Shiho who was originally carried up quite high up in the air when the dragon attacked her naturally fell when the arm of the dragon was sliced off.
“METEOR!” I transformed into a ball of light and dashed towards Shiho who was falling in mid-air and carried her to safety at one corner of the arena.
“Wait?? What??How???!!! That was my meteor ability??!” Shiho looked at me and questioned me with an extremely surprised reaction. Her reaction was expected given that I just used her Regalia ability which was thought to be impossible as it was previously believed that a Fafnir can obtain only one ability from the crystal.
“I understand your confusion and I have a lot of explain but this is not the time for that. Believe me I will give you an explanation later. For now, that Exceed must be taken care of if not it will destroy the whole island. Put this on first and wait here for me.” I calmly told Shiho as I gave her the top I was wearing so that she could cover herself up.
“Come out Restia!” I called out to the crystal that was on my chest which then glowed with a purple hue. A short girl who was clad in a dark purple gothic dress with matching dark purple hair appeared from within it. While she looked like a normal girl at first glance, what made her peculiar was that she also had a pair of purple wings sticking out behind her back yet they did not seem like they were capable of flight but merely a form of decoration or an accessory.
“Tsk, is that how you talk to a high ranking Exceed, Kazu-kun.” The purple hair girl said to me in an annoyed yet seductive voice.
“Now is not the time for this, I’ll play with you later alright. Right now, I’m kind of busy with that thing over there.” I replied to her while pointing towards the Dragon.
“That dragon? I’m guessing you called me out because you needed more power to beat it. Am I wrong?” Restia asked.
“Yes, I need to use one of the sealed techniques. Even with the secret level techniques, I could only take out its arm and such a powerful Exceed probably won’t die unless I destroy its core in one attack.” I explained.
“I see, I assume you know the price for the contract right. Just make sure you don’t regret anything afterwards.” Restia confirmed with me as she walked up to me and kissed me on my lips.
While this was not the first time this happened, I still feel a sense of nervousness every time Restia does something like this as it makes me think of her not as an Exceed but a regular girl. After the kiss, I could feel immense power overflowing from within as Restia returned back into the crystal on my chest since her role was complete.
Even though this was the third time I performed the contract, the warm feeling of the power coursing within me always made me remember the calm and peaceful times of my childhood with the girl I was supposed to be engaged to before she died at the hands of an Exceed.
When I have accumulated enough power in my body, I channeled it into arms and legs and took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry but I have no choice this time, Mizuki…” I whispered under my breath.
“Kuzunoha style Sealed Technique, MIRAGE CYCLONE EXECUTION!!!”
I gradually gained immense speed to the extent that I probably could not be seen by the untrained eye and ran around the dragon Exceed forming a cyclone. As the cyclone was present, I materialized my Naginata and stabbed the beast over and over again. While there was still only one of me, to outsiders it looked like a mirage where there were hundreds of me taking turns to continuously stab the dragon from different directions without giving it any time to react.
Finally, I made one last strike that was as swift as the wind from the top of the dragon which sliced it cleanly in half alongside its core at the center of its chest. The dragon Exceed soon disintegrated with its core destroyed but what happened after was a mystery to me as I soon felt that my consciousness was fading.
When I finally woke up, what filled my vision was a plain white ceiling. I looked around and saw that I was lying on a large bed which was honestly pretty comfortable given that I normally slept either on the floor or on the hard bed of the Japanese Military Carrier. What was weird was that this room looked awfully familiar for some reason. As I attempted to get up in order to explore my surroundings, my whole body felt very weak and I could barely sit up.
“This must be the repercussions of using a sealed technique. I’m honestly surprised I can even sit up given that I expended such an immense amount of energy within such a short period of time.” I thought to myself.
As I tried to move my body upright, I could hear a familiar voice call out to me.
“Onii-chan you shouldn’t get up yet. The nurse said that you should have been in a coma for at least a whole day but it has only been a few hours.”
I turned my head over and saw that there was a girl who was seated on a similar bed next to the one I was currently lying on.
“Kasumi, what happened after I beat that dragon Exceed?” I asked my sister.
“I’m honestly not too sure about the details but I heard from Shiho-san that you beat that monster all by yourself and you collapsed afterwards. She then informed me and we rushed you straight to the nurse.” Kasumi explained calmly but with a visibly worried expression.
“What about the rest of the students? Were any of them hurt?” I asked anxiously.
“While you were in combat with the dragon, the rest of the top rankers protected the students while also clearing out the rest of the weaker Exceeds that came with it so there were no reported casualties.”
“That’s good to hear, what about..”
“ONII-CHAN! Can you worry about yourself first before anything else. We just recently reunited with each other and all this stuff happened.. I don’t want to be separated from you ever again.” Kasumi interrupted while slightly losing her composure which was rare. I guess she must have been worried about me given that we had not seen each other for the past few years.
“Thanks for worrying about me Kasumi. Now that I finally found you, I won’t let anything come between us ever again.” I mustered the strength to get up and pat her on her head in order to calm her down which was the common method I used to console her when we were kids.
While she looked just like a little kid as she accepted the head pat, she then went back into her serious student council vice president mode again.
