Morrigan and Harumi flew across the area where Salem and Quill's battle took place.
"Oh shit Salem!" Morrigan eyes widened and sped towards the crater.
Harumi was a bit surprised, taken back by Morrigan's reaction as even though she didn't know that well but in all there limited encounters she's never seen her so worried.
"It doesn't look like he sustained any injuries but judging by his clothes and the surroundings he must have engaged in an intense battle." Harumi stated as she floated down next to them.
"Someone must have healed him and I have a suspicious idea of how." Morrigan turned to the forest narrowing her eyes at a familiar signature but before she could come front the person Salem began to wake up.
"Argh dammit." Salem groaned as he opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of the two women.
"Hey Salem, welcome back to the world of the living~."
"Wait, you guys brought me back to life. That crazy bastard suicide bomb atcually killed me!?" Salem freaked out. He didn't want to experience dying again.
"What no relax junior, it was only a joke." Morrigan laughed while lightly pinching his cheeks to calm him down.
"Salem-san did you say Quill used a suicide bomb." Harumi asked to which he nodded while getting Morrigan's hands off him. "Can you elaborate what happened during your battle with the professor?"
"Well Quill fused all the anomalies in a body which was powered by a philosopher's stone but I managed to interrupt it leading him to transfer his mind or soul whatever to the body but like again I managed to interrupt it. Long story short we fought. I beat him then ripped the philosopher's stone out of his chest but Quill must have been a real sore because he blew himself up."
"So Quill went as far to take his own life just to defeat you. Even though I've never met him, from the information I've read he didn't seem like the type to do that."
"That's the thing I don't think he is dead I think he just transferred his essence to another body before or during the explosion."
"Well from what you've told me it is a possibility but wouldn't he need a body to connect to for that."
"Wait you said that you ripped out the stone from his chest then where is it?" asked Morrigan.
"Right here." He took out the cracked stone from his requip space, surprising the two.
"So this is the ultimate prize of an alchemist." Harumi analyzed the stone while Morrigan was looking. "But why is it cracked though?"
"It was my main target during the fight due to it being it's weak spot."
"Wait, how is it still possible that you can crack it though the stone is supposed to be THE perfect material?" Morrigan asked, snapping out of his trance.
"Hm well from what I know the strength of the stone differs on the amount of souls used or the amount of life force of some souls." Again he was just copying Full metal's alchemist explanation of things. "So this one was either powered by a small amount of souls or just people. It's just a guess anyway."
"You sure are quite knowledgeable on this topic Salem-san." Harumi praised him a bit.
'Amazing maybe with this I can…' Morrigan eyed the cracked gem and reached out for it but was stopped by Harumi's blade.
"Don't even think about it Morrigan-san." Harumi narrowed her eyes on her.
"I don't know what you're talking about and watch where you point that thing you almost cut me you know~." Morrigan pushed the sword away from her using her finger.
"Don't know what you're planning on doing with that stone Morrigan-san but I will not allow you to take it. You heard of Salem-san in how it was made?"
Before the two could continue on the stone completely broke in Salem's hand and was blown away by the wind making them all have flabbergasted faces.
"Well that plan is gone." Morrigan formed a bittersweet smile and Salem wondered what was going on with her but decided to let it go as it was her business.
"Hn well let's regroup with the others, discuss it with the others for now but for now if you would please." Harumi suggested as she brought the Cerberus near Salem.
"Aw man really?" Salem whined a bit was hoping to add it to his arsenal but his thoughts were deceased when his mentor had a chop to his head..
"Have you learned nothing from that divine Snake in your body?" Morrigan gave him a deadpan look.
"Excuse me, divine snake?" Harumi looked between the two of them.
"Don't worry about it." They both waved it off.
Sometime later
After Harumi finished off the Cerberus and Salem sent its remains to Morpheus, the group returned to the Oni-Dragon's base, who were taking care of their injured after their battles. Here, they presented the captured anomalies. Morrigan suggested handling this in a separate room, away from the others, despite Phoenix Talon members assuring them of their discretion.
While Morrigan and Salem handled the anomalies, Ritsu was busy contacting the Imperial Army to dispatch a team to the base. Harumi had gone to investigate the battlefield where Ritsu had faced the demons.
"They're a secretive lot, aren't they?" Akira commented, leaning against a wall, her feathers glowing faintly as she twirled one between her fingers.
Tekashi nodded. "I'll say. They're definitely hiding something."
