章 67: The Young Master Is Not Strong In This One

Ashley stood in front of the chunks of meat panting from the physical force she just used. Blood raining from the sudden live dissection of Byakko all around her but not a drop touching her. Even her spear was clean from any fluids that might have coated it. It had some blood from Ashley playing around with Byakko but the force and speed in which she swung her spear must have cleaned it well.

Ashley was taking that moment to stand beneath the rain of blood and resting. A satisfied and toothy smile on her face for everyone to witness.

Pyrrha was looking at the display with a glint in her eye. She was clutching her own spear and had this energy about her that screamed excitement. The display of that move must have gotten Pyrrha's instinct humming for a fight. Rias was looking at me instead and I felt some sweat beading from my neck. I had shown her that I had something that her family should exclusively have. I also had not offered up anything in explanation.

"How do you have the Power Of Destruction?" Rias questioned with confusion clear on her face. Again I let out a grimace but I had been expecting this for a long time. I wanted to tell her the mechanics earlier so I would not steal her shit without her knowledge but that boat had come and passed already.

"The reward I got from the last mission allows me to copy any magical ability I lay my eyes on," I explained while rubbing the back of my head. I may not have wanted to explain the Alpha Stigma like this but this was just how things played out. I should have just asked Rias to attack Byakko instead of doing it myself. That would have been a better plan but instead I impulsively shot at him.

"That's so cool," Rias spoke out with stars in her eyes before she started twitching as if she just remembered something.

"I already regretted not going on that mission and this is just making that worse Prince-san." Rias spoke out as she sulked for a moment. This was not the way I thought things would turn out but her sulking is better than her being mad at me for ripping off the Uchiha. So I just gave her an apologetic smile as I did not want to add anything more to have her shift from her current mood.

"Ashley's new move is called Nine Lives so she must have gotten it from the mission as well," Rias muttered as she looked over at Ashley with longing on her face. Rias may have been overpowered but there was something cool about Nine Lives. She clearly did not expect Ashley to have something like that backing her up.

Not that I expected something like that from Ashley either. I knew she had a mastery of a spear as her playing around with Byakko like a kitten made that clear. I did not know she had Nine Lives under her belt, I should have expected that to be the case considering I knew she had something called that from the Gacha. There were endless possibilities with a name like that but the rank and her luck should have me convinced that it was what she had.

I really should have asked about it much earlier but it just kind of fallen by the wayside. I was too distracted with other things to bring it up and I did not think it would be that impressive considering its rank.

"It most likely is." I let out quietly trying to not rock the boat. Rias just huffed and got back to sulking and looking at Ashley with jealous eyes. She was taking Ashley standing in front of bloody chunks with blood raining around her pretty well. That particular scene was going through some changes.

The blood had stopped its sudden rain and Ashley appeared to be done with her resting as well. Yet, she did not move from her spot instead she squatted in front of what remained of Byakko and started poking at it with her spear.

Rias gave up on her jealousy at the sight and exchanged some glances with Pyrrha for a moment, Pyrrha was the first to break as she looked away from Rias and looked over at me. I simply raised an eyebrow as I had no idea what she was up to either. She might just want to play around with the corpse of her enemy it was not like this was the first time she did such a thing. Pyrrha huffed at me and gestured for me to go find out what Ashley was doing.

I let out a sigh but complied it was not like we could stand around and wait for her to finish doing her thing. I was probably the only person who would get an actual answer instead of more jokes and mockery. So I walked over to my girlfriend who stopped poking the chunks of meat and had started looking at them with a contemplative look on her face. Pyrrha and Rias followed behind me as they were interested in knowing but not wanting to be the ones to approach Ashley.

As I reached her side Ashley just remained silent as she looked over at the chunks. The same contemplative look on her face from before. I waited a couple of moments but that look did not fade from her face so I decided to bite the bullet.

"So I know the cat does not in fact have your tongue, so what's got you all contemplative?" I question lightly trying to inject some levity behind the questioning. Ashley may have been making those puns in a mocking way to piss off Byakko but I also found them funny. Or I at least thought they were amusing in this context. I did not think I was going to start belting off bad puns from now on like I was a drunk suburban dad.

Ashley was knocked out of her sudden fugue with my questioning and seemed startled at my sudden questioning. She looked over at me and the girls standing behind me and rolled her eyes.

"I was wondering if the kitty cat was edible," Ashley spoke out as she got back to looking at the mountain of meat before her. I felt my eyebrow twitch at her comment but she was probably being truthful. She was a glutton and she had no qualms about eating sentient beings so I should have expected something like this.

