Kesshō looked at the two, both still untying their shoelaces hurriedly. "Just you wait." Pic growled as she struggled with her shoelaces.

"Do you two use weapons?" Kesshō inquired.

"Yes, we do!" Blac exclaimed as she finished with her shoelaces and pulled something from under her jacket, pointing it at Kesshō before pressing on some sort of a trigger.

Kesshō tilted her head as she heard a 'crack' from the mechanism inside the little metallic object. The upper part of the object's frame recoiling backwards as a small, somewhat round object shot out from the barrel at high speed towards Kesshō. The little object collided with her forehead, knocking it backwards with great force.

"One down," Blac smiled.

"Two more to go," Pic finished for her.

Kesshō lowered her head and faced forwards as she raised both her arms to her forehead. The blew apart some of her skin and revealed a small circular patch of scales where the little object hit, having failed to pierce them. Kesshō lightly rubbed her forehead, clearly hurt, but not injured in the slightest.

The two twins stared at her in shock as her forehead quickly healed, covering the scales. She looked down at the metallic object Blac held. It seemed to be almost in a 'L' shape, the frame being made from some compound of iron and carbon. She could tell the inside of the little object would contain the most complex parts of it, and the parts responsible for it to function as it did.

"Can I have a look?" Kesshō requested as she held her hand out.

Blac pulled the object closer to herself and shook her head. "This is my pistol, get your own."

Kesshō stood at her place, insisting for Blac to hand it to her so she can take a look. As she stood there Pic finished fixing her shoelaces and retrieved her own pistol from her jacket, shooting at Kesshō's head from the side. Kesshō tilted her head backwards in a swift movement, faster than the bullet, dodging it with ease.

Blac gripped tighter on the handle of her pistol as pink lines surged through it, glowing brightly in her hands. She pulled the trigger and the gun shot a bullet, much faster and stronger than the last one. Due to the shaking of Blac's hands and the power in the gun, the shot missed Kesshō's head by a long shot, hitting her arm instead, which she failed to move in time. The bullet burst through her forearm, creating a hole as it emerged from the opposite side and embedded itself in a tree behind her.

Kesshō tilted her head, even more curious than before regarding the functioning of the mechanism called a 'pistol'. Her hand healed instantly, not even leaving as much as a scar, her clothes repairing just as fast. Blac and Pic both again charged their guns with energy, aiming it at Kesshō's head this time.

"It's a long range weapon, with some amount of casting time, as far as I can tell at the least. And yet, you are trying to use it when I am right here in front of you?" Kesshō commented as she took a step forward.

Blac and Pic pulled the triggers, not allowing the pistol to be fully energised due to the lack of time. Only Pic's pistol shot the bullet, which missed entirely as Kesshō already moved from where she stood a moment ago. Blac's pistol, on the other hand, now held by Kesshō's hands, snatched away from Blac before the trigger could be fully pulled. Kesshō now stood behind the two, inspecting the pistol as the two looked at her in shock.

Pic and Blac stood up on their feet, Pic pointing her gun at Kesshō and charging it with energy as Kesshō removed the upper part of the pistol's frame. Pic pulled the trigger the moment the pistol fully charged, shooting another charged bullet right at Kesshō's head.

"I see." Kesshō murmured as she turned and raised her left hand to her head, grabbing the bullet easily with just a minor injury in her palm, blood dripping on the green grass from it for a moment before being completely healed. Kesshō removed the magazine from the pistol, comparing the bullets inside with the one she caught. "Interesting." She smiled as she reattached the frame and tossed the pistol and bullet to Blac who caught them with a confused look.

"Come, let's see who can use it better." Kesshō smiled as she raised her right hand towards Pic and Blac, holding a similar pistol, black in color with blue-pink flame patterns on the frame.

Pic and Blac exchanged slightly terrified glances before smiling at each other reassuringly. "Let's do this!"

Pic and Blac dashed in opposite directions, aiming to confuse Kesshō. According to their plan, she would focus on one to be able to shoot, and the other will shoot her from behind, or so they planned. Blac closed in on Kesshō, attracting her attention as Pic prepared to shoot her after taking cover behind a tree.

Kesshō tossed her pistol into the air, confusing both Pic and Blac. The moment their attention wandered to her pistol she dashed close to Blac, startling her. On impulse Blac lifted her pistol and aimed it at Kesshō, the barrel being positioned inches away from Kesshō's eye. Kesshō turned her body, moving her eye out of the way as the bullet shot out from the barrel, a charged bullet. It didn't land a direct hit, but still managed to skimmer the surface of Kesshō's cheek and inflict a slight cut.

