Their week long journey was on its last leg, Tarlson lay merely hours ahead of them and the Summoner felt close enough to touch.
Every step of the way had come with some irritation or another and all of them seemed to center around the Captain. Whether that was fighting with Kyoka or fighting with Denki or trying to scare Mina into actually fearing him again or making snippy comments to Shoto to get a rise out of him. He didn't fight with Nana, though. If anything, she was the only person he would seem to listen to. She had unknowingly become the mediatrix of their group, impartially settling every argument whether Katsuki was involved or not. And without realizing it they had all come to accept her as the final word in every conflict.
At the same time they had all eased into each other's presence on the arduous road, in the struggles of weariness, of finding shelter at night, of obtaining horses, and keeping themselves unnoticed and out of trouble. Everyone had to do their part in it and, though Katsuki would have hated to admit it, the elves were the most useful addition in keeping safe and alive on the road. Their knowledge and connections were invaluable at every turn, gaining more practical experience over their sixty some-odd years on earth than their young faces and youthful attitudes would indicate. But they still found ways to make Shoto uncomfortable daily in their obliviousness. They were very forward people and the young mage was used to restraint of which none of his companions were near his level. It was something he was having to get used to.
The hardest part of the journey, though, had not been the fighting or the practical struggles, but the nightly training. Exhausted as they already were, each night Shoto left with Nana out of the sight of the others and practiced.
To even say that he would agree to learn Blood Magic was enough to turn his stomach, but the active action of it sent him mentally reeling every night. Of course it hurt to cut his own skin, to bleed and even worse to think that the magic he was engaging in was the magic of the Fallen. But the surge of power that came with activating the magic, especially with the emboldened strength of mage blood, was nearly euphoric. He felt so in control and with it came precise clarity that washed away distraction.
Nana didn't make many comments, but he felt the tentativeness of how she watched the magic ignite in his hands. She held no hesitation in teaching him any and all spells she knew in regards to the magic type; Blood Magic could enhance most normal spells, but there were specific spells that were unique to its power, like the tendrils Nana had created that had obliterated the Shrike at the fronts. But the barrier spell she had used was an advanced version of a simple shielding spell, which rarely took much magic to hold, but an incredible focus to maintain. The addition of Blood Magic morphing and adapting the spell had allowed her to form a line that could not be crossed and that would feed on the blood magic she'd given it for a long time to come; to her best guess, one month, because of how little active magic the regular spell required.
He learned these and many things like it and each spell came more easily than the last, frighteningly easily. Blood Magic was truly formidable, practically bypassing the limitations of normal magic, and he had only created very small versions of the things that Nana taught him. This might have been the first time he actually engaged in the practices of restraint his teachers had tried to instill in him for so many years, his fear of what out of control Blood Magic could cause grounding him like little else had.
On the sixth night Shoto's confidence wavered. He had engaged the same sort of magic he had used when he had meant to fight Katsuki and he crushed the two nearest trees in the burst he created, but immediately after he felt pain shoot in pulses through his fingers, biting the very tendons.
With a cry he hit his knees and held his hands in front of his face. He gagged, throwing wide, stricken eyes up to Nana who stood calmly above him.
Blackness darkened the tips of his fingers and crept steadily along them to leak into his hands, like a living stain. The digits curled in a deep pain and the scents and sounds of the ether broke against his senses like they were all around him. It was like he had dipped his hands into the most venomous part of the ether itself.
"What-?" Shoto choked, unable to finish his question as the pain continued to overtake him.
"Give it a moment, it'll dull," Nana's voice was soft, but serious. It lacked the cheerful tone she most often presented and held that depth that came when she spoke of drastic things. "This is the long term effects of Blood Magic and the magic of the Fallen. Nature can only be distorted for so long before it bites back, before it breaks your personal barrier to the ether."
Shoto groaned, confused as he focused on breathing through the sharp, stabbing feeling almost touching his arms. It took another good, agonizing minute, but finally it dulled like Nana said it would.
The black started to recede, drawing out of his skin like ink, washing away until not a sign remained.
"What… What do you mean… What was that? Does that happen every time you use Blood Magic?"
"Not every time," Nana shook her head, "But prolonged use can invite physical corruptions as well as mental corruptions. You've been actively using blood magic every night for nearly a week, something was bound to reach back sooner than later."
"Why didn't you warn me of this?" Shoto snapped. It seemed a rather important thing to have just glossed over or forgotten.
"Honestly, I believed they taught you more of the consequences to Blood Magic in the Magesteriums," Nana crouched in front of him, "But more than that, I feared you'd be too scared to continue training if you had any idea of how painful it is for the ether to reach back. The first time is always the worst."
"What sort of corruption is this? And why does it just go away...I don't understand any of this."
Shoto's mind was back to reeling, which was frustrating since he'd finally grown accustomed to dragging a knife through his skin and was beginning to stop berating himself every time he used the tantalizing power. And now this created a thousand new questions and apprehensions. What was this going to do to him physically? What were the long term effects? Was there even a sliver left of him even now that would be salvageable by the Synod when this was through?
"The more power drawn from blood and the more time engaging in it, the harsher the corruption," Nana tried to explain, "You can usually spot a true Blood Mage by the black markings across his skin. The stain of the ether's poison, of corruption. Years of use can even begin to break down the body. The pain is usually temporary and if given time without the use of Blood Magic the blackness goes away. But most can't give it up for that long. You will rarely see an old Blood Mage."
"Then...it really is an evil horrible magic."
"Very few forms of magic are, it's the use that makes it evil or good," Nana took his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Blood Magic is more dangerous, but if used correctly it doesn't bear inherent evil. Consequences yes, evil no. You see no blackness on me, because I use Blood Magic only when I have had to. It's not a magic to make everyday life easier or make any random spell more powerful, it's to be used with care. I didn't want to just tell you that, I wanted you to experience it."
"Why?" Shoto pulled away from her, not exactly mistrusting, but more perturbed, annoyed that she had chosen to be cryptic.
"For the same reason you are using the Stone and not me," Nana pulled a tight smile, "Because you are unreasonably powerful with the right magic type and if you don't have the right temperance with this magic I fear for the world itself to face you. And I've never known a lesson to stick like one that comes with the sting of pain."
Shoto grabbed his staff off of the ground and dug his heels in. "I'm not, though. My masters complained that I didn't have the proper control, but they never said anything about my magic being stronger."
