DISCLAIMER: I do not own Claymore. I own the OCs and the story I wrote.
As promised, here comes the second chapter, giving some (hopefully) interesting insight on the stae of affairs.
Enjoy!
002 – Crimson Ariane's slayer
Fleet-footedly skipping around Karin was avoiding Ariane's attempts to scrunch her with her legs. After one of those attacks had torn off her left arm she had decided to quit trying to manipulate her enemy's Yoki and focus on avoiding attacks instead which she pulled off flawlessly. However, she had to forgo regenerating her lost arm in favor of her concentration. Ariane soon understood that she was not as frightening to her opponent as she was used to from encounters with other Organization's warriors. And it disgruntled her. Additionally she was unable to land more hits because Karin was able to read her movements so splendidly she could dodge before Ariane even set in motion. This could have continued forever and it was boring her to no ends since not a single droplet of blood had been shed since Karin had begun reading her like a book.
Spontaneously she pulled back and brought a few meters of distance between her and the warrior. Instantly Karin began regenerating her left arm which Ariane ignored. Instead she pierced the corpse of one of her victims, picked it up and then devoured it whole. The warrior used the breather to come up with a strategy.
Ariane's awakened body had eight frail looking yet strong legs that could effortlessly impale her body. Her bulky lower body was at all times about two meters above the ground and due to the protection its legs granted untouchable to Karin. Atop the rotund lower body sat enthroned the overly large human torso, having four arms similar to her legs. From the way the Yoki was flowing through her joints Karin could judge that they were able to be bent in all directions. She so was left with but two options: Firstly she could try to rob her enemy off her legs in order to bring her to the ground, which would prove difficult due to her having to avoid her attacks while attacking her and secondly, she could try to somehow get atop her lower body to attack the upper body directly, which was also more than two meters in height. She would have to attack above her head which would leave her own body defenseless. That time she would not be able to utilize her usually helpful height advantage.
"You know, little one," Ariane said while the corpse was still on its way to her stomach, "you're an evasive one. But I will do something about it now." With the exoskeleton of her legs scrunching she squat down in order to leap several stories up in the air. Predicting the danger Karin jumped aside, barely avoiding being hit by a man high ball of the sticky white mass that was already spread all over the marketplace, that Ariane had just vomited. As soon as the mass hit the ground it burst and covered everything within a radius of ten meters. Some chunks of it hit Karin and stuck to her wherefore she emitted a short burst of Yoki directly into them in order to burn them. For a matter of split seconds that took away her sight of Ariane's Yoki and so she leapt away too late to avoid the sharp end of Ariane's leg – she had suddenly appeared next to her – and hence it impaled her left leg between its shinbones and literally blast away her foot. Karin tripped, tried to break her fall using her only half regenerated left arm and landed on her back.
Ariane speared the severed foot and ate it. Before she could rant about the disgusting taste she realized that her prey was already using Yoki to regenerate her missing foot. She raised one of her legs, its tip separated itself into several thin spikes and one of them extended and shot through Karin's right wrist like a bullet.
"Hum… not a single sound?" Ariane wondered. Another attack hit Karin's abdomen. "Still quiet?" Another one hit her left shoulder. Nothing. Another one the left thigh. Nothing. Another one right through the pelvis. Nothing.
"What is the meaning of this?" Ariane sulkily asked. "I'm doing my best to give you an enjoyable time of utter pain and you don't even twitch once? That's impolite! And no fun, either."
She pulled out every part of her separated leg's tip of Karin's body and they fused together again. She then turned away. Getting menacingly serious all of a sudden she stated: "At the very least you won't be able to run like this. And since you're not going to scream for me I see no need to dirty my hands myself."
She crawled over to one of the human corpses, bent down and bit it. She then arose and faced Karin again to say: "You know, killing is utterly boring, but what comes before that equals heaven on earth. The screams, the horrible grimaces of agony and the squirming of my victims enjoying the sweetest of torments – I envy them so much! It is so sad when they eventually die. But you, who I had planned on giving extra special service, just insolently ignore all those dreamlike treats? You are not worthy of my attention!"
