Chapter 429 - Surprise 'Poke' Part 1

Looking at Shiro in her Lightning Celestial Raiment, Phillip couldn't help but feel like he was just punched in the face. Questions filled his mind as he didn't understand how Shiro was able access Celestial Energy despite only 1 strand.

The armour seemed alive as the lightning flickered off her body. There seemed to be tints of red within the yellow, making the light seem 'bloody' in a way that inspired fear into his heart.

"I've only got a limited amount of time in this form so I'll be leaving." Shiro said with a grin.

Jumping up slightly, two lightning wheels formed under her feet as she launched herself into the air.

Looking at each other in shock, a few guards quickly dashed behind her.

"How? I mean, what? What is this?" Phillip asked in confusion.

"It's a skill called Celestial Raiment. It allows Shiro to use an armour linked to an element she's attuned with." Kuromi explained as she stood up. Her face was a little pale from the backlash of the spell but other than that, she was unharmed.

"Alright, but how can she use Celestial Energy!? I haven't given you the spell that the lord had created yet!?"

"Oh? So you have the spell on you. That's handy. Anyway, we can do it because I made a new spell.  Much like the formation that you used to reveal our souls, I used the same one as a base of a new spell so that we can make a tether between our souls. That way, we can start to 'charge up' Celestial Energy. Of course, she can only access however much energy we charged up rather than use her own. It's a little rough around the edges but that's about as good as we can do right now." Kuromi explained.

Looking at Shiro who was flying off into the distance, Phillip shook his head with a tired smile.

"Seems like you really are the lord's daughters. You have his strategic mind while Shiro has his combat prowess. Not only that, it seems like your spells are also similar to his. He too would don armour crafted from his celestial energy and fight off his opponent." He said with a nostalgic look in his eyes.

Upon hearing the mention of their lord, the other guards seemed to also remember their previous master and couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.

"In that case then how do you feel about getting revenge? I know that revenge isn't always the answer but right now, I think this is a good payback. So are you going to help me piss off this giant so that he can crush the other families?" Kuromi said with a smile.

Looking up at Kuromi, Phillip nodded his head with determination.

"Since you have proven to be combat ready, despite a few shortcomings with your usage of Celestial Energy, I shall listen to your every command without question. I only have one request and that is regardless of what happens to us, make sure you and the second young miss survive at all cost. I don't want the lord's bloodline to be cut off."

"Of course, I don't plan on dying anytime soon." Kuromi grinned.

"Mn, here is the manual for the spell that the lord had created. I might as well give it to you now." Phillip smiled and handed her a book.

"Kali, are you able to carry me on your back? I'll study the manual while we search for the giant." Kuromi asked while receiving the manual. That way, she could try to at least help some more in terms of combat prowess.

"Of course first young miss, it'll be my pleasure." Kali nodded as she crouched down and offered her back to Kuromi.

Climbing onto Kali's back, Kuromi started to flip through the manual while everyone split up in order to find the giant.

As this was happening, Shiro was rapidly closing in on the dragon's location.

However, there was a slight problem.

'With me being able to use Celestial Raiment once more, it means that my location can be discovered through sensing the energy that I passively emit in this form. To actually succeed in attacking the dragon in the ass, I'll need to fire my spear without warning him. The best choice is to attack him from afar but there is still travel time to think about.' Shiro frowned.

Flying through the air, she glanced around her and soon found the cave that the dragon was supposed to be in.

Hovering in the air, she started to formulate some plans on how she could make this possible.

'With Kuro around, I have been relying on her for most of the planning but seems like I'll have to take things seriously so that I can pierce the rear.

'Problem 1, detection. With my current form, getting close would be dangerous and could put the dragon on guard. To be honest, it might have already detected me. Problem 2, it'll be hard for my attack to hit if I'm far away but if I'm close, I'll be detected.' She thought with a frown.

Closing her eyes, she made a note of all the abilities that she could access right now with her Celestial Raiment.

Running a few simulations, she started to formulate a few ways to actually attack the dragon.

Looking at Shiro who was hovering in the air, the guards tilted their heads in confusion.

"Is she…. Ok?" One of the guards asked hesitantly.

"I'm sure she's just thinking of something right now." Another guard replied.

After waiting for a few moments, Shiro opened her eyes as she had a smile on her face.

Jumping down she landed in front of the guards.

"Do you know where the ass of the dragon is located?" Shiro asked as her question took the guards by surprise.

"Errr… I do. Why do you ask, second young miss?" The guard replied with confusion written all over his face.

"Great. Ok Aki, I'm going to make an orb in a second. I want you to grab that orb and place it near the ass. Once you do that, you will run as far as you can or else you'll be killed ok?"

"Ah… understood young miss." Aki nodded his head.

Seeing that he had agreed, Shiro smiled and told them to step back.

"Fuu…" Breathing out heavily, Shiro closed her eyes and changed the armour attunement from Apocalyptic lightning to Rift Shadow.

*KISHHHH!!!!

The moment she changed the attunement, the ground beneath her seemed to split apart to reveal a black and purple void that was filled with nothing. Only an infinite darkness could be seen as mist slowly crawled up Shiro's body and enveloped her in a cocoon of black mist.

After a short moment, the mist exploded apart to reveal Shiro in her new armour.

Her hair was coloured black much like Kuromi while the armour had no definitive form. It was… creepy in a way since the shadow writhed around on her body. In a way, it behaved like a flame, flickering to where the wind would blow.

Looking down on her hand that was covered with this shadow, Shiro narrowed her eyes and snapped her finger.

An orb filled with a swirl of black and purple was created just above her fingertips as she flicked it towards Aki.

"This is the orb. Remember, all you need to do is place it near the ass and just run without looking back." Shiro instructed emotionlessly.

Seeing this change in aura, Aki gulped and nodded his head.

"You guys, and girls, go make some checkpoints along the way from here to Teriu so that I can lead the dragon to the city without going the wrong way."

"Understood!"

Watching the guards disperse, Shiro looked around and started to fly towards a distant mountain.

Sitting down on the edge of a cliff, she closed one of her eyes and looked at what the orb could see. Right now, Aki had already entered the cave and was currently making his way through the tunnels quietly.

As she was observing his actions, she could sense that a beast of sorts had entered the area around her as she flicked her hand without hesitation.

A void opened up under the beast as a jaw erupted out from the darkness. Before it could even scream for help, the jaw snapped shut and dragged it into the void, leaving only some fur on the ground.

'Waste of my time.' Shiro thought with a frown before returning her focus back on the orb.

In front of the orb, she could see the same dragon that had fought the giant a while ago. Previously, she was quite far away so she couldn't get a full sense of its size but now that she's right in front of it, she could tell that it was absolutely massive.

Narrowing her eye, Shiro estimated that a single scale was around two to three times that of her height.

Watching Aki carefully place the orb down near the rear before quickly running away without making too much sound, she grinned and made a second orb. Changing back into her Lightning armour, she raised her hand into the sky and channelled her energy through her body.

*KRRRRR

Heavy rumbles could be heard as the sky darkened. With a single twist of her hand, the clouds parted to reveal a red and yellow lightning spear that pulsed with murderous intent.