Sachihiro

‘’I’ve been meaning to talk to you,’’ Selah says detaching herself from behind the tree she was hiding behind.

‘’Its about damn time don’t you think?’’ I ask having anticipated her eventually stating her intentions at some point.

‘’Its not like you are easy to get alone, at least it wasn’t easy until everyone started avoiding you,’’ she says with a smirk as she strides besides me. Most of the humble demeaner gone with that warrior arrogance coming to the fore.

‘’You’ve got some sus on you don’t you girl?’’

‘’’Should the man who would be my mate be referring to me as ‘girl’?’’ She asks with a huff.

‘’You know nothing about me and how I treat my mates?’’ I say with a twist of my lips as everything that has been going wrong lately comes to mind.

‘’To think, all this time I though you nothing but a cuck under the thumb of his stronger mates and dotting mother-’’ I grab her by the throat pushing her against a tree.

‘’Why is it that you have insinuated yourself into my life, speak girl before I lose all patience with you.’’

‘’I see now that it isn’t our customs or foreign teachings that hold you back from being a true Barbarian but the opinions of your family that bind you so tightly. You get challenged by a man you have tolerated into your family for all these years and it is you that has become the villain in their eyes for beheading him for spitting on your generosity.’’

‘’What do you know of it?’’ I ask unable to hold the venom from my voice.

‘’I know that you now walk rearguard because the lot of them suddenly don’t know what to say to you, I know they have this imagine in their minds of who you once were that they don’t see who you are. I know that-‘’ I squeeze tighter on her throat reminding her of the power I currently hold over her, her hands grab onto my wrists but there is nothing but determined defiance in her eyes.

‘’What do you want from me, speak plainly before I lose all civility.’’

‘’I want to further my line,’’ She says quickly without preamble.

‘’You want a child?’’ I ask loosening my hold on her, letting her feet touch the ground. ‘’That you could get from any red blooded man in the Tundra, why go through the trouble of pursuing me?’’ I ask, something previously guarded within me loosening as I hear the truth in her words.

‘’Don’t act so dunce, you know my heritage. As a descendent of an Ancestor I can only bear a child with one of my species.’’

‘’Still plenty of Jotnar men out there as far as I know.’’’

‘’And why do you thing so few demi-human societies flourish out in the world? Though it is still early days for us in a few more generations our blood will thin with inbreeding regardless of the strength of our progenitor. Though the first and second generations of our line have gained greatly in strength and elemental resistance if we continue to interbreed amongst ourselves our blood will thin and the cost will outweigh the benefits, our seers have foretold it.’’ She says with bite.

‘’And what pray tell makes you think I can get one of your kind with child?’’

‘’Your bloodline resonates with my own, if not you then one of your descendents could get me with child.’’ She says without a doubt in her eyes or her aura. Is that a threat though?

‘’Why not my brother, he would be more than happy to have you I assume. Or my father for that matter.’’

‘’I do not know why but from you onwards the is purity of blood, maybe it’s your Awakening, maybe its because you’re a stud. Though now that I know you I doubt that’s all you are, either way it is so and from you I want a child then we can go our separate ways.’’ The woman says dropping all previous pretences as far as I can tell.

‘’What pray tell is in this exchange for me and my own?’’

‘’Will this child not be your own?’’ She asks with a cocked head and then snorts as she gets nothing but a glare in response. ‘’To any other man I would be reward enough but you who likens himself a chief wants more than is reasonable, very well then.’’ She says with bitterness lacing through her words and posture for the first time. ‘’You will have my blade and my loyalty; you will have family as allies-''

I shush her with a finger on my lips having heard something.

‘’Something comes,’’ Vahe sends to everyone forcing me to rush forward, Selah at my heels as da calls a defensive formation.

Da has his eyes scanning the trees unhappily, his unnamed spirit bound war axe in his big hands and an unhappy scowl on his face.

‘’Semi circle formation,’’ he quickly sends after receiving more information from the still unperceivable fae.

We follow through quickly with Gaia and his bound door-shield Urmar at the forefront digging slightly into the ground as he anchors it. As one of the hardest hitting people I know Esuas is right next to him with da standing on his other side, both axe wielders gazing ahead at whatever is coming towards us. Zhen as the spell slinger and everyone else that isn’t a warrior making the wall is in the middle, readying their long distance implements and weapons lest anything getting through our line.

The is silence as we wait for our enemy to show itself, even the sound of wildlife muting iself to leave just the winds as they tickle the grass and trees to and fro.

It suddenly feels hot, claustrophobic like the air is standing still, getting stale. Dewan scatters little black marbles 20m in front of us before getting back behind his shield with spear in hand.

