = “despicable/contemptible”). Before Tatsuya could answer back with a response of his own, she got up and walked away.

A minute or two had passed when a piercing scream shook the beach to its core. Tatsuya quickly left the group to head towards the scream’s location. He arrived at the other side of the beach and found Sunaji with her arms wrapped around her chest. “Are you okay?” he asked her. Sunaji shook her head and pointed with her finger at something moving down the beach towards the water. Tatsuya looked over and could see a small red crab crawling over to the sea with something on top of it. It didn’t take long for him to notice that the something was Sunaji’s bikini top. Acknowledging the seriousness of this situation, he chased after the crab to get back the dragon princess’ bikini top. The crab noticed Tatsuya giving chase and hurriedly scurried across the beach to get to the ocean. It finally made it to the waters but not before Tatsuya swiped away Sunaji’s bikini top from it.

With the Python princess’ garment in his hands, Tatsuya quickly ran back and handed it to her. He turned around and gently said, “Here you go.”

Sunaji took the top from his hands in a slow and bashful manner. “M-much obliged,” she told him with reddening cheeks.

“Sure,” he replied back.

Sunaji turned around from him and quickly put her bikini top back on. Once it was secured to her body again, she turned back to him with her eyes facing right and her hands clasped together. “Thank you for getting it back,” she told him in a low voice with pouting lips.

Tatsuya smiled and said, “You’re welcome.” This was the very first time that he had ever received a sincere thank you from the Python princess ever since she started living with him. He greatly appreciated her words. “Say, why don’t we go back to join the others?” he suggested, still smiling. Sunaji answered back with a slow nod.

As they were about to walk back, Tatsuya tripped over something poking out of the sand and fell down. “Are you okay?” asked Sunaji worriedly. Tatsuya slowly rose back up and answered with a nod. Whatever he had tripped over didn’t feel natural for a beach at all. It wasn’t a rock or an animal. Tatsuya turned back towards the object of interest and bent down to dig it out. He shoveled the sand away with his hands and uncovered a triangular rock-like substance. He picked it up, not knowing what it was, and had to use both of his hands to do so; the triangle rock had the weight of a small bag of flour.

“What is this?” he asked aloud.

Sunaji looked at the triangle rock in his hands and didn’t know the answer to his question either. She touched it and the triangle rock began to glow a bright golden color. The object suddenly grew hot, forcing Tatsuya to throw it onto the ground. The glow ebbed and flowed like a smoldering candle flame, reminding Tatsuya of those blinking tracking devices found in sci-fi anime. Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound shook the ground below them. To their surprise, a mysterious mass began to rise out of the ground. It grew like a tower, rising up towards the sky. Its height reached higher than a pine tree and its girth was two-thirds the length of a subway car. Once all of the sand that had previously covered it returned back to the ground, it’s appearance became apparent. Towering before Tatsuya and Sunaji was a giant rock-like being that looked like a cross between an ogre and a gorilla. It had huge pillar-like forearms, an ugly rocky face with small pupilless eyes and a giant nose with large nostrils and thick wide lips, and a stocky build like a rocky bodybuilder who binges on protein shakes and trips to the gym. The creature looked exactly like a monster out of a fantasy PC game.

“W-W-What the heck is that?” asked Tatsuya anxiously in a small but audible voice.

“That’s a golem,” answered Sunaji with a terrified expression.

The golem let out a roar and immediately slammed its left forearm onto the ground like a true ape, shaking the Earth. It let out a huff and a puff of smoke exited its nostrils like a raging bull’s. The golem then swung it’s right forearm straight for Tatsuya and Sunaji. They were caught off guard by the immediate attack and would’ve been smashed into little pieces if they hadn’t been saved by two people.

Jumping in from the shadows, Vajra and Rocco quickly made their appearance and saved Tatsuya and Sunaji respectively from certain death. Vajra grabbed Tatsuya by the waistline of his beach shorts and pulled him away to safety. On the other hand, Rocco saved his mistress by picking her up in his arms like a true princess and carried her out of harm’s way. Once they were at a safe distance away, Tatsuya thanked the butlers for their aid. “What are you guys doing here anyway?” he asked them.

“Do you truly think that we are okay with trusting the lives of our princess in your hands alone?” replied Vajra. “It is only natural for us, our princess’ personal servants, to always hide in the shadows and watch over them for their own safety.”

Tatsuya remembered hearing something like this before. He took a look around and asked, “Who else is here?”

