"I see. Princess Yuki's savior, eh? I must apologize for the horrendous welcome. The Shinigamis only managed to detect your presence because there were not enough S Class power signatures within the Royal Palace to hide you.
But with my return and the other Captains enroute, please be very assured that they would no longer be able to detect your… Time Anomaly. And even if they did and sent more Shinigamis to come and take you away…
Heh heh heh. Let's just hope that they do that. Heh heh heh." Captain Colossaria laughed a high pitched laugh that was extremely disconcerting to hear.
"Squad 13 is our Research and Development Squad. Captain Colossaria has done numerous experiments on monsters which have benefited not just Japan, but the entire world. Half of the knowledge humanity currently has on monsters was contributed by her." Princess Yuki said with a tinge of pride, her voice still heavy but carrying the subtle rhythm of admiration.
"My beloved princess, you praise me too much. Heh heh heh. But on the topic of Research and Development…" Captain Colossaria looked at Akira with a hungry expression, her gaze tightening like a predator's. It was so intense it felt like a cold hand had gripped his neck, causing Akira to flinch instinctively.
"Yelp!" Akira squeaked and smoothly stepped behind Princess Yuki for protection.
"Hee hee." Princess Yuki managed a little smile. "Captain Colossaria was just kidding. You're my honored savior. No harm will fall unto you, especially not from the members of the Royal Palace."
"I am glad to hear that." Akira smiled awkwardly at Captain Colossaria, who laughed out loud at his words.
"You're such a cute little boy. Don't you dare steal Princess Yuki's heart away with that boyish charm of yours, you hear me? If you do, I would love to dissect you and see just what your balls are made of that made you so brave. Heh heh heh! Just kidding. Or am I? Heh heh heh heh!" Captain Colossaria laughed evilly, her voice rising into the kind of pitch that made skin crawl and air feel oddly heavier.
Akira's mouth twitched violently and if he was anywhere close to her in power, he would have exploded forth in a full retreat with his arms flailing, legs pumping, anything to get as far away from that freak show as possible.
But alas, he was weaker than an ant before her vast, ocean-like presence. Even standing near her felt like being trapped beneath a crashing wave which was too big to fight and too fast to outrun.
"Nobody is stealing anything." Princess Yuki pouted at Captain Colossaria and stamped her feet slightly. "Stop teasing us!"
Apparently, Princess Yuki's relationship with Captain Colossaria was close enough for her to pout and stamp like a scolded child without fear.
"Heheheheheh! Anyway. The Emperor is asking for you. You better come with me to meet him now." Captain Colossaria tapped on her earpiece lightly, the device emitting a faint crackle as new orders poured in like an unrelenting tide.
"You're bringing me there? Where is General Raikuro?" Princess Yuki asked, her tone shifting ever so slightly.
"He will join you soon enough. Let us not keep the Emperor waiting." Captain Colossaria replied briskly as she turned and hurried them both along, her heavy steps thudding against the marble like distant thunder.
Princess Yuki nodded and followed without protest.
But Akira knew better. He could easily read between the lines of Captain Colossaria's words.
The way she avoided answering the question and quickly moved away was classic avoidance strategy.
It was one he employed quite often to deal with his pesky kids when they asked for too many troublesome things from him.
General Raikuro was definitely heavily injured, and the situation was not as light as the huge captain had made it out to be.
"Just what happened exactly in the few minutes Yuki and I spent in the Space Pocket?" Akira wondered.
Five minutes later, Akira found himself in the Royal Meeting Room with his jaws nearly to the floor once more.
If Captain Colossaria was huge, then Emperor Takeshin could only be described as… Mega Huge!
He stood by the wide crystal window, sunlight bouncing off the plates of his massive golden armor. He radiated majesty and menace all at once, standing resplendently at three meters tall, his breath fogging faintly against the chilled air.
His two aides were giants themselves at over 2 meters tall, but they were still completely dwarfed by his unnatural size.
And if that had been all, Akira would've been stunned, sure. But not speechless.
What shattered his calm completely, what truly made his throat go dry and his knees wobble slightly, was something far more terrifying.
The main reason for his incredible shock was simply that… Emperor Takeshin was single handedly THE strongest human being Akira had ever seen!
"What the bleeding f*ck!" Akira screamed in his heart. "Max level elemental energies for all five basic elements and all four advanced elements? And he was god damned born with it? Just what sort of dogshit luck was he born with?!"
And after that…
"Why the bleeding f*ck didn't he help us when we were fighting the Shinigami!?"
"Daddy! Hu hu hu!" Princess Yuki leapt into her father's embrace without any reservations and cried her heart out. "Sora… Sora she…"
"Hush baby. I know." Emperor Takeshin's deep voice rumbled out gently.
"Can you help her? Please?" Princess Yuki pleaded in a small voice.
"I will help her as much as I can." Emperor Takeshin said quietly. "My flames will prevent her Eternal Freeze from destroying her body. But to undo the spell itself… I am afraid only a member of the Eastern Flame Kingdom can do that."
"Eastern Flame Kingdom?" Princess Yuki asked in confusion. "Where is that?"
"They… are thought to be extinct." Emperor Takeshin said gently.
"What?! Extinct?! Then… then…" Princess Yuki's large eyes immediately welled up with tears.
"They are only thought to be extinct. The fact of the matter is, the core lineage of the Royal Family should probably still be alive. We just need to find them." Emperor Takeshin patted his daughter's hair lightly.
"I've already sent men to look for them. If you like, you can search for them as well." Emperor Takeshin smiled at Princess Yuki and motioned for one of his Aide to bring her out. "Now go. I have things to discuss with this… Shinobi-sama."