Author's Note: Nothing to say right now. Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Chapter 60: Spear Demon and Lion Demon
Setsuna, Yuki and Ake dropped down outside of the home belonging to the Genmu tribe, a guard took note of her presence and led her to the master of the house, the old Genmu who was up until a moment ago quietly reading a report before Setsuna came in for a visit.
"There's one of the wild waves that the four of us have decided to tend to, I've come to recruit the help of you and your army to deal with it." Setsuna explained as she looked down at the turtle man.
"With the state of chaos the world is in coupled with the blatant hostilities the various different countries are showing each other it would be difficult to arrange for the numbers that you are looking for." The old turtle stated bluntly dismissing the Spear Hero's concerns.
"It's going to hit Cal Mira." The Turtle immediately froze up from what he was doing to stare straight ahead. "I'm told that the Hero weapons give us and our party members another bonus to XP, and it'll be raining down from the sky in mass during the wave." Setsuna's explanation had the intended effect as the turtle man put his book away and folded his hands together to look at her.
"What do you need?" The Turtle paid attention with a rapt look on his features as Setsuna prepared to list her demands.
"We have four days and time enough to unlock 24 growth bonuses, at two for each species that's twelve different kinds of Demi-human growth bonuses to work with." Taking that as a cue the turtle man took a knife and cut off locks of his hair and dripped his blood into each of the three heroes weapons.
"I will inform the council of this development, There are ten Demi-human tribes considered to be top tier combatants in this world, by the end of the day I will have all of them ready to give you what you need." And so the old man left, off to deliver news of this development and the promise of power that came with it.
"Yuki, go to the mountains and recruit the griffins to our cause, those things come from the sky, I want air support. Be back in no more than eight hours."
"Kay!" Yuki followed Setsuna's instructions and flew off to the mountains.
"And us?" Ake asked as he looked at Setsuna concerned, even with the Genmu Blood Axe at his side.
"Getting support means that we're going to have to find the people in charge around here." One of the Genmu's grandsons, Raphael if she wasn't mistaken, led the pair in front of the temple and announced that the Spear Hero was looking for offerings of blood and hair for the legendary weapon.
"This feels like cheating." Ake stated as people lined up in mass for the purpose of giving a piece of themselves to the legendary spear, and one of their own who wielded it.
"Suck it up." It wasn't just weapons Setsuna was after either, further experiments with her own blood revealed that she could reinforce her growth bonus weapons with her own blood to enhance the growth effect all the way to 10%, 15% when she combined that with the ingots, the downside was that it required a more monstrous amount of blood then the mere unlocking of the weapon had before, it cost Setsuna an entire pint worth of blood and it would be a month before she could do so again with another weapon. These people though were different, quantity carries a quality all it's own, a bit of blood and hair from a hundred followers and not only did Setsuna have the weapons but she had many of them fully reinforced. Though Leonardo and his brothers had to be on standby to make sure they didn't give too much more then what they should've.
"So then, you'll only let me reinforce weapons a certain amount each day." Setsuna noted bitterly.
"Well I got all of the weapon materials that I came here for." Ake stated as he got up, his reinforcement method required no extra materials, only the lives of monsters. "I'm off to train then."
And so Ake went off to perform the kind of training that would make normal men spit up blood as the messenger the turtle had sent for Setsuna came looking for her.
"The council will see you now Miss Setsuna." And so the demon dog left for the Siltvelt royal palace. The council had some familiar faces: The lion man, the old turtle, the red bird man, a goat man, and others whose exact species couldn't be identified on the spot.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have come here before you today with a offer, and a request. For the first of the two: I have a opportunity to make the people of your nation one of the strongest in the world, a chance has appeared to harvest a vast amount of XP, together with the weapons I will unlock over the course of the next few days and the stats of your people will sky rocket." This seemed like a excellent offer, the promise of raw power to crush the skulls of their enemies like tension balls. It was one that Jaralis was quick to seize upon.
"And we shall use the power that you grant us to crush your enemies in all of the heathen countries!" The Lion man Jaralis stated clenching his fist hard enough to draw blood.
"What!? No the-"
"Come!" The Lion man stated to the crowd of diplomats and other unsavory politicians. "We must prepare the armies to leave at once!"
"I said-!" The vast majority of the men inside of the conference room filed out and into the hallway, with exception of the old man and Werner the bird man who he had pinned in his seat by the turtle's hand.
