3rd Pov:
2 days later:
In the centre of Mato lies the heart of the demon defence force command structure, the Chief-commander's unit or the 10th unit. Its structure is wider with triple the rooms and staff it has compared to other units as this structure has a Gate that leads back to the human world.
The barrier surrounding it is double, if not triple the strength of the usual ones used by other unit dorms, practically making it a fortress. Any Shuuki coming in contact with it will be either thrown back or, if they're weak enough, disintegrate.
Inside the 10th unit, there is a meeting about to begin. 10 seats are occupied by women with unique appearances, as well as abilities that put them in a realm of their own in strength.
The lights in the room are off with the only source of light being the hologram in the centre of the room and even that barely gives any detail on any of their features.
The hologram displays, what seems to be, a Chinese dragon with Shuuki blood all over its mouth and Shuuki parts inside its mouth. Around the beast are Shuuki either, dead, running from the rampaging beast or leaping up at it as a desperate attempt.
"Is this a special Shuuki or has a mythical creature come to life" someone said, a hint of amusement in their voice.
"We are unsure at the moment, all we know is that this creature is highly aggressive to the Shuuki and possibly us humans as well" someone said, sounding almost childish yet holding an elderly aura.
"This was taken just 22 hours ago in the southern side of 2nd unit's region but when the unit saw the creature, after they took an image of it, it vanished into a black mist" the same voice continued.
"It's true, I was there with the others when I saw it, it was such a peculiar sight that we took some images but after the 4th image was taken it disappeared, I would have burned it to smithereens!!" another voice exclaimed.
"The most likely explanation is that a foreign country has sent someone here with the ability to summon mythical creatures to attack our unit dorms but a horde of Shuuki attacks them, forcing them to use it which inadvertently caught the 2nd unit's attention and retreat" the childish yet elderly voice explained further as others listened intently.
"Then it's resolved itself then?" a different voice asked out.
"No" the childish yet elderly voice quickly dismissed, "it's likely they'll try it again with a different mythical creature at a different unit, I want everyone here to be put on high alert for anything suspicious outside the dorms' barrier, regardless if they are a part of a mato mishap, immediately inspect the woman if they have an ability related to summoning"
"Understood!" All 9 called out.
Far from the 10th unit, that very same summoner was sitting on top of a rocky spire with his knee bent up as he rested his right arm on it while supporting himself on the ground with his free hand.
The same person had their eyes closed as a smile and a slight chuckle left their smirking lips. The person opened their eyes revealing their crimson red eyes.
Xicor continued to chuckle to himself about the words that escaped his mouth before rubbing his face down, "Jesus, I need to socialise more, I'm turning more stupid by the day and not to mention more insane"
He looked down at his hand, almost like he's watching a movie of each battle he has been in, each one was aimed at his life and his freedom. But one was a clear difference, the Shuuki's battles were honest in their intent every time he fought them but when it came to women, humans more specifically, they would always want to subjugate him to take him apart like some machine they've never seen before, completely rip his voice of the matter and his freedom.
His thoughts grew more murderous towards the people who want to capture him and the prospect of their entire organisation as well as their people being destroyed and massacred brought him joy even the demon defence force as they always give him a similar feeling to those people who attacked him a while back.
'Am I completely losing it here' he thought to himself as he stared up at the purple sky above, its unique texture giving a slight sense of peace.
A part of him wished this was still a dream and wake back up in his room and walk out to the dining room, to be greeted with his mother, father and little brother.
But, like most good things in life, they become dreams that no one wants to wake up from. Somehow, they become worse as their faces are nothing more than blurs now, can never see the warming smile of his mother, the stupid grin on his father's face and the innocent look on his little brother's face.
All of it, gone to time, never to be recovered no matter how much he remembered nor try to repeatedly dream about.
Sighing to himself he gets off the ground and stretches, "Anyway, that should stir something up with the demon defence force to at least have some people on edge instead of just sitting around doing nothing" trying to push his thoughts away and shift to something that he hopes will cope with his decaying mind.
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[Toge Inumaki Template: 48% ]
[Cursed Technique: Curse Speech]
[Speciality: None]
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[Jogo Template: 19% ]
[Cursed Technique: Disaster Flames]
[Speciality: Fire resistance]
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During these 2 days, Xicor mainly put his focus on curse speech to get it out of the way for better techniques, in the future, to take its place.
Disaster flames seems relatively easy to master given how destructive and simple the technique is, all Xicor does was use it to lit his fires and play with it when he becomes bored in his cave but with curse speech, it has a drawback of damaging the users vocal cords, without rct it will be limited to a use of at least five words, depending on the strength of the person and the word itself.
For example, if Xicor were to use the word 'die' it would destroy his throat whereas some like 'blast away' or 'don't move' simply give him a slight pinch of pain but get worse with more uses or the strength of the opponent.
Just as Xicor was about to leap out to start his formal introduction with the demon defence force, a soft, mischievous, feminine voice called out behind.
"And where do you think you're off mister~"
Blinking a few times, Xicor turned to the voice to find Shikoku walking up to him, "Oh hey Shikoku, just about to fight some demon defence forces" he replied.
She raised a brow at him, "Is that so? Then who are you aiming for?" She asked as she stood next to him.
"Probably the 2nd unit since they've already seen Ryu" Xicor thought, cupping his chin, "Either way, I'm gonna get some enjoyment out of it" he grinned which almost appeared fake while crossing his arms.
Shikoku caught it but decided to ignore it for now before shaking her head in amusement, 'definitely, him and Naruhime would get along, maybe I should bring her along and see how these two would react'
"Do you mind if I come with you to watch, I want to compare their strength to yours, if you don't mind?" She requested.
It was Xicor's turn to raise a brow at her, "you're not stopping me?" He questioned.