As Kesshō turned her body, she slammed her elbow into the side of Blac's head, causing her to stagger sideways. Stepping backwards, Kesshō grabbed her pistol as it fell and aimed it at Blac, still disoriented from the hard hit. Just as she prepared to pull the trigger she shifted her head to the side, dodging a bullet aimed for it, but managing to not shift her gun's positioning.

She pulled the trigger and the bullet shot outwards, faster than the original's normal shot, but still slower than the charged shot. Kesshō's hand failed to handle the recoil and spun around her shoulder before resting at her side, hurting a little as she dislocated her shoulder. The bullet however, missed it's target entirely and hit a tree to her side. Kesshō pouted on realising she did not have any clue of how to aim the weapon.

She turned her head, catching a glimpse of Pic just before she shot another bullet. Kesshō absorbed all the information she could in that moment, the posture of Pic's body, how she positioned her gun, the focus of her eye, the way she handled the recoil, everything she could, forgetting to dodge the attack in trying to understand everything.

The bullet hit her left hand, not any vital organs, having been aimed specifically for it from the looks of it. Pic readjusted her aim slightly, aiming for the other hand Kesshō guessed. Kesshō did not heal her arm either, she simply raised her own pistol and pointed it at Pic.

Kesshō ducked just as Pic shot the bullet, the bullet passing from just over Kesshō's head, barely missing another bullet that came from behind her, passing from right beside Blac's head. Blac's shot barely missed Pic as it hit the tree she hid behind.

Kesshō turned and stood back up as she aimed her pistol at Blac's face, startling her. As Blac stepped to the side Kesshō shot her leg, causing her to yelp in pain and fall backwards, not bleeding due to the non-lethal bullet Kesshō used. Dodging another bullet and turning around Kesshō shot a bullet towards Pic, which did not even pass from close to her.

Pic smiled as she took aim at Kesshō, prepared to unleash a charged shot. A bloodcurdling cry erupted from behind Pic, causing her to flee from her spot in fear and turning her back towards Kesshō. Kesshō closed in on Pic while she remained distracted, lying down on the ground and sweeping Pic's feet from under her. As Pic fell to the ground Kesshō raised her leg to slam it on Pic's head, stopping just short of it.

"You lost." Kesshō declared as she lifted herself back to her feet, leaving Pic and Blac lying on the ground. Something feels off, why would they send someone weaker this time. Were they testing me? I am pretty sure I held back as much as I can too.

The same Screamer Monkey again let out a bloodcurdling cry, receiving another yelp from Pic who lay motionless on the ground. It looked around for a moment before fleeing back into the forest.

Kesshō glanced back at the twins before looking away, Pic already being back up and helping Blac get up. Something is wrong, they only used these pistols just now, but the bullets from these are not capable of causing explosions like the one from before, which could only mean one thing.

Kesshō turned back towards the twins as she stepped away, barely noticing a green-ish object that landed close to her feet with a metallic sound. As Kesshō tried to get a better look at it the object exploded, knocking her away and into a tree. Landing back on her feet Kesshō repaired her blasted off bits of clothing and the bleeding injuries from the attack.

Metal bits, and sharp ones at that. Kesshō grunted as she removed a sharp piece of metal embedded deep in her scales. Blood spurt out as she did, healing quickly but not doing much to ease the pain.

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

As Kesshō prepared to continue the fight another similar object hit the tree near her head. Stepping sideways Kesshō placed herself on the opposite side of the tree, still getting blown away from the force of the blast, but managing to avoid the shrapnel. Kesshō shook her head, trying to stop her dizziness from the impact.

Just as she recovered a bullet shot through her left forearm, much stronger than the ones before. A barrage of bullets started a moment later, all aimed at her. Dashing to the side Kesshō took cover behind a boulder, trying to calm herself down. The barrage of bullets peppered the boulder for a moment before stopping, failing to damage it.

As Kesshō caught her breath a bullet pierced through her chest, having pierced the boulder before doing so. Kesshō placed her arm above her chest, knowing how close the bullet came to her core, and how close she came to truly dying. She moved away before another bullet could be shot, and possibly hit it's mark.

"Now you see just what you are up against," Pic boasted.

Stopping in her tracks Kesshō used her side ears to detect the source of the sound, easily finding it. Aiming her pistol she shot a bullet right where the sound came from, being satisfied as she heard a yelp. Right after the yelp several round metallic objects crashed around her, exploding into a cloud of smoke just as they landed.

Kesshō coughed as she covered her face. This is a different type of poison gas, she thought as her eyes started to tear up.