I looked over at Pyrrha and Rias. Pyrrha was completely still as if she was posing for a picture her complexion paleing slightly at the topic. It was not too bad in comparison to Rias who was blanching again. Ashley was right Pyrrha was not as squeamish as Rias but she still had regular sensibilities so this topic was a bit much for her.

"How about we not eat giant humanoid tiger monsters," Rias spoke out as she tried to calm the thoughts running through her mind. Pyrrha looked like she agreed with that comment with everything she had behind her. Not that I blamed them I was not looking forward to tasting what Byakko tasted like.

It was not exactly cannibalism but it was pretty fucking close. Byakko also did not look like he was particularly tasty either. With his greasy green mane and his blood shot eyes. If I saw an animal like that I would have killed it out of mercy and called the CDC in case it was carrying a disease that would fuck with the food system.

Seeing our looks Ashley huffed and stood up and looked at us with her hands on her hips.

"Come on when else am I going to get the opportunity to eat something like this? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!" Ashley stated clearly dissatisfied with our squeamish nature.

"Byakko was a monster but he might as well be a human with the way he was acting, how could you eat something like that?" Rias asked with a quiver in her voice as she started to go a little green.

"With barbeque sauce I imagine," Ashley spoke out with a teasing smile on her face. That comment caused Rias to go even greener and that widened Ashley's smile. She was clearly taking joy in her discomfort.

"Do you really want to eat something like that? You saw the way he looked right? Greasy dirty fur and blood shot eyes, god knows what pathogens he was carrying. You might as well be eating a furry." I remarked as I recalled his image, I did not want to eat a sweaty humanoid tiger who dressed in a dirty fucking rag. Furries dressed up in those god forsaken costumes and the things they did in them had those things smelling fucking rank.

Pyrrha and Rias were looking at me as if they could not believe this was the stand I was making. I rolled my eyes as my approach was ten times better than theirs. Ashley was already stepping away from the chunks of meat with a disgusted look on her face. She clearly did not think of my point before but now that it was in her head she was not willing to eat Byakko any more.

Pyrrha and Rias saw her reaction and exchanged looks once more as they seemed relieved and dejected at the way things turned out.

"Good point, kitty cat was a furry." Ashley let out absentmindedly as she shuddered. Good, at least she could be reasoned about the important bits.

"Really? That's where they are going to draw the line." Pyrrha muttered out in disbelief as she looked over at the two of us. I felt my eyebrows twitch at her comment. I was also against the concept of eating a humanoid tiger but I felt him being a fucking furry was the more horrendous issue. Rias shushed her as she did not want this topic to continue.

"At least she dropped it if that is going to be her reason good for her as long as I don't have to imagine her eating that thing," Rias spoke out with harsh whispers, a shudder accompanying her declaration. Pyrrha looked like she just saw the light and closed her mouth so she did not break the tentative peace we had just established.

I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes as while they were being quiet everyone here had superhuman senses. So Ashley and I had no problems hearing that little byplay. Ashley was already looking at them with a glint in her eyes most likely going to bring up the topic again. I snapped my fingers and conjured an image of Byakko again for her to look at.

The foot long image of the creature appeared in the palm of my hands floating quietly. Ashley looked over at the frankly disgusting looking creature and shuddered again. She pouted but she got my point she did not even want to joke about eating Byakko at this point.

Seeing her surrendering I let out a relieved breath. We had already spent too long on this topic and I was not willing to have it continue because Ashley wanted to tease the squeamish duo.

Rias and Pyrrha did not seem to notice Ashley and I's little confrontation as they were too invested in their own conversation.

"Let's just get going we have two more beasts to kill." I let out along with a sigh. This mission has introduced the strangest conversations to me and I was not sure how to handle it. I guess having Ashley along in the more crazy scenarios would lead to something like this. When crazy meets crazy things tend to not calm down.

I guess it was preferable to awkward silences at least. It was also not the heavier topics that I did not want to touch at the moment.

We started walking towards the other side of the castle avoiding the mountain of meat that used to be Byakko. I was glad we were getting away from there as the scent of blood hung far too heavy in the air.

After a few moments of walking we ended up encountering a long tunnel that looked like it was taken right out of a mine shaft. The bricked castle was long since forgotten as the scenery morphed into a cave like structure. I got theming but making this part of the castle look like a cave was probably a lot more work than a standard hallway. Beyond the aesthetics, there was a haze in the air from the heavy heat coming from the end of the tunnel.

"So they just gave up on being a castle?" Ashley questioned as we continued walking down the tunnel.

"I think it was meant to fit Byakko's theme? Like he was a tiger so he had to have a cave?" Rias spoke her statements with a questioning tone in every sentence. Even she was not sure about her theory and it really showed.