“Just us two,” answered Rocco. “Both of us are enough to ensure that the princesses are safe from danger.”

“That’s right,” agreed Vajra with a nod. “Besides, we have the Dragonborn on our side too,” he added with a smile.

“Again, thanks for your aid,” said Tatsuya sincerely.

“My, the Dragonborn can’t even protect himself without needing someone on the outside to come help him,” said Vajra with a shake of his head. “This is why I don’t trust the lives of our princesses in your hand alone. But it’s alright. Besides, mistakes must be made so we can learn from them and improve ourselves, right?”

Tatsuya was really getting annoyed by the butler’s uppity attitude. But he was also a little amazed at how the butler was able quickly change from condescending to humble in a single conversation. Vajra’s mastery at appearing both haughty and nice at the same time made it hard for Tatsuya to genuinely hate the butler from the bottom of his heart. Instead, it commanded a great deal of respect that Tatsuya wasn’t at all against showing.

“Anyway,” began Tatsuya, brushing away Vajra’s last comment, “how do we defeat this thing?”

“To be honest, we don’t know,” answered Vajra bluntly.

“What do you mean you don’t know?!” shouted Tatsuya in disbelief.

“Sit back, we’ll take care of it,” reassured Rocco. He and Vajra quickly jumped into battle and engaged the golem. Meanwhile, Tatsuya and Sunaji followed their orders to stay back and silently watched the battle with anxious eyes. Tatsuya himself couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just a few days ago, the club had discussed the possibility of weapons from the dragon realm being hidden on Earth. Mr. Urushihara had even posited a golem as being one of the hidden weapons. And now, Tatsuya is seeing with his own eyes the truth behind those theories.

Vajra and Rocco battled the golem using their full powers (within regulations, of course). Since magic is out of the question, unless if the situation truly calls for it, both butlers used their command of the elements to their full potential against the beast. Vajra engaged the beast with powerful lightning strikes and potent electrical blasts. However, his attacks did little to seriously harm the golem—the strikes only chipped away at the monster’s rock-like body but failed to deal any massive damage. Rocco used the sand around them to deal focused blasts of earth, which only forced the beast to stumble back and acted as nothing but a very irritating annoyance. The golem unleashed a terrifying roar and stomped the ground in a tantrum, sending out a huge shockwave that knocked both butlers back.

Vajra quickly got back up and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He touched his wrist and brought out his Dragon Regalia: a rapier with a bright yellow hilt and a glistening silver blade with runic symbols etched on each side. Rocco had also risen back up on his feet and touched his wrist to bring out his Dragon Regalia too: a long bronze halberd with a black obsidian axe blade and spear tip. “Time to get serious,” said Vajra. Rocco nodded in agreement to his statement.

Both butlers engaged the golem again, but this time with new attack tactics. Vajra dashed forward with his rapier drawn beside him. With the precision of a true swordsman and the elegance of a gentleman, he expertly landed beautiful strikes upon the golem while also parrying gracefully from the monster’s attacks. His blade dealt noticeable cracks onto the golem’s body and gave the monster a hard time to successfully block or dodge.

Meanwhile, Rocco swung his halberd like an experienced soldier and helped Vajra to fend off the monster’s attacks. With Vajra drawing the golem’s attention onto himself to allow Rocco the chance to take care of the monster’s vulnerable bottom half, the latter butler made sure to do everything in his powerful to take full advantage of the situation and make every hit count. He scraped against the golem’s legs with his blade and successfully chipped away huge pieces of its monstrous body. The golem fell down on one knee and struggled to get back up. Rocco took this opportunity to swing away at the monster’s waist and smashed its rocky surface to bits.

But the giant monster, no matter how much of a disadvantage it seemed to be in, still fought back with the true instinct of a mindless beast and the primitive desire to win. As if in defiance to losing against smaller beings than it, the golem turned towards Vajra, the enemy that annoyed him the most, and swatted away the butler with a single swing of its massive hands as if he was simple fly. Vajra flew backwards through the air and the impact from the monster’s heavy hands made the butler appear limp from pain. With one pest down, the golem turned to Rocco and scrunched up its face in an ugly frown.

Rocco immediately jumped back in anticipation of an attack and got into a fighting stance with his halberd pointed straight at his enemy. With Vajra down, it was now up to him to fend off this monster alone and protect his mistress from danger. He dashed forward with superhuman speed and lunged forward with his halberd aimed straight for the monster’s navel. The golem raised its right hand and quickly brought it down in an attempt to squash the butler like a bug. But Rocco, being smaller than it and therefore more agile and quick, jumped backwards and successfully avoided harm.