"Easy there Werner. We're about to see something good." The old turtle stated watching Setsuna's eye twitch in response to the blatant rudeness that she was treated with, like the spring on a bear trap that had been too tightly wound.
It was good that something had finally come out as a result of this summoning fiasco. One country summoning all Legendary Weapons at the same time, including their Shield Hero? Madness, but madness that would have it's use. He supposed they'd have to alter their scriptures now, work to identify which among the summoned had been closest to them for now on but at least-
"Why is the palace shaking?" The corner of the hallway shattered as the massive white jaws of a wolf tore through and snapped down on those who had left the meeting.
Ten minutes of terrified shrieking later and the people who had left the meeting were back inside, Setsuna was using the goat man's horns, still attached to his very much living and thoroughly terrified body, and was using them as a whet stone for her spear.
"What is-"
"Brionac." The mass of holy power that shot out of Setsuna's spear blew past Jaralis's head, clipped his ear, and blew a hole in the wall behind him. Setsuna continued to sharpen who spear on the goat man before she was satisfied. It was impossible to sharpen a legendary weapon, but the exercise had calmed her down. Finished with her whet stone Setsuna slammed him down pointy end first into the table putting the man in question into a rather awkward situation as he attempted to pull himself back out of the table. "I don't know how this works around here but allow me to explain about what it's like where I come from. When someone comes to make a offer you shut the hell up and you listen to them!" Setsuna spotted the glare of the lion man again who was about to spit out a remark before Setsuna silence him with a glare and a point of her spear. "If there is some point that you wish to discuss, some goal that you do not share with them then you negotiate with them. Not shove words into their mouth and spout them like gospel to the masses." The fury was bubbling up inside of Jaralis as his clenched fists drew blood. "And if, and I do mean if, your views on the matter cannot be reconciled, the person with the offer retracts it and goes somewhere else, then the people that you are responsible for asks what happened to said offer, then the person who is about to slam the door behind them points at you, and they know where to file their complaints. Now what's it going to be you stupid zoo people?"
There was rage there, in both sets of eyes. In one corner, someone who has only the one enemy, and those that seek to help either side. To her allies she would do a bare minimal to aide them, so long as they held up their end of the bargain they struck. To her enemies and those who would aide them, may the gods have mercy on their souls, because she won't. In another a man who allows ambition and delusions of grandeur to rule him, who looks the world breaking down around him and sees only the chance to rebuild it in his image.
"You miserable false-" A thwack from Setsuna's spear put the man, shoulder cracked, back into his chair.
"One last thing: people also try their best to be polite in these meetings, when they start doing things like ignoring people, speaking over them and leaving before the meeting is done then it gives the opposite party the right to treat them with the same blatant disrespect." Setsuna stated bluntly as she observed the gleam of her spear.
"I suppose that would be our cue." The Genmu stated as he brushed off his suit. "I believe that there was mention of a request for us before this all started."
"Right you are." Setsuna stated about time too, her spear notified her that the Genmu blood spear just finished unlocking so she switched over to genmu hair shield. These two seemed to be the only ones she'd be taking seriously for the rest of the night, a right they earned by not cutting her off before she said her piece. "I was going to say that in less than four days the waves will hit Cal Mira in the middle of it's activation event, for the sake of avoiding mass casualties the presence of a large fighting force will be needed to fend them off. We've already sent a request to Melromarc for aide, now we're sending you one as well." Setsuna stated although Jaralis seemed to interpret the fact that Setsuna stopped talking as having permission to speak again.
"You dare give Melromarc more-"
"Jaralis stopped talking, your actions have nearly ruined this meeting once already." The Genmu it seems had just as much run out of patience with the idiot as Setsuna had.
"This creature means to empower our enemies to smite us! Drag us half way around the world for the sake leaving our country wide open for invasion!" Jaralis spat glaring angrily at the turtle.
"Finally you arrive at something resembling a Point." Of course he would have to make a few adjustments to this statement before he relayed it's contents to Setsuna. "We cannot deploy the full force of our army, one third at most. We also cannot deploy such a large amount of our numbers over such a large distance and expect to receive nothing in return."
"Levels in the seventies and stats in the hundreds are nothing?" Setsuna questioned brow cocked suspiciously.
"They are a by product of the favour we would be expected to do for you. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice by product, but still one all the same. It is not a big thing that we ask for though, the end result would be quite similar to one of the things my loud mouthed associate here would be asking for though." The Genmu stated leaving Setsuna to look suspiciously at Jaralis.
