D had a rough night. Laplas was discovered mysteriously in the room down the hall in the inn. The inn itself was crawling with spies. Everything he imagined that could be possible to poison was poisoned. If Saten didn’t have such great cleansing magic, D would have died. He became sure that he could resist any poison now. After the fourth time Juno got poisoned, he had her ride on his back to avoid touching anything as D used his body as a trip for the poisons. D got various infections and Saten cured them over and over as he explored the inn and got accosted by more assassins. Saten suggested they leave, but D knew that this was his only hope of getting any rest before tomorrow. If he slept in one of their tripped traps, with all of them dead, he couldn’t possibly run into any new traps. So he thought. Eventually he realized that even the bed and covers were poisoned, he gave Saten a stink eye as she healed his already puffed up face as Juno whispered worries in his ear.
“Can’t we just sleep outside? You’re really pushing it…”
She admonished him. But, he stubbornly kept at this until he shadowflamed a room clearing it and decided to sleep on the floor. There can’t be any poison left now, right? That morning he threw Saten and Juno who were curled up on his body to the side and woke them up.
“There’s no way you two will be safe here! Let’s just go home,” D whined. His mood was sour. After barging through an army of thieves and malcontents, duping swinders and exploiters with his wit, and securing a poisoned inn through sheer determination, dragon adaptability and Saint magic he had enough. Last night he had been too tired to consider any course of action but sleep. What bothered him the most was Juno’s safety. Saten didn’t seem like she was going to die, but Juno poisoned face from the night before stuck in his mind.
Today he had to go to the castle, and anywhere where he couldn’t see them meant Saten and Juno would be in danger. On the other hand, taking them with him would expose them to the Lords directly. D didn’t know about the trap laid for him, but from this reception he figured he would be jumped by all seven Lords with their lord-class weapons and armor and have to activate Dragon Drive to survive. He might have to kill them all, and what then?
Saten looked at him, a smile on her face as she grabbed his head. D didn’t understand what emotion she was expressing, but he did not figure it was a good one. Juno had her own concerns, but she kept her arms folded between her thighs on the floor.
“There’s no going back. If we withdraw now, Locos becomes a target for military action. Now that I’m not a Saint anymore, now that you’ve received a welcome like this, the only way out is through!” She released his head and sat back on the inn floor. Saten sighed. “Or, we could run. Forget the Lordship, forget Locos, spend our lives wandering in the wilderness. Or join the side of the No Life King and the goblins. Maybe they will accept us?”
D could see Saten was at the end of her wits after last night. If D didn’t have such ridiculous abilities like the Dragon Drive and Dragon Hoard, he’d be thinking the same thing. Those, combined with his shadowflame, adaptability, and bulletblade assured him of victory. Even then, he wanted to leave the lordship and Locos behind and just take the two girls here with him. Why does he need to push himself? Does he really need a town and a political position?
However, seeing Saten give up on the Lordship gave him a sense of loss. He liked Saten when she was stronger.
I didn’t think even this would break her will to continue, even when she said she was excommunicated. D felt there was something he had to protect there. Saten continued as D’s analysis of the situation tumbled.
.
“Why would the Lords would go this far? You’re right, D. Maybe we should just call you Ralphos again, go on a journey, the three of us. We can get matching cloaks with hoods covering our faces, right wrongs, it’ll be an adventure,” Saten’s eyes unfocused as she looked down at the floor.
D didn’t like that look on Saten’s face. Even though he thought something similar, even though he wanted to give up, he didn’t want to see Saten give up. He thought of Laplas. Her confession to him when they were overlooking Locos drifted into his mind. She seemed so lonely. He wasn’t sure she would stick around if he wasn’t a lord.
Although their relationship wasn’t much at the moment cutting it off entirely felt like a loss to him. He thought of Locos. Of Afgar, that strange sword that he broke that Lord Ros had, just what the hell was that thing? The three he took revenge on and put under his weak rule that was already crumbling at that moment. D looked at Juno.
Juno nodded to him and spoke, noting the glint in D’s eye. She knew what that meant.
“Lordship or Kingdom, don’t come back dead. That’s all I want from you, D.”