"That's fucking dumb." Ashley spat out as we finally reached the end of the tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel was a large chamber that was filled with bubbling lava. The heat coming from the lava hit us right in the face. There were several raised platforms that were pretty far from each other. They were clearly designed so someone had to jump from platform to platform if they wanted to make any progress.

There was a door at the end of this room that returned to the castle theme but this place was still like a cave. A cave filled with fucking lava of all things but a cave all the same. Did Byakko sleep here? This was clearly his territory but did he really sleep in a fucking cave? No wonder he looked like a vagrant who spent all their loose change on steroids.

"Lame, this was clearly the boss room but kitty cat wanted to fuck with us earlier," Ashley spoke out with a sour look on her face. Rias seemed devastated that Byakko did not get to show up in his boss room. Pyrrha let out a sigh as she did not agree with their point of view.

"He still might come back, mid-bosses usually look like they died but they pop out of nowhere some times…" Rias spoke out as if giving Byakko one last chance at showing us his cool boss room.

"I'm pretty sure there is no coming back from what happened to him," I spoke out idly as I examined the room for further details. I did not feel like jumping around fucking platforms so I was hoping that I would find some other way to get to the other side. I did not find one sadly but I had magic on my side so not everything was lost.

"Face it Magic Tits I chopped him up so badly that he might as well change his name to salsa," Ashley spoke out with a grin on her face. Rias took in her words and nodded sullenly.

"Alright I don't feel like experiencing Mario IRL so I'm just going to fly to the other side carrying Ashley, Can you do the same for Pyrrha Rias?" I let out as that seemed like the easiest way to get to the other side. I could make bridges between the platforms but that would definitely take more time so flying was the way to go. Thank you one off mob for your very valid contribution.

Ashley snorted at my choice of words but Pyrrha looked completely lost at my verbage. Rias looked like she somewhat got what I was saying but not totally. She still started to pick up Pyrrha who was not prepared for that as she let out a soft yelp.

Ashley looked over at me expectantly and I complied by carrying her in a princess carry. Her smug look was insufferable but that was the price I paid for her being my smug girlfriend.

"This is humiliating," Pyrrha spoke out with a dark look as Rias was carrying her in a similar hold. Rias looked embarrassed as well but at least Pyrrha was not being carried like a sack of potatoes.

Since we decided to fly we reached the exit quickly and Pyrrha did not have to continue being carried so she shot out of Rias's arms quickly. I raised my eyebrow at Ashley as she did not look like she was going to get out of my arms anytime soon. She just gave me another smug look so I let out a sigh and continued walking with Ashley in my arms. Rias looked at the scenario in front of her with a small pout and a minor amount of jealousy but those emotions faded quickly.

After the lava cave, we had to walk through familiar trapped hallways but we did not have to walk very far before we reached the next obstacle.

A large room filled with large iron doors. I knew that only one of these doors led to our actual destination and the others held far more intense traps. Honestly, this type of room should have been front and center instead of being so deep into the castle. We had to kill two of the Saint Beasts to get here and this room was clearly meant to deal with fodder.

It would excel at that but sadly for the designers of Maze Castle I was a wizard and we were following the point me spell. So we did not even have to stop for a moment before we walked towards one of the many doors.

At the end of that hallway was another giant blue door. Beside the door were several statues of eastern dragons roaring at those that dared approach the door they protected. It was the sight of those statues that had something clicking for me. The Four Saint Beasts came from Chinese mythology. I was not too clear about it but I had read enough light novels that I was familiar with the four auspicious beasts. The White Tiger, The Azure Dragon, The Black Tortoise, and The Vermilion Bird.

I had read enough young masters fighting for their lives to have those beasts beaten into my head. So I was surprised the imagery was lost on me till this moment. The next guy is supposed to be the Azure Dragon which meant the big boss was the bird which was surprising. Usually, the bird was not the most powerful or epic creature among the four but this was not a perfect recreation.

"Cool another boss room, at least this chump gets to use his stage." Ashley mocked from the confines of my arms. Pyrrha shot her an exasperated look but dropped it after a moment.

"Good," Rias muttered out as if no one could hear her. Of course, everyone did in fact hear her but no one was going to say anything about her piping in. Ashley and her were on the same page and I was not against their choices on principle. Pyrrha had already made her point clear against Ashley so she ignored Rias' muttered comment.

Instead of continuing the conversation Pyrrha walked towards the door in front of us and opened up the large door. As soon as the door was opened a cold mist started pouring out of the door hitting us like the coldest days of winter. The type of days that had your body burning from the cold. As Ashley started shivering in my arms I hit her with a warming charm hitting myself with the same.

Ashley snuggled closer into my arms after I did that like a cat trying to get affection from their owner. I casted the same charm on Rias and Pyrrha while I was at it.

