It took me about 15 minutes of flying across the sea to reach the rainforest where Raikou supposedly was residing. On the surface, it appeared just like any other normal rainforest with its lush trees and vibrant fauna and flora. However, there was no doubt that there were Exceeds present as I could sense several unnatural energies from the rainforest that definitely did not belong to humans.

Raikou was not only a master at sensing energies but also controlling it. He could mask his own energy from being sensed by others which was honestly quite a useful skill to have when hunting for Exceeds but it was quite annoying for me since this meant that I was basically looking for a needle in a haystack.

“Would it not be more effective to search on foot Kazu-kun?” The crystal on my chest called out and suggested.

“Good idea, maybe there are clues I can find from the ground.”

I proceeded to land on the rainforest floor and I found myself surrounded by tall luscious greenery from all directions. I thought about using Shiho’s meteor ability to cover the land more quickly but decided against it as I did not want to alert Raikou of my arrival with the sudden surge in mana.

As I started to walk in my chosen direction, I felt a sudden spike in mana coming from one direction. The feeling was familiar and without a doubt belonged to Shiho. I quickly turned towards the direction of the emission of mana and sprinted as fast as I could without using my ability.

“Don’t worry Shiho. I am on my way, I swear I will not let anything happen to you.”

As I was sprinting, a blast of energy landed directly in front of me. The ground in front of me was now a huge crater that could probably fit several B-class Exceeds inside. If I was 2 steps faster, it would have been a clean hit. I turned my head in the direction the blast came from and what awaited me was nothing I have ever seen before.

A beast that seemed at first glance to be some sort of eagle Exceed but it was armed with various pieces of machinery all over its body. Its wings and talons were fully metallic alongside the presence of 2 energy cannons mounted on its back. It seemed to be more machine than Exceed which was probably why I could not sense it approaching me.

“What the fuck is that monstrosity!?”

I questioned and the crystal on my chest replied with an abnormal serious tone in her voice.

“I have no idea but I won’t forgive whoever did such a cruel act to one of my kind. Kazu-kun, we can figure out where it came from later. I can sense another 7 more of them approaching us at tremendous speeds. It would be wise to deal with them carefully as I can sense that they are on par with normal A-class Exceeds.”

“What!! There’s no way! While a regular A-class would pose little to no threat to me, 8 A-classes attacking me simultaneously was a whole different ball game. Furthermore, that energy blast from before was abnormally powerful even for an A-class.”

I replied while materializing my Kusari-Kama and preparing for battle. I quickly leapt towards the machine Eagle Exceed hybrid and performed a quick downward strike hoping to destroy it with one clean hit. However, the eagle somehow managed to react to my attack and dodged out of the way before retaliating with energy blasts fired from the cannons armed on its back.

“Kuzunoha Style Kusari-Kama First technique, SPIRAL DRAW!”

I swung my Kusari-Kama downwards to create a vacuum of wind in an attempt to neutralize the energy but it was not enough. The amount of energy in that blast was too much for me to completely neutralize which led to the blast damaging me. The recoil of the blast resulted in my body being forcefully slammed to the ground.

The smoke from my impact with the ground hid my body temporarily which caused the hybrid Exceed to temporarily stop launching attacks at me. This meant that the Exceed had some sort of sensor that located me rather than it being able to sense my energy. I took advantage of the lag in its movements as it was searching for me to prepare a counter attack.

“Kuzunoha Style Spear Second technique, REAPER!”

I quickly swapped weapons to my spear and leapt straight at the Eagle while throwing my spear like a javelin through the part-mechanical body of it. As I enhanced my throwing strength with my wind abilities, the spear travelled so quickly that its sensors were probably unable to detect it which resulted in my spear piercing through the body of the hybrid cleanly.

The Eagle Exceed hybrid’s body which now had a gaping hole in it from my attack fell lifelessly onto the floor. I took a quick glance at the supposed dead body and noticed something even more peculiar.

The glowing crystal that normally rested in the chest of Exceeds which was also known as their core was not present. It has never been heard of for an Exceed to have no core as it was thought to be their source of life and sentience.

“Hey Restia, is it possible for an Exceed not to have a core?”

I questioned while trying to search for some form of cover in the thick foliage as I remembered that there were 7 other similar hybrids approaching me.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“That is impossible. The core is literally the life of the Exceed similar to how a heart is to a human. All Exceeds regardless of class and strength all have a core somewhere in their body. This is truly peculiar, I sensed the essence of Exceeds in its body yet it somehow managed to act without the presence of a core.”

The high ranking Exceed residing in the crystal in my chest replied analytically which was quite rare as I had never seen Restia so perplexed before.

“QUICKLY HIDE!!”

The voice called out as I saw the silhouettes of 7 eagle like creatures flying in the skies above me which I presumed were the same hybrid creatures as the one I had just taken down. While I was more than capable of taking them on individually, I would definitely not outlast them in a war of attrition hence I decided to lay low and not engage in combat with them.

