Cantrip 1.9 (a)
A/N. This took far long than I've expected. Turns out creating your own setting from scratch is a lot of work. But it's out now. I've planned to end the arc here, but it's becoming bloated, so I decided to create another chapter for the second half and the fight at Captain's Hill. After that, I'll prepare an Index of the terms used, and then the epilogue for this arc.
Soothsayer
/x/
I tugged onto the plain purple shroud I tied over my shoulders while Schwarz carved spells into the casing of the ammo I was issued with. The PRT troopers who volunteered to join us kept a steely silence while they checked their equipment and I kept my distance from them, sticking to Schwarz as the black exorcist finished up her buffing of my equipment. As a rule, I kept my distance from people with magic charms on their necks that can explode.
She started on the final pieces of protection for me before we arrive at the Hyyakki Yagyō's Genbu Threshold, and my mind wandered. Despite growing up in desolate Iowa, my family was never religious despite our town being Bible Belt lite. We attended church occasionally, but other than that you'd never see us near the local chapel outside of Easter or Christmas. Of course, since the last time I set foot in a church was when Reggie killed himself, I would even brave the cold night and the occasional stabby homeless person than spend a night there.
"Alright, Soothsayer," Schwarz said as she folded the last strip of paper into a roll and handed them to me, tied to the end of a chain of rosary beads. "Remember to keep this strips of scripture beneath your Penelope shroud. Sister Hannah worked on them, so most Others shouldn't be able to resist them if used."
Of course, on Earth Bet prayers to any kind of deity tends to not work unless your power has a religious theme. Things are different here, since faith would be needed to not believe in the occult and supernatural. I was reminded of this fact of as my powers started to process the Hidden Speech into something I can understand when I held the religious charms in my hand. Hmm, the strips are single use expandable objects. Acts like reactive armour by blocking then expiring against incoming hexes or any other kind of Others-based threats. Useful.
I muttered my thanks, and resisted the urge to tell Schwarz her obvious survivor's guilt isn't making herself more endearing to Orpheus. Schwarz then leaned against the cold walls of the Preacher truck we were on, and began to dip her wooden bolts into a mix of blood and ash. The smell of the blood mixed with the ash, to create a particularly strong stench that made my eyes water.
"That's a strong smelling mix you got there," I said while Schwarz grinned. "Even the precognition the redhead does with the chicken guts are less gruesome. How did you and Orpheus end up doing something like Taoshu anyway?"
Schwarz glanced at Orpehus, who's eyes were closed in mediation. I frowned as a sudden spike in Hidden Speech hit my senses when I glanced at her, but I noticed no outward changes to her physical appearances like she sometimes does when she draws upon Danny's powers or use her own.
"She's doing something that's causing a spike of Hidden Speech when she's mediating, and I've no idea what's going on."
"This is something you should be asking your master instead of me. Doesn't your power allow you to deduce it anyway?"
"Maybe," I grinned before I let it fall. "But I operate on too little information, even with all the details I've read in the Citadel library. I'm only able to tell that you and Taylor have picked up Asian magic, and that you trained under Danny. "
"Watch the names," Sophia, aka Schwarz said out of habit. Orpheus' eyes twitched slightly, but her eyes remained firmly closed throughout my exchange with her colleague. Schwarz's lips quirked monetarily before she turned to me.
"Best not to disturb someone in mediation," Schwarz mumbled beneath her breath. "To answer your question, I learned Taoshu from Mr Hebert as a child when he busted me for using tamed Others in petty crime. Danny in turn learned his craft by picking it up from the many refugees that arrived in America after several Bloodmoons rendered the interior of China, most of western Japan uninhabitable. As a bonus, the last Bloodmoon in Asia plonked a giant wall of ice to surround most of Russia east of the Ural Mountains."
"And the sudden spike in Hidden Speech?" I asked impatiently.
"That'll be benefits of doing mediation, and the proper reason anyone practice Taoshu to begin with. When you're doing it correctly of course." Schwarz's face softened considerably as she continued. "Through mediation, you cultivate yourself. Through cultivation, you accumulate Tao, and become closer to achieving transcendence."
