My body felt light and serene as I was in a garden I knew all too well. It was in the backyard of the girl who I promised to get engaged to when I grew up. I looked forward and there she stood in her favorite white sundress with a matching white hat. Her long silky black hair was flowing with the wind as if it was her friend rather than a force of nature.
“Mizuki?? Is that you? I can’t believe it? I thought you died?”
I murmured to myself as I could not believe that the girl who I saw be consumed by an Exceed right in front of my eyes was standing right in front of me.
As I approached her wanting to get a closer look at her once beautiful face, that same S-class Exceed that took her life appeared in front of me blocking my path. It had the body of a giant bee that was about the size of a house and its appendages were spears of extreme sharpness.
I could still remember that exact scene where it opened its giant maw and swallowed her whole in one gulp. Now history was repeating itself as the S-class Bee Exceed opened its jaws once again and had Mizuki in its sights.
“NOOO MIZUKI!!!”
I shouted at the top of my lungs and ran in an attempt to combat the Exceed that was undoubtedly more powerful than I was. As I was about to make it in time to save her from its vicious mouth, the whole image disappeared as I was faced with an unfamiliar ceiling.
“It is best if you don’t get up. Your body may collapse again if you overexert yourself or get too excited.”
An unknown female voice called out. I turned my head over slightly and saw a girl of unparalleled innocence.
She had long white hair that ended at her shoulder blades, her face was free of blemishes and looked like the face of an angel. Her innocent look accompanied by her soft demeanor definitely made her wife material for any single males. Furthermore, she was dressed in a traditional Japanese kimono that was adorned with cute floral prints which accentuated her slender and modest body.
“Where am I? What is this place?” I asked the girl who was in a Seiza position next to me.
“This is my home. I’m sure you must be very confused right now, but I can assure you that I have no intention of harming you. Especially since you are injured, please remain in the futon until your body has fully recovered.”
The girl replied in a soft and calm tone which certainly did ease my tensed mood but I did not have time for this as I remembered why I blacked out in the first place. I quickly attempted to get out of the unfamiliar futon I was in but the girl quickly used one of her hands to pin me down.
“What! Remove your hands from my chest and let me leave! I have to go and rescue my friend immediately! I have no time to waste here.”
I demanded hoping that the girl would understand my situation but the strength she put in her hands did not reduce but instead she was now pushing me back with even more force.
“How strong was this girl? I may be weakened now but I should still be able to overpower a mere girl who looked no older than Kasumi or Emiri.” I thought to myself as I was about to activate my wind abilities to forcefully overpower her.
However, before I could amass my power, a sarcastic voice called out from the crystal on my chest which made me calm down.
“Kazu-kun, listen to that girl. While I am unaware of how our spiritual link was cut off just before you lost consciousness, I do not think charging into the enemy’s territory is the wisest move currently.”
“Wait, did your crystal just talk? There’s no way? I never thought I would be able to meet another person with similar circumstances as me.”
The white haired beauty gasped at Restia’s voice being emitted from the crystal on my chest which honestly was not surprising given that many would be surprised by my relationship with Restia. However, I was intrigued and curious about how she mentioned that she was in a similar situation as me.
“What exactly did you mean by similar circumstances?” I asked the girl directly.
While I was expecting a verbal reply, the girl started to untie the obi holding her kimono in place which caught me off guard. Her kimono slowly loosened up and her shoulders were now exposed alongside the shoulder straps of her light yellow bra. This was certainly an exciting scene and I was trying my best to hold in my lust. When her upper abdomen was fully exposed, she shifted the left cup of her yellow cotton bra slightly which revealed a Fafnir crystal that was shining in a similar hue to mine whenever Restia spoke.
“No way, HAHAHHA! Restia, is that you? It has been so long, I never thought that you of all Exceeds would choose to form a contract HAHAH! Now it makes sense as to how that boy is able to be a Regalia when he has a dick.”
A jovial yet mature voice called out from the crystal on the girl’s left breast which immediately surprised me. Before I could converse with it, Restia immediately materialized herself in front of me and replied to the talking crystal.
“Raza, is that you? It certainly has been a while since our last encounter. I hope you have been doing well, you pervy old man. From what I can see, you landed yourself quite the cute contract, I hope you haven’t been doing anything terrible to her?”
Soon after, a short man materialized himself next to the white haired girl. He appeared to be just like a regular old man who would be enjoying retirement but the amount of power I can sense from him is immense. He was clad in a kimono similar to his master and he had a grin on his face. If I saw him on the streets, I would have definitely thought of him to be just a regular old man.
However, this was the second time I have come face to face with another Exceed that is capable of speech with the first being Restia. Furthermore, if my suspicions are right, he is probably one of the 7 SSS-class Exceeds as well.
Before replying to Restia’s comment, he quickly approached Restia at a speed and placed one of his hands on the hem of Restia’s usual purple goth lolita dress and forcefully flipped it up. Needless to say, Restia’s panties were exposed to everyone in the room. While I wanted to be a gentleman and not look, I gave in to my curiosity and lust and made use of the opportunity to take a peek.
