Standing on top of a house, a girl with a light brown complexion looked over the City in silence late at night. The moon sat high in the sky, its light seemingly absorbed by the girls' raven black hair as it flowed with the wind. Her Golden Brown eyes glowed in the moonlight, like a predator, as her long black jacket billowed in the wind behind her.
Ruby Crimson was looking to finish some unfinished business. Roughly two weeks ago, she let a man named Freddy go, not wanting to draw more attention to herself and the others unnecessarily. That didn't mean she didn't think the man was let off easily, and since they were leaving in another day or two, the Silver turned Raven haired girl figured she might as well find him.
She wasn't killing the man, for there was no need to do so at all. That didn't mean she was going to show mercy to him either. In all honestly, this was just a petty grudge with no real substance behind it, and she knew that.
'I just can't leave without doing anything first.' She thought. 'Maybe I should.... No, I'm doing this.'
Closing her eyes, Ruby slowly took a deep breath. After going on many monster hunting jobs, she noticed that her own senses and abilities have increased a little. Not enough to say she's stronger, but enough to realize something is happening. But it still made it slightly easier for her to smell things further away.
Using her heightened sense of smell, she attempted to locate Freddy. The city had many scents and smells all throughout it, which would normally make it hard to find someone. But Ruby's nose worked a bit differently. From what Judith told her when she smelled someones unique scent, she wasn't smelling their physical body, but their Mana. She was capable of solely focusing on smelling Mana coming from living creatures.
That was still a lot of information to sort through. So there she was, standing alone late at night while the world around he slept. With nothing but the moon and wind keeping her company as she searched for the familiar scent of Freddy, she memorized these past two weeks. The raven black hair acting as a blanket of darkness as it swayed gently in the dying wind.
"Found him."
Pulling up a mask to hide her face, she jumped off the roof and landed in a dark alley before running in Freddy's direction. She made her way through the darkness, nothing but the dim silvery light of the moon to guide her through the alleyway. Her eyes are narrowing the stronger her prey's scent grew, informing her that she drew ever closer.
eventually, she entered a small courtyard behind multiple buildings with an old well in the center, its entrance sealed off with a wooden top, making it clear it hasn't been used in a long time. Sitting atop the well sat a large muscular man smoking by himself. No longer dressed in a sturdy but breathable Hunter's gear, they wore only regular civilian clothes with a sword propped up beside them.
"I found you."
_________________
POV Freddy
I was sitting outside by myself having a quick smoke. Looking up, I saw the moon and stars in the sky. It was a beautiful night. There is no cloud in sight to block the view.
Then, without warning, a chill ran down my back, and every instinct in my body told me I was in danger. I stood up quickly and checked my surroundings. This is the same sensation I feel when fighting monsters. Then, from the shadows of one of the alleyways, a woman walked out.
Grabbing my sword, I quickly pulled it out of its scabbard and got into a fighting stance. As the woman approached me, she pulled out two knives from her waist before stopping. She, too, got into a fighting stance watching me with her piercing Golden Brown eyes.
"Have we met before?" I asked, for the woman in front of me seemed familiar somehow.
"...."
Instead of answering, she charged at me. I got myself ready to receive her attack, and as our blades clashed, I attempted to disarm the black haired woman with my sword. She quickly attempted to back away from me, but I managed to use my foot to knock her off balance. I wasn't about to let my strange attacker reposition themselves to attack again.
Not expecting to be knocked off balance, she quickly tried to right herself, but before she could do that, I hit her with another kick to the gut. Her body was launched across the empty courtyard, but instead of crashing, the woman managed to readjust her body in the air before landing on her feet.
"You skilled, but it's obvious you haven't been in many battles. You made a mistake coming here." I said, hoping to get some kind of reaction out of the stranger. But all she did was glare at me and started walking in a circle around me.