Rias shot me a grateful look but Pyrrha did not seem like she even noticed it. Hell, she did not seem like she noticed the change in temperature at all. Which was weird as her current outfit did not scream winter wear.

That thought died for a moment as there was a figure in the center of the room who let out a long suffering sigh.

"I was hoping the last room would hold you back for a least a little while." The Azure Dragon announced in a depressed tone as he looked over at us.

He was dressed in a blue Chinese tunic that fit his theme pretty well. He was honestly dressed like one of those jumping zombies but it looked okay on him. He had light blue skin and every breath released from his body scent another wave of cold from his body. Finally, he had a pointed beard coupled with a mustache. He looked like an angry middle-aged man but he had a dejected look on his face.

Rias looked over at Ashley and I as if asking if we heard his comment as well. He was clearly not excited about fighting us and considering what happened to his companions I could see why. Pyrrha did not seem to notice the energy he was putting off as she had her weapons out with a glare on her face.

Seeing the hostility the Azure Dragon held up his hands as if advocating for peace. That caused Pyrrha to pause for a moment and she looked back at us to see how we were reacting to this. She then shot a glare as she realized the three of us were watching her as she walked towards the enemy by herself. She seemed to realize that we were doing what we did in the last fights. Before she could berate us the Saint Beast opened up his mouth.

"Look I'm not stupid, I may be much stronger than the fools Genbu and Byakko but I do not have a way to stop that boy or girl from killing me instantly." The middle-aged uncle before us spat out with dejection clear on his face as he pointed at Rias and me. That amount of honest clarity caused everything to pause for a moment.

Rias had her mouth wide open as if she never thought something like this could happen. Pyrrha grimaced as she did not want to fight someone that clearly did not want to fight but we had a mission to complete.

"Wimp," Ashley spoke out with derision clear on her face. The Saint Beast before us just let out another sigh not even arguing against the insult.

"I am but I would rather live another day, the only reason I am standing before you is because Suzaku would kill me if I did not show up here." The saint beast before us spoke out bitterly as he looked over at us. There was a silence before us as we were not really prepared to encounter someone surrendering.

I guess we did not really need to kill him to complete the mission we just had to stop their plans. If we destroyed the flute we could just ignore him.

There was an awkward moment where everyone thought over what to do, everyone but a certain someone who was looking at everyone with disdain in her eyes.

"What the fuck are yall thinking about, this dumbass may be a wimp but he was planning on driving humanity to the brink of destruction for his own benefit. His comrades were also rather clear about their disdain for humans he probably killed tons of people!" Ashley shouted out mocking everyone who thought we could spare him which sadly included me. I never expected Ashley to be the voice of reason here but maybe it was because she was advocating for more murder.

The Azure Dragon before us tensed as he knew there was not really any defending him self against Ashley's words. The hesitance on Pyrrha's face was gone in an instant as she nodded solemnly and faced off against the Saint Beast. Ashley may have riled up the moment but she settled back into my arms clearly allowing Pyrrha to have her own one on one fight.

That was not something Pyrrha wanted so I probably needed to step in even if it would irritate Ashley and Rias.

Before I could get into that Pyrrha started to unload bullets at the Saint Beast. His own hands flashing in front of him creating a wall of cold air that instantly froze the bullets heading his way.

"Fine, I suppose today might as well be my death date." The man before us spat out as he started to send out waves of cold air trying to freeze Pyrrha. He was not doing a good job of it as he kept a wary eye on Rias and Me. He was clearly worried that we would suddenly attack him with the Power Of Destruction.

Seeing what the waves of cold did to the ground Pyrrha decided to not shield any of the blasts coming at her. Instead, she opted for dodging while she inched toward the Saint Beasts as the bullets were not going to be able to reach him.

She was so zoned into the fight she forgot about reprimanding us for standing on the side lines.

Even if she had supernatural speed something had to give as a stray blast managed to clip her leg. The cold air touching her leg attempting to flash freeze it before the attack dissipated like a mirage. There was another long pause as everyone looked at what just happened.

"GIVE ME A BREAK ALREADY! NOW I CAN'T EVEN ATTACK THIS ONE!? WHO ARE YOU!? WHY ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME!?" The dejected tone was long since gone replaced by blinding fury as the Azure Dragon was done with the bullshit coming at him today.

Pyrrha wore an embarrassed look on her face as she realized something. The look fading in an instant as she charged towards her enemy with a surge of confidence. The Saint Beast tried to shoot more bolts at her but they still dissipated no matter how much energy he put behind his blows.

Before the Saint Beast could utter another curse Pyrrha flung her spear forward and impaled his head on the end of it.

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Magic resistance OP please don't nerf