"I'm going on a journey"
"What!" Enbi Arin shouted.
"Why?" Prakash questioned.
"Where?" Myra inquired.
"And Akiko is also accompanying him," Katsurou said, adding fuel to the confusion.
"What?" Hikari wondered if she heard him wrong.
"Why should I?" Akiko shrieked.
"I think it's for the best if you're the one to talk" Said Li Qiu as he passed the baton onto Katsurou.
Katsurou had on a 'What a pain' expression on his face as he started to talk.
"I'll try to keep it short so listen carefully" Said Katsurou as he sat down on the ground facing the others.
The group consisting of Enbi Arin, Prakash, Akiko, Hikari, Myra, and the nearby Aurella too sat down facing Katsurou while Li Qiu leaned over on the tunnel wall behind Katsurou.
Katsurou rolled his eyes at Li Qiu's action and began to talk while everyone present in the scene paid maximum attention to his words.
"Let me start with the power distribution within Japan from Day 1 of the Aria calendar. Well its what everyone on the 'Internet' calls it, a bunch of crazy and delusional people but I guess it's convenient to remember. November 12 is considered to be Day 1 on the Aria calendar, so, I'll start from there"
Seeing as everyone nodded in response to his words, Katsurou continued,
"By the end of Day 1, people started to form groups or come under the banner of powerful people, something like that, all to avoid the antics of two crazy people in Tokyo"
"Aren't they..." Both Hikari and Akiko wanted to say something but were stopped by Katsurou as he continued,
"I don't want to talk much about them but just know that they went on a killing spree the moment they awakened by making use of their powerful innate abilities. The survivors eventually requested for my aid and so, I transported all of them to Wenzhou city"
"How many survived?" Prakash suddenly interrupted with a question.
"10,000" Replied Akiko with clouded eyes.
"How could someone be so powerful that 10,000 people couldn't even fight against him but only flee?" Myra said as her tone sounded a bit fearful.
"Stop interrupting me!" Katsurou shouted in irritation which shut up everyone who were just about to go into their own discussion.
"Now, where was I….yeah, as I was saying….well, I'll first answer to your question. Yes, I managed to transport about 10,000 people but you must understand one thing about innate abilities. The innate abilities are not as varied as you think, every race has a set of basic innate abilities that they awaken to which might have slight variations to each other but in essence, they are all the same. Consider Myra for example, her innate ability is related to barriers right?"
Myra flinched in surprise as the topic of discussion suddenly shifted onto her and stammered in her reply.
"Y-yeah"
"What is the innate ability which most of your brethren had awakened to?" Questioned Katsurou as he smiled at Myra with an all-knowing gaze.
"Barriers" Replied Myra.
"Generally, anyone from the ant race usually awaken to a barrier related ability. Similarly, lizards generally awaken to a fire-related ability, etc. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"
"Then, what innate ability do humans usually awaken to? I've not seen any other humans around here other than the ones present in this tunnel" Questioned Myra as she looked at Katsurou in an inquisitive gaze.
"Weapon Creation"
"That's…" Prakash gasped in shock.
Creating weapons had always been the forte of humans ever since the Stone Age. They evolved from stones and obsidian knives to the present day Railgun and Nuclear missiles, an innate ability perfect for human wisdom and dominance.
Prakash couldn't comprehend how people with such a powerful innate ability could become helpless against a lone individual just during Day 1 of the Aria calendar where all creatures had the same starting line.
"I don't think you would feel the same if you really understood about the innate ability 'Weapon Creation'." Said Katsurou as he could somewhat guess the thoughts that currently ran within Prakash's head.
"Missiles and nukes aren't the only ones under the category of weapons. The term weapon consists of every object that humans have ever used as a weapon till today since their inception. Swords, knives, kendo stick, heck I even saw people manifesting stones and butter knives from their innate ability. A person could only create a single weapon during his entire life that could be anything that we deemed as a weapon during the peaceful times. People who created weapons like stones, butter knives, paper knives are literally screwed. Those who created something like a sword, spear or even a bow would fare considerably well"
"B-but, if someone could create weapons like an RPG…" Prakash interjected, not wanting to lose faith in humanity.
"I'll get to it. People who could create weapons like guns or an RPG are not that well off either. First is the cost of Aria consumed. All of our modern weapons use consumable bullets or projectiles and it's not like you just utter some magic words and poof, the weapon appears. You need to literally calculate the process of the mechanism in which a gun operates during each time it fires a bullet. And during the fight against one of those two creeps, a man who was a retired soldier could actually create an RPG, but, since he was only at the Awakened Stage at that time, he could only create a tiny explosion of a metre in radius after consuming the entirety of his Aria. Sure, they are all powerful weapons that humanity has researched extensively and finally developed but in terms of innate abilities, they are incredibly weak in the initial stages due to the high requirement of Aria. And moreover, out of 10,000 people that I rescued, only Hikari and Akiko had an innate ability different from the generally seen 'Weapon Creation'."
"Hey, you derailed too much. Get back to the main topic" Li Qiu interrupted Katsurou who seemed as if he would talk-on forever.