Keeping my eyes on her as she circled me, waiting for her to make a move. Then she tossed one of her knives at me before charging herself a second later. "What the!?" I attempted to side step the knife before I met her attack with my sword, but instead of moving, my feet were rooted to the ground. I quickly used my sword to deflect the blade flying towards me in a panic before swinging my weapon at the woman.
Ducking under my attack, she punched me in the stomach instead of stabbing me like I thought. With my feet being held by something, I fell flat on my back instead of flying away, causing all the air in my lungs to rush out, dazing me.
When I looked up, I saw the woman standing over me. Her golden brown eyes seemed to glow with red. Her dark black hair started turning silver at the roots, glowing in the moonlight. her light brown skin looked paler than before.
"What do you w- AARRGGH!" I once again attempted to communicate with the strange woman, but instead, I was stabbed in the shoulder.
When she removed her knife, the coppery smell of my blood hit my nose. I tried to get up or push her off, but she just held me down with her impressive strength. When I looked at her again after a minute, I noticed that her eyes were now Crimson in color, and her hair had turned completely silver, and her brown skin was now completely pale in color.
She looked just like the monster girl that the Church of Light keeps talking about. Why was she here? Why was she targeting me? What the world is happening here? As I was thinking this, the Silver haired Monster lifted her knife, preparing to strike me once again, and as I braced myself for impact, I felt her wait lift off of me.
When I dared to look back at her, she stood above me, her Crimson eyes down on me in disinterest. She heaved a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping a little, looking a bit dejected. The bloody knife was held limply at her side.
"Hey! You there, put your weapon down!" A guard yelled, coming from an alley that leads to the street. Someone must have heard the commotion and called the guard. With the sudden appearance of the guard, the woman was momentarily distracted. I reached for my sword and thrust it into her chest, hitting her heart.
"Gaaahhh! Damn it!" She yelled out in both surprise and pain as she stumbled back, the sword still stuck in her chest.
"Looks like the situation is almost dealt with."
"We still need to bring the man in for questioning moron."
Two more guards had shown up behind the first one. Looks like they knew I didn't start the fight, I'll have to thank whoever called them later. I also noticed my feet were no longer being held down by whatever the Silver haired woman did to me, allowing me to properly stand up. My only real injury was my shoulder.
"DAAAAAMMMN IIIT." Yelling out in pain once more, me and the guards looked on in shock as the woman pulled out the sword stuck in her chest, causing her to bleed even more. she then froze her wounds with chant-less magic, stopping the bleeding.
"Someone stop her!" I yelled in a panic. She was still able to move. Even though I stabbed her in the heart, she should die soon. But I've learned that an enemy with nothing to lose is the most dangerous. I got ready to fight, but instead of attacking, she used magic to summon a giant mist cloud around us.
_____________________________________
POV Ruby
"Fucking shit!" I cursed as I made my retreat.
I wouldn't die from this, my heart might have stopped, but my Mana Crystal was still keeping me alive. As long as that was still intact and I kept the blood loss to the minimum I should be fine. I was more upset about how careless and stupid I was.
After I managed to get that man where I wanted him I realized hurting him wasn't going to be satisfying at all. Matter of fact it felt kinda bad. This felt much different than the time I killed the leader of that hunter party. 'I don't understand why this feels wrong. I didn't feel anything when I killed that guy. Why do I feel something now?'
It was thoughts like these that distracted me enough to not notice the cities guard showing up, allowing me to get hit by a sneak attack. Not only did my heart stop, but I also lost a lot of blood. On top of that, I used too much magic, especially with that smoke screen I made. Using any more could be really bad.
I ran through the maze of alleyways before I came to a stop to rest. "... Maisy, how bad is it?" I asked them, leaning against a wall.
"My body slowed the attack down, so it didn't go all the way through your body, plus it wasn't a proper sword thrust, so it was messy and weak." She responded.
"... Weak or not still would've died if I was human."
*Clack Clack Clack*
The sound of guards getting closer got me moving once again. I continued to run around randomly, leaving a blood trail to confuse my pursuers. Eventually, I told Maisy to consume any blood leaking from my body, ending the blood trail. I made my way back to the Inn and sneaked back in through the window.