D looked to Saten. He had to tell her. D reached into a nearby pack, and handed her a book.
“Dragon manual. I’ve been studying the history of the towns and their lords, the weapons and armor of different classes, magic, and the history of the war. But, I also read this. I’m going to use everything I learned, and I’m going to come out on top here.”
D stood up. He didn’t know if his words were him lying to himself or him telling the truth to himself. His body felt stronger in that moment, bigger, like he could handle whatever was next. Saten looked up at him, tears in the corner of her eyes. D looked down to Saten.
“I’m crushing all those Lords. They ruined my night. I’m going to show them how uncomfortable it is to sleep on a floor with only your packs as pillows!”
D roared.
Saten’s face twisted back into a smile, and she laughed at him. Juno smiled and closed her eyes. She wanted to believe D could handle it, no matter what it was. Even though she knew his dragon powers were insane, she was still afraid.
“D, don’t hesitate to use the Dragon Drive, okay?” Juno stood and looked at him.
“Juno, use that outfit to book it. Even if you have to leave Saten behind, don’t mind her. She can handle herself,” D said.
Saten stood and looked at the two, her smile growing wider.
“Please, be careful not to hurt too many innocents, alright? You look like you’re about to start a war.”
“It’s their fault. This is self-defense, Saten! As for the innocents, well, I’ll do my best. For all of us.”
D left his pack behind and grabbed the hilt of the bulletblade. He walked to the door, giving the both of them a final look. He faced away from them, and said the words he didn’t want to say to Saten the most.
“Get out of town. I’m not sure how long it’s going to last.”
After D left Saten held the Dragon manual close to her body as she questioned Juno.
“He’s not serious about that, right? He’s going to be okay, right?”
Juno furrowed her brow.
“He’d better be okay. This is going to be a disaster. His abilities, they got him this far, but against the Lords…”
Saten saw the trepidation on Juno’s face. If Juno knew that D was walking into two Kings, a vampire, and a mysterious warrior of an ancient family protecting the stability of the world she would have fought him physically to turn to a wandering life with her and Saten.
“Tell me, earlier you said ‘Dragon Drive’, what’s that?” Saten said.
“D’s abilities, well, should I just say that maybe I’m worrying too much? It would have to take the strongest on this side of the war to give him a real fight!” Juno laughed nervously.
Unfortunately those were the very people D was about to meet.
“I’ll tell you. D gave you that book, so he wants you to know. That’s enough for me. I’d rather you scram though,” Juno stared at Saten with sudden bloodlust. Saten caught the line of her sight, and laughed at her.
Stolen story; please report.
“Oh, don’t worry about it Juno!” Saten rubbed Juno’s head gently. Juno sighed as she enjoyed the sensation, her tail making a turn as she recounted D’s abilities.
“I’m worried. When he gets back from destroying the world and comes to me first instead of you, I’ll calm down. Anyways, he’s got the bulletblade. It’s got four ‘Drives’. Each one you hit a switch and it activates a certain mode. Drive 1 bisects a certain target, Drive 2 boosts your base abilities. I used it during the fight against Cruci, that red aura, remember? Drive 3 blew up a mountain. Hopefully he doesn’t use that one. Drive 4 cuts souls in half and absorbs them. The dwiff who told us said the bulletblade runs off souls, somehow. The bulletblade was made by Xethos, you know about him, Saten?”
Saten’s blue eyes were big from what she was learning, but she just swished her head from side to side. Xethos wasn’t a name a human would know anyways. Most Cats from the Cat Kingdom of the Caves didn’t know his name either, unless you were a member of a Lord family like Juno used to be.
“Xethos is a long dead cat wizard of great infamy among the Lords of the Cat Kingdom of the Caves. He created chimera, horrible creatures that destroyed the bounds of magic. Thankfully, they were all wiped out. However-”
“Chimera? They called D that!” Saten said.
