"It sure is. Look, the machine is printing tissue directly into the wound."

Spending their time inside the CAS-7A, the two homunculus twins spend their time closely examining how Chad was getting st.i.tched back together. Meanwhile, Dax was tending to some of Xi's lighter injuries.

"Stay still, Chad is fine."

"Bu- AW!"

"What did I just tell you? Now stay still so I can dig out this monster fang without leaving a scar."

Focusing once more on his task at hand, Dax fell silent as he worked a scalpel and tweezer combo to carefully remove a bone shard from a fang that had embedded itself in Xi's back near her wings.

"Dax… Who are you really?"

"I'll tell you once you've got you home, now stay still."

---

In the far south part of the Empire, the Ta'ia city state remained very isolated on the fringe of their influence. Being so far out in the middle of nowhere, even tax collectors of the Empire only visited every couple of years and as such, it was a perfect site to test a new weapon system.

"Ma'am, there's one more large one nearing the east wall, we can't stop it!"

"I'll be right there."

Inside the central castle of Ta'ia, a blond haired dragonkin woman sat over her sleeping husband. After the messenger left once more, she wiped the sweat off his bow and gently kissed him before getting up.

"I'll be back in a second dear."

Walking out of the room she lazily stretched her arms and back, then with a single effortless moment of her wings she set off into the sky. 

(Oh, that really is a large one…)

From her vantage point up high, the dragonkin easily spotted the large creature closing in on the wall. The amalgamation of monster flesh stood some 5 meters tall without any rigid structure. While the dragonkin woman couldn't outright say that it wasn't some sort of new monster, the purple crystalline growth isolated on the right side of its body told her that it was not the case. About half a year ago they had started appearing in a small community outside the city, creatures with purple crystals growing on them they would mindlessly hunt any other living creature to infect them with their affliction, spreading it throughout the small community in a matter of hours. When the outbreak finally became know, the dragonkin's husband had led a task force to strike them down, but it proved a more difficult task than they had imagined, suffering numerous casualties before falling back. After that the residents of Ta'ia had evacuated to the castle and managed to escape from the creatures who now hunted them relentlessly, until 2 weeks ago when large crystal infected creatures who could threaten the wall surrounding the castle appeared.

"Aspect of the dragon: Thunderclap:"

Uttering a simple incantation a yellow magic formation formed in front of the dragonkin, creating a bolt of lightning which struck the monster with such power that it turned some of the stone below it molten.

"Haa…"

Fighting extreme fatigue the dragonkin briefly started falling to the ground before she reactivated her flight magic, this was the 359th of those creatures she had to kill within the last few days. Landing back down at the castle, the dragonkin went around to make sure all her people were doing okay, then headed back to her room where she could finally drop her trough demeanour.

"Ma'am! Two more of those creatures have appeared!"

"Already!?"

(I can't beat those, not in this state… What would you do dear?...)

Realizing that the next fight might very well end up with her loss, the dragonkin started planning for that eventuality.

"Gather the children and take all your forces! If I fall now I want you to escape with them, protect them at all costs!"

While the guard was shocked for a moment he understood what she meant by those words, even if she tried to hide it everybody could see how constantly fighting had an impact on her health. As she was right now, she was barely able to stand on her own.

"Understood! G.o.dspeed, lady Grishu"

Bowing deeply for a brief moment, the guard hurried to complete what was most likely lady Grishu's last request, to protect the future subjects of her and her husband's kingdom to his last breath.

(Little Xi, I hope you arrived safely in Greendale, may you find a happy life there.)

Launching into the sky once more, Grishu thought about her daughter a final time before she focused her mind completely on the battle ahead, shutting down all unnecessary thoughts and emotions. Flying up into the blue sky, Grishu quickly sighted the two monsters who looked like they were moving together in formation towards her people. Having decided she would fight to the death, Grishu pointed her open hand at the closest monster.

"Aspect of the-"

But before she could finish her incantation, something struck the creature she was targeting and incinerated it in a green fire.

"What the h.e.l.l!?"

Looking at the monster set alight by the unusual fire, Grishu's confusion didn't manage to die down before the other giant monster was also hit by something and set alight with the same green flame which somehow managed to stick to the monsters as they screamed in pain.

[ICI a.s.sESSES: GOOD EFFECT ON TARGET. CONTACTS NOW COMBAT INEFFECTIVE.]

