The armoury was crowded with soldiers yelling to one another, and Elian hurried the children inside with haste.
"Come on. If you're actually going to fight, you're certainly not doing it with those rag and sticks," he said, pushing them towards a weapon rack just as a man in armour came around the corner.
"Lord Elian, we're…" he began, and then stopped. "Are those outsider children?"
Elian glared him dead in the eye. "Yes. Specifically, they killed Cath Palug and lived with Lild for around a month, and I've been training them every single day under Father's nose."
The man blinked, partially in shock, partially in confusion. "Why… Why would you tell me that?"
"Because you're the only person not involved who knows now, so if anyone finds out, I'll know who to execute for treason."
"Ah. Clever."
"Little trick I learned from Iselotte. Tell the men to hold the lines best they can while I get these four outfitted."
"Sir."
With that, the man left.
"Take what you need," Elian said. "This stuff should all fit you guys."
With that, he turned to leave, clearly headed to the barracks. "Do not kill yourselves."
Miki quickly looked over the equipment, fishing out a plain leather chestplate. "Is there anything else that won't weigh me down?"
Ren looked around. "Uh… There might be something in that box," he pointed.
Specifically, it was an old chest at the back of the room. So old, in fact, that it could well have been centuries since it was touched.
The ghiest moved and picked up the chest, cracking it open, seeing as it wasn't locked.
"Whoa," Ren murmured. "These must be Elian and Iselotte's old things from when they were small."
A sword, staff, and spear sat inside accompanied by a set of light armor with a pair of rather out of place glasses. "Well they aren't using it now."
Ren nodded, smirking a little at the glasses. "Do you think these are Iselotte's battle glasses or something?"
Miki shrugged, picking it up. "Probably do something interesting." He pushed his hair out of the way and put them on, turning to Ren as if asking for input.
"Whooaaa. You look really smart all of a sudden, Miki," Ren smiled cheerfully. "Those suit you!"
He hummed and turned back to the other weapons, picking out the bladed weapons in the chest and a sturdy bow.
Meanwhile, Kheire had his back turned to the two as he fished out some greaves and a breastplate of his own. After Miki left the chest open, he took the rod and began tinkering with ut to switch out the core and change the alignment.
Val was visibly shaking as she tried to at least look like she was searching for armor. She was gonna die, she was gonna die!
Ren moved over to her, tugging at her sleeve. "What kind of thing are you looking for?" he asked, astoundingly calmly.
"Uhm, something that doesn't let me get my heart brutally ripped out?" Val nervously laughed.
Ren's eye twitched for a mere moment. "Uh. I think if you stay far away, she can't get you with that ability. It's just a long arm, right?"
"I suppose. In that case, maybe something that makes me harder to find?"
The boy nodded ponderously. "They have invisibility cloaks in Avalon, I think, but I don't think dragons would have them. Maybe something that will make you faster will do the trick… Or… Oh! Stay here!"
Quickly, Ren activated his camouflage, turning invisible and creeping out the door.
It was around a minute later he returned with an arm full of thin pouches full of some sort of dust.
"How's this?"
"What is 'this'?" She said, picking up one of them.
"They're like water balloons, just filled with soot!" he beamed. "Smoke bombs! They're kind of simple compared to some of the other bombs I found in there, but I think they work better, since they just have to hit something to go off."
"Wow, this is actually really useful!" Val picked them up gingerly, putting them in her bag for now, "Do you want one?"
"I think I'll be okay, since I have my invisibility. I can make flashes at her too, so you keep them. You need them a lot more than I do," he said. "Don't get hurt, okay?"
"Hey, I really don't think I can ensure that, but I'll try my best." she sighed, but then genuinely laughed, poking Ren's cheek as she said "Don't get into a bad situation where you're falling, okay? I won't be able to catch you this time."
He giggled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in such a manner as to indicate that he really doubted he'd be able to manage his end of the deal either.
"Although, I wish I could have a situation to catch you again. Maybe we could hit Elian even more!"
"I really don't think he'd be very happy with that…" he mumbled awkwardly, but laughed anyway.
It was silent for a moment, "Ren, if I die will you take care of Sam for me?"
Ren shook his head forcefully in sheer denial. "That won't happen. I won't let it happen. It can't. We're not gonna die. We're gonna live forever."
Val looked at him sadly, but couldn't find the heart to say anything but "Okay."
"I'm not lying! We are! We're going to win and we're going to go home! Everyone's going to be okay! We'll go to the library and we'll find books to learn about Sam together! I'll train with Miki and I'll go on adventures with you and I'll study crafting with Kheire and we'll all eat dinner together!" he insisted. "We're not going to die! We're stronger than that! We're stronger than we were when we came up here! I couldn't save Blue, but now we're strong enough to do anything!"
"We do still have to avenge Blue, don't we?" Val tried to not be overly touched by this conversation, but how could she not be. How could she let herself die now? Not that she wanted to, but she had definitely come to the edge of giving up and asking Zhihao to make it fast.
Ren grabbed both her hands and pressed his forehead against her, standing on his tiptoes to do it. "We will. I promise we will. I know it."