The man's corpse she had bitten began to twitch. Under the doubting eyes of Karin he arose and began to emit Yoki – the Yoki of a Yoma! Screaming in agony his dead body turned into that of a Yoma and instantly he began to feast on the surrounding corpse's innards. "Take care of her once you are done" Ariane ordered him. Regarding her for but a moment he nodded and continued to guzzle.
"The corpse… became a Yoma?" the warrior uttered in shock. Instinctively Ariane sensed her last chance of being amused by number 30 and lied: "Naturally. Yoma are created by Awakened Beings in the exact same way you just witnessed."
"Then… my brother…" Karin stammered.
"Huh?" Ariane taunted, having a wicked grin appear on her face. "Your brother was a Yoma?"
Karin's pupils shrank to mere dots upon imagining what her brother must have had gone through. Silent tears where frequently rolling over her face. I almost got her, Ariane thought triumphantly. A wide smile of natural, infantile joy appeared on her face before she sealed her fate: "Trust me, girl, he has enjoyed his last moments as a human like no one before!"
She could see it as clearly as if it happened right then: her brother, forced on his back, struggling and screaming due to Ariane's maltreating.
And then she lost it.
Up to her limits she unleashed her Yoki. Due to its abnormally high energy density the paving around her turned black and everything on the plaza was set aflame: the arachnoids' corpses and the sticky white mass as well as the human corpses still lying around. The Yoma turned to ash instantly and even Ariane suffered a considerable amount of damage. Crying and brimming with joy she repeatedly screamed: "It burns! It superbly burns!"
The flames on her body died down as the sudden eruption of Karin's Yoki slightly subsided and her Yoki emission became consistent above half of her capacity. The instant Ariane wanted to look at her and see why she would stop, the warrior already was between her legs and severed them all neatly with a sweeping swipe. While dropping she wanted to say something, but the kick of the considerably smaller warrior sent her massy body flying and she crashed right into the statue of the goddess Sha-Karin, which surprisingly withstood the impact.
As she still recovered from the severe kick she had suffered, two invisibly fast sword strokes took all of her arms. Another one severed her upper body from her lower one and another kick sent her flying back about a dozen meters back onto the plaza.
She ended up lying on her front side, coughing up and spitting purple blood. She turned her head to see where the warrior was, as the latter's naked left food ungently placed itself on the side of her face. Her eyes wandered upwards the body of her slayer. Although being fully regenerated, her uniform was in tatters and blood was all over her. And although her face was distorted by her Yoki, there was no emotion in it at all.
Smiling in defiant content Ariane said: "Who would have guessed? Little number thirty is full of surprises."
"My name is Karin. Remember it, for it is the name of the one who murdered you."
"Also remember my name, then. I am…"
Before she could finish her sentence her head was squashed by Karin's foot.
She turned away and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath she astoundingly effortlessly suppressed her Yoki to the point of it being almost imperceptible. It was then when she realized that the Awakened Being must have lied. After all there could not be Awakened Beings without Yoma existing before them, hence not all Yoma could be made by Awakened Beings. But some where, she concluded. Just one more reason to her to give them a chance to live.
###
Anna could not believe her inner eye as the Yoki of Ariane vanished for good.
"What is it, Anna?" Lorenz asked when Anna respired.
"Ariane is actually dead and number thirty lives. She was in a dire state before, but for some reason she managed to pull off that stunt and killed her like it was nothing."
"Impressive indeed" Lorenz stated praisingly just as if Karin could have heard him. He arose, turned around and was about to leave as Anna stopped him: "Honestly, now. Just who is that girl?"
Lorenz simply smiled. "There are things you don't need to know, Anna."
"But…"
"No discussions now. Just regard her as a comrade who, if she wanted, could take your rank at any given time. And now go back to your region, Anna. Nosiness… won't do you any good."
Sorely she ground her teeth. "Yes, Sir" she grunted at him while he was leaving.
