"What will the princess do?" The small fairy look to her curiously.
"Hm..." Peony smirked before putting on her mask, "Let's just say, I'm going to make them embarrass themselves and give them a scare of a lifetime. Nobody, but father and mother, has the right to give orders to the people, much less something as ridiculous as this! Hmph!"
The older fairies looked to one another in bewilderment before nodding their head.
"We'll help the princess evacuate everyone."
As soon as the fairies rushed out to do as she told them to, Peony emerged from her hiding spot as soon as they were ready to restrain the phantom and she quickly pushed their acupuncture point with one finger as she weaved through the crowd of minions.
"S-Something is there!"
"There- Agh!"
"H-Help!"
As screams could be heard, the leader looked around before holding the cage up with a fist of electricity radiating from it and called out with an annoyed look, "If you dare harm me, then I'll hurt your precious little creatures!"
It was then that a veil of mist suddenly appeared around them. However, it was nothing against Lotus's eyes as she silently rushed at their leader.
"Found you." He sneered and suddenly appeared before her with a scimitar!
Peony dodged the attack and stabbed into his hand with a needle!
"Agh!"
He let go of the cage out of reflex as Peony quickly caught it in her arms and then vanished into thin air. The fairies looked up to see who it was when the noticed that it was a tall human with fiery red hair and a demonic like mask!
One of them wanted to scream but the others quickly hushed her quiet as the fire fairy whispered, "Only the princess has scarlet hair. It must be her!"
"Really?!" The water fairy breathed in relief.
"But why the mask?" The female earth fairy whispered silently.
"I heard that she has some bad connection with some bad humans from another world, where she came from. These people must be it."
"So, did they come for her?"
"I don't know... How could they know that their target became a princess?"
"Then, it's probably a coincidence. What unfortunate luck they have!"
Hearing the tiny twinkling of the fairies, the man frowned and rushed to the source of the sound! The fairies screamed in horror from their cages when they saw this. Peony grimaced and pulled out Ying Hui from her ring. With one movement she slammed the ball of her pendulum straight into the guy's leg. He quickly stumbled as she leapt into another direction. The fairies huddled against one another. She then quickly sent the caged fairies into her ring for Xiao Li and the other to unlock as she quietly lunged for the man. However, the man noticed her presence and parried her metal ball this time with a blade. She scowled angrily but backed away in deep thoughts. She must get past his defenses somehow. Right now the only thing she can't do is getting close to him with that blade. Moreover, even if she does, her weapon right now is Ying Hui who only forms her weapon shape according to her level of power and, right now, she's not very powerful.
It was then that she saw the man rush at her again to which she leaped back once more. This time the man sneered, "This time, I see you..."
It was only after the man looked up that Peony noticed the change in his eyes' color. Her heart sunk! This man also has visual abilities like her!
The man got up and laughed, "What's this? So, it's just a small girl? No wonder you wouldn't show yourself."
Peony raised a brow in surprise. Could it be?
She used her vision and grimaced. The guy was the same power level as her! If only she hadn't used up her spiritual power the other day, she would've beaten him down right here right now!
"As your senior, I'll go easy on you. If you hand me those little creatures now, I might just spare your life." The man sneered.
Peony sneered. Might? There was no 'if's and 'perhaps' in their world! It was only 'as if'! She opened her mouth and sneered, "So it would seem that this elder is a little blind. You claim that you can see me, but, unfortunately, you are unable to see yourself. What gave you the audacity to take my people. It would seem that the elder needs some guidance."
"Who are you calling an old man?!" The man shouted angrily, "I'm clearly still young!"
"Oh? And here I thought that the elder prefers to be deemed respectable." She pointed out in a sneer, "However, it would seem that the elder doesn't seem to respect that. Could it be that this elder does not respect other seniors and elder? Moreover, the elder is also blind and deaf. Who else can I call elder in this room? Moreover, who here heard me say old man? I said ELDER..."
