Mika's jaw dropped at the idea of saving Jyuji. What if the Metaslica people asked her to slay the dragon after they helped Brandon? Jyuji wasn't the one who trampled Brandon's face, and Billy - who had tried to break their fight earlier - would hate her for an eternity if she killed Jyuji.

"You look bothered." Katrina hopped off the rooftop of a shoddy six-story building and into a dark alley. "Is it about saving Jyuji?"

"I'm afraid that the Metaslica people will want Mr. Jyuji's head after helping Brandon."

"Which one sounds better: a dragon slayer or a dragon tamer?" Landing behind a massive garbage bin, Katrina released Mika. "I'm sure that everybody prefers the latter because a dragon makes an excellent ally."

Mika nodded in agreement. That's it. I'll save Mr. Jyuji.

As Katrina set Brandon down, Mika took a closer look at the undead man and gasped. Blood gushed out of his nostrils and ears. A patch of purplish black skin rested on Brandon's swollen eye. He was also breathing more slowly and weakly now, which brought tears into Mika's eyes.

Mika knelt beside Brandon and placed a hand on his cheek. "Hold on for a little longer, please. We'll bring you to the faculty after this." After a moment of silence, she whispered, "I love you, father."

Suddenly, a warm and fuzzy hand tapped her shoulder and prompted her to look up. Katrina stood in front of her with teary eyes, which made Mika mouth a soft, "Huh?" The sad look reminded Mika of her mother's face whenever she got extremely worried about her.

"I heard that, girl. Please step back and allow me to use my healing power on him."

Mika rose to her feet. "You can heal people?"

"Lepus is a creative folk. It can convert my blood into many things."

"Our power comes from our blood?"

The rabbit woman quirked an eyebrow. "The folk in you had never told you about it?"

Mika shook her head.

"I see." Katrina cleared her throat. "We all have what people call 'superpower' thanks to the Methuselah folks' otherworldly knowledge of blood composition and transmutation. However, we have to watch our blood usage or we'll end up killing ourselves."

"Um..." Mika looked at Brandon and scowled. Fists clenched, she yelled, "Why, Orion? Why hadn't you told me about it? Brandon will die very quickly if he keeps using his folk's power!"

"I think I know why. The mist helps us pay the blood price, so your folk thought it shouldn't be a big deal."

Mika hissed. Still, Orion should've told her about the blood stuff earlier.

Katrina reached out a hand at Brandon. "Give me some space, girl."

When Mika stepped back, a small orb of white light emerged in front of Katrina's glowing palm. The rabbit woman winced as the radiant sphere grew bigger. Once it reached the size of a tennis ball, it dropped down and entered Brandon's burned torso.

The sudden burst of light from Brandon's body made Mika squint. When the glow died out, she could no longer find the bruise and the swelling around his eye. The burns and the stab wounds hadn't disappeared, but blood had stopped oozing out of them.

His eye fluttered open, and Katrina let out a sigh of relief.

"Brandon?" Mika knelt and placed a hand on his forehead. "You hear me?"

"Mika?" He scanned Mika from head to toe, stopping at her abdomen with a widened eye. Mika knew why he made such a face; dried blood stained the torn fabric and the skin around her stomach.

"Yeah, I got into a fight with the dragon, but I had some of Orion's power. It helped me regenerate my wounds."

"No more dragon hunting today." Brandon grimaced. "You aren't...ready yet."

"We won't be slaying the dragon," Katrina declared. "We'll stall the dragon long enough until Jyuji regains control of his body."

Huffing, Brandon stared at the rabbit woman. "Mika needs...the dragon's head to impress...the Metaslica people."

"Everybody favors dragon tamers over dragon slayers."

Brandon growled and glared daggers at Katrina, who simply folded her arms over her chest and looked away.

"She's right, Brandon." Mika stroked Brandon's head. "A dragon can help us a lot."

Brandon frowned at her. Mika knew what it meant; she listened to Katrina - a stranger - but not him, and he didn't like it.

"Anyway, thanks a lot for healing him, Mrs. Katrina." Mika got up. "I'm so happy to see him awake."

Katrina turned to her with a small smile. "I'm glad that my power worked. Actually, I can do better than this, but the risk is very high."

Mika blinked. "Risk?"

"Lepus always tries to botch my attempt to heal or empower other people. The harder I try, the easier it'll be for Lepus to turn the unleashed energy into something harmful." Katrina shrugged. "I guess if I'm a veteran at Kutaba Ryu Meditation, I should be able to use all of my power without a fuss."

"You mean-"

"Lepus can mess up everything if I'm not careful. However, it is especially against helping others with supportive abilities."

