Night had fallen in Pieta and all was quiet. Not a sound could be heard as the warriors and their Awakened allies awaited the onslaught to come. It was nerve-wracking; every last one of them could recognize the calm before the storm.
Many hands trembled in anticipation as several warriors among them broke out in a cold sweat.
Jean's unit was uncharacteristically calm in comparison to most others, but even they were admittedly nervous. It was only natural, as they were still human. Fear of death was how the species had survived for so long, after all.
Jean, herself, was especially antsy among them - fearing more for the life of her unborn child than anything. The same went for Clare - who'd been swapped over from Flora's team in exchange for Diana, as Miria felt that placing them on reserve would at least increase their chances of getting out of here alive without suffering a miscarriage.
There wasn't much the commander could do beyond that, though. She needed all the fighters she could get if anyone was going to get out of this alive.
Among everyone, only Riful and Ophelia were truly calm… though that term was being used rather loosely in the latter case. She was eager to fight, rocking a sadistic grin as she bounced around on the balls of her feet. The blonde simply couldn't sit still as she revelled in the thought of murdering hordes of Awakened Beings.
The latter, however, was especially confident. She knew more than anyone what her mate was capable of, and how much he loved his women. He'd be here the instant they called for his help and she knew it.
Both stood out in front of the warriors, completely nude and waiting to transform as soon as the fight started.
Soon enough, the earth started to shake. They were here...
Ophelia changed her form almost immediately, her legs morphing into a long tail - much like that of a snake. Her arms extended and sharpened, much like metallic claws, and multiple spikes protruded from her back. Then, with a maniacal cackle, she didn't even bother waiting for them to arrive as she leapt into the fray from half-way across the damn village.
Riful sighed. "Might as well try and keep that hot-blooded idiot from getting herself killed," she muttered. Then, her body seemingly split apart into ribbons, before blackening, extending, and scattering in all directions.
Taking a calming breath, Miria addressed the warriors assembled.
"Flora, Undine and Veronica Teams, step forward with mine!" she barked. "Jean Team, you're on standby; engage only when necessary!"
As they pulled out their claymores Teams Miria, Flora, Undine and Veronica all activated their Kyuubi cloaks. Jean's team followed suit, just in case, not wanting to take any chances.
"Engage!"
----
With the scouting party wiped out the day before, it had some minor setbacks. He didn't know the exact numbers of the opposition - something that was corrected when they used their yoki to fight them off. He knew they were going to die, the reckless idiots. But now that he knew who were the strongest were, he would have gone in by himself during the next attack and taken them out.
That was until Riful of the fucking West seemingly popped up out of nowhere! Making matters worse was a second Awakened woman - both of whom seemed to be helping the warriors?!
The plan had to be adjusted slightly. Instead of going in alone - doing so would have been suicide - Rigardo decided to use the remaining army as a distraction for the Abyssal One and her apparent companion while he went after the other strongest yoki signatures.
But, then, he felt the warriors' yoki surge to an absurd level - each signature doubling in potency at the least.
"WHAT?!" Rigardo's eyes narrowed as he took a moment to collect his thoughts. That was… mildly annoying. While certainly an unpleasant surprise, it would nonetheless prove to be but a minor setback.
With that out of the way, Rigardo transformed.
----
Miria froze, feeling a massive surge of yoki in the distance. "N-no… What is he doing here?!" Clicking her tongue, she addressed the other captains. "Watch yourselves! That yoki belongs to Rigardo, the Silver-Eyed Lion! He was Number 2 of his generation!"
Veronica jolted, suddenly feeling something right next to her. Before she could register the anthropomorphic lion standing next to her, several blades were sent forth quicker than the eye could see with the intent to cut the captain down… only to send her flying into a nearby building with an undignified squawk.
Rigardo blinked, thoroughly not expecting that result. Then, he noted that the odd aura surrounding his target had dissipated once she crashed through a stone wall and her yoki vanished. Apparently, her neck snapped on impact? There were several possibilities, but that seemed to most likely from his perspective. He frowned. A minor annoyance, indeed, but that thing was still a setback… he didn't like setbacks.
He then vanished before a furious Cynthia could lop his head off and seemingly reappeared before Undine. This one was more prepared for him, though, slashing at him with both swords the instant he stopped to engage.
She too had the odd aura around her… strange, indeed. He caught her swords with his claws and was shocked to be forced to a knee! The ground cracked beneath his feet!
What the hell is this?!
Growling the anthropomorphic lion forced Undine away and retreated to briefly to analyse the situation a bit more. So it wasn't just one or two that had this strange aura around them. Everyone had it!
So that was the cause of the surges he'd felt…
Seeing as how he'd failed to cut that first one, this aura clearly acted as some form of armour. It also apparently increased their perception, as even the weaker ones seemed to follow his movements a bit better than they should have been capable of.