Val lost her words for a moment. All the languages she knows, and she couldn't think of a single word except "Okay," which seems to be a go to of hers.
Then the moment is over, and reality comes to crush her again, "I need to make potions."
"I'll get you guys more time to prepare." Miki spoke resolutely, looking over his new equipment. "Master, can you come here and give me a boost?"
"Of course," he nodded happily, bouncing over and holding out his hand.
He ignored the hand, instead reaching for Ren's sari and pulling it over his eyes.
"Uwah?!" he scrabbled at it, trying to pull it back up.
"For luck." Miki quickly pressed his lips over his forehead and the bridge of his nose, simultaneously looking over at Val with a clearly smug expression.
Ren pulled his sari up just in time to receive Miki's kiss, blushing furiously and staring in awe. "Um. Uh. Um."
If he noticed Ren's stare he didn't comment. "I already know where Zhihao is so I'm going ahead. I hope you're all in one piece later." With that, Miki ran into the streets and was eventually out of sight.
Ren hurried over to a window and yelled out after him. "Miki! Kick her ass!"
Beaming happily, he hurried over to Kheire and Val like an overexcited schoolgirl.
"Alright! Let's make some potions!"
Val scowled, mumbling curses wishing death unto a certain rapier weiner in Veela.
The roofs of the city streets in Vortigern were surprisingly flat. They were angled, of course, but not nearly as much as the tiles had seemed to be from the ground.
It was, however, just a small risk, as the paths themselves were mostly elevated walkways over at least a five-hundred metre drop.
As such, Miki's capacity for precision and care came in handy when traversing them.
The blonde jiuweihu was within eyeshot, seemingly not noticing Miki as he took aim.
Clay weapons rained down upon her, but Zhihao noticed just a second too soon, evading all but one of the twenty attacks.
"Gheist," she observed, picking herself up and drawing her swords. "Miki, wasn't it? I assume you're here for Viper Wedding."
"How perceptive. Do you want a trophy? A medal? A sword through your throat?"
"Your metal is a good enough prize for me," she retorted. "Do you understand what you're challenging? I was holding back the last time we fought. I don't intend to do so again."
He produced his swords, readying them in front of him. "Don't restrain yourself then, Zhihao."
With a predatory grin, she gladly took his advice, leaping at the gheist with fang and blade bared.
The ghiest shifted and was knocked out of the air.
His sword form was sent clattering down a gap in the streets, falling down a drop, much to the jiuweihu's chagrin.
Shaking her head, she decided Viper Wedding would just finish him off even if she left him, so she was on her way.
He clung to the wall by jamming his swords into it. He peered onto the tiled roofs, judging the distance between them.
She was too far away to catch up with by dashing, but she was, in theory, still within attacking range.
Miki reached out to Fulmine, feeding it more exin, causing his gauntlets to pulse.
「You owe me so much for this.」The electric armaments shifted into a vaguely humanoid shape that created a loud crackle when its paws hit the roof.
Zhihao didn't so much as turn around, likely not even hearing from a combination of distance and forward focus.
Miki hid in wait as Fulmine growled when it wasn't noticed, roaring as it extended the claws of its gauntlets to drag the blonde back.
The claw pierced her right leg, and Zhihao screamed in pain as she was dragged back across her chest by her wound, rending her foot a bloody mess comparable to a stump.
The raiju snarled and began tearing into the prone jiuweihu, barraging her with its claws as its shape began fading.
Zhihao gritted her teeth in terror as attacks began to rain down, and shrieked.
"Samay, dheema!"
Without warning, something changed.
Everything seemed to suddenly turn to molasses.
It was almost impossible to move, and the barrage was grinding through the air like a drill through lead.
It was nearly impossible to even think at a normal pace.
And yet, Zhihao rolled freely from underneath the pseudo-gheist's attacks, and climbed to her bloodied foot.
Heavily breathing, she took a moment to catch her breath, standing up straight and raising her blades. "Samay… saamaany."
Everything suddenly fell as fast as before, reality returning to normal, and Zhihao slashing at Miki from the side before he even had time to adjust.
Repeating his action, Miki fed more exin to his spirits, forming a feminine figure this time. It lazily waved its hand, creating several clay tools that shot towards Zhihao. It didn't register at first, but Miki released the edge to avoid her blades. He hit the ground, not completely unharmed but in a much better condition than he would've been had he not let go. Repeating his action, Miki fed more exin to his spirits, forming a feminine figure this time. It lazily waved its hand, creating several clay tools that shot towards Zhihao.
Zhihao evaded them one by one, but failed to take into account her destroyed right foot, taking several hits as she went, drawing blood. The jiuweihu gritted her teeth, slotting her swords together and drawing back her bow. She'd had just about enough of this.
Miki drew the spear he picked up eariler, Miki drew the spear he got earlier. He leapt at Zhihao, skewering her with the weapon.
The spearhead was forced in through her chest and out the other side, and Zhihao choked up red. Gritting her teeth, she glared up at Miki, thrusting with the bladed bow as she leapt backwards and into the streets below, vanishing.