"And what would this favour be exactly?" Setsuna asked levelling a glare at the lion man.
"A pint of your blood, or a length of your hair I'm not too picky. It's for the class up ceremony you must understand. ShieldFreeden has been bragging threateningly about how having a tribe with your 'divine blood' in your veins is giving them the right to do whatever they please." The Turtle stated aware of the fact that mentioning Jaralis again had worsened Setsuna's mood.
"Hmm. My hair, I already bled once today." Setsuna stated as she prepared to lop off her pony tail.
"Then shall we break for the evening? Give time for tempers to cool and other house hold amenities to be tended to such as food, bathing and sleep." The Genmu stated as he saw something click inside of Setsuna's head.
"Bath and sleep eh? Tell me: if I were to visit your baths would I find them occupied already by a dozen or so dog men waiting to collect my 'divine favour?' Or will it be when I go to bed that the gang rape will proceed? Do I have to go back to Cal Mira and collect my three headed mutts to put any such attempts in their place?" For all of his politeness and courtesy Setsuna still remembered the bundle of paper that the old man dropped in front of her in a thinly veiled attempt to pimp her out for political favours and military assets.
"Do not worry young Setsuna, I will ensure that you are alone for when you are meant to be in private, or failing that I will see to it personally that your person is guarded from attempts to take that away from you." The Genmu stated, sending Werner off with instructions as he did so.
The feast that had been prepared at the royal palace looked like it had been meant for several people, various roasted birds stuck inside of one another, large bowls of fruits and salads, the legs of some large cow like creature, pitchers of fruit juices, wine, milk and some kind of fizzy drink, treys of cookies, cake and ice cream. Setsuna cleared the food containers closest to her first, discarded the empty food containers onto the nearest empty chair, used the table cloth to pull more towards her, spammed healing magic to convert the raw organic material in her stomach into blood to fill in what was missing only to extract it again and give it to the attendants and then repeated that cycle until over dozen empty bowls, plates, platters and pitchers had been messily stacked next to Setsuna and she had let out a loud satisfied burp.
"Thanks for the meal, I'm off for the bath then." Setsuna patted the turtle man whose food she had stolen on his shoulder on her way out, his brain still not quite processing what had just happened to his meal.
The old man had been true to his word, aside from some female bathing attendants she had chased away no one was waiting for her in the changing area, bath on the other hand was a different story but not a unpleasant one.
"Hi master! The turtle man said you'd be in here!" Yuki shouted happily enjoying the warm water of the bath.
"Are the griffins going to be participating in the wave?" Setsuna asked as she started scrubbing the islands, the ocean and gods know what else off of her.
"Aha. Some of them are going to stay behind though to defend the mountain." Yuki had switched to griffin form and was using the water to wash her feathers and fur.
"Well that's one off of the list, here's hoping the others are doing good because I got a bad feeling this situation might need unfucking at this rate." Setsuna stated, mentally acknowledging the fact that she was the one who had made the situation the way that it was, but she had no time to be given the runaround, no patience to suffer through the lion's blatant insults, and no luxury of time to waste here. Asking them to drag off half of their army out to Cal Mira to fend off the wave there was slightly unreasonable yes, so she had made some compromises. Taking the powered up army and using it to crush her 'enemies' was not a concession that she had been willing to make. "I swear, if I have to put up with that loud mouth lion one more time..."
"I challenge the Demon of the Spear to a duel!" Jaralis shouted, loudly, the next day while Setsuna was talking about logistics with the more reasonable members of the council.
"...Hybrids of the ten you proposed will get more growth bonuses than the pure blooded." Setsuna seemed to ponder the request for a few moments before she went back to explaining how growth bonuses work.
"Are you even listening to me!?" Jaralis asked clearly not use to people ignoring him.
"In addition to that I've already unlocked growth bonuses for dog type Therianthropes, Weasel Demi-humans, humans and slaves prior to coming here." Setsuna stated, for even responding to Jaralis to tell him to shut up required paying more attention to him than he was worth.
"Hmm. Not a lot of hybrids in this nation I'm afraid, it is taboo you understand." The Genmu used his fat fingers to scratch at his chin, taking Setsuna's cue.
"I said FIGHT ME!" Setsuna's arm swung through the air leaving a trail of Ki as it went and slashed through Jaralis's chest leaving five bloodied gouges in it's wake and throwing him into the hallway.
"What happened to just ignoring him?" The old turtle stated looking at Setsuna suspiciously.
