Kanjomizu’s Dracolax Incident

Day quickly turned to night as the skies darkened with scourges flocking through the air. Screams and cries from down below filled the atmosphere with dread and the ferocious roars of the dragons shook the Earth. Everything was going as planned.

Aris watched the entire thing unfold from the top of the school. His eyes were filled with glee and a demented smile was plastered on his face. The outcries of the powerless humans running under him were music to his ears—a satisfying cacophonous symphony that filled his body with ecstasy. But the most satisfying thing about all of this was how perfectly it was proceeding. “Business is going smoothly,” he said to himself with a giddy laugh.

“Lord Aris!” called out Miryu. “How did we do on our mission sir?” The Sanryu leader had on an expectant smile.

Aris turned to the Sanryu and simply said, “You did good, boys.” He flashed them a kind smile, which made the Sanryu laugh and smile bashfully and humbly. “Once this is over, I’ll think about talking to the heads to give you boys a promotion. You’ll be Garnet-Class members yet!”

“You hear that guys!” shouted Miryu excitedly, “We’ll be promoted! Sasasasasa!” The Sanryu fist bumped each other triumphantly.

“Before you boys celebrate,” interjected Aris, “I have one more mission for you three.”

“Whatever it is, we will succeed!” declared Miryu. The other two nodded in agreement.

“Since you three boys are Blessed Children, I want you to use your powers to help ensure the success of this operation,” explained Aris. He then smiled a sly smile and added, “I want you to take down our enemies. Anyone who tries to oppose us, destroy them. If you succeed in this task, you can guarantee your promotion. But remember, you must be merciless and take them out at any cost. None of our opponents are allowed to survive.”

“You can count on us!” declared Miryu with a salute. “Let’s go boys!” he said to his guys. The Sanryu quickly took to the streets to accomplish their mission.

Behind Aris stood his two subordinates. Eron, the Bakunawa, took a step forward and asked, “Boss, are you sure that they’re capable of succeeding?”

“My, who knows,” answered Aris disinterestedly. “I couldn’t care less about those three fools.” He then smiled cruelly and added, “If fate is kind to them, they’ll complete their mission. If not, then they’ll have to be punished.”

“Be they Blessed Children, pray that the hand of fate guides them on the right path lest they be consumed by a righteous darkness and their hearts sacrificed to the demons that reside in their souls,” said Jao mystically.

Aris frowned and said, “Can you Amarus be any more weirder and annoying?” He shook his head with a scoff. “Anyway, those three did do a pretty good job in helping us release this army of scourges on the human realm.”

To execute this plan, Aris had assigned the Sanryu to release the scourges from three points in the city. The scourges had already been transformed by then and were kept in magical cages. Once he gave them the signal, the Sanryu released the scourges onto the human realm. Aris acknowledges that without the Sanryu, the plan would not have progressed this smoothly, though he also concluded that even without their aid the plan would’ve still been a success, albeit with a later start and at a slower pace. However, the Sanryu had already fulfilled their roles, so the only thing to do now is to use them till they break—Aris hates to waste good products when they still have some use.

“Let’s see how far they are willing to go for their promotion,” proposed Aris with a demented smile. “Pray they don’t perish and burn in hell."

Tatsuya ran through the massive screaming crowd with Sakura right behind him holding his hand. Everywhere he looked, people ran helter-skelter in mass hysteria, doing whatever they can to escape from this nightmare. No one dared to stop and think whether what they were seeing and experiencing was real or just an illusion; the dragons’ terrifying presence instilled unto them ungodly fear and panic. Tatsuya did his best to dodge people and protect his idol from injury. While doing so, a person running with their eyes closed in fear dashed through Tatsuya and Sakura’s linked hands, breaking them apart.

Sakura fell down on her bottom with a small thud. She lightly rubbed her bottom. Tatsuya looked back and saw his idol on the ground. He immediately rushed over to her side and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she told him. “It’s super alright.”

“Super?” questioned Tatsuya awkwardly.

“Tatsuya-kyun!” called out a voice from behind him. Nobi, who was helping a group of people evacuate the area, came over to them wearing an expression that was a mixture of relief and gravity.

“Nobi!” said Tatsuya with a big smile. He was glad to see the Draco prince. “How’s the situation?” he asked the prince.

