Elsewhere while Kusana and Lola struggled to get Abigail out of her pillow fort, an eerie and hollowing breeze crawled throughout the cavernous cave, whipping and weaving between the towering stalactites and stalagmites constructed of solidified spirit chakra. Deeper within the cavern stood a ginormous gothic castle constructed of metal, casting its light into the cavern as all manner of spirit chakra oozed out from it.
Inside a dark room, a sizeable lantern filled with a large light mana hovered at the centre of the room. The lantern's light shot directly down, illuminating the marble table and the engraving on the perimeter of the table's surface. Encompassing the roundtable stood eight wooden thrones, situated before each of the engravings, and on those thrones sat seven yokai made of pure spirit chakra of various colours, shapes, and sizes. The various yokai eyed the empty seat with the dulled-out engraving in front of it.
"Zykorlz... what a fool," Natuvo remarked, his bratty and condescending tone mixed with a hint of sorrow. Tsunakao puffed up her cheeks and external gills as she pouted at Natuvo.
(Natuvo is a yokai made of orange and deep blue spirit chakra in the shape of a kid-sized humanoid; he has vine-shaped hair, and slightly wide hips and thighs)
(Tsunakao is a yokai made of pink, pale blue, and pale yellow spirit chakra in the shape of a kid-sized humanoid; they have three external gills on the side of her head and three ahoges on her head)
"Hey! I would say he was endearingly silly," Tsunakao stated childishly, flailing her arms about while Natuvo continued to call Zykorlz foolish. The two's bickering caused four of the other yokai to let out strained spurts of amused snickers while Asterou remained silent. After listening to the two bicker for a little longer, Asterou raised his broad shoulders, releasing a coarse groan sending a chilling shock through the other yokai. His fellow yokai shot up to a professional sitting position with their backs pressed against the back of their thrones.
(Asterou is a towering yokai made of Prussian blue spirit chakra in the shape of an adult humanoid male; he has broad shoulders and a muscular frame)
"If you have nothing productive to say at this table, remain silent," Asterou orders, his voice booming through the large barren room leaving the other yokai to simply sit in silence. The silence filled the room, setting a heavy atmosphere over the yokai as they dreaded Asterou's next words. Asterou sighed, making the other yokai flinch.
"Be it as it may, the sudden reappearance of that particular ancient kaiser user simply means you'll need to be more cautious when carrying out your assignments, understood?" Asterou explained stoicly.
"So... meeting adjourned?" Tsunakao asked sheepishly. Asterou lowered his chin to his fist and sighed.
"Meeting adjourned.". The other yokai nodded their heads before rising from their thrones and rocketing off in spheres of spirit chakra. Asterou groaned in frustration, pushing himself from his throne and onto his feet. He briefly lowered his head before turning his gaze to the empty seat previously belonging to Zykorlz.
"Or perhaps the outcome wouldn't be any different even without the kaiser user's appearance," Asterou uttered as he constructed a cosmic energy mist and walked into it before he and the mist disappeared.
Back at the Sakamoto residence, Lumina and Camellia placed the stacks of plates into the kitchen sink, coated in a thin layer of blue mana crystals. Lumina put a finger on the blue mana crystal beside the sink, briefly pouring some of her mana into the crystal, and causing the sink to fill with water. She tapped the red mana crystal beside the blue one, heating the water to the point it bubbled and steam seeped out of it. Lumina glared at the boiling water, watching it simmer and the various popping bubbles. Camellia passed a worried stare to the silent Lumina.
"You good, Lumi?" Camellia asked worriedly while poking the grumpy Lumina in the face. Despite the poking, Lumina showed no reaction to Camellia and made Camellia lightly frown. She repositioned her finger to the spot below the base of Lumina's left kitsune ear before firmly pressing the spot. Lumina shot her eyes open, her consciousness seemingly returning to the present moment in time.