Pic and Blac unleashed another barrage of bullets while Kesshō remained disoriented, securing several shots as she moved through the smoke, but none at the core. Kesshō hid behind another boulder as her body adapted to the smoke, her eyes not tearing up anymore and no longer coughing.

They can't see through the smoke with their eyes either, unless they have heat vision, which is easy to counter. Kesshō thought as she slightly increased her body temperature, just enough to match her surroundings. The shots stopped when she did, confirming her doubts.

She moved out from behind the boulder, glimpsing the one third of black in white of one of the twins as she moved towards them, not making the slightest sound as she did. Camouflaging her body to turn near invisible, Kesshō emerged from the smoke, seeing the weapons Pic and Blac held.

Pic held a much longer gun with a long barrel, a cylindrical tube above the barrel with glass attached to it. What Blac held appeared to be a comparatively shorter gun with a shorter barrel, a similar tube attached to it. Kesshō guessed the stronger bullets came from the longer gun, and the barrage came from the shorter one.

It also seemed clear that these ones did not rely on the simple combustion mechanic, relying on pure energy to shoot the bullets instead. The energy most likely supplied to them from an external source, which Kesshō would have guessed were Pic and Blac, but they were humans so it meant they used another power source.

"Can't you see her?" Blac inquired.

"No, she isn't visible in my sniper's thermal scope anymore." Pic answered as she looked through the cylindrical tube above the barrel.

Blac checked hers and shook her head. "I don't see her in mine either, maybe the assault rifle and sniper were too much for her."

"Maybe we shouldn't have used so many grenades, just one can kill even dragons from up close, and we threw two of those on her," Pic sighed. "Master won't be mad at us for failing the mission, right?"

"Let's just try to find her body and take it back to master, maybe he will forgive us if we do that." Blac suggested with a shrug as she stepped towards the smoke.

Standing some distance from the two and behind them Kesshō disabled her camouflage. "Won't be necessary," she informed.

The twins turned in sync and Blac pulled the trigger without a moment's waste. Dropping her pistol Kesshō unsheathed her katana.

Second form: Lonely Moon.

Kesshō performed five slashes, forming a shield of crescent moon blades in front of her and blocking all the bullets. The crescent moon blades froze in place, forming a permanent shield till Kesshō removed it herself. Pic shot a charged shot towards Kesshō, which deflected off the shield and blasted through the woods.

"You can fight pretty well with those," Kesshō observed. "Let's see how well you do without them."

Raising her hand in the air Kesshō channeled energy into it, blue-pink lines glowing brightly through her hand. As Kesshō clenched her fist it released a pulse, shutting off both Pic and Blac's new guns. The two shook their guns and tried several things but they did not work. Throwing those guns to the ground they pulled out their pistols.

Sheathing her katana Kesshō dashed forwards, creating another pistol which slid into her arm from under her sleeve. Kesshō shot at Pic, targeting her pistol, causing it to fly out of Pic's arms as she got startled and lost grip on it. Blac shot at Kesshō but she ducked under the bullet. Jumping up as she closed in Kesshō kicked Blac in the chest, grabbing her pistol as Blac fell to the ground. As Blac fell her arm jerked upwards from Kesshō grabbing the pistol, causing her to lose her grip on it, and allowing Kesshō to take it.

Using Blac's pistol Kesshō shot at Pic's pistol lying on the ground as Pic went to pick it. The shot missed, landing slightly off the pistol and causing Pic to flinch. Readjusting her aim Kesshō shot again, this time at the pistol, and with a charged bullet. The bullet smashed through the pistol's handle and trigger, breaking it in two.

Absorbing her own pistol back Kesshō handed Blac's to one of her tails, which coiled around it and crushed the pistol. Kesshō stepped away from Blac, allowing Pic to get close to her and help her up. Kesshō took a fighting stance and gestured the twins to continue the fight, neither looking to be very willing to take the initiative.

Nodding to each other after a few moments both charged at Kesshō together, attacking from opposite sides. Ducking under Pic's punch Kesshō stepped to the side, dodging a leg sweep from Blac before pushing both of them away with her arms. The twins clicked their tongues, knowing very well this isn't going to be easy.

The two again closed in on Kesshō, this time at a slower pace. They closely watched her movements, looking for any openings. Kesshō stood between them, her hands at her sides, looking completely relaxed now. Pic front kicked at Kesshō, but she grabbed her leg and pulled it higher, causing Pic to fall on her back. Seizing the opportunity, Blac closed in without delay, directing a right jab at Kesshō's face. Kesshō batted her fist away with an upper block. Blac used a left jab, but Kesshō slapped it away with the same arm, shoving her backwards right after.

