Drakkon, Hai, Carmina, and Rey were now within the Castle. It seemed like the miasma wasn’t as bad as it was outside. It was still hard to see, but not enough that it obscured his vision. That was all that mattered to him. Still, he looked around to see that there was nobody here to welcome them. He was expecting a fight right off the start, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, the place seemed abandoned making me question what was going on.

He also noticed that the Yokais from earlier were not trying to enter this place. It was then he could conclude that they were not allowed to enter the castle.

He looked over to Carmina and he sighed with relief as they gave them a few seconds of relaxation.

“We should be fine, I think those creatures outside are not allowed to enter here. That means whoever is inside of this place must be strong and their leader.” He said as he stretched a bit.

If they were going to venture forward, then they needed to be ready. The Yakuza Boss was ready to figure out where their target was. This had to be the place they were looking for and this would possibly be the place where they got the answers to how those kids were possessed. After a few minutes of them gathering themselves, Drakkon figured it was time for them to start moving.

“Alright let’s start roaming around the castle. I wanted to say let’s split up, but that would be highly dangerous for the both of us.” He said to her as shivered at the thought.

This place was creepy and there was little to no light presented in the castle. He had a weird feeling that something or someone would scare him. Drakkon moved around the place trying to figure out where they could find the person who owned this place. At the moment he couldn’t find anyone, but the noises he heard sounded like that of a snake. It made him shiver even more as he disliked snakes. It was something he never noticed until now, but that noise was not it.

“Carmina is there anything that scares you more than anything in this world?” He asked curious to hear what she had to say.

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Carmina was surprised that the fog that was outside of the castle wasn't also super thick in here so she wondered if the ones that were outside were the ones that been making it the while time or if maybe something was controlling the insides of the castle so there were not as thick of clouds in here. She had fully expected a welcoming part as something should have known they were on their way here and she had just been out in the court yard throwing fire balls around to deal with the small yokai and make lights to follow she was not sure if there was really even a chance that she survived this place but she had her master, her masters dragon and her own companion so she thinks that she has a chance that she will live through this but she needed to keep her guard up and not take any chances that might come across them.

Carmina was working hard in her mind to figure out if she was really going to be okay and she heard her master speak and she heard him out on what he had to say and then she would speak. "Yeah spliting up would probably just open us all up to danger and we don't want to risk that." She was sure that her master and his dragon would be find but she knows that she would probably be picked off first if not Rey dying to protect her as there is not a lot of room to fight in here as this was a hallway and there were things that she was seeing traces off in the hall with her mana vision and she guessed that she could talk about it and see what her master had to stay back to her on it.

Before she could say anything she heard her master ask her a question. "I guess what scares me more than anything else is that I am just used for my power or some how it is stolen from me and used against those that I care about why do you ask? Also I see a strong mana signature come from down the hall way." She pointed down the hall way that looked like it ended in a giant double door that was probably locked or some how trapped for people that were unwanted guests.
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Drakkon heard her and he was glad that she was also against splitting up. Still, he heard her words followed by asking why he wanted to know. He rubbed his chin as he heard the last part as well.

“I asked because I was wondering what you were afraid of. I’m afraid of snakes if it counts. So, if there is a snake somewhere, then I might act a little childish.” He said to her.

“Still, being used for your power doesn’t show that you are therefore useful? A lot of people get discarded because they are not worthy to be around those who they want recognition from.” He said to her.

Still, with the signature of someone being down the hallway, he could only imagine it being the leader of this place. They had a lead to go instead of walking around this place blindly.

“Alright, stick behind me, and we will head in that direction. If they attack us once we show ourselves at least I will take the hit.” He said to her as he pushed forward.

He moved with care as he didn’t know what was going to happen. If Carmina said they were strong, then he believed it. It also meant that this was going to be fun as he could test his skill and his growth. When they got to the room, they would see someone moving around in what looked like the living room. It was huge and spacious, but it was something you would see in a castle. It was then she turned around with a vicious smile on her face as she was expecting them.