‘’Its those things from the town,’’ Sirimiri sends from somewhere in the trees just before one of them bears down on us with an intimidating toothy grin plastered on its big hairy toothfilled face.

The thing is fast, faster than any bipedal creature of its size has a right to be covering the distance between us in seconds. A creature this big shouldn’t be moving so fast surely; a bolt of lightning flashes arching above me only to be swatted away with a backhand even as I blink to clear my vision having followed the exchange with my awareness.

Dewan’s traps pop as they are trampled slowing the thing down long enough for arrows to whistles towards it from the trees but the thing snatches one out of the air dodging the second and third. It trudges forward with almost all its momentum stopped by the solidifying glue like black substance at its feet.

Someone throws something at its feet as the big fucking thing loams over us with a pervasive aura that has most of us unable to move. An aura of glee in bloodlust, an aura that guarantees death and destruction, an aura that demands our blood, my blood in order to be sated. The bottle at its feet shatters as it lands releasing a noxious cloud of gas. Da roars and rushes forward as he goes into the Rage, unlocking himself from whatever aura ability still has me held tightly.

Two steps then Da is there bristling with Rage he swings his axe in a horizontal slash that whistles as it cuts through the air around it.

[Vhuu], a perfect swing.

The beastman, as casually as can be stops the strike cold by repositioning its hips and a hand on the haft, toothy grin never leaving its face.

[Ka-Tra]!

Lightning flashes and cackles as it strikes the beastman then da through the axe in his hand locking him up and his dissipating his aura like a bad smell blown by the wind but doing nothing noticeable to the golden furred giant of teeth and claws. It rips da’s axe from his grasp as he shakes off the electric sparks, I have never seen a spiritual weapon user disarmed so easily. He kicks out at the beasts knee whilest pulling a dagger from his waist.

The kick lands with a thump on the things leg but the dagger only gets halfway out of its sheath before his arm is grabbed and snapped with a squeeze by those big mittens. Gaia is out of whatever has us bound and slashes down hard with his long-sword at the things arm. His strike cuts only empty air then claws rake across da’s torso sending him twisting through the air as though a child backhanded by an Awakened Lord. Ava jumps forward also in the Rage with every muscle reinforced and amplified with aura, chakra easily evident through my perception of her frequencies leaking off her like florescent smoke. Gaia is already doing a reverse sweep cutting low at the things still struggling legs while Ava slashes down, her weapon glowing with wisps of smoke wafting off it as whatever bakijustu she has bound to the weapon floods it with power.

Da lands on his feet with a crouch, his feet raking furrows into the grass and again rushes forward with all speed dagger held in his left hand. Gaia’s strike frees the beast as it somehow lifts its leg high enough for his blade to cut through the hardened elastic black glue pulling its foot down. Ava lands where the thing should be, where it was but a moment ago burning a circle and cracking earth loudly with her polearm’s blade lodged entirely into the ground. She is send flying into Esuas by a kick to the torso, Gaia is snatched by the hair before he can get his shield up again but da is already there force the beast to take a step back so it can dodge both Gaia’s strike and da’s dagger coming towards its right where its one leg is still stuck.

A javelin is thrown by a Sway in the Rage followed by another and another coming out of his storage item in quick succession but easily swatted away by the beast even as it weaves around both Gaia and da. Andrew rushes in with a spear frothing at the mouth in Rage, his size bigger, his muscles having swelled as he slashes and stabs without abandon. Ava runs around it joined by a tumbling groggy Esuas still fighting the effects of whatever has me unable to move. Onimorē and Sema are there circling the thing on all sides lashing out with their weapons at the thing but still its too fast, none touching it even as they disregard self preservation to get seemingly sure hits.

Andrew, the slowest and the only none Awakened in the bunch is sent flying back with a bone crunching kick, his hip either broken or dislocated evident by the angle it is now in. Cecilia roars her outrage taking up the gap and striking with a long spear and having it ripped out of her hands she stumbles forward and is send tumbling back with a backhand. She is up a moment later dodging a bloody Esuas the 120kg dwarf grabbed at the collor and thrown at her like a sack of oats. The big man Onimorē gets a direct strike onto the things shoulder as lightning shoots from the ground to grab the beasts arms.

The blown is heavy, reinforced from a Barbarian Awakened Warrior in the Rage but the beast is barely moved. Instead the lightning chains scatter in a shower of sparks that sizzles as they fall on everyone around, all ignoring the minor burns as they focus their attentions on the foe. Iki comes flying through the air aiming to take its head with a double handed grip on Reaper slicing through the large creature’s neck, or at least were it was but a moment ago. She pushes off a tree feet first and arches through the air, her blade gleaming as she again tries for the head only to miss and land on light feet behind da and Gaia. Her rage is palpable but also building slowly, her bloodlust that of a veteran warrior as she bares her teeth at the large beast before us.