I eventually managed to avoid their detection through camouflaging myself with the natural greenery of the rainforest which was a skill I picked up during my time in the JSF. In addition, my current position also provides me with a decent vantage point of the 7 hybrids circling the area above me so I can observe their actions.

After circling for about 10 minutes, they suddenly dispersed into different directions. Assuming that they have given up hunting for me, I quickly ran towards the corpse of the hybrid I had taken down in order to investigate it more closely.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the machinery was still glistening in the sunlight which meant that they were manufactured quite recently. In addition, they were pretty well made as they fit onto the body of the Eagle Exceed perfectly as if it was done over many attempts of trial and error. However, what truly caught my eye was a small lion crest on one of its mechanical parts which made my whole body tense up.

“Restia, it seems that bastard was the one who created these monstrosities. I am unsure how exactly he managed to accomplish this but I have a bad feeling about what kind of experiments he is conducting on Shiho.”

I commented but instead of the usual snarky comment, there was silence.

“Hey Restia, are you there? I can’t believe you are sleeping at this time.”

I called out again but the result remained exactly the same, dead silence.

At this point, I knew that something was amiss. Regardless of how sloth-like she was, Restia would never ignore me in such dire situations. I wanted to prepare for upcoming combat by materializing one of my weapons but for some reason I was unable to do so which further accentuated the sense of unease I was feeling.

All of a sudden, an immense pain appeared at my chest region where my crystal lied. It was like nothing I ever felt before. If I were to describe its anguishing feeling, it felt like my literal soul was being ripped out from my body.

“Kuzunoha Style healing technique, DEAD CALM!”

I attempted to use my wind abilities to neutralize the physical pain I was feeling but to no avail. I could not feel my mana at all and the pain in my chest was increasing with a burning sensation. I clutched my chest praying that the pain would stop or even just alleviate slightly but it was no use. My crystal burned and in turn resulted in immeasurable and intolerable pain.

“That fucking piece of shit Raikou must have set some sort of trap and I can’t believe I walked straight into it.” I thought to myself as I could no longer speak due to the excruciating pain.

My knees eventually gave way from the pain and my body collapsed to the ground like a ragdoll. I was powerless to stop this unbearable pain from radiating to my whole body.

The next thing I knew, the world around me turned pitch black.

Shiho’s POV

My clothes were basically nothing more than scraps of thread at this point. The white uniform blouse and skirt I had on now barely served their purpose as they could no longer be considered garments due to how they have been torn and ripped to shreds. Even my underwear was not spared as they were forcefully removed and destroyed by that sick, perverted man in front of me.

I was basically stark naked in front of him which made me want to puke.

However, my thoughts of shame and disgust paled in comparison to my feelings of rage when I saw my roommate and crush Kazuha collapse lifelessly onto the ground while clutching his chest through a monitor in the eerie and dark room I was currently being held captive in.

While there was no audio being projected, it was evident that he was experiencing extreme amounts of pain. I had watched his whole encounter with Raikou’s creatures through the screen he purposely placed in front of me. I clenched my teeth in anger with such force that I could have sworn I heard one of them crack.

“You sick creep, what have you done with Kazuha!”

I shouted while attempting to flail my arms that were still tightly bound by metal bars that somehow restricted my Regalia abilities.

“Nothing much, I just sent him a little greeting since he destroyed one of my precious pets.”

The muscular man answered cockily while flexing his muscles with numerous beast tattoos engraved on them.

While I had watched the whole encounter, I was confused at how he managed to control Exceeds to do his bidding let alone evolve them into some sort of mechanical hybrids that increased their strength tremendously. It was simply unheard of for a human to be able to make Exceeds do his bidding.

As I attempted to channel my rage and build up mana, I was met with a confident chuckle from the man known as Raikou.

“You are quite the dumb one aren’t you princess. I told you multiple times that regardless of how hard you try, there is no way you are going to be able to use your abilities with those restraints on you.”

He walked over to me and slithered his fingers over my once clothed skin and smirked once again before speaking in his annoying cocky tone.

“You know what, since you care so much about that spring breeze, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Within 10 minutes of experiencing that pain, the crystal on his chest will implode and so will his body. He would be considered lucky if even a part of his shitty body remained intact after the explosion. HAHAHAH!!”

Upon hearing his bold declaration, I could feel the bile rise from my body as my anger skyrocketed. Yet, I was truly powerless in front of him hence I could only clench my teeth and pray for an opportunity.

“Oh I am feeling quite generous today since you serviced me quite well just now so I’ll spare you the sight of your beloved Kazuha self-destructing as I go and reclaim his corpse for the remains of his crystal. A crystal specimen from a male should be quite interesting to research and carefully dissect.”

Raikou smirked while laughing to himself assured that his victory was guaranteed as he switched off the monitor showing Kazuha’s lifeless body and left the room.

“Kazuha, there is no way you are going to die like this right? I thought you promised me that you would protect me and help me exact my revenge? Please don’t die. Find a way, I know you can...”

I murmured to myself as I lost consciousness as well due to the effects of the adrenaline wearing off on my body.