Chapter 18 | Death
7 villages away from Tomoe's house:
"We're almost there, keep moving!" Travelling along in the pouring rain were 5 carts, each cart sheltered 8 individuals that each held a guild ranks spanning from VII to X.
"How much longer until the next Village?!" The yelling from the front cart was being drowned out by the rain, making it almost impossible for the people at the back to hear. This just made their anxiety even worse since they knew that if something were to happen to any of the carts in front of them that they wouldn't be able to hear it, whether it be an order being given or them being attacked, but they still managed to keep somewhat calm.
"Do you think we'll make it out alive Shaun?"
"Most Likely, I mean we have 6 rank X's and 12 Rank IX's. What could go wrong?"
"Yeah but that's not what I mean..."
"What do you mean then Loran?"
"Well... we're the weakest ranks here, all 8 of us are rank VII and we're facing off against the Demon King and the Nine Tailed Fox, not to mention any of the horrendous monsters they may end up summoning to fight us in their steed..."
"Well, when you put it like that, it does sound like we could very well die quite easily. But there's no need to fear, since we'll be in our own squad holding off the monsters while the higher ranks take on the Demon King and the Vixen, so there's nothing to be afraid of. As long as we stick together we'll be just fine."
The smile on Shaun's face lightened the mood in the cart, warming everyone's hearts and improving their morale. Everyone believed that they would be just fine, thinking that they would return home from battle alive.
"We've arrived at Yuana Village! Only 6 more villages to go until we reach our destination!" The driver of the cart, Matt, called to everyone inside. "That's 6 more villages until we reach our destination guys! Let's get this over and done with so we can go home and live our peaceful lives with the reward money!"
""""LET'S!!!""""
*
Tomoe's POV:
3 days later:
Today there is tension, from the moment I woke up I could feel it, something isn't right. The maids were all scurrying back and forth, carrying out orders given from Mama and Papa. Jessica didn't come to wake me up either which is rather unusual, I still haven't found her but for now that's not one of my concerns.
Questioning the maids was of no help, all of them said they had received orders from the head maid from the dining room, so I guess that's my next destination. Still clad in my Pyjamas, I stride down the hallway to the dining room and burst open the door.
"Papa!? Mama!? Are you here, what's going on!?"
Nothing, not a single response. Mama and Papa weren't up stairs otherwise the maids would've been able to help me out, just what's going on?
"Tomoe?! Tomoe, dear!!"
Mama came dashing into the dining room from behind, she swept me off of my feet and into her arms, holding me tight sniffling while holding back tears.
"Darling." Papa Said. "Our homes location has been given to the king, it's sad to say but I'm afraid we're going to have to move..."
Papa's eyes weren't meeting mine, the look on his face tells me that he's just lost something he's been trying his hardest to protect.
"Papa..."
"Its okay Darling, we'll find a new place just like this one. Far, far away from the humans, we'll live in peace and never have to deal with them ever again, okay?"
I nodded, it's sad but understandable. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I think that the humans in the village went and dobbed us in to someone troubling.
Mama lead me back upstairs to my room, all Nine of her tails lifted up and started pointing in different direction, using magic to guide the clothes and other items in my room into suitcases and bags. Papa was still downstairs sorting things out with the maids, now I can't read minds or anything but I'm almost certain that Papa is going to burn this place to the ground, it is regrettable but if it keeps someone troubling out of our hair it is probably worth it.
"Mama, what exactly is Happening? Everybody's in a panic..."
"Dear, this morning Papa sensed a large army of strong people coming our way, since we aren't in a position to be organizing a counterattack we don't want to go through the trouble of dealing with them right now." Mama said as she rubbed her belly.
"Why don't I try fighting them then? I can beat Papa in battles now and have learnt almost everything there is to learn when it comes to magic and casting. Why don't you let me give it a try?" Lucky enough for me, pleading is something I'm actually good at in this life, but it doesn't seem to be as effective today as other days.
"My baby... I could never let you fight someone as horrible as humans, if they capture you who knows what they'll do to you. Humans are the most detestable creature on this earth, they cannot be trusted, they'll take advantage of you at every chance they get. They'll swindle you, bribe you and then betray you, there's no escaping a trap laid by a human once you're caught in it."
I guess in this world no humans can be trusted, that's most likely true because the village people are the only people who have discovered us so far, so they must've been the one to leak our location to the other. I definitely have to finish this myself, I was the one that let this all happen, I have to be the one to end it.
Right after Mama had finished packing everything in my room into luggage bags we made our way downstairs almost immediately where we met Papa, Jessica, Carol, and all the other maids waiting for us.
"Is everything packed and ready to go?" Papa asked Mama.