Once again she regarded the dying flames in the ruins of Tarun. "Not even once… I have seen that kind of potential in you. And yet Lorenz did not seem to be surprised in the slightest. Honestly, number thirty, just who in the world are you?"
###
Midst the wastelands between the regions 30 and 75 the mountain fortress of the nameless Organization, which had pledged itself to fighting the Yoma, was located. That was, however, what the inhabitants of the continent, which went by the name "Test Facility 4" within the walls of the fortress, believed. On the unrealistically larger main continent, Unikum – named believing it was the only one in the world – 15 years before an uneven war had broken out: the eastern peninsula Adria had been attacked by the Ashkaram, or Dragonkin. Chanceless at first the humans there had managed to develop a living weapon, a hybrid between a human and a human turned into a Yoma by a so called Parasite. Though being promising it was mostly instable and hence research on it had been relocated to shortly discovered smaller continents. Erema, or Test Facility 4, had been the destination of one of more than 50 expeditions and had been in the hands of the Organization for eleven years then.
Inside of the fortress of said Organization stood Kruos, Chief of Research of that facility, bent over the open body of a young girl. Diligently he was severing veins and other blood vessels in order to extract the organ, which he plainly called "Unimportant" and threw it into a large bin reeking of blood and death.
He was then regarding his work. "Everything gone that was in the way," he commented and grabbed chunks of meat positioned on a small table next to him. Like doing a complex three dimensional puzzle he placed them into the open body as to not leave the tiniest bit of unnecessary space. Grabbing a sticky bucket he carefully poured some Yoma blood into the body in order to fill even the last bit of space. Before his critically peering eyes the flesh of the Yoma began to merge with the one of the girl. Without hesitation he stapled the open abdomen and then the open chest with metal brackets. He then sewed up the girl with something resembling a fishing line.
The trembling movements beneath the abdominal wall of the girl were proof of the transformation going well. Given the girl would not die in the end she would make for a functioning hybrid.
"Well, well" he said, took off his once white coat and his gloves and then took a look on his list. "Subject five hundred and four of generation fifty four done" he commented. He then stepped out of the small surgery and said: "That's the last one for this generation. Get her into her cell and clean up afterwards."
"Yes, Kruos!" two men clad completely in black answered and began their task.
The Chief of Research then proceeded to go to the main hall to inform Chief of Operations Wache that he was done with his work. On his way through the labyrinthine hallways he was wondering if anything worth of his interest had happened during the three weeks he had almost exclusively spent at the operation table. Who did die, who did awaken? Had one of his subjects done anything of interest? Probably not, he thought. Only she will be the topic of whatever gossip I might hear. At times he felt that the whole operation on Test Facility 4 was only held for her sake. At least since the day she had been brought there. She was none of his works of art, as he called his subjects, but obviously of more interest than anything he had ever accomplished. Has it not been he who had created "Olaf the Ogre"? "Vectra the Immortal", the "Twinblades" Vanessa and Neerie and, I'll be damned, he thought, was it not my brilliant mind that has brought forth the monster in figure of a woman, "Mindeater Risa", the undeniable number one, who was alone able to fend off the Ogre? But everyone only had an interest in the bastard of the Lanzelot family. Every day he was praying for her to have died a miserable death somewhere, torn to pieces so insignificant he could say that there was nothing he could learn from what was left, so that he, for the love of the gods, would not have to deal with her remainders. Test Facility 4 was his turf. And the sooner the illegitimate grandchild of Richard von Lanzelot vanished, the better. That was what he thought.
"You are looking so grim, Kruos" a far too familiar voice tore him out of his hateful thoughts. He grunted, stopped in his tracks and took a look around. "What do you want, Lorenz?"
Out of the shadows of a side corridor the handler appeared and bowed to his superior. Due to his higher position Kruos did not respond by bowing and just nodded slightly.
"Something very interesting happened" Lorenz said grandiloquently.
Enervated already Kruos asked: "What is it?"
"Ariane has been killed."
"Huh? Did we already have a request to kill her again?"