"I've thought about that and the things you've told me," Nana tapped her lip, looking him up and down closely. Something made him feel exposed under her perceptive blue eyes, "It could be a couple things. It could be that the masters feared your power and kept your focus on temperance and control to dissuade you from developing the core power behind your spells. In that case you've simply held back from getting in touch with your true level of power and so it seemed that you weren't any more powerful than the other students. Or…"
Nana drew her gaze to the bright glow of the moon, letting her hand dance over the ground, tiny green glyphs on her fingertips. On the ground around her feet, stems extended up towards her and purple blossoms formed at their ends. Just to watch the almost mindless, beautiful magic from her instantly eased a part of Shoto's heart. The part of him that held fears and apprehensions towards her. It all dissipated so quickly when he was reminded of her roots, of her first magic, the cultivation of nature to its purest form. It reminded him that she was not actually a Blood Mage, but a Nature Mage who was willing to touch damnable magic for the sake of the world she loved and the loved ones she had lost.
He waited on the continuation of her thought with deep anticipation, wondering truly why she thought him so powerful and so different than others.
"Perhaps you have a more natural affinity to a certain type of magic," Nana said, "I've seen it before for elemental magics, but never for something like this. I think you have a stronger sense of the ether than a normal mage. I've never heard of someone reacting to a Honing Stone like you did. It would explain why Blood Magic comes so easily to you too. Again, I've never seen someone use Blood Magic by accident. You used it in reaction, like an experienced Blood Mage, like someone who was familiar with it."
He wanted to argue that none of it could be true, but when it came to Blood Magic he truly had no choice but to defer to her judgment. The Magesteriums had taught so little after all. They simply spoke of the dangers of encountering a Blood Mage and warned of the damnation that came from its use, perhaps in fear that even the slightest knowledge of its use might tempt a young mage to try it. Nana knew more than he did on this matter and he had to trust her knowledge.
"What does a stronger connection the ether have to do with Blood Magic coming more easily if it doesn't make other magic come as easily," Shoto asked, watching daffodils sprout slowly around his own feet.
"Everything, actually. Were you ever told about how a Summoner becomes such a thing?"
Shoto's head tilted and mouth pursed, but he said nothing, which was answer enough for Nana.
"Didn't think so; damn Synod. Blood Magic is thought to open the gate to that magic, because it allows the ether's corruption in. In the case of this Summoning I believe we're dealing with a Necromancer rather than a Blood Mage, but it does the same thing at an even faster rate."
"Because of the armies of dead?" Shoto hummed to himself.
"Precisely, but the fact remains either way that the magics of The Fallen, when untempered, can lead to the corruption that creates Summonings," Nana nodded, "Fallen Mages have been known to speak of hearing the ether, of feeling it on their skin while they walk our mortal world and feeling the closer pull of it the more Fallen magic they use."
"You have yet to make Blood Magic seem like a good idea, Nana," Shoto flexed his hands in front of his face.
"These are the extreme cases," Nana finally took her gaze back from the moon, "The people that welcome the corruption, that keep going when nature has given them every sign that they should turn back. We are not like that and any good intentioned mage wouldn't be. You remember that Mina mentioned that her people perform Blood Magic? Moondancers are a rather uncivilized species of elf in a lot of senses, but they are very liberated in their use of magic. There has never been a Summoning begun by a Moondance elf and yet they outlaw no form of magic. But what they do is respect it. Because when nature bit back they took it as a sane person should and stepped back. The only reason I didn't fear telling Denki that I was planning to use Blood Magic was because I saw Mina with him, he would have had to open his mind to many things if he was agreeing to be accompanied by her."
"So you're saying that we need to take example from the barbaric elves and play with any magic we please, and just hold off a couple days when nature punishes us for it?"
"Don't twist my words," Nana huffed amusement, "You're smart, don't act petty. Look, it doesn't really matter what you actually want to believe about the laws around magic. We've agreed on this and it's really the only important fact left. That we need Blood Magic to end this. The Demons won't be defeated otherwise. You've agreed to use your incredible affinity for it to stop this Summoning. All I am doing is warning of what could become of you if you don't treat the dangers it brings with respect and caution."
Shoto's head dropped a tiny bit, knowing that she'd been correct in saying that his words were purposefully made to make her statements sound worse than they were meant to be. He was a bit sheepish to be called out on it, but only let it show a moment.
He was still greatly unsettled by all this new knowledge and it definitely gave him a tense fear of ever engaging this dark magic again. That seemed to be what Nana wanted, though. To give him a practical fear. Perhaps she could see how alluring it was becoming, how alighted his attitude became when his eyes filled with the red of Blood Magic, how it left him shaking from the high of it afterwards.
Eventually Shoto agreed that they would continue their training, but only after some time to let his body and his magic realign with nature and draw back from the touch of the ether for a time. He was certainly conflicted, but she was right that this was simply something that had to be done. And no matter how many times she surprised him with something new she'd failed to mention before, his trust of her remained.
That in and of itself was such an anomaly. He'd never grown to trust someone so fast since he was a child and to see how that had become the case for every one of his companions, from the perpetually unhappy Captain to the self serving Bard was deeply significant. It made sense that the elf, that they had later discovered to be her nephew by marriage, would have that faith in her, but she had obtained the trust of the Moondance elf quickly too, despite her initial backhandedness in scolding Denki for even associating with her.
No matter how they looked at it, Nana was unique to them all and no matter how many times he got angry at her, his trust would take a bull oxe to move.
Their companions were peacefully asleep at their return. All except the Captain, who was onto his first fitful night in days. Shoto knew this because he was awake through most nights and heard the restlessness around him that the Captain caused and the stillness that had been so rare the last few evenings. They usually got stuck together if they had a room anywhere, so whether it was camp or inn, he couldn't escape the night terrors. The same went for Katsuki, though. When Shoto jolted awake at the iron cold of the Archdemon touching his subconscious, Katsuki was right there glaring at him as if he hadn't also been up with the haunting terror of what they had seen and the regret of what they had left behind. Neither said anything about it, just went back to bed and glared when the other woke him again.
This time though, someone else was awake to see it with him and Nana approached the Captain calmly. He was on his stomach, one arm under the bedroll that he'd placed his head on and the other over the back of his head. Katsuki was cold sweating and breathing fast.
Instead of just leaving him to work out his mental torments on his own, though, Nana dropped beside him on her knees as if this was as normal to her as it had become to Shoto. But then her hand glowed with silver light as her hand lowered ever so slowly to the back of his head. He didn't flinch or seem to notice when it contacted and after a solid moment his shaking stopped and he took a very long, very deep breath.
When asked what she'd done, she just said that she used a sleep spell that wouldn't allow dreams.
They didn't talk about it any further, but Shoto badly wanted to ask her to do that for himself as well, to let him sleep without dreams or restless thoughts, but Katsuki wouldn't have asked for it were he aware and Shoto was coming to understand that they had a similar level of pride and stubbornness. Neither liked to admit if there was a problem.
He could deal with this on his own like he had been doing. It was only a shame that he couldn't cast spells like that on himself.
