When Nier returned to his room he found Yan practicing her cultivation technique's martial art.
"About time." Nier thought as he glanced at her and then moved to the bed, sitting cross-legged to meditate.
"….." Yan glanced at him and gritted her teeth.
--------
The next morning Nier woke to find Yan gone. She had left a note on the bed which stated that she was going to the market early to make few purchases.
Not minding it, Nier went on with his day and was soon helping out Hanzo at the bar. Hanzo smiled awkwardly one too many times. His right eye had blackened and his face was a bit swollen. Apparently Akari beat him well last night.
Nier glanced at Akari when she came to pick up the drinks. As their gazes met, Akari blushed slightly with a frown before walking away. Nier remained emotionless.
"She is in denial due to the age difference between you and her." Hanzo whispered to Nier. "But don't worry. One night is all you need to change her mind."
"…" Nier looked at Hanzo and appraised him again. He now had a whole new understanding of Hanzo's shamelessness.
"Shut up. And who the hell is drinking alcohol this early in the morning?" Nier asked as he looked around in the bar and found a group of loud mortals sitting and drinking alcohol.
"Sigh, those are local hooligans. They have got nothing else to do. They are a gang that survives on protection money." Hanzo said. Nier raised an eyebrow.
"How can be so brazen when there is a veteran spiritist like you in the village?" Nier asked. He found these hooligans promising though. He lacked minions.
"I don't reveal my power. You won't believe the speed of word of mouth. The last thing I want is people coming after me to investigate what happened 23 years ago." Hanzo spoke.
"Hmm." Nier hummed and began to clean the glass cups. "Tell me the things about fey."
Hanzo nodded and proceeded to tell all the things he knew. According to what he said; fey had a very long history. Their roots laid in ancient demons & spirits. Much was obscured now though. Even Misako did not know things correctly.
Fey had about 40 types. Their connection to animals originates from yet another folklore. It is said that long ago, a nature spirit fell in love with an ancient demon and they copulated. Their first offspring were fey that possessed animal traits. But the ancient demon cheated on the nature spirit and copulated with a demoness. Their offspring were the dark elves. Learning about this, the nature spirit cursed the ancient demon and stormed away. From then on, all the beasts that exist in nature, hate the dark elves an even fey, very much.
Regardless, the fey were superior to beasts in intelligence and could manifest spirit force. They alongside elves, were the first spiritists. But of course, humans have similar folklore and it's all a jumbled vague mess. Truth is difficult to decipher after centuries.
Hanzo went on to tell all the traits, abilities and common weaknesses of the fey. He deliberated on the details of white fox fey and how they can be copulated with. His vile intentions were quite obvious. Ignoring it, Nier listened carefully and his knowledge broadened.
He also learned that fey bloodline is mysterious and powerful. Those who can tap into it, can unleash great powers. When fey copulate with each other, their offspring maintain the pure bloodline and are superior to half-fey. But if half-fey copulate, their offspring would possess bloodline quite close to pure ones. But out of the 40 if the different bloodlines were mixed, they may or may not generate a powerful mixed bloodline. Some bloodlines were naturally attracted to each other and thus were a good match though.
"Your eyes are red; this feature belongs to a few fey bloodlines such as that of red fox, rabbit, snake, rat, alligator and such." Hanzo said to Nier. "But your pupils are round so…I don't know…I think you could have the rabbit bloodline."
"…." Nier did not state any thoughts.
"Rabbits are quite energetic during sex. You will definitely have many children with Akari hehe." Hanzo spoke.
Nier's face flinched. He was beyond tired, to tell Hanzo to shut the fuck up.
"Kyahh!" Suddenly Akari's scream echoed. Both of them stared in her direction and found that the hooligans were groping Akari. One of them slid his hand under her skirt, groping for her hips but found her fluffy tail instead which was wrapped around her lower waist.
The next moment, Akari's fox tail was out in the open! It was clutched tightly by one of the hooligans. The others also quickly approached her and grabbed for her.
"You! Unhand her you rascals!" Hanzo shouted angrily while his heart leapt to his mouth. Akari's secret was out, just like that?!
"What? No way! Look what we have here! It's a fey girl!" A hooligan shouted
"Akari you were a fey all this time?"
Hanzo stormed towards them but by then Akari had been groped around plenty and her hair had come loose, revealing her white fox ears too!
"…" Nier frowned, realizing that things had gone out of hand already.
"She is a half fey!! Half fey! You bastards! How dare you touch my daughter?!" Hanzo punched the lights out of the main culprit, sending his mind to heaven.
"Hanzo! You can't lie your way out. You were hiding a fey in your house all these years! She has two features! A tail and ears! You rascal, wait till the authorities learn of it hehehe" A hooligan spoke. The scene became haughty. Hanzo wanted to rip these men to shreds! Nier felt nothing but frowned.
"It's escalating too quickly. Hanzo and Akari were able to keep this a secret for so long. Suddenly these hooligans grabbed for her tail and ears?" Nier ran his eyes around quickly but could not locate anything odd.
"Tch I lack observational methods." Nier thought. "It could all be just a coincidence. Regardless, silencing them and burying them in secret should able to resolve this issue."
Boom! Suddenly a fiery explosion occurred blowing apart half of the bar and setting the inn of fire. Immediately screams echoed and chaos unfolded.
"Akari no!" Hanzo yelled.
"Tch, so much for silencing the pesky mortals." Nier muttered.
The explosion was caused by Akari. Yellow spirit force was oozing out of her in the shape of flames. She glared at the hooligans angrily.
"How dare you touch me. I'll kill you!" Akari growled and attacked!
Boom! Fwoosh! Explosions and flames rampages immediately. Some of the hooligans died while some tried to escape screaming.
"She's a fey spiritist! Hanzo has been hiding her identity all these years! Somebody, call the governor here!"
"Save us! Save us!"
"This fey is killing us!"
Bwoosh! Bwoosh! Fire kept blazing. Human torches were running, struggling and screaming. The people in the marketplace were shocked and looked at Akari in fear.
"W-what's gotten into her!" Hanzo exclaimed and leapt towards Akari. "Stop it, Akari! Don't kill them!"
Fwoosh! Boom! An explosion sent Hanzo flying backwards. He rolled on the floor, stopping near Nier.
Nier observed the situation calmly.
"There are three possibilities. One: Akari is enraged and her bloodline is going berserk. And since she didn't ever practice her spirit force much so she cannot control the intensity of her attacks. Two: Hanzo and Akari are being targeted by whosoever wants to investigate that king killing incident from 23 years ago. This must be a way to lure Hanzo into revealing his power. Three: I am the real target here. That fucking God might have arrived here and is trying to lure me out." Nier thought. "I must not reveal my spirit force!"
"N-nier! Stop her! She'll get herself in trouble!" Hanzo called out. Nier narrowed his eyes. Apparently, Hanzo did not want to reveal his spirit force. If he did, then he and Akari might face even greater problem because of Hanzo's crime of the past. He was a king killer after all.
"Those men started it. It's okay to kill them. Why should I stop her?" Nier spoke casually trying to brush it off.
"Ah? What are you saying? You know how things will turn out due to her two fey features. Authorities will come after her! The more crimes she commits, the more difficult it will be to get her out of the situation. If I reveal my power, investigations will intensify later. We'll end up in a dangerous downward spiral! I literally offered my daughter to you and you're not going to help?" Hanzo felt irritated. "Tch! Forget it. I have no choi-"
"Hmph! You think only you have problems?" Nier scowled. "The moment I reveal my spirit force, you and Akari along with this entire village might face a deathly threat!"
"What do you mean?" Hanzo frowned.
Bwoosh! Fwoosh! Flames leapt towards the onlookers. Akari seemed to be in a trance, attacking everyone mindlessly.
"Let's say there's a powerful enemy who might have a hand in this situation. The current situation might be a ploy to lure me out. The moment I reveal myself, they'll come flying over and we can only hope to somehow escape. Fighting this enemy is impossible." Nier spoke.
"…." Hanzo gritted his teeth and frowned. "Sigh. I see. Well now that she has killed those men, used her spirit and her identity is out in the open, there's already no other choice left. I will use my spirit force."
"Hmm. Go for it. Suppress her spirit force and I will take her away. You stop the people if they come after us. Otherwise just follow me and we'll get out of this village." Nier spoke his plan.
"Very well." Hanzo took a deep breath. Yellow flames began to appear around him.
"Hold on! Stop!" Nier suddenly stopped Hanzo.
"What now?" Hanzo asked.
"The fog…it is intensifying." Nier smirked. And indeed, within moments the fog which had discreetly appeared, intensified, obscuring everyone's vision. No doubt, Yan had returned!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Hanzo moved speedily and grabbed Akari, suppressing her spirit force with his. Meanwhile Yan appeared beside Nier.
"What's going on?" Yan asked in a whisper.
"Something fishy. We're getting out of here. Hanzo and Akari will be joining us for now until we are out in a safe place." Nier said. "Keep using your foggy cloud."
"Okay." Yan nodded.
Meanwhile inside a slightly dark ship, a beautiful woman was looking at the screens in front of her which displayed the farce at the inn.
"This is no ordinary fog…" Ceyda murmured. "I found this strong fey bloodline descendent and used her to cause a racket. But the black spiritist hasn't appeared yet. Then this fog…A cloud type spirit? Or…a cultivator?" Ceyda was a goddess. Her wisdom was beyond any mortals could imagine.
Upon her command, several tiny mechanical bugs went inside the fog and used an infrasonic method to locate 4 figures moving along the fog.
"…" Ceyda narrowed her eyes and continued to observe. There was no accurate proof yet that one of these 3 newcomers was the black spiritist she was looking for but there was a strong possibility. After all, she had been scouting the entirety of the village for a day and found no anomalies except the strong fey bloodline of Akari's that Ceyda's sensors picked up. Thereafter, she had quickly used a bug to inject a chemical in her that invoked her rage. This happened to be when the hooligans were manhandling Akari.
The involvement of the hooligans was merely a coincidence. Nier was overthinking previously.
Nier and others quickly moved along the streets and roads of the village, hidden inside the thick fog and soon exited the village. Yan's move wore off by then too and they continued running away without cover.
"Mmmf! Mmf!!" Akari was struggling intensely and Hanzo was barely able to control her.
"Tch, let's scrutinize her first. Let's see what's wrong with her head." Nier said. Although stopping was risky, but so was not investigating what they were dealing with.
Hanzo pinned Akari down, cladding her in his spirit force which was giving off flames but were not hurting Akari or anyone else if they touched those ropes. Hanzo obviously could adjust the nature of his spirit force.
Nier and Hanzo quickly observed Akari. Her pupils were unfocused and she was growling.
"Undress her." Nier spoke.
"Ah?" Yan exclaimed, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmm hmm." Hanzo agreed and began fumbling with Akari's maid uniform.
"Oi oi oi! Old man, stop it! Are you two really taking advantage of an incapacitated girl?" Yan was furious. She could not believe how casually they stooped to undressing Akari.
"Taking advantage? I'm her father! Nier is her future husband. Akari needs to be scrutinized. Who knows if there is some curse mark on her body making her act crazily? I'm just doing what is necessary." Hanzo explained.
"Oh? Then why is your nose bleeding?" Yan asked.
"…."
"And Nier is MY future husband, not Akari's!" Yan was pissed. "Both of you turn around! I'll scrutinize her body hmph!" She scolded.
"…Fine. Just be quick." Hanzo said and turned around
"Whatever." Nier muttered and turned around too.
Yan proceeded to take off Akari's clothes. The spirit force did not obstruct Yan. Akari was soon naked on the ground. Yan's face was twisted red in jealously. Akari had all the mature feminine features after all. Several Yans put together could not match Akari's beauty.