He briefly glanced behind him; seems Riful and her awakened companion were distracted by his backup. For how long though, remained to be seen. The weaker one, in particular, seemed to be having the time of her life. He'd take to nipping this in the bud as fast as possible before they come back to help these hybrids.
Rigardo then blinked in surprise as he sensed one of them appearing behind him.
Miria roared as she brought her sword down in an overhead swing, only for her opponent to vanish and engage Flora. Said woman had quite the nasty surprise in store for him, though, as she unleashed her Windcutter upon him.
The feline awakened clicked his tongue in annoyance as he quickly retreated. Then, he circled around and tried to cut her down from behind only for Miria to appear again and charge him. Rigardo glared at her in annoyance and sent a few claws her way while he was at it.
Flora yelped, the claws sending her tumbling off to the side, but was otherwise unharmed as Miria seemed to phase through the attack sent her own way before fading from sight. Then, the commander reappeared next to Rigardo and took another swipe at him.
Rigardo caught her sword with his claws but before he could do anything he was forced to break off once again when Helen stretched her arm out in an attempt to behead him from the side. She quickly pulled back said arm before the anthropomorphic lion could retaliate.
The Awakened glared at her with irritation. This was more trouble than he thought. He disappeared in a blur of speed and appeared in front of Helen and slashed at her. The woman bared her teeth when his claws cut into her skin, but the cloak healed any damage dealt with her.
Then she was grabbed by the head. With a roar, Rigardo slammed her down onto the ground, headfirst were a resounding crack echoed through the air, before tossing her limp body through one of the buildings.
"HELEN!!!" A horrified Deneve screamed before she choked when Rigardo appeared before her. The woman raised her claymore to block the first several slashes, but eventually the lion-like awakened broke through her defence.
He backhanded her away and turned to face an enraged Clare, who roared in anger for her friend. Rigardo narrowed his eyes at her before he vanished in a blur of speed; Flora immediately jumped up and backflipped over Rigardo when he appeared behind her with an immediate swipe. His elongated claws missed her midsection by mere inches.
He vanished as the ground beneath him was cut to pieces. Courtesy of the Windcutter. When she landed Rigardo reappeared in front of her again; she had barely any time to react when his claw poked her on the forehead and swiped down.
Instead of splitting her in half down the middle, from head to groin as he'd intended, however, he only left a deep gash. The woman still fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, with the crimson aura around her body vanishing along with her yoki. To add insult to injury, he punted her aside, much like one would do to a football.
In a blur of speed, Rigardo disappeared from his spot, just before an enraged Clare and Lily could bring their claymores down on his head.
He appeared before Undine, grabbing the startled muscular woman by the arms. Then he brought his knee back and slammed it home in her groin throwing her several metres in the air. When she came back down Rigardo grabbed her by the throat before she could land.
With a menacing growl, Rigardo reared his head back and headbutted her. Just as Undine landed flat on her ass, Zelda charged in to protect her captain, only to receive a savage backhand for her troubles.
Using the resulting momentum, she spun around and delivered a pommel strike to his gut. Then, she felt something enter her own and collapsed in a heap as the five claws exited her torso. The gashes were too shallow for Rigardo's liking, especially as payback for that unrefined manoeuvre of hers, but it got the job done as her cloak and yoki vanished.
With one annoyance out of the way, the lion went after Undine once more. No. 11 was back on her feet when she felt it. A pain-filled gasp as five pairs of claws dug into her stomach.
With a growl, Rigardo lifted her off her feet and above his head. Then he swiftly brought her down head-first to the solid stone floor. A spray of blood covered the floor as he withdraws his claws in the harshest manner possible - giving the muscular woman several deep gashes that were rapidly healing.
Not on his watch!
With a roar, the Silver-Eyed lion grabbed the woman by the throat and the two disappeared. Much to the worry of her team and everyone else. They looked up, just in time to see her getting cut from shoulder to hip. Rigardo landed on his haunches with a limp, bleeding Undine falling behind him - only for him to turn around and roundhouse kick her into the wall of a house on the opposite end of the battlefield.
Three leaders taken out, two more to go.
Rigardo grinned menacingly at the hybrids when two awakened beings landed behind him. Some backup - finally! Not as many as he wanted, but considering the circumstances, he'll take what he can get.
"Oh, shit!" one of the women cursed aloud.
Both awakened beings were menacing looking. The one to the left of the Silver-Eyed lion was a giant, three-headed female with a series of tentacles sprouting from her arms. The one to his right was a humanoid male, with a series of metal-like plated armour covering his body. His arms formed two largely oversized blades.
As if a signal had been given, both Awakened Beings engaged the hybrids.
With them distracted, The Silver-Eyed lion went back into the fray.
He quickly spotted Jean and her team, fighting the three-headed female awakened. Narrowing his eyes he vanished once more in a blur of pure speed and reappeared in front of her. Before he could attack, the anthro-lion was interrupted by a few of her team plus one more. Clare charged in with her sword held high and tried to decapitate him while Natalie and Eliza went for his legs.
Rigardo, however, easily punted Eliza, before stretching his arms out to Natalie and Clare.
"Look out!" the latter yelled, easily evading the blades. The former was not so lucky, though.
Natalie coughed up blood, collapsing in a heap as his blades left her body. Her yoki and cloak vanished as a pool of blood spread beneath her prone form.
Rigardo looked at Clare with mild interest. "Interesting… Most people are cut down before they even see my attack coming." Then, he swiftly evaded as Miria popped out of nowhere and tried again to cut him down, only for him to vanish from sight.
He reappeared on the roof of a building and found his back up were engaging several teams. With him removing three of the captains and some others, they didn't have as much trouble engaging them than they would have.
He decided to employ some hit and run attacks while they were distracted. He vanished from the roof in a burst of speed. Seeing as they had those auras around them like armour, maybe if he focused yoki into his attacks then it would be more effective?
It was quick and sudden. Lily was the first one to fall - seeing when she was busy engaging the enemy. Rigardo appeared behind her and rammed his fist through her heart. Her aura and yoki disappeared the moment he did that, and the lion pulled his fist from her bloodied torso.
She was dead before she hit the ground.
Wendy was next; Rigardo appeared in front of her and uppercut his claws up through her chin and into her brain.
He was quick to get out of there when the surviving members of their team retaliated. Clare was furious, as she was glaring at him with such hatred in her eyes.
Claudia was impaled through the torso by the bladed Awakened Being when she was distracted. She was cut in half from the torso up. Courtesy of said Awakened Being who dragged his blade arm up and through her head.
Diana, meanwhile, fell victim to a sneak attack by the three-headed one - grabbed by the ankle and flung through the roof and several floors of a nearby building.
While she was at it, said Awakened had one tentacle wrapped around Juliana's neck and revelled in watching her slowly choke to death while grabbing Matilda with two more and ripping her in half.
Deneve and Clare wailed in unadulterated rage as they ganged up on her. Clare's quick Sword did most of the work before the three-headed one knew what happened. But, by the time Deneve was able to extract Juliana from her grasp, it was too late.
With a trembling hand, the short-haired woman closed her comrade's eyes.
While certainly maimed, the awakened was unfortunately still alive and lashed out at the women, but they dodged her attack quite readily. She was shredded to pieces for her troubles.
Karla leapt away from the blade that threatened to bisect her. She only had time to widen her eyes when she felt a clawed hand press down on her scalp. She twitched as Rigardo drove his fingers through the top of her skull and into her brain. When he removed his claws he spartan kicked the woman to the ground and took grim satisfaction as she slid across the ground.
He looked to the side and saw Jean; he narrowed his eyes at her before he vanished from his spot.
To Clare's horror, he reappeared behind Jean and brought in his claws with the intention of beheading her!
"JEAN!"
The No. 9 flinched, feeling the massive amount of yoki behind her and subconsciously poured her yoki into the seal.
"Grrr!"
Jean quickly turned around and recoiled when she saw how close his yoki enhanced claw was to taking her head off. The only thing stopping that attack from connecting was her lover's hand tightly clamping down on Rigardo's wrist. And he shot the coldest glare she had ever seen at the feline Awakened.
And when he showed up, everyone stopped.
There was something in the air. A pressure that weighed on their shoulders.
The blond was different. Everyone could see that. Before he was friendly and cheerful, but now Naruto was so angry and full of rage it honestly took everyone by surprise.
Rigardo immediately distanced himself from Naruto when the blond released his wrist. He stared at him warily. He could feel the amount of yoki emitting from this seemingly normal boy, but it was enough to give him pause and not much else.
Strangely, the boy's yoki was familiar to him; the anthropomorphic lion did not know why, however. Then, the ground and sky switched places several times and there was a loud "gong" as Rigardo slammed into one of the local cathedral's bells.
With that fucker out of his way for the moment, Naruto took note of his surroundings. Seeing Natalie face-down in her own blood nearly made him go berserk, right then and there, the women present flinching at the sheer malice they felt coming off of him in waves. But, then, he took a calming breath and placed his hands in a very familiar seal.
A massive poof of smoke appeared in the courtyard and dozens of clones sprung forth, each one scooping up the nearest woman to him, alive, unconscious and dead - as well as their swords - before vanishing from sight. Riful and Ophelia were taken away as well; he didn't want them to get caught in this mess.
Rigardo reappeared behind Naruto and brought his claws in to impale the blond. Naruto nonchalantly sidestepped to the left, before grabbing at the arm and shoulder tossing the SIlver-Eyed lion to the ground in front of him.
The bladed-armed awakened jumped in front of him, bringing his swords down on the blond. However, he effortlessly caught them and the male awakened's eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw they didn't even break the skin!
Naruto scowled, brought up his foot and kicked him. The force behind the kick and the grip the blond had on the awakened's arms had left said awakened armless. It didn't get a chance to do much else when Naruto gave him his arms back.
By throwing them.
Like a javelin.