"Yes dear, all of Tomoe's belongings are in these bags. Shall we get going?"
Papa nodded, two of the maids held the doors open for us as we made our way out to a carriage that was already prepared and waiting for us outside.
"Master Satine, Lady Satsuki, Lady Tomoe, please step inside. Our journey will begin once we have finished "Cleaning" the house."
I'm getting the feeling that the "Cleaning of the house" doesn't mean making it look neater.
"Tomoe, you are not to open your eyes until instructed, alright?"
"Yes Papa." I said as I shut my eyes. I could feel Mama wrapping her arms around me and pulling me closer to her, her heart was beating hard but she was still managing to keep her calm.
Through my closed eye lids I could see the flickering orange light reflecting on my skin, all sorts of emotions began welling up inside of me. I could feel tears forming in my eyes, all of the years I've spent at this house creating memories with Mama and Papa, learning magic from Mama and duking it out with Papa, all of that was being burnt down without another thought.
I swear on my life, I will exterminate whoever did this to us, whoever the one was that leaked the information about us living in this forest and anyone else involved. They will regret not heeding our warnings and so god help them escape my wrath.
"Tomoe, you can open your eyes now dear."
Mama's grip on me loosened and I parted my eyes, looking out of the window I still saw trees, but no house, only the green, dense trees of the forest.
"Papa... where will we go?"
"To the neighboring kingdom we'll take a path through the back of this forest that leads into the demon kingdom, we'll take refuge somewhere there." Papa's face told me that something was wrong, it wasn't long after that before I could feel it as well.
"Papa, what's happening?"
"It's a barrier! Everyone stay inside of the carriage!!"
Papa rushed out of the door, grabbing his two swords. I watched through the window as he drew them both and readied himself for battle.
"I didn't realize the kingdom had such good mages!"
Papa's war face was on, he didn't wait for the enemy to approach him, he was on a hunt.
*
Satine's POV:
"I have to protect them, for Tomoe's sake!"
The Imperial Kingdom of Estyr, a kingdom that was once an ally and is now currently an enemy. They've been trying to find us ever since the Great War ended 60 years ago. Even after all we did for them, they still pursue us for our heads.
"There they are!"
A group of geared figures marching through the forest came into sight, they were about 200 meters away and closing. I had to take out the mage procuring the barrier so that Satsuki and Tomoe could escape.
150 meters
Closing in at rapid speed, I could smell them. The stench of human flesh, it's disgusting.
60 meters
"What's that?!?"
"Somethings moving at high speed toward's u-!"
0 meters
The severed head of a human went flying through the air, I could see the faces of about 20 other humans, all of which had yet to comprehend what had just happened to their comrade. I wasted no time making my next move, I got low to the ground and lopped of another human head, this time it was a young girls.
"Wh-What?! Anzel!!"
"He's here! Attack!!"
The cries of the humans only fueled me, these blood lusting creatures were out here to hunt my family. I must kill them all to protect my dear family.
Two spears thrust low towards me as I dashed towards my next target, I jumped over both spears and slashed at one of the spear unseres chests causing him to stumble back.
"Gods Chains!"
A mage had cast a binding spell, too bad it's only advanced tier at most. God's Chains is a spell that is supposed to hold the victim down and prevent them from moving by their own will, but it's easy to counteract if you are constantly moving .
"Goodbye little Mage."
First is was the mages wand arm, and then it was their head, the mage fell to the ground with a loud thud and ceased it's annoying incantations. Almost immediately after the mages death I felt another, much stronger, presence. One of which would be comparable to the Heroes back during the Great War.
"Looks like I've caught myself quite the big fish."
A man stepped out from behind a line of adventures, he was clad in full body armor, a tank. He was wielding a shield and heavy sword, from the looks of things he boasted points in strength and vitality only. I immediately went for the kill, not hesitating one bit, he was a threat so I had to eliminate him as quick as possible.
I struck right at his head, but the second my blade was supposed to connect with his neck he disappeared, leaving an afterimage for me to slice through.
"Ho, that was a close one. Didn't think you'd attack me that quickly."
What was supposed to be a heavy tank had just dodged my attack without even breaking a sweat, from all my years of experience I have never seen a tank out all of his training into agility.
"Welp, I guess it's time for me to go all out as well."
The tank lowered his stance and disappeared once again.
*
Tomoe's POV:
Papa has been gone for quite a while now, I can hear the faint sounds of sword clashing. I really hope he's alright.
"It's okay Tomoe, Papa will be fine." Meme reassured me, "that man has been through many battles and come out unscathed, he even stood up to me at one point hehe."
Both mine and Mama's ears pricked up, something was making its way towards us. It turned from just one thing, to multiple targets. They were surrounding the carriage on all sides, blocking off any possible escape routes.