“I called my men a little while ago,” informed the prince. “Right now, we need to evacuate the people.”

“But where can we evacuate them to?” asked Tatsuya.

“I know just the place!” announced Mr. Urushihara. He appeared before them with Council President Shizo right beside him. “Greetings, Prince Nobi,” said Mr. Urushihara with a bow. He then turned to Tatsuya and said with a smile, “We’ll have to borrow your house for a bit.”

“Excuse me?” came Tatsuya confusedly.

“Alright,” agreed Nobi with a nod. The prince turned to Shizo and said, “If you’ll please, gather all of the dragons we have at the school and enlist them to help us fight against the scourges and evacuate the humans. Tell them that I, Prince Nobi, head director of the United Front, authorize all dragons to use whatever means necessary to fight our enemies and protect the human realm. Rule Heka is hereby lifted until further notice. Magia aeternum!”

“Yes sir,” said Shizo. The Council President was about to take his leave when Tatsuya stopped him.

“Excuse me, but can you help her evacuate with the other people too?” asked Tatsuya, helping Sakura to her feet.

“Ginger Sakura!” said Shizo in surprise. He turned to Tatsuya and nodded his compliance. With the idol’s hand in his, Shizo ran off to take her to safety and gather up his army to protect the school. ‘No one is going to destroy my school while I’m around,’ he thought confidently to himself.

“I’ll help get the portal prepared,” offered Mr. Urushihara. “The portal is a little small, but if we can evacuate the people in a nice and orderly fashion, I think we can get it done in less than an hour.”

“Wait a minute,” said Tatsuya, remembering something that had happened to him a while ago, “Are you talking about the locker in the club room?”

“Of course,” answered Mr. Urushihara. “Now, the school is already protected by magical charms, but I don’t think it’ll last very long if our enemies keep on assaulting us at this rate. However, I believe that it’ll hold long enough for us to evacuate the people.”

“I’ll try to help fortify the school with more magic in the meantime,” said Nobi. “I’ll get Ingrid and the others to help me with this task.”

“Meanwhile, Tatsuya,” said Mr. Urushihara, turning to the Dragonborn, “can you help us take down these scourges?”

“Well…I—,” began Tatsuya. Tatsuya didn’t mind at all, but he just couldn’t, at least not now. He was about to tell them that he didn’t have a weapon on him when the Draco prince cut him off.

“Everyone will be pleased to hear that we have the Dragonborn on our side,” interjected Nobi.

“I would love to, but—,” began Tatsuya unsuccessfully again.

“That’s good to hear!” announced Mr. Urushihara. He gave Tatsuya a hearty slap on the back and said, “We’re counting on you, Dragonborn!”

The two Dracos then left to tend to their tasks. Tatsuya, unable to tell them about his situation, found himself in a bind. Just how is he suppose to fight against the scourges without a weapon? Even if he tried to fight them using his own skills alone, he won’t be strong enough to face them head on—it’s not like he’s in his super-powered mode where he can use super strength to fight them on somewhat equal ground.

From up above, a dragon had spotted Tatsuya and released a big ball of electricity straight at him. Tatsuya was oblivious to this until a giant shadow began to grow and loom over him. He looked up and saw the projectile coming straight for him like a giant meteor. The surprise attack froze him in place—Death is already at his door and was only waiting for him to invite him in. Tatsuya’s feet were stuck in place and his mind became consumed by anxiety; his face was blank and didn’t know what expression to make.

“I call upon the great dragon god of fire, Draco! Bless me with your divine protection and I shall make your enemies suffer! I pray for a shield of crimson flames to make my enemy cower before your divine power! Crimson Wall of Flames!” quickly chanted Aika.

Suddenly, huge streams of fire shot out of the Earth like gushing lava, creating a towering wall between Tatsuya and the Druk. neutralizing the dragon’s projectile upon impact. Tatsuya snapped out of his fear and anxiety and found himself standing on one side of a giant wall of fire. He then realized that he was still alive—he groped his body to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming and concluded that he was indeed alive.

“Darling!” cried Aika, running up to Tatsuya and giving him a very tight hug filled with feelings of relief and happiness. “I’m glad that you’re okay!” she told him.