The result was messy. It was impaled in the head and torso and the bladed arms kept going through it before it ended up in the town's wall a ways away behind it.
----
Further south, in a makeshift campsite where Luciela and Rafaela were staying, the sisters in question jumped at the sight of so many Naruto's suddenly appearing around them - each carrying a woman in one state or another of utterly fucked up. Some were obvious corpses, Rafaela noted solemnly.
Riful and Ophelia shifted back to human form and the clones checked out their respective charge for injuries and the like.
Those he confirmed as dead were lined up in a row to the side, one by one… one in particular, however, resulted in everyone, even Riful being immediately floored by the sheer wave of malice ant outright hate that suddenly permeated the air around them.
With a heavy heart, the clone radiating ill intent placed the corpse of a dear, though short-lived lover alongside those of Matilda and Wendy, before dispelling to let the boss know what happened to her.
"...The boss is going to be really pissed off about this." one of the other clones warned them.
Then, just like the day before, everyone among the surviving warriors was sent into a panic as a massive discharge of yoki flooded the continent. This wasn't that of Naruto's Four-Tails Version 2, though; no… it was bigger...and much, much angrier. Again, even Riful was floored and now trembling at the sheer potency and malice she felt from literal miles away.
"W-What is that?" Clare shakingly asked.
"The Nine-Tailed Cloak," one of the clones said ominously. "This one's a version he just recently mastered. It's basically the complete version of that Four-Tailed one. Only, well, bigger."
"How much bigger?" an alarmed Miria asked.
"You all how big Riful was when she transformed? The Nine-Tailed Cloak is a lot bigger than that."
----
Seconds ago, back in Pieta, Naruto sent Rigardo flying with a savage uppercut, resulting in a second gong, as the awakened found his cranium making contact with the church same bell, yet again. A few of the lion's friends also joined in, having been freed up of their previous opponents.
But, then, everything went to hell as Naruto received a flood of memories from a recently-dispelled shadow clone. He went wide-eyed before his eyes narrowed in an ice-cold glare. Just like that, no one moved a muscle as the sheer hatred they felt in the air made it hard to breathe, let alone anything else. Then, the most massive yoki surge any of them had ever felt flooded the continent as the blond seemed to… awaken?
First, a series of nine tails sprouted from his spine, extending to many times his side, then, his legs and torso morphed and enlarged, followed by his arms and head. Before any among the Awakened Army knew what happened, a colossal, nine-tailed fox towered head and shoulders over even the tallest among them.
Like a rat before a snake, none of the awakened in the town could do anything but stare in shock and awe. "Normally, I'm a laid back kind of guy." said creature stated. Then, its expression became deadly serious. "Not many things manage to piss me off. But those that do don't long enough to regret it!"
With that said, a small series of little, black balls started accumulating and gathering before his face. The ball, literally as big as a house, then shrank - the force of this energy's condensation resulted in everything within ten meters being flattened, except for the frightening beast who then snatched the horse-sized ball in his jaws.
They wanted to run… Every last awakened in the town could feel that they had just unknowingly stepped into the gates of hell, that they would die if they didn't run. But they couldn't move! Two of them fell over, having literally died of fright before they could actually see what had inexplicably terrified them so.
And then, the fox opened his jaws, yelling, "NOW, DIE! BIJUUDAMA!"
No one on the continent was prepared for the blast that could be felt throughout… none of them could be.
----
Seconds ago, farther in the North, Isley, the White SIlver King, felt the massive surge of yoki and the malice it contained. By the twin goddesses of Love, it was bigger than anything he'd ever sensed! The One-Horned Monster's yoki was like a child compared to this!
Then he saw the colossal Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly appear in the town of Pieta.
Oh… fuck. The damn thing was huge! You could literally see it coming a few miles away! Was this damn Awakened bigger than a mountain?!"Normally, I'm a laid back kind of guy." Isley heard the Awakened calmly say; god, he can hear him all the way here?! Then it became deadly serious. "Not many things manage to piss me off. But those that do don't long enough to regret it!"
Then Isley went stiff as he felt another build-up of yoki. There was more?! He could see it physically manifest in front of the Awakened's mouth, then shrink, before he took it into his mouth.
Then he watched him opening his mouth, bellowing, "NOW, DIE! BIJUUDAMA!"
Then, the explosion came. The shockwave knocked Isley off his horse and flat on his ass with an undignified thud. "What the holy hell was that?!" Generally speaking, Isley was quite a calm and collected man. Nothing got to him, for the most part. But even he had his limits, and seeing something like this for the first time was bound to affect him.
He looked to his left and found him… 'consort' in all but name, off her own horse and in the snow on her rear end as well. She was staring at the resulting explosion in wide-eyed awed fascination.
Understandable, considering she never saw something of this magnitude.
He wasn't expecting someone to answer him, however.
"That would be the boss wiping out your so-called 'army', White Silver King."
