Salem pov
I was currently in a cheap inn room sitting on a bed swallowing some medicine tablets I got from the pharmacy to help with my pounding head. I was still in the same town as I didn't see myself fit to travel for a good bit.
"Damn." I moaned a bit as I clutched my head but the medicine started to kick in as the pain began to reduce a bit but I felt something off with my hand. I removed it from my head and took a good look at it and saw it was scaly green. "Tck." I sucked my teeth in a little and I felt my head pound a bit again.
I sighed a bit and took out my phone and began contacting Morrigan.
"Hello~." She answered and I heard heavy rain in the background.
"Hey Morrigan, it's me.'
"Me who~?" She teased.
"Seriously. It's me Salem?" I rolled my eyes
"Oh, hello Junior. I am impressed that Lacrima of yours managed to contact me even though I'm on another continent."
"Yeah, look I need your help on something." I skipped the small talk.
"Oh, I see~." She began to chuckle. "Look kid, I understand Kagura is a pretty girl. She's like fifteen or sixteen and you're only thirteen turning fourteen soon. I don't think you're man enough yet t…"
"Not that." I said a little deadpan.
"Oh, so what is it then?"
I then gave her a detailed explanation on what was happening with my magic, dreams, the times I just de-forming, lost magical power out of nowhere and my Quetzalcoatl form acting up.
"I see. Well junior I can guess you already know what caused this?" She asked.
"A consequence of using take-over on something stronger than me." I answered with my ears dropping a bit.
"That's right Salem I warned before that using-take over on something stronger than can have a major backlash. To make it worse that giant snake was not just out of your league but it also had some divinity."
"I thought it was only during the Take-Over process that things could go wrong not long after it." I scratched my head. "Anyway, why am I feeling the after effects now when I had this thing for months, a little close to a year now?"
"Well as you know I'm a god slayer and it's very efficient against gods or anything with divinity. That giant snake transformation of yours isn't a god but it does have some divine origins to it so during the battle I used one of my powerful spells damaging its soul so when you used your take-over magic it was recovering."
"Wait, you can screw with souls now."
"It's complicated but that's not the point. This thing's soul is regaining strength and is fighting back against you but from these dreams you've been having I can say that your other transformations or at least the stronger ones are acting like some sort of defence for you or something. And it also seems like your soul is also doing its best to also hold it in place. But it seems like it's slowly winning and soon the Quetzalcoatl will soon take over your body." She explained.
"Damn. So, what should I do?"
"Um really don't know how to help you here Salem but I heard how Taiyo has a lot of spiritual temples plus I've seen a lot of them from Lacrima movies so if it's true you can Harumi about them or something."
"Man, you can't come over here and help me out."
"Sorry junior, I can't help you. I'll be busy with some serious business for now just ask Harumi if she knows any good places which could help you. But coming from personal experience don't use your magic or at least refrain from using your heavier hitters' 'Then I heard loud yelling in the background.
"I SEE THAT THRIVING BITCH GET HER!!" I heard some man scream.
"Okay well thanks Morrigan I'll leave you to do whatever you're doing."
"Alright kid."
"Byeii~." We both said and we ended the call.
I sighed and went to the bathroom to freshen up a bit and I looked at myself in the mirror. I sometimes forget how green my eyes were. I twitched my slightly pointy ears a bit.
"Not that I think about it, am I a dark elf or this is a byproduct of my magic affecting my appearance or something." I made my ears twitch a bit as I spat out the tooth paste. Then I saw how long my hair was. It wasn't crazy long by anime standards as I was just reaching my lower neck to a bit of my upper back. "If my mom were to see this she would have sent me straight to the barber shop to shave it all off." I chuckled to myself remembering my mom.
I wondered what they were doing especially with my copy living my now old life. Did he get the computer science degree, did he get a job as the economy in Zambia was a little crazy, did he finally ask Jasmine on a date, how his mom, dad and older sister Leticia were doing. My ears dropped a bit.
I went to the bedroom and laid on my bed and took out my phone to check on the anomalies in this place. I saw the froghemoth was around the same area with seven other anomalies which I assumed was the oni-dragons base or one of their bases. Now six others were still out there but at the level most of them where I didn't think I could fight with my powers still whacked like this.
"Maybe Morrigan is right, maybe I should call Raiden to ask her if she knows some good spiritual buddha temples or something." I thought to myself than my stomach rumbled so I went out to get at least something to eat. But also find a way to gain some cash while I still had the reward money to live on.
'I wonder how much the exchange rate is though.' I thought of the little I had left from Pergende and Fiore.
A little while later
After looking for a good and somewhat cheap place to eat I had reached a ramen shop but plan to go to a bento shop I saw a few blocks away.
"Hello there young man, how may I help you today?" The chef questioned.
"Just give me some miso ramen please." I said putting the menu away but then I picked up something and a man dressed in ninja gear came out and sat down next to me. My eyes narrowed as I scanned him up and down. I wasn't wondering why he wore a ninja outfit in public as I've seen people wear much weirder.
He wore a sleeveless dark ninja outfit, a hooded cowl which was up, a mask covering his lower face and a katana strapped to his back. He kind of reminded me of Ryu Hayabusa a bit but paranoia from the last ninja's made me suspicious.
"And what will you be having sir?" The chef asked the man.
"I'll have whatever his having." He ordered and the chef left telling however was behind there to make the food. Guess he was being obvious on purpose.
We sat in silence till our meal appeared and I got to say it looked really amazing. The man took his chopstick and pulled down his mask and began eating.