The golem, unsatisfied with not being able to squash his enemy, let out a terrifying roar. It was this ferocious cry that drew the attention of the others on the other side of the beach. Everyone from the Cultural Mythologies and Supernatural Research Club quickly ran over to check what was going on and were horrified to find an angry hulking golem causing havoc. However, their sudden appearance was insignificant to the golem. Like a simple beast with a one-track mind, the golem focused all of its attention only on Rocco, an annoying pest that must be squashed.

“Is that a golem?” asked Sasuke, standing next to Tatsuya.

“Yes, it is,” answered Daiki.

“Do you know how we can defeat it?” asked Tatsuya.

“The only way to defeat it is by killing its soul,” explained Daiki. “Remember, golems are creatures of aggregate inanimate matter given life by a magic seal. The magic seal is the golem’s soul.”

“How can we locate the seal?” inquired Tatsuya.

“To be honest, seals can be placed anywhere,” said Daiki, “but the most common places to place them are the head, the back, the chest, and the shoulders.”

“So we just have to kill the seal somehow and the golem will be defeated,” concluded Tatsuya.

“That’s correct.”

“What does the seal look like anyway?” asked Tatsuya.

“It looks like a runic symbol,” revealed Daiki, pushing in his glasses.

Just then, the golem unleashed an impactful punch at Rocco. The butler had successfully dodged it by jumping out of the way, but the massive punch continued in its course and was now aimed directly for Sunaji. The Python princess, faced with this sudden realization, froze in terror. Tatsuya took quick notice of the punch’s course and its new target and quickly jumped into action. He dashed towards the princess and screamed, “Watch out!” He jumped forward and, just moments before the punch successfully landed, pushed Sunaji away. Both of them landed a few meters away together.

Sunaji had her back to the sand and blinked a few times to shake away the daze and bring her eyes back into focus. Once her vision was clear again, she found herself lying below Tatsuya, who was crouching above her own body with his eyes closed and breathing hard. She had realized then what just happened. Moments before, she was standing there frozen in terror and involuntarily accepting her fate as the monster’s fist was coming down to exact judgement. But before she could leave for the next world, Tatsuya had jumped in to save her from her terrible fate. He pushed her away and protected her from harms way…just like a real hero. Although she hates to admit it, for once she can actually call Tatsuya a true hero for his deed. ‘But why?’ she found herself wondering. ‘Why did he save me?’

Tatsuya opened his eyes and his breathing had calmed. Seeing Sunaji safe brought a smile to his lips. “Glad you’re okay,” he told her kindly.

Sunaji couldn’t believe it. Her cheeks slowly turned a pink color. She could sense actual sincerity in his voice and no trace of malice or indecency at all! And his smile really baffled her. His overt kindness rejected everything she had previously believed or assumed of his preconceived immoral character. ‘Could I have been wrong about him this whole time?’ she asked herself fearfully. Seeing his kind smile and feeling the warmth projected by it made her heart flutter. His previous save and the gentle words he used to express concern for her safety gripped tightly onto her heartstrings and spurred a blend of emotions she had never thought she will ever feel towards a person like him: gratitude, happiness, apology, respect, and…infatuation?…or maybe…love? Could this be love? Sunaji cheeks grew an even darker shade of red. ‘Impossible!’ she told herself, ‘Why would I even think of something as dreadful as that?’ She reaffirmed to herself that she definitely does not feel any emotion along the infatuation-like-love spectrum towards Tatsuya at all. “T-Thank you,” she told him with flustered cheeks, turning her face away from him and frowning with pouted lips.

“Sure thing,” replied Tatsuya.

Tatsuya got up and held his hand out for Sunaji to grab it. The dragon princess had sat back up and took his hand with her face still turned away from him. Tatsuya pulled Sunaji up, but the amount of force he had used to do so, combined with the dragon princess’ bodacious body, caused the duo to fall down on top of each other. However, this time their roles were reversed. Additionally, it all also resulted in an incident. Sunaji was on top of Tatsuya and found herself caught in a situation that was equivalent to death—her lips and Tatsuya’s were locked in a kiss. Her cheeks quickly became drenched in red as she realized her current situation. Tatsuya’s cheeks had also changed to match hers as his levels of shame and embarrassment shot through the roof.

