140 Leaving the Fire Dragon Sec (1/2)

With Tai and Huo busy preparing for the wedding procession, Ed was left with nothing to do. So, he decided to return to the mansion to meditate. Just as he was about to open the door to his room, he heard high-pitched giggling coming from inside. 'Did Hina sneak into my room?' He wondered as he slowly cracked the door open to peek inside.

'Eh?' His eyes widened in surprise. Unexpectedly, there was someone he had never seen before. It was a girl that appeared to only be five or six years old. She had pure white skin, bright blue eyes, and wore a set of blue robes similar to the ones everyone else in the mansion wore. Her long straight blue hair was tied into three braids, with one braid over each shoulder and a bigger braid in the back. However, the shocking thing was what she was doing in his room. She was riding Tao like a horse! Tao scurried back and forth, seemingly careful not to harm the brat atop its body. In fact, it looked like it was even enjoying the game.

'Is Tao really a mutant crocodile?' Ed wondered. 'Maybe he was a dog in his past life or something...' No longer feeling worried about who the intruder was, he pushed the door open. Tao and the little girl froze in shock as they slowly turned their heads to look at him.

After a brief moment of silence, Ed spoke. ”So, who are you?” He questioned.

”Eeeeeeeeek!!!” The little girl screamed so loudly in such a high pitch that Ed thought the window might shatter. Shockingly, her body began melting. Soon, there was nothing but a small puddle of water left.

”Eh?” Ed sent his mana out and checked the puddle. 'Oh, so she's an esper that can turn her body into water. Reminds me of Mordy.' Grinning to himself, he sighed aloud. ”Ah, where did this big mess come from. I guess I'll just have to wipe it up with a towel and throw it in the wash after.”

There was only silence as the puddle refused to respond.

”Or maybe I'll just throw the towel out.” He continued. ”Washing would be a lot of effort...”

”Azure is not trash to be thrown out!” The puddle murmured, small round waves appeared in it as it did so.

”Wow! A talking puddle of water! I bet I can sell this for a fortune to some crazy rich guy!” He exclaimed.

”Stop pretending you don't know that azure is an esper!” The puddle angrily yelled in a childish voice.

”An esper?” Ed slowly turned his head from left to right, examining the entire room carefully. ”Eh, that can't be right. All I see is a puddle?”

”Grr!” The puddle growled as the water slowly began to rise into the air, transforming back into the little girl. ”Azure is the puddle!” She shook her head. ”I mean, Azure is the esper! See!”

Having had his fun, Ed got serious. He leaned back against the wall while crossing his arms and placing a foot against it. It was a good stance for attacking or retreating if he needed to. After all, he knew nothing about this girl other than that she was an esper. Who knows? Maybe she was an expert hiding her age or a deadly genius? It never hurt to be too careful. ”So.” He frowned. ”Who are you and why are you in my room.”

”Azure already told you she is Azure!” She complained. ”And I was playing with Tao! I haven't gotten to play with him since we were on the ship.” She pouted, her cheeks ballooning outwards while turning red.

”On the ship” Ed thought for a moment but didn't recall ever seeing a child so young on the ship or even within the cage. 'How dangerous would such a young esper have to be to be sent to the cage?' He wondered as he put his guard up even more. ”I've never seen you before. Did Tai recruit you?” He questioned, half-disbelieving he was having this conversation with such a small child.

”Azure is going to marry big brother Tai someday!” She proudly declared while holding her chest up high.

Ed's eyes widened in shock. He lowered his head and rubbed his chin. 'Well, Tai does seem to like younger girls... but not to this extreme, right? Hopefully right...' He raised his head. ”But Tai is already marrying someone else? How are you going to handle that?” He questioned her.

”Azure will become 3rd wife!” She answered, her face lighting up with excitement as she continued. ”And big sister will be the 2nd wife! Then, we'll be together forever!”

'Oh, good. Sounds like she just doesn't want to be separated from her older sister.' Ed sighed in relief. ”And who is this big sister?” He asked while trying to smile.

”Azure's big sis's name is Rubi!” She happily replied. ”Rubi and Azure will be together forever!”

”RUBI?!” He almost felt himself coughing up blood at the unexpected answer. He reexamined the delicate little girl. With her thin body and pale skin, she looked more like a doll than an actual child. Then he thought of Rubi's towering muscular body and spiky red hair. Superimposing the images over each other, he felt a shiver go down his spine. He couldn't help but feel bad for the little girl knowing she might grow up looking like some barbaric amazon.

'Ah, come to think of it. She was the one that piloted the mech tank?' He rose an eyebrow as he stared at her. 'She should be smarter than she looks, but that's probably normal for espers. Is she actually this childish? Or is acting childish just a ploy she uses on others? Even if she wanted to play with Tao, did she need to sneak into my room to do it? Wait, what if she works for Nexus?!' His eyes sharpened with killing intent for a brief second before returning back to normal. 'No, that's being a bit too paranoid. Still, with Sect Master Long communicating with Nexus, I need to be careful. Feather must've found out about the prison break and my escape by now. I doubt she'll just let dead dogs rest.'

Shaking his head to awake from his thoughts he pointed at the door with his thumb. ”Go play with Tao outside. I need to train.”

”Okay.” She nodded and slowly walked towards the door, Tao following behind her. On his way out, Tao glanced at him and snorted, seemingly dissatisfied at having his fun time interrupted.

”Tsk.” Ed clicked his tongue. 'Some guard dog you are, just letting anyone in my room. Maybe I Should turn Tao into an actual dog sometime.' With the incident over, he sat down on his bed and entered meditation. This time, he focused on trying to split his water mana so that he could go after the water storage meridian. Unfortunately, his mana control wasn't good enough. He would likely need to be in a water, snow, or ice filled area to succeed at his current level. However, the good news was that he was slowly making progress in controlling his mana as he practiced.