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"H-Huh? Y-yeh, I'm fine," Lumina muttered as she grabbed a tiny dish soap cube from a glass jar and tossed it into the boiling sink. As the growing plume of opaque bubbles filled the sink, Lumina turned her vision to Solus' open bedroom door as she heard Lola and Abigail's cheers of excitement at watching Solus and Lumios sparring outside.
Dashing through the snow-covered sparring ground, Solus zipped across the area with Nebulous Requiem in hand. Solus continued evading Lumios' barrage of light mana arrows, ducking and weaving in a sweat as he felt his legs getting number and number. As he ran, Solus spotted a patch of snow ahead of him briefly rustle. He slammed his tails into the ground, grinding himself to a halt before a magigold spear pierced up from the rustling patch of snow. Solus sighed in relief as the magigold spear reverted to snow.
"Are you trying to kill me or something?" Solus asked amusedly with a hint of annoyance in his tone. Lumios lightly snickered and shook his head.
"If I hold back too much all the time it would only stunt your growth, and I wouldn't want to be reductive," Lumios stated smugly before ducking and avoiding a beam of cosmic energy.
"Decided to participate in person have you?" Lumios asked as he turned to the floating and pouting Nebula.
"No cheap shots," Nebula grumbled while gathering cosmic energy into her palm. As he heard Nebula's remark, an amused and wicked smirk formed on Lumios' face.
"Are you asking for a more head-on approach from me?" Lumios asked, with a tantalized glee oozing from his voice which made Solus shiver in fear. As Nebula began to speak, a blur of yellow light zipped past Lumios before coiling around Nebula and covering her mouth.
"No-no, the current training method is fine!" Solus blurted out as the light mana covering his body broke apart. In an attempt to break free, Nebula squirmed against Solus, only to end up striking Solus' elbow with her own and making the duo collapse onto the snowy ground as a static sensation overtook their bodies. Lumios sighed meekly, uttering the small amount of amusement in him as he watched the duo stagger to their numbed feet.
"I suppose we should end this sparring session for now, I won't have any time for research if you two are flirting every other minute," Lumios stated, making Nebula blush and Solus roll his eyes at the teasing. Before either of them could make a retort, one of Lumios' miruku tendrils passed two engraved wooden tiles to the duo as Lumios walked past them.
"Sorry, Sol-kun...," Nebula uttered as she lightly gripped her wooden tile.
"For what?" Solus asked as he snapped the wooden tile, making all the injuries on his body instantly heal. Nebula meekly murmured and snapped her wooden tile.
"For almost getting our butts kicked by Lu," Nebula muttered while rubbing her arm. Solus, momentarily surprised by Nebula's reasoning, couldn't help but cheekily grin at Nebula and pat her on the head.
"Even if it did happen, you being willing to fight beside me would've been worth it," Solus remarked cheekily, leaving Nebula to lower her head as she faintly blushed.
"But don't we do that every time we deal with yokai?".
"I mean it in the more literal sense.".
"Oh...," Nebula uttered in surprise.
After the numbness in his legs subsided, Solus scooped up Nebula with his kitsune tails and carried her back into the house. As he walked through the front door, Solus spotted a huffing and moody Inaka standing in the front hall with her arms crossed.
"About time you finished," Inaka grumbled before handing Solus a sealed letter. Solus looked at the letter before sighing, sensing Inaka's growing animosity towards him.
"I'll make you muffins in a minute," Solus stated as he walked into the living room with Inaka floating behind him, her arms still crossed. Solus handed the letter to Nebula and placed her on the sofa before heading to the kitchen with Inaka. Nebula stared at the letter, a small smile on her face, as she rubbed her thumbs against it.
"Is it from the pun-derer?" Nym asked as she and the other shrine fluttered around her.
"Plunger?" Lola mumbled while glancing at Abigail.
"She means Nebula's brother," Abigail explained, adding that she even met him before she left the Republic. Lola nodded her head while Nebula continued to inspect the unopened letter.