"Yet, I've never seen her do it before our earlier run-in with the Hyyakki-" I gaped suddenly, as my power allowed the pieces fell in place. "The basement. Taylor was mediating in her basement."
"Live and learn," Schwarz said. I clicked my tongue in response to the black exorcist getting one over me, but she was acting in a rather professional and non-threatening manner over this. A far cry from my initial meeting with her, and she was the type I pegged to be all bristly and balanced with a chip on each shoulder.
"Well, the cultivation thing explains why you're so serene all the time." I said, as I holstered my gun.
"Excuse me?" Schwarz frowned.
"You control everything you say, from tone to phrase. But Taoshu's requirements for serenity among it's adherents aren't the only reason you're keeping yourself under a lid."
Schwarz's jaws tightened, before she reverted to the half-smile she keeps wearing like a mask. That flash of her real self was suppressed in less than a second. Colour me impressed. Other than Vulcan and Orpheus, she's the only exorcist I've interacted at any length of time. Glad to see some of them are sorta well adjusted, unlike Orpheus.
Well, there's Dracul, but talking bronze iguanas are not what I'd call effective communication tools.
"You're right," Schwarz said while she set her bolts to dry. "Life on the street and what Marked me taught me one thing. Danny and what Marked Orpheus taught me how wrong that thing was."
/x/
We arrived outside the Genbu Threshold at the far north of the Docks, with the PRT troopers taking point as they marched out of the Preacher Truck with their truncheons up and mirror masks down. The cloudy night lit up as the other PRT and allied strike teams went about their work, and the way my two senior exorcists allowed their faces to relax just an inch signalled that things were going well.
Which means things are probably going down the toilet later on, but a good start is still better than having the crap thrown on your face to begin with.
I considered it a mark of achievement of how well I've integrated into this bizarre world that the blaring of religious music and chanting from the speakers on the truck didn't faze me one bit. The leading trooper raised his right hand in a fist and stepped out of the Preacher Truck, before he opened it and waved forwards. On cue, the troopers formed a wedge and inched forward, before I followed Schwarz and Orpheus down the truck.
"Right," Schwarz said as a cloud billowed out from beneath her coat, and formed the large canine I saw earlier in the evening. "I'll be going on ahead first."
Exorcist and Guardian Spirit became one, as Schwarz sat on the back of the grey wolf and the shadow wreath enveloped her. I let my walls down, and focused my power on the Other. I smirked as I started to decipher some secrets of this mystery, despite the wave of Hidden Speech that flooded my mind.
Sceolang. Hound of $%#$#$##. # !#
I closed the walls again to dam off the Hidden Speech, and turned my focus back onto Orpheus who looked even more intense than she usually was. At least my Thinker headache isn't as bad as it was. If I think of my power as my digestive system, this could be good news since it means my power's getting used to the local food, or it's bad since it means my system has given up fighting the food poisoning.
I sighed internally, even as I kept my smile while I walked to Orpheus' side. Bet made so much more sense than this world.
"Soothsayer, stay next to me. Once we cross into the Hyakki threshold, expect our path to be resisted every step of the way."
"Won't have it any other way," I said smoothly even as I felt the grip on my gun for comfort. Knowing the modified rounds I have now work on the Others I can expect waiting for me was reassuring, but the sour, burning smell to remind us what awaited us as we approached the Docks was not. A pall of smoke enveloped the Docks, but unlike the smell of the sea the last time we were here only ash and incense was in the air.
"Troopers," Orpheus said as she stepped in between the troopers in the wedge, "tighten the group."
I was only inches from Orpheus' back, as the shields of the troopers extended outwards and they stood shoulder to shoulder. A chilling breeze breathed down the nape of my back, but my power warned me not to look back as we marched into the impenetrable fog. I focused my attention and sight on Orpheus' back instead, my gaze studied every stitch of her black blazer and wavy hair that peaked out from behind her collar. Her gloved hands flicked, exposing tattooed skin between her sleeves and black gloves and more of the fu charms appeared. She brought the yellow strips of paper to her lips, the red script written on them glowed in the dark.