Her panties today were light pink with multiple pink frills and pink lace which would make me think that she was a regular girl instead of a high ranking Exceed.
“Oh Hoho, nice panties you have on today. I wouldn’t have thought that you would be wearing such cute underwear Miss Exceed of the lust. Don’t tell me, you are planning to impress that boy HAHAHAH---”
Before he could continue his comments about Restia’s choice of underwear, both the white haired girl(who still had her upper abdomen exposed) and Restia herself(after fixing her dress) jabbed him in his abdomen and his head respectively at the same time.
“I am so sorry, Restia-sama. Raza-sama can be quite a pervert at times but I can assure you he means well. It’s probably because he has not seen for for such a long time.”
The white haired girl started apologizing profusely while bowing her head which made Restia a little surprised.
“It’s no issue, that pervy old man has always been nothing but a creep but I must say that if he has chosen you as his master, you are quite lucky.”
“Huh? What’s so lucky about having this creep as a master, I bet he just touches her and peeps at her every opportunity he gets.”
I commented while looking at the supposed high ranking Exceed that is writhing in pain on the floor.
“Well, I guess that is true and he is a little perverse but he means well. I lost my parents and my siblings to an Exceed attack just before forming a contract with Raza-sama when I was 12 years old so I guess he is somewhat of a father figure to me. He always takes care of me and keeps me company so I would not give up anything in the world for him.”
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The white haired girl replied while the Exceed known as Raza slowly climbed up and leapt towards her and quickly retied the obi on her kimono in order to cover up her exposed upper body. It was quite a shame that the view was gone but I guess she would have caught a cold if she continued to be half-naked.
“Little boy, don’t think you can get away with seeing my dear Yukihime-chan in such a vulnerable state of undress. I am the only one who deserves to see her like that HAHAHAH.”
Raza’s comment was quickly met with another strike to the head by the girl who was known as Yukihime.
“Anyways, I believe I have not properly introduced myself. I am Horimiya Yukihime but you can call me Yuki. I am 18 years old this year and I am a student of Primrose Academy though I never really go there unless Saya forces me to for student council events. But anyways, it is a pleasure to meet you.”
Yuki calmly introduced herself with a smile on her face as she did a full 90 degrees bow with her head touching the floor as she was still seated in a seiza position.
“Nice to meet you too. My name is Kuzunoha Kazuha and I was a part of the JSF but now I am a student in Saint Lily’s Academy. Thank you once again for taking care of me and letting me rest in your home. By the way may I ask what exactly happened before you found me? The last memory I can recall was experiencing excruciating pain and blacking out inside the jungle.”
“Ah I see, nice to meet you Kazuha-san. I sensed an odd disturbance with my ability with the spirit connections in the jungle so I went to check it out. When I got there, I saw a large sector of the jungle being surrounded in some kind of suspicious metal cage and thankfully with the help of the spirits, I noticed you so I used my abilities to extract you and so I brought you to my home in the jungle. I believe it was the doing of that beast of a man who resides in the jungle.”
Yuki explained in great detail while I attempted to understand the situation.
“Wait, you know Raikou? Tell me, where is he hiding? I could not sense his energy at all since I arrived here. In addition, that suspicious metal cage you mentioned was probably what interfered with my connection to Restia and thus my abilities as well.”
“Yes, that could have been the case as that period of time where our connection was broken, it felt like my body was being attacked by some sort of unknown force and I felt extreme pain similar to what you felt.”
Restia followed up with her own side of the story while Raza who had heard the story chimed in as well with his own thoughts.
“That is quite peculiar, in all my years I have never heard of an Anti-Exceed metal outside of the Tetrasidium weapons those Fafnirs use. It must be quite powerful if it is even able to counter a SSS-class Exceed with such ease. In any case, I honestly doubt that you would be able to challenge that Raikou fellow alone in your current condition.”
As much as I wanted to give a rebuttal to his comment, I could not as I knew deep down that he was right. In addition, there is no telling what other traps Raikou has set in this jungle.
“Damn it, is there really nothing I can do except sit around!”
I called out in anger as I attempted to stand up from the futon but the strength in my legs apparently had not returned yet which led to me losing my balance and tripping. Normally, falling would be no big deal except this time as I fell, I was headed towards the direction of Yuki who could not react in time and hence got caught in the crossfire of my fall.
When I came back to my senses, I realized that I was face to face with Yuki and my lips somehow landed on hers which meant that we were kissing. On top of that, I could feel a rather soft and squishy sensation on my right hand which could only mean one thing. My hand was currently resting on Yuki’s right breast.
Before I could react or even apologize for this mishap, I received a powerful punch to my face from Yuki which made me land forcefully back on the futon. When I looked at Yuki again, I realized that her once long pure white hair was now replaced with light orange-brown hair that was tied in 2 buns.
“You bastard, what do you think you are doing! To think that Yuki’s first kiss would be taken by some unknown man who just appeared. I swear that girl is way too kind for her own good to save and accept strangers into her home. For her sake, I will ensure with my own 2 hands that you are ever walk again.”