"Hey can I get a fork please?" I asked as I still didn't know how to use chopsticks and the chef nodded and brought me a fork and I silently prayed and began eating and it looked good as it tasted and I gave the chef a thumbs up. We continued to eat until I broke the ice. "Okay man what is it you want?"
"Discussing it here is not the best choice. We will speak about in the forest of Shupiwe Salem."
"Are you serious my guy you just raised huge red flags from mentioning my name out of nowhere." I narrowed my eyes and tightened the grip on my fork.
"I understand you suspicion but rest assured I am not an enemy but I can understand your distrust. You can contact Harumi Raiden and state the Yūgen Kazuki of the Yūgen clan and she'll confirm it."
"Being mysterious is not helping your case my guy." I began to drink up the remaining soup of my meal with a ton of questions running through my head. I left to get away from him a bit to think it over and made it to the bento to get some good take out.
Sometime later back at the inn
"Hello?" Raiden answered her Lacrima I'm sure I did like four missed calls.
"Hey Raiden, it's me Salem.".
"Shupiwe-san, it's nice to hear from you."
"Yeah, you too anyway I wanted to ask you, does Yūgen Kazuki of the Yūgen clan ring a bell to you?
"Did he have a tattoo that radiated a strong magical presence?"
"Yep."
"I see. Kazuki-kun is a ninja of the Kitsunehara village and the clan heir of the Yūgen clan and the village leader." I raised my eyebrows a bit after that. "What does he want with me and how did he know my name?"
"Probably has something to do with those creatures. It's come to the limelight they've caused more problems than I gave them credit for and it seems like Kazuki-kun was investigating them. He contacted me some time ago about the battle in oak town and I dropped your name in the conversation." She explained. "But whatever reason he came looking for I think you should hear what he has to say Shupiwe-san. Kazuki-kun is a very honourable man and I've worked with him numerous times so you don't have to worry about him trying anything sketchy nor is he part of a dark guild."
"Alright if you say so." I scratched my head a bit but I'll still keep my guard up. "Oh, by the way do you know any temples here in Taiyo which specialise in soul cleansing or something?" I asked, remembering Morrigan's advice.
"Well, there are two great temples here in the Hokkaido region one is in the Kitsunehara village and one in the city of Sapporo which have practices of spiritual arts and nature magic but to save yourself there are good shrines which also practise spiritual not at the extent as the two great temples in Hana village which I saved and another good one in Kushiro town." She do finished
"Okay thanks."
"By the way, where is the Cerberus now?"
"It's in sin right now." Wait isn't that where Morrigan is right now.
"Hm alright please inform me if it ever comes to Taiyo."
"Yep. Well, byeii~." I cut the call and began eating my fourth bento box.
Later that day
After I was in the forest after I was done eating my six four bento boxes and drank my medicine. I realised two things: one the guy never told me where to find him and two this really has a lot of forests.
"With all these trees and vegetation around I wonder if plant or tree magic is common in this region." I wondered out loud but my ears twitched and I faintly sensed someone's magic close by. "So, are you just going to stay there or are you just waiting for a dramatic entrance?" I questioned as I tapped my foot and rubbed my head as it pounded again.
Kazuki then jumped out of the trees and then gracefully landed on his feet with his arms crossed.
"Nice landing my guy." I complimented him and clapped my hands.
"Thank you." He nodded. "And I'm impressed you actually managed to sense me and also you don't look very well."
"Don't worry, just a headache." I asked as I sat down on the grass. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Well in recent years the country has been attacked by powerful creatures most very similar to divine-yokai and oni-youkai. There were multiple sightings of these creatures and when mages for guilds, soldiers from the imperial army and ninja villages tried to take care of them. Yes a few were killed but only that a few but many died fighting just one. But those which were killed just kept coming back stronger and stronger till only a team of s-class fighters could take them on but still suffered losses and injuries."
'I guess Raiden called it.' I thought. "So where do I come in with this?"
"You see my village has fought three times and we have killed it twice but the third time we decided to capture it and study it to find ways to kill it and hopefully kill the other as well. I heard a huge battle in oak town with unspecified creatures and they were said to be defeated by Harumi-san and three other mages. I contacted Harumi-san asking her about the battle and said a boy by the name of Salem was able to permanently banish them. Then I heard there was possibly one over at the swamp and I came over to investigate but I heard from the captain that the creature was captured by the oni-dragon and he also mentioned your name." Kazuki finished his explanation.
"Okay so what, you want me to kill it then." I raised my eyebrow.
"You could say that. I really want to know how you managed to kill it."
"Sorry my man for reasons I'm the only one who can permanently kill them. So, I can't teach you the technique if that's what you want." I shook my head. 'Or give up my phone.'
"I see you're one of the secretive types." He shook his head. "How about we cut a deal?"
"Oh, what kind of deal?" I raised my eyebrow at him.
"My village will pay you a large monetary reward as you help us permanently kill these creatures."
His offer really got me thinking there must be more going on here than just typical stop monsters from destroying the country. 'Oh well their business is not mine as long as this is a win and win situation'. "Okay that sounds like a fair deal to me but I also need to ask if I can gain access to your temple, not for anything major. I just need spiritual cleansing or fixing to help out with a problem I've been having as part of my payment?"
Hm that's tough since the temple is very sacred but I can sense your soul is not in balance so if cleansing is all you need then that can be easily arranged you in the right position to travel though?"
"Sweet." I smiled and was glad he was reasonable. "So we have a deal?" I asked as I stood up
"It's a deal." He shook my hand then let go of my hand. "But are you in the right state to travel?"
"Like I said I'm fine now, lead the way big man I can keep up."
The two of us then sped off towards his village.