"Burn."
The red ink spread outwards, before the yellow paper burst into flames. The fire burned against Orpheus harmlessly, despite the heat i felt and the smoke I smelled. She raised her right hand with the fireball aloft, before they darted out in streams and scoured the ground in front of the marching troopers. Screeches and hisses broke out as red fire scourged the unseen before us, and from the corner of my vision I saw limbs once human and animal but now pale and sickly jerk as the fire consumed them. The heavy boots of the PRT troopers crunched against the unseen swarm of others, while their shields and helmets withstood the unceasing assault of the Hyakki's pet Others. Here, behind the protective aegis of the wedge formation I saw the front of the truncheons begin to glow along with their mirror helmets as they pushed deeper into the fog, until Orpheus turned her neck towards me. She held a bronze mirror in her left hand, and handed it to me.
"Raise it into the air above our wedge, Soothsayer. Then tell me what you see."
I nodded, and my hands shook as I raised the mirror above our heads. I clicked my tongue in pain as the beginnings of a Thinker's headache started when I looked at the reflection in the polished bronze, but I resisted the throbbing pain before I tore my gaze away from the mirror.
"Countless shapes, like people of every age and gender except starved to an impossible extent. Their skin hangs loosely from their bones, their eyes missing and their throats the thickness of a pencil. Their skins are grey, and they're packed and squirm in a mass like maggots on a corpse."
"The starving damned blocks our path. Seta is one sick bastard if he invokes this in his threshold," Orpheus whispered to me before she raised her voice. "Everyone stay in formation! If you get lost before we reach the inner sanctum, you will join them."
I caught my breath-and my nerve before I continued.
"Your fire has burnt us a path through the teeming Others. A turtle's shell, shiny and onyx black. Held aloft by the screams and bodies of a mountain of the famished Others."
"Schwarz?"
"Couldn't see her," I said with a grimace. "I can look again if you want."
"No need. If you could see her, then so can the Hyyakki. It's a good thing they cannot."
Orpheus took out another three fu from her coat and wrapped them around her Relic silver dagger. Charon-Danny, I reminded myself as I felt a sense of revulsion at an Other so close to me- manifested from Orpheus' shadow, and the orange flame lit up her head before she turned her back to me. The fire streamed above Orpheus and Charon broke off a portion as a ball, before my master pointed forward and Charon hurled itself-himself- forward and burst into a wall of flame. The fire swept kept forward and a roar rose from the troopers, as they stomped forward into the burning hell. I followed Orpheus, and kept my walls firmly up despite my curiosity on the PRT who will march into the flames of hell.
"Troopers! Why did you follow me? Why did you volunteer for the one who's very name shouts out the desire to step into hell!"
Orpheus bellowed out her challenge. The crazy PRT who followed her shouted right back with glee.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"You want to kill the unkillable?" Orpheus chuckled, her ironic laughter a fitting complement to the crunching of truncheon and boots against burning Other flesh."Do you really think that even death may die?"
Their boots marched defiantly on fiery turf, their shields and helmets pushed against tongues of flame as they continued their grim march and shouted their reply.
"Purify the defiled!"
My master grabbed me and we ran, as the troopers broke into a charge through the inferno as one. Counting Orpheus and me, we were only fourteen people strong. Yet the ground shook as if a host of hundreds of thousands thundered passed the Others who blocked us.
"Salvation for the lost!"
I felt the Hidden Speech flood my mind and threaten to breakdown the walls I've erected against my power, despite me only having glimpsed the charred shapes of the Others as we charged pass them. Orpheus' face burned brightly, but her pitch black eyes and her snow white hair was visible despite the wreath of fire that enveloped her. My eyes teared from the smoke and heat, but self preservation and the way Orpheus' straw doll-her kill switch- twitched kept me going forward.
I charged forth with Orpheus and the rest of this band of madmen and women, for reasons of self preservation and a desire to see this thing through. I guess this is the part I go into denial that I've taken the crazy pills. My ears rang, and my heart raced when Orpehus cried out lustily.