“You people have made it here. I cannot believe you decided to enter our territory. Still, today you will perish as the miasma I spew will take all of your lives.” She said to them as she would spread out miasma throughout the castle.

Drakkon coughed a bit, but he didn’t move, he was a bit nervous and scared from what he saw. He didn’t understand this, but his fear of snakes went through the roof. The Yokai they were fighting against was part snake, which made him shiver down his spine. He couldn’t believe it, he spoke about his fear and it had come to life Still, the toxic miasma that filled the room had messed with his vision again. It was then that she appeared in front of Drakkon and took a bite out of him.

He didn’t dodge in time, fearing what he saw earlier. He felt the pain through his kimono and grunted from the pain and he pulled himself away from her and shook his head.

“Just stay away from her and kill her from afar. You should be fine and that is all that matters. Do not let her get close to you.” He was giving himself a pet talk to help get through this.

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She was surprised to hear that the man was scared of snakes if he dealt with them so regularly but that was fine she had no such fear of snakes as her younger years were in the desert and her more teenage years were spent in the jungles of stella so snakes and big reptiles were not the scary to her as she can tell them apart pretty easily and how to tell how they attack or if they are dangerous and she followed behind her master listening to him and she wondered why he would have a fear of snakes she guessed that it had some kind of deeper meaning to it that she wasn't getting. She guessed her fear was more a selfish fear but it was the deepest dear she had right now that she gets used against her will or her power being taken from her and leaving her powerless to help herself or those around her and she needed to make sure that she kept on her toes.

once the woman spoke to them and started her assault on them Carmina kept her calm till she saw the woman attack Drakkon and she moved in and used a wind spell to blow the miasma back and away from him and she tapped him with her staff and gave her mana vision to him so he could see and she put a body protection spell on herself to keep herself from getting and she closed her eyes and a wind field surrounds her and she closed her eyes as she was going to sense the snake woman if she were to enter the wind field that was blowing the miasma away from herself and she released spells when she sensed the monster enter the field and she was not sure if this woman's miasma was flammable so she was not going to use fire element spells and was sticking to wind spells so that she could keep the miasma getting pushed away.

"Master are you okay?" She asked as she was not sure if the woman was poisonous and she had appeared to have gotten a decent piece of her master and she was going to be in deeper trouble if her master fell. She kept her eyes closed and only using the sense with the wind around her and she pointed her staff around and dodged attacks that entered the field that was around her as she needed to make sure that she didn't slow her master down. Rey was firing wind and water spells in the direction of the snake woman to try and hit her and if he missed he was blowing some of the miasma away so it was easier to find her and fire out the crackling thunder that he also had in his spells. Rey was glad this was a bigger and more open room so he was free to attack and not have to worry about much.
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Drakkon looked at her hearing her words. He had a nervous smile on his face as he didn’t like what he was facing. He remembered the wound that was dealt to him and he would heal without a problem.

“I’m okay, she caught me off guard. As long as I keep my distance away from that, then I should be fine.” He explained to Carmina.

Drakkon’s fear of snakes only came to fruition when he lost his best friend. The merging of the two had made Drakkon feel that seeing a snake had brought him the loss of Toge all over again. It was the truth as Toge was a Cobra Demi-Human. Still, he guessed that today was the day that he would conquer his fear.

Still, one thing he could see the Yokai even better than he could before. Well, in terms of mana silhouette, he could see her, which was thanks to Carmina.

“Thank you, Mina, now I don’t have to focus on how she truly looks. It’s due to my devouring of my best friend that I developed a fear of snakes.” He explained to her.

It was then he watched everybody attack the yokai without hesitating. That was good, and he figured that he would do the same thing. When she saw that she was being attacked she would use her miasma shield to block several of their attacks. The shield was good enough for the barrage between Carmina, and Rey, but wasn’t enough to stay any longer than it did. It broke and shattered and Drakkon had sent a Dragon of Arcane energy toward the monster.