“Are you sure? That doesn’t sound right. The chimera I know aren’t human at all. Must be a mistake,” Juno ignored it to continue her explanation. “Anyways, Xethos ruled as one of the Wizard Kings of the Cat Kingdom. He should be dead, but there’s rumors. Some believe that his creations, his magical weapons and armor, were given to the goblins. When I found out that the bulletblade was made by Xethos, I understood a simple fact about it that I couldn’t tell D, but this is the perfect time to confess it to you. The bulletblade is alive. It has it’s own magic. However, if you tell D that, there’s a chance that the bulletblade could turn against him. I’ve been watching the bulletblade as best I could for that reason. Just as I’ve been watching D. If it weren’t for his other abilities, I’d be more worried about the bulletblade’s influence. Good thing he’s a dragon.”
Juno sighed. She worried about that so much before Escribo handed her the Dragon manual. ‘Adaptability’ ensured that he couldn’t be influenced by something for long.
Saten’s rapt attention was broken by her own question.
“So, there’s no way to know what the bulletblade will do? It could betray him?”
Juno shook her head.
“The other weapons never betrayed their masters. But, Xethos has a bad reputation. All of the things he created changed the people that received them, and not always for the better. Prince Ralphos didn’t have much of an issue with it for some reason, although I had my suspicions. If the town doesn’t get destroyed, there’s a dwiff here that might be able to explain it to us. But, for now it’s a mystery. His other abilities are all from his dragon self:
“Adaptability. Once he is influenced by something, his entire being shifts in order to accommodate the change better. Remember all the times you hit him? Didn’t he get harder and harder? I thought he was just getting better at fighting, but D actually got much stronger just from taking those hits. Whatever magic the bulletblade may use on him is useless at this point, since he’s been using it himself for so long he should have adapted by now.”
“Shadowflame. That was the dark fire yesterday the he spewed, that burned that army. It’s useless against stronger foes. D doesn’t know that, but I didn’t want to give him a reason not to use it. At the least he might take out some of the weaker Lords if they gang up on him.”
“Dragon’s Hoard. He collects ‘treasures’ in the hoard. From what I understand about reading about it, these reproduce certain magics that are used on him. They become a form of his own magic. He said he didn’t want me to ever tell you about it for some reason. I don’t understand why. When he used it on me, he got a ‘treasure’ which summoned a bunch of small cat maids that crawled all over his body. It’s strange. He said there was one he got from you, but his face went red. I wonder why?”
“Dragon Drive. Something about alchemy. I couldn’t understand it at all, but it’s basically infinite energy or something. I guess he could blow up the town if he uses it wrong.”
Juno finished her explanation, and answered Saten’s questions. Saten was concerned about a number of things, but they all went back to Dragon Hoard. After calming Saten down, Juno gathered up their packs, including D’s and suggested that they leave town like D said. Through the air, naturally.
Saten and Juno made their way out of the window in the inn room and crawled to the roof as Juno checked her activations on her maid outfit.
“100%, 100%, altitude correct, magic flow optimal…” Juno muttered to herself brushing and adjusting the outfit. She still didn’t understand how to use most of the features, but she understood how to fly well enough. Saten waited patiently until she saw a figure mounted on a roof approaching.
That was when Saten strode forth clad in light, her black outfit containing it as she grabbed an incoming light sword projectile. The sword came right from the figure. The shadow wobbled in the distance, and Saten heard a laugh. Saten knew who that voice belonged to. She snapped the sword with her light clad hand and her face got serious.
“Juno. D told you to leave me if I got in trouble. I can handle myself. I’ll be okay.”
Juno saw the look on Saten’s face. She was startled, but with a grim look she stared at the approaching shadow as light swords began to circle around it’s form. Did he attack after D left on purpose? Juno shivered, but stood firm.
“I’ll help-”
“Not this time. Not against him. There’s plenty of times when running is much better, you know?”
Juno caught her meaning from the look on her face and her tone as Saten leaped to the next building. Saten’s aegis, which Juno only saw during the week that D and Juno trained with Saten, went up. Instead of a golden ball like Cruci’s aegis, it was a small shield that floated in front of her and spun around her body slowly in a circular motion.
Juno went for her drill, stopping her hand halfway and staring at Saten’s back. No good. She understood that from Saten’s words and tone. She would not only be in the way-
“I’d die and- a useless death.”
