Reina stared at the wolf corpse by her feet, it was certainly a corpse, the wolf's head was caved in where Bruan had struck it. However, amongst the viscera and shards of bone, there was a pale white mass working its way across the wound, seemingly trying to restore the head to it's former condition.
"Is that....fungus?"
The wolf launched towards Reina, who quickly dodged to the side and threw a kick at its passing body. She was shocked when she made contact, she might as well be trying to knock a boulder out of the air! Listening to the sounds of combat between the rest of the wolves and their guards, she figured things were going quite poorly for them. Normally a pack of wolves could be dispatched with relative ease by anyone, given that the people were trained and coordinated, which Brauns men were. Sadly these were not normal wolves in the slightest, Reina was reminded of this fact when the wolf/fungus hybrid shot towards her again. Narrowly avoiding its claws, she struck out once more only to meet the familiar sensation of hitting stone. What mushroom did these wolves eat to gain such a absurd strength boost? Even death didn't stop them!
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the cries of the men who were fighting the rest of the pack. Overwhelmed by such nonsensical strength, several members of the guard had been knocked down. Reina flinched as the wolves pounced on them and..... began dragging them towards the Bloodroot forest.
She could scarcely register what she just saw when she felt the hot breath of the wolf on her face as it lunged once again. Dodging away once again she yelled at it in frustration "Why do I get the feeling you're just playing with me huh?!"
"Grrrrrrrr"
"Of course a mushroom can't make you talk huh, but why do I feel like you understood..." Reina muttered in irritation. Shaking her head, she readied herself, while her enemy was strong, she hadn't gone through that hell growing up in the cult to not come away with some tricks. She took a deep breath to calm her mind, she began to - "Daisy? What's happening?!" Saki's shocked cry came from the tent behind her. Reina nearly fell down in shock, this freaky wolf in front of her had made her completely forget about Saki!
The wolf also noticed her, and seemed to realize at the same time as Reina that Saki would be far less trouble to deal with. "Saki! Get aw-urgh!" Reina's shout was interrupted as the wolf barreled past her towards the helpless girl crouching in the entrance of the tent. Reina watched in horror as in one motion the wolf clamped down on Saki's ankle and began dragging her away
"SAKI!!!" Reina immediately ran off in pursuit as the wolf speedily dragged Saki into the forest. Reina mindlessly ran through the forest, first chasing after the image of the woman helplessly being dragged through the mud, as she constantly stumbled over roots and was smacked in the face by branches, she gradually fell behind until she was just chasing after the sound of her cries. Reina ignored the burning in her lungs, the screaming of her muscles as she ran as fast as she could, and the blurriness in her vision as tears fell down her face, only one thought occupied her mind: 'Not again, I won't be separated from family ever again'.
After what felt like hours, the cries of her sister gradually became louder and Reina's steps slowed down as she sucked down air to steady herself. She continued to walk for a couple more minutes until she found her. Reina had walked into a large clearing that had only one thing standing in the center, a tree. She felt as though calling it a tree was a disservice to other trees. The thing standing in front of her was massive, craning her neck up she couldn't see when it ended, and looking at the base, at least two dozen men linking arms would be needed to hug it. As she looked at the base of the tree, she noticed that a portion of it has been hallowed out. And lying inside the tree was the pitifully crying Saki, as well as the collapsed figures of the other guards she had seen dragged off as well.
"Saki!" Reina rushed towards the older girl and hugged her in a tight embrace
"....Daisy?... your hair?"
"Huh?" Reina stroked the top of her head and felt the familiar sensation of her hair, looks like the wig fell off. "Ah.... well... it's a long story, but I was wearing a wig. I'll explain later!" Reina declared before looking at the three unconscious guards on the floor. "You guys! wake up!" she shook, kicked, and slapped each of them, only getting groans in response. Sighing in frustration, she moved to shake them again when...
Grrrrrrr....
Reina looked over at the familiar face of the wolf who had kidnapped her sister.
"Oi! I've had enough of your bullying!" Reina said before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
Everything in life was made up of spiritual energy, from the dirt on the ground to the animals that walk on them. Humans, Beast-Tribes, Elves, and even some animals have learned how to absorb that energy, gaining strength and vitality the more they did so. One could also use spiritual energy to bend elements to their will, depending on their affinity and their strength. Naturally this also applies to the application of techniques, as time has passed, thousands of techniques have been created to make use of spiritual energy, the users body, and the elements. These techniques were divided into many categories, yet Reina had only learned a few in her efforts to be as invisible as possible to the cult.