“Onii-chan, I’m not a kid anymore so you can’t just head pat me in public like that.” Kasumi chided while having a flushed face.
“Anyways, there is someone else who wishes to see you so I shall grant you some privacy. But before I leave, it may be a little late but as the student council vice-president I would like to formally welcome you into Saint Lily Academy.” Kasumi said as she left the room.
Just as she left through the door of the room, another familiar looking girl came in. Her iconic light blue hair that was tied in twin tails with a white uniform that included the modifications of garters instantly made me recognize her even though I only knew her for less than half a day.
“Shiho-san? You’re the one who wanted to see me? I apologize once again for the incidents that happened this morning. Those were both accidents and I had no ill intentions. But that is not because you are not attractive or anything, in fact you are quite attractive and I am somewhat attracted.” I said in a hurry in an attempt to clear up any misunderstandings she has of me given that I was in no state to react if she were to use her destructive abilities.
“It’s okay, Kazuha-san. Before anything, I would like to formally apologize for everything that happened.” Shiho said as she bowed a full 90 degrees in front of me.
“Wait wait wait, please raise your head, it was my fault too so let’s just call it even.” I tried to salvage the situation as I was afraid of angering her further.
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“No, I let my pride cloud my judgement multiple times today and that is a disgrace as one from the Sasaki family. In addition, you saved my life today even after I wholeheartedly tried to castrate you.” Shiho explained in a formal tone which was honestly quite a jarring sight as it was the polar opposite from how she talked to me earlier today.
“It’s no issue, I couldn’t just sit by while that beast was after you and the whole reason you were unable to defend yourself from the beast was somewhat my fault as well.” I reasoned in order to reduce the amount of guilt she had since it appeared that she has a lot of pride that she is from some family which I have never heard of before yet its name rang some kind of bell.
“Alright then, now that the formal apology is done, please consider me not a daughter of the Sasaki family but as a girl.” Shiho said as she changed her tone to that of a typical high school girl which made her previous formal tone seem like a dream.
“I was so scared when that huge beast attacked me, I was sure that I was about to become its mate there and then. Even though I attacked you with the intention to kill you, I still prayed that you would come and save me and you did. While I’m still mad at you for the events that happened earlier today, I am thankful from the bottom of my heart that you saved me.”
“Eh what?” I cocked my head in puzzlement and shock at how fast one can change her entire persona.
“Anyways, I got permission from the president for us to share this room together from today onwards as long as we do not do anything illegal. But..but.. don’t take this the wrong way, this is just mutually beneficial so there not will be no ecchi things happening all right” Shiho said bashfully.
“Huh, what, why? I was sure you hated men so why would you go out of your way to get permission to share a room with me.” I questioned in further puzzlement as I thought about how that loli president really does things on a whim.
“Well, let’s just say that my ability has some unique side effects so it would be good to have someone reliable stay in the same room as me..., but more importantly there is something that I cannot show anyone else.” Shiho said as she started to undress.
She proceeded to take off her white uniform top and skirt which left her in her underwear. Her underwear a matching set that was light pink and decorated with many pink frills with a cute white bow in both the middle of her bra and panties. This pair looked as expensive as the white set she had on in the afternoon which unfortunately got ripped to shreds by the Exceed. She stood there and looked at me which suggested to me that she was probably waiting for me to say something.
“That pink underwear, it really complements you well.” I said the first thing that comes to mind without thinking.
“Die you pervert!! Where are you looking?” Shiho exclaimed while blushing. She then came closer and showed me her abdomen which had something similar to a tattoo of a lion. While it may look like a regular tattoo to the normal person, it had a different meaning to me who was from the Japanese Special Forces. Such an insignia was normally done by high-ranking members of the JSF when they wanted to mark their prey in order to prevent others from taking their kills. It wasn’t the most ethical method but it got the job done so they never really bothered changing it.
Each insignia was unique and belonged to only one person. This lion was unmistakably the mark of Wild Beast Raikou who was a captain in the JSF. While I was a captain as well back then, we never really got along as I always found him somewhat creepy and I especially disliked and loathed the way he did things.
While I was mostly sure that Raikou was the one who branded her, I had to make sure as this changes my impression of him completely. Normally only Exceeds and other beasts are supposed to be marked with an insignia. The insignia was engraved by heating a certain metal past around 120 degrees and sticking the branding stick that contained the insignia onto the skin of the target hence it was completely against rules to do so on humans due to the excruciating pain they would have been subjected to.
“That brand, who gave it to you.” I questioned in an extremely serious tone in order to confirm my suspicions.
“It was a man from the JSF who had a lot of beastly tattoos all around his body. I remember his appearance clearly, he’s the one person I definitely won’t forgive and I swore to kill him with my own 2 hands.” Shiho explained as she got more and more agitated. Upon hearing about her description on how the man that branded her looked, there was no doubt that Raikou was the one who performed that cruel act on her which made me sick.
“But why are you showing me this?” I asked curiously.
“I heard that a new student who was supposedly from the JSF was transferring in today so I deduced that you were the one. Please, I know you know. I’ll do anything if it means that I can kill that bastard with my own 2 hands.” Shiho claimed in a burst of emotion.
