A day has passed since the crew's return.
"…Wake up…" the effects of deep sleep paralyzed Takumi's ability to distinguish the owner of the voice.
*Pow* "I said get up!" jumping out of sleep from an icy slap to the face Takumi found the voice to be coming from Ichika, who stood in front of him wearing short robes in the form of a human with an upset look and folded arms.
"Oh no! Oh no! I'm sorry!" Ichika's expression quickly changed when she saw Takumi hold the cheek that had suffered the wrath of her palm, her eyes twinkling in tears.
"It's fine ha ha," Takumi showed no animosity as he gave her a broad smile as the thin sheet of ice on his cheek evaporared after tying his hair into a ponytail, "your ice nullified the pain…what's up?"
Ichika sniffled softly and wiped the left side of her face where a tear managed to escape, "I- I just wanted to apologize for treating you so harshly…I…don't know what came over me…" she bowed in respect as she pleaded for Takumi's forgiveness, at which he just laughed loudly.
"Wh- Why are you laughing?… I'm serious!" her cheeks puffed as she pouted at Takumi's joy.
"All has been forgiven long ago my dear… there is no need for apology." after catching his breath and halting his laughter he eased her insecurity.
Ichika's white eyes widened as her cheeks grew red, "oh…hehe…I guess we're done here," her angelic smile returned to her face and Takumi felt the presence of someone he loved dearly in her: His mother Yua. Getting over the silent emotional rush he felt, the urge to show Ichika a sign of love swept his body and as such he walked over to Ichika and left a peck on her cheek.
"I'm going to train with Misao…see you later," rubbing Ichika's head Takumi grabbed a shirt and left the room.
As Ichika stared at his back, frozen from the unexpected kiss, her heart palpitating and smiling cutely from ear to ear, she laid a hand on the cheek Takumi marked with his lips, in her joy she became a cat once more and jumped around the room, "Woooohoooo!"
***
Takumi soon reached the training field where Misao was waiting in her own suit of sarashi and trousers, "you ready?" she asked as she got up from her seat on the ground.
"Nice suit," Takumi complimented as he came a few feet in front of Misao, who thanked him and said she got it from Ichika. A stone tablet with a dragon force slot was set on one of the corners of the field and they both walked towards it, "You have the earth element so put some into this then use the summoning scale and we can start," Misao instructed as her scythe appeared in her hand.
Takumi nodded and inserted two fingers into the slot, the straight earth dragon mark appeared again and the [Earth Dragon | Fifth Scale: Geogolem Army] was activated.
The ground rumbled and Takumi brought out his ōdachi. Misao took a stance after cracking her neck and a few moments of tremors later, a horde of massive four-armed golems with one large crystal-looking eye arose from the ground.
"Remember the goal Takumi!" Misao's psychotic smile had already stretched over her face as she reminded him of the agreement to break through two scales each day in order to reach the next growth^ quickly.
The both released their dragon force causing the marks of all their elements to appear, but for an unknown reason Misao was releasing her ki. The golems grew tired of waiting and charged at them, leaving Takumi no time to think why Misao would be using ki when they were training dragon force.
Misao gripped her scythe with both hands then sprinted between a group of five golems, 「Saikuronburēdo!」(Cyclone blade) her wind dragon mark glowed and her scythe was covered in a blanket of wind, spinning in a full circle she destroyed all five golems in a single cut.
On Takumi's end he was being bombarded by golems. The entire horde with the exception of the ones Misao had massacred were attacking him, with hand pounds and stomps which shook the earth, they were fighting like real life beings and with much skill at that.
"Why…are…they…attacking me alone!?" Takumi sliced a golem clean in half as he fumed.
Misao was still busy on her side with golems, who seemed to have a way of rebuilding themselves whenever they were killed. Each time a number of golems were killed in close proximity to each other the detached rubble would combine, creating a new golem which reduced the number of enemies but greatly increased their strength.
As they fought, they were moving all three of their respective elements around their body, as Mizuko had advised. The more they fought, the more dragon force they were able to circulate, and the energy was slowly condensing and converging at the centre of their stomachs.
"I need some help here!" Takumi was chased to Misao by four gigantic golems. After blasting her own golem giant to bits with a ki infused punch, she jumped a top one of the golems and sank her scythe into it's head 「Myakuutsu nokoribi!」(Pulsing ember), after which it expoloded in a burst of flame.
"I broke through…how about you?" she dusted her shoulder off as she showcased her breaking through to [Fire Dragon | Sixth Scale: Phoenix Flame] which was the healing scale of the fire element.
"I think I did too," He dodged a pound from one of the giants, Takumi had finally reached the water force's healing scale.
"Great! One more to go and we're done for today!" Misao congratulated him before she threw her scythe infused with flames like a boomerang, chopping off all the golems' heads.
The final phase of that day's training came under way when the rubble gathered in a single spot, catching his breath Takumi gripped his sword. The rubble crashed together and soon after, a colossal golem with three crystal eyes and eight arms roared before them.
"Attack together!" Misao flew to the air and delivered countless slices to the monster, which only put small scratches on it. Takumi sliced at a leg of the golem in an attempt to amputate it but to no avail. "I think we should take it down with a technique instead of physical attacks!" he shouted at Misao who was still on top of the golems shoulder, chopping like madwoman.
The golem brought one of it's hands to the shoulder and slammed down, evading the attack with a backflip Misao landed next to Takumi, "Let's get on with it then!"
The golem had destroyed a good amount of it's own shoulder and was paralyzed momentarily, they took the chance to charge up a technique. Takumi pointed his sword and his earth dragon mark glowed, choosing the technique caused a coating of rocks from the ground to cover from the tip of his sword up to his elbows.
The golem had recovered and lifted all it's arms, ready to strike with a ground pound. Takumi ran towards the moving statue and plunged his sword into the middle crystal eye after taking a leap, 「Furue o tsubusu!」(Crush Tremor) shattering the golem instantly.
Misao responded with her own attack to end it all, 「Harikēn no shūshuku!」(Constricting Hurricane) forming a wide tornado which lifted the rubble to the skies, throwing them into the distance.
"Sweet!" Misao's wind dragon force reached [Wind Dragon | Reverent Gale].
Takumi had also broken through once more, reaching [Earth Dragon | Quaking Crater]
Feeling both pleased and exhausted, the two fell to the ground.
Somewhere in the village, a poor house was victim to Misao's finishing move.
***
The passage of three days heralded the coming of the demon raid. Misao and Takumi's training paid off as they both reached the ninth scale of their respective dragon forces.
"Something's going to happen today… I can feel it" Lancelot looked up at the skies which darkened with thick, black clouds.
***
On the top of the valley where the demon kingdom stood, Urusla climbed onto a large demonic bird. Behind her stood her army of demons, with her test subject waiting in the wings in a movable capsule still unconscious; commanding the bird to fly she shouted in front of the army, "Charge! Today we take what we want!" leading them straight to the safe village.
The rumbling of heavy feet startled a young man in a tree, peering through a telescope straight into the horizon; seeing Urusla sweep over his head he quickly grabbed a large horn he had brought with him to signal the beginning of the raid.
*Hoooonnkk* The sound echoed all the way to the village and Lancelot knew what time it was.
"They're coming…"
^ - Growth: The stages of cultivation for a dragon host. (mentioned in chapter 7)