The Charade of Battle

I count as the last days of our trip crawl by, containing a building frustration as I wait for every message from home. Meanwhile Thresh works hard at making her potions, eager to show off her Skills and abilities as she prepares for the end of the week here. By the last day, every last bottle is filled with magic, and the mana density of it is enough to bow her legs and wear her down step by step.

In the end we have to assist with her bags as we make for the exit, Adler taking the largest share since she’s not supposed to get involved with the fighting. According to her, helping out this much won’t cause us any trouble from the teachers or other welfare officers, even though she’s only meant to be supervising us. I’ve learned to trust her judgement about such things.

Eshya leads the way with her mental map giving her perfect direction with Vii right behind her. Again I’m at the rear with Adler, following after Thresh. She walks past a patch of lightly reflective moss, muttering to herself in frustration. She’s been like this ever since she ran out of bottles and jars.

“Has anything more happened?” Adler asks gently, her ears are lowered over her head, her expression unusually soft. Ever since our meeting with Misty she’s been rather muted, or rather, ever since she heard about the disaster back home.

“More injuries, more poisonings.” I whisper loud enough for her to hear, checking over my messages one more time to find nothing new. “There aren’t any more deaths yet.”

“That’s good.” She says, though it’s clear that she doesn’t quite feel good about this at all. It’s just the sort of empty thing that you say when there’s nothing better to say.

“Adler, are you willing to fight with us?” I ask her. “I’m not talking wild beasts. I mean a proper war against these gremlins.”

“I’m prepared for it.” Adler says easily, “I need to be there to make sure you don’t take things too far.”

“Too far?” I snap.

“I’m sure that we can save some of them.” She replies firmly, her chin held high as she meets my eyes, flinching only slightly.

With a deep breath I back down, I hadn’t meant to be so sharp with her. I already know her nature, and it’s the reason I value her opinion, even if she can sometimes seem rather stupid.

“We can barely even protect the people already with us.” I say. “I’m not willing to put everyone at further risk on the chance that we can save some of the enemy from themselves.”

“I know.” She replies in a whisper, “There’ll be risks that aren’t worth taking, but it’s too early to assume that there’s no chance to save any of them… that’s giving up hope. Hope that we can be better.”

No matter how passionately she speaks, the growling beast inside me remains unaffected, wanting for revenge as the rage surges through me. Thankfully, I am no beast. My rage hasn’t’ stolen my ability to think, so I can still acknowledge that there’s purpose and reason to what she says.

Not all of those working with my enemy are doing so of their own will, Tkarn was proof enough of that. I can’t afford to let my rage colour my sight, and blind me to the true natures of the people that I fight.

“You’re right.” I say, taking a long deep breath. It doesn’t sooth my mind, but it gives a moment more to think.

Converting my enemies would help me build up the population of my empire. Forcing them into obedience could be a lot of trouble however, even if I could control them to the extent that their current leader does, they’d still be wild, murderous, untrustworthy little things.

At the very least, it’s worth considering my options.

Nothing changes until I’ve killed their leaders, however. That creature that calls himself a king is not getting away alive.

“Thank you for listening to me.” Adler says, gazing down at the stone ground of the caves. “After everything we’ve been through, I would understand if…”

“You’ve been through plenty of awful things yourself, much of it because you’ve followed me.” I say. “Thank you for deciding to stay with us, even through all the… nastiness.” A soft way to describe the murders I’ve committed, and the violence I’ve instigated. No matter how just the kills were in my eyes, I know Adler still regrets every life we’ve taken.

“I don’t blame you for it.” Adler says. “The world itself is awful, and you want to change it. We want to change it. People are going to die regardless of what we do, I just… What’s the point if we become as awful as the welfare officers?”

“You’re here to stop that, right?” I reply. “Still, you won’t stop me from protecting what’s mine, whatever it takes. If someone decides to take any of you from me, then I’ll protect you with everything I have. If they’re too strong, even if they’re powerful as a god, then I’ll bide my time and see that they pay for it.”

“I’m sure you will.” Adler replies in a small whisper, a bittersweet smile rising on her lips.

The stone at our feet gives way to muddy earth and for the first time in nearly a week we see the sun again, it’s natural light filled with a comforting warmth that chases away the slight chill in the air. I’ve been practicing with my ‘Swimming’ Skill, finding that it can actually allow me to feel the cold and the warmth properly again, just the same as with my buoyancy. It’s refreshing, but I quickly redirect my mana back towards my defences yet again.

A light sprinkling of rain falls from above as the snow falls in the world outside of this little pocket of warmth.

The land here has been rather thoroughly plundered, most of the flowers are plucked, much of the grass and roots have been torn out and used, even the earth has been dug up here and there. I’m sure given time it’ll recover, but the sight is still rather unpleasant.

Eshya stands ready at the front of our group as she steps up and out of the cave, gazing all around as Vii watches from over her shoulder.

I check the path behind us, as distracted as I’ve been, I’m not entirely inattentive of my duties. There are a number of foot prints in the earth at our feet, but it’s not strange that others have made their way into the caves. It does suggest that there could be people at our backs, however.