“Thank you, Aika,” Tatsuya told her. Her hug was starting to hurt him and he said, “Can you…please…let go…now?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she told him, releasing him from her titanic grip.

The other princesses were also with Aika and had by now joined the couple in their reunion. “Where’s Sunaji-san?” asked Kanjomizu.

“She’s fighting off an ice dragon with my old man,” Tatsuya told them.

“Where’s my brother?” Aika asked her Darling.

“He’s helping out with evacuating the people,” answered Tatsuya. The Druk from before, still flying in the sky, released a roar, drawing Tatsuya and the others’ attention to it. “We need to take care of him first,” Tatsuya told the princesses.

“I got this,” declared Shurai. She frowned and walked up in front of Tatsuya. Aika’s wall of fire had dissipated by now, leaving Shurai a clear window of attack. The Druk princess reached into her pocket and took out a small pack of gumdrops. She tore it open and dumped the contents in her mouth. After taking a second to chew and another second to swallow, Shurai’s eyes suddenly turned bright and full of life and her entire being became energized to the max like a supercharged rocket ready to blast off at any moment. A smile that was unlike her usual self, one that was full of emotion and vigor, was displayed on her face. “It’s time for you to learn your place!” she energetically declared, pointing a finger at the Druk above. She clenched her fists and took in a deep breath. Her body suddenly produced a massive amount of electricity, wrapping her entire being in a bright and sparkly yellow static cover. The energy grew brighter and brighter until it skyrocketed into the sky like a blinding beam. Thunder boomed and shook the heavens. A bolt of bright golden lightning descended from the clouds and struck the targeted Druk with the precision of an arrow. The Druk let out a cry and crashed onto the ground below, it’s body smoking like a roasted fowl.

“That’s amazing, Shurai!” exclaimed Tatsuya breathlessly in awe.

“Thanks, Tatsu-kun!” came Shurai with a salute. And then, without warning, the Druk princess immediately went off on tangents and babbled away, surprising the other princesses with her newfound gift of gab. “That was a special move I learned from my father when I was younger! It’s a very cool and precise move, but it’s also very dangerous because if you don’t execute correctly you can get hurt. Luckily for me, I had a lot of practice when I was younger so I can do it perfectly! Actually, there’s a spell that pretty similar to this attack too. Well, the spell version is actually preferred by many because of the toll this attack takes on your energy. Speaking of spells, do you think it’s okay for us to use magic in this situation? It would suck if we can’t. Wait a minute, Aika-san, you’re brother is the head of the United Front, isn’t he? Maybe we should’ve asked him before this happened! But then again, how would we know that this would happen anyway? Man, I wonder how many scourges there are. Ooh! Why don’t we have a competition to see who can take down the most scourges first! Anyone want to join?”

Aika, Kanjomizu, Arashi, and Tatsuya slowly shook their heads no with awestruck faces. “I knew that Druks possess a dual nature, but this is my first time meeting one with a very talkative second personality,” commented Aika. Kanjomizu and Arashi nodded their heads in agreement to the Draco princess’ comment.

Shurai let out a yawn and quickly reverted back to her normal self: lethargic, expressionless, and quiet. Her stomach growled, unleashing a rumbling tremor that shook the ground below them. “Ah, I’m hungry,” she announced to the group.

“And she’s back,” said Tatsuya. “Anyway,” he began with a shake of his head, “can I ask you girls to help me protect the people from the scourges?”

“Of course!” quickly answered Aika enthusiastically.

“I will gladly help,” added Kanjomizu with a small smile.

“Seems like it can’t be helped,” said Arashi with a shrug.

“Only if I can eat too,” stated Shurai.

“Thank you,” Tatsuya told them. “I would do this myself if I could, but I don’t have my weapon with me.”

“Where’s your sword right now?” asked Arashi.

“It’s, um, with someone else at the moment,” answered Tatsuya sheepishly. “Anyway, it’s just not on me at the moment.”

“I got just the thing,” announced Shurai, flashing Tatsuya a thumbs up with a confident expression. She reached into her school uniform and brought out a small sheathed blade. “You can use this,” she told Tatsuya.

“What’s that?” he asked, a little surprised by the blade in her hand.

“The prize I won from the eating competition,” answered the Druk princess. “It’s a replica of the Kogarasu-Maru.”