"Stay inside the carriage with Tomoe, Jessica."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Wait, Mama where are you going?!"
"I'm jut going to squish a few bugs dear, don't worry."
Mama smiled back at me as she stepped out of the carriage. I gazed through the window and saw a lot of people stepping out of the shrubbery on all sides of the carriage.
"What do you all want?" Mama asked.
"Absolute Lockdown!"
A spell was being cast, it was a spell that used a lot of mana as well.
"Reverse."
The spell that was racing towards Mama had been cancelled in an instant, Mama had redirected the flow of Mana from towards herself back towards the caster. One of the hooded figures that stepped out dropped to the ground, unmoving.
"I'll ask again, what do you want?" Mama is getting seriously pissed and trust me, when mama's pissed she gets nasty.
"We have been requested by the King of Estyr himself to hunt you down and slay you."
Huh? Hunt us down and slay us? What have we done to the king to deserve being hunted and killed?
"Why? We haven't done anything to anyone, we've been living peacefully here for longer then your current king has been in power."
"You are dangerous war criminals from the Great War, it only makes sense for you to be executed for your actions during the Great War." The speaker was enticing Mama, I could already feel the Mana welling up all around the carriage, Mama was about to let loose.
"Dangerous... War... Criminals... ha... ha... Ha HAHAHA!!" Mama's hysterics laugh out everyone surrounding us off, they all took a step back and readied their weapons and spells.
"Fine then, if I'm a dangerous war criminal, let me show you what I'm capable of. Decay."
Mama's spell slowly started to erode away the anti-spell barriers protecting the soldiers.
"Attack her now! All X ranks should focus on attacking, everyone else protect them!"
The figure of mama going all out and using her tails to cast spells was amazing, but it wasn't enough. There were too many of them. Mama was being overrun by the sheer quantity of soldiers out there, the armored men got closer to her with their battle axes and attempted to slash at her. She dodged the first attack but got backed up right into another attack.
"Heh, that wasn't so hard was it?"
Mama was on the ground, but there was still a dense fog of mana surrounding the carriage.
"Suffocate."
That moment everyone in the general vicinity of the carriage began chocking, the fog was quickly dispersing, if Mama was in her prime she would've been able to hold this spell for ages but since she's pregnant most of her energy goes to supporting the life forming inside of her.
"Mama watch out!!"
One of the men with a long sword tried going for Mama's head, luckily she just managed to roll out of the way. I could see mama gasping for breathe herself, her body couldn't withstand using up any more energy before killing herself and the baby.
I tried breaking out of carriage but Jessica held me back.
"Huh, look this vixen has a brat, let's fuck her up in front of it so that it knows it's fate."
One of the men kicked Mama in her stomach then picked her up by her hair. My eyes were watering and my heart was hurting, I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to do something. The man held mama by one of her ears, he brought his sword close to it as she hung there.
"MAMAAAA!!"
He did it, he cut off Mama's ear. One of the things that I loved about her the most.
"Heh, what's a fox without it's ears? Maybe I should cut off one of your tails next!"
He reached down and grabbed on of her tales, I flailed around trying desperately to get Jessica off of me.
"JESSICA LET ME GOO!! I HAVE GO SAVE MAMA!!"
"You can't Lady Tomoe! If you go out there they'll kill you too!"
"BUR IF I JUST STAY IN HERE THEY'LL KILL ME AS WELL!! LET ME SAVE HER!!"
"..."
Jessica's grip loosened and I jumped out of the carriage right away.
"Oh look, the little pup is coming crying for her mama."
I could saw the Human men and Women slowly gather around me, I dashed over to mama's side and checked her breathing.
"D-Darling, get back... i-it's to dangerous for you to be out here..."
"Mama, it's okay! I'll fight them!"
"No... you can't... if they take you away I'll never forgive myself..."
Mama began coughing up blood.
"Please Tomoe, just go..."
Mama passed out, she was still just barely alive. I could feel my gears grinding, these humans had just come here and forced us to destroy our own home, they came here and forced both my father and mother to fight without any reason. Vengeance, death, destruction. My mind was being filled with these thought, all of the humans here needed to be eradicated.
"Wh-Whats happening?! Why is there so much mana collecting around that little girl?!"
All of the Soldiers backed away from me, except one. He charged right at me, but it was almost as if time stopped and granted me time to pray a silent prayer.
"EVERYONE ATTACK THAT GIRL!!"
Power surged through my body, I could see the strands of hair in front of my face turning darker blue, my nails were getting sharper and turning into claws and shackles were beginning to form around both my ankles and wrists, connected by loose chains, limiting my power. With this, I finally knew my purpose in this world.
"Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds."