The next morning everyone from Alex"s room gathered at the table on deck for breakfast after their earlier activities, during which Shizuku deliberately kept her face directed only at her food out of embarra.s.sment from the night before. This was only made worse when Suzu arrived and rocketed straight to Shizuku before saying, "Shizu Shizu! That was beautiful last night, seeing the moment you became a real adult!" Shizuku looked up sharply at Suzu"s declaration, and demanded,
"You peeped on us?!" Realizing her mistake, Suzu suddenly covered her mouth with one of her hands and used the other one to point while saying,
"Oops, Suzu wasn"t supposed to say anything! But it was Kuroka that made the holes in s.p.a.ce so we could watch!" Shizuku was stupefied as she turned to Kuroka and almost yelled,
"That was private and really embarra.s.sing!" Kuroka snorted at Shizuku and replied,
"Says the person who stuck their finger up my b.u.t.t last night~Nyan." Shizuku looked devastated when Kuroka brought that up while several other people started giving her strange looks.
"Some else had me do it so I thought it was normal! How was I supposed to know it wasn"t?!" At this everyone simultaneously turned towards a certain person, who was busy s...o...b..ring over a used utensil stolen from Alex"s plate. As she sensed their gazes Tio seemed to try and compose herself before saying seriously,
"This one thanks thee for last night, mine a.s.s really appreciated it." Shizuku was struck dumb and tried to retort, but stopped when she noticed that both Ryutarou and Endou had also arrived for breakfast, and were staring at her with eyes as big as dinner plates. As if she suddenly realized what they talking about for everyone to hear, Shizuku suddenly cried out,
"NOOOOOOOOO! DON"T LOOK AT ME!!!!" Her food completely forgotten, Shizuku grabbed her ponytail and tried to hide behind it as every gaze focused on her.
"...cute..." Rias muttered inadvertently, while Yue surprisingly nodded in agreement. It took them a few minutes to start eating once more, after which everyone went about their business, which included training for most.
"COME ON RYUTAROU, FIFTY MORE!" Rias shouted while sitting on the giant stone block that rested on Ryutarou"s back as he did push-ups, while also wearing a full weighted set with anklets, bracelets, and a heavy shirt. As a monk who"s weapon of choice was gauntlets, his main concern was increasing his overall strength for close quarters combat.
"GIVE ME ANOTHER FIVE LAPS ENDOU!" Rias then shouted as the panting boy ran by them, both of his feet weighted down by anklets. Rias was especially glad to have Endou as part of her peerage, as one of the largest weaknesses her group had was the excessive amount of expose to the public eye they and their abilities had. Due to his... unique capabilities, she hoped Endou would be able to remain a sort of wild card that would continuously be able to take her opponents by surprise. Both boys then glanced over at Suzu with envy in their gaze as she didn"t have to do the physical training, except she was thinking the same night about them.
"I keep telling you that this isn"t the right way to set your barriers~Nya, you need to picture yourself and your barriers as impenetrable." Suzu gritted her teeth as she once more put up her strongest barrier, only for Kuroka to destroy it immediately with her bare hands before telling her to do it again. Though she was a considerable genius in several forms of magic, Kuroka wasn"t always the best teacher as Suzu was learning firsthand as she tried to combine the Devils magic along with what she learned in Tortus. Though the trio were envious of the other training regimen, the continuous concussion of sound that came from the side of the still moving ship along with the super saiyan glow sent shudders down their spines, and they were all grateful that they weren"t a part of Alex peerage.
BOOM
A shockwave spread from where Shia"s hammer had been stopped by Alex"s bare hand, before that same hand hit her in the gut and sent her flying. Meanwhile the other hand held a training sword that was busy deflecting the instantaneous barrage of attacks being delivered by Shizuku, who was trying to get over her previous embarra.s.sment through training. As none of her attacks managed to get through Alex"s defenses, Shizuku decided to try a different approach and used her sword to cut s.p.a.ce and get some distance, right as a ma.s.sive black dragon bore down on Alex alongside several other dragons made of different elements. Several destucto disks made of ki formed around Alex, before they were sent to shred Yue"s elemental Dragons and a normal blast of ki and gravity sent Tio plummeting down to the ground. Alex"s Haki then warned him that an attack was coming, as he turned to see Shia"s hammer hurtling towards him almost fast enough to break the sound barrier. As he reacted to guard against it however, Shia"s hammer disappeared as the s.p.a.ce rippled around it and it suddenly reappeared right in front of Alex"s face. With a hammer weighing seemingly several tons smacking him in the face, Alex was sent back several feet before stopping and he grabbed the hammer before turning to face the two responsible for his now b.l.o.o.d.y nose.
"Outstanding!" Though it was a single word Shizuku and Shia smiled as they were able to get at least a mild advantage over Alex, before suddenly Shia"s hammer was returned to her by Alex throwing it at her with such force that the rabbit girl was basted back to the ground, creating a deep and long trench at impact. Seeing her partner get blasted away, Shizuku became determined once more as she vanished from her place and resumed her attacks, alongside the newly returned Tio and the ma.s.sive magical attacks Yue generated.
***
Ulfric stood alongside the other elders as they waited the arrival of this champion of Gabriel, while Cam organized the other members of the rabbitman to welcome their boss. As he looked at them Ulfric couldn"t help but sigh, as after singlehandedly repelling the attack of the demon race the rest of the rabbitmen tribes began to idolize the Haulia and had raced to join them. Cam had welcomed all recruits with open arms, as long as they followed the condition that they swear their loyalty only to their boss. Though ulfric and the other elders hated to see other demihumans leave, they could only hold their tongues since it was due to the Haulia and the training they received from this mysterious boss that allowed them to repel the demon race. As his thoughts started to wonder suddenly a cry sounded,
"Ten o"clock! The boss"s ship is approaching!" As the cry came out from the lookout that was watching from the branches above them, Cam finished organizing the rabbitmen and was shouting at them to fall in. They neatly arranged themselves into military style ranks right as the flying ship came into view between the branches, before disappearing entirely. As everyone except the Haulia watching was stunned, several figures started falling towards the ground as high speeds.
"LOOK OUT WAHOOOOOOOO!" One of the figures cried out before they crashed into the ground at high speeds, when the dust settled everyone could see the light blue hair of the cursed child Shia Haulia there. Before anyone else could react several other figures appeared, starting with a woman who had black hair tied back in a ponytail appearing from what seemed to be a cut in s.p.a.ce itself, and a cat eared woman casually walking out of thin air. Then a black dragon swooped down almost causing a small panic if not for the several figures sitting on its back that lightly jumped off once they were close to the ground, followed finally by someone who the Haulia tensed upon seeing. The figure who slowly approached the ground last was clad in an oppressive aura while crimson red scales covered him from head to toe along with his horns, wings, and a tail extending from his back. As they landed the scales started vanishing and what was left was a person who appeared to be a muscular human with pure black hair that was spiked up, and strangely a monkeys tail extending from his backside.
"THE HAULIA WELCOMES THE BOSS!" Cam shouted suddenly, before the phrase was repeated by the other rabbitmen,
"""THE HAULIA WELCOME THE BOSS!!!"""
The man nodded at them, which allowed them to release some of their tension as he approached Cam.
"Cam, what is the report?" The rabbitman"s chest seemed to swell with pride at his position, as he stated,
"Sir! Once we arrived the demon race was attacking Verbergen with the intention of conquering the labyrinth! We immediately mobilized and repelled them while slaughtering their monster army, where we caught them by surprise and avoided any losses! After that we have been preparing for the boss"s arrival, and training the new recruits that have joined us!" After he spoke the figure glanced around at the hundreds of gathered rabbitmen before saying,
"Excellent, I have new orders for you, but first I"ll talk with the elders of Verbergen. Take that time to select a few elites to accompany you and decide who"ll be in charge during your absence." Cam saluted while obviously fighting a tear leaking from happiness, before saying,
"Of course! I live to serve the boss!" With the Haulia shouting something similar Alex nodded before finally approaching the elders, and saying,
"Jarl Ulfric I presume? Don"t worry we"ll make those faithless imperials fear us yet." As the man he had been both anxious and slightly excited to meet spoke to him, Ulfric could help but tilt his head slightly in confusion as he didn"t know he was being used for a joke.