“Anything?? That sounds a little extreme doesn’t it?” I said as my eyes reflexively looked at her slim body which was just clad in her underwear.
“Wait wait, I won’t do anything ecchi if that’s what you’re thinking.” Shiho clarified with a slight blush on her cheeks.
“I know I know, I was just trying to tease you. But besides that, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly did he do that made you hate him so much.” I asked curiously.
“Alright then, if you’re going to help me find him I guess you have a right to know. But you are not allowed to tell anyone this understood. The only person that knows about this incident is my Onee-chan.”
Shiho proceeded to take a deep breath as she started her recount of the incident that gave her that brand.
“3 years ago, when I was 13 and I had yet to awaken my abilities as a Fafnir, I lived a normal day to day life as the second princess of a small town with my parents and my Onee-chan. But one day, a swarm of Exceeds appeared and raided the village without any warning. Naturally, we asked for help from the Fafnirs but they said that they would take about half an hour to get to our location.
The Exceeds destroyed everything and even kidnapped some women in order to reproduce and all we could do was just wait there for the Fafnirs to come rescue us. At that time when we lost all hope, a man who claimed that he was from the JSF appeared and told us that he could exterminate all the Exceeds for us if we paid him. Naturally my parents agreed and with tremendous strength and speed, all the Exceed were subsequently destroyed within minutes.
My parents offered a generous monetary reward that was probably enough for him to live comfortably the rest of his life but he kept increasing the amount he wanted. After a point, we could no longer afford the price he was asking for. That beast then suggested to my parents that he take me and my older sister as his slaves which was something they could not stand. At first, I thought he meant physical labor but little did I know that he was referring to another kind of slave. Hence, I decided to offer myself up in place of the both of us to which he agreed.”
“So, he raped you there and then?” I asked in the middle of the story.
“WHAT THE HELL, NO!! You would know if you let me finish my story before you interrupted so rudely.” Shiho retorted with a sarcastic tone.
“He then took me to a private room in our castle. He ordered me to take off all my clothes but I refused. He then forcefully tore off my beautiful princess gown which left me in my underwear. But he didn’t stop there, his finger turned into some sort of scissors and he cut the middle of my bra off which made it drop to the ground which exposed my breasts, my panties were also forcefully cut off which by then left me naked. He then took out a metallic stick and pressed it onto my abdomen. The stick was so hot that it left this mark on me.
As he was about to continue his disgusting acts, I could feel unknown power welling up inside me which was probably me awakening my abilities as a Fafnir but at that time I hadn’t learnt how to control them so all I could do was to expunge all the power that was built up which fortunately caught him off guard and scared him enough for him to leave. My sister then came to find me and because she saw my state of undress, I told her the full story and nobody else has heard that story until today. Eventually my sister awakened her abilities too and we were both sent here.”
“That bastard, I always felt that there was something off about him but I didn’t know he did such a heinous act. I promise I’ll help you find that bastard Raikou and let you kill him. Such scum deserves to die.” I assured Shiho.
“Really?!! That’s amazing news, finally I got a lead after 3 years.” Shiho exclaimed in joy.
“But do take note that finding his whereabouts will not be easy as captain level members are not allowed to interfere with other captains so I have no clue where he is hiding. However, there is someone who I’m still in touch with in the JSF that can probably narrow down his location.” I informed Shiho.
“That’s no issue, I’m grateful for the fact that you are already helping me even if it means selling out another member of the JSF.”
“Oh, don’t take this the wrong way but the members of the JSF don’t exactly get along with each other as they view each other as competition but I particularly dislike Raikou so it’s mutually beneficial for the both of us if you kill him.” I explained.
“Anyways, you must be tired after such a long day so I guess we should get to bed.” I reminded Shiho.
“Good point, we can talk about this tomorrow or any day in fact since we are going to be roommates from today onwards. Oh right, just because we share a room now doesn’t mean that you can do any funny business with me. I’m still a princess and everything so I have high standards.” Shiho said with pride.
“Yes yes princess, don’t worry I have no intention to do anything with my exhausted body.” I said as I went back to my bed and fell asleep soon after.
Shiho’s POV
“I did it, I’m sharing a room with him!” I thought to myself as I did a little victory pose.
At first, I thought he was just some other guy but he looked so cool while saving me from the clutches of that Exceed. When he said that he would help me find Raikou, my heart just swooned for him.
“Is this love at first sight?” I thought to myself.
He even complimented my underwear just now so she should have some sort of feeling for me. The problem is that he looks quite close to the president and the vice president who’s apparently his long-lost twin sister but I can’t be sure that he doesn’t see her as a women as well. However, I’m the one sharing a room with him so I guess I have an advantage over them. I always thought it was cliched that princesses in stories will always be saved by a dashing prince charming, however I always wished for one to show up one day and save me from danger and I can't believe it actually happened.
“Maybe you’re the one Kazuha.., the savior I have always dreamt of that will liberate me from my past.” I said to myself as I drifted off into sleep next to my new roommate after changing into my nightgown.