"Welcome back. You caused quite the commotion now, didn't you." Waiting for me in my, Yuki's, and Morella's room was Judieth, not looking pleased to see me. Yuki was somehow still asleep, but Morella was awake looking more worried than mad.
"... Hi." That was all I managed to say. I made a mess. I was stupid and reckless. Even though I couldn't call me and Judieth friends, we were still companions in a way, so my mess is everyone's mess, including hers. "... I'm really... sorry..."
I tried to apologize, but I started to feel light-headed, and the room was spinning. 'Not again.' I thought before blacking out.
_____________________________________
POV Judieth Redwood
Rewinding a few hours, Judith was sitting in her room when she felt Ruby's and Maisy's presence had left the building. 'Wonder what that's about?' She thought, but she had a more pressing issue. The Hero was in town looking for Ruby, and she had some business with him anyway.
Sitting on her bed and closing her eyes, she concentrated on connecting to her undead puppet Sable Hook. They should be meeting up with the Hero now. After a few seconds, her consciousness is fully connected with Sable, allowing her to not only control the body but talk with the consciousness in charge of the body.
"Hey, how are things looking?" Judieth asked the artificial soul.
[Where just waiting for the Hero to show up. We're currently in a drawing room located in the local Church.] A voice said, sounding just like Judieth.
The soul that controls the body of Sable Hook is an artificial soul made from Mana and a piece of Judieths own soul. As a result, Sable Hook and Judieth Redwood are connected together and can share information with each other from long distances. Not only that, but they also share the same emotions and memories. For all intent and purposes, they are the same person but in different body's.
This is Judieths crowning achievement after decades of careful research. Though there are still some problems, one of which is the fact Sable can't live without Judieth. Once the doctor dies, so does sable. Another problem is that even though Sable can function autonomously, their thinking and self awareness is a bit clouded and makes it difficult for them to make quick decisions on the spot making it so they can't be in any real social or emergency situation. The only time their consciousness isn't cloudy is when Judieth connects with them.
The most frustrating problem for both of them is that Sable isn't truly a separate soul. Their personality can definitely be called different, but it's relatively similar to Judieths. Both of them wish to make Sable a truly separate and artificial soul, but they also wish to keep their connection at the same time. Also, Sable's body is still a re-animated corps, though put together and made to look whole, the grey skin and red eyes underneath all the clothing makes it hard to come across as human.
[I've been thinking.] Sable said. [When you finish the procedure on Ruby and Yuki, that could help with our own research. I know that wasn't the intention, but maybe it can help us.]
"Maybe." Judieth responded.
The two idly chatted with each other for a little while before the Hero came into the room. Sitting on the couch across from them, Jason and Sable faced each other in silence. Jason had a sharp look in his eyes, looking at Sable. It was almost like he was trying to get a read on them, but it was hard to do that with the all black clothing, raven mask, and hood covering their whole body. Eventually, he broke the silence.
"Why are you here? You know I can have you captured for aiding in the escape of the Silver haired Monster Girl right? Or should I call her Twenty-four to simplify things." Jason said.
"Well," Came Sables androgynous voice, "I was hoping we could just talk, you know. Plus, you know this isn't my real body, so it wouldn't matter anyway."
"You're right about that. Actually, after our fight, I came to realize that we had met once before years ago."
"Oh? You remember then?" Sable said. "I was new to the scene as a necromancer then, not well known at all. I'm surprised you remember that time."
"Well, after the raid, I did some research on you, and it jogged my memory of that time." Jason said before leaning forward a little bit. "Youngest person to become a necromancer, I met you two years later, when you were thirty."
"How time flies. When was that sixty something years ago?"
"Just about that long, yeah." Jason confirmed.
"Meeting you at the time was such an honor." Sable said. "I grew up with the adults around me talking about your exploits and achievements during the war. I did like you as the Hero, even if I wasn't the biggest fan of your backers. It was obvious you didn't hold the same beliefs as them. you made that clear when you made peace with the Demon Lords successor."