Kagura sat nearby, Salem's headphones snug over her ears. Her expression was downcast, a stark contrast to her usual composed demeanor. Salem had noticed her mood earlier and lent her his headphones, suggesting music might help.
"I don't suppose you'll tell us what they're doing to those anomalies?" Tekashi asked Kagura.
"I'm sorry, Tekashi-san," Kagura replied, her voice soft. "If Salem-san and Morrigan-san choose not to explain, it's not my place to divulge their intentions." She adjusted the headphones, retreating back into her music.
"I take it you won't spill the beans either, Kazuki?" Tekashi tried his luck with the swordsman.
Kazuki shook his head, remaining silent.
Speaking of the dark skinned green eyed duo walked into the room.
"Finally man." yawned Salem.
"I'm surprised you didn't try to use your magic on that giant frog thing."
"Hey I got standards."
"Sure you do Junior. Sure you do." She laughed at him and he just flipped the bird at her.
Soon after Ritsu was done contacting and joined the others.
"So how are we going to get paid for this.. oof" Salem was cut off by Kagura lightly elbowing his ribs.
"Not the time or place Salem-san." She lectured lightly.
"What priorities and for that give me those back." He snatched his headphones off her ignoring her protests.
"We're going to have to go back to Fiore for our pay Junior since they were the ones who hired us in the first place." Informed Morriogan.
"Seriously we have to go back to Fiore. I seriously have to go back to Pergende. Don't they have a Fiore embassy around here who could pay us?" If he was back on Earth he just could have asked them to wire the money.
Harumi then flashed into the room with anger. "If there's one thing I give Ryuzen. He's really good at staying on the run. Kazuki don't t you have anyway you could locate him"
Kazki denied."Sadly no I tried some kitsune to track his scent but."
"Well he is the leader of one of the biggest dark guilds in the country it's no surprise he knows how to erase his trail." commented Tekashi.
"That's the worrying thing he said he had a back up plan." Ritsu gritted his teeth in frustration.
"That fool just wants to stop." Harumi spoke.
"Harumi-san, you fought and defeated Ryuzen before during the day of convergence. Do you know exactly what his end goal is in all this?" asked Akira.
"Ryuzen wants to overthrow the royal family. His goal is to reclaim what he believes was stolen from his family."
"He said a similar sentence before he left. But who exactly was his family." questioned Ritsu.
"Ryuzen originates from the Kiyohara clan." After she said that the Taiyo natives including Kagura all looked at her in surprise while Morrigan was a bit intrigued while Salem where confused.
"But that's impossible. All members of the Kiyohara clan were executed with no one in the bloodline spared after they were removed from power!" Ritsu exclaimed.
"Harumi-san, could the Kiyohara connection with the demon of the east be responsible for this?" asked Kazuki which the devil slayer nodded.
"When I fought Ryuzen eight years ago he found out he had a contract with the demon king letting him use all his abilities but he escaped before I could finish him off though I was sure I cut or massively weakened their connection."
"So what's the story behind the Kiyohara family?" Salem asked out of curiosity.
"And here I thought you read around when you traveled to a new country, kid you're embarrassing me." Morrigan mockingly shocked her head and he responded by flipping the bird at her while sticking out his tongue causing her to roughly put her hand on his head in mild annoyance. "That's two strikes junior. Anyway you heard about the great migration right?"
He nodded.
"Well the Kiyohara family who were the former rulers of Taiyo up until like 400 years ago. They were a very ambitious bunch and under their leadership Taiyo became an empire spreading through most of the Eastern continent and established trade routes with countries outside the continent taking actively engaging in trade, diplomacy, and scholarly exchanges with other nations, and spreading Taiyo. So much so that elements of their culture are still embedded in a lot of countries."
'That explains a lot actually.' Salem thought of all the times he heard people Japanese or Taiyo honorifics. 'Doesn't explain why the one language is so common though.'
"My mother told me stories about them but she also told me they were extremely ambitious but they were also extremely authoritarian and oppressive leading a lot of people to stay in the countries they were stationed or run away through the established trade routes and made small colonies for themselves all around the world." Kagura spoke up as she remembered all the stories her late mother used to tell her and her brother about how their ancestors fled the empire and settled down in fiore.