“It may be a replica, but is it even a real blade?” asked Tatsuya. Shurai tilted her head and shrugged. “Of course,” said Tatsuya with an exasperated sigh. He took the blade and thanked the Druk princess for her gift. He unsheathed it and examined the naked blade with critical eyes. The weapon was about 29 centimeters (about 11.5 inches) in total length; the blade was about 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) long and the hilt made up the other 9 centimeters (3.5 inches). The blade was a beautiful silver steel color that seemed too good to be true and the hilt was a brilliant reddish-gold with black crow engravings. The weapon’s weight felt real enough—about equivalent to the weight of a heavy kitchen knife. Tatsuya placed a finger on the blade and could feel its cold, metallic material. Satisfied with his examination, he sheathed the dagger and attached it to the waist of his costume. “All right, why don’t we split up into groups?” he suggested to the girls.

“I’m with Tatsuya/Tatsu-kun/Darling/My Love!” announced the princesses in unison.

‘Geez, this is going to be a major pain in the butt,’ thought Tatsuya pitifully to himself. The princesses were locked in a very intense staring contest with each other—none of them were going to budge on this issue. Tatsuya, of course, didn’t like where this was heading and took the initiative to split them up himself. “Alright, I’ll do it!” he told them. “Aika and Acchan will be a team, and me, Kanjomizu, and Shurai will be another team.”

“But Darling—!” protested Aika.

“It’s already been decided!” quickly announced Tatsuya obstinately.

Aika reluctantly left with Arashi to fight off the scourges in one area of the school, though she bemoaned the decision the entire way. Tatsuya and his team ran forward to another area of the school and promptly engaged in combat. The team’s first enemy in this new area was a Draco. The dragon immediately fired massive fireballs at them upon taking notice of their presence when they entered its field of vision.

Intuitively, Tatsuya raised up his right hand and the Mark of Marduk appeared and glowed brightly. The mark generated its invisible protective barrier and neutralized the fireballs, extinguishing them like simple candle-flames. The dragon roared and released a stream of fire from its mouth. Again, the beast’s attack was fruitless and quickly got neutralized by the mark’s power.

Shurai touched her right hand and brought out her Dragon Regalia: a large golden yellow two-sided war hammer with a long, thick handle and a head with flat blunt ends. “I got this,” she told Tatsuya. She quickly jumped into the air and got within range of the Draco, hovering only a few inches away from the dragon’s face, and swung her weapon like a lumberjack. The weapon struck the dragon square in the jaw and elicited a painful facial expression from the beast. After that megaton hammer slap, Shurai raised her hammer up and brought it down on the dragon’s head, sending it crashing down onto the ground below with a rumbling thud. She landed back down on one knee. “How was that?” she asked Tatsuya.

“T-That was…thanks,” answered Tatsuya, at a loss for words. The dragon appeared to have been quickly decommissioned from the hammer attacks on its face. It laid on the ground with closed eyes and its tongue lolling out of its mouth. “I think we’re done here,” Tatsuya told the others. He then glanced at Shurai and the hammer she had with her. He knew that Dragon Regalias were strong, but it only took two hits from that hammer to take down a scourge, a dragon that’s supposed to possess double it’s power and strength. ‘This girl is really something else,’ he thought to himself with mixed feelings of fear and awe.

Kanjomizu noticed Tatsuya’s obvious look of awe and admiration for Shurai and her recent defeat of the scourge. If only she could make him see her that way too. That’s when she remembered something from not too long ago. She reached into her sleeve pouch and felt the vial of liquid she had recently received today. She gripped it tightly and seriously thought about the consequences. ‘Should I really take this accursed drug?’ she thought logically. ‘Is this really the only way to make My Love look my way?’ The answer to that question seemed really tempting to her.

“We got to find a way to stop this,” said Tatsuya. His voice broke Kanjomizu out of her trance. She simply looked at him and nodded. “I wonder if all of these scourge could be saved,” added Tatsuya pityingly.

Suddenly, the massive sound of wingbeats and the accompanying gust of wind almost blew Tatsuya, Shurai, and Kanjomizu away. Another scourge had spotted them and claimed them as its prey. This time, they were up against a Quetzalcoatl. The dragon squealed out an ear-piercing roar and landed on the ground. It then raised its two feathered wings and the feathers suddenly stiffened like the quills of a porcupine. And just like the mammal’s defensive tactic, the dragon shot out its feathers like dangerous arrows.

