"And then, hahaha, and then Y'shtola was all, try again when your older little man" Barabtos finished, the gathering patrons of the tavern exploding with laughter at his story, smiles and drink shared by all as the whole pub was abuzz with activity.
Barbatos and Lyra had been at the tavern for a few hours now, meeting with the head chief Mia as she gave them a full meal on the house just like Popi had said. What had started out as a slow day for the tavern orcs soon turned into a full on rush of customers as the Gunbreaker started telling stories of his exploits.
Lyra was snuggled up to his side, a heavy blush on her cheek as four tankards of ale were empty in front of her, the white haired man himself having finished four of them as the other bar goers had introduced themselves to the newcomer.
The man was happy to speak with them all, answering as many questions as he could without giving away too much information on how he ended up here. Even drunk as he was he had to be careful with what he said around these monster girls.
As the day drew on and the sun began to set, Barbatos had found himself exiting the tavern on his own, leaving Lyra in a room he had requested as she passed out from the amount of ale she had. For a strong girl like her she didn't seem to have a tolerance for drink thats for sure.
Breathing in the evening air, Barabtos looked up as the dim night light were coming to life as the succubi and other airborne monsters made some last minute patrols begin landing and going about their business. some of them eyeing him up as they walked past him and into the bar for a drink after a long day.
Others openingly inviting him back into the tavern and that one girl trying to get him to go down a dark alleyway with her for some fun.
Well he wasn't in the mood for that so he declined politely, keeping himself out of her range as he walked off down the street, enjoying the peaceful air around him.
While he didnt like the idea of this world, it was peaceful. And even with his broken connection to the weather, he could feel the honest to primal love and just pure care that flowed through the night air.
It was just amazing to feel and Barabtos wanted to enjoy it for a while...before he got himself caught up in some crazy adventure and started fighting for his life again. And probably breaking a lot of property while he was at it.
A sharp bang of someone slamming a door caught his attention, glancing to his side as he noticed a tall blonde woman angrily exiting an inn with an angry scowl on her lips. Her attire was more of a ranger or archer which made her stand out a bit more compared to everyone else in the town.
So this must have been one of the Elves that Mileena was talking about earlier.
Well might as well say hello.
"So...did the door piss you off or was it innocent of any crime?" Barbatos joked walking up to the girl as she spun on him, a dagger being unsheathed as it almost caught his throat. Only to be stopped by the iron for guards the gunbreaker wore. "Well...that's not very nice" he added as the Elf blinked in awe at his speed.
"What ...oh I'm sorry I just...argh" the woman mumbled her shoulder slumping in defeat as she seemed to realise what she had done.
"Sno harm done, so why not tell me what's got you all worked up, miss…" Barabtos promoted, leaning against the inn wall as the elf looked up at him in surprise.
"What, no, why would I tell you, you're a stranger?" she asked, looking at him with suspicion as the gunbreaker smirked at her.
"Well, I'm barbatos and currently i've got an ear open to hear about your troubles ma'am" the gunbreaker spoke, giving the young women some respect as she looked like she wasn't having the best of days.
"I...well why not like this day can get any worse" she replied...foreshadowing! "I'm Syr Lions vice captain of the guard" the women introduced, giving the gunbreaker a small bow. Barabtos smiled at her, pushing himself off the wall as he turned towards the exit of the alleyway.
"Lets go to the courtyard, the air is a bit more peaceful then a stuffy alleyway" he said, waving a hand towards the fountain at the centre of the courtyard. Syr smiled in return, following the man as she noticed the white coat he was wearing, sporting a leather and armoured harness that held a beautiful yet strange sword.
Why would a man need something like that?
Sitting down the duo looked up towards the clear night sky. Barabtos was enjoying the new stars that he could see, wondering if this world had their own set of constellations to learn about. He knows that some of his friends would absolutely love to learn about the night skies here.
Turning his attention to the elf, Barabtos smiled as he noticed the slightly awkward expression on her face. "So...what troubles you milady?" he asked, waiting for her to gather her thoughts.
The young woman breathed out a small sigh as she turned her eyes towards the stars. "Just had a very frustrating day really, once we got here that succubus and my captain went straight to insults and just, not the best environment for discussing trade agreements" Syr explained as Barabtos nodded his head in understanding.
He was kinda surprised that Mileeena had started arguing as well but he didn't really know the women that well so...maybe she did have a temper to her.
Oh well.
"So if they were arguing, what made you storm out?" he asked, watching as Syr blushed in embarrassment.
