She's Just Tired

My eyes snapped open only to squint close from the blinding morning sun. When had I fallen asleep? I couldn't remember. The throbbing behind my eyes refused to let any coherent thought form.

I recoiled as a chill wind nipped my cheeks, tightly hugging the fluff between my arms. Burnt orange hair like a fox's tail, soft and warm. And reeking of iron. I stopped trying to remember. I didn't want to. We'd won but exhaustion had won out and I'd fallen asleep while we were resting.

"Time to get going, Bixey." My voice cracked. "Stop being such a bum before I smack you."

"What have you done?!"

The old woman who owned the stall Yahime had accidentally destroyed the day before brandished a pitchfork at me. A few dozen people stood behind her, all wielding similar farm tools. Each wore varying expressions of agitation and anger.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "We were just resting. We'll be out of your hair after we eat."

"Emperor's ass you are. You and that monster of yours better leave this instant if you don't want trouble."

Monster? I glanced around for Yahime. To my surprise she was walking around from corpse to corpse, staring at them for a few seconds before moving to the next.

"Yahime."

I looked her over once she got close. Nothing about her had visibly changed. Why was she wandering around on her own? For that matter, where had she disappeared to when we needed her? The interrogation would have to wait.

"Unless you want to be worm food like Murus and his men, walk away." I didn't have the emotional or mental capacity to deal with the shenanigans of brain dead villagers.

"Don't threaten me, girl. You ravage our town and destroy our lives, and you have the audacity to make demands?" The old woman took the first step forward and the mob followed.

Yahime moved faster, so fast that I couldn't follow. A moment later the tools of the mob fell to the ground, broken. It was enough for the weaker willed villagers to break ranks and flee back to the town screaming. All except the old woman.

"This is your last chance, you old hag."

I made sure my tone was hollow and dripping with implication causing the old woman to hesitate. I would have admired her grit under different circumstances.

"Don't think this is over," she spat at me. But despite her posturing, she waved her hand and turned back to Edgeton with her group in tow.

"Can you believe them?" I asked Bixey. "I can see why the Exiled hate humans. I think I'm starting to, too."

I waited, prayed, to hear her snarky retort. A sarcastic agreement that playfully belittled me. Probably something about how useless I'd been the night before.

She's really gone. God dammit! If I'd only been stronger, taken her training more seriously! Paid attention to that stupid buff…

I took a deep breath and lay Bixey's stiff body on the ground so I could stand up. I couldn't change reality, not yet at least. But if I kept growing, became strong enough to crush everyone on my own, I'd be able to save the next Bixey.

Not that I had any intention of replacing her. I could already tell a similar loss would break me. Instead, I rationalized. Even if I'd contributed more to the fight, it was Shiro's betrayal that killed Bixey. I couldn't have stopped that even if I was as fast and strong as Yahime. No one could have. And rather than wallow in guilt, the best thing I could do was persevere, continue my quest. Avenge not just Aurelie, but the first friend I'd made since transmigrating.

"Where were you last night?"

Yahime cocked her head.

"We needed you! If you'd been with us, Bixey…"

I shook my head. Was there a point in blaming Yahime? From the depths of my soul I wanted to scream and blame the Dusk. If I put all the responsibility on her… If life were only so simple. It was more important to move on before the townsfolk became more restless. Besides, the absence of the rest of garrison told me what Yahime had been up to.

"Bixey doesn't seem to want to wake up," I said. "She used a lot of magic last night, so she's probably exhausted. Can you carry her for me?"

Yahime knelt down to take Bixey from me. She reached to take her from me, when a sudden brilliant flash of white-blue light forced me to look away. The weight on my lap vanished and when the light dimmed, I expected to see Yahime holding Bixey. So where was she?

"What did you do?! Where is she?!"

I grabbed Yahime by the arm and tried to yank her, push her, hit her, anything to force the silent giant to answer me. I couldn't even get the stupid monsters to pick someone up without a new issue cropping up!

FAMILIAR YAHIME HAS AWAKENED

ALL STATS INCREASED

NEW SKILLS UNLOCKED:

[INNER VOID] [SOUL ABSORPTION] [MATERNAL EMBRACE]

What the hell? Awakened? No. No, no, no, no, no!