The other spectators of the scene were also quick to show their respective takes in response to the situation. Sasuke and Daiki were both too shocked to speak and stood frozen like statues. Manami had his jaws hung wide open and was literally tearing his hear out in jealousy. Aika wore a scary frown but couldn’t move because of how her body suddenly became numb as her mind tried to process just exactly what had happened. Kanjomizu had her mouth covered with her hands and her face became redder than a beet as her body shook with mixed feelings of fear, shame, and envy. Arashi had a simple stupefied look on her face—probably the least bothered by this development—and scratched her head as if she was confused with what was going on. Shurai was visibly not disturbed at all, but closer inspection showed that her brows were slightly furrowed—although whatever that could mean is undecipherable. Vajra, who had recovered from his fall, had his mouth open in an ‘Oh’ expression. Mr. Urushihara had his face turned the other way as if he was being considerate of the situation like a person who didn’t mean to intrude on his friend making out. The only person who wasn’t aware of this situation was Rocco, whether for better or worse, who the golem had sent flying away just when this situation had come to fruition.

After being caught up in the moment for a minute or two, Sunaji quickly pushed herself off and covered her mouth with her hands. Tatsuya had also gotten up and was speechless. The both of them avoided each other’s eyes in embarrassment. Suddenly, the Mark of Marduk began to glow on Tatsuya’s hand. Tatsuya could feel his body becoming filled with a familiar energy. His body suddenly began to feel stronger and heavier, but also very stable and balanced. His skin slowly turned a very light tan color like very fine sand, his hair became a glossy obsidian black and his eyes turned into bold sparkling citrines with black slit pupils. A luscious mane of yellow fur sprouted across his neck and brown scales formed around his forehead. Bone-like sickle spikes grew out of his arms and a brush-like tail sprouted out his backside. The nails on his hands became sickle-like claws. His nose protruded out a bit and took on a very beast-like shape—it was something between a lion’s and a wolf's. His body also became stacked with muscles like a bodybuilder’s and his tanned-skin had literally hardened into steel. Lastly, his teeth had became sickle-like blades and protruded out of his mouth, unlike his previous draconic transformations. The transformation was complete.

Tatsuya hadn’t transformed like this in ages! His friends were taken aback by this development—they had never seen anything like this in their entire life! Aika and Kanjomizu weren’t the least bit surprised by his transformation…they were instead focused on the implications of the kiss shared between their significant other and new romantic rival. Sunaji herself was bewildered by Tatsuya’s sudden metamorphosis. She was probably the most anxious about this development.

Knowing what he should do now upon having had transformed, Tatsuya turned his attention to the golem and decided to put his new powers to good use. “I guess it’s up to me,” he told himself. He rushed forward to engage the golem. The monster noticed the Dragonborn’s advancement and scrunched up its face in a frown as if to say that it accepted the latter as its opponent. The golem brought up one of its arms and quickly swung it down like an ape. Tatsuya took this moment to jump into the air and landed right on the monster’s pillar-like arm, running up the limb like a simple mountainside. If what Daiki had told him about the seal’s possible locations was true, then Tatsuya had to take this opportunity and search the monster’s upper body for its soul.

Tatsuya glanced over at the monster’s chest, but it was clean and didn’t possess anything at all that remotely looked like a symbol. Now that he knew that the chest was not where the monster’s soul was, he turned his attention to check the monster’s face/head and shoulders. As he was running up the golem’s arm, the monster used its other hand to try and flick Tatsuya away like an ant. Tatsuya sensed the golem’s other hand and was quick to avoid it by jumping up into the air. He quickly formulated a plan to expedite his search for the golem’s soul. Tatsuya did a forward flip and executed Technique 12: Diving Dragon Kick—a forward flip kick that is aimed directly on top of the opponent’s head. With the extra strength he gained as a result of his transformation, the kick’s impact perfectly sent the golem stumbling back upon collision. The golem lost its balance and fell down on its rear.

Tatsuya took this chance to land and run up the monster’s body. He hurriedly scanned the golem’s shoulders and couldn’t find anything that resembled a symbol at all. Next, he ran up to the golem’s head. The golem was still in a daze and recovered at a slow rate as befitting a giant monster his size. The symbol wasn’t on the monster’s head or face either. By this time, the monster’s mental faculties returned and it raised its right hand to try and swipe Tatsuya away. Tatsuya ducked under the golem’s hand and just barely escaped being swept off like an annoying pest. Sweat formed on his forehead and he became a bit more anxious after that close call.