"Actually speaking of the past and my backers. You made it very clear in the past that you despise the Church and their teachings." Jason said, looking at Sable suspiciously. "Then you just disappeared for two decades before resurfacing again twelve years ago. Then you started actively working for the church sometime after you came back from wherever you were. Why? Did your opinions on the Church change, or is it something else?
"Well, it definitely wasn't because I liked the Church or anything." Sable responded.
"Could it be because of the monster girl? You're probably over one-hundred at this point... could it be that your physical body is dying and that is why you're using this avatar as a stand in? Are you using the girl to-" Jason started thinking to himself out loud before being interrupted.
"Okay, let me cut you off right there. I'm not using the girl to extend my own life or anything like that." Sable said with a tinge of anger leaking into their otherwise calm voice. "I have a question for you instead."
"... let's hear it."
"Why does someone like you continue serving the Church? From what I can tell you don't really follow their teachings."
"They're still one of the main influences on the continent. They help keep order. And with their influence, I can help a lot more people. The Church isnt the saints they claim to be by any means, but they are necessary."
"Yeah I guess they do help maintain peace. If you're a part of mankind. Demons and Beast-Men aren't really considered worthy of the Church's help." The bitterness coming from Sable was so palpable Jason couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. "Anyway I have a request."
"oh, uh, sure." He responded awkwardly.
"Could you leave, uh, Twenty-four alone?"
"I can't."
*sigh* "I figured."
"SIR HERO!" A woman mage came bursting into the room. "She's here! The girl we're searching for is here!"
Before Jason could even process the mage's words, Sable was already pulling a Mana Crystal from their pocket before breaking it. "Ice Prison!" In an instant, both the mage and the Hero were encased in ice. Jason did try to evade, but all that did was freeze him mid jump.
Sable then approached the trapped Hero before placing a hand on their icy prison, with the other holding a Mana Crystal. "Mana Drain." They said. "This should slow you down - hm!?"
Just Sable said that cracks started to form in the ice. It was slow, but the Hero would break free soon if they didn't do anything. Pulling yet another Crystal from their pocket, Sable chanted another spell before breaking the Crystal. "Strengthen." Using all of these, Mana Crystals is really killing me inside, *sigh*, what is that girl doing. Anyway, this should hold you for another 10 minutes, It would be much much longer, but your strength is scary. Glad I'm not fighting you head on."
With that, Sable made their escape into the night hoping to help Ruby evade the City Guard. 'Maybe I should make some decoys.' Judieth thought. "Hey, find someplace to hide. I'm going to go ahead and raise some of the dead.
"Alright, I will talk to you later." Sable's soul said. With that Judieth relinquished control of Sables body back to the artificial soul.
-- -- --
"This was the best I could do on short notice." Standing in front of Judieth was three ghouls wearing silver wigs and black clothing. "Looks like Ruby had enough sense to avoid coming near the Inn while being pursued. Alright just run around the city without harming anyone."
With that simple command the ghouls ran in different directions to cause even more confusion. With her work finished the Redhead made their way back to the Inn to wait for the Silver haired girl to arrive. "I'm going to let that girl have it. Now the Hero knows we're here. Uhg." She said to herself dragging her feet.
When she got to the Inn Judieth entered the room the three girls shared together. Noticing that the Nymph was awake when she entered the Red head wondered briefly if Morella already knew what was happening, but then she remembered that Nymphs don't actually need sleep. So Judieth quickly explained what was happening to the woman.
"We need to help then!" Morella said getting up looking worried.
"I did what I could for now. The problem is that we don't actually know where she is. it could cau- Oh she's here." Sensing Ruby's presence Judieth stopped talking.
Shortly after Ruby returned she collapsed. Moving her to her bed to rest, they waited until she woke up. Morella looked worried while Judieth was also worried she was also slightly annoyed.