The next morning saw excitement in the small camp. Shoto used the Stone again to ensure that they were still going to the correct place and he was given another series of distorted visions that were somehow both vague and clear to him at once. He felt the Stone's draw to the Summoner, to the breach, to its home. His magic marked the map with the directions his mind saw and it still told them Tarlson, deep inside, drawing to its center. The Summoner had not left in the week they had been journeying and it seemed their good luck was continuing.
With the Stone back in Nana's hands and away from where it could sicken Shoto's senses with how loud it was in every way, they packed up and mounted to finish the last leg of their journey. Katsuki seemed more rested than usual that morning and his bad attitude was less of an anger issue and more of an exuberance to find the Summoner and finish this mission. He was loud and brash and arrogant and it was oddly the most pleasant he'd been since Shoto had known him.
He didn't even bite off Kyoka's head for strumming on her lute, with both good and bad notes as she formulated a new melody while they rode. Eventually Denki and Mina convinced her to play a song that they all three knew and a strange elf lullaby accompanied them for longer than any song should have lasted.
It ended up being Nana begging them to stop, but it didn't seem to be from irritation. There was a distance in her eyes and she was subconsciously humming it not two minutes later. Shoto thought about what she'd told him of her life and he couldn't help wondering if it had perhaps been a song she had sung to her son as a baby, that maybe the song was simply painful to her and not just frustratingly long.
The hills and distant mountains told them that they had entered Tarlson's lands; as did the borderguard. Tarlson was a strong kingdom and its military was only outmatched by Dawnfell's and perhaps the King's personal guard. But the business of the Synod was considered holy work and when Shoto presented the falsified orders that they had created to the guards and his ring of proof they allowed his party to pass through unhindered.
It was still surprising and nerve wracking to have to stand as a Synod Master, as an authority. Especially while Nana, a truly experienced mage who physically looked the part much better than he did, was among them.
Tarlson was a prosperous land, the grass was green and the air fresh and each village they passed teamed with life. Farmlands abounded and all seemed well and untouched by the horrors of the Summoning. It was as though thousands of men weren't dead at the barrier between the kingdom and the malice of the Archdemon.
It was a strange relief, a pleasant respite that didn't feel quite real. But there were smiles around him and Kyoka's fingers strummed a happy tune as the road came by a village called Tipans. It seemed the same as any other until they got close enough to feel and hear the chaos. Animals breighed and people were shouting and scrambling. There didn't look to be anything causing it, no attacks or fighting, but the party directed themselves towards the chaos nonetheless.
"What's going on?" Katsuki demanded of the first villager to run by them, grabbed him by the shirt as he tried to get past the Captain's horse.
Terrified eyes looked them over and his gaze went to Shoto instead of the Captain.
"You're a Synod Master?" his voice sounded hopeful.
Shoto hesitated because that was not a normal question for him to answer yet. He nodded.
"Please you have to help us!" the man shouted to Shoto, "There are Demons in Landsleave! We have to evacuate our village before they reach us!"
"Demons?" Katuski hissed as every face filled with shock and fear, "But the barrier…"
"Doesn't matter if the Summoner is on this side of it," Nana shook her head like she was kicking herself for not considering it before, "Which way is Landsleave?"
The man jutted out a finger in the direction of the path they had already been towards the center of Tarlson. On the horizon a little plume of smoke rose and his heart dropped.
Shoto could instantly feel that tainting presence of the ether.
Katsuki released the man and kicked his horse to action, the Dawnfelden Captain leaping to his ingrained duty without a thought. Nana took enough time to tell the man to continue evacuating and to tell the same to warn any other village in their path, not stopping until they reached the border or a military camp. With those words shouted over the screaming, she spurred forward, following the Captain at a gallop. Shoto and the others fell in behind them, not one of their party questioning that they were riding to a new hellscape of Demon infestation, simply leaping to action.
The closer they got the more the ether pulsed in the air. It was nothing like what he'd felt from the Archdemon, nothing in life would ever compare to that, but it was strong nonetheless. He smelled ash and storms and the clap of thunder came with a roar as what had once been the village of Landsleave appeared before them.
Scorched earth. Burnt homes. Shrieks of fear and the stench of death.
Above the homes rose an Inferno Demon and a Tempest Demon, the beasts that had caused the devastation that festered around them. Lesser Demons walked the streets and terrorized whatever the Major Demons weren't obliterating.
Shoto's chest panged with adrenaline filled panic. The familiarity it held, the sickness that came with the smells of death and ether magic.
Sword in hand, Katsuki hit the ground first and his horse went running away with frantic kicks. Their own horses were starting to panic as well. These were not warhorses and they were not trained to stay calm in this sort of chaos. They all dismounted quickly before they could be bucked off.
The enchanted shield whipped around into Katsuki's hand and multiple Demons turned their attention to him, leaving the crying villagers to go after the real threat that had dropped in front of them.
Shoto moved to take a defensive stance beside him, but the Captain elbowed him away.
"I can handle a few minor Demons! Get your ass to the big ones!"
Nana seemed to agree. With a wordless tug on his sleeve she prompted him to follow and they left the non magically equipped to fight at ground level. The two elves were getting the villagers on their feet to run as Katsuki let out the laugh of a crazed man and dove into battle with multiple Demons at once. Kyoka's lute was in hand and they barely heard her voice touch the air before the chaos of screams, roaring fires, and Demon rambling drowned it from their ears.
"Go to the Inferno, I'll take the Tempest," Nana yelled over the screams and the sounds of Demonic glee, "Try not to use Blood Magic unless you have to!"
Shoto almost cursed all of the practice they had done the past week that had made the use of Blood Magic in a situation that they likely needed it, to be ill advised. If it was life and death, though, he'd take the pain and horror of the blackness again.
Perhaps it was because of his two most used magic types that Nana had sent him after the Inferno; fire and ice. But even still he wasn't sure how he was actually supposed to do real harm to it. He'd fought with that Shrike at the fronts and barely scathed by in survival with multiple mages backing him up. Fire won't affect an Inferno and Shoto questioned how much the opposite element would actually do to it.
But he had little other choice and he attacked with gusto and flurry.
The surviving villagers were no longer in this part of the village. All those that hadn't gotten away in time were now just mangled pieces of charred cinders. He wouldn't need to be careful of damage he'd do to the area of effect.
A massive frost spell burst over the Inferno. It's fire and lava body freezing from its amorphous bottom to its black eyed top. It lasted less than two seconds.
The ice that had encased it burst into hail and Shoto ducked; the Inferno's black eyes were on him now.
Thunder clapped nearby as storm clouds swirled. But all he saw was a hand of harsh orange flame coming down over him and the bone shaking roar of a thousand stoked fires ripping from its mouth.
Shoto's shield went up a moment before impact and the force of it's hit knocked him to his knees. It was everything he could do just to control his panic, the fear that he may have survived so much and come so far just to be bested by yet another Demon.