"That's why this is such a pain. Well, anyway, that's a different issue. Now I'll tell you about the two crazy people. The survivors started to call one crazy dude as the 'Doll Demon' and the other creepy dude as the 'Slime Demon'….no….don't look at me like that Akiko, my nickname was given by those 'Crystal Machina' bastards when I had one-shot their sole Cardinal in Japan"
'Stare~' Akiko
'Stare~' Hikari
Katsurou ignored the stares that were directed at him as he continued on with a serious tone.
"I'm still having my cuties spy on them and they are growing stronger day by day. My goal is to unite all humans in one place so that we could fright, grow and survive from the onslaught of other races, especially the 4 'Machina' races who continue to grow at a crazy pace every day. But, the moment I have united everyone in the same place, those bastards from the 'Machina' race would immediately try to destroy us. But at least I'm prepared to fight against them but it's the 'Doll Demon' and the 'Slime Demon' that I'm wary off since, considering their disposition, they would come cracking at us the moment they hear news of a human base being established. They are both my acquaintances and know me very well. Moreover, my ability is useless against the Slime Demon while the Doll Demon is quite tricky to deal with since he's a slick bastard. That's when I came across the unique abilities of Li Qiu. He's the perfect counter for both the Slime Demon and the Doll Demon. I could assure you the effectiveness of his abilities since I myself confirmed it when I fought against him yesterday. I made a small deal with Li Qiu, I'll protect you people in his place as I start gathering all the surviving humans here while he finishes off the Slime Demon. Coincidentally, at this time, the ever dormant Mt.Fuji suddenly erupted and considering Li Qiu's abilities, he may be able to gain something out of it"
"How did you come to know about his abilities? And, why should we trust your words?" Enbi Arin questioned Katsurou as she suddenly became wary of him.
"Don't bother. He knows about all of our innate abilities. This creepy bastard's information network is quite extensive, he was listening in on us when we revealed about our abilities to each other. It makes me sick to accept this but we don't have any other choice other than to put a meager amount of our trust in him" Said, Li Qiu, since he had already been informed about everything in his little
conversation with the miniature Katsurou after their battle and had also secretly created a contingency plan to ward off against Katsurou.
This was the very reason as to why Li Qiu kept burning of all the miniature Katsurous that he came across.
Enbi Arin and Prakash sighed in resignation since they couldn't even detect any spy activities even till now.
Katsurou said "I couldn't help it, after all, my information network extends from Japan to the entire East Coast of China. I would have expanded even further but those 'Machina' bastards and other perceptive races started cracking down on the loose ends. Anyway, Li Qiu will head over to Mt.Fuji and then after that try to eliminate Slime Demon and the Doll Demon. The highest priority right now is the Slime Demon because his innate ability can mutate and grow indefinitely. The Doll Demon only comes next and that's where you Akiko will come into play. If the situation doesn't feel favourable, I want you to pull him out immediately with the help of your innate ability. If the situation necessitates it, feel free to even use that other ability. I would have come with you guys too but David is acting up again and most of my power is currently stationed in Wenzhou city to aid and help with the growth of all the human survivors there. So, can I count on you with this task, Akiko?"
"Fine, if that's how you word it, I'll make sure that this task is completed successfully. But, is he strong enough to face off against the Slime Demon? This is the Slime Demon that we're talking about here, he's only at the Practitioner Stage right?" Said Akiko.
"Take a look again," Li Qiu said as he released his Adept Stage aura.
"Bro!" Prakash exclaimed in joy.
"Uncle, you broke through?" Shouted an astonished Enbi Arin.
"I just broke through during the day today. I hope this clarifies your doubt Akiko, and I won't jump in recklessly, I'll make sufficient preparations are done before I attempt to kill the Slime Demon" Said Li Qiu as he looked at Akiko.
"Yeah" Akiko nodded her pretty head to show her response.
"But, how will you travel such a long distance. I mean, this is Japan that we're talking about, there are no functional transports after all" Exclaimed Prakash.
"Katsurou will take care of that" Said Li Qiu.
"Yeah, it will just be an overnight journey atop my 'Black Dragon' and it will bring them back once they are done with their respective tasks or if an emergency arrives. I would also send one of my cuties on it that will keep them in touch with us" Replied Katsurou as he lazily stretched out.
"Then, when are you setting out?" Questioned Enbi Arin.
"Tonight, it'll be easier to travel under the cover of the night and we wouldn't be easily detected" Replied Li Qiu.
"I'm coming with you on your journey bro" Prakash suddenly proclaimed.
"Why?" Enbi Arin was the first to raise an objection since she felt that Prakash's abilities were not suited for this mission.
"Are you really sure Prakash?" Li Qiu questioned back.
"Yeah, I'm absolutely sure. I feel like my abilities would come to your use during this mission and I wouldn't improve further if I just continue to stay in the same location without experiencing anything" Replied Prakash as he grit his teeth and clenched his fists.
"Then prepare yourself, we still have some time left before we depart" Said Li Qiu as he placed his hand upon Prakash's shoulders since he too liked the company of Prakash.
"His ability can work even on my 'Black Dragon', so he would be quite handy to increase its speed of flight and maneuverability. You make a good chauffeur" Said Katsurou as he gave a thumbs up to Prakash.
"Not this again!" Prakash could only wail within his heart since it didn't seem as if he would be able to rid of his fate to become a magical donkey.