Shurai stood in front of the group with her Dragon Regalia and deflected the ones that entered their range. She effortlessly swung the heavy-looking hammer as if it was a toy mallet, quickly hitting the quill-like feathers with perfect precision and accuracy, never missing a single beat. Despite having returned to her usual self a while ago, the Druk princess was more than capable of defending herself and fighting even in her normal state.

“Nice going, Shurai!” praised Tatsuya.

However, this impressive show of power and strength from the Druk princess would soon come to an end. Her limbs began to become limp and the hammer’s head fell to the floor. Shurai yawned and blinked her eyes. As the feathers kept on coming, she still tried to deflect them but her power and accuracy greatly declined. Shurai was almost entirely out of energy. She needed some sort of sustenance or sweet fast before she loses all of her energy for the day.

A stray feather struck Shurai’s hip and left a very nasty gash, forcing the dragon princess to fall on one knee. “Shurai!” cried Tatsuya, running up to her side. He moved in front of her and had his back to the Quetzalcoatl. The feathers struck his body and left nasty stinging marks. But he endured it all to protect Shurai from further harm. He noticed that Shurai was also on the verge of running on empty and knew that she couldn’t continue any further lest she suffers more nasty injuries.

Kanjomizu couldn’t bear the sight of Her Love being in pain. ‘If only I can do something!’ she cried painfully. What happened next was a blur. She became possessed by feelings and did something that she can never come back from. Next thing she knew, a huge surge of power began to pump through her veins. The feeling was good and addicting. Never before had she felt very powerful and strong. She could feel her own potential increasing to max levels. It was her time now to shine.

‘This is the only way I can save My Love,’ spoke a voice inside of her. Kanjomizu heeded these words and unconsciously grabbed the vial of blue liquid from her pouch sleeve and drank it. She finished it and threw the vial onto the ground. And then as she was instructed, she opened the slip of paper that came with the drug and read the words on it: “Destroy the enemy.” She didn’t understand the meaning behind those words, but she could feel power surging through her. ‘I have reached a new level of perfection,’ she told herself. ‘Now, My Love will surely notice me!’ These thoughts preyed on her senses and became the foundation for her newly developed manic desire.

The Quetzalcoatl could sense something different about the Naga princess and unleashed a threatening roar. Its feathers continued to fly through the air like a rain of doom. Kanjomizu simply threw the beast a very nasty glare. The scourge took a step back in obvious terror from the look in her eyes. All of its feathers that were flying straight for the dragon princess was immediately deflected away with her bare hands. The dragon couldn’t believe what it was witnessing.

Kanjomizu raised both her hands and the air around the dragon suddenly turned into water droplets, suspended in time. She then snapped her right hand and the droplets all attacked the Quetzalcoatl like a terrifying rain of death. The torrential pressure of the water was collected into a massive waterfall that drowned the dragon in a terrible deluge. The dragon squirmed and struggled to survive this terrible assault. However, its movements were in vain as the giant beast soon quieted down and its body became limp. With her enemy soundly defeated, Kanjomizu released the waters from tormenting the scourge further.

Tatsuya, who had noticed the scourge’s attack ceasing not long ago and who had witnessed the entire battle with his own eyes, was surprised to see Kanjomizu holding her own against a very powerful enemy. “Mizu!” he called out to her, “Are you okay?” He was afraid that she had used all of her energy again and will fall any second.

“I’m fine!” she told him with a happy smile. In fact, she never felt better. Energy and power surged through her like never before. Her body then stayed very still and a voice that wasn’t hers penetrated her mind. ‘Destroy the enemy,’ it echoed. Kanjomizu could feel her heart beating faster and her vision started to become a little blurry. Sweat excreted from her face and hands like bullets. Her feet felt like jello and her body swayed back and forth as if she was in a trance.

Tatsuya could see that something was wrong with the Naga princess. “Mizu!” he called out to her worriedly.