"We storm the gates of the damned!"
The troopers continued to smash through the oppostion as they roared back their answer.
"That we may report at the gates of paradise we served our time!"
I joined them in their battle-cry, as we pushed towards the centre of the threshold.
/x/
My joints ached, my chest and throat burned and my eyes smarted from the smoke despite the fact Orpheus had dragged me along while I shut them tightly about halfway through our fire walking session. I only knew that we were out of the flames when I felt lukewarm water being poured onto my face, which I lapped up eagerly.
"Don't choke," Orpheus said. Even with the water obscuring my vision, I saw that the corona of fire that once engulfed her head was no more. I was about to rub my eyes to get the water out, before I felt gloved hands seize my own and water was poured onto them.
"Your hands were caked with soot," Orpheus said before she was done rubbing my hands. "Okay, you can rub your eyes now."
I blinked out the excess water to clear my vision, and saw the troopers had settled themselves into a loose infantry square against the impenetrable fog and silhouette of the gathering Others. Their truncheons, once navy blue was now charred black, with the runes engraved on their front glowing through the soot which also marred their uniforms and helmets. Half of them quickly removed canteens and poured water on their helmets to wash off the excess carbon, while the remaining seven wielded their truncheons and three foot long batons that glowed blue to fend off the surging Others. The same jiangshi from before, their bloated green faces and protuding fangs set upon us, before putrid green flesh met glowing blue wood and the Others sizzled as they were brought low. I whistled in appreciation as the PRT troops systematically put down the Others in formation, before I turned back to Orpheus who was wiping water and soot off from her face.
I forced my usual grin on my face, in an effort to avoid focusing on her deathly pale skin, pitch black eyes and the smell of smoke still emitting from her.
"You know, if we had these guys during your previous dust up with the Hyyakki, I wouldn't have have gotten a chunk of my shoulders bitten off by a corpse."
"We were only forced to fight so many of them last time, because you shouted my name in the Hyyakki threshold. This time though, we came prepared."
Orpheus removed her gloves and her tattoos faded, before she removed her red scarf and tie. Hidden Speech again streamed into my consciousness as my master chanted, before she sliced the strips into red strips. The sliced fabric twisted in the wind, before I was struck with a strong musty smell mixed with blood.
"Reminds me of the old joke of the blind barber who gave his client a new red tie when he was done shaving. Do you dye most of your scarves and ties in your-you know- blood?"
"Taoshu works in some strange, and gruesome, ways," Orpehus said without missing a beat. The strips gathered, then burst out in all directions and began diving in and out of the Hyakki Others. Limbs were severed, and torsos opened as Orpheus' charms swerved among the enemy, their smell drawing them before their edges found their prey.
"Even the best troops get exhausted if hit with an endless wave," Orpheus remarked as she walked ahead. I fingered the grip of my handgun, as I noticed the dancing red strips seemed to be mimic the colour on Orpehus' face as they moved around. I felt the straw-doll kill switch she gave me unravel even more, as Taylor slipped away with only Orpheus left behind.
"Easy girl," I gently pat Orpheus on her back. "Seta is one of your goals, but not the goal."
Small candles lit up, forming a path that led deeper into the fog, though I vaguely could make out the shapes of shipping containers. The troopers behind us fell in behind us and presented a shield wall against the continued tide of Hyyakki.
"You boys and girls alright back there?" Orpheus asked rhetorically without looking back, or slowing down her stride down the candlelit path. Despite their mirror helmets obscuring their faces expressions, I could easily imagine fourteen men and women, each with a greedy grin plastered on their faces.
"Ready for more!"
I followed Orpheus into the fog, the hiss of sizzling flesh and the crack of wood against bone rang in my ears.
/x/
Orpheus
Even with the impenetrable fog that shrouded it, the onyx shell of Genbu Threshold was easily seen as the path neared its end. A shiny giant turtle shell made of a precious stone is hard to hide after all, and the Hyyakki made no effort to hide it. The Anima I created with a mix of Taoshu and Khoramancy proved useful as they dispatched several minor Others gangpressed for menial labour, before they darted skywards towards the other thresholds. To the east, an emerald bolt of light lit up the skies as a roar shook Brockton Bay, while to the south, ruby pillars of fire connected heaven and earth accompanied by the screeching of a peacock.