Both Isley and Priscilla quickly looked in the direction the voice came from. A teenage boy, around Priscilla's age, was standing there at arm's length. The man blinked at the boy, asking, "'the boss', you say?"
"I'm a clone of his. A copy," he replied. "And before any of you get any 'smart' ideas, I have half of his power and I can use all of the abilities the original has." he looked at them with a dead, serious expression. "That includes transforming into that giant fox you both see ahead of you."
"I see," Isley replied. "I take it you're here to deliver a message, then?"
"Well… here's the thing - quite a few people, all of them being 'silver-eyed witches' mind you, where lovers of the boss…" A bubbling crimson cloak with three tails manifested over the clone. Making the whiskers more pronounced, his nails to lengthen into claws, and his canines to grow and his eyes became a crimson red with a vertical slit that reminded him of a fox. "You get what I'm saying… dead meat?"
The King of the North was many things, but he was no fool. Clearly, he had just inadvertently provoked something many times as terrifying as his consort. "...Yes." What more could he say in this situation?! "I will make it a distinct point to refrain from antagonizing you further."
"I'm afraid it's far, far too late for that." the clone grimly drawled; much to Isley's profound displeasure. Then, the bubbling red cloak dispersed and all his features turned back to normal. The clone shrugged nonchalantly. "But, I'm a reasonable person. It's the boss that wants both of your heads on a platter."
Priscilla blinked and cocked her head. Had Naruto - and the clone, by extension - been in a better mood, he'd have found that rather cute.
Isley, on the other hand, was white as a sheet.
"To drive home how utterly fucked you are, the boss is capable of taking on tens of thousands of super-powered beings - beings who are capable of reshaping landscapes and win."
After that display, he was unusually inclined to believe such a claim.
"Um… Why is he angry with me?" Priscilla asked.
"By association with this idiot." the clone replied, jerking a thumb at said idiot. "Unless your awakened form is of a purple, winged, one-horned humanoid. Then, it's because two of the boss's lovers have an axe to grind with you; but, that's only if you have said form of course."
Well, that wasn't good news, Isley realised. As if he needed more reasons to be alarmed…
"I can assure you that I am no fool," Isley stated calmly, attempting to diffuse the situation. "Had I known that your… the boss had lovers who could have been potentially hurt in my campaign, we'd have simply gone around and not engaged."
"In your defence, you didn't know. I get that…" the clone paused, and looked ahead to stare at the large mushroom cloud that was once Pieta. "...but I gotta ask: how long were you building up this army? Were you even watching what happened yesterday?"
"Some time," Isley stated. "However, my men were under strict orders not to provoke the source of that yoki, if they found it."
"That source of yoki, as you found out by now, was me. I'm honestly surprised you sensed one of my weaker transformations this far out." the clone looked at him again, "You must have realised something was wrong? The source of yoki didn't attack the hybrids. That must've told you something."
Isley shrugged. "It's not unheard of for an Awakened to simply keep to themselves unless they're attacked." he pointed out. "We had simply assumed you were one such case."
The clone scoffed, "You assumed wrong. And I'm not an awakened by the way. I'm one-hundred-per cent human - a unique one, mind you, but human."
"I see…" Isley replied. Internally, he was wondering how the hell a human could attain such power - let alone at such a young age. Unique, indeed…
Then the clone gave the awakened beings a big grin. "Oh by the way, whenever a clone dispels itself their memories go back to the original." he looked at Priscilla and pointed at her, "You might get spared by the boss because you're cute."
Priscilla blinked, bewildered. "Uh…"
"Bye, now." and with that, the clone dispersed itself.
Suddenly, the fox's head snapped in their direction and heard him yell in the distance.
"ISLEY!!! YOUR ASS IS MINE! COME SOUTH AND I WILL KILL YOU!!!"
...Needless to say, the man in question opted not to go south, for now.
----
A few moments later, several women were still a bit shaken as Naruto returned. He couldn't blame them, to be honest, as he plopped down before the seven women confirmed to be dead. and started scribbling something in a scroll of his.
Miria, unable to help herself, cautiously approached, asking, "so… what are you doing?"
Naruto didn't look up from what he was doing, but replied politely, nonetheless. "Preparing to store their bodies away so we can find a better place to bury them than a random-ass campsite in the woods." He explained. "You mind getting their swords for me?"
"Very well," she said slowly. The commander hadn't the foggiest clue as to how doodling in a scroll would help him prepare to store their dead but figured she'd see soon enough. This man was nothing if not full of surprises, after all.
Miria got the swords of the fallen one by one and placed them beside their former owners. Then she and the others waited to see what the blond was going to do next.
Naruto unfurled the scroll so that there was an odd drawing at t the feet of each corpse. Each one was quite elaborate - some manner of an abstract circular array of symbols the women had never seen before. Then, Naruto spoke up. "These are storage seals," he explained, then he took a moment to think about how to properly elaborate. "Simply put, they will place our friends here and their swords in a pocket dimension that… acts like a storehouse, I guess, where they will be preserved until we find a more suitable place to bury them. Once we do, I'll summon them back to this world."