Juno activated her skirts propulsion and flew off. She’ll find D, he shouldn’t have gone far.
“Hang in there, Saten!” Juno yelled at the figures on the roof as she sped away into the air.
Juno met her own resistance there. A tremendous massive falcon tackled her with immense force as she flew over the town, carrying her across the sky over the town in an instant. Juno looked down at the bird tackling her, a falcon with golden eyes pushing her with it. The wind buffeted around them, and by the time she threw herself out of the falcon’s tackle Juno could only see the town as a speck in the distance. She caught her breath as she saw the falcon become a speck in the distance from her position, before lazily turning in the air and charging her at all speed again.
Juno maneuvered her rocket and whipped out her drill, shedding the packs she carried and setting the spinner trigger to full drone.
“Center it!”
She adjusted herself as the drill droned on, watching the falcon speed toward her trying to aim straight for the head. Just when she had it pointed dead on to the falcon’s charge, the falcon bent with the air at the last second and buffeted her with a wing.
Juno screeched out as she shot towards the ground, tumbling in the air and spinning at an uncontrollable speed. Her mind spun as well, and she had only one idea.
“Straight through.”
She thought the herself. The droning of her drill was the only sound she could hear in that moment. She charged her skirt with all the energy she could.
“Full Tilt! Overcharge!”
Her maid outfit sparkled with blue and gold lines along its cloth. Juno pushed her drill into the wind as in droned, aiming at the ground.
“All speed ahead!”
Her body straight and spinning like a drill with the additional force of her rocket skirt maid outfit plummeted into the ground, a wave of dirt erupted as Juno used the resistance of the dirt pushing against her drilling to redirect herself.
She turns it, slowly but surely, going straight on through rock and dirt but turning all the while. Juno bursts from the ground again and straight into the sky, breathing hard.
It’s taking all of her boosted magical energy just to hold onto her drill, but the force of the rocket behind her is urging her on. She sped into the clouds, above them, the sun reflecting off the cloud tops.
Her eyes darted and saw the falcon making a leisurely trip back. Had it assumed that when she hit the ground, she was dead?
“I spent years drilling at home, dumb bird!”
That was all she had back then. She wasn’t good at magic, she to earn her keep as part of a Lord’s litter of kittens she-
Got a gift from her Grandpa. It’s the drill she holds now.
She aimed. She tilted herself, carefully slowly, towards the lazy difting falcon in the distance. The clouds shot from her vision. The bird grew large. It head turned and it’s golden eye grew big as it’s beak opened in disbelief.
The falcon spun into the drill. A second’s contact as Juno shot straight through. Feathers burst into the sky, sunlight covering them. Blood and bone spread into a mist, the falcon now falcon bits.
If you were on the ground, a farmer, and you looked to the sky that evening not so far away wiping the sweat away from your brow of a hard day's work, you could see it. A massive Falcon, drifting on the winds. A peaceful sight, distant, giving you peace for that day. The farmer would smile, thinking of how grand the the beauty of this world is to him. Then, the Falcon would burst apart. Feathers would reflect the light, a black mass of them floating like a seraphim framed against the clouds. It would a beautiful and mysterious sight for him, that would confuse him to the end of his days. He would paint it one day, the farmer would think, as he saw the Falcon’s unexplainable explosion.
He could never have imagined the truth. That a catgirl Lord’s daughter miner turned maid turned rocket maid rent that Falcon apart.
Juno herself couldn’t stop, her speed too much for her and her emergency cutoff inaccessible. Juno would have to let go of the drill, and that would send her spiraling of into the ground. The only way to stop is to find something to drill into again. Her last reserves of strength leavin her, she pulled with all of her will to aim slightly towards a mountain. A catgirl maid streaked through the air causing an explosion of mountain rock. The dust and boulders settled around the new cave created, Juno’s drill buried in the rock, it’s droning silent. Juno’s body was splayed across the inside of the new cave, looking out at the clouds above. Her body exhausted fully from holding herself straight, she kept her eyes a moment more looking into the sky. D, Saten, they would be alright. She tried to convince herself, again and again her mind drilled that thought around her consciousness as it slipped away.