Taku stood there like an idiot. This was the moment he had been waiting for for the last couple of months. But as it was presented to him, he could not help but feel nervous.

He tried his best to calm himself down to no avail. He looked at the tent in a daze. He dared to go and save his team before he could even cultivate, How could he now be afraid of meeting a girl? He quickly realized that it would be impossible for him to calm down so he just walked straight into the tent.

As he got in he noticed that the tent was rather empty. Apart from a table and a bed there was nothing really inside. Makanaka was sitting at that table whilst reading a piece of paper. Her brows were tense and Taku knew that he should stay there silently and not disturb her.

On several occasions, he almost reached his hand out to touch her but he would always stop himself right at the last moment. Every time that his eyes landed on Maka, his heart would begin racing. He felt really embarrassed because he knew that Maka was way more powerful than he was and could probably sense what was going on.

There was no way he could change anything so Taku just stood there like an idiot. He stood and waited for five minutes before he heard Maka sigh. "Do you not know that it's rude to just stand and stare, at least sit down first before you undress me with your eyes."

Taku wore a wry smile as he went and sat down opposite Maka. It felt as though Taku went mute when he came into the room. So far he had not even said a single word. Maka smiled. To be honest, if anyone dared to look at her the way Taku did then she would've killed that person already.

But Taku was different. This kid was someone that her master had constantly praised and he had told him to try to protect him at any cost. She was having quite a headache at the moment. She did not think that he would actually be able to come here. What made it worse was his timing. He just had to come when there was a beast tide.

"What are you even doing here?" She asked. " Didn't you get briefed about the mission? If you did why did you still come? You should know how dangerous this city is at this moment in time."

"I do, but I had no choice," Taku replied.

Maka furrowed her brows. Why did he come then? Could he be that horny?

Taku smiled wryly. "The issue is that I am having trouble understanding somethings about my soul. I initially wanted to go search for Saru but even knowing that, it would be impossible for me to meet him. So, I went for the next best thing. I thought that maybe if I could find you then you might be able to bring me to him."

Maka sighed. "Indeed I would have been able to take you to go see Master. The problem is that Master is not currently in the empire. As for when he might come back, I also have no idea."

Things got silent and awkward pretty fast. "Thank you, I will take my leav-..."

"Which weapon are you using?" Taku had wanted to say his goodbyes but was cut off by this question from Maka. It was not that Taku did not want to spend time with her, but he was so disappointed at the moment that he could barely even think straight.

Taku organized his thoughts. "I am an archer. Although I have only been doing it for several months. My Master says that I am now at least on the same level as some people who have been practicing for years."

Hearing this Maka slightly frowned. Her expression turned back to normal in an instant. It was so fast that Taku did not even realize it. Which master is this kid talking about? And he actually chose archery over close combat weapons...

"How good is your close combat?"

"I am at least above average." Taku started. "I have never used a weapon in close combat, but I am fairly decent in my hand to hand combat."

Maka smiled and made a decision to test Taku out. Just as she stood up a soldier ran inside with a panicked expression. "General! The beat tide has begun!"

Maka's expression turned solemn after hearing this. She sunk deep into thought and only spoke after a couple of breaths. "We need to finish this fight early. The weakest go out first, but tell them not to be reckless."

The soldier nodded and left. Taku stared at the tent entrance with a worried expression. Even though no one could order his teammates to fight, he knew that since they were here then they just had to participate in the battle. He turned around and was about speak, only for him to open his mouth and couldn't find words to say.

He stared in disbelief at Maka. The girl who he lusted for was right in front of him, half-dressed. He saw the half-naked Maka walk towards her bed and immediately his thoughts ran wild. His heartbeat quickened as his body began heating up. The sheer size of her behind in proportion to her body could pit any woman to shame. Taku would give anything to see her bend over to pick something up

The distance between the bed and the table was not that far. It would have taken less than three breaths of time to reach the bed. The only issue for Taku was that Maka was taking her sweet time to walk to it. Every time her hips swayed from one side to the other Taku could feel his junior throb as if it would escape at any time.