Then, Naruto went through a series of hand seals, and slammed his hands down with a shout of "Fuin!"
Immediately, the women's remains and their swords went op in smoke with a "poof" as the clouds were seemingly sucked into the drawings, which then changed, the kanji for "friend" appearing in the centre of each. Once that was done, he rolled up the scroll, tucked it away, and took a look at the crowd, most notably the women being treated by his clones.
Flora was in especially bad shape. And thanks to the deep gash Rigardo gave to her from head to groin her bodysuit was ruined. She was going to take a while to heal up, so moving here would be ill-advised until she was at least more stable. Same went for Helen and Undine. Though the former was in much better shape. Naruto sighed tiredly with a shrug. "I guess your job is done? If anyone wants to go back or whatever, feel free to do so. If you don't however, then you can stay with me. I'll provide whatever you need, including protection from the Organization if you need it, even if you're not one of my lovers." He then stretched. "For now, I need to rest… I've been through a lot, all things considered."
With that, he walked off to a little tent he'd had Rafaela set up earlier and slipped into it. Riful followed him in without a word, seeking to comfort her lover, as he clearly needed it, while Ophelia and Luciela took it upon themselves to keep watch.
It was then that Miria realized she was in the presence of another Abyssal. Needless to say, she and a few others suddenly felt a bit nervous about that.
"Uh…"
Luciela blinked and looked at them, then gave them an amused smile at their well-warranted nervousness.
"Don't worry; I won't bite. Well… unless you actively try to piss me off." she paused, musing thoughtfully, "...or my mate tells me to." she started giggling girlishly, much to the embarrassment of her younger sister. "Oh… how kinky of me. I wonder if Naruto-Sama would be up for that later on?"
"Will you behave?" Rafaela groaned, whiningly and pleadingly. "Seriously, it's like you're a completely different person ever since he fucked you."
Luciela shrugged. "What can I say? I really needed to get laid..." Then, she went back to keeping watch, amusedly noting the abundance of suddenly-flustered women. "Seems a few others need it, too~"
"Luciela!" her sister growled. "There are a time and place for that, but it's not now."
Said ginger shrugged. "Alright, alright, I'll go back to keeping watch."
Rafaela exhaled in relief only for her eye to twitch when one of the hybrids, Cynthia if her memory was correct, said in embarrassment and utter bewilderment.
"Naruto fucked Luciela of the South?!?" Immediately after saying that, the pigtailed girl slapped her hands on her mouth and turned beet red, unable to believe she'd actually said that.
Said Abyssal just laughed at the utter perplexment she could feel in the No. 14's voice.
----
The next day, the organization was having a shit fit. Not only did they lose 24 of their warriors in one night, but according to their newly-graduated trainee, Renee, the bulk of them were with this boy, Galatea went missing, Rafaela and Ophelia were on his side, too, and Luciela of the motherfucking South was travelling with them, as well!
Including the losses of Eva and her unit, that was a total of 34, thirty-fucking-four lost over two weeks! To make matters worse, most of them were defects! This Naruto was proving to be quite the thorn in their collective ass; something had to be done about him!
"How troublesome," Rimuto muttered, "This boy will undoubtedly be our downfall, should he not be promptly dealt with. Would you happen to have any ideas, Dae?"
Day, a hooded man whose face was half-missing, crossed his arms and hummed in contemplation. "Alicia and Beth are simply not ready to deal with someone of his calibre," he replied. "They're only ninety-per cent complete to deal with the Abyssal Ones, and even then, the fact that two of them have teamed up - with the boy, no less - would mean that sending them off against him is nothing short of suicide. For all we know, he might somehow manage to seduce them, as well - just to add insult to injury. Quite the troubling conundrum, to be sure. Any idea where he came from? He is not of this continent."
"He is not from the mainland. That much I know." Rimuto answered, "We would have either won or lost this war with the Dragonkin, otherwise."
Dae scowled as best he could with only half a pair of lips. "Perhaps there is another continent, farther out? He has to be from somewhere! Possibly with enemies, we could bribe? If he's not from the mainland then this boy is clearly a long way from home."
The leader of the Organization grew a thoughtful frown, one that did not go unnoticed by the others.
"Something on your mind, Rimuto?" Rubel asked.
"...To the West, there is another continent that is inhabited." the man replied, lacing his fingers. "We never did make contact with the locals, however."
The handlers all exchanged looks of surprise, this was the first time they had ever heard of this!
"Why was this not brought to our attention sooner?" Orsay demanded; the mere idea there was another continent and they didn't even know about it infuriated him!
"Because you were not eligible to know." the man bluntly answered. "Neither of you were. But… if my suspicions of this 'Ladykiller Naruto' being from that continent are true…"
"What can you tell us about this continent? Surely the Mainland must've sent a reconnaissance party over there?"
