After the events that had unfolded within the village, the three of them had been given a new task at hand. The elders of the village, plus the parents of the children they had helped wanted the group to find the source of this problem. The thing is they didn’t know where to start, but the Elder did, however. He told them that he would take them to the castle where he believed this all started happening.

It seemed like this place was not something that was always in Joya and things started happening when it appeared. Drakkon didn’t want the man to come with them, but he insisted on it. The Devourer figured he was strong enough to protect everyone here, so he eventually allowed it.

The group had been led to a mountain trail.

“Is this the only path to the place you want to take us? And do you need to come with us now that you showed us the trail?” He asked him wondering what he would say.

Takumi looked at them and he would chuckle at his questions but understood why it was brought up.

“Yes, I took a while to travel through here and was lucky to come out alive. It took a while to navigate through the trail to the castle, so with me, it will be easier and quicker. I just need to be protected is all.” He said to Drakkon hoping he understood.

Drakkon shook his head as he knew this was going to be a headache, but he was built for this.

“Alright, make sure everybody is ready, and let’s make our way up the mountain and to the castle. I assume that there are dangers through the path ahead?” He asked the Elder.

He nodded agreeing with Drakkon without saying anything else. It was then he started moving ahead. Drakkon followed by his side as he didn’t want the man to get ambushed. Hai was behind Drakkon as always wondering what monsters lurked in the shadow.

“Father, why are we doing this?” He asked him.

“If it weren’t children, I wouldn’t have cared. It is also Joya, so I have to make sure the people are grateful to me. It is how they protect my name and allow me to do what I want as well.” He said this as he pushed forward to the adventure ahead.

“Do you need me to provide you with my Katana, Carmina?” He asked her as they were walking.

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Carmina was unsure if this was safe but she was given a basic staff by one of the towns people as they noted she was not armed and she seemed more of a caster than a close range fighter. She was not even sure how to use a staff but she was going to do her best to do so, so she was not wasting her or her masters time or the woman’s time that handed it to her. She was not expecting to survive but she had come to terms with that a while ago. She looked over the staff before putting it across her back and breathing as she was going to need to compose her self before she went to deep on this path as they followed the man that seemed to act like he had been here and was thankful to them for their hard work.

She was keeping her guard up as she didn’t want to get double crossed by this man, the staff was clearly normal and nothing wrong with it so if there was a trap it was the man they were following toward the castle and she listened to Drakkon talk to the dragon and she wondered where this talk was going for them as it seemed they were worried about the man that was leading them so she now wondered if maybe her worry was misguided thinking that they may be double crossed instead of for the man’s safety. She then heard her master say to be ready for the road ahead is dangerous and she draw the staff and then she heard her master speak to her and ask her about if she was going to need his sword and she shook her head and held the staff out as it was what she was going to use.

"No sir I have this staff I will do my best to back you up and keep this man safe if he is to follow us into the castle." she thought she sounded a bit cool there but she is sure that she was not very cool but she had to do her best and not back down. She needed to make the most of this staff as if she doesn’t then what ever that lives in this castle might have her ass on it’s wall or worse so she needed to make sure that she didn’t let her guard down and kept spells fresh in her mind so she could react to what ever might come after them or need to be dealt with, with a spell.
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Drakkon heard her and he nodded. He would keep his guard up as the man was leading them up the mountain. It seemed like things were going well, but he knew from what the man said that there were creatures here that were dangerous. It seemed like they had become more of a problem since these weird events were happening to the children.

The Devourer moved, but never let his guard down. He knew something would attack eventually, but when was the question? Hai was also behind them making sure to be battle-ready whenever his father needed him. it was then they would have met the first fork in the road. There were three paths, but the elder took one path immediately. It seemed like he knew exactly where he was going and that was a good thing. He kept walking thinking everything was going to be fine for a little longer.

“It seems like things are about to get bumpy soon enough. It’s not like danger to stay away from me this long.” He said this out loud to the group.

He wasn’t wrong about that, the Dragon Slayer could feel the vibration of many creatures following them. It was as if they were finding a time to strike them. Of course, he was welcoming it and waiting for them to do that. It was then that two monsters appeared from above as they jumped down. They were trying to hit Hai and Carmina.

Drakkon had rushed toward Carmina and he took out his Enma only swinging the heavy katana. He swung down and they horizontally, getting to cut on the white-looking creature. It had fallen to the side of Carmina due to the impact and was dropped. These things were sturdy for Drakkon, but for Hai, the one that had tried to sneak attack him had been met with two fists into its chest.

It was never able to attack Hai as it was staring into the Dragon’s eyes before he pushed the creature away and it dropped to the ground.

“It seems like things are about to get messy here. There are quite a few things around the area. They seemed to be idle for now, but they seem to attack at any given moment, so be on your guard.” He told them as he moved back to the elder.

He had to protect him the most, so he would do just that. The elder waited to see if anything else would happen, but when he saw they were temporarily in the clear he kept moving.