That said, we’re due for a fight and I’m quite sure that Fried hasn’t forgotten about us.

“Attack!” Eshya shouts, drawing her sword and readying for a fight. It takes some effort to keep myself from summoning my annihilation magic.

It wouldn’t be good for my student record to kill another teacher. Instead, I focus on building dense mana shields and putting some energy into reactive defences.

The ambushers give up on hiding after hearing Eshya’s shout and she quickly dives into the fight. I can hear a number of footsteps charging at us from deeper into the caves, and turn my attention that way.

“Enemies coming from the tunnels.” I send to the combat chat group.

“Four beasts up top.” Eshya sends. “Vii and I can handle them. Can you handle yours?”

“We’ll see.” I send back, the conversation taking only a brief moment.

A large, speckled cat runs towards me, it’s steps barely making a sound. I flare a burst of fire towards it, scattering the flames towards its face to blind it, without causing any real damage.

As it skids to a pause, I catch sight of two more beasts charging down the hall behind it. One crawls along the ceiling with terrifying speed, and the other crawls along the ground pulling itself out from the grass where it was hiding. It looks like… a tuft of grass, which explains why we missed it.

A quick glance back tells me that Vii and Eshya aren’t going to be able to help for a little while yet. Adler is technically only here to observe us and Thresh isn’t to get involved with the fighting.

This is up to me. Frustratingly, I need to not only defeat them, but I also have to ensure that they don’t get the chance to go after Adler or Thresh.

“Fine… Fine.” I growl, casually walking up towards the three as I feel something stirring deep within me. Right now my annihilation magic is more than eager to burst loose, but I know that I can’t. Not for this fight at least.

The leopard-like creature takes a few steps back, watching me closely as I let the fires die down between us and it gets a good look at me.

The beast running on the ceiling finally stops above the large cat, and I can finally get a good look at it. It has five long limbs that stretch and change in form as it spins around on the spot, stopping to look at me with the large eye in its centre.

The patch of grass stops beside them, leaning from one side to the other nervously.

The three of them observe me as the battle behind me rages on. If Eshya says that they’re going to win, then they’re going to win. Which means it should be enough to buy time, though I’d still prefer to win.

I take a step closer to the three beasts. They don’t retreat, but they don’t yet have the gall to attack. If anything, they seem uncertain of me, glancing between themselves nervously without letting me out of sight for more than an instant.

“You can talk?” I ask, looking between the leopard, the grass, and the demonic starfish.

“We are supposed to play fight.” The leopard says, wide open eyes meeting mine.

“Is there a reason you aren’t attacking, then?” I ask, I can tell my voice is a little monotone, but who really cares at this point.

“You feel dangerous.” He says, lowering his head submissively. “Like a predator. This is only play? Fake? No death? Yes?”

“That’s right.” I say, meeting his eyes. “Though I’d ask that you don’t bother those two. They’re carrying some delicate potions, it wouldn’t do to bother them, would it?”

“I understand. We’ll leave them be.” The leopard says, “Then…”

“Should I start?” I ask, stepping closer and stirring the mana in my limbs. It feels like a while since I’ve gotten into a proper brawl, most of my fighting now is through my gun and my magic.

I press forwards before they can properly respond, slamming into the leopards front, lifting it up and twisting it over onto it’s back as it struggles to bite at me. It’s teeth graze my skin but can’t penetrate through the dense mana shield that I put up.

I slam my fists into the cat’s chest and belly, hitting hard and fast as I can while using my mana surge technique to empower the strikes. The creature is somewhat more mana dense compared to me, but by condensing my mana with my attacks I’m sure that my hits are still hurting.

A few creeping limbs wrap around my arms and legs from behind, pulling me off of the large cat with a forceful jerk. I spin my weight around to face the two beasts trying to restrain me. A few bursts of intrusive fire magic fill the limbs of the starfish, and the roots of the grass, bursting them open with charring flames.

I go after the starfish first, I don’t quite know how to deal with the grass without killing it.

Two of the five starfish limbs are charred, but not so bad to put it out of the fight. It takes up a stance on two other legs walking around me as the large eye in the centre glares at me cautiously.

“Give in.” I say, kicking the tuft of grass aside as it tries to get close to me. The leopard is already returning to his feet, and I don’t like giving up the advantage.

“We need to fight. We must put in real effort.” The starfish says.

“Your choice, then.” I say, leaping for it before the cat can fully recover.

Again, the beast has slightly more mana than myself, but that’s still not enough. Using my old grappling Skills, it’s not very difficult to grab its limbs together and lift it up like a sack. I get the feeling that it’s only putting the minimal display of effort into the fight, enough to not get into trouble with the tamers.

I should be happy with that, but right now I could really do with something to hit.

Turning to the leopard, I see that he’s hesitantly approached for another go, with the tuft of grass rising up beside him. I glance down towards the beast in my hands.

It hasn’t technically submitted yet, so… this should be fine.

Embracing the frustration growing warm in my heart, and the beastly rage burning inside me, I charge. I swing the demonic starfish wide like a brick in a bag. The leopard opens its eyes wide with shock, before getting a face full of his companion slapped across his face.

While it doesn’t seem to cause any real damage, the shock alone is enough to give my enemies pause. I leap in close grabbing the grass with my other hand, while the leopard is distracted.

The starfish and grass both start to struggle, trying to escape.

“Settle down.” I say, pulling at their mana. “I can take your mana as I want. You’ve already lost, now settle down or I’ll take you to the edge of mana shock.”

“We surrender!” The green plant-like beast quickly shouts, filling the air with the scent of cut grass.

The two creatures stop moving about in my hands, as I approach the last of their number.

“What about you?” I ask, freeing up one hand by dragging the pair along with the other. According to the rules as I understand them, they’re free to reengage if they feel like I’m being lax, so it’s best if I don’t let them escape my sight just yet.

“I… Not yet.” He growls low before leaping at me biting onto my arm. I don’t physically react, letting him hang there for a moment. The teeth unable to even sink into the cloth of my armour, the mana shield that I’ve set up rejecting it, while a few points of mana drain away to resist what force makes it through that.

My increased mana density and experience makes it easier to hold the mana shield together, but even then it starts to weaken and fray as I hold it still for a few seconds.

I grab the collared beast by the throat and squeeze. They should really learn to back down when I give them the chance.

My reactive defences start to chew through more and more mana as my shield starts to fail entirely. Interestingly, I find that my grip on the beasts throat starts eating at my mana too, making the beasts flesh more pliable.

He’s struggling all the harder to escape, his paws clawing at me, but unable to cut through my armour.

I peer down at the leopard that’s now struggling to get free.

It makes sense, I suppose. It’s flesh is trying to displace my fingers, what does it really matter if it’s offensive or defensive, the physics are mostly the same.

The results speak for themselves, and it doesn’t take long before the beast faints in my grip, the combination of mana drain and limited blood flow enough to steal its consciousness.

Hefting the weight of the unconscious cat, with some considerable effort, I sling it under my arm and check the path behind us one more time. It seems safe enough for now.

The path upwards is harder than it looks, the ground more mud than rock up here on the surface.

Eshya is covered in sprays of blood and muck, the same as the beasts that she’s now finishing off, while Vii hovers in the air completely unbothered by the filth of the battle below. A spray of mud flies at her but is deflected by the wind spinning around her.

Thankfully, all the blood has come from survivable wounds. Eshya hasn’t taken things too far, though I’m sure the beasts are still feeling it.

“It’s good to see that you don’t need any help.” I say, adding my own settled beasts to the pile that they’ve made of the defeated.

“I’d suggest you only try to help each other with your wounds,” I say. “I’m not sure how much more mana you can spare.”

The two still awake shiver at my words but quickly rush about to help the other collared beasts, tying off wounds and treating injuries.

“It’s good to see that you’ve properly practiced.” Freid says as he strides through the snow and into the muddy field. I didn’t notice him out there, but I suppose that was the point.

“So we get to fight you, do we?” Eshya asks, looking at the wolfish teacher, standing taller than any of us.

“I’m here to ensure you make it back.” He replies, waving to the pile of beasts. “And to ensure they all make it back safely.”

Eshya quietly grumbles as she cleans the blood from her sword and sheathes it while looking away.

“We’ll leave them to you, then.” I say, waving everyone to follow and leading the group out towards the snow. “We’ll be heading back to get some rest. You don’t bother us in the town, I suppose?”

“We do not want to trouble people with that, no.” He says, looking me over. “You… did something happen? You seem…”

“I’m fine.” I reply sharply, peering back at him.

“And that armour, the sword…” He grumbles, looking between me and Eshya. I don’t turn away, matching his gaze.

“Is there a problem?” I ask.

We stand there staring at one another for a time before he grunts and looks away, turning to Adler, he briefly nods to himself, relaxing a little.

“If the officers with her…” he grumbles. “I guess it’s fine.’

The armour and sword I can sort of understand. We’ve been promised that it should be fine, but it at least warrants comment.

Even so, is my atmosphere really so violent to deserve his attention?

I mean, I understand that the metaphorical beast inside me is playing with the ball of rage like a cat plays with wool, and I do have a few thousand thoughts running through my head about violently slaughtering the damn gremlins that killed my people, but I’ve been trying to keep it all from my face.

Apparently these aliens can read my face well enough that they don’t even need to read my mind.

“Let’s go.” I say, waving our group on. No one questions my order, and we quickly make it back to town. There’s time enough for us to rest before our return home, which is good because we have a war to fight the moment we return.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 1553 units

~Mana distribution:

Defence: 79/79%

Offense: 0/68%

Mana sense: 0/96%

Recovery: 0/44%

Gluttony: 0/34%

Misc.: 0/44%

Efficiency: 79/100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Reactive defence

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Charged casting (Annihilation)

-Mana form flow fixer

-Branching magic

-Swimming