Maka then bent down, properly revealing her lower body to Taku. It actually happened! The child who was witnessing all this almost jumped out of his chair. Taku wanted nothing more than to grab Maka and pin her to her bed. So he looked away and tried his best not to think about it. It was to no avail as Taku still found himself turning his head. As his eyes landed on Maka again he saw that she was now fully covered. She was wearing a silver amour that covered every single part of her body.

Taku breathed in a sigh of relief, but he could not hide the disappointment in his eyes. Maka had noticed all of Taku's actions earlier. She had not done all she did on purpose. She was so agitated that she forgot about the child she was with. By the time she realized that she had taken off her clothes in front of him, Taku's heated gaze had already seen everything. Seeing that, Maka decided to test his endurance, so she took her time in going to retrieve her amour.

Seeing Taku's bloodshot eyes, Maka could not help but smile. Taku on the other hand almost fainted when he saw this. The smile made his heart jump out of his chest.

"Come on, let's go..." Maka started. "You are here, so it's best if you join the fight. You might not be able to fight with the tier 3 or 4 beasts but there will be a number of tier 2 beats and you can sharpen your combat ability when fighting. Try your best not to use your bow, only use it when necessary."

Taku only nodded and did not dare to open his mouth. With that, the two of them left the tent and went straight to where Taku's team was. They walked in silence, as Taku did not know what to say. The place was now empty as most of the people were already atop of the city walls fighting the beasts. The only things that could be heard were roars and shouts.

From these noises alone Taku was able to tell that it was a very gruesome battle. Thinking this far Taku could not help but ask. "What is usually the reason for a beast tide like this."

"There are numerous reasons." Maka started. "But only two really stand out. The first being that, there are beast kings in the mountain. And if these beast kings feel that their forest is now overpopulated then they will send the demonic beats out to fight with humans. The other is simply because someone has enmity with someone of high status in the city and has a way to control demonic beasts, so he attacks the city. The first one is the more likely to happen."

The two of them casually spoke about the other reasons, and by the time they finished, they had already reached the place where Taku's teammates were. The quartet were already outside and we're surprisingly calm.

When they saw Taku and Maka approach all of them froze. They were all a bit tongue-tied when they saw Maka. This girl was roughly the same age they were but she was already so powerful. The four of them greeted Maka with respect, whilst she smiled and greeted them back.

Taku gave a brief introduction and then turned towards Maka. "One thing has been bothering me. Where is your team?"

"Back at the capital," Maka answered. "We were taking a short holiday and so I came here. But who would have thought that the minute I get here there would be such a situation? If I were to call them for help it would take them at least 2 months to get here so there was no point in doing that."

Taku finally understood. With that out of the way, the six of them went up towards the city walls. When they reached the top the expressions of everyone excluding Maka changed. They had never seen so many dead bodies before.

The number of corpses made them take in a deep breath. Maka smiled when she saw this. "You will get used to it in time. The first I saw a scene like this my knees actually went weak. Calm down, soon it will be our turn to fight. Make sure to only attack beats that you know you can handle. Do not try to be a hero."

They all nodded and waited patiently for their chance. As the battle raged on the five of them gradually got used to the bloodshed. Everyone in the team had killed someone before, but it all felt like nothing thanks to the gruesome battle that they were experiencing.

As they gradually got used to the battle they felt their bodies heating up. They felt as though they could no longer control their bodies. They just wanted to jump in and fight alongside everyone else. If they held any fear before then at the moment it was currently gone. This was the Gutu blood within them boiling, ready for action!

They wanted to fight. Subconsciously they all took out their weapons. Even Maka took out her spear and nodded in approval at everyone's actions. Her eyes lingered on Taku who was covered by a layer of smoke. Her thoughts went back to that fight four years ago, back then Taku looked frail and weak. But four years later he had changed and even though he was not as burly as most kids his age, he still looked sturdy.

Thinking about that fateful day four years ago she could not help but feel worried. Four years ago Taku lost control and killed a lot of people. Is that why he wants to meet Master? Don't tell me he lost control...?

Maka began to worry when she thought this far. If he lost control would he still be able to distinguish before demonic beasts and humans? Would she be able to get to him before he killed all those around him?

Maka quickly threw the issue at the back of her head. She decided to deal with things as they came. Right now she needed to fully focus on the battle. She was the strongest person here and she needed to perform in order to increase morale.