But Nana was right about one thing at least, he was a strong mage and if he was going to be ended by a Major Demon, the beast was going to be walking away more hurt than victorious before he was through.
Below the line of the shield, where heat poured over him, he burst a sharp edged spire of ice. It hit the Demon's center, the impact continuing to push even after it hit to lightly pierce and throw the Demon from where it stood.
So taken by surprise, the Inferno, three times the size of any home in this village, fell back and crushed an entire field of ripened crops, casting flames to light the entire field ablaze, now matching it to so much of the town.
While the Inferno caught its world aflame, across from them, half a mile away, so close yet so far, storm clouds swirled rain and thunder and hail to douse their world, even as the Inferno tried to burn it down.
Shoto had to act quickly while it was still disoriented and hurt.
He ran at it, staff raised, a blizzard forming above him with more sharpened, knifelike ice, aiming to impale and beat down the unprepared Demon with all Shoto had in him.
It came over the Inferno in a rain and the thousands of shards hit it's body with a ripping force. Its roar rose louder than before, but it was only hindered for a moment.
Shoto stumbled when a thrusting wind gusted across them, unbalancing the mage, but also stopping the Inferno from getting back to its feet at once.
One look up showed the Tempest Demon wafting towards them, on the heels of the older mage.
Thunder hit their ears. Shoto was being yanked straight up, Nana pulling him to the relative, momentary safety of the backside of a half shattered barn.
From just around its corner they could see the rain filled gusts of the Tempest's magic, crashing across the Inferno's flames unwittingly, dowsing and lessening the Inferno in its form with the counteraction of his powers.
Shoto gasped and yelled over the whipping winds. "That was smart."
"Just desperate," Nana shook her head, "It's wind speed is ridiculous, I haven't been able to get a single spell off that hasn't been a shield. The dead here are burned to cinders and their blood's not usable. I'll need to use my own, but I may only be able to stop one of them with what I have."
Shoto grit his teeth at the two Demons, rising, thinking that this may be their only opportunity to do any damage. "In that case I'll have to-"
His plan was cut off by the sudden stop of rain and the reorientation of the Inferno beside the Tempest. It's flames kicked high to life and the winds swirled, pulling them in to create a new, more deadly life.
"Shit, Nana!"
A fire whirl took to life, more broad and raging than anything nature could dare to conjure. The older mage acted quickly, pushing Shoto down behind the shelter and leaping out of it. The fire slowed the tornado enough that Nana was able to stand and pull her spell to life in time. Her arms opened and white glyphs formed large in front of her hands.
The fire whirl hit her shield and flames burst across it in a heat that could scorch the earth to a blazing death. Everything behind the shield incinerated almost instantly. If any person had been alive there before, they were lost now.
"Shoto, now's your chance!" Nana commanded, holding the shield in place with all her strength, her brow marked with sweat and his arms straining outward.
Without thinking and without a truly formed plan Shoto reacted and ran around the shelter and the formation of the shield holding back the hellfire from the still living behind them. His small dagger whipped from his belt into his hand, his mind not even comprehending that he was about to do this again so soon. Not allowing himself to consider the pain he'd experienced before or the stain that might remain on his skin for what he was about to do.
He had just stood to face the two Demons, now teaming their powers together against the mages. He had just put the blade to his hand, just pressed the tip to make the cut, take that surge of power.
Green cut the sky with a roar unlike any the Inferno had made. The blast of green magic collided into the Tempest, sending it back as something red and large hit the Inferno.
Shoto was stunned, knife going still against his skin, unsure that what he was seeing was real.
Magic was bursting around the Demons at rapid speed and the Inferno Demon was grappling physically with a...dragon?
"Is that mage really going to just stand there? Shouldn't he be doing something?"
Shoto almost dropped the knife from his hand, startled and panicked at the sound of a voice coming from inside of his head. His head whipped around, still unsure of what was happening, who was speaking or if he should still try to use Blood Magic now.
The fire whirl died entirely with both of its sources now distracted and Nana's shield fell. The fires still burned hot before her and Shoto was clear headed enough at least to ice the ground in front of her and stop the spread of the fire into the village.
She also looked out at the scene with shock and confusion. She looked to Shoto for explanation, but he could only shrug. All he knew was that there were other mages here, though he couldn't see them in the smoke and chaos and that an entire dragon had appeared to physically battle the Inferno.
Nana luckily recovered from the shock faster than him, shaking from her stupor with resolve
"Keep at the Inferno!" She pointed at the beast, ripping her own knife from her belt, legs a bit wobbly from the effort of the shield and the impact of fire. "Don't use it if you don't have to!"
She was talking about the Blood Magic and he was genuinely relieved. She disappeared into the dark gray smoke as a glow of red formed around her as she at the Tempest Demon already heavily engaged by the other magic.
Shoto turned his attention back to the Inferno and pulled a glyph in front of his hands. More ice attacks rose to life and crashed into the Inferno, only barely missing the dragon who was slashing claws at its face with little fear of the extreme heat of its physical mass.
"Watch it!"
Shoto stumbled at the voice.
"What the hell is going on?" he unknowingly mentally screamed back at it.
A flame filled hand the size of a horse swiped just over Shoto's head and he ducked away just before it could crush him.
From the place he collapsed he felt the voice come back in equal shock.
"Wait….you hear me?"
"Yes, who are you? Why are you doing this right now?" He yelled as he thought it, the sense of the voice in his head seeming to connect his mental words along some before unknown path.
With a swoop across the air the dragon hit the Inferno with a force that sent it reeling backwards before it looped back around and came at Shoto. As if fighting Major Demons hadn't been bad enough now there was a dragon coming at him.
Shoto scrambled to his feet and almost took into a run, but the dragon simply landed in front of him, spinning back towards the Inferno just before a plume of flame could impact Shoto and fry him to a crisp. It hit the dragon without effect and burst around either side of its red scaled body. It gave Shoto the time to raise a shield around himself and hold off the flames from killing him with their vicious heat.
"Do you have a plan?"
The question came as the fire died and the dragon turned an eye back to him.
Shoto blinked in shock. "You're the dragon?"
"Obviously, what's the plan, mage?"
"Wait, how are you-?"
"Ask me after the entire village isn't about to burn down, okay! Believe me, I have questions too."
The dragon made a fair point. Which was not a thought he expected to have today or any other day of his life.
Red light took root nearby and the rumbling thunder became a harsher sound, turning to something that felt like a scream. Two bodies emerged in a frantic dash from the dense smoke, getting as far away from the terror Nana was creating with her Blood Magic as fast as possible and running straight towards the mage and the dragon. It was a good sign. A sign that Nana had the Demon handled, but he was also well aware that she may not be of much use when she was finished, which still left the Inferno up to Shoto to defeat.