And, in turn, something that had been wrapped around Miki's neck dissolved.
Val was flying back from making potions. She knew that there was a good chance Miki was dead, and maybe even Kheire, wherever he was. Val had a plan for her own fight, however, and if it worked she wouldn't even have to fight Zhihao at all.
She landed, walking into the armory while scratching her skin. She had been really itchy lately, but it was probably just nerves.
"Ren, are you still here?"
Kheire poked his head out from behind a rack of weapons, "Hey, Val. Do you have a potion I can borrow?"
"I did make a potion I thought you might need." Val said, taking a small bottle out of her bag and handing it to him.
"Thanks. Did you happen to find anywhere in the castle with potion ingredients and more equipment?"
"Potion ingredients, yes. It's just a little ways from here."
Kheire took off at a sprint, needing every advantage he can get.
"Val, are you back?" Ren called from around a corner. "Did you see anything that was happening?"
"I did not, no." Val said, sitting down and dumping small potions into two large bottles.
Ren pulled a small face, wondering where Miki was, and then looked over at what Val was making. "What's that?"
"A charisma potion, well," Val looked down and counted the bottles, "eight charisma potions."
"All in one?!" he spluttered. "I… why...?! What are you doing?"
"I'm a Veela, -----. I can do things."
"Things?" Ren blinked. "I mean… Yeah, but… Well… Yeah."
He had exactly zero idea what things she was referring to, but he did agree that she could, in fact, do things.
"I wonder if Miki's won yet," he pondered. "If he did, then it should be possible for all of us. I think."
"If my plan goes well, I don't think I'll even have to attack or dodge." Val stated, confidence slowly returning.
"Ah, you've got a plan?" he said happily. "That's great! You have backups though, right? I don't want you getting hurt if it fails."
"Ah-, not really, no."
Ren's face went solemn. "Be careful."
"Do you have a plan, Ren?" Val asked, putting a hand on his arm.
"Well… I have a lot of stuff, so I guess I'll make something up," he shrugged.
"When do you think she'll find us?"
"I don't want to find out," he said. "I think I'm going to go find her."
Val startled "What? Ren you can't. Are you ready?"
"Maybe?" he said.
"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
He shook his head. "I don't think so. It's a one-on-one anyway, so I should be okay."
Val looked at her hands, "I think you can do it, I think."
"I hope so," he nodded. "I'll see if I can get high up and look for her. Good luck, you two."
Opening the door, he stepped outside, hurrying up a flight of stairs.
Val blinked, "Alright Kheire, good luck to you." And with that she was out the door and flying away.
It was only a few metres into the air before she noticed movement.
Zhihao was running towards the armoury at a worrying pace, fully armed and uninjured.
Val's heart beat harder as she uncapped her potion and drank it. She hoped this would be enough.
However, when she landed in front of Zhihao and let her feather fade away, and began to release her Veela pheromones into the air all at once, she accidentally triggered something else.
She suddenly and painlessly had white wings where her arms were supposed to be. Which was strange, and also hilarious because her plan worked. Zhihao was looking at her with a glazed, adoring look. To a girl with wings instead of arms. It was even funnier when she drooled as Val struggled to open the other potion with her feathery appendages.
Valentina walked closer to Zhihao, fearful of the charm breaking, but doing what must be done.
"Zhihao, I have defeated you."
"Y-Yes…!" she breathed eagerly, the snakes around Val's body vanishing.
"Thank you, dearest." Val giggled as she proceeded to make a nearby pillar collapse on her through a barrage of fire. She then flew away as she heard a moan of pleasure from under her handiwork.
A few moments passed before the pillar began to glow.
It was not any kind of special magical process.
It was just melting.
An arrow of light exploded out of it, blasting it to pieces, and struck the armoury, an enormous ball of flame engulfing everything around, blowing Val and even Ren away.
With a single leap, Zhihao entered the crater that was the armoury a few seconds prior, looking around for her target, teeth gritted with humiliated fury.
A predatory gaze scanned the area.
But Kheire Hecatox was not here.
Kheire was running through the halls, setting up traps and covering up sources of light with layers of ink, plant matter, silk, sand, dirt, and whatever else he could produce or find. He was panicking, he knew he had to make every second count.
He had only gotten through enough rooms to count on his fingers before he heard the sound of the doors being slammed open.
"Hecatox! I'm going to make this quick!"
It was a promise to herself as much as anyone else.
Zhihao was very close to losing it and she was not letting herself get beaten for a third time in a row, least of all by a sentient flower.
Kheire sniggered to himself, using Octavia's power to sneak around more effectively in the dark. He was going to drag this out for as long as possible… He could feel her anger. It almost felt like he was feeding on it. Meanwhile, Gemma, having been encased in stone nigh completely in the ceiling above her was able to send out her curse and revert back to core form to avoid harm and detection.
Zhihao felt the curse as a pressure from above, and shot a fireball up in retaliation, blowing up the ceiling above her and sidestepping to avoid the falling rubble.
"Well then," she frowned. "If we're playing that way, so be it."
With a single movement, she vanished.