"Your mother was right, Mikazuchi-san." Akira spoke with venom in her voice. "The Kiyohara were extremely oppressive especially to non-human inhabitants of Taiyo either denying them proper rights, forcing them to highly dangerous labour conditions and even some who they registered as their own people weren't safe. They used their pact with the demon king and a powerful dragon to keep themselves in power. Using innocents as human sacrifices as ways of renewing them. As you can guess, it leads to a coup to remove them from power."
"So how were they taken down? I mean with a contract with a demon king, having a dragon puts them at a really big advantage if an uprising were to start." asked Salem.
"That was thanks to the fox goddess Inari and four celestial spirit guardians who assisted in the rebellion when they were in it." Tekashi spoke while touching his Byakko tattoo with a smile.
"Four celestial guardians and here I thought the twelve zodiacs were the strongest celestial spirits?"
"No, there are more spirit guardians out there just as powerful if not more than the twelve zodiacs, they're just the most famous especially in the west due to being the most used by famous celestial spirit wizards."
Salem thought about it and he wasn't an astrologist he did know the celestial spirits were based on constellations and there were a hell lot of them up there it must be the same for the keys.
"But now we have to worry about their potential rise yet again." Ritsu grimmest.
Suddenly Kenji teleported into the room causing everyone to get into a defensive stance ready to attack him while Harumi and Kazuki already had their blades on his neck.
"OI RELAX I'M ON YOUR SIDE!" He comically yelled at
them.
"KENJI BY THE ORDER OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY YOUR UNDER ARREST!" Ritsu barked while taking out a pair of magic disrupting handcuffs.
"Didn't you hear what I just said? I'm not here to fight!" His answer only made Harumi push her sword closer to his neck.
"Why should we believe you?" Harumi asked in an icy tone.
"Because I'm a double agent sent by the Yakuza to spy on the Oni-Dragons and I have crucial information which will be useful to you guys." He smirked.
Ryuzen gave him a side eye. "I heard the violent way you left the Yakuza resulting in the deaths of other Yakuza members and you've taken a good number of lives from them and even rumoured to have spread their secrets to the Oni-Dragons."
"It's not like I enjoyed doing it!" He sighed at the thought of what he did to his comrades for the sack of the mission. "But as the boss said it was necessary for the mission." He then took out a map which had marked locations. "Look, those are locations of some of their most important bases of operations."
"Boss? Is this the same person you were talking to during our fight? asked Tekashi. "But why help us."
"Easy the Yazkuza and Jade lotus are good with the current system because it is easier to exploit and none of us are interested in stuff like global domination!?" He laughed but Harumi quickly cuffed him. "Seriously!" He gritted his teeth and Akira's sharp features surrounded him.
"You may continue explaining." Harumi demanded.
"Okay for starters Ryuzen had grown impatient over the years and tried using sleeper agents to infect the government and Royal family so he plans on taking it by force now. Quill has been making some extra Philosopher's stones thanks to all the souls that fox lady Salem-chin killed to help gain more access to the demon King's power."
The others looked at Salem in shock that the boy killed someone including Morrigan.
"Welp looks like things are getting serious." Morrigan commented as she turned to her student? "Come on junior, we're done here. You took Kagura."
"And where are you three off too?" Tekashi asked
"Yeah, the job here is done. We were hired to kill a dimensional demon dog, not stopping a whole government takeover."
"You heard what he said. Quill has likely produced other Philosophers stones and Shupiwe-san is the only one here who has knowledge about them which would give us an advantage in this coming battle." voiced Ritsu.
"I have to go with Morrigan on this one. No offence but this really has nothing to do with us." said Salem
"But…" Ritsu was stopped by a hand from Harumi.
"Let them be Ritsu-san , this is our country's problems and it's unfair to just stream them along."
Kagura backed away from the pair, her expression firm yet conflicted.
"Wait,Wait, Salem-san, Morrigan-san," she began, her voice quiet but steady, "I understand why you don't want to get involved. This isn't what we were hired for, and it's dangerous. But…"
She hesitated, glancing at Taiyo natives.
"...if the situation is as bad as he says then what happens if we just walk away? How many people might suffer because we chose not to act?
"You sure about this Kagura you seemed a little off early, you sure you're in the right mental state to do this?" Salem asked his friend.
"Meralla-san told me the main reason for coming here was to gain experience and become a more capable mage. And this is my mother's ancestral country and it would be dishonorable if I just left it in its time of crisis" Kagura said determinedly, impressing most of the older mages.
"Hmm alright Kagura." Salem shrugged his shoulders then extended his fist and winked. "Kick lots of ass and don't go dying on me."
