At the head of the Valley, a deep crater had opened up in the landscape. Kuzunoha's attack had drastically increased during the two months that Honey had been away. The group tried to remain positive but Honey's brief stay with the group and then her sudden exit had left them feeling off, Kuzunoha sank her energy into training and the results were showing.
When the dust cloud settled, the Red Ape Army was in tatters. Fires were breaking out in the debris field and corpses were now stains across the charred soils.
No sign of the Fire Beast or its controllers remained, it was a near annihilation.
It would be somewhat iffy to call it complete victory from a single strike. The attack would have been better described as sudden and wide in scope. The blast from the Arrow's trajectory left a scar in its wake.
Vira had maneuvered the ship to help carry away the villagers but it was a tight fit. None of them carried spacial rings and all of them had lots of personal items in their hands. She had them all dump it on their way into the ship and was unwilling to explain about it. They were reluctant to give up their things but when the pile was bigger, Vira waved her hand and stored everything away quickly while more of the Satyr villagers tried to cram into Misozi's hull.
Vector pilfered the little alcohol that was left behind the bar and led the drunks out. "Don't stop, just get inside and don't make a problem." It was truly like herding cats, but they were goat men, drunk ones at that.
"Kuzunoha, everyone's loaded up!" Vira shouted, the wildlife in the area was making a lot of noise and she could barely hear over the locals that were talking among themselves.
"Fine. Give me a minute, I'll contact you when I'm ready." She watched Misozi close her backdoor and fly up, disappearing into the night sky. Kuzunoha also disappeared into the Church. She burned the images on the walls into her mind, there was no use in taking images, she was just looking at a single passage that was written like a poem. It was something that Wu Hai had said to her directly and in passing.
She couldn't bare to leave it after several minutes, there were more marching sounds outside. She was in a hurry and the footsteps sounded like scouting parties from the Army had still continued their Mission. Doors could be heard opening and shutting, the drum of animal noises outside fell silent, revealing the march through the distant trees. It was a shuddering and constant droning whomp, they stepped as one to intimidate the enemy.
"No helping it." A moment passed with her eyes closed, she spread hear senses around her and made mental notes. Kuzunoha began waving her hand and spreading out her light. It penetrated between the rocks in the path of her hands. The roof separated and disappeared into her storage ring with much of the upper half of the building. That altar, the bedrock slabs, every piece of stone vanished into her care.
When the last stone disappeared, a red light came crashing down from the heavens above. A Satyr Ancestor slammed into the ground directly in front of Kuzunoha and sent her flying backward. "HOW DARE YOU DEFILE OUR TEMPLE!"
He struck out, blindly slashing at her face.
Kuzunoha spread her wings and flew into the air. "I did nothing of the sort. Use your Eyes."
"TRICKSTER! DIE FOR YOUR CRIMES!" The Ancestor charged a black beam in his hands and pressed out.
It slammed into Kuzunoha's light shield and began to press in like her shield was just a soap bubble. She rotated to the right just in time for the shell to give way and her Whitefire was unable to push the shadow beam back. The suppression from the darkness attack was growing more difficult to bare, the Empress kicked herself off a tree and dodged the beam as it descended.
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Butterflies surrounded the strange Red-rocked Bush in the Volcanic Plane. Chasms and magma flows littered the surroundings but Butterflies from all over flocked toward the new glowing addition to the space. Formations drove the volcanic activity using the ambient energies and powerful talismans that regenerated and replaced themselves much like Xuan Kim Li's many workshop devices.
Honey had been entranced with the Rock and its radiation, often times she had considered taking the bush out of the way to take its place but each time she refrained.
The Butterflies were mounting, they were arriving in droves. Each of them gave off a fiery aura and left ashes in their wakes. Burning their lives away, the butterflies fed on the fire itself, mutated and changed their fate.
Honey realized their versatility early on, she slept under a netting after the first day. The butterflies had a strong desire to land on her in her sleep. Now that she was in a trance, it was even more important for her to remain free from distractions. The butterflies would try to feed off her, become stuck and entranced themselves, leading to burns across her body the only healed when they left.
For Honey, the Volcanic plane was turning into a field of doom but the Red Rock, the Red Rock was giving her strength that she could feel. It pulsed just right and with her senses she was able to see the changes and her body growing stronger.
The Light overhead flipped on and off many times, her mind was in a state of epiphany and though she could monitor the changes in her body at will, she remained in her meditative trance.
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Black beams tore across the village and cut into many of the smaller homes, they popped like firecrackers in a row while the beams trailed Kuzunoha. Her position was easy to see, she was like a star in the night sky and bright.
Misozi began blaring alarms, it woke everyone in the ship. "ENEMY DETECTED, ENEMY DETECTED, ALERT!"
Misozi played the message until everyone on board was yelling for her to stop.
Wu Hai rubbed his face as the Door opened to the scene below. He could see Kuzunoha zipping across the trees and over the ridges, she was using anything she could for cover.