I allowed myself a moments to cheer inwardly for the Circle and their allies doing their jobs when they're committed, for Seiryu and Suzaku Thresholds have been broken.
But the moment didn't last, when I heard and smelled the boiling earth before bony hands burst out of the ground, their skin flaky and snowy. The phantom limbs ignited as they poured forwards in waves against the pathway candles, which I lit up with the accumulated tao thanks to the mediation I've done on my journey here.
Funny how it takes a journey towards a fight to the death to clear my mind enough for me to do mediation effectively, but that's a Returner for you.
"Taylor."
Ah yes, Dad is speaking to me through our mental link.
"Yes, Dad?"
"You used a lot of tao to reach the centre of Genbu Threshold, rather than depending on pre-made charms like in your battle with Gui. Worse, using Khoramancy with your condition-"
"It's fine," I waved him off. "Seta made these thresholds. Not using tao and hoping to take out his surprises is a death wish. I've got plenty to spare without having to draw upon more from beyond the Veil."
I felt Dad's irritation as I casually mentioned using the gift of a Marked but Soothsayer chose that moment to butt in.
"You really ought to listen to your dad, Orpheus," Soothsayer said as she stared at my face. She held up the straw idol I gave her, and showed me the frayed edges of the figurine.
"I'm not entirely sure," Soothsayer said flatly, "but I don't think this is a good sign."
"I'm taking on a master cultist in his mutually reinforcing thresholds, Soothsayer. Good signs are long past that choice."
We reached the end of my path, and into the beating heart of the threshold. Immediately, silence fell as the Others were shut out lest they pollute the place. Our eyes rose to the top of the black shell when we noticed something twitch, before the shell began to stir and the retreating fog allowed me a good look at the something.
"How does Seta actually have anyone work for him if he treats his flunkies like this?"
The way she said it- full of surprise and shock- reminded me of Soothsayer's background, and that she's from a foreign world. Most people who grew up post Tearing have heard and probably knew someone who fell prey to cultists who revelled in their ties to the Others.
"I'll release Anuman," I said as my Relic began to extend and glow while Dad re-entered my shadow. The Thai cultist was nailed by his joints to the top of the Genbu shell, with his bloated belly, part of his face and hands half submerged beneath the smooth ebony surface. His lips, split in two still twitched and I heard his whispers in Thai as if he was next to me instead of twenty feet above. I undid my belt which held the most of my tools and charms, casually tossing them behind me knowing Soothsayer will grab hold of them.
"Taylor..."
"Charon. By the pact and Mark I command you."
His words ceased, his mind subdued to the unbreakable compulsion a Guardian Spirit will obey when the exorcist commands. Contrasts grew sharper as my vision changed, strands of my black hair wilted and turned grey. I stumbled, as I felt the Veil pull at me from beyond the sky.
"Become my sword and my shield."
The ground cracked where I stood, as my sleeves tore open and the tattoos that adorned them flaked away into the wind with a layer of my skin. I stumbled forward, the pull of gravity on me suddenly erratic before I skipped off the ground and was on top of the Genbu shell in one step. Black smoke seeped out from the crack in Genbu's shell, and Soothsayer's powers saved her when she rapidly fell to the edge of the centre sanctum while spraying prayer ash from her utility belt to ward off the smoke.
I twisted midair, before I landed next to Anuman and the side of his stomach collapsed into into dust when the tip of my shoes touched. Soothsayer tried to shout something, but the distance between us and the smoke made her inaudible. I turned around to face her, before I felt a dull bump on my right hand where I held my dagger.
Huh, so that's what Soothsayer was shouting about.
