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Kuzunoha had spent the majority of her time in defense of the Church. It held answers and she didn't want to pry them from a pile of rubble.
While she was busy defending the Church, she caught the eyes of most of the villagers. Her bright figure was something they had never witnessed in all their years. The shield that protected them stopped every arrow and every blast from the enemy. Extending over the church, repulsive shield layers protected every stone.
The fighting nearby was solved quickly but she was busy on the other side of the Vilage, her interests were under attack.
The Villagers each had tales that contributed to the understandings of the words written on the church walls and scriptures. She wasn't interested in being their savior but she was forced into the situation quickly, so many soldiers were coming to kill the Villagers. Kuzunoha was angry and minding her own business, she sighed. "Fine."
A Spellcircle shifted in her hands, it was one she had been working on. Fire wrapped the rim and as she moved forward, a burning light of Whitefire revolved in a hoop. Small motes of light traveled around its edge and caught the lifting force out and toward the incoming soldiers. The Whitefire acted like a drilling shield, churning and grinding against the soldiers in her way.
There was only a single platoon remaining in her path. They charged toward her to their deaths, unknowingly they had rushed to their graves. The rotation speed of the fire was enough to incinerate rock, their bodies were like tofu and scattered like fertilizer in the grasses. Only the smell of burnt hair hung in the air briefly.
A cheering could be heard from behind her, it was unlike the people of the Satyr village. They all knelt in reverence and began to chant incessantly.
"Dammit." Kuzunoha lost her train of thought and stormed off to the Bar.
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Vector tried his best to see if freezing the intruders would allow him to store their bodies away before they turned into stones. Only those that were broken apart seemed to make it through the process, more than half had turned into tiny spirit stones. A few swords and pieces of armor were present but none of them seemed high quality.
In the corner on the loud man's unconscious and half frozen body, Vector found a bag of spirit stones from the Satyr Village or its neighbors. There were several hundred in total and many of them were slightly different.
Stripping the man bare while he was bleeding from the head was simple enough. Losing such a good set of clothes would have been a loss. 18 thousand thread count sheets or silk wouldn't feel as smooth. 'Luxury and villains always go together.' He saw a necklace on the man and slowly took it off. "Hey, have a look at this." Vector threw it to Wu Hai.
"Yeah, Alright. But don't expect me to do any of the cleanup outside either, not until I'm finished with this drink." Wu Hai scanned the charm with senses and found several formations in the stone with a string run through it. He wasn't sure what the string was made of but it was tough enough for him not to have broken it in his fingers. "Well, its certainly something. I'll have Misozi and Qu compare it to the other items we have on file.
"Resisting!?" A yell came from outside of the Bar. After a thudding noise by the door, there was a loud explosion noise in the distance and more sounds of battle.
The door slowly opened and a soldier covered in blood fell over. His body shrank under a dim light and he turned into a stone. A hand reached through the doorway, it was smooth and milky.
Vector grabbed it and pulled, Mursayade fell through the doorway and into his arms. "Hell-ohh bae-bae."
She wiggled free and laughed. She slapped him with three of her hands and spun into an upright position. "I found a patrol nearby, they followed Misozi for a while but eventually she had to turn back. They were easy enough to deal with but there were a lot of them."
"So hunting was good?" Wu Hai raised his glass.
"Is he drunk?" Mursayade grabbed a stool and sat down. "Pass me a glass." She caught it one it had been poured and took a sip. "Too bad we don't have any Cigars, its nice and cool in here."
"Cigars? Why? If you really want to smoke, I have a few crates of blunts from Lonestar City." he pulled four out and passed three to Mursayade.
"Blunts.. you actually think that these will have an effect here?" She questioned the use.
"You wanted something to smoke, I don't have cigars. If you don't want them.. pass them back." Wu Hai wasn't afraid to retrieve them.
Mursayade put two away and lit the last one with a candle. "No.. this will do just fine now that you mention it." She inhaled sharply and passed it to Vector. "Don't get it wet."
Vector laughed but it was a real possibility with all the frost that was covering him. He absorbed it as best he could but it was a thing that had already passed and could only be cut off at the source.
"Its been two months, when do you think Honey will be back?" Vira was coming through the doorway, she saw the spirit stones littering the floor. "Oh.. I guess I missed the fun."
"Nah, just cleaning up some trash. If you want, come sit down and have a drink." Mursayade passed the blunt over the Vira.
The two of them had been getting closer the more they fought alongside each other.
A booming noise from outside sounded. The whole group knew exactly what had happened. They clanked their glasses together and stood by the doorway, waiting.
"M▓therfu▓king son's of f▓cking b▓stard ▓ss god▓amn fu▓king piece of sh▓t assh▓les!" The group could hear cursing, Kuzunoha's cursing. She was terrible at it.
"She must have been busy." Vira commented right before the door was kicked open.
"How are piss ants like this able to slaughter these people? They were so weak I almost felt bad for killing them, but they were attacking the church." Kuzunoha's face twisted in disappointment.