"No. I do not know the exact circumstances, but it is safe to assume she ran into her slayer by chance."
"Pitiable. I liked her. But sooner or later she was bound to run into the center – and there it was only a matter of time until she…"
Lorenz interrupted him: "It was in Tarun, region seventy four."
Kruos was thunderstruck for a moment. "Just who… should have done it, then? Anna, possibly, but I doubt she'd be actually capable to. Who happened to be there?"
A wide smile appeared on Lorenz' face. "Your personal favorite" he said with blatant sarcasm.
"Her?" he snapped at him. Grounding his teeth he turned away. "That bitch!" he hissed. Just then he had hoped for her to drop dead and now that bastard was telling him she had killed one of his favorites? There were no words for him to express how much he hated her.
"Something even more interesting has happened in that regard. Since she has left that place Tarun is swarming with Awakened Ones."
Kruos' mind stumbled for a moment. He then faced Lorenz again and asked: "Who has knowledge of this?"
"So far I have only told you about it."
The Chief of Research gave that some thought. Resolutely he then said: "It will stay that way. I will have a look at it before you send Ayame to clean up there."
Lorenz bowed again. "As you wish" he whispered and disappeared into a side corridor.
Kruos then decided that the Chief of Operations could wait for his report. He went back to his own section. There were people to assemble and an outdoor mission to prepare.
###
Atop the hill from which Lorenz and Anna before had witnessed Karin's fight with "Crimson Ariane" Kruos was waiting, together with a dozen of his men, for his personally chosen lifeguard to return from her scouting mission. With hidden interest he regarded the ruins of Tarun in the meantime. On a huge plaza in the center of the city there was a distinctively large, black area to be seen. For a while he thought about where that obviously blackened by fire area had come from and for a moment wondered if it had been Karin's doing, discarded the thought, though, since hybrids could not summon fire.
At least not that he knew.
Seemingly out of thin air a small, blonde girl with green eyes clad in a plain, grey uniform appeared next to him. She bore neither a personal symbol nor armor, but a claymore longer than she was tall in her left hand. As soon as she appeared she stumbled, fell and landed right on her face. Kruos sighed. She got up and knocked off the dirt.
Just as she was about to turn towards Kruos a rap hit her head.
"Ouch!" she protested loudly, rubbing the spot she had been hit at. "Why?" she complained.
"You've got the fine motor skills of a sledgehammer!" Kruos scolded her making her huffily turn her gaze towards the ground. "What if you blunder like this in a fight or when scouting?"
"Well, actually…" she hemmed and hawed.
"Let me guess," Kruos grumbled with one of his eyes twitching, "it did just happen?"
"Yes."
"And the Awakened Beings noticed."
"Yes."
"And seeing you alive suggests you killed them all, am I right?" he grunted, clenching his fist in order to give her another rap to the head.
"Hold it right there!" she shouted pointing at him. "Actually, I did not!" She took a deep breath and Kruos sighed, because he could tell what was going to happen next.
Exuberantly, having uninterpretable facial expressions and gestures, holding a pantomimic, identifiable as anything but what she was actually saying play, she babbled: "First I rushed down there and stealthily took a look around and tried to imagine how that town must have been beautiful before its destruction but that doesn't matter, so I rushed over to the marketplace and there were like fifteen Awakened Beings and I was kind of scared so I tried to hide and while doing so I slipped on some slimy stuff and thought I'd kick the bucket then but they were just standing and traipsing around there like I wasn't there and looked like some retards and looked around and I got curious and thought I'd go there and say hi and they just gave me a short look and then continued standing and traipsing around like the retards they looked like and I though screw it and…"
"They ignored you?" he cut off her flow of speech, creating considerable amounts of relief for the other men who were forced to listen to her.
"Yup" the girl answered astoundingly taut.
Kruos thought for a moment.
"Well then," he said, "pack up, we're going down there!"
Grumbling the men began to pack up their equipment.
Kruos squat down next to the girl and handed her a candy wrapped in colorful paper. Sullenly she took it. "Is it already time?" she complained.