"She's forced into a retreat, we don't have its attention yet so use it to your advantage. Go." Wu Hai flittered from view and drew lines in the sky with his fingertips. A large spellcircle came down and confined everyone within, it would take at least some force to leave.
Vector had already flown down, he did his best to hide in the wind. No noise came from his body as he fell to the soil below. It wasn't until he landed on a twig that he caught the attention of the Satyr Ancestor.
The Black beams stopped chasing Kuzunoha and the Ancestor turned to Vector, charging.
"You dare interfere.." An Ax appeared in his hands, it glowed with a brown light.
'What's brown?' Wu Hai looked for the opportunity to check on Kuzunoha but saw the Ax's aura.
"Fall beneath my chops, the whirlwind never stops." The Ax glowed brighter and the image of a large cleaver appeared over the Ancestor's Head.
Vector began to dodge but the cleaver was fast and it brushed past his chest, breaking scales and cutting into his ribs. Mursayade flashed beside him, catching the blade long with a metallic wall. It bought enough time for her to flee with Vector into the Trees.
He grit his teeth in pain, breaking his defenses so easily, the attack had caught him completely off guard. Vector held his chest and coughed up blood.
Wu Hai saw the Ancestor charging into the trees when he couldn't relocate Kuzunoha. Vector's injury meant that the danger was very real. A hammer appeared in Wu Hai's left hand and his right turned into a long hooked blade. Lightning revolved around the Hammer and Fire along the weighted white weapon. Breathing deeply, he appeared directly over the Ancestors head and chopped down with both hands.
The Hooked blade caught the enormous cleaver while the Hammer continued down atop the Ancestor's head. The blow laid the Ancestor out on the ground but the Cleaver kept its momentum, throwing the Emperor away with the force of its strike.
Wu Hai crashed into some trees and groaned. Kuzunoha appeared next to him and helped him escape an incoming black beam.
The Ancestor stood up and chased after them both. They vanished in one place, reappeared in the next and then vanished again. They were all moving incredibly fast across the trees and rubble.
Mursayade was tending to Vectors wound, he was losing a lot of blood. "You're bleeding, the wound isn't healing."
"Yeah." 'pak' Vector coughed up more blood, "I noticed." He struggled to speak, it wasn't a good idea. 'I can't die here!' He winced and channeled energy throughout his body. Frost accumulated across his chest, freezing the wound shut.
Mursayade sat him upright, "Save your strength, give me your weapon." She had tried to use some of the weapons from the the Red Ape Army against them, but they were soft swords that broke way too easily when matched.
Sharp was the proper word to use for the blade, it cut through most things without fail, like a hot knife through cheese. Mursayade pulled two shields and clammed them together, "Alright asshole.. my turn." Mursayade's eyes were wide and she was shaking as she stood. She was somewhat afraid of herself in that moment, the adrenaline in her blood had spiked. Her senses heightened to an extreme and energy exploded around in a violent torrent of gray waves.
The Ancestor blurred out of sight while chasing Wu Hai and Kuzunoha. Vira was busy keeping the Villagers quiet and minding the ship.
Mursayade's charge was exceptional. She blipped from left to right and arrived at the Ancestor's throat.
"Too little too late." He turned to catch her throat and disarm her.
Mursayade kicked off the ground in that instant, having waited for the time to strike. Her foot dragged across the ground when she landed and then she disappeared from sight many times, circling the Ancestor's position, "I. Am. Not.."
Her voice echoed around him.
"I.. Am.. not.. your.. Enemy!" She kicked out toward the sky, planting her hands on the ground. With her body twisting atop the shields, she stabbed with the tooth into the Ancestor's leg. A great gash was cleaved into his fur and down to his ankle.
The ancestor fell over while trying to defend himself but he couldn't stand up again. A look of incredulity coincided the revelation, he had been beaten and was likely to die in the next instant.
The Broken-tooth blade was pointed without waver at the Ancestor's left eye.
"You're a satyr Ancestor.. so you're not my enemy you stupid asshole. Now, give me some healing potions or whatever it is that you use here to fix wounds."
"No. I will give you nothing, thieves, you steal our history." the Ancestor's face was full of pride in his words, he was serious about being offended and stuck to his principles.
Kuzunoha came to Mursayade's side, Wu Hai went to Vector. She spoke to the Ancestor directly. "I didn't steal your history, I took a church into my possession. We were evacuating the villagers to somewhere else."
"What?" The Ancestor's head tilted in confusion.
"Like I was saying, if you had tried to hear me before all of this started, it could have been avoided. Your villagers are safe, we are relocating them."
"You will not do anything of the sort." the Ancestor was pinned to the ground because of his wound, the gash was pouring blood with every heartbeat.
"I don't think you have any room to complain." Wu Hai while holding up Vector, a glassy layer of ice covered his chest. There was a large wound and even though his fighting had ended, the scar had not lessened.
Walking over to the Ancestor, he poked his finger in the wound and watched his face distort in pain. "Are you listening yet? We said," He spoke very slowly and in between words, Wu Hai slapped at the face of the Ancestor. "We. Are.. Not. Your. Enemy."