There were some Satyrs still huddling in the back, fearful of the scenes they had just witnessed. The Red Ape race was brutal in their attacks against the Satyrs. "We are not nearly as fast, only our Ancestors have the power to stop them but they come only in times of great danger"
"This is everyday danger, they wouldn't come for something as small as one village being attacked." Another of the Satyrs stood up and came forward. "We know we are weak, so we run."
"Well, your people certainly don't make it easy to respect them. Its no wonder you're targeted, you're not just prey, you're easy prey." Kuzunoha was losing her patience. "Tell me everything you know about the Ancestors. If you do, I'll send you to a place you never have to worry about this sort of thing again."
"..." The one speaking stopped moving his mouth and left it hanging open for a moment. His voice was dry but he managed to speak, "You would take us from this place?"
"Its not impossible." Wu Hai held up a Dimensional Key Card. "Besides, my friends, If the Empress says something to be, then, it will." He took another drink from his glass and stood up, stumbling.
"Are you Drunk." Vira laughed.
"Not really.." Wu Hai staggered a few steps and caught himself on the pillar.
"Lets get you back to the Ship, I'll come back to check on the Villagers. Tomorrow I want to go hunting." Kuzunoha called Vira over, together they led the Emperor to bed.
Vector and Mursayade stayed in the bar and gathered information while the others were away.
"LETS REMOVE THIS!" Vira undressed the Emperor and laid him out in the bed. "Kuzunoha, you can go on, its nothing. Make sure you figure out what you need and then come to bed. I want to get out of here in the morning, we've been here too long."
Getting him into the ship was easy, it was easier than they thought. Wu Hai was resting like it was well deserved. He grabbed his pillow and buried his face in it.
Vira wondered why he was stressed out but no one would get any answers from him in that state.
She watched him sleep.
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Sounds of marching could be heard in the valley, the girls had destroyed a contingent of red ape soldiers but they were still approaching from all angles. Their every step could be felt along the ground, the kinetic force translating for miles across the area. Shouting could be heard outside of town briefly.
Kuzunoha returned to the Bar and sat down next to Mursayade. "This seat taken?"
Mursayade poured her a drink and slid it over, when Kuzunoha caught it, another explosion could be heard in the distance, then, a crashing and secondary explosion in the village. The Red Ape race had a fire beast that was lobbing fireballs toward the Village.
"I think their Cavalry has arrived." Vector looked at the glass on the Bar, it was bouncing.
"The Pitsch have Anchlorens, Armored Fire Beasts." One of the Satyrs that was still in the Bar spoke with a cowardly tone, "I've seen them feeding Satyrs to the Anchlorens while they are still alive, please.. if they capture me, please kill me."
Another Explosion tore apart a building outside that wasn't under the shield. The Church was still standing, no regular fire or mild explosion would penetrate its shell.
"There sure are a lot of these guys." Vector spread his senses out to gauge the arriving force. He was surprised at the numbers.
"No, She's over there." A Voice came from outside, the door opened. One of the Clerics had come rushing in. "See." He pointed with his hands outstretched and face nailed to the floor. He began to pray and praise her, thanking her for saving the church but then, like clockwork, he immediately asked for her to save the Village. It was one thing for Kuzunoha to save their lives because of her sense of compassion but it was another to be guilted into the process.
She kicked the cleric and broke one of his horns. "You damned coward!" The Empress didn't like being pressured into action by anyone. Him praying to her made her wildly uncomfortable. 'I'm not his god, stop praying to me' She wanted to yell out but it was already too much, even after she had kicked him and disfigured him, the Cleric still knelt piously and begged. "If you want the strength to defend yourselves, pick up a sword and fight."
Kuzunoha finished her drink and threw the glass at the wall. "I want out of this place.." 'Che' She clicked her tongue and broke down the door, it would never fit again.
Her lungs filled while she wrote runes in the air to complete her spellwork. A small formation pushed her voice out like a loudspeaker. She yelled as loud as she could into the spellwork, it was amplified and spread into the Valley. "REMEMBER.. YOU COULD HAVE JUST TAKEN THE HINT."
A Bow appeared in her hands.
Kuzunoha channeled to form two rings and three motes. They rotated counter intuitively and it was rough at first. Her hands shook from annoyance, it was one thing for her to defend a place but what she was about to do, she did with reservations in her heart. An Arrow materialized in her hands and the spellcircle translated across its shaft when she notched it.
Drawing the bow, a spiral of energy formed, gathering its light to carry the Arrow to its intended target.
As she released the arrow, there was a collapse of the air around her. It was suffocating and left a thunderous clap in the void. The arrow sailed across the dark sky and toward the raging Anchloren fire beast. A blinding light snuffed out the darkness. Trees and corpses were easily seen following the blast wave, rocks and body parts, along with the smallest things of the valley were pushed along with the debris, cutting into the troop of Pitsch Hunters.
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