Feast

Asada threw a leg forward, slamming it into the parts of the ship Tahara had morphed around. She twirled and maneuvered her scythe around with great precision, swinging it at Tahara in a variety of skilled and deceiving ways. It continued to only damage the objects Tahara was using his ability to contort and block Asada's attacks with.

From Asada's left, Resk appeared, bursting toward her. His body was in a form made completely of iron. He slammed his heavy iron leg against Asada's side, slightly tilted upward, diagonally launching her through the roof and onto the deck of the ship. "Well I'll be damned. I guess I really did piss her off." He said. "But hey, it's whatever. For some reason, I feel like kicking her ass was the only way we could have gotten through to her in the end anyway."

"Can't say I agree. Not in the slightest." Responded Tahara. "But it's too late now. Especially after that kick you gave her. I don't have much of a choice but to take her on alongside ya."

"Heh, sounds like a plan, my man!"

Both Tahara and Resk quickly made their way up to the deck. Once arriving, they were met with an Asada who had taken her mind off of all things other than beating them down.

She threw her Scythe at them. It smashed through every barrier Tahara used his ability to create, however before it could make contact with Tahara himself, Resk stood in front of him, using his lone iron arm to knock the Scythe away.

Having gotten rid of Tahara's barriers for the time being, she used the brief opening to close the gap between herself, Tahara, and Resk. Within her palm, she held one of her life draining flowers. She pressed it against Resk, draining enough of his life away to render him unconscious. As Resk collapsed, she kicked his body across the ship, right into the kitchen where Tahara's ingredients were still cooking.

"No need to worry Mr. Sir. Tahara! As I promised, your wonderfully delectable food is perfectly safe with me!!" Valah carefully picked up both of Tahara's pots, and proceeded to dodge Resk's limp body, as well as the debris that was scattered around from his heavy iron body shattering a significant portion of the kitchen area. She balanced each pot perfectly, then gently placing them back onto the stove, which had not been destroyed by the attack.

"Tch, hey! Watch the damn food!" Yelled Tahara, immediately before he also was touched by one of Asada's life draining flowers. He only allowed it to be in contact with him for a split second, however, before morphing more parts of the ship into offensive weapons this time.

He distorted several areas of the ship into huge, elongated, serpent like shapes, which then aggressively slithered around and smashed through the ship as if they were some sort of gigantic, burrowing worms. Each time they missed Asada, the worm like weapons would come back out of the ship, travel high into the air, before yet again torpedoing downward in Asada's direction.

Sprinting across the ship with incredible speed, Asada continuously dodged Tahara's onslaught. She soon stopped in her tracks, and within a split second, completely switched directions to instead begin running toward Tahara. She dodged into his attacks, maneuvering her body with unbelievable precision, making her way closer and closer to Tahara himself.

Soon enough, she reached him, swinging a leg toward his jaw. However, before her leg could make contact, Tahara used his ability to morph his toothpick into one which was gigantic.

He swung his head, the massive toothpick still in his mouth, and smacked Asada across the ship, all the way into the water. He then returned the toothpick to its normal size.

"Wrong move. Should probably study up on your opponents before ya pick a fight."

"As should you." She responded, now gliding across the ocean water. Schalle had slowed the ship down after things had settled down, so Asada was able to keep up with the vessel. She began circling around it, gradually increasing her speed, eventually forming a massive whirlwind of water around the ship.

Bursting upward, Asada jumped over the whirlwind of water, then plunging downward from the opening the whirlwind had at its top.

She slammed into the deck of the ship with an immense amount of power. The entirety of the vessel cracked and some areas completely shattered. The boards from under where Tahara stood launched him into the air. Asada jumped after him, bashing a fist full of life draining flowers into his gut. This injured and substantially fatigued Tahara. He flew toward the whirlwind of water, splashing into it, now twirling around alongside the water itself, as well as the debris from the ship that had also been thrown into it.

Landing back onto the ship, Asada walked across it and picked up her Scythe. She was mildly panting, but her breathing soon slowed down.

"I've gotta say, she's sure as hell worthy of joining the elite." Tahara said to himself from within the whirlwind. "And that's exactly why I wanna learn more about her. So, I'm gonna go ahead and end this. She's pretty damn strong, but not quite to my level yet."