The denial was a broken recording in my head as I flung my status screen open and checked Yahime's tab.

[SOUL ABSORPTION]

ALLOWS THE USER TO ABSORB POWERFUL SOULS AND LEARN THEIR ABILITIES.

"You did not just fucking EAT Bixey!"

I snatched up the nearest sword on the ground and swung it, putting every fiber of my being behind the blow. When it bounced off, I swung again, and again, and again until the grip was so slick from my bleeding palms it flew from my grasp.

"You stupid, worthless…"

Everything ached. Muscles I didn't even know I had pulsed in agony and I crumbled to my knees in front of Yahime. The weight of it all was just too much. Who or whatever brought me into the world had made a mistake. Avenge Aurelie? I couldn't even protect my dead friend.

"hurt?"

I blinked away the welling tears and looked up at Yahime. Had she just spoken? Had she always looked like that? What had once been a monstrous featureless face had grown a nose and her gaping maw was sealed by a pair of plump lips. Her once lidless, ringed eyes had shrunk, though only slightly. It was enough to almost make her look human at a glance. Almost. Her undulating black skin juxtaposed her new face too much to feel natural.

"fox girl… inside?"

ALERT

FAMILIAR YAHIME HAS UNLOCKED NEW SKILLS.

[SHAPESHIFT (MASTER)] [BEASTIAL TRANSFORMATION] [VIDE'S FLAME]

ALERT

NEW SKILLS UNLOCKED:

[OVERDRIVE] [HEALING TOUCH] [EARTH MAGIC (NOVICE)]

The excitement of gaining new skills was negated by the price. If Yahime had absorbed Bixey's soul, did that mean she wouldn't be reincarnated? The thought made me sick. She'd been at peace knowing she'd be reborn. Now…

"Can you release her?"

Yahime's eyes flickered before she shook her head and my jaw tightened. Then I'd have to count on luck. Luck that I'd find a way to reverse the process in the future. Given the circumstances, the best way I could honor Bixey's memory was to put the skills she'd granted to use avenging her.

[INNER VOID]

ALLOWS STORAGE OF ITEMS WITHIN A POCKET DIMENSION.

Magical storage… The name makes me think it's different from the way Bixey snapped items into existence. The principal is probably the same, though.

I tested [INNER VOID] with the sword I'd tried to beat Yahime with, handing it to her in hopes that she could use the skill on instinct. It was rather mundane; any item pressed into her chest disappeared and could be extracted later. Surprisingly, I was also able to extract the items from Yahime. There was no explanation in the tooltips, but I just attributed it to our bond.

With the most useful skill we'd obtained tested, we began our looting. As much as I wanted to simply move on, I had no way of knowing how long we'd be wandering before we found Stonewood.

"I almost feel bad for taking all their supplies." I spoke more to myself than Yahime, but it was still comforting to know someone was listening. "But everything Shiro had squirreled away would just go to waste if we left it. We'll leave whatever supplies the soldiers had for the villagers."

It's the least we can do. A good number of the guards were probably their friends and family. Not that the guards seemed to care. Otherwise there would have been at least one villager with decent clothing.

"Now what to do with these two."

I kicked Murus's open-eyed head and watched it bounce off the wall. Pointless, but satisfying. He didn't deserve to die as quickly as he had. Still, the clean kill had left his equipment intact and I looted a heavy fur cloak from his corpse. It was a bit long for me, but unlike the too small clothes I'd gotten from Bixey, there was no debuff accompanying it. Then I picked up his sword.

It was as gaudy as ever, though I could appreciate the craftsmanship. Each jewel had been meticulously cut and the inlaid gold on the hilt gleamed in the morning sun. Not that I could use it. I only learned basic swordsmanship during my Naginata days and I barely had the strength to pick it up, let alone swing it.

Which left Shiro. Or what was left of him. His body was barely recognizable; it'd been charred to the point everything he'd had on him had burnt away. Only his daggers remained. Two curved blades that weighed the same as a kitchen knife despite the blades alone being forearm length. I stored them in Yahime along with all the other weapons I'd scavenged.

Hopefully they'd prove useful in the future.