Kheire knew his first curse had taken effect. He wondered how the second would fare as he continued to shroud the rooms in darkness, laying another trap in the process.
Sasuke perked up as he sensed the enemy enter the area. He had been keeping his power charged for a while now, unlike the others. He released it onto the metal-covered room below him, boosting its effectiveness.
Not even a second passed before Sasuke was suddenly subject to a crushing force, strangling him and trying to pull him off the ceiling.
He managed to keep his grip, but only just.
Without warning, Zhihao appeared, grasping him, clinging to the ceiling as well.
With a single swing of Agneyastra, she pierced it, climbing up to the next floor and dropping the pet into its own trap, debris falling all around it.
"I'm not going to be played for a fool," the jiuweihu said quietly, advancing to a staircase and climbing even higher.
Kheire could feel his pets dropping after their job is done and felt anger of his own bubbling up. He continued to set up the environment as he made his way through the castle. He heard her break through the ceiling and started to move towards the middle of the gauntlet.
It was a few seconds' wait before he noticed an arm twisting from something behind him.
Kheire notices which trapped room she is in and sets off the charges, explosions of sharp shrapnel flying throughout the area.
Swinging blades, she deflected the majority of the shrapnel with ease. Only a few fragments of wood scratched her; enough for her to basically ignore her wounds.
Kheire growled in annoyance at how ineffective everything seems to be as he launched a multitude of poisonous thorns at his adversary.
Zhihao managed to deflect all but four of them, proceeding further and tossing a fireball into the room in front of her, setting it on fire from the floor and letting the flames crawl to everything flammable in the room.
Kheire reared back his arm as he saw his enemy approach, lobbing an explosive to her, spraying the debilitating liquid all around.
The moment Zhihao stepped into the flames, she seemed to blink out of existence for a moment, reappearing a moment later in the doorway, but she didn't move, waiting for the flames to spread to the last room.
Kheire charged up an explosive magma charge before lobbing it at the pillar nearest Zhihao, hoping it might at least put some distance between them.
Zhihao, having seen that move before, simply took a step back to avoid it as it shattered the burning wooden ground where she had been standing.
Taking another step forward, something snapped.
The floor beneath her gave way, the pillar even shattering the scaffolding below that was holding the castle to the mountainside.
Leaving Zhihao falling and the walls along with her, she barely managed to jam a sword into the mountainside to keep herself from simply dropping into the clouds and out of sight.
It was a double-edged sword.
Basking in the sunlight, Zhihao hissed something through gritted teeth and using her blades to climb slowly back up towards the castle as the last of the debris collapsed and fell into the abyss below.
Kheire traveled to the next floor, using his wings to stay up above it as he blasted the other pillar that held up the floor.
The jiuweihu saw her chance.
Tossing a fireball up to the falling debris, she leapt up as it fell.
Letting it throw her into the air like a rail, she soared towards Kheire, blades drawn.
Kheire panicked and launched a volley of magma projectiles from Iselotte's old staff.
The blasts exploded on impact and, leaving Zhihao with no way to dodge or block, send her dropping down into the clouds.
Kheire peered into the abyss. "Well… This seems like it's over." He shrugs and leaves to collect his pets' cores. "I should probably fix Iselotte's staff back to the way it was, too…"
It took a minute or two, but eventually the marks disappeared.
Zhihao's cursed arm was not only good for ripping out hearts, it seemed.
If it hadn't been for its length and size, she probably would have fallen off the mountainside entirely.
She was getting tired now, and she found an outcropping on the mountain to sit and drink a potion to heal her reasonably minor wounds.
It was a good thing, she mused, that the damned bird hadn't attacked her, or she'd already be on her last one.
For something so powerful, she'd never imagined she'd need to use so many.
"What a pain," she muttered to herself as she tossed the bottle down the cliff glumly.
This was supposed to be easy, and she was very ready to just curl up and sulk for a while, but she had probably disappointed Namacuix enough.
Besides, she didn't want him to get into trouble with that Li woman. Perhaps it was because they were both foxes, but something about that old hag creeped her out immensely.
Whatever.
Stretching, she leapt up to the upper layer of the mountain in a single bound.
Narrowing her eyes, she spotted something moving around in the uppermost streets of the city.
Not hesitating for a moment, she drew her swords again, moving towards her target menacingly.
Seeing the paramatman had reminded her of what she had almost forgotten.
Zhihao was one hundred and ten percent done.
She'd been humilated once. She could handle that. She'd been humiliated twice by that bird that had twisted her mind and made her stupid. She had started to get pissed off. She'd been humiliated thrice, and one of them was the goddamn flower.
So, with now Ren was stood in front of her, she was just about ready to abandon her objective entirely and outright murder him.
"You're looking kind of intense there, Miss Zhihao," he told her, edging back a little.
"Don't you start," she growled. "This was an easy task made as difficult as humanly possible. I'm capturing you, and then I'm going home and getting some sleep."
"I don't suppose we can just skip the first part and nap together?"
"Don't push it. I'm close to killing you as it is."
"Killing me?" Ren said, reaching into his sari. "Is that so?"
Zhihao's eyes widened in shock as she moved to defend.