Tahara gritted his teeth, tightened his muscles, and widened his eyes. Using his ability, he took complete control of the entirety of the whirlwind of water. He smashed it into the ship with an unbelievable amount of force, completely destroying half of the vessel. Glancing toward him, Asada seemed both surprised and mildly annoyed. "

Landing onto the remaining half of the ship, Tahara morphed some of the blue energy Schalle was powering the vessel with, into his own body. This temporarily gave Tahara the power to move at an unbelievably high speed. At the same time, he also used all of the destroyed debris from the ship to envelop himself with a suit of armor.

He proceeded to move so quickly around the ship at such an insanely rapid rate, that it looked as if he was teleporting. He then began to land heavy attacks against Asada, using a different weapon he had created each time. One second, he'd smack her with the toothpick he had after returning it to its giant form. The next second, he'd be back with another attack using the armor he had on, now attached with iron bats he morphed onto it using more parts of the ship.

After landing countless hits on Asada, Tahara extended a bone from within his right arm, sharpening its end to resemble a blade. He stopped in front of Asada, pointing said bone at her neck. Blood leaked out of his wrist and arm. At the same time, a single drop of blood dripped down Asada's neck from the tip of Tahara's bone.

"Guess you're joinin' us for dinner, huh?" He said, heavily panting.

She glared directly into his eyes. "I declined your offer. Are you impaired when it comes to your hearing?"

"Maybe a little." He joked. "But it's more so that I wanna get to know my friend. Like it or not that's what you are to me."

"God you're irritating. Please shut up. I'm here to become strong so that I can defend the things I actually care for. Developing relationships with you and anyone else is something I have no interest in. But I guess you'll never understand or be capable of comprehending that will you? In which case, I now get to waste time eating with a bunch of strange people. Thank you. I can't wait." She looked downward and shook her head. "Now then, what's your big plan for finishing this meal of yours now that you've destroyed half the ship with that idiotic attack?"

Tahara lowered his arm, morphing his bone back to normal. "You really think Schalle'd be using a ship that could be destroyed that easily? Not a chance. I've got no clue how, but he's got some sorta contraption or magic that'll be able to heal up the damage we've dealt."

Just as he said this, every damaged piece of the ship split and fell apart into incredibly tiny fragments. They slid and traveled across the surface of the ship, gradually reconstructing it until it had been completely repaired back to its normal state.

"Well hey, there ya go." Said Tahara. "Good as new." He then looked over toward the kitchen area, where a smiling Valah resided.

"Your food is perfectly safe and sound right here next to me! Though I have to say it may burn if it stays here much longer!" She yelled to him with a proud expression.

"I'll get to finishin' things up then. Even if it's still in the somewhat early stages, I really don't wanna restart."

As Tahara went to continue cooking dinner, Setsuna approached from downstairs with a concerned look. "Just what on earth was all of that?" He asked.

"Nothin' to concern yourself over. Was just convincing Asada here to join us for dinner." Tahara responded.

Leaning against a wall that was nearby the kitchen, Asada crossed her arms. "Yes, oh how I'm anticipating having this wonderful meal with my good friends."

"I see." Setsuna looked at her, then returning his attention to Tahara. "Well, she is a stubborn one. Regardless, I'm going to assume the meal will be done soon, so I'll go ahead and set up the tables and read while I wait. Schalle filled my room with an unbelievable catalogue of interesting books. I'm hoping I can get through a few of them before our trip has ended."

"Sounds like a plan. Good luck with the reading goal." Answered Tahara.

"Of course." Setsuna proceeded to place silverware, napkins, and other standard items upon the tables the Elite would be eating at. He then sat at the island, crossed his legs, and opened a book, closely focusing on it.

Some time passed, and soon enough, Tahara at last completed dinner. Burritos filled with an assortment of spices, vegetables, and meats that he found on the ship. He had prepared several different flavors and mixtures of these ingredients.

Once being notified that dinner was finally ready, the entirety of the elite gathered within the kitchen, each member choosing their own spots to sit at after deciding which burritos they wanted to eat.

Dusk closely examined his burrito after taking his first bite. "Food like this... I wasn't really able to eat before joining the Legion of Elite. With me being the last Elf alive, going to public places would cause everyone to react in some sort of shocked manner. It was difficult to manage. I had my methods, but, these ears aren't as easy to hide as you may think."

"You can't just tuck 'em in or put a big hat on??" Asked Valah, her mouth filled with burrito.