Controlling her envy, Yan proceeded to scrutinize Akari's body and soon gasped.
"There is something on her waist, right above the tail." Yan spoke.
"Oh? What is it?" Nier asked.
"It looked like a metallic insect. Hold on." Yan quickly put Akari's clothes back.
Soon everyone was staring at Akari's waist. They found a round mechanical bug stuck on her skin.
"What the hell is that thing?" Hanzo muttered.
Nier directly pulled it out. It was squirming. Inside Nier's spiritual space, the crazed red monkey suddenly spoke up.
"Master, I think we are dealing with goddess Ceyda."
"Hmm? Tell me what you know." Nier said.
"Ceyda is one of the many deities. She is a weak goddess with no supernatural power like magic or even spirit force. But she is renowned for her science. She often uses mechanical robots to do her various biddings. She is comprehensive and quite intelligent. And…we are in her domain anyway. It must be her!" Crazed red monkey said.
"…" Nier fell into deep thought. He just learnt a bad news and a good news. Bad news was that Ceyda was already onto him. The good news was that she did not have any supernatural abilities. Her little trick of manipulating Akari through a bug also proved that she was groping around in the dark. She did not know about Nier's ancient demon soul and most probably did not even know who her target really was.
"Then, just why the fuck has she been chasing me?" Nier wondered. "It all began with the appearance of crazed red monkey. Ceyda was definitely coming after it. But then I 'slayed' it so she's coming after me? For thrills of fighting? Or does she have some other motives? Tch, this is so annoying." Nier thought.
"F-father. Why are you staring at me like that? Where am I? Wh-what…happened?" Akari asked as she looked around and found Nier and Yan present too and that they were all seemingly outside their village. Akari regained her senses as soon as the mechanical bug was removed from her body.
"Sigh, oh Akari, you gave me such a heartache!" Hanzo wept and hugged Akari tightly.
"Hanzo! Akari! You're surrounded! Surrender peacefully and we won't have to use force!" Suddenly a loud voice echoed.
"Tch. What now?" Nier was having a headache.
"Governor. He must have been nearby. That's how he got us so quickly." Hanzo said. He was familiar with the governor. The latter often visited his bar whenever he passed by the village on official rounds.
"Sigh. Since it's him, perhaps we can talk things out." Hanzo felt some hope.
"My unknown enemy is onto us and is involved with Akari's previous state. This mechanical bug is the type of tools the enemy uses. I don't think things will go well from here on." Nier disclosed.
"Oh?!" Hanzo raised his eyebrows.
"Then…"
"Sigh. Try your best to convince the governor. I'd rather not show my hand just yet." Nier said. "The enemy does not know who among us is the spiritist they are looking for. It's…complicated to explain."
"Alright." Hanzo nodded, not digging further and got up to reveal himself and called out. "Governor! We surrender. Please hear me out. The incident at the village was a setup! Akari is innocent!"
"There they are! Attack!" The governor shouted, stumping Hanzo.
Swish-swish-swish! Several spirits leapt towards Hanzo to kill him and others.
"What…what is the meaning of this! Governor!" Hanzo became incensed.
"This is the law, Hanzo! Fey are evil species. We can let half-fey off but Akari is a pure fey, definitely not your daughter. Or perhaps you are a fey too. Regardless; for the crime of hiding a fey in your house, for the murders the fey has done, I by the power vested in me, order your execution for the restoration of peace, for justice and for appeasing our great Gods!" The governor spoke.
"…Son of a bitch." Hanzo cussed. "Nier! I'll stall them. You bring the girls away." Hanzo finally revealed his spirit force.
The governor and other spiritists were surprised.
"So, you were also a spiritist and had been hiding your power all these years. This proves that you definitely had ulterior motives. You fooled the authorities while hiding that fey in your house. You must be slain!" The governor was jumping to conclusions.
"Fuck off!" Hanzo roared and yellow flames burst out of his body, licking the sky like a huge bonfire!
As fog spread out, helping Nier and the girls to escape, several spirits reached Hanzo. A battle unfolded.