Aurora does something with her empathic control that washes over everyone and has me released from whatever was holding me, has us all released. Ma grabs Tabitha who as a noncombatant was slowly stalking foward with teeth bared unable to control her Rage. Mira’s pupils immediately go black as she opens her arms wide and brings them together in a clap. The air around us turns black, miasma leaking out of her like black heavy smoke pooling around her. The air tries to impeded the beast’s movements but the results are laughable at best even as everyone tries to keep it busy. Blows and magic assaults are deflected, dodged or ignored with apparent ease that causes a cold heavy stone of fear to drop and hang heavily in my stomach.

I signal the others to start retreating slowly; Tóma, Vuyo, Soal, Amanda, Ursula, Lavender, Max, Edward, Michael, Tabatha, Selah, John, Stacey, Dewan, ma, Hannah, Nikita, Thandeka, Ingwe. Everyone not taking part in the attack on the large majestic beast making small all our martial strength with how easily its countering us with no magic shielding or secret movement skills. Just sheer physical supremacy that makes the sight I’m witnessing so much more terrifying than any extravagant magical ability would have been in the same situation.

We retreat hastily but carefully with Kuyoki pulling a non-complient Andrew back, the others giving their all to finish the thing from all sides. At this point we would only get in each other’s way if we tried to insinuate ourselves into that and besides, most of the people with me are primarily non-combatants; at least when it comes to facing true warrior beings.

Mirabilis finishes whatever jutsu hand signs and mattering she has been doing removing one her hands from her head to point it directly at the unsuspecting beast stiff keeping everyone busy. Suddenly it stand stalk still locked in its last position and attacks starts falling on it from all angles in a spectacular onslaught of shithousery. Da’s axe dodges in it’s neck on the second blow, Ikigai’s attack on its head manages to remove an ear, a nose; on Onimorē’s third successive strike something eventually cracks in its skull, Mira’s miasma enters its orifices visibly dessicating it, an arrow pierces through an eye.

Mirabilis is shaking and sweating profusely as she holds the genjutsu active. Cici’s spear and Gaia’s sword working in concert pierce into its abdomen coming out of its back with bloody intestines, Esuas manages to get his axe logged into its hamstring, Ava roars as she swings with everything she has cutting through the beast’s neck. The head arches through the air and is struck by three successive flashes of lightning before it lands on the grown, smoking.

There is silence, everyone is panting but the blood pumping through all our ears has us hearing silence. I stow the spear I had in my hands back onto my back and it disappears from perception as it does, as much as I’m conflicted about the sentience zanpakutō without Honour its my most powerful weapon. We all seem shell shocked, nothing should be that hard to kill, nothing should be that fast, nothing should have battle-instincts cranked up do high that it can easily even dodge lightning. Maybe its an Awakened King of some sort or even an Empyrean Warrior, none of us has ever faced a tier 3 or 4 Awakened after all, not really. So I'm not sure what that level of power would look like.

‘’What the fuck was that!’’ Mira breaks the moment eliciting a giggle from Ava.

‘’Run!’’ Vahe sends from somewhere deeper within the forest and for a split second no one seems to know what he means.

Before anyone can move another one of the beast walks silently through the trees and stops, looking at us then at the dead beast before grinning that toothy grin. Then another comes through the trees some 40m further left, then another and another. Four, there are four of these things assembled against us and it took a lot to kill the one. I look at my kids, my mates, my family with my heart pumping out of my chest in dread/excitement then I’m calm again as I decide that its finally time to call in my spiritual investment. All those years ago I left what at the time I was in Tiba almost all the spiritual energy I had in the Spirit Realm.

For almost 10 years I haven’t summoned my zanpakutō, I haven’t summoned the creatures confiscated from the pervert sorcerer, I haven’t summoned back my spiritual energy. All these years energy born of my spirit-body has been soaking up the pure unfiltered energy of the Spiritual Realm, getting stronger, purer, bigger, more...

Vahe lands from out of nowhere between us and our new foes, then another fae lands, and another and another until 6 fae beings are assembled before us, two of them carrying glowing spears, one a gnarled wooden staff another two carrying swords with Vahe in the middle without any visible weapons. He turns his head towards me, then he looks at Hannah with a slight grin. He sends something to her I’m sure, but to the rest us he just says one word, ‘’run.’’

Without hesitation I grab Niki and Hannah roughly and I’m off running at full speed towards the ocean where we will make our crossing.