Kira POV

Once we had finished hunting, I went to play with Nina. She was quite the energetic child, and I ended up playing with her and Alexander for a long time. We played chase and slide.

"Hey, Kira!" Nina called out to me as I was leaving. "What?"

"Can I call you onii-chan?" I paused at the thought. It was not the first time I had been called this; I have a younger sister and Lucy also used to call me that until she found out we were the same age.

I smiled. "Sure." Closing the door on her grinning face, I went out of the library.

"-nd remember. Tomorrow is the last day of the assignment." A man in blue told Mr. Shou and left. I approached him.

"Was that a person from the state alchemists?" He sighed dejectedly. "Yes. As you probably heard, I have until tomorrow to hand in my research. Although I have an idea, it's quite risky." He sighed again.

"Don't worry. Like I said before, I am sure what you will hand in will be shocking." I patted his shoulder. "I hope that whatever happens, will you show me your research tomorrow?"

He lightly smiled. "Sure." I nodded my thanks and left to log off. Nina came running to her father. "Hey Nina." She smiled. "What daddy?"

"Do you want to play with daddy tonight?" She gasped as though it was the most wonderful thing in the entire world. "Yes!"

I smiled at them. Shou was a good parent.

I woke up. It was a Monday, as well as the first week of my suspension. I sighed and looked around my room. With nothing to do, I logged onto Endless online.

I stared at the intricate patterns on the ceiling. 'Tomorrow is the day we leave.' I got up. 'Better increase my intelligence and wisdom stat. Mr. Tucker should also have his research done by the end of the day.

Walking out of the room, I noticed it was quiet. 'Strange.' I thought. 'Nina and Alexander are supposed to be up and about already.' I shrugged and filled my sanity bar as I walked to the library.

"Ah hello Kira!" I turned around; it was Shou. "Morning. How are you this morning?" He smiled in happiness. "I finished my experiment yesterday evening. I have to finish a couple of things, but I can and will show I to you in the evening."

"Nice. By the way, where are Nina and Alexander? Usually they are running about by this time."

He hesitated but for a moment. "I was playing with Nina until late at night yesterday, so they are probably tired and still sleeping."

"You're a good parent. A pity your wife had to leave you two years ago. May I ask as to why she left?" I was approaching sensitive territory and I knew it.

"Yeah. She left us because of financial problems. Before I became a state alchemist we were incredibly poor. My wife and I fought constantly about money and eventually she got so sick of it she straight up left. Thankfully I soon became a state alchemist and we were given this inn and everything that you see here." He sighed as he remembered his troubled times. "I would do anything not to return to those days."

I patted him on the shoulder. "Well always look on the bright side of life. I will be going to your library and then hunting with my friend later on today. I hope to see you then."

I entered the library and once again began reading.

A chimera is a mixture between a human and an animal. It is regarded as taboo to mix with human life and therefore...

Third person POV

Three hours later...

"So this is where you were." Kira looked up to see Dylan standing over him with a smile on his face. "Do you want to go out hunting with the siblings today?"

Kira nodded and put down the book he was reading. His intelligence and wisdom stat had both gained twenty points.

'I wonder where Nina and Alexander are?" They should be running about by now...' He pondered this question whilst they were walking, and even Garurumon enlarging didn't make him stop musing.

He was right; the inn was unusually quite that day and he had not seen Shou either.

A hand pulled him out of a wolf's jaw.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Dylan shouted incredulously. "We are fighting a dire wolf pack, now is not the time to be thinking!"

'He's right.' Kira sighed. His eyes refocused and he gripped his katana more naturally. Dylan eyed this and gave a satisfied nod. "Good. You've woken up."

Flames danced on Kira's blade. He looked straight at two remaining wolves. "Let me handle these two. I was thinking about something."

Yu and Mitsuki glanced at each other and lowered their weapons. Dylan sheathed his sword and nodded whilst Garurumon sat down, ready to step in if needs be.

Kira ran at the wolves. He held his katana behind his back and lowered vertically. This had the added effect of making the sword seem shorted than it actually was.

The first wolf snarled at Kira and leapt, aiming to bite his head off.

Kira suddenly lunged in mid-air, his katana facing upwards. Yu and Mitsuki started in surprise at his move; usually he would roll out of the lunge and side-step it but why did he...

Wait

WAIT

As soon as the wolf was above the sword, Kira swung it in an upward arc. The burning blade encountered some resistance but soon cleaved the wolf in half.

The two pieces of dire wolf flew through the air, landing in front of Dylan and Garurumon, spilling entrails.

Ignoring the shower of rain, Kira faced the final dire wolf. It backed off slightly. "Why did it back off? These guys never do that." It howled a long, desperate howl as if to summon something and ran towards Kira.

'Let's see how good my dexterity is.'

Kira lightly threw Heaven's wheel into the air and caught it as though it was a spear. He pointed his arm at the approaching dire wolf and breathed out.

A split second later, he threw it straight at the wolf with all his strength.

It flew straight and true, and the unlucky wolf noticed it too late; the point of the katana pierced the nose of the wolf. It carried on, unhindered, even by bone. It cut right through the trachea of the dire wolf causing internal bleeding. It parted the spine in several different places and it also sliced open the stomach of the wolf. Its own stomach acids ate it inside out. It died, feeling agonising pain.

