The War Starts Now

“Excellent, I can hear all you worms,” Kouki announced through Fiona. “You certainly made operating this thing easy, Shen.”

A vein bulged on Kaito’s forehead.

“He dares to make Fiona say something like that!?” proclaimed Kaito. He started to stomp towards Fiona, as if he could hit Kouki somehow, but Rina stopped him. This was no time for jokes.

“I’ll just say it bluntly,” Kouki began. “I’ve had enough of this little reincarnation roundabout. Sorry to rain on the guild you just started, but I’m ending this now. No time to prepare yourselves, no getting stronger, no running away. Honestly, you should thank me for warning you because we’re on our way.”

Bzztz…

Everyone was frozen in place, as if time had stopped right then and there. Even when Fiona came back to her senses, everyone remained mute.

Someone had to address the situation, and Shen took the initiative.

“I know this is far and between how much time we expected to have, but—”

CRASH!!!

A large sound came from above that shook the vicinity. Everyone looked up and saw what caused it.

Kaede stood on top of a barrier set up around the guild building. The point she landed on was cracked, but it swiftly regenerated.

“Aww, I was planning on destroying the whole building,” Kaede said cockily. “Shen, stop ruining my fun.”

“When did we get a defense system!?” Khrom asked.

“I set it up while everyone was training,” Shen answered. “I didn’t know it would come in handy so soon…”

“This is getting bad,” Rina announced. “For now, let’s vacate the guild building. I’ll buy us time while everyone escapes. Make sure to form a proper plan in my stead!”

“Wait, Rina,” Shen rebutted. “We’re going to have to defeat them all here and now! You cannot defeat her alone, so have Iori fight alongside you to finish her off.”

“We will also fight with big sis Rina,” Hein announced, jumping to Rina’s side.

“We want to teach the spider lady a lesson,” Zinnia added, jumping to Rina’s other side.

Rina stared at the twins and Shen hesitantly.

“Fine,” Rina responded. “The rest of you get prepared for this war!”

The rest of the group left for a safer location while Rina, Iori, and the twins pressed forward to confront Kaede. They ran to the edge of the barrier Shen set up, and slowly exited it, prepared to face Kaede.

BOOM!!! Kaede fell from the sky and landed right in front of the group.

“Is this how you keep a lady waiting?” Kaede mocked. “Hmm? Don’t you think you’re shorthanded for this confrontation?”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m enough to deal with you,” Rina taunted.

Kaede glared at the group, then made a pulling motion with her hand. Iori flew towards Kaede, and Kaede caught her. She threatened to kill Iori with her claws just under Iori’s jaw.

“You seem to be underestimating me now,” Kaede responded. “I’m not playing any games today. Plus, this one seems like baggage.”

Rina kissed her teeth. Just as she was going to act to save Iori, a flash of electricity appeared behind Kaede. Hein suddenly appeared, swinging one of his large blades directly at Kaede’s throat.

Kaede reacted immediately, dropping Iori and jumping out of the way, landing on a tree branch.

When Kaede landed, ice began to freeze her legs in place. Kaede shortly acknowledged the freezing, but immediately looked back up as she was alarmed by Zinnia, who was approaching for an attack with her own set of large blades.

Kaede used her sturdy webs to deflect Zinnia’s attack, repelling her back to the others. The group reunited and looked up at Kaede, but she was already gone. Only a small remnant of ice remained.

They heard Kaede laughing from all around them. “Hahaha, what happened to a proper conversation? If you want to be that way, then fine!”

Kaede suddenly appeared right before the group, her eyes glowing pink. Before the group could react, Hein and Zinnia were sent flying back from Kaede’s attack. Kaede yelled as she tried to slam her fists on Rina, but Rina blocked the attack.

The two stood locked in place until Kaede realized Iori, who was behind Rina. Iori had set up the same combination laser spell she used against Kana and fired it off at Kaede. Rina ducked under the attack, while Kaede pivoted to the side, getting slightly burned from the laser.

“Tch, combination spells,” Kaede quietly complained as she jumped back into the woods.

“Not on my watch!” Rina shouted, chasing Kaede, but she stopped.

The surrounding woods were littered with webs. Kaede had already taken the luxury of setting a few traps to stop them from escaping.

“I’ve got this handled, Rina,” Iori announced.

Iori used a spell called Flamthrower to burn the webs, creating more space for the group to maneuver.

“This one is problematic,” Kaede stated from an unknown location.

She dropped onto Iori, but Iori reacted and teleported quickly to dodge. With Kaede’s back facing Rina, Rina pounced on her opportunity. Unfortunately, Kaede sensed Rina and shot a web net from her abdomen to trap Rina.

Creating a spider web wall, Kaede said, “Just watch from there, Lonely Queen. I’ll make sure to finish her off quickly.”

Iori was nervous, but she had to fight back.

Iori launched an Ice Spikes spell, but Kaede slashed through it. Iori adjusted and used Shrapnel. The earth spell that would burst into debris projectiles if hit. Kaede didn’t falter. She jabbed the spell directly and skillfully used her webs to halt every debris projectile.

Kaede, done playing with her food, started her advance.

“Time to thin out the swarm.” She pounced for the kill.

Iori put up an Ice Shield to defend, but Kaede used her Pierce skill to go through it. But suddenly, another chunk of ice froze Kaede’s arm, halting her in place. Kaede looked through the ice to see Zinnia, with her sword pierced into the ground.

“Such an annoya— GAAAAHHH!!!”

Kaede yelled as Hein stabbed her abdomen without her noticing. Kaede shook Hein off immediately and released her arm from the ice.

“PLASMA BOMB!!!” Iori yelled and fired off a point-blank combination spell of Fire Bomb and Plasma Ball.

The spell hit and sent Kaede flying into the web wall she created. Kaede landed on the web and stood still for a moment. As she stood latched onto her web, the flaming and electric residue from Iori’s spell surged through the web wall and disintegrated it. Kaede grounded herself before she fell.

The group stared at Kaede before she eventually looked up to face them again.

She was furious.

“No more games,” Kaede muttered.

Suddenly, webs appeared out of thin air and bound Iori, Hein, and Zinnia, making them plummet to the ground. The three struggled, but couldn’t break free of Kaede’s web.

Kaede slowly approached the three, filled with bloodlust. She used her front pair of legs to stab into the twins and used her sharp hands for Iori.

Before Kaede could thrust down on the three, the sound of wind burst from behind Kaede. Kaede turned immediately and stopped Rina’s attack with a shell-hardening skill.

“I’ve been waiting for this!” Kaede laughed maniacally. “Your regular skills weren’t cutting through my webs, were they? I made it so that you had to use your special weapon, but this is all a part of my plan! I know you won’t last long with that thing, so I’ll stall you out!”

Rina and Kaede stared at each other, locked in place.

“Not really,” Rina stated.

Kaede looked confused.

“I had full faith in my allies, so I took the time to analyze,” Rina announced. “You don’t know a lot of skills, do you?”

Kaede flinched and proceeded to push Rina away from her.

“I don’t know if it’s a beastfolk thing, but they usually don’t seem to prioritize learning skills,” Rina deduced. “Without many skills, Infinity is pretty useless for you, no? It’s just a bit of intimidation.”

Kaede stood emotionless before she broke out into hysterical laughter.

“As if you’d understand!” Kaede vented. “You think I want to look this way!?”