"That statement was as good as a kick me sign." Setsuna stated as she used her spear to clean the blood off of her, because why waste perfectly good blood for reinforcing her weapon. "Now I can see the dog tribe getting on our side, but what about the others? I can't imagine a lock of my hair would do them any good."
"That can be problematic. I've heard of a rumour swishing around that one of your fellow heroes have managed to take in a pair of Hakuto siblings yes?" The Genmu had already dismissed the seething lion man from the situation.
He really shouldn't have. The lion man took out a needle from his pocket and shoved the syringe into his leg, screams of pain echoed out while the lions Flesh started to ripple.
"I need to go deal with that. Don't I?" Setsuna asked feeling the down right Demonic Ki that had appeared behind her.
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble." The old Turtle replied his tone of voice one of someone who was slightly scared and now slowly backing away with good reason.
"Zweite Decay." Setsuna cast the anti-healing magic on her spear while the lion man transformed into a form that was less man and more giant lion and got to his feet. "Air Strike Javelin, Chaos Thrust, Brionac!" The trio of skills mixed with the magic Setsuna cast earlier and slammed into Jaralis throwing him into the courtyard. "You were saying?"
"I believe I can convince my tribe, if what I think about the shield's companions are true then we should have the Hakuto on board as well, Werner's a pushover so that leaves the Shukaku, I will have more proposals ready by the time you have disposed of that." The Genmu stated indicating the hole Setsuna made with Jaralis's face. "Then I better get to it." Setsuna ran out through the hole and jumped down into the courtyard, where the creature formerly known as Jaralis was... it was actually hard to describe what this was supposed to be.
"Help me! HELP ME!" Setsuna used her claws to sever the mass of flesh that had burrowed into the body of what she assumed was a gardener and which was now dragging him towards a mass of flesh that Setsuna assumed was Jaralis: among other individuals based on the mass of limbs that she could see.
"This is just sick and wrong." The tentacle that Setsuna had cut was still moving, this time she cut off the man's leg to keep it from spreading and sealed the wound with healing magic. "Here's a rake." Setsuna stated handing the man one of his gardening implements. "I would recommend that you use it." And so the gardener hobbled away while Setsuna turned her attention to the thing formerly known as Jaralis.
"YoU tHiNk YoU aRe A gOd Do YoU!?" The thing formerly known as Jaralis poked his head out from the mass of flesh that he had been hiding in. "WeLl 'GoD' gAzE uPoN mY mAgNiFiCiEnT fOrM!"
"This walking tumour seems to be the form of disease of some kind, wasn't there a spell for that?" Setsuna picked literally the the worst time to pull out her book for an refresher course.
"DO NOT IGNORE ME DEMON!" Several mouths started chanting different kinds of magic as a Hymn of the Elements were subsequently unleashed in Setsuna's direction.
"Backlash wave!" Setsuna struck a home run as she used her spear to swat away the torrent of rainbow coloured energy and dump it down on the head of Jaralis.
"RRRAAAGGGHHH!" Jaralis's scream of pain was making it inconvenient for Setsuna to concentrate, on a side note she realised that her spear had finished unlocking the first Hakuto Growth bonus and so switch it over to the second. This thing wasn't worth interrupting her unlocking of weapons to use one of her combat oriented ones on.
"Found it. Alright then." Thus Setsuna read through the spell she had been looking for before carelessly tossing away the book in question. "Zweite Phoenix Sear!" The jut of flame from Setsuna's spear blasted Jaralis making him scream in pain some more as Setsuna attempted to burn whatever he had injected himself with out of his and his victim's system, it wasn't known to her if she was successful, for there were no visible changes in his form beyond being a burning mass of flesh. "We I suppose that would end up being the case now wouldn't it." Deciding there was nothing else she could do here, Setsuna continuously fired off skills into the mass of flesh until she got the XP notification, then she stuffed it's corpse into her spear so that Tatsuya can use regrowth on the thing, turn it back into a form they can talk to, and figure out who the hell gave him that crap in the first place.
Author's Note:
RonaldM40196867: Glad you like it. Why can't legends be born or made?
Kisame Hoshigaki: Considering what's in those overgrown test tubes: yes you should be worried.
drmcgraw186: I'm going with 'Battle of the Five Armies' as a working title for the chapter, that or 'Battle of Four and One Armies.'
superpierce: Sorry to disappoint, only one fight and not against the wave.
Anon: Done.