She noticed it and her eyes widened as she would be hit by the dragon, and then the last of Carmina and Rey’s attacks would hit Asphyra. She was pissed and angry with what was going on. Why were these two strong? She would look at the three of them and decide to keep them in place.

“You dare hit me with such magic? I will show you the difference between our strengths.” She said to them as she would release her binding vines.

The vines were filled with venom as they sprouted from beneath everyone and sprouted trying to latch themselves onto the group. Drakkon had activated his most powerful armor spell made of earth to cover Rey, Carmina, and himself. When the vines touched the armor, it would do nothing to them. Still, Drakkon would stay where he was as he was in a good spot. He wanted to be away from her, and he was doing fine with just that.

Asphyra saw that her vines latched on to them, but she felt like something was off. She figured it worked though as Drakkon stood still. She decided to focus on the woman and her pet. The reason behind that was she didn’t seem scared of her like he was. She was quickly moving close to Carmina ready to attack her with venomous claws.

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Carmina kept her eyes closed and she could sense the woman and she wasn't scared by the attacks that the snake woman makes as she is with her master and she wondered if this friend that her master had, had made that big of an impact on them that it was rooted in his deep of fear to be something that should hold him back like it was. "If he is part of you then why fear the snake that you are and have in you!? Use that snake and find your courage and move forward and bare your own venom and fangs!" Carmina moved as the woman got closer to her and she wondered if there was something she could be able to do to keep the miasma off of them and all she could do was keep the gently pulsing wind that was pushing the miasma away from herself and Drakkon as she used it to sense for where the woman was.

Carmina used her staff to guard against the attack of the woman and it seemed to light up and glow as if it was absorbing the poison of the woman's claws. The staff that she was holding seemed to have awaken and Carmina looked at the staff and seemed to wonder about it but Rey quickly and sharply told her that she needed to get her head back into the fight and fast with the noise that he made and Carmina looked at the staff and then hit the end to the ground and it sent out shock waves in the area of air and then sucked in the poison air. Carmina has no idea why the staff was doing this but she let it and then casted spells with wind as the element in the places that she could sense the woman. She has no idea if the staff is on her side or not or if this was some cursed object. She needed to get out of this situation and she wondered if the villager that gave her knew of the power of the staff or if it was just a piece of study junk that they gave her. She needed to make sure of what she wanted here and if she could trust to keep wielding this staff.

She swung the staff to try and hit the woman with the staff wondering if it hit the woman again if it might be able to do more to her though she doubted that it would but she had to do it and see how it worked or how much stronger that she could be if she were to use the full power of the staff and make a difference but she had no idea what that this staff could do and she needed to make sure of what she was doing.
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Drakkon was nervous right now, but he was glad that his defense had protected them. He didn’t like what they were fighting and honestly, he would switch it to fight anything else in this world. Still, he noticed that Asphyra was on the move and onto Carmina as well. He heard what Carmina had said to him, and he wished it was that simple. The devourer didn’t just go around trying to conquer this fear as it was not something he had to deal with every day.

Still, right now even if he didn’t want to get close, his prodigy was being attacked. He had given her the defense she needed to withstand the attack, but that wasn’t going to be enough. If that creature decided to stay close to Carmina, then things could turn out worse for her. He noticed though that his pupil was not going to just sit down and be harmed. No, he watched her suck up the miasma that was around the area with a slam of her staff.

He wasn’t sure when she got that, but it seemed like it worked for the time being. He was impressed by her attempt. When he saw her clash with Carmina, he saw that she had hit Asphyra with the staff, but the snake Yokai had hit her as well. Drakkon kicked off the ground instinctively, fighting his fear to get close to that thing. He was shaking, nervous having to do this, but he had to make sure that Carmina would be fine through this battle.