"I sincerely apologize" the Chief of Research assured her, "but you wouldn't want something to happen again, would you, Lilly?"
For a split second images of dissected bodies and crimson walls shot through the girls head. Hastily she unwrapped the bitter candy and swallowed it. She shook. She then began to follow Kruos, who had already set off. "I want some chocolate when we get back!" she demanded.
"Sure, sure" Kruos reassured her. "As long as you are good."
###
Jonas and Carsten were wandering along a barely used route that ran between a forest and a corn field towards Arnea, the first town in region 30 when coming from the outer ring. Carsten was highly irritated. He had wanted to eat in Tarun, but the town had been completely destroyed and there had been not a single human left alive. In the center of the town there had been many human looking corpses lying around. Some of them had already begun to decay and those who looked like they had just died didn't fit his tastes at all. He had then concluded that those had to be the corpses of Awakened Beings who had not transformed before death and had then thoroughly explained that to his companion Jonas.
The latter was enervated and disgusted by Carsten – and for a Yoma to be disgusted that held deep meaning. Both of them had been taken care of by Karin, the warrior who desperately tried to see the ability to live without preying on humans in Yoma. He himself tried everything to live like Karin wanted him to which put immense strains on his body and mind: on the one hand he felt physically weak ever since he had stopped eating humans and on the other hand his memories of his human past were constantly fighting the growing urge to eat.
Though she was a warrior meant to kill him he liked her, despite her usually apathetic nature, several times more than any of the Yoma he had ever met. After all she had not killed him even though his human side had demanded of her to do it. He felt of it as his responsibility to support her by any means possible – but he knew that it was only a matter of time until the Yoma he was would totally take over. Carsten instead was a hypocrite. He ate whenever he could. He did not care for Karin's efforts at all. To him she was just an idiot whose naivety he could prey on good and proper.
For that reason Jonas despised him from the bottom of his once human heart. Not, that he disagreed with him: Karin was too indulgent and too forgiving. She was no true warrior and one day she would pay a huge price for being the way she was. But people like Carsten, who wouldn't stop to babble like the useless shit he was, would majorly contribute to that, of that Jonas was certain.
Interrupting Carsten, who infatuatedly driveled of eating a huge fill in Arnea, Jonas said: "Won't you shut up already, bastard?"
The latter just laughed out loudly and grinned back at Jonas. "You wanna hold a lecture for shitty me again? Be honest for once, your mouth is watering, too! Your urge to fill your belly with sweet, warm intestines is no different from mine!"
"Unlike you I can restrain myself!" Jonas grumbled.
"Sure, sure," Carsten said conciliatorily, "but honestly: that is against our nature, what you are trying to do! We've been preying on humans since ancient times and not even a Yoma with a will as strong as yours could possibly do something about it."
"I am a Yoma just like you, you don't need to give me the crap meant for humans and warriors, you are aware of that?" he reminded Carsten.
"Sorry, buddy, but the judging from way you act one could think you were a human posing as a Yoma in order for you not to be eaten by me."
Carsten had to leap back to avoid an attack of Jonas' expending claws. "Could've been the case" he said, warily raising his hands in defense.
"Idiot" Jonas hissed and continued to walk. Carsten consorted with him again and continued to talk and talk.
From the shadows of the woods a pair of silver eyes was to be seen for but a moment. "A Yoma that doesn't want to eat, huh? Surely it is that woman's doing. Better tell Lorenz about it" the woman those eyes belonged to whispered to herself.
###
Anna nervously paced up and down as her view continued to occasionally wander through the small window in the dark room. Seeing how it had gotten brighter and brighter outside she could tell that the sun had already reached its zenith. It already was noon. Noon of the day after the last member of her Awakened Being hunting party should have arrived. Usually she did not mind waiting for she had been used to it for a long time, but in that case she did, because the Awakened Being responsible for her and her comrades assembling devoured more people than any other Awakened Being she had ever encountered. To the citizens Awakened Beings were known as overeaters, Yoma who had lived for a very long time. So to say this Awakened One was an overeater amongst overeaters. Matters were complicated further by the fact that to one of her comrades it obviously was an insuperable obstacle to just shut up. That fact had earned her the backhanded honor of being called "Tattletale Lisa". It was not only how much she talked, but for reasons unknown to Anna she always knew what was going on in the world of the warriors. And deep within her was raging, or so it seemed, the unquenchable urge to inform everyone she met about everything, even the most insignificant details. Everyone. Individually. Even when she was travelling in a group.
