The Red Hand

Chapter 370 – Can Kana Kill Akagi?

"Ya know, I never imagined taking a vacation could be so relaxing." Mizumi said as she sipped a margarita and stretched out on her large beach chair. She'd been relaxing around Omara since Akagi put her on mandatory PTO, and was enjoying the warm water and white sand of Hishya's private beach. At present, she was sunbathing in her adult form, enjoying a relaxing day off as Hishya and Kana sparred near the shoreline. "But I have to admit that this is good. No wonder Akagi likes being a cat all day, having no responsibility and relaxing is the best." She laughed as she set the drink on a table next to her and unfolded a reflective tanning mirror.

{I deserve this.} (Mizumi)

"She's going to resist going back to work at this rate." Hishya sighed as she ducked out of the way of one of Kana's punches. "I can already see it in my head. Mizum's going to cling to the office door screaming about not wanting to sign paperwork again." She said as she blocked Himari with her right hand, grabbing the sword and holding Kana still. "Not bad, but your control over your power still sucks." Hishya smirked as she locked eyes with her girlfriend. After the initial shock, Kana decided to experiment a bit more with her power and was now better able to control some of the additional power that she had access to, though Hishya noted that Kana had a long way to go before getting to grips with all of it.

{She's sloppy, but getting better. It probably won't be long at all until she has total control over it.} (Hishya)

"Forgive me for not having a game cheat me into using Demon Lord power, or for having gotten ancient knowledge from an Elder Dragon." Kana grumbled about the unfairness of it all. Only one of her eyes still changed when she used her power, but now her body would, at times, become cloaked in light black 'fire' that was identical to what Akagi could make when she powered up. Hishya figured it was merely a type of Darkness attribute power, and she tried to avoid touching it as much as possible since it gave her the willies. "Unlike you idiots, I have to actually learn how to use a power that I wasn't born with the old-fashioned way. So cut me a bit of slack."

"Hey, I told you that we could practice in VR if you wanted to." Hishya said as she let go of Himari and dodged a few additional slashes as Kana attempted to land a solid hit. "Using magical systems in there would be a good foundation for using powers in the real world since its similar enough."

{Though still not a good tool for proper mastery.} (Hishya)

"No, it's fine." Kana said as she tried, and failed, to hit Hishya's shoulder. "Better to learn these powers in the real world, that way I know exactly how they work."

{Yeah, otherwise we run the risk of Kana going insane and then Hishya needing to tearfully put her down like a rabid dog.} (Himari)

"I'd make it quick, Kana!" Hishya snickered as Kana banged Himari's blade against the ground, missing the Dragon by a few inches. "BANG! One quick shot right to the back of your head. That way you feel no pain and have a peaceful ending! PEW! PEW!" She said while making finger guns.

"The second I can manage it, I'm twisting Himari into a pretzel and throwing her into the trash." Kana hissed as she was picked on.

{Good luck! You'll need more than those flabby little arms to bend me!} (Himari)

"Oh? A wise guy are we? If you're not worried about me then how about I just get Onee-chan to do it?" Kana's lips curled into a nasty grin as she glanced down at the sword. "She could do it, easy."

{Please no! Forgive me mistress Kana! I have spoken out of turn! Your arms are strong enough to fold me like laundry!} (Himari)

"That's more like it." Kana laughed as she continued her assault, trying hard to actually land a solid blow on her Dragon girlfriend.

{Kana, you're fucking terrifying, you know that?} (Hishya)

"Hmmm. The imprint has not expanded, so I suppose Himari was right." Mizumi said as she lifted up her sunglasses, watching the three idiots bicker as they sparred. "I wonder how much power she truly has? It can't be anywhere near as much as Akagi, but from what I can see now... She might be able to give the former players a run for their money at least."

{Though having both the sisters running around with all that power isn't ideal. Kana is at least a bit nicer, but she also has that evil streak. I wouldn't even be shocked if she ended up being the more sadistic person in the future. Lord knows that her Scary Kana is already bad enough, and sadly, Hishya is down bad with it.} (Mizumi)

"Come on. Kana. At least make this more than a warm-up exercise." Hishya laughed as she slid in past Himari, kissing Kana on the cheek before jumping over her head and smirking as she landed behind her.

"I'm going to make you eat this sword!" Kana growled as she spun around, frustrated by Hishya's Akagi-like insistence on teasing her.

{Please no! I am friend, not food!} (Himari)

"I'll have to decline. Himari would make a poor snack." Hishya laughed. "And she'd probably get stuck between my teeth."

"Well, she is about as annoying as one of those stuck pieces of celery, so that's fair." Kana nodded in agreement.

{Oi!} (Himari)

“Go ahead, tell me that I'm wrong!” Kana snickered.

{Stop acting like Momo! I'm not that bad!} (Himari)

"Alright, alright, break it up. How about you two idiots take a break and relax." Mizumi called out to them from her chair. "And anyway, you're kicking up a ton of sand and it's getting all over me!"

{Its sticking to my sunscreen!} (Mizumi)

"Well, I suppose a break is in order." Hishya said, dropping her guard. "Having you use too much power too frequently might actually be a-" She paused as Kana flashed towards her at high speed.

*SWIPE*

"Yo!" Hishya groaned under the weight of Kana's attack. She wasn't something so underhanded from her girlfriend and only barely managed to stop her blade by grabbing it with both hands in the knick of time. "Calm down there murder hobo! We're done with training for now!"

{That was a lot more power that time. Had I been a second faster I'd've been given a nice slash!} (Hishya)

"Tsk." Kana clicked her tongue in irritation. "I thought I had you once you stopped paying attention." She tried to push a bit harder, causing black power to envelope her body. "But let's give this a try!" She said as she poured more energy into Himari, causing Hishya to become momentarily worried that Kana was going to hurt herself from over exertion. “Lets go!”