When did he get that? Where did he get it from? Why did he even have it?!
She shoved the questions aside for now and instead focused on blocking each and every one of the hundreds of bullets firing from the assault rifle in Ren's hands.
The hail of bullets lasted a mere few seconds before stopping, Zhihao not sporting but a scratch.
So this is her true strength... he observed, slipping the gun back inside his sari.
"That was your incredible trick?" she scoffed. "I thought you were meant to be cleverer than some street magician, paramatman. These are the quick wits that felled Cath Palug?"
"Yep, you're right, that was an absolute failure," he nodded satisfiedly. "It was a pretty weak weapon in comparison to our powers now. Seriously, what the hell? It was okay at the time."
He shook his head. "Well, that's my gimcrack done. Guess you can cut my head off now."
Normally, she would be at least a little skeptical, but frankly, at this point, the jiuweihu was taking what she could get, dashing forward and slashing him.
Her strike was deflected.
Not by him, but by something else; some invisible blade clashing against her own.
Vishnu, she realised. She had completely forgotten.
Ren grinned again, clearly noting her jogged memory. "Yeah, those swords won't help you. You're way too fast for me to dodge, and you'd cut my in half with a single hit, so this power activated. You're gonna have to go easier than that. I, on the other hand..." he said, reaching into his sari again, "can go all out!"
More slashes, but not from the invisible sword.
Ren swung two draconic swords at his opponent, actually landing a hit before she dodged the second.
"Where are you keeping all of this crap?" she hissed.
"I dunno," he shrugged, then rushed her again.
She evaded with a degree of ease, but it was a little harder than last time. Fate wasn't on his side, that much was obvious at a glance, but he was wielding those swords with a degree of skill he had no right to have.
It seemed an absurd thought.
A small, luckless, clumsy little boy couldn't possibly, but...
"Are you copying me?" she demanded.
"I guess your technique inspired me," he grinned. "Really heavily inspired."
This was bad. If she was actively teaching him by attacking him, then there was no guarantee she would even be able to hit him before long.
She had to finish this quickly.
Magic, then.
Launching ten fireballs, Ren found himself unable to evade even one, each and every single attack exploding on impact, sending him sprawling.
And, just for a moment, his body glowed as he got up.
Zhihao, all of a sudden, felt a little thinner.
"Sorry," Ren grinned. "Arjuna says you deserve it, but it looks like I just received some of your fate."
My fate? What did that even mean?
Not wanting to risk any more, she fired another barrage of flames at the boy.
One hit its mark.
Two hit its mark.
Three hit its mark.
But the rest were child's play for the small boy to avoid.
Okay, enough was enough. Zhihao sheathed her blades and held her arm out.
A wrapping of flame and flesh came together to form a hand of nightmares.
It lashed forward.
It buried itself through Ren's sari.
And Ren screamed as it pulled back, gouging something round and red.
Zhihao sighed.
The Great Black One would not stand for such insolence, but she thought it was worth it just to see the boy struggle.
"My... my...!" he breathed, panicking and feeling around his chest. "It's...!"
He pulled his sari aside and opened his coat.
"...still here," he smiled.
Zhihao blinked.
"What."
"It was, uh, just a little prank. See? I'm actually fine."
The jiuweihu shook her head. No, she had ripped out his heart. She had reached in and grabbed it. It was exactly where it was meant to be.
She still even had it in her hand.
Oh, no, wait.
No, that wasn't a heart.
It was a grenade.
Wait, wha--?!
"Ka-boom!" Ren cried excitedly over the sound of the crystalline explosion. "Hey, Zhihao! Turns out there's all kinds of bombs in the dragon's armoury! I found smoke bombs for Val too!"
When the smoke cleared, Zhihao was a bloody mess, and Ren had lost a pair of snakes.
"Son... of a..."
"That was for Little Blue," he said. "We hope you have enjoyed our slow-cooked, carefully prepared, lovingly seasoned vengeance."
That was around the time that a certain familiar three-metre tower of a man landed with a crash between the pair, looking the jiuweihu in the eye.
"Lord Namacuix..." murmured Zhihao.
"You've done all you can. Leave the rest to me," he told her.
"Hey, Mr Namacuix!" Ren chimed, clinging onto his shoulder. "How've you been doing?"
"Don't touch me unless you wish to die, paramatman."
"Noted, noted," he laughed, taking a few steps back. And then a hop forward and back again, poking at his back a couple of times as he went. "Hey, you're it! Gonna fight me?"
"Were you listening to a word I just said?" glared Namacuix. You might have defeated my apprentice, but do not think for a moment that I cannot simply end you with a thought. All I need to do is kill you in two hits instead of only one, and Vishnu will abide."
Ren smirked again. "Well, yeah. But do you think I'd just rely on cheap tricks like that? No, see, I rely on cheap tricks like this."
He clenched his fist and pulled it back with a ching.
"You mean a cheap trick like that fire grenade you left on my shoulderblade earlier?" Namacuix asked, grabbing said grenade and tossing it aside.
"Nice catch," the small boy said. "But you should really have spent more time in the city, jungle man!"