Kira walked up to the wolf and pulled out his katana. It was harder than it looked; the blade was buried right up into the hilt.

*Ding* Congratulations on leveling up to 32!" Please assign stat points. Stat points available: 16

"Usual ratio please."

Gabumon suddenly stood up and growled. "Kira. Get back here. Something dangerous is coming."

Kira retreated to his group and they all huddled together, waiting for whatever danger there was to appear.

"It"s coming from that direction." Dylan pointed and the group readied their weapons.

They waited for a seemingly endless amount of time. Then, it came.

Level 45 Alpha dire wolf

"What the fuck!?!" Everyone cried out. In front of them stood a dog reaching a foot in height. It seemed to have no mouth; only its nose and two eyes were visible in between its white fur. It had a collar around its neck and a small bag at its neck. It seemed to be harmless.

"Aww how cute!" The two girls of the team cried out. They lowered their weapons and tried to approach it but- "Hold it." Dylan and Kira grabbed their collars and pulled them back. "This thing is level 45 for a reason. Do not lower your guard around it."

The girls pouted but still listened. The dog, seeing that no-one approached it, obviously got angry. It started jumping up and down. It bit open the bag and something fell out. It stomped on two buttons and an angry voice came out. A recording device!?!

"Coro. Prey!"

The group tensed. What was going to happen? "What the hell!?" Yu breathed.

The dog bared its teeth and snarled. It grew in size. Its paws elongated and turned into muscular human arms. Its body thickened and enlarged.

It roared, revealing multiple rows of teeth. "Shit." Kira threw a lightning spear. 'You're too fat to miss!'

The spear burned a hole the size of hand right through the beast. 'Got you.'

"No matter what beast you are, a hole this size will make you bleed ou- WHAT THE!"

Right before their very eyes the dog's white fur began to heal and cover the wound; the blood retreated and within seconds it was as though that wound never existed. It roared again and jumped right at the group.

"Scatter!" At Kira's command, everyone ran out of the way.

The giant beast landed, churning up soil and dust. It stood up unharmed. "Dylan!" Kira hurriedly shouted. "How do we beat this thing?" Since Dylan was the highest level out of all of them, he probably knew how to deal with regenerating monsters.

"I think we need to entirely blow it away! Yu! Mitsuki! Do your thing whilst we distract it!" They nodded and sprang back.

Dylan charged in and swiped with his sword. Blood spurted but the alpha dire wolf healed. Kira sliced at the thing's wrist. Blood spurted once again and the cut healed once again. Dylan jumped into the air whilst the dog was distracted with Kira. He brought his sword down in mid-air, cleaving the animal in half. Dylan hurriedly jumped back. The two halves tried to slap Dylan in between their hands but missed. Soon after, the wolf regenerated.

"Hurry up!" Kira, seeing that nothing was affective, shouted at the siblings.

"MOVE!" As soon as the siblings shouted Dylan and Kira got out of the way of their weapons. The wolf looked around, confused, but then the combined attacks of Yu and Mitsuki hit it.

There was a giant explosion of light and fire.

"That should do the trick. That move mixed our attacks. It's called a unison raid." Kira and Tohka nodded, evidently impressed. Only Garurumon and Dylan didn't stop looking at the smoke.

The smoke cleared and the wolf stood. Most of its flesh was melted away, revealing bone and muscle. Quickly and surely the wolf began recovering. "Shit. If that doesn't work what does!?" Dylan cried out in exasperation.

Kira's eyes glazed and- "THE RECORDER!" He shouted. "Look for the recorder. It controls it. If we can use it, then we win!"

Everyone nodded. "Garurumon, please fight it whilst we search." Garurumon smiled, showing canines and jumped at Coro. He sliced an arm clean off the still-regenerating monster, enraging it further. Garurumon didn't miss a beat and bit into the leg.

Kira and his party frantically scrambled to find the recorder. "Found it!" Mitsuki held it up for all to see. "Press each button! See what they do!" Dylan shouted, running to her. She pressed a button.

"Last resort. Berserker!"

The voice resounded out from the machine. The monster clearly heard this and stiffened. Everyone did. 'That does not sound good.' Kira turned to Garurumon. "Get out that thing's range!" His pet listen and retreated a few meters.

The wolf, on the other hand, seemed to be grinning. It grew even larger and its fur started to turn crimson. Its teeth enlarged and its eyes filled with blood. 'SHITSHITSHITSHIT"'

Mitsuki hurriedly pressed more buttons.

"Coro. Arms!"

"Coro. Prey."

Coro started to turn to the party.

"Coro. Stop!"

The wolf stopped. It shrunk, as though it was a balloon losing air. Its fur became white and its mouth became lost in a midst of hair. It stood quietly. Everyone stood there, silent.

Mitsuki, with a trembling voice, suddenly spoke.

"Coro. Sit." The monster sat.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Well. Looks like you got a new pet Mitsuki." Kira laughed. "Let's get back. I'm tired, hungry and it's dark.

Whilst they were hunting, the night approached.

Everyone nodded and set off, heading straight to the city. Mitsuki instructed her new pet to follow them.