Among the many people that were travelling to and from the once heavily populated Hargeon Town there was a figure which stood out from the rest, or at least those who could be considered the common populace. Both her actual size, which was rather Amazonian, and her physical traits, which were inhuman, made it clear that she wasn't some civilian. Two large wings, bat-like but covered in scales the colour of midnight and tipped with claws, were folded against her back, and her gait was accompanied by the swaying of a long slender tail, thick at the base but tapering to a sharp point, covered in those same midnight scales (although a lot thicker and larger than the delicate ones that adorned her wings). Beyond these already very obvious hints the woman's limbs, from the elbows and knees down, were also covered in scales, with more scales finishing the job on her back and her sides, with some sparingly spread across her cheeks as if to imitate freckles. She could be considered a monster, although those more knowledgeable would be able to recognize the signs of one who had the powerful blood of dragons running through their veins.
Emerald eyes beheld the remnants of the large town before her, the slit pupils shifting as they worked their way across the various parts of the ruins. Akeya had used her wings to get here, but considering the circumstances she had thought it prudent not to fly over the city and just dive down. She was visiting a town which had been almost completely obliterated by a group of monsters which seemed to have no goal other than to bring about chaos and destruction for the sake of their egos. In these circumstances someone like her, a non-humanoid with monstrous traits, would have to be careful lest those that remained in the town couldn't stay their hands and attempted something. The half dragon didn't believe that she would actually be in danger, since she was quite good at staying unharmed, but better not to tempt fate in situations like these. Even if she managed to stay safe it could still cause a ruckus, and nobody had any use for that right now.
She had been there when those monsters had attacked Hargeon Town, and she had done her best to take them down before they could wreak too much havoc. Alas she had been forced to acknowledge that her power and abilities had been insufficient, along with nearly every other mage that had come to defend the settlement. Akeya had definitely tried, and she was quite sure that there were only a handful of mages who hadn't, but in the end there was not a lot one could do to protect a town if a monster as large as the town showed up, whose presence on its own was already enough to make the faint-hearted collapse and whose every move gave birth to a tsunami. The beast had been slain in the end, but before that had been accomplished it had already destroyed nearly everything the mages had been trying to protect other than their own lives. By taking a simple few steps on land. It was absurd, it was ridiculous, yet Akeya could not deny that this had been the case. The proof now lay before her, and it was quite conclusive. The half dragon narrowed her eyes as she thought back to that time. She had believed that after awakening her dragon blood she would already be worth quite a lot more than the vast majority of the mages in Fiore, but that event had helped her reaffirm that even so she was still nothing compared to some of the powers that inhabited the world.
Passing through the outer districts of the ruined town Akeya headed straight for the location where she had been told to meet the others who would also aid in (re)building the defences of Hargeon Town. The Magic Council hadn't been very happy to realize that when push came to shove there had been next to no measures to keep one of the most populated towns in the country from being ravaged by a threat they hadn't been aware of. While the latter could be seen as some form of mitigation, they weren't going to let the next threat have as easy a time, and Akeya was one of the mages who would help accomplish that. She wasn't quite sure what kind of defences they would erect, but it was at least more suited for her than all the other options (since those came down to rebuilding and aiding civilians). The message she had received from the Magic Council had stated that she would be expected near the former Lamia Scale guild hall, at the entrance of the Marketing street. Since Akeya had been in this town before she had an easy time locating the place, at which point she halted for a moment. The construction of the defences would be in the hands of the mage Kihia Avoa, who most likely was in the tent that was located exactly at the place where they were supposed to meet. However when Akeya stepped inside the tent and looked around she didn't see anyone who matched the description of the supervisor. There were others, but Akeya either recognized them or they simply weren't Kihia. However the tent was filled with a bunch of lachrima, and one very big one.
It didn't take much longer after Akeya had entered the tent that the large lachrima revealed itself to be a type of communication lachrima, revealing that Kihia would be their supervisor, but that he was predisposed because he had been tasked with gathering a specific material. The half dragon raised her eyebrows and shifted her weight to one leg as she watched the mage in the lachrima, resting one scaled hand on her other hip. Well, from what the man had said it wouldn't take much longer before he would be here, so she would simply wait and do as he had tasked her. After all, the Magic Council had told her to listen to him, so she didn't have a lot of choice. His tasks were also quite sensible: introduce oneself, explain one's abilities, and attempt to find a good partner for their tasks. Looking around Akeya first listened to one of the other mages who had already arrived, one who she recognized somewhat: it had been quite some time since Anastasia had been a part of Blue Pegasus, but not that long that the half dragon wouldn't recognize her scent. Other than her scent Anastasia had changed quite a lot though: Akeya's memories told her that back then she had been a little girl who focused on combining magic with song. Now she had matured and grown into quite the looker, and as Anastasia explained her talents it had become clear that she had abandoned her aural pursuit and doubled down on technology and advanced mechanisms. It was quite obvious why Anastasia had decided to aid with the city defences.
Akeya herself waited until Anastasia was finished speaking before coughing to draw attention, making it a bit more obvious by spreading her large wings. They weren't very subtle, but the other way around that meant they were quite good for drawing attention, and the half dragon did so detest it when nobody listened when she bothered to speak. Once she was sure that she had drawn the attention she tapped the ground behind her with the tip of her tail.
"Greetings. I am the second ranked Rising Star, Akeya Kuusai. As you can see I am a half dragon of the shadow element, and I am also a Shadow Dragon Slayer of the third generation. Beyond Shadow Dragon Slaying magic, which allows me to quickly move about and ignore obstacles, I also possess highly developed physical strength, extremely acute physical and magical senses, and I can change my shape, although I am limited to living creatures and I can't become much bigger than most non-magical land animals."
She tapped the ground again, at which point her shadow darkened and grew until it suddenly separated from the ground... or at least a part of it. The swirl of darkness moved upwards until it took the shape of a fox made out of shadows, which curled around Akeya's neck and looked at the others in the tent with glowing white eyes.
"Korikami can also move about quickly and without being troubled by obstacles, and beyond that he can act as the portal to a pocket dimension where we can store objects if needed. From extensive testing I've gathered that he can hold up to two adult human males before reaching his limit. The pocket dimension contains air to breathe, so he could be of use transporting people who can't do so themselves past obstacles."
Akeya wasn't very happy giving away all this information, but just this wasn't enough for someone to devise a plan to take her down, and the more cooperative she looked the easier a time she should have in the long run. Still the half dragon was tapping her side with a scaled finger, as always her gaze more of a glare, stern and tolerating no nonsense.