"I ugh….I told them to calm down because we just wanted to sort out the trade agreements and be on our way, only for the mayor to….shush me because a woman without a husband shouldnt have any saw in the matters between leaders" Syr explained looking away from the man as Barbatos raised at eyebrow at her words.
What a weird thing to say.
"That...honestly makes no sense...like at all" he replied, surprising the young woman as she turned to look back at him. "I mean from what i've seen being married doesn't really change anything, you could still be horrible at a job and having something like that raise your importance just seems silly to me" he continued as Syr found herself smiling at him in return.
"I'm actually surprised to hear that from a human of all things, I thought you would have had your mind wrapped around the pleasures of sex with your wife" Syr said as Barabatos chuckled at her words.
"Wife? Oh I'm not married, I'm actually just passing through here, got lost in the woods and had some help getting to this village" he explained, surprising the young elf further.
"Now that I can't believe, a single man in a demon realm, you must have some luck Barbatos" she said, smiling at the man with a light blush across her cheeks. Barbatos chuckled in response, looking away and scratching the back of his head to avoid looking at the cute elf girl he was talking to.
This world had far too many attractive women to be good for his health.
"So where will you be heading then?" Syr voice brought the gunbreaker out of his musing, turning to look at her as she faced him with interest.
"I think i'll be heading to the adventurers college in Visorhold, the guild card i own doesn't work in this country so in order to make some coin ill need to get a new one" Barabtos replied as the women raised an eyebrow at him.
"You don't look like a healer to me?" she said as the man paused at her words prompting her to continue. "Don't take it the wrong way but the only male adventures around are used as healers and pack mules for the monster girls they follow into dungeons and on other quests, not the nicests of jobs from what i've heard" she finished as Barabatos frowned in thought.
"Well id be useless has a healer honestly, my connection to the weather has been broken for a long time now" he said softly as Syr looked at him in shock.
"Aether, you mean your spirit energy?" she asked as the mana nodded slowly. "That's...how are you even alive?" she whispered as Barbatos shrugged softly. Honestly the explanation that Y'shtola gave to him had completely gone over his head.
Well his connection was broken but, you can't really explain that you had to lock your aether away because of the dark entity that had almost taken over your soul and raised a city to the ground in a fit of rage.
Yeah that was not a fun time in his life that's for sure.
"Not to worry, I have a mage friend of mine give me a clean bid of health before I took up this blade" he replied, gesturing to the gunblade on his back.
"I was going to ask about that, I've never seen such a sword before" Syr said looking at the sword with interest as Barabtos took it from his back, placing it across his lap as the elf was able to see all of the different components and details that made up the blade.
And allowing her keen eyes to pick up the faint scratches and nicks of the well used blade, showing a bit of history in how much Barabtos had used the sword since he had got it.
"Yep, this old sword was gift from my mentor, the old lion heart handed it to me after I finished my training under him, told me to keep the edge sharp and to bring him back as many stories as possible before he retired to Gardenia with his wife" Barabatos said, remembering the old lion mans words fondly as he thought about the kinds of adventures he and this sword had been on since.
Good times.
Well not a good time but...they were kinda fun when he wasnt fighting for his life...which now that he thinks about it was almost all of the time.
Oh well it all worked out in the end.
Before the two could continue their conversation, the sound of panic and shouting reached their ears. A second later the inn across the courtyard exploded with a raging fire, sending the once peaceful night into a blind panic.
Monster girls and their husbands running in terror as a raging fire swept through the town, torching buildings and injuring more of the fleeing townsfolk.
A hulking mass of muscle and molten scale lumbling just beyond the red hot fires. A pair of burning ember eyes narrowed as they caught sight of the white haired man sitting at the fountain.
A second later a scream of fire exploded towards the duo. Barabatos tackled Syr out of the way as they narrowly escaped being burnt alive.
Looking up Syr saw the devastation the fire had caused, the once beautiful fountain was reduced to molten slag and ash.
"Get out of here!" Barabtos yelled, stepping in front of the downed elf sweeping his gunblade through the air as he locked his blue eyes with a familiar set of embers.
"What, but…" before she could continue, the gunbreaker took off in a dead sprint towards the flames, surprising the elf at his speed as the tiles of the courtyard cracked where he once stood.
Disappearing beyond the wall of flames, Barabatos collided with the unknown mass of rage and fire, sending them both further away from the burning buildings and out into one of the more open fields around the town.
