(MoD) Chapter 28: Life Finds a Way (2)

Chapter 28: Life Finds a Way (2)

Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!

Step after step, Takauji could hear the sound of something inching towards him from the brush—accompanied by a low, sinister growling noise. 

One which signified the creature approaching him wasn’t in the most optimal mood for their first meeting.

“Governor,” Sona’s posture grew tense, and for good reason. “When you mentioned those injuries, just how severe were they?” 

“Oh uh,” Azazel hesitated, pressing his lips together and shrugging. “No one died, I’m sure your Contracted Magician will be just fine.” 

He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but even Sona could see through the Governor's confident facade at the moment, which most certainly wasn’t a good sign for Takauji.

‘All that bravado from earlier! But you’re just as worried as I am!’ Sona really wished she could throw something at Azazel, as well as Takauji for going along with the former’s idea.

Takauji narrowed his eyes, observing the sight of a dark figure almost double his height encroaching into the open with bated breath. 

‘Yeah, that’s a velociraptor alright.’ 

The quadruped creature’s blood-orange, reptilian pupils were locked onto him like a hawk—eyeing him up like he was its, or Azazel had stated, her next meal, even though there was already a crate filled with meat lying between them.

Her color scheme was mostly black, with a golden-yellow streak running from the base of her neck to her tail. 

And almost like a porcupine, there were quills present on the top of her head which rattled in unison with the deep growling that was resounding from her throat.

The skin around her mouth was flaky and peeling away in some areas, giving her a somewhat sickly appearance that also added to her intimidation factor. 

Well, not nearly as much as the rows of ragged teeth that were spilling out of the sides of her maw. All of which looked capable of tearing through flesh like a hot knife through butter—even supernatural flesh.

“Hello, Ash.” He spoke, unsure whether she could understand him or not. 

“Does she speak?” Sona asked Azazel, having the exact same question. 

“Speak? No. Understand? Possibly.” 

While watching the situation unfold through the pane of one-way glass, Azazel pressed a button, opening a speaker between the observatory and enclosure.

[“Takauji, try channeling some of your Dark Mana.”] 

‘This better not get me eaten or anything.’ 

Takauji rarely found himself in a state of fear, but today was a clear exception as indicated by the beads of sweat gathering on the surface of his forehead.

His mind had already cooked up a sequence of spells to use just in case things were to get dicey, but even then, he wasn’t too confident about his chances of survival.

Truthfully, he’d rather fight a dozen, no, two dozen Alenths before taking on Ash. Just her presence alone made it feel like he was standing on a bed of hot coals, with an array of needles aimed at his spine.

‘Come on Takauji, man up!’ 

He raised his hand, the motion of which warranted Ash’s full attention, like a cat that had spotted a laser on the floor. 

She shifted from her usual quadruped stance to a bipedal one, her eyes dilating upon noticing the dark, shadowy substance that was coiling around his hand. 

Azazel leaned forward. “That’s already a good sign, she’s never expressed curiosity to anyone she’s met before—only pure hostility.” 

He wasn’t an Angel anymore, but he was still praying that everything would go well. His physical prowess would allow him to step in and intervene at a moment’s notice, but Ash’s speed allowed her to always do some serious damage before he could do so. 

She was an extraordinarily powerful specimen, deserving of her ancient status—demonic beast wise. Something which made Azazel both awfully concerned, and immensely prideful of Grigori’s success in bringing her to life.

Ash continued to draw closer, but there was a noticeable change in her demeanor. 

She no longer appeared as tense as she did before, which urged Takauji to strengthen the amount of Dark Mana swirling around him. 

She stepped over the metallic cage of meat below her, completely uninterested in satiating her hunger. 

And once Ash was close enough, he was able to gauge the creature’s sheer size—about 7 feet in height, and at least 18 feet in length, with every last square inch of her body packed full of prehistoric muscle.

“Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!” 

She leaned down to level with him, poking her head out and sniffing his clothes and skin—the sensation akin to having a full-blast vacuum pressed against you.

“See? Everything’s fine,” Azazel let out a sigh of relief, pretending as if he hadn’t been worried the whole time. 

‘She hasn’t been around any of her kind before, meaning that witnessing Takauji’s Dark Mana is the first time she’s seen something similar to her. That should serve as a good foundation for their relationship.’ 

Takauji didn’t make any sudden movements, allowing Ash to freely inspect him in hopes that it would keep her from turning aggressive. 

Lick! 

Without warning, she ran her sandpaper-like tongue across his face. 

“Alright, that’s disgusting.” He lifted up his shirt to wipe his face. “Don’t ever do that again—” 

Lick! 

His eyes twitched, his survival instincts being the only thing holding him back from hitting her. 

“I’m about 90% sure you understand me, so I’d highly suggest you cease—” 

Lick! 