The brown haired girl spoke in third person and talked about Yuki as if she was a completely different person which caught me and Restia off guard. Not to mention that her pure and kind demeanor completely changed 180 degrees as this girl was now aggressive and rather vulgar.
“Now calm down Haru, that was clearly an accident. As much as I am quite annoyed that Yuki’s first kiss was taken in such a cliched and anticlimactic manner, I believe that she would not want you to inflict any harm to anyone.”
Raza attempted to calm down “Yuki” or whoever was in front of me now which just made the whole situation more confusing.
“I apologize for this Kazuha-kun and Restia, this is a drawback of Yuki’s Regalia ability but she will be back to normal in a few minutes.”
“Eh? That certainly is an unique situation to be in. Yuki mentioned earlier that she was able to feel the spirits or something of the forest, does that have to do with her ability as well?”
I could not contain my curiosity and directed my question to Raza who seemed to be sneaking glances at Restia.
“Well, I guess it would not hurt to tell you. Yuki’s ability is known as Spirit Seer which allows her to see, sense and communicate with spirits. It is a double-edged sword ability where she is able to use it as a source of power and detection but it can get rather annoying at times as well since she is literally receiving information from thousands of different spirits at the same time which would easily overwhelm the human brain. Hence, she made a contract with me when her ability awoken after her parents and siblings were killed by an Exceed.
“Upon forming a contract with a powerful Exceed such as myself, she gained better control over her spirit abilities to the extent that she is able to manipulate souls such as those of the deceased similar to a necromancer of sorts. However, with such great power came great drawbacks as well. Yuki developed split personalities and she has no control over when she would change into them. The current only known stimulus was extreme emotion such as anger or in current circumstances embarrassment.”
“Hence, this orange haired babe here is known as Haru who is rather impulsive and tends to think more with her fists as opposed to her brains. She has one more personality named Natsu who is rather eccentric but anyways, all 3 personalities are alive and not alive at the same time. Which means that all 3 share memories, sensations and feelings regardless who is in control but they are unable to control who comes out at what time. With the only rule being that Yuki is considered to be the “main” personality and Natsu or Haru will revert back to Yuki within an hour at most.”
Raza concluded his detailed explanation on Yuki’s abilities and proceeded to make an attempt to cope a feel of Restia’s chest but failed to do so after Restia gave him another punch to the gut.
The brown haired girl which was apparently the Haru personality then sat down cross legged in front of me which was rather unladylike since she was wearing a kimono. With her legs in that position, I had quite the good view of her inner thighs but not of her panties which was quite unfortunate but I guess I’ll take what I can get.
“Say, now that I have a closer look at you, you are quite the good-looking one and you are rather well-built as well. Heh maybe Yuki was on to something when she saved you.”
Haru commented with a devilishly charming grin on her face.
“I heard that you told Yuki the reason you came to this godforsaken jungle in the first place was to save a friend from that beast bastard who decided to set up camp here. As much as I do not have the habit of beating up guys I don’t even know, I’ll help you out and take him down.”
“Eh what? Why would you do that for me? You barely even know me let alone the fact that you have no obligation to do so.”
I questioned her suggestion curiously.
“You are a Regalia too aren’t you. Which means that we are in the same boat one way or another and it seems that Yuki considers you a friend which means that naturally you are a friend of mine as well. Furthermore, the spirits in the jungle have been giving me seriously bad vibes about that bastard. And if he is developing some sort of Anti-Exceed equipment, that’s all the more reason to put a stop to him since I would no longer exist if that geezer Raza’s link with Yuki was gone.”
“By the way, you don’t have to worry about me in a fight. All 3 of us are perfectly capable of holding our own in battle individually so don’t underestimate me just because I am a girl. We even earned the title of the Soul Reaver of the West HEHEH.”
Haru explained confidently but was definitely not in a cocky tone while puffing out her chest in pride. Currently, I could not sense her energy level which was probably due to her spiritual abilities but if she is a strong enough Regalia to earn a title, she must be decently powerful.
“I see, then I am more then happy to have you on my side. When are we going to make our move?”
“Let’s do so in a few hours time when the sun sets. The girl you are trying to save is currently safe as I can still sense her spiritual energy going strong which means that Raikou guy probably needs her alive for some reason since there would be no reason to keep her alive for such a long time anyways.”
“That makes sense, but why are we only leaving at night?” I questioned.
“For one you clearly do not have the strength to engage in combat now so you might as well get all the rest you can. The second and more important reason is because spiritual activity is a lot more prominent in the night which will act as a sort of smokescreen for us which would make us harder to detect on the sensors he has hidden all over the whole forest. From what I can sense, he is definitely not a man we can take on using normal means so we need to use every available resource at our disposal to guarantee our highest chance of success.
“All right then, let’s go with your plan. Shiho, just wait a little longer, I am coming to save you soon.”
Restia and Raza soon returned to their respective crystals and Kazuha returned to rest on the futon in an attempt to recuperate as much as his strength as possible. Haru left the house and surveyed the surroundings and consulted the spirits of the forest for the best route to head to Raikou’s lair.