The golem slowly rose back up and caused Tatsuya to stumble. Tatsuya couldn’t have been any unluckier as he lost his footing and fell down from the monster’s mountainous body. He collided with the ground but what would've been a fatal fall was anything but. His steel-like skin broke his fall and it felt more like a trip than a hard-hitting descent. Tatsuya shook off the slight pain and was about to rise back up when a giant shadow loomed over him. The golem’s hand, clenched in a tight fist, came down like a giant hammer to smash Tatsuya to pieces. Tatsuya was too late to get in a defensive position. The giant hand connected with his body and created a loud impactful sonic boom that echoed throughout the entire beach.

Silence followed and settled the atmosphere. The battle’s spectators were too surprised by this outcome to utter a sound. Aika couldn’t believe that what she had just witnessed was reality. Tatsuya’s sudden loss saddened her greatly. Overcome with sorrow, she let out an ear-piercing scream to adamantly reject her acceptance of this reality. “Darling!” she cried.

Kanjomizu’s overflowing emotions unsettled the balance in her mind that was placed there by her Love’s kindness. His quick demise only worsened her already inherent emotional turmoil, dragging her into a deep dramatic pit of despair and grief. Tears welled up in her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks. “This can’t be true,” she gasped.

Sasuke, Manami, and Daiki were crushed to witness their friend’s end at the hands of a monster. They could’ve done something to help their friend but did nothing. The trio were angry at themselves for leaving their friend at the mercy of a common enemy. Even if they try to take down the monster now as a form of vengeance, they know that they can’t change history.

However, it was Sunaji who was the most heartbroken by this development. She didn’t know why, but her emotions got the better of her heart and caused tears to trickle down her cheeks. A pit formed in her stomach and heart, as if she was missing something greatly after witnessing Tatsuya’s demise. She inherently knew that there was nothing in this world that could fill the hole in her heart now, though she still couldn’t understand why. “Owatatsumi Tatsuya,” she whispered sadly.

Aika’s sorrow quickly transformed into rage and inflamed her heart with a new passion—the passionate desire to crumble this enemy into dust. She touched her wrist and brought out her Dragon Regalia. With her whip in her hand, Aika was ready to exact vengeance. However, before she could even take one step forward, Kanjomizu hysterically grabbed her hand and placed herself before the Draco princess. The Naga princess then wrapped the whip around her neck and hysterically begged Aika to end her life. “You idiot!” Aika yelled furiously, “This is no time to play around!”

Kanjomizu looked back at Aika with soulless eyes that was devoid of all hope and happiness. “I cannot live without My Love,” she cried. “Please, Aika, just end me! I will join My Love in the afterlife! If My Love is gone, then I must follow him!”

Aika struggled to pull the whip off of the Naga princess’ neck, who wholeheartedly refused to let go of the weapon. “Geez, you incorrigible fool! I don’t have time for this!” screamed Aika. She could tell that the Naga princess was being serious about ending her own life too. “If you end your life, then you would be disrespecting Darling’s wishes,” she later said in a low voice. “I know that he would’ve wanted you to keep on living.”

Sunaji watched the exchange between Aika and Kanjomizu and could tell just how much they truly loved Tatsuya. This only made the fact of his demise even more unbearable for her. He was a person who was genuinely loved by those around him. This revelation made Sunaji question her own selfish inclination to treat him as an insignificant person after a bad first impression and not taking a chance to actually see him for who he really is. Her heart began to ache as these honest thoughts flooded her mind.

Determined to avenge her fallen beloved, Aika carefully and forcefully unraveled her whip from Kanjomizu’s neck and turned to the monster. “I’ll make sure you get what you deserve for taking my Darling away from me!” she threatened the golem with the terrifying aura of a ferocious warrior. Gripping her whip tightly, Aika dashed towards the golem but stopped shortly when she caught wind of a new development occurring right before her eyes.

The golem’s fist that was resting on top of Tatsuya’s assumed dead body was slowly rising up hesitantly, or rather, it appeared to be resisting something that was pushing back against it with great strength. The spectators watched this new development in awe. The one responsible for pushing against the golem’s giant fist was none other than the one thought to have lost his struggle against Death. Tatsuya, using his new super strength that came with his new transformation, pushed against the golem’s fist with all of his might. His hardened body had actually prevented him from suffering heavy injuries both on the outside and the inside. In his head, he silently thanked the universe or whatever higher power there may be for this turn of events. With strength greater than a hundred oxen, Tatsuya struggled successfully against his enemy and managed to push the fist up enough to where he can stand back up on his feet. He then channeled more of his magical dragon energy into his already buffed up and empowered muscles to enhance them even more. Now, with strength greater than a hundred elephants, Tatsuya pushed the fist even further away and knocked the monster off balance.