He bit his cheek, preparing to voice to the dragon to get to safety so that he could do the same horrible thing Nana was doing to this Demon, but every notion of plan vanished from his mind when Izuku of all people stepped clear of the smoke side by side with a brown haired girl in villager attire.
Izuku stumbled to a halt when he met Shoto's eyes, each look each other over like they'd seen a ghost. Which they might as well have. It had been pretty clear that they never really expected to see each other again, what with the nature of a mages life and the argument they'd left it all on, but especially not in the middle of chaos like this while Izuku stood before him in patched Center Magesterium robes and Shoto in stolen Master attire.
Thankfully the dragon was still paying attention as the two boys gaped at each other. The beast saved all of their skins from being cooked off by diving back at the Inferno Demon and taking it's next brutal attack. They all ducked the wafting heat and the girl shouted something encouraging after the dragon that Shoto didn't hear over his stark confusion.
"Shoto, what are you doing here?" Izuku shouted, running at him.
He'd barely caught his bearings on what was going on before the green eyed boy excitedly collided with him. He was crushed uncomfortably in strong arms and his feet momentarily left the ground. This was definitely his old classmate.
"Izuku, not now!" Shoto pushed him off, getting distance as quick as he could, "What are you-how are you-?"
"Talk to your friend later, apprentice!" the girl shouted, a glyph appearing in front of her hands, pulling the ground beneath the Demon to rumble and shake and then split in gradual cracks.
Even still Shoto gaped at the pure confusion of the situation for a few seconds longer, before the dying shriek of the Tempest snapped him back to the panicked present.
"The girl's a mage?" Shoto asked, confirming what his eyes could obviously already see.
Izuku nodded, lifting his staff towards the Inferno that had pushed the dragon off enough to begin lumbering towards the mages again.
"You two flank it," Shoto pointed to either side of it, "If you know ice or water magic now is the time to use it."
The girl nodded and she and Izuku dashed to their tasks.
Izuku threw out a thrilled, absolutely heartening smile at Shoto as he left, shouting behind him, "Don't get yourself killed, Shoto, we have to catch up first!"
It was nice to see the boy hadn't changed much in the month or so since they'd seen each other and that the Center Magesterium hadn't killed his perpetually inappropriately timed good mood.
"Dragon! Keep it in the center of us, but watch out for our attacks!"
The dragon gave a short, mental response and dove back at the Inferno, wide wings cutting the air. He went at it like a bird swooping for prey on the ground, keeping the Demon's arms swiping around it distractedly while the three mages positioned themselves at its sides and its front, a safe distance kept by them all. The mages were only human and the physical mass of the Demon would scald to the touch, so they had to attack from a distance, leaving the close ranged attacks to the fire impervious creature clawing its face and shaking the sky with a roar that outmatched the Demon's own.
Shoto had no idea if they had the power to do this, but Nana spoke again and again of his strong affinity to magic and Shoto knew Izuku to be talented. Perhaps that and the addition of this other young mage would be enough to wear it down. And if not…
The idea of using Blood Magic with Izuku, a rule abiding Synod Mage, nearby and knowing what its effects had done him last time sent shivers down his spine, but he would do what he had to do. He couldn't allow innocent people to die while he had the ability to stop it.
Elemental magic hit it from every side, ice, water, and even earth magic meant to counter its hot nature. The effort of the magic used was weighing heavy on Shoto, but he didn't pause, didn't hesitate a single strike due to his own weariness or shaking muscles. It was the final battle at the front all over again, drained as he was, but desperate, fearful, and adrenaline filled, too willful to keep living to let his muscles give out.
The girl's magic was surprisingly tough. Wind and rain sheets cut at the Demon repeatedly while Izuku sent a combination of ice and water slicing with both precision and power. Shoto's attacks were always heavy and powerful. All together the Demon was hardly able to move from the constant, brutal onslaught.
It was wearing down, slowing, and the fire encasing its body was dwindling out, more smoke than flames surrounding it now. It was weakening, becoming vulnerable and Shoto's heart leapt when he realized that a precise strike could likely end this. Their magic trio was stronger than he expected.
"Get out of range, I'm going to finish it!" Shoto warned the dragon through his thoughts.
A red winged body twisted in the air and shot upwards as Shoto used every last ounce of his strength to form the blue glyph in front of him. It was massive and the spire he created was deadly.
His magic sent it like a ballista bolt to strike deadcenter of the Inferno and this time it pierced hard. But not all the way through and not nearly with enough force to kill it.
Shoto stumbled back, pulse pounding his skull as the Demon straightened.
His entire chest sunk. He'd failed. It hadn't been enough.
The ground behind the Demon jutted up and hit it at its balance point before Shoto coud blink. The Inferno careened back and a blur of green shot past Shoto's eyes.
A dying, ear raping roar rattled the village as the ice spire was impacted by a green force so hard that it impaled the massive flailing body, slamming through to burst out behind the Demon. It's flames vanished and smoke and cinders became its only remaining mass as it impacted the ground like a collapsed building. It started to lose form, slowly crumbling into the already ashen earth, becoming part of the burnt environment.
Izuku stood beside it panting while the girl looked back to the village with eyes that told the rending of her heart. Any thought of the Demon they had just slain was gone as fast as it came, her heart was somewhere else.
There was so much to think about and so much Shoto didn't understand, but he did know that they'd managed to kill the Inferno and lives were spared because of it and that was the only important thing right now.
He almost breathed relief, but another shriek came from behind him, reminding him that minor demons were still in the populated parts of the village. It was the first moment he remembered Denki, Mina, Katsuki, and Kyoka since he'd seen the towering Demons. Shoto launched back to his feet, realization and concern painting his eyes.
Shoto had barely stood before the girl rushed past them both, disappearing into the wreckage of what remained of Landsleave. Izuku's hand went up with a cry for her to wait, before chasing after. Shoto caught him before he could get away, with a firm grip on his robes, pulling the mage level with him.
"Wait-"
"What's-what's happening?" Izuku asked breathlessly as they both looked to the village.
Shoto shook his head. "I don't know, but there are minor demons in the village. We left people to take care of it, but…"
Another cry propelled them both back to action. "Doesn't sound very taken care of."
Izuku took into a run he seemed unprepared for and Shoto followed on his heels, air tight in his lungs.
In the back of Shoto's mind he was thinking about Nana, likely injured or passed out in the smoke and ash covered field. The cry of the Tempest was a cry of death, far too much like the Shrike's dying sounds to be mistaken for anything else, but that didn't mean Nana was alright. Even still he knew she would want him to make sure the village was safe before he even thought to check on her.