Sona covered her mouth from behind the glass pane, letting out a bout of muffled laughter. 

Takauji on the other hand, let out a deep exhale, clasping his hands together in front of his face. 

“I just want you to know that I am extremely glad the asteroid wiped all of you out.” When physical confrontation wasn’t an option, he could only resort to verbal warfare.

“Auh!” Ash let out a strange yelp, tilting her head to the side. Obviously, she didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. 

She started to rapidly circle around him, her tail brushing against his torso and her coarse face rubbing against him. 

“What? I don’t speak raptor, I’m not sure what you want.” 

[“I think she wants to play with you.”] 

“Play? I’m not a child, go create another version of her if you want her to have a playmate.” He huffed, crossing his arms together. 

[“Kid, bringing prehistoric demonic beasts back to life isn’t nearly as simple as you seem to believe. There’s a reason why she’s the only one we have.”] 

‘That sounds like an excuse for your lack of ability to me.’ 

Ash circled behind Takauji, pressing her head against his back and pushing him forward, her strength proving far too much for him to even think about resisting. 

“What now?” 

“Auh! Auh!” She grabbed a piece of meat from the metal crate with her mouth, holding it towards Takauji’s face. 

“Absolutely not,” and the Magician quickly picked up on what she was trying to do. There was absolutely no way in hell he was eating raw meat. 

“Auh!” 

“No!” 

“Auh!” 

“I said no!” He tried to push her face away, but again, Ash’s strength proved to be too much for him to handle. “Azazel! Just hurry up and tell me how to make this thing my familiar!” 

[“No clue.”] 

“Eh?” 

[“Magicians weren’t around during her time, contracting isn’t a normal thing for them like it is for modern demonic beasts. My theory is it’ll become a possibility once you’ve bonded with her enough, so just keep at it.”] 

“Oi! You’re not suggesting I just stay here hoping something will happen?” He furrowed his brow, irritation surging. 

[“Well, you don’t need to stay there. Try pointing to your shadow.”] 

“My shadow?” 

He did as Azazel asked, which immediately earned Ash’s full attention. 

‘Surely she’s not about to—!’ 

Like a kid at a swimming pool, the 7 foot tall beast dove into Takauji’s shadow head first—seamlessly merging with it as if it were a depthless lake. 

“Auh!” She poked her head out of his shadow while chewing on a piece of raw meat, confusing him to no end. 

[“I’ll go get you some supplies for your travels. Oh, and we’ll probably need to do some renovation on your house to make space for her.”] 

“Hold on a second, there’s no way I’m bringing such a creature back home.” He couldn’t even fathom how he would go about explaining Ash to Murayama.

[“It’s either that, or you can stay here until something happens. You said you wanted to go visit your family didn’t you?”] 

‘Accursed Fallen Angel!’ 

…

Japan, Kuoh Town.

Back at the Ashikaga Household, the only present resident, Murayama, had run into a rather peculiar situation.

Ever since she had gotten home from school, she had started feeling—different. She had simply been lounging on the living room couch like usual, waiting for her brother to get back from philandering with Kuoh Academy’s women like usual so he could cook her dinner. 

But out of the blue, her body started to grow inexplicably warmer. 

The temperature hadn’t changed. 

The heating had been messed with. 

And the thermostat most definitely hadn’t been touched, she had been conditioned to stay away from it because of her brother’s insistence. 

A man’s thermostat was sacred. 

Yet, her internal temperature continued to rise. 

‘Did I eat something bad?’ Takauji had prepared her breakfast and lunch for the day, and she hadn’t tasted anything off about his cooking. 

Moreover, her stomach felt perfectly fine, the warming sensation wasn’t painful—it was just really off-putting. 

‘Whatever, I’ll just turn the air conditioning on.’ 

She did so, and waited a few minutes for the conditioning to cool the room. 

However, she still felt the same. 

‘Tch, don’t tell me it’s broken?’ She grabbed a stool, reaching up the air conditioning and putting her hand in front of it. ‘Eh? It’s working perfectly fine!’ 

She could feel air blasting against her skin, however, it wasn’t making her feel any cooler. 

And slowly but surely, the heat was getting to a level where she was beginning to perspire. 

“This is seriously starting to piss me off!” She walked over to the kitchen sink, running her hand under a stream of cold water to see if it would make any difference. 

Knowing how difficult taking a cold shower was, she really didn’t want to resort to such a thing. 

Sizzzzzzzzle! 

Which is when something truly bizarre took place. 

Steam started to rise from the surface of her skin, and the second her mind focused on the phenomenon, the spectacle went a step further. 

Whoosh! 

“Woah!” 

She stumbled backwards, falling on her behind with her eyes so wide they looked ready to pop through their sockets.

A ball of fire had formed around her hand! 

━━━━

Looks like it’s time for someone to finally awaken. 

Also +1 Dino.