The golem, despite its impressive resistance against Tatsuya’s Herculean strength, uncharacteristically lost to the Dragonborn. The latter possessed an even more hardened will and ironclad determination, something that the golem could not hope to match, and therefore won in this battle of strength and endurance. The monster stumbled and tripped on its own feet, falling forward face-first.

Tatsuya quickly jumped out of the way as the monster fell like a chopped tree. The monster collided with the ground with a loud thud that shook the ground below. Tatsuya had by now transformed back to his normal self. With the monster defeated and in a more or less incapacitated state, Tatsuya rushed towards it and brought out his sword, Gram. He climbed up the monster and could see as clear as day a large symbol on the monster’s back. The symbol was a black ring with a Y-like rake runic image in the middle. Tatsuya had never seen anything like it before, but he knew that he must finish his job instead of wasting his time staring at a strange symbol in awe. He raised his sword with the blade pointed down and brought it down on the monster’s back directly atop the symbol. The symbol began to glow a purplish color before suddenly shattering into a million pieces like broken glass. The golem began to shake violently as its very being turned into dust. This was Tatsuya’s signal to get the hell out of there.

With the golem finally defeated once and for all, Tatsuya returned to his friends and was greeted with a very warm welcome and hysterical tears. When he heard from the others how they assumed he had died, he mentally thanked once again for the universe’ mercy and boon. After a few minutes of tearful rejoicing, the entirety of the Cultural Mythologies and Supernatural Research Club returned back to their side of the beach.

That night, the club held a barbecue on the beach. Mr. Urushihara had brought a grill with him and set it up. Mr. Urushihara, Sasuke, and Daiki took care of the cooking while Shurai shamelessly indulged in their perfectly cooked seafood upon the completion of each dish…before Vajra took her hand and dragged her away. Rocco, who had recovered while Tatsuya was battling the golem in his draconic form, ashamedly apologized to Sunaji for putting her in harms way. The Python princess forgave him with no hard feelings at all. Arashi, Manami, and Kanjomizu were happily playing in the water as they waited for the food to be done. Tatsuya sat quietly on the sand with Aika by his side. “You really need to stop worrying us like that, Darling,” she told him playfully.

“If it wasn’t for that new form, I could’ve died,” he told her dramatically with a frown.

“You know, we were all worried about you,” said Aika in a serious but soft voice. Her eyes appeared sad and she wore a small sad smile on her face. She had her face leaning atop her drawn in knees with her arms wrapped around them. Tatsuya rarely saw the Draco princess like this; whenever she gets like this, he can’t help but admire how beautiful she is. Despite her clingy and overly passionate personality, Tatsuya could appreciate Aika as a beautiful girl worthy of the title of princess. She raised her head and flashed him a very cute smile. “I’m glad you’re back,” she told him sincerely.

Tatsuya could feel his heart pound quicker than a rabbit pounding mochi. His face became red like a ripe cherry as embarrassment set in. Her kind words and smile made his heart flutter and filled his stomach with butterflies. He felt just like a schoolgirl who was being complimented by her crush. He suddenly rose up and said, “I-I-I got to go.” Tatsuya desperately needed to excuse himself from this awkward moment. He walked over to the grill and took in a few calming breaths.

“Oh, Tatsuya! Great job today!” said Mr. Urushihara upon noticing him.

“Yeah, sure,” said Tatsuya. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. “Say, Mr. Urushihara, what do you know about the student council?” he asked the teacher.

The teacher smiled and said, “I guess you’ve already met them?” Tatsuya answered with a nod. “They’re not members of the United Front, if that’s what you’re wondering about. But they are very important members of the dragon realm.”

“How?” inquired Tatsuya curiously.

“Each of member of the Council come from noble families who are big sponsors of the United Front,” revealed Mr. Urushihara. “You can say that they’re here for support out of their own volition.”

“Ah,” uttered Tatsuya with a nod. The teacher’s words helped to make some sense of his previous encounter with the Council. But it also revealed to him just how many people were keeping their eye on the Dragonborn. He knew that the Dragonborn was a big deal but this new revelation brought to light just how important the figure really was. He sighed to himself and thought about how tired he was. After fighting the golem, all of the energy inside of him was spent. He’ll worry about this entire Dragonborn business later. For now, he decided to just let go of it all and have some fun with his friends. They are at the beach after all.