"Yeah I can see that, finish them off, will you? Use the 204mm SAPHEI, we brought a lot of those with us."

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. FIRE MISSION. TARGET: ALPHA 01, ALPHA 02. TASKING BATTERY DELTA, SENDING PAYLOAD, SPLASH 10 SECONDS.]

"Good, then let's go say h.e.l.lo~"

While the two monster's ICI found were being pelted with 204mm semi armour piercing high explosive incendiary ammunition fired from over the horizon, Lux made the call to approach and contact the Ta'ia she had received orders to save. Orbiting a few times around the castle it looked like the inhabitants had evacuated to, Lux chose to land a bit away from the outermost wall and walk up to the gate instead of doing anything which could be preserved as overly aggressive.

"Form up on me, shoot to kill."

[ORDER CONFIRMED. 4 REAPERS NOW OPERATING IN CONDITION BLACK, 

WEAPONS FREE.]

As Lux prepared to disembark she was surrounded by 4 Reaper type drones who all took aim at the ramp of the CAS-7A and rushed out of the s.p.a.ce plane the second it touched down to secure a perimeter.

[CLEAR.]

"Yeah, yeah. I'm moving."

Not really a fan of the fact that drones had to constantly secure her, Lux wore a frown when she exited the CAS-7A, an expression she quickly fixed when she noticed she was being watched from the sky above.

(Just keep smiling, my a.s.s. The dragonkin above me is clearly considering if she should or shouldn't to kill me…)

While Lux reluctantly acted according to Dax's 'handwritten' rules of engagement for this current job, Grishu was observing her from above.

(That must be who was responsible for the earlier attack on the monsters… Looks like a normal humankin, although looks can be deceiving.)

Narrowing her eyes while still remaining suspicious, Grishu activated a spell which allowed her to see the target's mana.

(No mana!? That can't be true… I guess I need to confirm her intentions myself.)

Not able to make an a.s.sessment on her own, Grishu did what she had often recommended that her husband did when out on diplomatic missions: To trust one's gut. Deactivating her flight spell, Grishu dropped down from the sky and landed in front of the strange humankin.

"Welcome to the country of Ta'ai. Sadly we're not currently able to accept guest so will have to ask you to leave."

Starting out with a half polite, half threatening greeting, Grishu tried to judge the humankin on her reaction.

"Yeah, I can see that, so is this where Xi is from?"

But as the humankin responded to her greeting she learned nothing other than the fact that her opponent wore a perfect poker face where no emotions or intentions leaked trough.

(What is this feeling?... Fear?)

But even as the humankin told Grishu nothing with her tone of voice or facial expression, the dragonkin still felt a strange kind of unease when she looked into the humankin's eyes.

"Who are you? How do you know that name?"

Gradually edging her one foot backwards, Grishu slowly took a position to strike as she asked the humankin the question. The humankin seemed to have noticed her attempt to prepare for battle, but instead of getting angry or aggressive a thin smile formed on her face.

"My dad ran into her near Greendale. After some different things happened Xi and her knight Chad asked him to save their people, I am here to fulfil his part of the agreement."

"Is XI okay?"

"Yeah, although she was captured by the same people who were responsible for this current mana disaster your country is going through, my dad and Chad managed to save her. They are all on their way here now... Can we continue this talk somewhere more suitable, I don't really want to talk over the sound of rifle fire unless I have to."

"What do y-"

As Grishu was about to ask what Lux meant by that, one of the Reaper drones sensed movement within its perimeter and opened fire, killing a crystal infected monster who was in the progress of sneaking up on her.

"That's what I mean."

"Okay then… I'll be keeping my eyes on you."

"Sure, that's completely fine by me. ICI dismiss protective detail, fall back to line beta and await further instructions."

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED. REAPER'S DISENGAGING, NOW MOVING TO EGRESS.]

As the drones returned to the CAS-7A which immediately lifted off the ground and moved beyond the horizon, Lux followed behind Grishu as they both walked back towards the castle. Reaching their destination after a few minutes of silent travel, Grishu flew up on top of the outermost gate and turned around to address Lux.

"Wait there for a second, I'll get them to open the gate."

"No need."

Slightly bending her knees, Lux effortlessly jumped up on top of the 5 meter tall wall right in front of Grishu, gesturing for her to keep going.

(She can't possibly be some kind of mare humankin…)

Deciding to aberrantly not underestimate the normal looking humankin, Grishu led her further into the Ta'ai's last safe settlement.