It twisted among the dark clouds, the shiny dark scales that glowed the only visual clue that deferred it from the smoke. The lower half of my right arm was firmly secure between the jaws of the spade-shaped head of the viper, while my Relic dagger remained grasped in my fist. More dull bumps along the length of my body on both sides and a sting on the nape of my neck, before Soothsayer's sobbing screams finally reached me. The body of the serpent was slimy and cold, as it coiled around my mouth while other snakes held me down. Before my eyes were completely smothered, my fading, blurring vision saw sparks of orange and yellow from her direction. Sarah must have discovered how to merge the volcanic ash on the last right pouch with the dog's blood to produce Samadhi fire.
Fast learner, that girl. After this, I must remember to ask if its her power, or her own smarts that let her learn that trick. But first, to skin the snake now that most of it's out of the shell.
"Charon."
My severed hand and Relic dagger, now nestling within the belly of the black serpent stirred. White light cut through dark smoke, scale and flesh as my right hand melted into the hilt of the dagger and it stabbed into the brain of the serpent. Genbu trembled, and a low moan emerged from the lower ends of the shell still obscured by the fog and black smoke. I bared my teeth, as I moved my right stump to direct the dagger further into the insides of the serpent.
"Come to me, my spirit."
A flame burned within my skull, the pain more intense than the smothering by the many serpents of Genbu or the flesh melting venom it deployed. The searing was so raw, it almost felt real, like I was flesh and blood again. Despite myself, I shivered at the forgotten sensation while Charon through his Relic carried out my will. The moans grew louder, followed by the sound of dry snapping as cracks appeared in the onyx shell.
Soothsayer must have heard the cracks, as she stopped mindlessly spraying Samadhi fire everywhere and began to pour whatever dog's blood and ash was left from my belts into her hands. My apprentice crouched down and began to draw while the tao- empowered flames were still shielding her, and I would have felt my chest swell with pride if it wasn't currently being squished into paste by snake-shaped Others. The blade continued on its path, tearing through bone, flesh and gut before I shuddered when the edge of my blade hit something hard and stone like.
I chuckled darkly, the sounds of my laughter in the wind despite not having a windpipe any more. Genbu in its desperation tore me in twain, before the serpents brought my upper half towards the front of the shell. The air itself trembled as the roar which preceded the scaly turtle head of the other half of Genbu emerged from the shell's cavity, and I smelled the stench from the slimy beaks of the turtle. I watched as the lower half of my body was tossed into Genbu's maw, and had my mouth been capable I would have laughed out loud.
Sorry Genbu, but you're not finding my Mark this way.
"Purify."
The low bass moans of Genbu gave way to a glass shattering screech as my Relic spread it's influence over Genbu's core, white light enveloped onyx before I felt the Mark Seta had ripped from Anuman and implanted on the Other to create Genbu Threshold. Looks like Anuman will have a less ghastly fate than most of the Hyyakki's victims, as his corpse crumbled into dust along with the black shell as I severed the link between the two sides of the Veil. The snakes around me withered, and my eyes squinted at the sudden flood of moon and streetlight that assaulted my eyes. Despite the layers of slime, gunk and other fluids the sudden appearance of real light still caused pain to me.
I hissed as I felt the inky fluid I laid in ripple from frantic footsteps, before Soothsayer's freckled blonde face appeared above me. I could see her throat twitch as she bellowed at me while laying her coat over my partially dissolved upper torso, but I couldn't hear anything since my ears were rotted away by serpent venom.
"My Relic. Get me my relic."
Honestly, I didn't expect Soothsayer to understand what I said since between my mulched throat I shouldn't be able to say anything audible to human ears. But she nodded before she disappeared and came back a second later, my Relic and Charon firmly grasped in her hands. She lowered the blade above my chest until it was barely above my chest, then her face paled before her power told her what needed to be done.
"This is disgusting," she said before she plunged the blade into my throat. Silver light washed over me and beyond, as my lower half was reformed when my Mark dragged what was mine from beyond the Veil and out of their reach. The Relic slid out of me, and was soon back in my hands as I sprang to my feet good as new. Then I saw Soothsayer's expression, a mix between utter disgust and sheer horror before the stench reminded me I was still covered in giant serpent-turtle fluid.
"I don't suppose," I said towards Soothsayer who rubbed her head, "you've got a towel and some liquid soap on you?"