"As I've said," Rimuto replied, "We have yet to make contact with them. The recon team we sent to the less-populated northern regions were constantly stalked by men and women in odd clothing and porcelain masks. Seeing as how they seemed unfriendly, we decided to leave them be, as the Dragonkin were a troublesome enough enemy on their own." The leader then sighed. "But, desperate times call for desperate measures. We should send an envoy to try and make contact with them. Perhaps, those in the southern areas would be more… talkative."
----
Two weeks later, on a scenic cliff just north of Nile Village, seven bodies covered in tarps lay before Naruto and his many travelling companions as his clones dug their graves.
This would do, quite nicely; he'd have to reward Luciela later for recommending this place. It was quite pretty, after all. Off to the side, there was a delta with four nice waterfalls and there were several beautiful patches of wildflowers peppered throughout the lightly-wooded area. The cliff itself faced westward, allowing for a nice view of the setting sun and the area always had roughly the same, tropical weather year-round.
Naruto smiled a sad smile. It would do quite nicely, indeed…
Once the clones were done, Naruto started placing the girls in, one by one. First, Claudia to the left, then Juliana to the right. Then, he did the same for Wendy and Matilda, respectively; then Lily and Karla… Finally, Naruto winced as he personally scooped up Natalie and gently placed her in the centre.
It hurt… Not even twelve hours, and their short-lived relationship ended in tragedy. Still, he had to thank Miria for that scheme of hers. He'd have lost more lovers had it not been for her. Then, he placed a red rose on her corpse and buried the women. As per tradition, the women's sword was placed upon their graves as markers.
Looking over his shoulder, one last time at Natalie's grave, Naruto gave her a sad smile. "I'll see you on the other side, Natalie. Rest in peace." With that, he turned and walked away as the other girls paid respect to their fallen comrades.
A melancholy thirty minutes later, Jean hugged her man tight. He smiled appreciatively and rubbed her back, as they both needed the comforting. Try as he might tell her that she wasn't to blame, Jean kept beating herself up over "being a bad captain" because Natalie had died trying to protect her. Still, she was starting to feel better; saying goodbye to her teammate seemed to bring her at least some closure.
While it still hurt, she'd get over it… eventually.
Naruto let out a tired sigh as he and his allies travelled down the path to Nile Village. "Any ideas about what to do next?" he asked, making a mental note to check on Riful. The damn girl had been getting rather cranky, as of late. He wondered why that was…? Maybe he needed to give her some more nookie time?
She did seem to get jealous around Luciela, but the two did well to avoid each other, so that seemed unlikely to be the cause. She also complained a lot about getting hungry, as of late.
"Kit, you are denser than a box of rocks, some times," Kurama muttered. "Can't you smell it? You do have enhanced senses, after all."
"Smell what?"
"The same scent that came off Jean when you met back up with her in Pieta."
Naruto paused in mid-step. "...Holy shit, Riful is pregnant!" he shouted in realization, before running off to look for her. A woman was already scary enough when expecting - one who ate people and was capable of singlehandedly razing villages to the ground, however, was... not to be left alone, to say the least!
Meanwhile, back with the girls, Miria… had never been so terrified in her life. Nevermind the fact that she'd never heard of an Awakened becoming pregnant; they never grouped up, really, so that came as no surprise. But the fact that they could conceive spelt all sorts of trouble for humanity.
"...Why do I get the feeling he just inadvertently got us all killed?" Helen flatly questioned no one in particular.
Jean and Clare exchanged a glance and ran after the blond in question, while Eliza, Emilia, and Diana started feeling a bit worried as well. However, they stayed with the others. They weren't as confident in being next to a possibly cranky Riful.
"S-Should we follow?" Yuma asked.
"That… is an excellent question," Tabitha replied.
"Raise your hand if you're all for following, but at a running distance?" Undine suddenly asked everyone; she was brave, but not stupid. Checking on the situation at least would be advised, however.
Flora raised hers. "A wise course of action, I think." not to mention she owed Naruto her life. Literally; his cloak saved her from getting cleaved in twain back in Pieta. Furthermore, she'd have bled out, had it not been for his healing. The least she can do is check on him. And… relieve his stress… if he needed it... yeah.
Cynthia also felt inclined to help - more due to her kind heart than anything, though the crush she was developing was certainly a factor, at the very least. "I'll go, too," she said, raising her hand.
Veronica also raised hers, seeing Cynthia's real intentions from a mile away. Best make sure the girl didn't do something reckless. "Same, here."
Deneve and Helen raised their hands - the latter inclined to join the fun, as usual, the former being practically glued to her hip. Seeing the safety in numbers, Eliza, Emilia, and Diana raised their hands as well, followed by Zelda, Pamela and Queenie.
After that, Miria was notably surprised as everyone essentially volunteered - even the timid Yuma joined in, and though she hadn't raised her hand, Tabitha looked at her expectantly. If her captain was going, so was she and Miria knew it. "Very well, then," the former Number 6 said. "Let's keep tabs on the situation. If Riful starts getting out of control, we should at least try and evacuate the village."