So, after Lisa had kept Anna awake all night and Anna was about to give a prayer of thanks to every god she was able to think of when Lisa had finally stopped talking, the latter proceeded to tell it all over again to Lea, who had just awoken. And, that was what Anna felt, the whole thing word by word. The most astounding thing about it was how Lea actually seemed interested in it.
Having remembered that torture Anna shook her head and sighed in defeat. Excusing herself she stepped outside in order to look for the still missing warrior.
Though she was tense and nervous because of the warrior that was awfully late – after all anything could have happened – she was also looking forward to the upcoming hunt. Lisa was number 31, Lea number 24 and she herself number 21. With that, three warriors of the inner ring had already assembled, who, on top of that, all had titles given to them by their comrades. And even though Lisa's didn't exactly hint towards her combat expertise, the fact she had it did. Her unique ability was to tell an enemy's strengths and weaknesses with but a single glance. Then there was "Lea the Turbulent". Though other warriors usually spoke ill of her by saying how simpleminded she was she also often earned nothing but praise for being an anticipatory fighter that, just like a turbulent storm, took away her opponent's orientation in order to swiftly overpower them. Last but not least there was herself, the undisputedly strongest warrior of the inner circle, "Skydancer Anna". Indeed that party was top-class. Anna expected the fourth member to also be someone possessing special skills.
Especially interesting to her was the question who they could be up against. Considering their lineup it was almost impossible for their target not to be from the lower two-digit ranks. Just as she was about to think who it could be she could sense the weak Yoki of two Yoma that seemingly had just entered the town. Instantly she began to rush towards their location. They might not have been part of her mission, but there was only one possible reason for them to come to a town at all: to eat.
She dashed through the alleys of the town, past startled passer-bys. Just when she was about to enter the street she had sensed the Yoma in, their Yoki suddenly vanished without a trace. She stopped dead in her tracks and concentrated, but she could not sense them anymore. Two man passed by her, one of them warily looking at her. For a while that felt eternal to him she stared into his eyes, but she could absolutely not feel any Yoki. She turned away and looked around for suspicious looking men, because she was absolutely certain that she had felt the Yoki of two Yoma.
"Watch now" one of the men that had passed her whispered to his companion, who hissed "Don't!" at him. The former then laboriously, as if invisible hands would hinder him, pointed his arm towards the warrior not paying attention to him at that moment. Then his fingers became claws that rapidly extended towards her. Anna didn't notice in time, but was not hit by a single claw, because all five of them merely hit the ground right in front of her feet.
"I knew it!" she hissed. Her eyes turned golden and a mighty gust of wind swept the Yoma off his feet. While he was toppling over Anna slid over the ground as if it was ice and crudely chopped off the Yoma's head.
Jonas twigged fast. He intently stumbled backwards and screamed: "A Yoma! He was a Yoma!"
Anna bought his play and shouted: "I know that there is one more of you! Show yourself!"
Nothing happened. The townspeople began to murmur.
She sheathed her claymore again. "Damn it", she hissed, "where's the other one?"
"Which other one?" a very tall warrior that had just entered the scene asked her.
The moment her gaze fell upon her fellow warrior her eyes widened. Instantly she remembered the numbing Yoki she had felt in Tarun as well as the manipulative abilities of that warrior. And also the fact that she liked Yoma way too much. "That explains a lot" she grumbled.
Karin played the confused one. "What explains what? And what are you babbling about another Yoma? I sensed this one and rushed over, just to see you beat me to the punch."