People absorb spiritual energy to cultivate strength, but that wasn't the only thing you could do with it. You could pick up the energy that surrounds you and guide it, let it ride the current of your own natural energies flow. The energy isn't yours, it is simply joining hands with you as you perform certain acts. If one were to throw a punch, their natural spiritual energy would be the driving force behind that power. But if their natural energy would have something else riding its flow, that would also crash into whatever the natural spiritual energy came into contact with.
First comes the fist, then the spiritual energy you invited follows, flowing along your body's movements, creating its own fist. Thus, this simple yet effective technique was called, "Flow".
Reina opened her eyes as the spiritual energy accepted her invitation, she dashed forward and slammed her fist into the wolfs skull. A split second later, the spiritual energy flowed through her and mimicked the act.
Splat
The wolf's head exploded on impact, blood scattered across the ground as the rest of its body limply fell to the side. Reina hung her head down as she wobbled slightly, feeling light headed.
[Weak, weak, weak. Look at you, one blow using Flow and your ready to collapse]
Reina only clicked her tongue in response. Flow was a powerful technique, but it's not like the energy she invited in and sent out didn't take anything out of her. Specifically the energy that she had linked together didn't come back, and performing the action took a considerable amount of her own concentration and spiritual energy. Just from that one action she was already nearing half empty....
Reina looked at the guards still sleeping on the ground in frustration, she was already half empty but had to use a little more to wake these stubborn fellows up. Holding her hand up, she stared at it as three balls of water appeared, circling each other merrily above her hand. Looking over at the guards with a small smile, she threw them in their direction.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
"Gods!"
"Wha?!"
"Urgh"
Reina walked over to the finally woken guards, "Hey! you're finally awake! We've been away from the rest for a while, let's head back. I'm worried about Braun and the rest". The guards looked at Reina, rather her hair, with puzzled expressions, before one spoke up "If it's Braun, you have nothing to worry about, he's a spiritual scholar after all". Reina nodded dumbly, stunned that such an amazing person was escorting a bunch of courtesans of all people.
"Anyways, let's head back quickly!" Reina said, glancing up at the sky as she had a booming sound. "Hopefully the rain will make anything that wants to kill us stay inside their homes". The four people nodded at her and followed her as she traced her steps back.
Boom...
Reina jumped a little at the thunder, she thought she had something underneath the boom of thunder, but continued to walk with a determined look
Boom...
Reina kept walking, a little concern appearing on her face. 'I must have imagined it, there is no way anyone from Brauns group ventured over there, there's no reason to'
Boom...
"ah"
Reina stopped, looking over at the direction of the sound. "....You guys, just keep heading straight in this direction, you'll make it back to the campsite with no trouble". Saki looked at her with concern, "Daisy? what are you planning?"
"There's something I need to check out, I won't be long. So just keep going" Reina said as she broke into a jog, heading towards where she heard that cry.
It didn't take long this time, after a couple minutes of jogging, she saw them. A girl crouched on one knee while nursing her shoulder was looking grimly at a mass of muscles and black fur. A thunderbear was slowly approaching her, fungus writhing in its wounds as it raised a paw to strike down at the girl vainly raising her sword in defense.
Crack!
The girl who had resigned herself to her fate watched in astonishment as a small and soft looking girl, stained in mud and blood appeared out of nowhere and slammed both her feet into the bears ribs, knocking it down. Picking herself up, Reina stumbled over to her, her face turning even whiter as her reserves of spiritual energy nearly bottomed out. Taking the still kneeling girls hand in hers, she pulled her up, "Run!"
The girl followed Reina as they ran for several minutes before chancing upon a cave and the two ran inside. The girl she had rescued snatched her hand away with a cold face, "who are you?" she asked.
'Waaaah, I saved this girl and she acts like I'm the bear who hurt her!' Reina thought, feeling a little helpless over this situation. "U-ummmm, could you please introduce yourself first? I'd like to know who I rescued after all...."
The girl snorted, but after a few seconds of silence said ".....my name is Lily"