"Um, Mrs. Katrina, since you know Kutaba Ryu Meditation," Mika began, "how long have you known Mr. Jyuji?"

"Just recently, girl. I believe he had finished the meditation course before I joined it." Katrina's facial expression turned into that of a stern teacher all of a sudden. "Spare the chit-chat for later. We have something important to do." She pointed a finger over Mika's head. "Look at that."

Mika turned; with the help from the moonlight, she could see what lay across the alley. A chain-link fence, tall as a three-story building thanks to the razor wire on its top, surrounded a barren field. The colossal windmill within the confined area towered over a large group of orgmen in suits and their gigantic bare-chested leader - a three-headed, six-armed giant.

Brandon had once told Mika about this behemoth. Coming from the fusion of three orgmen, the asura often changed its mind in a fight. According to Brandon, swatting bullets away with his coffin was easier than dodging or parrying an asura's strike.

"The lack of mist is draining Draco's strength and helping Jyuji regain control, so the dragon will try to destroy the windmill as fast as possible," Katrina's deep voice came from behind Mika. "However, let's just wait here and watch. We'll interfere once the asura falls."

"Why?"

"Getting into the windmill area will leave a bad impression to the Metaslica authorities. Plus, we'll end up fighting the asura and the horde of orgmen."

"Speaking of the dragon," Brandon cut in from below, "he's coming."

Mika turned and looked up. The sapphire dragon - coated in a layer of blue blaze - glided over the multistory buildings like a fiery comet.

Approaching the windmill, the dragon descended and spun. The horde of orgmen beneath leaped at the drill head, only to end up as silver dust and tattered rags upon hitting it.

The asura merely stood still with its six arms spread. As the dragon's spinning form whooshed over its head, it whirled and sprang at the beast. At first Mika thought the giant wanted to crush the dragon under its weight, but it seized the dragon by the tail instead. The dragon stopped spinning, his flame fading away.

The asura raised the thrashing dragon overhead and brought him down as a living bludgeon, but it suddenly flung the beast away and ran after the body. As the dragon crashed into the chain-link fence, arcs of electricity crackled across his scaly body and brought an agonized scream out of his maw.

When the electric shock died out, the dragon fell to his knees.

"Seems like Draco has become so weak that the asura thrashes the dragon easily." An ethereal green aura engulfed Katrina's body. As she streaked out of the alley like a lightning, a large puff of smoke appeared in the distance and stopped her in her tracks.

Recognizing this smoke trick, Mika looked up. Right, the dragon had shot up into the sky and was now bolting away from the mess; as much as Mika wanted to chase him, she remembered how powerless she was against the beast. "Mrs. Katrina," she called out, "the dragon is flying away!"

Katrina returned to the alley and wall-jumped all the way up. When she emerged up high in the sky, the color of the ethereal aura became cobalt blue. She curled herself into a ball before rocketing towards the fleeing dragon.

Mika's heart thumped at the sight. What if Katrina missed? What if the dragon successfully returned to the misty area?

The glowing sphere slammed onto the dragon's head and sent him smashing into the main road. Dust and slabs of concrete exploded everywhere.

Mika ran past Brandon to take a closer look at the crash site. When the dust settled, she could see Katrina - now without the blue aura - stand still with her arms folded over her chest. The rabbit woman stared down at the incapacitated dragon, her face stern as a teacher's.

When the dragon opened his eyes and groaned, she nudged the dragon's head with a foot. "Prove to me that you're Jyuji now."

The dragon raised his head and snapped, "Look at how I breathe, rabbit woman!"

Curious, Mika compared Jyuji's breathing with Katrina's. So slow, so rhythmic - the way of the Kutaba Ryu.

"You're Jyuji indeed," Katrina said. "Well, we're heading to the faculty now."

Jyuji rose to his feet. "I'll catch ya later. Gotta find RB first."

"RB?"

"Rocketbilly. Or Billy. Damned Draco made me swat him away into a building."

Suspicion plaguing her face, Katrina rubbed her chin with a finger. "Hmm..."

"Before I became a dragon, I was a blind man. RB helped me see things." Jyuji looked down in sorrow. "If I don't tell him what has actually happened, he'll..." He suddenly jumped into the air. "Ah, forget about it."

The dragon flew away, but Katrina only smiled at his distancing figure. "What a softie."

Mika couldn't help but smile tearfully. Good thing Katrina had convinced her not to kill Jyuji.

"With the dragon away, I guess I'll have a longer talk with the staffers in the faculty." Katrina approached Mika, whose face had sagged in concern. "Don't worry. I'll make them an offer they can't refuse."