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Carmina was glad that her master was worried about her but this was her fight to have and she was sure that this staff would be good enough to keep her safe but she knows that she also needs to be careful that she isn't too stubborn or her master might lose interest in her and that would leave her alone and scared probably but she needed make sure that she worked hard and that was something that needed to happen. She saw the monsters coming as her eyes had locked on to them but her master had acted faster than she had been able to react to deal with them. She was sure that she might have let the master down as he had, had to leave his spot to come and protect her which kind of didn't set well with her as she needed to get better and be able to stand on her own feet.

She looked over and saw that the dragon had also put the monster that had jumped at it down and she felt somewhat worse even if the creature was her masters partner that kind of hurt her spirit as she had been protected like she was helpless when the dragon was left to fight his own battle she now sees her master sees her as a hinderance to him and she had not been doing well enough to be holding her own and that was a painful lesson for her but she would push on and prove herself and see that she wasn't some helpless girl that needed to be protected like that when she could hold her own against things that she needed to do. She followed the elder closely and she didn't speak to her master as she was a bit mad at his actions and how it made her feel that he had done that.

She moved and kept her eyes open as she looked around for more monsters as he kept her readied spells fresh in her head and she was going to push harder to make it to where she can with this power that she has but she knows that she was nothing compared to her master and he most look down on her because of her weakness and inexperience in battles like this but she would have thought from the battles that they had in the north that he wouldn't treat her so much like a child but it had seemed that she was wrong that she had grown at all in her masters eyes and she would have to keep giving it her all to try and get out of the shadow that seemed to loom over her and what she could do or she was going to forever just be the charity case that her master had taken on.
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Drakkon didn’t protect her because he didn’t think she couldn’t take care of herself. He did it because he didn’t want anything to happen to her. He was expecting great things from Carmina, so nothing bad could happen. The Devourer had looked around, but they were not coming out to attack them. He just shook his head as he didn’t like this. It was as if they were waiting for them to let their guard down again to attack. The elder looked at them to see if they were ready to keep moving.

“We can move forward, at least we know what to expect from these enemies that are hiding from us.” He said to the elder.

Hai had moved behind his father and the group moved forward. They were ascending the mountain as things were calm right now. It was then they would notice that there were things not too far from them. They were approaching them, and they noticed that there were four of them in front of them, and they didn’t look friendly. The creatures there roared with disgust as they were alerted that the group was getting too close. When that happened, the creatures that were following them would make an appearance.

They were behind them as well, and he could only shake his head. There were three behind them and it seemed like they were cutting them off.

“You two get the ones that are behind us and I will take care of these guys in the front. Takumi stays in between us and they don’t even try to help.” He said to the old man as he cracked his neck.

Drakkon’s scales appeared on his body and the green aura had also started showing. He cracked his neck as he wasn’t the type of person to use these two at the same time. The mana it had consumed was too much, but here he was now. It was then that they saw this and they rushed toward Drakkon. He stepped back to avoid the claws slashing his face, and then he felt the impact on the side one of them had gotten him. His Kimono had protected him from the impact, but that still hurt. He would stop when he noticed that he was getting too close to the man.

He pushed forward hitting one of the monsters in front of him in the gut with his katana’s handle. When he stumbled back, he didn’t notice it at first, but Drakkon had swung his katana swiftly upward and it would cut him straight through. Blood gushed out of him as he screamed in pain and dropped to the ground dead. The others were surprised but knew they had to kill them for the Yokai.

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Carmina spoke no words as she was going to just do what the man said and not speak as she had clearly not been ready for this level of job as he had already shown her that he didn't think she could defend herself which she thought she had been proving herself here but it seemed that the man was not ready to let her spread her wings yet. She whipped the staff around and casted her spells through it and they came to life and were light element so she was testing to see if these creatures hated the light or if they were stronger then that. The creatures didn't seem bothered by the light so the next set of spells she casted were fire type, fire burns and usually was the thing that drove away creatures in stories though she doubted that they would be so easily dismayed by it but she had to try and see what worked but alas fire also seemed to not do much to them.

She was sure earth was not going to do anything to them that was strong but she was going to use it and see if that helped and she kept the man that was leading them safe from harm as they would probably be in a bit of a pickle if they were to fail to keep him safe and that was only one step of the way but she was going to keep pushing herself to the max that she could. The earth spells were keeping them back as who wouldn't be scared of a rock flying at you but it seemed they were still just normal animals that were in the mountains here and she was going to have to think about what is the best action here as there were a lot of eyes in the forest and that means they were out numbered and she was not sure if she could handle that but she figured her master and Hai would just handle it and she not have to worry about it.

She released out arcane spells and she hoped that she would be okay to be herself and keep swapping the elements of the spells as she went along she wondered if she was just another useful tool to Drakkon or if she was someone that he saw as having worth though she was not going to hold her breath as she was not a strong and unbeatable mage like her master was and she needed to keep getting stronger and taking on the world that she could as she was still in her young and weak phase and she watched at the creatures hit off her strong defensive spell thanks to her master letting her have it and she needed to make sure that she didn't look too far above her current station.
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Drakkon noticed that there was something wrong with Carmina. He wasn’t sure what it was, but she had gone from an excited woman to something bothering her. he wasn’t sure, but he figured that he had said something to her that got to her. He rubbed the back of his head as he didn’t know that he did that. While he paid attention to her, the creatures that he was taking care of him had taken advantage of the situation. They had all three attacked him, and their attacks landed true. Drakkon was late to react to their attacks as he felt the blows.