Ching, ching, ching.
Namacuix broke his own neck to look behind him.
Three more grenades were hooked around his loincloth.
The pins had been tied to the one he had thrown away, and had come free with it.
Panicking, he turned to his blessing for aid.
"Samay, dhee--!"
Too late.
With three near-simultaneous explosions of flame, there was also the sound of screaming.
Namacuix had fallen to the ground, bleeding.
"Good," he rasped. "But not enough. I can just heal from this."
A fifth grenade rattled as it landed in front of him.
"Can you do it before I pull the pin?" Ren asked.
The Xelhuan was silent.
Even if he attacked now, he couldn't kill the boy in one hit.
Vishnu would prevent that.
And if Ren did not die in a single attack, he would have time to detonate that grenade.
Namacuix wouldn't survive that.
"Do you admit defeat, Namacuix?"
"I do."
The second pair of snakes, which had not even reached Ren's elbows, vanished.
Namacuix got to his feet, dusting himself down, staring intensely through all the blood.
"It seems our secondary objective will not be accomplished today."
Ren froze. "Secondary?"
"Indeed. Lady Li is tasked with our primary mission."
The small boy racked his brains desperately. He was only secondary?
"Did you think all of our actions revolved around you?" chuckled Namacuix. "She should be already at the peak."
"The peak?" he echoed.
What was at the peak?
No, that was the wrong question.
But that could only have meant one thing.
Ren turned and ran up the mountain as fast as he could.
Valentina, of course, had been watching and listening the whole time, but instead of attempting to sneak around looking like herself, she was a falcon instead. Funny trick that was.
Speaking of funny tricks, she had never been so proud/amused by her little friend so far. That was immensely satisfying to watch. She would definitely have to ask him where he kept all of those weapons as well.
However, there seemed to be a bigger issue at hand, and although it was definitely not one she wanted to deal with, she would probably have to.
Val flew directly above Ren, flapping her small wings as hard as she could. Unfortunately, she could not speak in this form, making asking for information kind of difficult.
The paramatman reached the mountain peak just in time to get the crap kicked out of him.
He had just spotted a figure on the top when he felt something sharp all over his body, and he cried out in pain as he was thrown away by the force.
Looking up to see his attacker, something snapped inside.
A lifeless familiar face.
"M… Miss Renya…?!"
And yet, it wasn't.
This seemed to even freak out the weird bird following him around, and it screeched, as if telling him to turn around, run.
Ren scrambled back a little. This wasn't his friend.
He could tell at a glance.
This was a body, dancing as if on strings.
The woman at the peak called down to him.
"Paramatman, welcome," she giggled. "You're just in time to see the show."
"Sh-show?! What have you done to my friend?!"
"Nothing worth getting angry over. She'll last a lot longer this way, believe me," the fox-woman replied. "My name is Li Ji-Su, and I'm one of the Pitris just like the two small fry you just fought."
Small fry? Is that what she called that pair of monsters that could have easily killed all four of them in a heartbeat?
Ji-Su smirked. "You must have a lot of questions."
"Why my friend?!" he demanded. "You could have used anyone!"
"Ah, that's where you're wrong. It took a long time to find a suitable candidate for this process, but it just so happens that you happen to be contracted with a ghiest who I've seen some incredible potential in. So, why not go and pick up what was left of one of his sources?"
The puppet, the corpse, the body, Renya, turned and began to climb to the lip of the volcano.
"Now then. Shall we begin?" she said, walking the remains over to the very edge.
"I don't really get what you're talking about." Countless clay weapons shot towards the puppet's body. Miki stared at the body with slight interest. "Are they supposed to be important to me?"
The puppet darted aside with a flick of the woman's finger.
"But of course, dear," she smirked. "This is the body of something that… reincarnated into you. You are as much it as you are a blade. In fact, I would say that spirit you're carrying around with you might even still remember her body."
The bird dove down and into Ren's sari. It was quite freaked out.
Kheire, his sparkling wings fluttering overhead, was frozen in shock at seeing one of his first real friends being used like this. That couldn't actually be her, could it?
The incessant thoughts from that spirit confirmed her words. "Should that matter? It's just a skin sack now."
The puppeteer tutted in disappointment. "Sad. I had hoped for some measure of difficulty at least accepting it, but it seems however the reincarnation happened, the memories of Miki Hao Kuin are much stronger. Or perhaps this girl was just that apathetic in the first place. I wouldn't know," she shrugged. "Well, if you're fine with it, then I might as well get on with it."
The selkie's body took a few final steps towards the absolute edge.
Kheire's face turned bright red in rage, never having felt this strongly about much of anything before.
Ji-Su closed her fist and the body went limp, and Renya fell into the volcano.
"Eat up, Overlord of the Immortal Shape," she smirked.
Emptying a pouch of silvery powder into the still-turquoise lava below, she laughed as the earth began to shake.
The falcon flew out of the sari, and became a larger avian creature commonly known as Val. She moved quickly, stumbling once as the tremors grew stronger, and picked up Ren, flying as far from the earth as she could while still watching.
"My apologies, Ren."
