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Akemi’s POV!

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I was woken up by a ternemous aura which was spreading everywhere. I immediately recognized who it was, since he was the person whom I have maken a contract with. But what caused him to act like this?!

When I tried checking his status, I couldn't see anything else other than his skills called “Auto Fight”. Is that why he’s acting like that? I have seen a skill called “Marionette” before but I have never seen a skill that controls its own user.

[ A-Akemi! You’re being hypnotized by that monster! Please wake up! ] ( Kenji )

Beside me was this stupid human who kept blabering random stuff out of his mouth. I know that Hatsuko said that I shouldn't hurt humans when we are in this city, but Hatsuko's actions are different from what he said before. Also I'm fed up with the fact that other humans act normal around me. That hurts my pride as an ancient dragon.

[ Hoo? A human is worried about me? Also, who said that I'm not a monster as well? ] ( Akemi )

[ E-eh?! eeeEEEK! ] ( Haruto )

He looked at me in fear when I let out a bit of my aura. Hump! Humans are weak as usual.

That's what I used to think before I met Hatsuko. He was way stronger than all of the humans I have ever met in my whole life. Even right now, I could feel that his strength had gotten much stronger than before.

He was wiping out all of the humans with one swing of his hand. He did not care about his own kind anymore nor was he hesitating to kill them.

Even me, a dragon wouldn't kill my own kind like this. But this guy was on another level.

After sleeping for this long, I have recovered some of my strength back.

Now that I think about it, what put me to sleep? If I remember correctly, I suddenly felt sleepy then I closed my eyes. I already knew that I was asleep and could feel my surroundings but I was kind of lazy to wake up. Aaah, that was a nice sleep…

...

Wait, where is Hina and Ichika?

Since there were a lot of people screaming in fear or pain around me, I tried locating every human girl that had the same kind of sleeping effect as me.

If i'm counting correctly then there are around six girls that are under the effect. Did those humans use some kind of sleeping skill?

Well it doesn't matter... 

With a single thought, I removed the sleeping effect from all of the girls inside my range.

Now that this is out of the matter, it's time to wake Hatsuko up as well.

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***

Ichika’s POV!

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My ears were kind of itchy and I couldn't seem to be awake right now. 

[ AAAAAAGHHH!! Nooo!!! ]

[ HEEELPPP!!! ]

[ NOOOOO!!!! ]

I could hear countless voices screaming in despair as I was trying to think clear. What is happening?

I thought as I was opening my eyes. My vision was a bit blurry, but when I was fully awake, I could finally see what was happening. 

Around this area were countless burned bodies laying around.

[ H-Huh?! ] ( Ichika )

I wasn't sure if I was experiencing a terrifying dream, but I couldn't seem to wake up.

But, It wasn't a dream! Right now, I was looking at thousands of people that were slowly dying or people that were already dead. I wanted to puke from the terrible burned human flesh that I was smelling, but my body couldn't seem to react to it. Huh? Why is my body not moving?

It was as if my body was being restrained by something.
[ AAGHH! Y-you, m-monster!! ]

Crawling towards me was a half burned guy with its lower body missing. From here I could see his stomach sliding out of his body. He was looking at me with hate as he was coming towards me with the intention to kill.

He didn't seem to care at all about his current condition.

But before he could reach me, my father killed him. Huh? Dad? Why did you kill him?! My father would never murder someone!.

When I looked at my father, he was trembling in fear as he was looking around. I have never seen him act like that.

I was confused and scared at the same time. What is happening?!

But when I looked a bit further from here, I saw a massive pile of dead people laying around. Their bodies were completely destroyed and they could not be recognized anymore. And in the middle of that massacre was someone standing still. A massive dark mist mixed with green was being released from him, covering the whole sky into a different color. I could feel my legs slightly trembling as I was looking at him.

And from the darkness of his face, I could see as his eyes shone in the color of green. Those were the eyes of someone who didn't have any emotions inside it.

That was… Hatsuko…

More people were going towards him with hate or fear, but they mercilessly got cut in half with ease.

I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. Why is everyone hating Hatsuko, and why is he acting like that?

His face was completely emotionless and he didn't seem to be reacting to anything at all. 

[ That, monster… ] ( Kenji )

My father's voice cracked as he continued looking at Hatsuko.

[ Fa….ther… ] ( Ichika )

He immediately looked back at me the moment I tried speaking.

[ Huh? Ichika? How are you conscious? ] ( Kenji )

[ ...Father, what do you mean? ] ( Ichika )

I was feeling really weird and nothing was making sense to me anymore. The last thing that I remember was me getting ready to find Hatsuko together with Hina and Akemi. Then father suddenly said that he wanted to help us…

Did… did he do this to me?

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***

The number of corpses were piling up at an incredible speed. And at this point, no one dared to even fight Hatsuko back.

The only thing they could do was to escape for their own lives. While Akemi was trying to understand the situation right now, she noticed three other people that had a contract with Hatsuko.

"Master, what happened? Master, please respond to Shiro."( Shiro )

She was looking at Hatsuko as she was trying to get close to him like usual. But Akemi managed to grab her and pull her back before A.F could notice her presence.

[ Do you want to get yourself killed? ] ( Akemi )

Shiro looked back at Akemi with teary eyes.

"No! Master would never do that! Master loves Shiro!" ( Shiro )

Akemi looked at Shiro for a moment before realising who Shiro was.

[ Wait, aren't you that little creature Hatsuko used to carry all the time? ] ( Akemi )

"No, my name is Shiro! And let Shiro go, master is sad! Master needs Shiro!" ( Shiro )

She complained as she tried getting away from Akemi.

[ That thing over there is no longer your master. If you try getting close to him, you'll instantly die. ] ( Akemi )

"No! No! No! Master is master!" ( Shiro )

Shiro struggled as she was trying to escape from Akemi's grip but whatever she did, it was pointless. Getting away from a dragon's grip is almost to impossible for Shiro.

[ You have gotten much stronger since the last time I've seen you. ] ( Akemi )

Akemi smiled as she was trying to calm Shiro.

[ I'm planning on bringing Hatsuko back. Don't misunderstand me. I'm a dragon and I'm only allowing you to give me help. Also, I have the same contract as you with Hatsuko, so I can't just allow you to die. ] ( Akemi )

Shiro brightly smiled at Akemi's words.

"What does Shiro need to do?" ( Shiro )

[ Gather the other humans that Hatsuko has made a contract with. Then get Hina, Ichika and that new girl you're worried about. ] ( Akemi ) 

Shiro left right away after she understood what she had to do. Shiro is a cat at heart and may not understand human nature, but there was one thing that was clear to her. And that was her strong love for her own master. A person she always admired since the moment she saw him.

"You never cease to impress me… Hatsuko." ( Akemi )

Akemi thought as she was waiting for Shiro to bring everyone here.

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