Kanjomizu looked at Tatsuya with confused, sad eyes. “My Love,” she said. Those accursed words once again echoed in her mind: 'Destroy the enemy'. Their power twisted her mind and smashed her senses to smithereens. Suddenly, she saw Tatsuya’s eyes turning into those of a demon’s: red like hellfire and filled with malice and hate. Those were not the eyes of Her Love…. those were the eyes of her enemy. Her body tensed up as the drug pumped even more strength and power through her body. She could feel the energy amassing inside of her and she felt like a bomb that was ready to burst. She needed to release this energy now before she herself explodes—and the only way she can safely release it is by using it to destroy her enemy. That’s right, her enemy…the Dragonborn. With no warning, Kanjomizu quickly dashed forward like a lion and pounced on Tatsuya, striking him squarely in the chest and sending him flying backwards.

Tatsuya was completely taken by surprise; he wouldn’t have expected this to happen in a million years! But the force with which she had struck him was on a whole new level—he felt like he was hit by a truck. He slowly got back up and asked, “Mizu, what’s going on?” Kanjomizu glared at him with eyes filled with hatred and malice. There was seriously something wrong with her. Tatsuya didn’t know what, but he for sure didn’t like the way things were going now. “Mizu—,” he began.

“Silence, Dragonborn!” snapped the Naga princess. “You are my enemy! It is my job to destroy you.”

‘She’s starting to sound like Natsume Torahime,’ noticed Tatsuya.

“And once I’m done with you, I will rid this world of anyone who dare try to oppose me!” she continued. “This world shall be mine and My Love’s alone. I will turn this world into the perfect world for us. My Love! This is all for you!”

“Mizu, what are you talking about?” exclaimed Tatsuya anxiously. “You’re talking nonsense!”

“Silence!” she screamed at him. “You, Dragonborn, you are the only obstacle standing in our way,” she said, pointing an accusing finger at him. “I will not let you destroy my dream! I will protect My Love from you and we will go on to live a happy life together! But in order to do that, I need to destroy you here and now.”

“Mizu—,” attempted Tatsuya.

“Enough talking!” declared Kanjomizu aggressively. “Prepare to go to hell!” she told him. She touched her wrist and brought out her Dragon Regalia. With her weapon in hand, she rushed forward towards Tatsuya. She swung her flail and the spiked ball connected with Tatsuya’s face and knocked him into the air. Tatsuya was too slow and surprised to have reacted and suffered a heavy blow that shook his brain inside his skull. As he was falling to the ground, Kanjomizu swung her flail from overhead and the spiked ball struck Tatsuya in the stomach, pushing him into the ground below. Tatsuya lied on the ground, battered and bruised. He was already suffering injuries from the Quetzalcoatl’s feathers and was now torturing himself even more by accepting the Naga princess’ blows without retaliation. Kanjomizu was disgusted at the sight of her enemy cowering on the ground like a beaten dog. “Get up and fight me, Dragonborn!” she screamed at him. “I’m not the weak person I used to be! Fight me!”

“Mizu,” said Tatsuya breathlessly. His vision was blurring and the world felt like it was spinning around him. “Why?” he asked her in a pitiful voice.

“If you won’t get up to fight me,” began the Naga princess with a shaking body, “then DIE!” she finished with a frightening scowl. She brought her flail over head head again and was about to deal a deadly blow to Tatsuya’s head when, out of nowhere, a golden yellow hammer struck her in the back and caused her to fall to her knees. Her weapon came down and struck the ground beside her, missing her target completely.

Shurai walked up to the kneeling dragon princess and retrieved her hammer back. “Tatsu-kun,” she said, panting. “I’ll protect you.”

Tatsuya couldn’t believe it. “But you’re out of energy,” he told her.

“I’m…fine…,” she told him. She flashed him a thumbs up with a confident look. She then turned her attention back to Kanjomizu and said, “Why are you doing this, Mizu? This is not like you.”

“You dare to stand in the way between me and My Love?” said Kanjomizu with shaking shoulders. She then looked up at Shurai and unleashed a frightening nightmarish glare. “Then you can die too!” she declared. Suddenly, Kanjomizu’s body began to change and transform. Tatsuya watched in horror as one of his friends were undergoing a process he was all too familiar with. The dragon princess’ body turned a very beautiful sapphire blue color and her skin became shiny fish-like scales. Her face became elongated like a crocodile’s and her eyes became a brilliant sapphire blue with yellow slit pupils. Atop her head was a curved horn-like structure, giving her a very terrifying yet graceful appearance. Her limbs became webbed feet and protruded out of her body like short twigs. A glorious fin-tipped tail sprouted from her back. Gills formed on her neck and were closed. She had also grew to a titanic size, eventually becoming a giant snake-like dragon entity with impressive presence and terrifying beauty.