Before she could get her senses about her, Syr found herself being hauled to her feet by the Mileena and her captain, the mayor looking at the destruction around them in shock.
"Guards! Get these fires under control, Elf, can you and yours round up my people and get them to the taverns, they are builts to take more punishment that the average inns" she ordered as the older elf captain nodded, sending her troops off to do their jobs as she kept a good grip on Syr.
"Syr, what happened here?" she demanded, looking towards her fellow elf as the younger elf shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"There's no time! Barbatos just disappeared and took that monster with him! He's beyond the flames that way" she yelled, surprising the two leaders as they turned towards the flames that blocked their view.
Mileena narrowed her eyes, unfolding her wings as she caught sight of something huge swinging its claws around one of fields outside of the town, as a smaller figure diving out of the way to avoiding being sliced in two by the monster.
"This is just getting better and better, Popi come with me! You two round up some fighters!" MIleena ordered taking to the skies as Popi joined her, the two flying out towards the fight beyond the town.
"Never thought i'd be taking orders from a succubus" the older elf commented, turning towards Syr to issue her next orders. Only to pause as someone else spoke first.
"You! Where is my husband, his scent is strongest around you!" Lyra growled, marching up to the two elves. Syr turned to the grey furred werewolf, wondering what she was going on about.
Barbatos said he wasn't married.
"Now is not the time monster, get back to the tavern I'm sure you man is cowering in there" the elf captain replied sternly as Lyra never took her eyes off of Syr.
"Where is my Barabtos!" she demanded as Syr stared at her in surprise.
"What? Oh never mind, come on!" Syr said, grabbing the girl's paw and taking off towards the fires ahead of them. "That man threw himself at the monster, let's go!" she added, making her captain stare at her in surprise as she watched the two younger girls sprint through the fires towards the fight.
Shaking her head, the elf took off after the two, wondering what else was going to happen today.
Outside the village, Barabatos rolled to the right of a flame claw attack, the searing hot flames exploded outwards and washing over his white coat as he shielded his eyes from the intense heat.
"That was dirty!" he yelled, leaping forward and striking upwards with his gunblade, the razor sharp edge of the blade scratching at the monster side before he rolled. Skidding to a stop across the now flaming field. His armoured boots dug into the ground as he and the flaming demon turned to each other.
Ifrit huffed in annoyance at the man's words, narrowing its flaming eyes in irritation as bouts of flames escaped through its jagged and serrated teeth. Creeping onto all fours, the flame incarnate prowled in a slow circle, the gunbreaker matching his pace as the two circled each other like sharks ready to strike at any moment.
"So how did you get here, there's no one here that worships you Ifrit" Barabatos spoke, resting his blade on his shoulders as his free hand retrieved a new set of glowing cartridges from his back pouch.
"You've felt the weather yourself mortal, this world is not restrained by us primals there isn't a need for us to have it channeled by your slaves" the fire primal spoke its fanged snarl curling into a cruel grin as Barabtos narrowed his eyes at its words.
"Yeah I felt the world flow too, but you don't have an anchor here, so how did you do it" Barabtos replied, aiming his blade forward as he came to a stop, dragging the sword back slowly as Ifrit followed his actions in turn.
"You won't live long enough to find out" Ifrit snarled, drawing its claw back as its jagged flaming pike formed in its grip, narrowing its eyes on the white haired man as the two paused, staring at each other.
Just outside of their fight, Mileena and Popi had landed on one of the burnt roof tops, staring in shock and fear at the hulking mass of molten skin. The beastly looking demon hunches over on its hind legs, a pair of red hot horns sprouting from its demonic face. Its long powerful arms ending in red hot claws and effortlessly craved burning grooves into the soil under it.
This thing was the stuff of nightmares to any of the monster girls.
Below them Lyra, Syr and the elf captain stopped to stare at the unknown monster as well, Lyra's eyes finding Barabtos standing off against the beast with a faint glow in his blue eyes.
Why….why was her husband fighting this thing!
Before she could move forward to help Syr had grabbed her shoulder making the werewolf snarl at her.
"Let go of me I have to..." before she could finish a resounding crack exploded throughout the field.
Barbatos shot off towards Ifrit, his blade swinging upwards as the demonic fire demon met him halfway, its pike slamming down on the gunbreaker as their weapons clashed harshly against each other.
Fire exploded around the two, almost knocking the watchers off their feet as the two fought for dominance.
This...was only the start of this titanic fight.
And they were about to bear witness to what a true gunbreaker could do.