I vaguely noted the roar of a tiger and a white burst of light to the west which signaled the breaking of Byyakko Threshold, before my attention was caught by the sound of hymns and sirens from the south. Half dozen Preacher trucks approached us, with a silver painted flame on the side instead of the usual winged shield of the PRT. I pulled at my jacket at the thought of facing Emma's sister, and turned tail and headed north before Soothsayer grabbed my hand and shook her head.
"Seta can wait, but you need to wash up and recover."
I was about to rebut with a snarky observation, when hollow screeching and the grinding of metal against gears caused me to look up. Just in time, a bronze dragon homunculus with a wingspan of twenty feet flew pass us towards Seta. Dracul's sticking her leathery snout where it doesn't belong again. My skin tingled, as the clouds above Seta's position turned electric blue. I glared at Soothsayer, but my blonde apprentice kept her solemn mask on and refused to budge.
"I don't care how many death glares or whatever mumbo jumbo you throw at me, Orpheus. I'm-"
"Pretty sure you do care on the quote "mumbo-jumbo" unquote."
"...Besides the point, Taylor," Soothsayer said pointedly. "And you think I have trust issues."
"Never said that, Sarah," I said even as the Silver Flame Sisters and their supporting PRT troopers unloaded from the truck. My hearbeat raced as I saw Anne's crystal ball Relic float lazily in my direction, and shook off Soothsayer's hand before I walked towards several PRT troopers holding water from a jerrycan.
"Water's not blessed right," I asked the trooper with the can, before I removed Soothsayer's jacket and handed it back to my apprentice as she approached. "I just got semi-digested. Don't need scalding to make my night worse."
The trooper didn't say anything as he poured lukewarm water to wash off the gunk and passed me a brush with soap on it. I tuned out what she tried to say by shutting down my eardrums, which caused Soothsayer's expression to grow darker before she went over the spare Exorcist suit I was provided with. Dripping wet, I reached for the towel before Soothsayer yanked it away from the trooper and pointed to her ears.
"Fine," I said before she smirked and started to dry me. "You're acting awfully insecure."
"I just saw you surrounded by snakes that sprouted through the shell of a giant turtle, ripped in half and semi digested before you rebuilt your body good as new," Soothsayer snapped. "Forgive me if I'm a little traumatised to learn you've hidden a little detail like you can't die from me."
"Apology accepted," I said which made Soothsayer rub me a tad harder than needed. But I was thankful for my apprentice's presence when Anne finally made her way to me and helped me with my jacket.
"Emma would be upset to learn you're endangering yourself like that," Anne said quietly while she straightened my collar and snapped my utility belt.
"She would, wouldn't she?" I said even as I was looking for an escape. It arrived in the form of the Preacher Truck driven by the crew that drove us to the edge of Genbu Threshold. I waved goodbye to Sister Anne, who frowned but walked back to the other Silver Flame who had gathered. Soothsayer followed me to our Truck, and my mood improved as I noticed there were seven troopers still around from the original fourteen.
"Half of you are still around," I said to broad smiles to those who've raised their mirror visors. "That's some good odds. Ready for round two?"
The troopers looked at each other, before they looked at the leather bags that contained parts of their fallen comrades. My gaze fell onto the tattoos at their collarbones, which marked where I've placed the Hanabi self-destruct charms. Their broad smiles as they noticed me looking told me they were pleased with my work.
"All of us who didn't make it, managed to blow themselves up before they breathed their last. Threshold breaching with only half of us dead and none lost to the Others and the Veil? That's a huge improvement over our usual odds."
The leading trooper, a stocky Hispanic man gave me a punch in the shoulder before they slapped down their mirror visors.
"Hell yeah we're ready for round 2. We'd even bring you to a short cut so Dracul can't steal your kill."
I slapped the trooper on his arm, before I headed to the Preacher which just got hosed down by some Sisters with Khoramancy conjured watersprouts. Soothsayer and the remaining seven troopers fell in behind me, and I couldn't help the warm feeling in my chest as I settled into the back of the truck.
After all, it's not always you pick the right people you might die with.