“M-Mizu?” groaned Tatsuya painfully.

Kanjomizu, now in her dragon form, released a roar that was unlike her. “Now DIE!” she announced in her new form. She opened her mouth and shot out a torrent of water at Tatsuya and Shurai. Tatsuya was powerless to do anything and Shurai was on the verge of collapsing herself.

“Not on my watch, you directionally-challenged basket case!” declared Aika. She raised her hand and shot out a stream of fire that evaporated the torrent before it could hit its target. She then held out her hand in Kanjomizu’s direction and the ground before the Naga princess miraculously combusted, forcing the latter to back down.

Tatsuya painfully turned his head in Aika’s direction and said, “Aika, what are you doing here?”

“I smelled trouble,” she told him.

“Thank you,” said Tatsuya with a small sincere smile.

“What happened for it to come to this?” asked Aika, referring to Kanjomizu’s transformation.

“I…don’t know,” he replied. “Please be careful when you take her down,” he pleaded.

“Of course,” Aika told him with a smile and a nod. “Now, I heard that my brother has lifted the restriction on magic.” She cracked her knuckles and smiled giddily to herself. “I call upon the great dragon god of fire, Draco! Let me bind my enemy and make him submit before your might! I pray for chains of crimson fire to trap my enemy so they may know your wrath! Hellfire Chains!” she chanted. Bright crimson chains made of fire shot out of her hands and began to wrap itself around Kanjomizu tightly. “Learn your place!” she declared haughtily.

Kanjomizu let out a terrifying roar. She thrashed about while in chains, causing the ground below her to rumble. The chains rattled and shook violently. Aika couldn’t believe it, but it seemed that the Naga princess’ strength had increased dramatically, as if it was triple-no-quadruple it’s usual power! ‘What’s going on?’ she thought to herself with a frown.

“Need a little help?” came a new voice. Yong appeared before them and held out a hand. “Let’s have you take a little nap,” she said with a smile. An elegant blue wave emanated from her hand and washed over Kanjomizu like a calming waterfall. The Naga princess suddenly stopped thrashing about and her eyes grew heavy. Her body fell to the ground with a thud and she was out like a light. Yong then snapped her fingers and Kanjomizu’s body began to transform back from a dragon to a human. “I wonder what could’ve caused this,” said the Celestial Dragon to herself. She looked around and spotted a very curious shiny piece of glass on the ground. She held out her left hand and the material telekinetically flew into her hand. “I believe the culprit is right here,” she told the others.

“What could that be?” asked Tatsuya. He was slowly getting back up to his feet.

Aika eyed the glass vial in Yong’s hand suspiciously and leaned forward to take a sniff. “Impossible,” she said in a low voice. She quickly turned to Tatsuya and asked, “Where did Mizu get Dracolax from?”

Tatsuya couldn’t believe the words coming out of Aika’s mouth. “D-D-Dracolax?” he stuttered. Those words hit him like a punch and made him want to just fall back down on the ground and curl up into a ball. He didn’t want to believe it. Yet, as ashamed as he is to admit it, it all makes sense: Kanjomizu’s sudden manic episode, her desire to kill anything in her path, her unreasonable one track mind, her increase in power and strength, and her sudden transformation into her dragon form. Although despite all of this, Tatsuya knew it wasn’t entirely Kanjomizu’s fault. The one who should be blamed for this is the person who gave it to her in the first place. Kanjomizu is a meek and naïve girl—this Tatsuya knows. Therefore, the person who exploited this weakness of hers and manipulated her to take the drug is the one who should be punished for this incident.