"Is that so?" Anna doubtfully asked, one of her eyebrows risen in suspicion. Becoming aware of where they were again she decided to continue that conversation somewhere else. And she knew something was fishy. Later she would have that manipulative Yomalover properly explain what had been going on. For the time being, however, she would have to give up on finding the other Yoma, because, if things were as she thought, she would not find him for Karin didn't want her to. No matter how much effort she'd put in her search. "Well, if you say so" she sarcastically said. "Come now, we've been waiting for you."
Both of them set off for the room they were supposed to meet in. On their way there Anna still tried to find the second Yoma again – to no avail.
###
After Anna and Karin had left Jonas left the town of Arnea as the crow flies. Though he didn't know what had been going on exactly, he assumed that Karin had somehow helped him to be undetected by the other warrior. So you saved my ass again, he thought, intending to thank her later. Apparently Carsten's death only occurred due to him being the cocky idiot he had always been.
Serves him right, Jonas thought.
Still he was worrying about Karin. The other warrior had doubtlessly sensed Carsten and him. But he was sure she wouldn't get in any big trouble. It was Karin, after all.
###
The door leading to the small, dark room where Lisa and Lea were still waiting opened and in came Anna, followed by Karin. The latter placed herself right next to the door, leaning against the wall, where no sunlight entering through the small window was shining into her face. Lea eyeballed the new member for a moment, realized she didn't know her and then shifted her attention back to Lisa, hoping she would tell her more. Lisa, however, struck by curiosity, arose, went over to Karin and brought, tip-toed, her face really close to Karin's.
"Strange," she wondered aloud, "no Yoki. I mean… not the slightest bit. Interesting!"
"You know something about her?" Lea asked moderately interested.
"I don't see a thing" Anna explained, "because she doesn't release any Yoki. At all. Too bad" she sulked.
Anna clapped her hands two times in order to catch her comrades' attention. "That's enough for now. You will have plenty of time to get to know each other on our way to the target. For now I want everyone to introduce themselves. I am Anna. As the warrior of the highest rank, number twenty one, I will be this party's Captain. I have so far faced sixteen Awakened Ones, twelve times as the party's leader."
Then Lea took her turn: "Me is Lea and I am number twenty four. I've hunted and slain eight Awakened Beings, each time under Captain Anna's command. Looking forward to working with you gals!"
Lisa stepped a tiny bit away from Karin but continued to look at her. "I am Lisa and, for this mission, came from the north-east. Region thirty one is my home and I have been in fourteen Awakened Being hunting parties before, two times facing Class Two Awakened Ones."
Lea gaped in amazement: "Honestly?"
Lisa smiled at her and nodded. Not visibly reacting Anna still thought of that information as highly interesting. After all the possibility was high that her party would go after a Class Two Awakened Being.
"Class Two Awakened Being?" Karin asked.
Lea seemed bewildered. "What, you don't know about that?" She leapt to her feet and began to explain: "Awakened Ones are divided in four categories, or classes, depending on how powerful they should be. So, warriors from the outer ring as well from the outer regions of the inner ring, who awaken, are considered Class Three. And people from the inner regions of the inner ring become Class Two. Center warriors become Class One. And you see, the people in the top three to five ranks, when awakening, usually become so powerful that they got an extra category, Class Zero. Got it?"
"I see" Karin answered. "What about Olaf the Ogre?" she went into it.
Constricting silence.
Breaching it, Anna said: "He is a special case, no matter from what point of view. He used to be the number one of the male generation and hence his power is beyond categorizable. However, he has been hiding far in the west for years now, because he could not defeat our current number one. And now, it is your turn" she ended her explanation.
"I understand. Well, my name is Karin and I have been promoted to region thirty just recently. I have never been in an Awakened Being hunting party and have, so far, only encountered one Awakened Being. However, I can not say in which class it was."
"Strange" Lea pointed out, Lisa smirked.
"What is it?" Karin asked.
"Well, you see, as you have heard we're all pretty experienced. I mean, Lisa has dealt with Class Two already. You don't really fit in, y'know?" Lea explained.