"Don't be sorry," he said. "I get the feeling we were probably going to die down there."
He suddenly froze. "Miki!"
Val sighed, yes, of course she would need to save Miki, how could she be so blind.
And of course, she would have to be the one to go get him, because Kheire is too damn slow. Great.
"Kheire, will you hold Ren for me while I save Sir. Rapier Weiner?"
"Sorry." Miki shifted, allowing Val to hold him in one hand.
"Oh, yes, that works too," Val said, now holding both of her teammates, one which she adores and one which she hates.
Ren, on the other hand, would have been in his own little corner of Heaven under different circumstances.
The volcano, for a split second, seemed to erupt, magma spewing out in all directions.
And then it stopped.
It didn't fall.
Instead, it seemed to congeal, condense, compress.
The molten rock seemed to simply fade away, leaving only an ethereal turquoise glow.
Renya floated there, enormous spectral dragon wings, tail, horns and claws setting her apart from what she was before.
"A flimsy body," her voice said dryly, "but at least it shan't rebel."
"You are very welcome, Lord Vortigern," Li smiled, a grin like a slash wound. "I trust you remember our terms."
"Do not test me. I will aid you now that I have physical form again, as per my word," she snarled. "In the meantime, we depart."
"Of course, Lord Vortigern."
The selkie… The dragon glared down at the pit from which it spawned. "I never want to see this wretched place again. In fact, for good measure…"
She inhaled, and then roared.
From the roar came a blast.
Shadow and iron intertwined in a vortex-like beam that blew a sizeable chunk off the mountain's peak.
"It will fade away in time," she concluded. "Now then, we leave."
"At once," Ji-Su nodded, looking up at Kheire and vanishing, leaving him with only the image of her sinister smile burned into his mind.
Flying away to the castle, Val sighed, "I guess it's time to get Sam, maybe Zeph, if she's not too pissed at me."
In the distance, through the halls, there was a low grumbling from around one corner and the sound of bickering from around another.
Flying through a window, she put Ren down and put Miki into his hand.
She ran away, yelling, "Sammy-, it's Mommy!"
Unknown to the party, there was another player about to enter their game, someone who's target had shifted from following the Pitris to the small white haired boy they seemed to be hunting.
"Not again," she mumbled, and ducked away out of sight from the window where a girl and her dragon gazed out of. They shouldn't have been able to see her.
But of course Miss D'maris did, even if it was simply luck. Whether it was good or bad is impossible to tell.
Val raised her hand to get one of her teammates attention, but was quickly distracted by them walking away.
Ren, however, ever observant of his precious bird friend, tried to slide over suavely, only to trip over his own foot.
"Ow. Did… Did you need something?" he asked from the floor.
Val offered her hand to him, "I think I saw something, I'm not sure, but it moved fast… let's just be observant on the way back, okay?"
He nodded. "Good idea. I trust your eyes."
Meanwhile, yelling came from down the halls.
"So now this is my fault?!"
"If you had held him down like I asked, I could have hit him!"
"And me too!"
"So?"
Indeed, Elian and Iselotte were limping down the halls throwing insults and snipes at one another, whilst Lild slowly made her way from another corridor, leaning on the wall for a moment.
"How'd you kids do?" she rasped. "You don't even look hurt. I mean, Ren and Miki have a couple scratches, but…"
"Lild!" cried Ren, rushing in for a hug, squeezing her as tightly as humanly possible.
"Whoa there, slow down, little one. I think you're stronger than me now," she fluffed his hair with the slightest hint of chagrin.
"Are you okay? You seem hurt!"
"Yeah, just some rotting lungs. Nothing major."
Iselotte looked over, inspecting the growing black mark on her sister's body.
"Lild, that's necrosis," she frowned. "You should be dead."
"Immortal, remember?" she raised an eyebrow in response. "All that's happening is that some field somewhere is being skinned a few grains of rock every second or two. No big deal. More importantly… it looks like Father's been killed."
Elian gritted his teeth, and Iselotte took a step back in shock, but Lild only shrugged. It was evident that she hadn't cared much for that father in the first place.
"So one of you is going to have to ascend. Wanna arrange that fight to the death?" she asked.
The pair glanced at one another.
It seemed they had already reached that conclusion.
"Go sit on the chair, Lild," Elian sighed.
She paused, blinking. "I don't think I'm qualified for that."
Iselotte folded her arms. "You're more qualified than we are. The system of ascension is designed so the strongest leads us. We need skill in battle, so we have it. It's all we have. You're the one who's observed people. It's you that would make the better leader."
"But… can we just tear down our system of government like that?" she said.
Iselotte shrugged. "We'll have to. I saw Vortigern's spirit leave. With nothing to maintain the mountain, it'll fade away in less than a week. We'll have to find somewhere else."
Lild was silent, but sighed. "Well, if you think I can, you're the ones convincing the people, not me."
"Oh, I think you'll do a better job of that," Iselotte said, placing a hand on her shoulder as she passed the group. "I'm going to make up some strong healing potions. Elian, with me."
"Why?"
"Heavy lifting."
"Oh, thanks."