Yong looked over at the sleeping Naga princess and frowned. “It appears that she drank a very large amount,” informed the Celestial Dragon. “Although I understand that Dracolax is one way to help those with her condition, it is a very bad method because of its addictiveness. However, even when used to treat this condition, it is normally applied in small amounts. But there are two things to consider about this picture: one, this Dracolax is not the same kind as the more commonly distributed version of the drug but a refined version that possesses very few impurities; and two, since she has consumed an entire vial, the drug has already completely taken over her entire body and mind. And since she is literally consumed by the drug, if this Dracolax possess the same self-destructing properties as normal Dracolax, then I predict that she has less than a few hours to live.”

“A few hours?!” exclaimed Tatsuya.

“Once a scourge finishes its rampage, their body immediately expire,” said Yong. “This is because the drug continues to build up energy inside the organs and cells of its host. But since the scourge has run out of steam, they have no way of releasing this pent up energy. Finally, the energy builds up to a climax and explodes, disintegrating its host in the process. Muscles, skin, organs, nerves, tissues, everything is destroyed. The only thing that is left are bones, typically fractured or rotten.” She had on a disgusted face and shook her head. “This drug is literally a cancer,” she said spitefully.

“Can’t we save her?” asked Tatsuya.

Yong turned to him and tilted her head. “Probably,” she told him with a shrug of her shoulders.

“How can we do that?” he asked her anxiously.

“Dragon Lotus Extract,” answered Yong matter-of-factly.

“Do you have some on you?” asked Tatsuya expectantly.

“Do you really expect me to carry Dragon Lotus Extract with me everywhere I go?” asked Yong cheekily.

“But—,” said Tatsuya.

“Listen, Dragonborn, do you have any Dragon Lotus Extract on you?” asked Yong. Tatsuya didn’t answer her. “It’s like asking a doctor if he carries medical pills with him everywhere he goes or a fireman if he carries a firehose with him all the time. Just because I’m a Celestial Dragon does not mean that I can do everything. To be honest, I prefer to do nothing in this situation. After all, she dug her own grave. If she had did nothing, she wouldn’t have to suffer like this. But she had to do something in order to save you though, right?”

Tatsuya’s body shook and he had his eyes focused on the ground below him. “I can’t believe this,” he said with a shaky breath. His eyes immediately looked up and he exploded on the Celestial Dragon with unbridled fury. “You’re just a bunch of crap!” he screamed angrily. “You call yourself a god but you can’t even save someone dear to me from something that they don’t deserve! What kind god does that? What kind of person does that? Unbelievable! If you can’t do anything with whatever powers you have then don’t try putting yourself in the situation in the first place! I don’t need some bastard deity like you to tell me what can and can’t be done! I have enough of this bullshit! If you can’t do anything, then I’m going to do something. At least that’s better than doing nothing! And once I find a way to save Mizu, I’m going to hunt down the guy responsible for this!”

Yong yawned and brought her right hand to Tatsuya’s forehead. She flicked his forehead and made him fall back on his butt. “Chill out, Dragonborn,” she told him. “I’m only doing nothing because I don’t have to do anything at all.”

“What the hell do you mean?!” screamed Tatsuya furiously.

Yong simply replied by pointed her finger to his left. At that moment, Arashi arrived with a vial of sparkling light pink liquid. She approached the group and noticed Kanjomizu lying asleep on the ground a few feet away from them. “What happened here?” she asked them.

“Acchan, what’s that in your hand?” asked Tatsuya.

“A vial of Dragon Lotus Extract,” answered Arashi. “I found it on the ground. It must’ve been dropped by an agent from the United Front.”

“The United Front has already entered the battle, I assume?” asked Yong. Arashi answered her with a nod. “Now then, Quetzalcoatl princess, may I see that vial?” asked the Celestial Dragon. Arashi glanced over at Tatsuya and saw him nodding for her to comply with the request. She handed Yong the vial and the Celestial Dragon walked over to the lying Kanjomizu.

“What’s wrong with Mizu?” inquired Arashi.

“She had an incident,” Tatsuya told her.

Yong fed the Naga princess the entire vial. She then scooped Kanjomizu up into her arms and said, “I’ll watch over her. In the meantime, Owatatsumi Tatsuya, I believe you have an appointment with a certain someone?” Tatsuya answered her with a nod. “I wish you luck,” said Yong. She then disappeared with Kanjomizu in a show of sparkling golden light.

Tatsuya turned around and wore a serious and grim expression. “Get ready, Aris. I’m coming for you.”