It was then that Drakkon swung his Yamato and his Enma at the creature. She felt the blow from the side, as she stumbled even more and away from the two. She slithered looking at the two of them with anger and hatred right now. He cracked his neck looking at her but was still feeling weird about getting close to that thing.

“I can’t say I conquered my fear of snakes, but I will do my best to not lag behind. We can’t have anything happening to you. Let’s keep going and see what we can do.” He said to Carmina.

It also helped that he was merged with Hai as they were sharing feelings. She was angry though, Asphyra, would spew more miasma around the area than she did before covering the room again.

“You think defeating me will do anything? My husband is far more dangerous than I am, and he is why this is all happening. Those children in that village were just a start, soon enough we will do more damage that cannot be undone.” She said to them.

Drakkon heard this and he took in a deep breath before letting it out.

“As long as he’s not a snake like you, then we should be fine.” He said with a smirk on his face as it pissed her off more.

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She looked at the man that had spoken to her. "Well good cause I don't think I match up well against close ranged attackers, was starting to wonder if I could find a puppeteering spell to try and take control of you to make you fight~" She was bluffing though she didn't think he would take her seriously anyways and she watched her master get to work and she needed to make sure that she also didn't stand around and waste her own time and allow this miasma to keep spreading so she started to use more wind magic spells to help to clear up the area and make the most of what she can with what she had as, she cleared up more and more of the poisons that were being released by the woman that was in front of her. Carmina really wondered if she was going to be able to make a dent in the amount that was already around the room they were in or if she was just wasting her mana.

Carmina kept using her sense to find where to fire more spells at the woman who seemed to still not be willing to stay down and was not talking about how she had a husband and that was something that she was going to have to help to deal with as she owed her master a lot of favors and her life probably, but she knows that life debts are serious things that needed to be handled with care and that needed to be paid back in full or you need up in a deeper debt and the snake seemed to be adapt at dodging the wind spells but sooner or later her luck would run out and Carmina was going to get her and hopefully that would help her master to be able to take on the woman before she was able to make a mess of them or some how reinvoke her masters fear of the snake that she was and that was something she was going to try and cure if she could. She wondered if her master also saw Rey as a snake as she couldn't remember her master ever being any where near him but she ended that idea with a giggle.

She then refocused herself on the battle that was taking place and she whipped up some wind and darkness spells that she could throw at the snake as well as the spells seemed to be what she would need to have happen and that was only one part of it though she needed to make her master proud and she tapped the staff on the ground again and she smiled as she could see with the sounds that bounced off the snake woman and had an idea of which way that woman would dodge and she spun the staff in her hand and released a blast of wind that moved swiftly.
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Drakkon was glad to know that they were close to resolving this mess. It seemed like the fight was going well, and Carmina was doing her best to help. He didn’t see her as anything less, and he was hoping to make sure she progressed in the way that she needed to.

Asphyra was not happy with this woman launching barrages of attacks. It was soon after that she had hit her with an attack. It caused her to shake it off, but it did harm. The snake Yokai was not happy with this, and she rushed over to Carmina again. Drakkon shook his head as he wasn’t going to allow his star pupil to be harmed. He got in front of the two females and his blades collided with Asphyra’s claws. His eyes were not making direct contact with her. He couldn’t, or else he would start hesitating again.

He pushed her away from them and he would activate Enma’s spell. His weapon became black a vicious swing would come after sending a powerful slash toward the monster. She got hit by the attack and she grunted from the attack. He cracked his neck as this was not something he would just sit by. She was nervous and she needed to protect herself.

The devourer watched her as she had created a toxic barrier around her. He had a smirk on his face as he hovered to her and he swung his blade at it. She dodged the first attack but was hit by the second attack. His attack couldn’t go through it, and he knew that much. She would swing with her venomous claws, and it would cause him to stumble back as she landed her hit. It was then she moved away and he could see that the barrier moved with him. He was fine with that as that meant his spell would work.