{Ruh-roh.} (Himari)

"Hey! I told you to back off!" Hishya roared as she channeled more power and pushed back, accidentally sending Kana flying into a nearby tree that snapped in half as she collided with it. "Uh-Oh..."

Realizing that she'd just sent her girlfriend flying, and likely injuring her in the process Hishya started to panic internally.

{BOTH OF THEM ARE GOING TO KILL ME! KANA'S GOING TO DO IT FIRST THEN AKAGI WILL BRING ME BACK TO DO IT HERSELF!} (Hishya)

"Kana! Fuck! Are you alright?!?" Hishya ran over, picking up the collapsed tree and throwing off Kana, allowing it to crash into a mountain in the distance with thud. "Shit!" She freaked out seeing the multiple cuts and bruises on Kana's body along with a bit of blood coming from her mouth. "I'll heal you!" Hishya exclaimed before channeling a bit of magical power and using some basic healing magic to tend to Kana's wounds, with Mizumi rushing over to do the same.

"Nice job you diwm witted Dragon, you sent the sister of the Demon Lord into a tree. I'll lay a flower at your grave." Mizumi said as she finished patching Kana up. She was conscious, albeit a bit startled and confused.

"Huh..." Kana slowly flexed her hands before slowly standing up and being assaulted by a spine-crushing hug from Hishya. "I'm gonna die for real if you squeeze me like this any longer..."

{Unlike Onee-chan, I'll actually explode permanently when squeezed.} (Kana)

“KANA! You're okay!” Hishya cried out as she continued the death squeeze.

{Dying... For... Real...} (Kana)

"Oi! Give her some air man. Let her go!" Mizumi said as pulled the two apart. "Unless you're trying to kill her and invoke the wrath of Satan herself?!?"

{Do I even want to IMAGINE what happens if you accidentally kill Kana?!? Because I'm pretty sure it ends with the world being destroyed!} (Mizumi)

"Poor Alm, she has to suffer through this every day due to Shiroe." Kana coughed as she was let go, catching her breath. "Man Hishya, you really need to stop giving me death squeezes. At this rate, I might need to get a shadow body like Onee-chan just so you don't crush me." She said as she rolled her eyes.

{Huh. I just realized that it didn't hurt. The tree, the squeeze, none of it, strange.} (Kana)

"I... Sorry..." Hishya turned away, her face red from embarrassment. "This was your fault anyway! I said we were done and you tried to pull a fast one on me which made me react on instinct!"

{Her power is so similar to Akagi's that my internal trauma kicked in and I got scared... Oops...} (Hishya)

"Oh don't act like it would've harmed you." Kana said as she dusted herself off. "You can take a nuke, probably, so a little cut isn't going to do anything."

{Plus getting a hit in would've been a nice amount of katharsis.} (Kana)

{Kana, you do realize that the amount of power you put into that last attack could easily kill most things that do not have magical power, right?} (Himari)

"Of course I understand that, but Hishya is Hishya and she would've been fine." Kana said with a a shrug. “Onee-chan flings her around, so I figure that you'll do far less damage.”

{Not a good attitude to have while wielding a sword, but thanks for the trust, I guess?} (Hishya)

"Kana, recall that you have Demon Lord power within you. If you'd actually struck Hishya with that attack it would've done some nice damage." Mizumi commented that while the Dragon wouldn't be harmed severely, it could've been a nasty wound. "Be mindful of the fact that the strength you have is something that may go beyond normal limits. Just because Hishya is a Dragon Empress of great power doesn't mean that she can't be harmed. It probably wouldn't have been a severe wound, but that's not the point. You have that power and need to be-"

"Let me just cut you off and insert with great power comes great responsibility platitude, blah, blah, blah." Hishya said, interrupting the Spirit. “We know good and well not to treat these powers irresponsibly like a certain cat does.”

"Says the Dragon that toasts marshmallows with her breath." Kana deadpanned.

"This is this and that is that." Hishya huffed, not wanting to acknowledge the hypocrisy in her actions. "You don't see Akagi..." She paused, realizing that Akagi had and would abuse her powers to do whatever she pleased and was thus not the correct point of reference here. "Never mind, horrible example."

{See the cat's stupidity for the prime example of why people shouldn't have that kind of power.} (Hishya)

"Yeah, had you said that Onee-chan doesn't do stupid things with her power, then I'd've started questioning your sanity." Kana laughed. “At this point it would be stranger if she did act reasonable.”

{The closest she comes to reasonable is letting people pet her in cat mode.} (Himari)

"Anyway, Mizumi is right. Just remember that you can quite literally crack a grown man's skull with your bare hands, so I'd advise being a bit more conscious of how much power you use." Hishya sighed. "I'm glad we're sticking to training with me and Akagi since the chances of you hurting either of us are low."

"If I actually hurt Onee-chan for real, that would raise a lot of questions." Kana retorted that such a thing would be impossible.

"Hmmm..." Mizumi put her hand to her chin as she began humming.

"Oh? She's thinking deeply, you can tell because her tongue popped out." Hishya snickered as she pointed out the Spirits unconscious action.

{Are we allowed to notice that? I thought we were suppose to keep quiet about it?} (Himari)n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Mika sure doesn't.” Kana shrugged.

"I wonder." Mizumi said as her eyes slowly moved from Hishya to Kana. "Could it be possible for you to kill Akagi?"

"W... What?" Kana froze as she heard the Water Spirit's words, not believing them

"You are the one being that has power similar to her that I know of, and since it came from her originally, perhaps you have the potential to destroy her as a result?" Mizumi's words gave both girls food for thought, though not the kind that they enjoyed dwelling on.

{K-Kill Onee-chan?} (Kana)