For a moment Anna thought to have seen a twitch in Karin's face and intervened: "What Lea intends to say, is, that usually warriors of similar strength and experience come together, being led by another warrior of even greater power. Depending on the class of the Awakened Being groups are assembled differently. Our group is an exception to begin with: I, the leader of this group, might be stronger than Lisa, but she is more experienced. And even though I am more experienced than Lea I am not confident to be able to defeat her one on one" – Lea chuckled flattered – "and since each of us seemingly is superior to you in both experience and power, you somewhat stick out. You are new to the inner ring and officially never had an encounter with an Awakened Being. You don't fit in. Well, if circumstances were different and it wasn't exactly you we are talking about, that's what I would say" she said.
"That will be interesting Lea, listen well!" Lisa whispered to the smaller warrior's ear, to whom she had went over somewhen in between Anna's talking.
Anna's gaze wandered to Karin and she sternly looked at her. "I do not know the details, but I witnessed how our supposed newbie killed Crimson Ariane – on her own."
Lea's jaw dropped to the floor. Lisa nodded complacently. She had been proven right: that woman was indeed interesting.
"I assume" Karin said baldly, "she was no nobody?"
Anna nodded. "A Class Two Awakened Being. My direct successor."
"I am… sorry?" Karin guessed.
"For her?" Lea get het up. "You don't need to! That bitch cared for no one and nobody! The only thing she was interested in was torturing whoever she got to kill! And you know… she killed whoever she possibly could without getting found out." Lea then directly and earnestly gazed at Karin: "Have you ever… felt so deeply sorry for your enemy that it made you suffer yourself? I did when I was in a group with her. And one day, when she was caught killing a human she was to be executed. And the ones sent after her… all of them…" Lea became silent upon feeling Lisa's comforting hand pat her head.
After a torturous amount of silence Anna took the floor again: "I'm going to wait at the northern entrance of Arnea. Get done with whatever you need to and provide yourselves with whatever you need, but I want to set off in an hour at the latest. We've wasted enough time waiting." The last sentence she said with an accusing glance at Karin who did not seem to be conscious of having done anything wrong. She then left the room, followed by Karin.
After stepping outside, Anna harshly said: "You are coming with me."
The both of them walked through the town in silence and left Arnea through the northern gate. Some hundred meters outside of the side, apart from the road, they stopped. Anna turned around to face Karin and sternly asked: "When I was looking for you earlier I felt the Yoki of two Yoma. When I was about to reach them both of them vanished. Why?"
"I don't know" Karin lied.
"One of the Yoma blew his cover when attacking me and paid the price for his stupidity with his life. The other one stayed hidden."
Karin kept quiet.
"You said that you had only sensed one Yoma. Your senses may be sharp, probably sharper than mine. But I can tell you one thing: it has happened that I missed a Yoki, but I have never before sensed a Yoki that wasn't there. There were two Yoma and you know that very well. I do know you well enough to know that only you could be responsible for what has happened. I do not care what you did before this mission and I do not care what you will do afterwards. But as long as we are supposed to work together I need to be able to trust you. That is why I want you, without giving reasons, to answer me honestly now: did you hide those Yoma from me?"
Karin remained silent while Anna was waiting for an answer. And Karin would answer, of that Anna was certain. They were an Awakened Being hunting party – their lives depended on them working together. That was why Anna would make it dependant on Karin telling the truth or not whether she would take her along or leave her behind in Arnea.
"Yes," Karin eventually said, "I hid those Yoma's Yoki from you."
Anna sighed. "I see."
"Yo!" Lea called from afar, waving both her hands.
Noticing their comrades coming closer Anna took the last chance to remind Karin: "I don't care what drives you to do what you do, but the regions twenty one to thirty are under my command. If you care for your life you are going to play by my rules. Unfathomable that I have to say this, but Yoma are our enemies. As long as you are here, treat them that way!"
She turned away and said: "Come!" She then proceeded to walk towards Lea and Lisa.
Next time we will encounter a very interesting person as well as a powerful Awakened Being. Stay tuned!