He and Izuku chased after the girl through the dark smoke cloaking until they made it past the more destroyed parts of the village and back to the part of the town that still had structures standing and farmlands intact. They expected to be walking into a massacre. Instead the scene before them sent Shoto's mind back to the front, time not in the nightmarish way he was used to. Rather in the way that he remembered how the Captain had fought and led with that natural instinct that made even Shoto put aside his loathing to listen and act on his orders.
Katsuki stood over a small demon, foot on its chest, his sword swiping deftly, like it weighed as much as a feather to sever the arms that tried to claw him before stabbing down into what was meant to be a head. As he did he barked orders to their companions.
Denki was at his back, knives drawn, fighting for his life with an exuberant grin. Mina was on a demon's back, back eyes thrilled as she shouted and jabbed her blades into its torso; maybe there was a reason for the apprehension people had towards Moondancers after all.
Kyoka's melodic voice was guiding the last of the surviving villagers, who weren't also fighting for their homes, away from the battle. Her lute was on her back again and her blade cut down a strangler dashing at the defenseless people, unfazed by its dark aura and swiping talons.
The girl that had been with Izuku was there only a moment before them. She looked at the scene for a split second, fire filling her eyes as she pulled the earth in magic to crush and pulverize the demon Katsuki had just been about to cut down.
The Captain didn't have time to be surprised. Only a couple demons remained and they were well in hand, leaving the girl mage to burst past them and into the still scrambling villagers Kyoka was trying to get to safety.
"Mom, dad!" the girl's voice was filled with a frantic fear. Izuku was chasing after her immediately.
Denki and Katsuki cut down the last two demons with a victorious shout and despite the fight being so suddenly over, chaos still pulsed in the air. The Demons were all gone, but the ether lingered. It throbbed in Shoto's ears with a deep unrest.
No one else seemed to feel it though.
"Holy shit!" Denki gasped, dropped his hands to his knees while he crouched "You aren't half bad at this, Captain."
"Shut up and fan out, dipshit!" Katsuki shoved him, "We need to make sure we got all of them!"
The Captain's attention went to Shoto almost accusingly as he glanced back at the mages who ran past him.
"What the fuck is going on, who are those people?"
"Doesn't matter, just make sure the Demons are all gone, I need to find Nana."
Shoto had countless questions too and he wanted to chase after Izuku and get his answers. He wanted to stay with the Captain and hunt down every last demon in the village, make them pay for the horrors they had caused here. But there was no imminent threat before them and the older mage was likely in a bad way.
"You lost her?" Katsuki shouted at him, "The fuck is wrong with you?"
"I'll come with you," Denki's head shot up, worry in his eyes, "You and Mina can handle the rest of this."
Shoto was already running back the way he'd come and the elf was swiftly at his heels, both ignoring the Captain's demands for them to listen to him.
"What happened?" Denki asked, eyes wide, smile gone.
"She took on the Tempest Demon alone, she used Blood Magic," Shoto panted, physically devastated from the fight and hanging on by adrenaline alone, "I don't think she's dead, but she can't be well off."
Surprisingly Denki said nothing, rather unlike him to ever be quiet, as he followed Shoto to the area where the ground was wetter and the smoke was clearing quicker; the last spot the Tempest Demon had been alive, the place Nana had run to and disappeared.
They found the crumbling remains of the Demon easily. It was massive after all and reeked of ether and blight. It was obvious that Blood Magic had killed it too. It's physical body was ripped to shreds and was decaying rapidly.
They found Nana by tripping over her. It was hard to see in the smoke and Shoto's feet collided with her back, knocking him over her onto his elbows, legs still on top of her when he hit the ground.
"Nana!" Denki shouted, dropping beside her as she groaned in pain and pressed a hand to her back.
"Ow, watch where you're going, Shoto," Nana slowly pushed herself up with Denki's help, sounding almost amused.
The elf got her sitting up and then grabbed her tightly in a hug from behind. "Are you okay?"
Shoto untangled from the situation and crouched in front of her, looking her over for injuries. She was a mess, but she didn't seem to be in any pain. Just weary.
She reached back to squeeze her nephew's shoulder and Shoto bit his cheek at the blackened fingertips. She may not be in pain, but the blackness in her skin was lingering.
Nana started to rise, hardly noticing Shoto's pointed stare as Denki got her back on her feet.
"I'm fine," she nodded, "Is the village okay?"
"We saved as many people as we could," Denki nodded, "The Demons are dead, but this place is pretty much destroyed and-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"
The smoke around them gusted away on Denki's words as a mass of red swooped down and landed at Shoto's back.
"Mage! Where did Ochako and Izuku go? Did they find her parents? Is anyone left alive?"
Nana and Denki were mouth agape at the creature hovering over them, frozen still as Shoto shot back to his feet and opened his arms in a shrug, like the beast was a regular person interrupting a conversation and not a dragon.
"There are survivors, but I don't know. They ran off into the village, I think she was looking for her parents."
"Shoto, are you talking to that Dragon?" Nana gasped.
"I have to find them. Thank you for helping our village, mage!"
The dragon was back in the air in mere seconds, Shoto still confused and discombobulated.
"Wait! Who are you people?"
The Dragon was already gone and not responding, already onto its task of finding the girl who had run off.
"Where did that dragon come from?" Denki was shouting at Shoto's back.
"I don't know," Shoto shook his head, coming back to loop Nana's arm around his neck and assist Denki with helping her walk back to the village. "He just showed up and started talking to me, but he hasn't explained anything."
"I'm confused," Denki shook his head.
"Me too," Shoto sighed in weary agreement.
"The dragon was talking to you?" Nana stared at him like he was crazy.
"Yes," Shoto said blandly, purposefully not embellishing and not thinking about it. The least of his concerns at the moment was that a flying reptile the size of a building had communicated to him with its mind. There were dead everywhere and a town half burned to ash. It's survivors were shaken or wounded and that was far more important to be considering. Not to mention the sudden appearance of his old friend.
They had to go deep into the village before they found anyone. Their companions had gathered the villagers at Landsleave's outskirts, just past the last couple houses, Kyoka still trying to guide and control the chaos along with village leaders and the elf girl that obviously scared them. There was crying and screams and the wailing of the injured, but there was no further sign of an enemy.
The people were simple farmers, this attack had devisated them,, but they were quick in responding to the people that had come to save them in creating some order amidst the horror show they'd just witnessed.
At the moment, Katsuki was not using his leadership skills in helping the farmers, instead he was openly, aggressively threatening Izuku, holding the still heavy breathing mage at the end of his outstretched sword.
"You aren't going anywhere until I know who the fuck you are what you're doing here!" Katsuki was yelling at him.
Izuku looked equally perturbed, his hands twisting on his staff like he was considering the consequences of turning the soldier into a pile of ash. Not a normal Izuku reaction, but also not surprising. That was most people's initial feelings towards Katsuki at first meeting him.