"No, no, after all, their attention will be shifted towards finding and subjugating you rather than discovering the other gods and me, so this gives us more time to come up with a plan to get rid of them" she explained with a hand on her hip as she stared out in the distance with Xicor.
Xicor was about to agree heartily but a part of his mind forcibly showed him an image that it was difficult to make out any features but white hair did stick out but just as that detail was noticed, the image vanished and another took its place being a family of three. At first, Xicor thought it was his previous family but their hair colour was different.
Confused, Xicor shook his head, 'What was that?' He questioned before pushing the useless thought away.
It would appear that not all of his humanity is completely gone and a small fraction of his brain engraved an image of a childhood friend and adoptive family back in a village.
"So you want to see where they stand compared to me and then you can use it against the other gods to see how much of a threat they are" Xicor said glancing at her.
She gave him a side eye and smirked mischievously, "Don't go thinking you're a test dummy, after all, you want to go out there and fight them sweetheart~"
"Fair enough" he shrugged his shoulders.
"Just so you know, if you're really going for the 2nd unit, then you should know that the chief there has some fire abilities" Shikoku said.
Xicor's eyes widened, not in surprise nor fear, but in excitement as his hands shook with the same excitement, 'a contest of flames, oh this is going to be good'
He burst out in laughter before turning to Shikoku, "Why didn't you say that at the start" he was about to leap off again but Shikoku grabbed his hand before he could go anywhere.
"You promised me you would read about those dragons you mentioned" Shikoku said with a pout.
"Oh, right but can I-" "No" he was quickly denied this moment.
Xicor groaned as he sank to his knees, "now~ now~, don't be a baby, come on now, the faster you read, the sooner you can run off and have your fun"
At that Xicor's face lit up, to an observer it would appear like a married couple, Shikoku dragged both of them into her shadow and appeared back into Xicor's hideout inside the spire he was standing on.
Shikoku let go of his hand but her fingers lingered for half a second, she looked at her hands strangely, 'why did they move on their own?' She questioned before dismissing it as just something she looked into later.
Xicor walked over to his shelf of books, scanning for the right one with his fingers before finding the right one, "ah ha"
"Change" he muttered, changing cursed speech with disaster flames as the system's window portrayed his changes.
Xicor brought the book over before flicking a piece on fire towards the already prepared campfire, immediately lighting it up.
Shikoku got comfortable by leaning closer to him with her body touching his own. Xicor's body heat immediately affected the Shuuki goddess as she leaned in more and let out a comfortable hum.
She unconsciously leans her head on his shoulder, silently listening to him read the story of the creature that caught her attention inside the book.
Her eyes never leave the book as she imagines the image of the dragon she was told, which would give Jaku'un, another god of thunder and herself more traits to apply for the Shuuki.
But despite her eyes not leaving the book, they would glance at the human who willingly came to her realm and settled down in it.
Foolish? Absolutely.
Grateful he came? Yes, but she wouldn't admit it openly.
The more traits they could apply to their kind, the closer they become to forcing the humans back and invading their world, as they have done to them.
1 Hour Later:
Xicor continued to read to Shikoku, his voice was calm and slow like a patient old man reading to his grandson.
But as Xicor finished another paragraph, the sound of soft snoring could be heard next to him. Blinking he glanced down on his shoulder to find Shikoku fully leaned into him and fast asleep.
'Was my reading that boring?' He thought but truly didn't know how much time had passed.
He shrugged to himself mentally as doing it physically would probably wake up the goddess here, he was about to pick her up and put her in his bed but her words of wanting to watch him fight those women hit him, so he just remained where he was, unconsciously leaning his cheek down to the top of her head as he watched the flickering flames of the campfire.
As he continued to stare he found himself starting to fall asleep, his eyes grew heavy and soon the soft reaches of dreams took his consciousness away.
Far away from the two, inside a facility underneath Mato's rocky surface, several women in yukatas are working, either writing down reports or messing around with vials of unknown substances.
One of the women walks up to a computer and connects it with the elderly woman, the young scientist bowed slightly, "My lady, the preparations are almost complete, subject Charlie is completely under control and his metamorphosis is at 96%"
The elderly woman allowed a pleased smile to grow on her wrinkled lips, "Good, once the subject is completed, immediately send him out to find subject delta as news of his exploits all over Mato are rising and reaching the demon defence force"
"I understand my lady" the young woman acknowledged before cutting off the connection.
Standing back up, she walks to a wide one-way glass. Inside is a wide and tall room, its walls a pure white, revealing anything in sight.
In the centre of the room is a tall humanoid creature with chains wrapped around its limbs and several talismans connected to those chains.
Its body is covered in some black and white steel skin with red spikes and orbs covering its body and two curved horns that emit a red mist, they have a sharp and robust tail ending in a dagger-like tail. Their hair is white, going down past their shoulders. Its forearms are covered in curved blades and its toes, which are only three, end in sharp talons.
Soon its eyes open revealing a gleaming red with no pupils, their mouth opens as it lets out visible steam., Its teeth gleam red just like its eyes.
The only voice in the room is the creature's hoarse breathing and the raspy muttering coming from its mouth, but its mouth does not make any move.
"Big bro.... P-Papa....Mommy... k-kill me... please" it tried to voice out but all that responded was its own echoing voice bouncing off the walls.
The young woman stared down at the humanoid creature, "How long until completion?" She asked without turning her head.
"45 minutes" one of the scientists responded.
"Good" she nodded, pleased at the progress.
She continued to stare at the creature before turning away and walking through a set of double doors.
Back in the creature's room, it stopped speaking with only a few words leaving its mouth, "B-Big bro X-Xicor, w-where are y-you" it said before it slumped against the chains, utterly exhausted and completely unconscious.