He flapped his wings in that instant and a bolt of lightning filled with arcane energy would strike right down on her. Asphyra’s eyes widened when she felt the blow from the attack behind. That was impossible, she was protected, right? It was then she noticed that the feeling of her limbs was gone. She couldn’t move. Drakkon knew this might happen, and he pushed forward once again. He swung his Yamato, and his Enma, both landing, destroying the barrier and doing a significant amount of damage to her.

His eyes looked at Carmina as if she was going to be the one to finish this monster off.

“Finish her off Carmina.” He said to her waiting for her to deal the finishing blow.

Once that was over they would take a small break before venturing into the castle even more.

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Carmina sensed her master as he made his move and she didn't react allowing him to deal with the snake woman as it seemed that he had worked himself over it or maybe he had found a way to get around the fear for the time and she needed to make sure that she needed let him lose what ever resolve that he had at the moment and once they were out of her sense range she moved quickly to see what she could sense and make sure that Drakkon wasn't bested she was glad that she had given her master mana vision so he could fight her and see her if he needed to in the dense miasma that the woman had kept filling the room with and she wondered what this husband of her's can do and what the next fight will be like as she hadn't seen much that she could use from this fight and she was guessing that she couldn't learn much from the next fight but for now she was going to keep letting out covering fire for her master and hope that she didn't mess up.

She moved as she had sensed things in the room with them watching almost and she wondered if this was a side effect of the miasma or if it was just statues around her as she had her eyes closed as she didn't want to get lost in the miasma and having her eyes open and the sense spell doing seemed to lightly over whelm her mind with some form of over stimulation and she didn't want to ruin her focus as she was doing all that she could do to keep herself in the fight and even thinking of taking an unneeded risk didn't sound good to her as she was trying her best to make sure that she was on the level her master needed her to be and she needed to keep growing even if she hit a cap some where she needed to make the most out of the little that she can take and make her own.

She heard her master tell her that she needed to end it she focused her mana in the staff and it became pointed and she ran at the monster sensing where the snake woman was and she drove the staff into the snake woman the element of the staff's spell spinning like a drill into the snake woman's body as she could hear the snake woman scream in pain from the spell tearing into her body and pierce her insides. Carmina could not stop the smile that was cracking across her face as she took pride and enjoyment in her being the one to kill the foe that had scared her master and getting rid of it and she ended her sense spell and she looked at the snake woman who had started to fall to the ground and seem to coil up to die by she knows snakes can still bite after death. "Make sure that you don't get too close to her as she might still be able to bite after her death."
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Drakkon heard her as she told him not to get too close to the dead body. he was not going to as he didn’t want to be anywhere near that thing.

“That I understand, I can’t stand them, so I wouldn’t get close anyways. Are you okay? I’m assuming you’re going to need to rest a bit before we continue on with finding her husband? He should most likely be somewhere around this castle.” He said to her.

He was calmed and the fight was over. The two of them now had one more battle to go through, or so he hoped. He was sure that she couldn’t continue to possibly fight one fight after the other. Still, he was glad that she was getting this experience as she needed it.

He leaned on the wall and he could see that the miasma that was all over the castle was disappearing. Of course, they weren’t the only ones who noticed this. The Yokais outside noticed, and her husband as well. He knew something happened to his wife, which angered him, making the mountain they were on start to shake. It seemed like the two of them upset someone and once Carmina was ready they would continue.

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[exit]

Carmina looked at the body on the floor as the miasma left the space and she wondered if they could take pieces of the woman to forge into weapons. "Think we should take pieces of her to make into items and weapons? Be a waste to just leave her body here as she is a monster and not get something from it to help us grow in power." Carmina knows that her master will probably not want any of it so she took a few things from the body as she was going to keep them in case they will be worth something or be useful to turn into a weapon that she can do so but she guessed that she needed to get out of this place and help her master beat what ever is shaking the mountain they are on and she knows that she needed to make the most of this time resting as she needed to build her mana up a bit then headed off with her master.
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