He grunted from it all as he looked at them. He was a little ticked off about the situation. He looked at the trio and he spat blood out of his mouth and onto the floor. He was ready to fight as he stepped forward. He used his Yamato’s dimensional slash to catch all of them together. The damage was strong enough to do a lot of damage to them at the same time. Still, they were still standing, which he was fine with. The Dragon Slayer had gotten close to one of them, and he swung his blade. It had cut deep as the monster stepped back growling from the pain. It was trying to avoid Drakkon, but the Devourer had his sights on the creature in front of him.

The Dragon Slayer had cut through the creature once again, but this time the wound was fatal. The monster had fallen and he looked over to the two creatures. When he did his danger sense kicked in and he was dodging their attacks as they were being annoying. He kept moving getting ready to counterattack when he needed to.

Hai was going to be helping Carmina. She was helping him at the same time though. He saw that barrage of spells that she had unleashed to the three that they were fighting. She was keeping them occupied, so he would be able to get to them without a problem. In a one-on-one situation, he was too slow to hit them, but he was powerful enough to deal damage if his blow landed.

He got to one of them who had their attention to Carmina. It was getting ready to attack Carmina, but Hai was next to the monster now. It was then he had swung twice at the creature and he would send it flying off the mountain trail and to its death. He looked over to the other two that they were fighting and was ready to continue with the fight.

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Carmina was not really keeping her eyes out or expecting the dragon or how he might be moving in toward them. She was able to stop a spell from going into the dragon who had seemed to have crossed her path as she was casting magic to keep the creatures back. She was lucky that she was doing what she can and he seemed to be fine and she casted a buff on the dragon so he was faster since it seemed that he was mostly power and lacking the speed so with the buff the dragon should be able to better keep up with the creatures that were moving around and trying to get at them while the barrier was keeping their guide safe and Carmina looked to the sky and she wondered if there was even a point or if winged ones were about to start coming at them as only land locked ones seems like an over sight on the part of what ever was sending these things out at them.

Carmina focused back in as she needed to stop looking for threats that aren't there yet as she needed to keep herself and the others safe as well even if it was something that she might not be able to solely. She needed to push herself and do all that she could as she was still young and maybe she will learn something but this also means that she lacks the real power that she needed as she was making up her mind in what she could do this was only a simple stepping stone that they were going to have to figure out so they can keep on the road toward the castle. She needed to awaken something rather it be a hidden power or something that she can use to help keep herself safe from trouble and get there and face what might be there and that was not so easy as she was nothing special so she didn't have much to give she was just a cheap copy of what ever she does.

"Master we should get moving before we get too out number and cornered as if I had to guess we are going to get attacked from the air soon." She spoke the words out as she was feeling a weird feeling about just being straight watched from all over the place but she was not sure if this was real or if it was just here being paranoid and saying it out loud would help her with it but she wasn't feeling better after saying it and she needed it out there.
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Hai had taken one out and that was when he felt the buff from Carmina. It seemed like she was able to make him faster than he was before. This was a big upgrade actually, and he is getting excited. He had known about speed, but it was only when he fused with Drakkon. He never experienced it on his own. He looked at the woman and he gave her a thumbs up for helping him out. It was then he appeared in front of the other one that was still alive. He had a smirk on his face as he would thrust his talons right into the monster’s side.

His arm had gone through the creature, and he would pull it out as the monster dropped.

“Thank you.” He said to Carmina

Drakkon looked over at the two monsters that were standing in front of him. He had gripped his blades with force, and he was planning on taking them out right now. He could tell that the two behind him had taken everybody out. That was perfect, and he was going to finish it off right now. He had used Enma as it had leaked out to deal damage to them both without hesitation. They felt the power behind just the will of that katana as they felt exhausted.

After that, he got right in front of the two monsters. They were surprised how he didn’t let up a beat and then they saw black. He cut them down without hesitation as the path before them would open up. He looked at Carmina as he heard her words.

“Alright, let’s continue moving towards the castle.” He said to everyone as that was their destination they would soon reach.

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Carmina nodded her head to the dragon when she had been thanked by him and she wondered if they were going to be in for a terrible time or if they would be able to make it through all of these tired but not worse for wear. She has a feeling that she is gonna have to make a dangerous choice when they get to this all as the man seemed to be leading them well but she was not sure on how it was all going to turn out and work for them but she was going to make the most of it while she is alive an not possessed or taken over like they things that they had seen this whole time first the children and now animals and other types of beasts that were near that might even be more dangerous to them then other people could be. She readied some more spells in her head and she wondered if there was even a reason that she should keep pushing.
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