"Stand down!" Izuku shouted at him, not as much authority in his voice as he would have liked, "I'm a Synod mage, you don't have any right to bar my way!"
"That means nothing to me, fuckstick, I'm Dawnfelden," the Captain scoffed, "If you don't have a Griffin on your sleeve, you don't have my respect!"
Shoto sighed, exhaustion hitting him in full swing as he realized he had to deal with the Captain once again. He slipped under Nana's arm and let Denki take over supporting her weight.
"Let him be, Captain," Shoto said sternly, "This isn't a good use of our time."
"You aren't in charge, asshole!" Katsuki shouted at Shoto, eyes still burning on Izuku.
Shoto's vision snapped to a tiny glyph forming beside Izuku's hand and he immediately realized what was about to happen. In a jolt he forced his way between them and shoved them out of arm's reach of each other, holding ground between them and knocking Katsuki's sword away. He glared at Izuku for even trying such a thing.
"Enough people have died already, damn it!" Shoto snapped, hardly recognizing his own voice, feeling like he had when he'd stood in Nana's defense to the Lord Commander.
"Shoto," Katsuki said testingly, "He's Synod… He knows you. He knows you aren't a master. We can't just let him go, the entire fucking Synod will be after us in a day. Our entire mission will be compromised."
Shoto hissed at the poignant reality of it and Izuku's eyes widened on Shoto a little harder. "What mission...what's going on?"
"See?" Katsuki threw an accusing hand at him.
"I see the problem, Captain, I'm not stupid!" Shoto shouted at him, lost to his temper, unable to find his usual centered calm.
As their usual mediator, Shoto looked over to Nana. She simply frowned, eyes scraping the ground.
Shoto's heart dropped. She couldn't be agreeing with Katsuki, could she?
"Captain?"
Their heads all popped up on the shout, Kyoka running towards them with a larger man at her side. He was a villager, an older man, bearded and tousled, rough, dirt covered hands and broad muscles showing his profession clearly.
"Captain, this woman said you-"
The villager stopped when the Captain turned towards him and suddenly he could see who stood behind him. Izuku's eyes went wide back at him and he shifted away while the man practically shook where he stood.
"You-"
The man paled when he looked at Shoto, noting his Master robes. The villager also took the cautious step back.
"You want something?" Katsuki glared at him. The Captain was fairly stacked himself and the stature of the village man didn't come as a threat to him.
Kyoka frowned at the scene and then pointedly at Katsuki as she always did. "We came to talk to you about organizing triage for the wounded. We assumed you'd know something about that, unless all those years of military training were as useless as you make them seem…"
"Sing 'em a song and see how much that helps, dipshit," Katsuki hissed back, "Of course, I do. I-"
The man was not listening to Kyoka and Katsuki yell at each other and all mages were watching him closely in those few spare seconds that they argued in ignorance of the tension and anger that had struck the air. Shoto could see it coming, but his reactions were sluggish by the magic used.
That fearful shaking turned to a rage filled shout, silencing everything as the village man lurched forward.
"You son of a bitch!" The man rushed past Katsuki and Kyoka, fist raised at Izuku, "What did you do to her? Where is she?"
"What the fuck?"
The Captain had barely expressed his confusion, before a forceful fist hit Izuku's shield and both Shoto and Denki were leaping on him to physically hold him back from the young mange. Nana was left to stand on her own, but she seemed to be handling well enough to not need an elf crutch for now.
"I didn't do anything!" Izuku shouted back, eyes wide on the tear stained face of the man, "She's here! She was looking for you! I swear I did nothing to harm her!"
"Damn Synod lies!" The man cried.
"Kintsu, wait it's not what you think!"
Once again there was a new person running towards them, this time from the direction of the town. Izuku looked instantly relieved, but Katsuki just had something else to point his sword at while everyone else just viewed the situation in confusion.
The new guy looked like he rolled out of bed two seconds ago, red hair wild, shirt hastily thrown on, not even tucked in, and feet bare. He did much like Shoto had just done a moment ago and went in between Izuku and the man trying to harm him, massive red eyes on the large villager like he was seeing a face he never thought he'd see again.
The man ripped from Shoto and Denki's hands and grabbed the boy in a hug, choking on a tear.
"Eijiro, thank heavens! What the hell happened? Where's Ochako? Is she alive?"
The red haired boy pulled free of his arms, "She's fine, we're alive because of Izuku, actually. Ochako said she wrote to you…"
His expression showed that he had in fact not received such a message.
"Izuku is good, he wouldn't hurt her," the boy continued trying to explain, "Don't be angry at him."
"Don't be angry at him?" Kintsu's face soured, "He and that other mage were going to kill her! I watched them try to kill you!"
"I can explain everything later, but I need you to just trust me, right now," big red eyes got somehow bigger, "Please!"
"What the fuck is going on?" Katsuki interrupted this very confusing conversation.
Eijrio's hands turned firm on Kintsu's shoulders and then looked past him at Shoto, who stared back narrowly, unsettled. There was a strange familiarity about him, but he couldn't place what it was or why the boy was smiling at him like he knew him. Sharp teeth flashed at the mage's face and then the young man was turning to Izuku.
"There's troops from Tarlson coming fast," he told the green eyed boy, hands open, "I need to find Ochako and warn her. We need to hide or something."
"Tarlson troops?" Katsuki looked to Shoto, exchanging worried glares.
"Damn." Shoto huffed.
"She got lost in the crowd...I wasn't able to find her before that guy stopped me," Izuku gripped his hair in frustration.
Two conversations started at once. One between Izuku and Eijiro and the other between Shoto and Katsuki.
"The troops won't be a problem if we act right; you're Synod, I'm Dawnfelden, they'll probably help if we go about it right," Katsuki voiced his thoughts and then went straight into his orders, "Nana, no magic. As far these people are concerned, you're an old lady and that's it."
"Yes, Captain," Nana laughed in a tired voice.
"What am I?" Denki raised an eyebrow.
"Village idiot," Katsuki replied.
Shoto held up his hands. "Hold on, before anyone does anything…" He caught even the attention of the still rage filled villager. "Izuku," his voice was sharp and the boy straightened at the direct address, "I won't let the Captain kill you, no matter what you know, but I need you to trust me on this and say nothing to the Tarlson soldiers. I can't explain what's going on right now, but as far as anyone else is concerned I'm a Synod Master. I need you to play along."
Oddly enough, the boy was quick to agree. He bobbed his head fast, not even a question to the request. "Okay, but you need to do something for me too."
The wailing of injured and mourning villagers were especially loud in the silence that overtook them.
"That girl that was with me, Ochako, is a Renegade...she and Eijiro saved my life and I made a promise not to let anything happen to them...you can't let the Synod take her, no matter what."