Not giving Blac any chance to retaliate, Kesshō kept shoving Blac backwards, nearly causing her to trip several times. Blac did not succeed in blocking Kesshō's hand even after trying. As Blac felt her back hit something, a tree, Kesshō spun on her feet and performed a roundhouse kick, aimed at Blac's chest. Blac raised both her arms to her side in an attempt of blocking it. Kesshō's leg smashed into Blac's arms, the bones colliding with each other for a brief moment before Kesshō stepped back.

Blac knelt on the ground, clutching both her arms to her chest in pain. Kesshō stood in front of her, neither in pain nor showing any sign of wanting to continue attacking. Blac looked up at Kesshō, realising she did not feel any pain even though her shin knocked into Blac's bones, the collision of the bones having been very much audible.

Kesshō tilted her head to the side, a hand appearing from right behind her, holding a knife. Having dodged the attack by tilting her head, Kesshō grabbed the arm with both her hands and flipped Pic over herself, slamming her on the ground right beside Blac. Pic let out a yelp in pain as she rolled to her stomach and clutched her back. Blac clicked her tongue knowing how powerless they were against Kesshō.

Kesshō stared at the two, with an almost blank look, just a hint of pity and sadness visible on her face. She let out a breath, one of pain and fear, though those were not her own emotions. Her breathing grew more rapid as her expression slowly changed to one of someone in great pain and grief.

"Kesshō," a voice called.

Kesshō's ears stood up as her breathing calmed down, her expression becoming calmer near instantly. She tilted her head, stepping to the side to allow Pic and Blac to be in clear view.

"You didn't need to hurt them," Kurai sighed as he knelt down in front of the two, setting Opal to the side. "Show me your arms," he ordered Blac. Blac clutched her arms to herself, hiding them from his view. Kesshō hissed at her, scaring Blac. "There's no need to threaten her into doing it," Kurai reprimanded. "Let her do it herself, I am only trying to help her."

Kesshō lowered her head, not having meant the hiss to be threatening. Hesitantly, Blac extended both her arms forwards for Kurai to inspect, gritting her teeth in pain as she did. Kurai placed his hand on Blac's arms, causing her to flinch and draw her arms back slightly, before the pain stopped her from moving. Blac sobbed as the pain grew, her bones having been shattered completely.

"It's fine, don't worry," Kurai reassured. "It's just a small fracture, it will be healed right away." He retrieved a purple colored berry from one of his pockets. "Chew on this, it will help relieve the pain to some extent while I heal it."

Blac opened her mouth and bit on the berry before eating it, chewing on it slowly as she again let Kurai do his work. Kurai placed his hand on her arms, taking a deep breath after a few moments as Blac closed her eyes and did not flinch. A gentle red light radiated from Kurai's hand, Blac's eyes relaxing in a few moments. Kurai removed his hand, allowing Blac to make sure she has been healed. Blac moved her arms around, smiling as she realised they really were healed. Pic, still lying on the ground, slowly looked up at her sister with a smile, having heard everything, though not seen.

"You can use healing magic?" Blac inquired with a smile.

"Yes," Kurai answered, "healing magic, just that."

It seemed clear Blac and Pic were not very familiar with magic. Neither did the two possess any affinity nor did they have any knowledge of what Kurai just did. While even many trained eyes could have missed it, Kesshō's eyes did not. The spell Kurai used, and the runes which were visible in the light did not spell 'Heal', the runic word for the healing spell, in the way of healing magic. Rather, they spelt 'Restore', in the way a sacrificial spell would.

Kesshō felt aware, though she did not know how, that Kurai is incapable of using healing, shadow, holy, and several other types of magic. She did not know he could use sacrificial spells either, or that he used them so lightly till now. She continued to stare at him, not knowing if she should point it out to him, the danger of using such spells so lightly, a danger she somehow knew of.

Snapped back to attention by something on her feet, Kesshō looked down at the ground only to find Opal clawing at her leg. Kneeling down Kesshō lifted Opal in her arms, gently patting the little dragonoid's head. While Kesshō failed to notice exactly what Kurai talked about with Blac and Pic, she understood he sent them back to their leader with a request to send the twins back to their homes, knowing very well the two were not prepared for the brutality of the real world yet.

Kesshō felt fortunate to have her protective tails by her side, keeping her safe from all sorts of dangers while she traveled by herself. Now, she found herself fortunate to be in Kurai's company, knowing he would protect her, knowing he is much stronger than her in every possible way.

Kurai handed her many differently colored berries after Blac and Pic left through a black portal, most of which Kesshō stuffed in her pockets to eat on the way. The three of them set out not long after, continuing their journey towards the next city.