The pair made their way down the hall and around a corner, with Elian just glancing back for a brief moment to say, "See you around, kids."
Lild sighed as they left. "Way to drop a bridge on someone, huh?"
"Isn't that what you do?" Ren mumbled.
"Hilarious."
She sighed again.
"Well," she shrugged, "you kids had better get home. We Vortigites are going to have to start from scratch, just about, so you don't want to be around when dragons start migrating, believe me."
She was silent for a moment.
"But you did help out, even if it was your fight. It's only right to give you guys something before heading you on your way, right?"
Kheire perked up, hearing something along the lines of "free stuff" coming from Lild's general direction. He had been sulki- ahem, "thinking" about what had happened to Renya's body, but the promise of easily acquired loot was too good to pass up. "Aw, you shouldn't have. But you did, so what'd you bring?" He grinned, his eyes shining.
"I didn't bring anything," she said, gesturing to the necrosis that was still spreading. "But we can go and get something. Come on."
Leading them up a flight of stairs, she opened a set of doors to what looked an awful lot like a treasury. She picked out a handful of objects, bringing them out to the children.
To Kheire, a plant in a glass jar.
To Miki, a bow.
To Valentina, a raiment.
"Use these well. They're some of the best-crafted items in the kingdom to be in here," she said. "Which helps me assure you of their quality since I have no idea what they are. I do know what they do."
Miki examined the bow. "Well what do they do?"
"The leaves on that plant will neutralise any damage, but it will destroy the entire plant doing so. Be careful. The bow can be equipped with a core, and then can create arrows of magic that will strike like metal would. The raiment is enchanted with an aura of beauty, but it can also be used as a weapon," she explained. "Use these well, but don't hesitate to cast them aside if you need something stronger. I don't expect even these to last forever, after all."
Kheire nodded in understanding, "Thank you. I will do my best to make the most of it."
Ren looked up at her, almost expectantly.
"As for you," she said, gesturing to follow, and she led him up a few flights of stairs into sunlight.
All around, vibrantly coloured flowerbeds covered a small walled stone plaza, and Lild led Ren to the very centre, picking a handful of orange-coloured flowers.
"What are these?" Ren asked.
She smiled, handing them to him. "These are called underlilies. They're the opposite colour to the sky to seem brighter. Watch this."
She blew on them, and in an instant display of fireworks along the petals, they flickered to the colour of the evening sky before finally settling on a brilliant blue.
Ren's eyes lit up in wonder, holding the flowers tightly.
"Here," she said gently, filling a spare pot with water and handing it to him. "They give an iridescent dye that changes colour, so people like to crush them and sell it. They're endangered, so keep good care of them for me so we can plant them when we find a home, okay?"
Ren nodded firmly, clutching the pot tightly. "I will."
"Alright. I have to go and start preparing for this… queen thing, I guess," she sighed. "Good luck, you four. I wish you the best, and I hope to see you again some day."
Sam ran to Lild and sat on her feet, actually saying things in dragon to her. Val walked to her and took the burden away, "Thank you for all you've done."
"It was nothing, really," she rubbed the girl's head and the dragon's chin. "It's been wonderful having you here this month. If only things could have stayed this way."
She smirked knowingly at Sammy. 「|You be a good boy, okay? I'm going to miss you.|」
Val struggled to try to understand the dragontongue, getting one or two words, but Sammy seemed to understand completely.
"Thanks for helping us Miss Lild." Miki bowed his head, eyeing the orange blooms inquisitively.
"Honestly, it's mutual," she said. "You take care of that, uh, 'Master' of yours. Ren, you need a hobby."
"Wha…?! I have a hobby! Stop trying to make it sound weird!" he protested.
She chuckled, shaking her head, and Ren just about managed to hold back some tears as he hurried to hug her one last time.
The pair held each other for a few seconds in silence before finally letting go, and Ren stepped back to the rest of the group.
Lild said nothing, and watched the clouds in the sky as they left for the portal back to the Academy.
"Seems the world just got a little colder, doesn't it, my nosy friend?" she asked to the thin air.
The woman emerged from her hiding place, "I've felt that way forever, Lild."
The dragon-woman nodded slowly. "You carry yourself like someone who has lost a lot of things. It makes me wonder if they were even taken from you."
She knelt down and got to watering the flowers, probably for the last time.
"Perhaps you just lost them yourself."
Kneeling herself and touching a petal, the woman smiled sadly, "Perhaps."
"Tell me, do you know those children well?"
"Not at all," Lild said fondly, almost wistful. "I hardly know anything about a single one of them. It's a shame, really. Crushes your soul when you only have a few people who'd even be willing to talk, but you don't."
She nods, almost sympathising, almost.
"How close are they?"
"Closer than anyone I've ever seen. It's a narrow superlative, but it's something."
"I see… I'm going to follow them, you know."
"I'd be disappointed if you didn't," Lild chuckled. "Maybe you'll find something with them that you thought you'd left behind."
The woman was walking away when she froze, looking back at Lild with a sorrowful look in her eyes.
"I really hope I do not."
And so, a gust of wind blew, and Lild Avanors was alone again.