"Shut up! Shut up!" The man stomped his feet in frustration and pointed in her direction, "You! I'll kill you!"
With that, the guy unleashed a poisonous gas as others screamed in horror.
"EEEK! It's leader's bone melting poison!"
"Someone, help!"
"Leader! Leader! Please spare us!"
"AHHH!"
As the omnious gas spread throughout the room, blood curdling screams could be heard as the body and bones of the frozen enemies begin to melt rapidly. Peony glared angrily and utilized her wind element to sweep the gas from around her and the cave walls. She then concentrated what little spiritual energy she had left and gathered the gas to surround the man. The man was shocked and tried to leave, but, this time, Peony removed her mask and her glare caught her opponent in his tracks!
Seeing the color in her eyes swirl, the man gasped, "You-! Agh!"
It wasn't long before the man began to cough up blood and struggle to remain standing. Once he finally collapsed, Peony quickly stuffed a pill into his mouth as his body began to deform and mold in agony. Once it was all over, Peony pulled away the robe revealing a black martin!
Seeing this, she took out the cage that had once trapped the fairies and threw the martin in there. She then went on to turning all the other people into creatures as well. By the time she was done, she had a total of ten turtles and one marten. All cured of the poison and looking between very confused to very horrified. As for the marten, he seemingly had no problem causing a racket until she made a handmade muzzle that clamps his mouth shut and which would be considered animal abuse had this marten not been trying to bite off her fingers and get to the fairies this entire time.
"Princess!" The fairies hurried out with a look of relief over their faces, "Are you all right, princess?"
"Yes. I'm unharmed." Peony responded as she removed her mask.
Seeing the contrast between her face and the mask she wore, many of the fairies gasped in disbelief as their leader gasped, "Hair of Crimson fire and eyes as violet as iris. It really is the princess!"
"Didn't the queen released an order to refer to her as prince?" One of the fairies questioned in confusion.
"That was before!" The leader huffed, "After reappearing again in society, the royal family ordered that the previous order be diminished. Now we can all refer to her as princess again."
Hearing this, Peony raised a brow, "Well, that's new. Tell me, when did the queen release this rule?"
"Why, it was a few months ago. Probably nearly three or our moons after spring." The leader responded.
That was when she left for school! MOM!!!
She turned to the fairies and looked around, "Is this everyone? How are the elders and the kids?"
"The younger and older fairies that require guidance have all returned to their homes for now." The leader responded.
"What's the security protocol this village has set in place?"
"Each house is protected by at least one trained fairy." The leader replied calmly, "This was what Chieftain Ripple's and my parents decided upon when we set up this village. We're already treating those injured. Our ration storage has been destroyed by the intruders which was what made them suspicious."
Aunt Ripple's parents? One person came into her mind once she heard this but she quickly pushed it back. She'll simply ask about this later. She opened her mouth, "Have you gotten the chance to take into account rather everyone's present?"
The leader hesitated, "This... There is only one..."
"Who is it?" Peony questioned.
"A young and hot headed fairy." The leader replied, "He's called Ash."
"Ash?" Peony frowned, "What does he look like and the type of fairy he is?"
"As you can probably assume, he is a fire fairy. The only thing that stands out about him is that he has gold irises."
"Where he last seen?"
"He left the village one week ago. However, I still haven't figured out why it did not alarm anyone in the village, much less his neighbors." The leader hesitated with a troubled expression, "I'm currently in the process of looking into his matters. Please give me a little more time."
Peony got up and frowned, "Hurry and do so. If it was just twelve hours or three days, we could be a little more hopeful. However, a week is too long. If you can't find him or his whereabouts in another few hours to one day, we're going to set out a search for him."
"I understand." The leader responded firmly, "But... If I may be honest, princess."
"Speak."
The leader whispered nervously, "I have a bad feeling about this..."
Hearing this, Peony nodded with a frown, "So do I..."