In all honesty it was the most shocking thing Shoto had heard that day and that counted the revelation of the night before about the effects of Blood Magic. Izuku was a good Synod Mage… to even imagine that he'd go directly against a Synod verdict was like watching his world flip upside down.
Shoto eyes drew past him to Nana...to his own dirty Renegade Mage secret. It seemed that the world wasn't so balanced for any of them.
Kintsu looked at Izuku with wide eyes, nearly as shocked as Shoto, but the red haired boy smiled at him like it was proving the point he'd been making.
"You have my word," Shoto nodded, somehow relieved that there was an even give and take to the lies they were keeping for each other.
The rumbling of approaching horses punctuated their words.
Katsuki sucked his teeth and slid his sword back into its sheath.
"Alright listen up, Denki, go get your girl," he addressed the elf, "We're out of time for talking it over. You and your whore friend are Dawnfelden agents. Kyoka, you're my aid, fuck off with your complaints. A Dawnfelden delegation doesn't have fucking bards, no one will believe that shit, so suck it up. Nana, you're our Lord Sorahiko's Representative."
"Dick," Kyoka glared at her role.
"Don't make it sound so appealing," Denki rolled his eyes and then gave a half asses salute.
No other arguments were heard. The elf disappeared past them into the chaos of people to find Mina; a simple task seeing as she stuck out drastically among the humans.
The red haired boy ran after him before they had a thought to catch him or to even address who he was.
"Stay with them, Kintsu," Eijiro yelled behind him, "I'll find her!"
"Eijiro!" Kintsu shouted after him, but the boy was already gone.
"Oi!" Katsuki shouted at the older man, stopping any ideas of pursuit, "Are you the leader of this town?"
Kintsu groaned, forlornly looking about the shattered remnants of his home. "Close enough now that half the town is gone."
"Good," he nodded, "Their Commander will likely want to talk to you so you're coming with me. And I'd watch what I say about all of this if I were you."
There was a threat in his voice that made even Shoto shiver. It was a well founded threat, though. Kintsu had heard them admit Shoto wasn't a real Synod Master and could perhaps glean that Nana was a Renegade mage from what Katsuki had said before. But on the flipside they had the advantage of knowing that this Ochako girl was a Renegade too and Kintsu had just as much to lose by letting their secrets slip out.
Luckily, that came across clearly to Kintsu.
Deeply upset as he was, the newly appointed village leader nodded. "I'll keep your damn secret, but if anything happens to my daughter I swear-"
"Nothing will happen to her, I promise," Izuku insisted and the man's hands went into fists at his sides, apparently not pleased with the green eyed boys input.
The hoofbeats were audible now and they could see the mounted military force cresting the uneven land between Landsleave and Tarlson around the outskirts of the vast forest that lay at the small town's back.
Katsuki jabbed a finger at Kintsu. "Let's go. We need to intercept the cavalry so they don't ride in swords swinging. You," he looked at Shoto with grit teeth, "Take your mage friend and put your damn selves to use by doing something about the injured. You've seen a damn triage, I don't need to babysit you."
Shoto hated taking orders from Katsuki, but this was a battlefield and there was no one better to be calling the shots than a Dawnfelden Captain.
"Kyoka, Izuku," Shoto jerked his head behind him to the mess of survivors, "Come with me. Nana, just sit tight and rest. You can't help anyone if you kill yourself."
The older woman was swaying where she stood and gave a heavy nod, unable to argue in her current state, hands still hidden in the folds of her clothes, disguising the reality of what she'd had to do from those around her.
They split up. Katsuki and Kintsu ran out in the direction or the approaching force and the others got right to work separating wounded from well, getting those who were not stricken by grief and hysteria to help. Denki and Mina appeared quickly and Shoto gave them assignments. He may not have been as field experienced as Katsuki, but the Captain had been correct that he was familiar with a triage station. More because he had spent some time in one after that fateful battle than because of any military training.
Instead of discussing any of what had happened, Shoto and Izuku kept mind to task in getting the injured to where they could be better cared for, every capable person in town made to start bandaging wounds, while Kyoka's soothing voice brought the anxiousness in the air down to a manageable level.
Luckily in their scouring and directing of townspeople, the two mages came upon the girl everyone had been looking for fairly easily, though the state they found her in was anything but pleasant. Her knees were in the tilled dirt, tears streaking through her ash covered face while her glowing hands clutched around what looked to be a deep, nasty wound in an unconscious older woman's stomach. The red haired boy, Eijiro, was beside her, hand on her shoulder, eyes turning up wide and worried at the two mages that stopped in front of them.
Izuku gasped when he saw the woman's face and he froze. Shoto on the other hand was much more aware of the horsemen who were even then circling the people and the town and of the men who were now dismounted and moving among the villagers, taking over the command of organizing them instantly.
"You need to stop what you're doing," Shoto looked down to the brown haired girl.
"No!" her voice was a pained shriek, "If I stop she'll-she'll…"
There was a pair of lieutenants moving towards them as they spoke. Another few paces and there would be no hiding that she was using magic. With no sign about her that said she was Synod, their suspicions would instantly be raised as to why a village girl was using magic. Even if the soldiers were too thick to think anything of it, there would definitely by Synod Mages with the force who would definitely think as they should about it.
Izuku's eyes showed the very same worry and he looked desperately between Shoto and the girl.
"Izuku," the red haired boy sounded choked, "Should I-?"
Izuku shut down Eijiro with a sharp shake of his head. He looked Shoto over and grit his teeth.
"Shoto, you need to vouch for her...please…"
"Mage…"
Shoto flinched at how familiar that word sounded on Eijiro's tongue, but shook it away instantly, straightening and tilting his chin up to look the part despite his weariness.
"Ochako, right?"
She looked up and blinked through tears, nodding to him.
"Keep healing her," he said firmly, "You'll be fine. Just don't say anything."
Another nod and she was back focusing on the woman, a last under the breath whisper to her saying, "Stay with me, mom."
Izuku and Shoto turned to the approaching pair and exchanged a tight glance. The green eyed boy straightened up too, any carefree attitude slipping away with any hint of a smile.
"We need to talk when this is over," Izuku whispered under his breath seriously and then added with a touch of amusement, "Master Shoto."
Shoto's shoulder's tensed at the title being spoken by someone he'd been a student beside not three months ago. But it showed Izuku's commitment to the part, to protecting their interests and maintaining the lie for all of their sakes, so all it once it was also relieving.
Any past argument or lingering tension between them was irrelevent as the Lieutenants came up to them, all now a distant thought. Lost to the severity and professionalism of two Synod Mages trained in temperent rigidty their whole lives, trained to bear the proud image of the Synod no matter the underlying personality.
But Shoto wordlessly agreed. Blood Magic, Major Demons, Summonings, dragons, and Renegade Mages. There was a lot they needed to talk about.