"No. These ears of ours seem to be shaped how they are, because they have something to do with our immense power. Because of that, they're rock solid. I can move them a little bit on my own, but I can't tuck them in. And a hat would not tuck them inward either. But, thankfully I won't need to worry about that anymore." He took another bite before continuing. "I also did want to apologize for remaining mute for so long. This explanation may anger some of you, but I stayed silent for as long as I did, in order to determine if you were a group I could trust. There are many out there who want to capture and use me. You all truly seem like a group of good people though, from what I've observed. It's why in that moment back inside of Kuraran's castle, I decided it was safe for me to be done with my silent act. Well, I kind of didn't have much of a choice either, considering the situation."

Noda looked at Dusk. "There are people who were killed because you decided not to reveal to us what you could really do. But... yeah, this shitty world is real fuckin' dangerous. Trusting anyone right off the bat is just suicidal. I can't say I forgive you, but I get it."

"Hey man, it's cool with me." Resk said, now recovered from the fight he had against Asada. "What's important is that now you can sit back and enjoy some delicious burritos alongside us. Speaking of, hey Asada? Aren't you glad you lost the fight? I mean, I'll be damned, these things are pretty fantastic. I guess food this good has to burn down the city every now and then."

Sighing, Asada glanced at him with an intimidating expression. "No. The food I was looking to make on my own would have been just fine. Why in the hell would I be glad?"

"You were able to acquire a free meal, and were also given the opportunity to improve your relationship with members of the Elite. Instead you have decided to whine about it and act like a little girl every time your mouth has opened. Is being miserable and deciding to make the worst of situations a hobby of yours?" Esten blankly looked directly into Asada's eyes.

Looking back at her with a piercing stare, Asada responded. "Hey. Esten. I'll drive your shit stained face straight into the ground if you don't keep your whore mouth shut. Who in gods name do you think you're talking to?"

"I am speaking with the delusional child who believes they are capable of laying a hand on me." Clapped back Esten.

"Hey, calm it down there. Not lookin' to wreck the boat again this late, especially right after finally getting dinner out to everyone." Stated Tahara. "I say we come up with a particular topic to discuss that everyone can join in on. Any ideas?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact I did have something in mind." Said Setsuna.

Tahara shifted his attention to him. "Great. Let's hear it."

"Assuming the trip to the archipelago and back will take us around two weeks or so total, we could each suggest something we'd like Tahara to conjure up for us to eat. If something we mention triggers a moment of intense hunger, there are plenty of burritos here we can use to satisfy the sudden urge mentioning a favorite meal of ours could bring forward. It's the perfect time to discuss such a topic."

"Oooo now that's a great idea! Dusk, Asada, and even Kore can pick something! Heck, the Winged Warriors can even choose something as a group!" Exclaimed Valah.

Tahara smirked. "Heh. Sounds like a plan. In that case, anyone wanna go first?"

Noda took a massive bite of his burrito, and then stood up. "Yeah. I'll start us off." He said in a slightly muffled tone. "I've been thinkin' about what I'd want my final meal to be if I end up gettin' fuckin' killed by the smiles, or on the Blackened Archipelago. At least it'd be one of my final meals. And I decided that I'd want Tahara to cook up a big ass platter of hot wings. A plate of 'em so damn huge and spicy that I'd probably have to struggle not to puke it all out later that night."

"You are truly disgusting Noda." Said Esten. "I did not need to hear that while I'm trying to eat my own food at the moment."

"Sorry, I'm just trying to emphasize how many I'd want and how spicy they'd be. Do we have the ingredients here for that?"

"Yep." Tahara nodded. "There's a whole bunch of chicken, spices, all sorts of stuff that'd be perfect for makin' a million wings. If that's what ya want I can make it happen."

"Great, sounds like the perfect plan." Noda grinned. "Well, that'll be the dinner I wanted. Who's next?"

Pressing his staff against the deck floor in order to push himself up, Rune stood this time. "There's a number of ancient meals I've been wanting to try for myself over the years. I believe this could be a great opportunity to see how the recipes of the elders hold up in the modern era. Tahara, are you up to the challenge of recreating one of these fabled dishes?"

Biting his toothpick a few times, Tahara answered. "Depends. If we've got the ingredients for it, there's nothing I can't conjure up."

"Wonderful. I assumed you'd say something like that. So, I will go ahead and explain to you the delicate steps required in order to construct the dish I had in mind. Listen well, brother."