Kagura smirked and met his fist with her own. "I won't. I still have things to take care of and we still have a score to settle."
"Alright junior, give your winter girlfriend a kiss goodbye before we leave." Morrigan's statement caused the swordswoman to blush a little.
"Hold on there Salem-chin you and your sexy mom over are more in OW YOU BITCH!" He yelled as Morrigan slapped him with a flesh whip.
"First off all were not related and second, what do you mean we're more involved with this? She asked
"Well the both of you specialize in hunting unseen creatures. He managed to get his hands on two incredibly strong ones, one controlling a whole island floating in the sky and the other being a giant monster from the deep and is using devil's eye magic to control them to attack the capital." The moment he described them Salem's eyes widened
"Oh shit." Salem mumbled.
"What do you mean 'oh shit'. Salem what the hell is going on?" Morrigan asked seriously and all eyes were now on him.
"One of the anomalies is a really freak tree that rooted itself into an island Terraforming it becoming its playground. And the other one is an eight headed dragon called Orochi."
"Salem-san this is incredibly serious. Why did you keep this information from me?" Harumi sternly
"They really were off on the far. Like I said it was just an island and the Orochi was just laying in the ocean far away from here."
"It didn't stop Ryuzen from getting his hands on them!" exclaimed Ritsu."Raiden-dono is right though. You knew these things were around and didn't bother to inform anyone about them. Now the Oni-Dragons got their hands on them, who now's what sort of damage they can do!"
Salem narrowed his eyes with his Iris turning slitted red as not appropriating being yelled at
"You better watch who you're yelling at."
Morrigan then stepped in front of him placing her hand on his and glared down at the imperial knight.
"Back off my kid soldier-boy. I was the one who told him to keep his lacrima on the hush as if you want to have a problem with someone then she's standing right in front of you." She eyes turned slitted red.
"Alright that's enough we can't waste time fighting amongst ourselves right now." Kazuki comes between them.
"Kazuki-san is right, we know where the island and monster are located so we should strike now while we have the chance." Akira followed.
Morrigan requested Salem take out his phone so she could see the anomalies saying it was alright. After bringing out his phone, those who were unfamiliar with the device looked at it closely, especially Kenji and Ritsu.
After seeing the location of the creatures the Tree one caught her interest especially the Jade temple it seems to be engrossed in.
Morrigan cleared her throat, gaining their attention." 'Ahem' How about this? Me, Harumi, and Salem, we'll go to the island and take care of this."
"Let me see that Lacrima." demanded Harumi, finding Morrigan shift a little suspicious.
"Nope~." She gave it back to Salem who understood the assignment and put it in his requip space which didn't sit right with Ritsu but decided not to question it for now.
"Won't it make more sense for Raiden-san to be battling the Orochi as well as we will need a lot of firepower to take it down." questioned Tekashi.
"Yes but Ryuzen is more likely on the floating island and since he is a demon host I think having a devil slayer with us will be better."
"Alright, that leaves the dragon. And if we need some firepower I'll contact Serafina-san and ask the others to be on standby." Suggested Akira
"Alright, looks like my job here is done," whistled Kenji but Ritsu wasn't having it.
"You're not going anywhere. You're still going to prison for all the hundreds of crimes you've committed."
"As nice as that sounds." Kenji slipped out of the cuffs by dislocating his thumbs. "I got things to do!" He teleported out of the room.
"Dammit he got away!"
Harumi just shook her head. "We have more important things to worry about now. Ritsu-sn you go to the capital and tell them to start evaluations, Kazuki-san I'm going to need you to gather some reinforcements from your village to take out the strongholds from the map, Akira and Tekashi I'm going to need the two of you to go and you can bring back up with you if you think assistance is needed. For the dragon I'll call someone for extra backup."
"Hai" They all answered.
"Hold it there for another important issue I need to address!" Morrigan spoke in a serious voice, getting everyone's attention. "We're getting paid for this right?"
Salem hummed at the question. "I too am curious about that" He was cool with him if they said no since they were basically helping him do his job but couldn't hurt to ask.
The group just sweatdropped while Ritsu looked like he was about to explode.
"Priorities." They defended themselves and the girl just rubbed her eyes.
"Let's just go, we'll talk about this later." Harumi pushed Morrigan while Kagura was pushing Salem.
Author's note
Just two more chapters to go till this arc is finished than it's back to Fiore.