Five minutes and a brief sound of combat later, the women who'd followed at a much slower and more cautious pace were treated to quite the sight. Poor Rafaela lay face-down, ass up and utterly looking like hell as Luciela, Jean, and Clare fussed over an equally-dishevelled, but still conscious Naruto cradling Riful.
The Abyssal loli was out cold, as well, and no less than three surrounding buildings had been wrecked. Off in the distance were several awestruck and terrified onlookers clearly scared as fuck of the "little girl" in Naruto's arms.
Fortunately, there were no casualties from whatever the fuck had just happened.
"What the hell happened here?" a bewildered, wide-eyed Miria asked.
"Riful didn't take the news rather well…" Naruto made a face before spitting out blood, who knew the loli could hit so hard? "I think she had a panic attack, which led to… well… this."
"She seems to have fainted," Luciela added, visibly relieved. "Hate to admit it, but the little bitch can be scary when she feels like it."
"You have no idea," Jean muttered. What Riful had put her through was still giving the former Number 9 no shortage of nightmares. How she recovered from that with the help of Clare was nothing short of a miracle.
Eliza ran forth and asked Jean, "is he going to be okay?"
"Our man can take quite a beating," she replied, "he'll be fine."
"She's telling the truth." Naruto told the worried Eliza with an amused chuckle, "I've had a fist shoved through my chest and out my back, twice... as well as a broken neck. Been lit ablaze, impaled, beaten within an inch of my life. Had my skin burnt off and regrown several times. My hands impaled, and I almost did die at one point..." he frowned thoughtfully, "Now that I think of it, how the hell am I still alive?"
Eliza, Jean and Clare didn't feel very comfortable hearing that. The poor man! No wonder he left home...
Undine shifted uncomfortably, as well... but for entirely different reasons, as she tried very hard not to openly drool over such badass claims.
"I see..." Miria muttered. All of them sounded painful. She had been unfortunate enough to have had her limbs cut off during her early ventures as a warrior, so she can relate somewhat. But she never had someone shove their fist through her ribcage before. "So… what now?"
"Well, that's up to you," Naruto told the former warrior of the Organization. "It's been two weeks and I didn't hear your decision on what you're all going to do."
"I'd personally rather discuss that in private," she replied with a shrug. Surely, this boy would be quite helpful in bringing down the Organization, but she needed to be sure he was on her side. "Either way, I'm with you, for the time being."
"Then, so am I," Tabitha inserted, stepping forth next to Miria.
Helen and Deneve stepped forth as well, joining the smaller group of girls surrounding Naruto. Their decision was abundantly clear. Flora followed suit, saying, "I owe you my life, twice over. Feel free to do with me as you will."
The blond blushed. "Uh… thanks?" He suddenly felt a bit awkward. "You don't have to go that far. The fact that you're grateful is enough for me."
The wavy-haired woman smiled, only encouraged by his kindness. "I know I don't. But I want to."
Miria's eye twitched at the blatant offer Flora was giving the boy. "E-either way, I'm sure we're all with you for the time being. If we try to leave, it's only a matter of time before the Organization hunts us down as defectors."
"In other words - you're using me as a meat shield." at the accusation in his tone towards her, Miria grew alarmed and was about to reassure him she wasn't doing that - even though she totally was, only for him to shrug with a look of total indifference. "Meh. You're not the first person to do that. Certainly won't be the last. Certainly sick of it, but what can I do?" Then, he gave her an evil grin. "You are one of the sexier ones to do it, though." Then, he chuckled heartily at her expression. "Damn, I needed that. But seriously though, it's fine. Just make sure to get along and pull your weight. We have a lot of people to keep track of, now, and a few of them are pregnant, so food, shelter and protection are gonna be essential."
Miria nodded as she agreed wholeheartedly with that. She was also relieved the male didn't mind her using him as a… meat shield against the Organization. But, still… "We, you say?" He did seem to emphasise the word for a reason...
"You're a good leader and tactician," Naruto clarified, "you're also better with logistics than I am; hell I suck at it. My battle plan is pretty much always hit them until they die. Hasn't killed me yet, but I know how useful having a good strategist or economist onboard can be." Then he gave her an impish grin. "I'm your meat shield, you're my secretary: that a reasonable trade-off?"
The blonde could have done without it being worded so crudely, but nodded. "Very well… I'm not required to call you Naruto-Sama, am I?"
"Not unless you want to," Naruto chuckled. "I'm not that mean."
Miria sighed in relief.
Flora, however, giggled. "So, where to, Naruto-Sama?"
Said blond raised an eyebrow at her. So, she was a playful one, eh? Interesting... "Finding a place to stay is our first priority. Riful needs to rest after the shock I gave her and Rafaela's gonna need a room, as well."
With that, he lifted Riful up into a bridal carry and was off to find an inn - Luciela following him after scooping up Rafaela.