Chapter Eighteen - Dead Leaf Magic

With quite a distance still between the combatants, the warrior samurai swung their katana up in a crescent strike drawing up red leaves which ultimately surrounded both the four-armed demons.

“[Red Leaf Magic - Fire].” the samurai uttered and spun.

The red leaves glowed with an intense light. Flames and explosions manifested from the leaves blasting in the faces of the demons as their anger turned to wrath. It does not slow the monsters down as they direct their fury back at the samurai.

The samurai does not wait for them to arrive as they slash their katana downward and with their other hand extend two fingers upward striking a ninja pose, “[Orange Leaf Magic - Teleport].” Orange leaves whirlpooled to the samurai's location and they sank into them completely dodging the charges from both demons. They re-emerged from another pile directly behind the demon’s back as the samurai uttered new words, “[Purple Leaf Magic - Accelerate].”

The katana drew up purple leaves from the vicinity and glued themselves to the sword’s metal. A neon purple glow emanates from the blade as the samurai swings and slashes at one of the demons creating a trail of light following the sword’s movements. The demon strikes rapidly dragging the wind with every blow ultimately striking the ground shaking it.. The samurai sidestepped each quake-heavy punch and followed it with a strike from the purple-kindled blade.

On closer inspection, the samurai’s armor is made of leaves. Its design is rugged and gothic, the visor has a crown aesthetic as the leaves’ pointy bits stick out. Its visor fully hides any facial features of this warrior and every step they take is light and swift with a hint of discipline that matches the combat style.

The second demon turns around and punches quickly with heaviness. The shockwave produced is felt throughout the entire field as the samurai is unable to dodge leaving behind a purple trail emanating from their body.

The samurai knight rolls around eventually stopping when they hit a tree. The leaves on the tree are shaken and fall weightlessly onto the numerous piles. The leaf armor crumbles piece by piece revealing the samurai’s face.

She was young. At least, that’s what I could personally discern. About Seiko’s age, I presume is at least five years younger than me and still mentally developing. Her face was covered in fur and the fur around her eyes was much darker than the rest of the discernible pattern. A raccoon girl.

She wears a dark gray long sleeve sweater with one sleeve torn off. In that right arm rests intricate, vivid leaves wrapped around her arm, glowing as the sun shines and its sparkle reflects right off simultaneously. She has a hefty pouch tied to her waist. The fight is not yet over as the demon leaps over to the wounded warrior. It duplicates its arms going from four to eight as it radiates with more heat and anger.

“[Yellow Leaf Magic - Flash].” Yellow leaves floated up following the sword’s tip and formed a barrier. Just like the red leaves, they glowed but with more intense color blinding the monster and I. I covered my eyes with my arm but still kept my eyes forward.

“[Blue Leaf Magic - Ice].” I hear the samurai girl say as my vision returns to me. She is now up and a ring of blue leaves orbit around her. She strikes towards the blinded monster and the blue leaves follow and dance along with the blade’s directions, enveloping the second demon instantly, freezing it in place within a layer of ice.

The heat dissipates within the ice as it encloses the demon further. The samurai knight girl clangs the ice sculpture with the hilt of the blade, shattering it into a million pieces.

As if on cue, my electric wall evaporates revealing the massive horde of monsters. The wall only lasts a few minutes and my tail sparks some more recharging my gloves. Even with just the three of us and her awesome skills and magic, I don’t think we can win, let alone lure just one.

“Seiko, come on!”

Seiko follows me into the forest but we both don’t turn around completely as we see the samurai raccoon prepare for the oncoming charge.

“Get out of there!” I yell, fully turning around ready to run after her.

The swordsmaster does an intricate dance and one of the vibrant colorful leaves detaches from her arm.

“[Rainbow Leaf Magic - Absolute].”

The rainbow leaf glows brighter as the raccoon girl stabs it with a lunge strike sending out a loud crackle of energy forward towards the army of demons.

The battlefield is then empty. A red hot line of fire and destruction lies in front of the samurai in the direction of her powerful attack. What was left of the army of demons was just the stench of burnt meat and ashes. The bones melted from the intense heat disintegrating from solid matter to cinders. The samurai’s blade reverted back to its ordinary metal color after the influx of leaves had modified its color repeatedly.

“Muahahaha!” the raccoon warrior proudly laughs almost comically. She sheathed her katana back in its sheath.

Seiko and I examine the raccoon girl. She is quite short, but I would not let her stature fool me as I just say her swift and cataclysmic capabilities. Heck, she might be a tanuki girl with the whole leaf motif.

“Did you witness my greatness?” she declares extending her arms outwards to the side holding a reminiscent gladiator pose.

“We needed one alive. Their hearts are valuable organs that, when extracted, can serve as an anti-gravity floating device.” Seiko responds bluntly.

“No gratitude? Then you are enemies! [Green Leaf Magic - Armor].” the samurai responds belligerently.

She unsheathes her sword once more. Natural green leaves float and attach to the samurai knight girl’s body. Like pieces of individual armor, they link onto one another as soon as they fix themselves to her body. The familiar armor takes shape as the springly green armor finishes suiting her up and completing the set with the familiar helmet and visor with the leafy crown.

“Papaya! Face me demons!” she shouted.

With no hesitation, Seiko also assumed a warlike position.

She reached into her pouch hanging from her waist, and sprinkled a grainy substance throughout the entire length of the blade.

“What is that, salt?”

“Right you are! Having salt embedded on my blade is the best course of action as it is a common weakness that all demons share!”

“Oh shoot, Seiko, we could have used my ocean slug tail. Its oceanic attributes would have definitely carried over to amplify our weapons.” I said.

Every day I learn something new. These elemental strengths and weaknesses are akin to my role playing video game knowledge, so I should be strategizing more with my head instead of my fists. Especially since Seiko and I are about to ascend the unholy tower, I need to get my head in the game. But, we’ve lost our method of experimental transport and will need to rely on a separate strategy.

“We’re not fighting anymore?” both girls said in unison.

Luckily, both Seiko and the samurai raccoon girl had lowered their weapons. My bubbly attitude and pensive status had caused a temporary truce. I used the opportunity to walk back and forth creating heavy footprints in the crisped pile of leaves and dirt.

“Well it sucks, but you did save our lives. However, we do need a new method of getting to the Tower of Stars. I’m very limited with my options with my [Tail Magic].” I said pointing at my eel tail.

“All I can do is slash and use [Dead Leaf Magic].”

“[Dead Leaf Magic]? For such a morbid name, it’s got a lot of practical uses. You can’t use anything with flight or vertical movement?”

The leaves in her face had fallen at this point and returned to the earth gaining darker shades and mixing with the dirt. She had a serious look, but also one that invited conversation.

“No, my dances and sword movements can only take leaves far enough. And my rainbow leaves have ultimate power capable of producing high amounts of energy. Think of it like oil. By itself, it’s just a fluid, but when heated it is capable of burning and applying itself to cooking or artificial light.”

“Before we continue, we should introduce ourselves. I’m Gabriela, and this is Seiko. We are an adventurer party known as the Ocean Slugs.” I said and Seiko nodded in agreement.

The raccoon girl beamed with enthusiasm, her fur seemingly changing into brighter colors. She sheathed her sword once more and posed with her arms extended in all sorts of directions as if they were clock hands, “And I am Olive! The prodigy and inheritor of the Toben Sword!”

“Gabriela,” Seiko tugged on my coat, “We could use the fox tail.”