Battle
As the Metalliums, a princess and a dragon began to really attempt to outrun an onrushing storm that seemed to be alive, a werefox, mazoku, swordsman, elf and little girl climbed to the head of a ridge and looked down into the developing battle. A few skirmishes here and there was the extent of it for the moment, but that would quickly change.
"There they are," Jol noted pointing down the hill. "There are some units down this path a ways."
"Yes, I felt that, thank you," Duofolger agreed. A hand snapped the mazoku over the back of the head.
"Sleepin'," Sherra shifted in his arms and fell back into full sleep.
"She's feeling better," Jol noted quietly. "She's only been asleep since the night before last."
"Well, I think it is the regeneration," Tinuviel noted. "I've heard that some forms of regeneration involves burning a lot of energy, it would certainly explain why she was so hungry, I wonder how much she ate. Hmmm, I wish I had thought of this before, I could have done a quick search to find any remains, what kind of animals live in this area anyway, it seems to be very wild, the animals aren't like those in an elven forest at all..."
"There are a lot of foxxies!!!" Kyrie reminded her helpfully.
"Excuse me, could you to please keep quiet," Duofolger asked. "We are trying to approach a battle without attracting attention." Sherra slapped him again.
"Try sleep." Duofolger rolled his eyes in frustration.
"Is she really asleep?" Jol asked. "Or is she just faking?"
"You can't tell?" Duofolger asked.
"Quiet," Sherra snapped sleepily, slapping the mazoku again.
"You can't figure it out anymore than I can," Jol pointed out to the irritated mazoku.
"True..." Duofolger growled as Sherra's arm smacked him again.
"Maybe its a reflex action," Tinuviel suggested.
"If I was still *thwap* talking to her *thwap* telepathically, *thwap* I could *thwap* see that." *thwap*
"Hee hee, they're funny," Kyrie pointed at the pair and giggled.
"Stupid sword." Everybody else stared at Sherra for a long moment before Jol looked back up to Duofolger.
"Tinu may have a point," Jol said as Sherra continued snoring away blithely. Duofolger wanted to say something, but didn't particularly want to be hit again either, whether or not she could actually do anything he would find painful. Feeding on irritation was one thing, BEING irritated was quite another. "Shall we go?"
"It would be nice to get into the battle before it ends," *thwap* Duofolger rolled his eyes and sighed expressively.
"It's been an hour," Tinuviel noted. "Why are we just going in a big circle?"
"Shh," Jol continued quietly. "We want to be quiet."
"Jol-oniisan," Kyrie whined. "I'm tired, will you carry me?"
"HA!" *thwap* "SHHH!" An irritated mazoku glared at the three mortals.
"I think my parents are off this direction a few more miles," Jol said pointing, while ignoring his pouting sister.
"Why is that Jol-san?" Tinuviel asked, drawing out her notepad.
"The fighting is more confused out there," Jol said shrugging. "I think I can find the reserves..." Duofolger set Sherra down, or tried to, the werefox, currently in human form merely grabbed tighter to him and wouldn't let go. The mazoku decided to go ahead and suffer the coming hit.
"I'll point us out *thwap* to them easily," Duofolger started. "And don't think that *thwap* winter demon was the last. *thwap* I'll stay with Sherra and watch for them." *thwap* One of Sherra's eyes blinked open.
"Would you please keep quiet?" Sherra demanded. "Nothing but chatter."
"Sounds like she's almost awake anyway," Duofolger noted dryly.
"Grrrr."
"That sounds funny when you aren't all hairy!" Kyrie pointed out helpfully. Sherra turned to glare at the little blonde girl and then tried close the already almost non-existant gap between her and Duofolger before going back to sleep.
"I'll try to come back this way," Jol said. "But I'll probably be fighting before I see you again."
"This is a problem?" Duofolger asked. Jol arched an eyebrow.
"Jol-niisan, I don't wanna walk anymore!!"
"Keep an eye on your back," Jol said.
"Jol-niisan!"
"If you want quiet maybe we should go before the little br...your sister starts crying?" Tinuviel asked sweetly, she missed having long hair. Jol rubbed the bridge of his nose and picked up his sister after a moment's exasperated head shaking. The three vanished into the woods, leaving behind Duofolger with a snoring blue-haired girl that was seemingly surgically attached to him.
Sherra woke up yawning as the sun began climbing down from its xenith.
"All I wanted was a couple of hours sleep," Sherra said irritably glaring up into Duofolgers face. It would have been more effective if she hadn't been sitting in his lap at the moment. "Did you people have to keep talking all the time?"
"You've been asleep for almost two days," Duofolger pointed out. "Its hard to communicate with out talking."
"Whatever, I've taken longer naps before," Sherra shrugged. "How long ago did they leave?"
"Early morning," Duofolger said.
"So it's just us then?" Sherra asked slyly. "The sent of blood and fire wafting up from the battlefield." Duofolger raised an eyebrow. Well, Sherra was acting normally and throwing herself into the new goal whole-heartedly.
"You have yet to learn subtlety," he said.
"I don't need it, I'm cute!" Sherra said honestly enough. "And about the only thing that would make this situation even better..." Duofolger grabbed a dagger before it could hit Sherra. "...is a good battle!" Sherra stood up out of Duofolger's lap and faced where the dagger had come from.
Duofolger stood up smoothly behind her and extended his senses outward for what he suspected was the culprit.
"Stubborn one, aren't you?" Duofolger asked the woods around them.
"Is it that were-hunter again?" Sherra asked, Duofolger showed her the silver dagger. "Whoever thought that a mortal could be so much trouble."
"Luna Inverse," Duofolger noted.
"She doesn't count as mortal!" Sherra insisted.
"Lina Inverse."
"Well, yeah, but she's a special case," Sherra protested.
"Zelgadis Greywords."
"He's not all mortal!"
"Amelia Wil Tesla Sailloon?"
"Blind luck!"
"Gourry Gabriev."
"ALRIGHT! I get the point!" Sherra shouted.
"Are you two finished?" Kalus stepped out into the clearing holding a vial and ready to throw. "Because I have an abomination to get rid of."
"So why aren't you in the battle?" Sherra asked the hunter. The man tossed a few daggers which the former mazoku dodged with a casual ease born of hundreds of years in practice.
"I'll wait for your ilk to let down their guard," he answered. "Like now." Kalus was either not aware that neither of his targets were taking him seriously, or else he didn't care. The man tossed his vial at Duofolger, who almost negligently teleported out of its way. The mazoku appeared behind the hunter and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
"Hey, he's mine," Sherra snapped.
"Are you certain about this?" Duofolger asked.
"I haven't had a good kill since my last species change," Sherra said angrily. "If you think I'm losing jump in, but I want him."
"As you wish, mistress," Duofolger said with smirk, dropping Kalus.
"This is why I hunt you freaks," Kalus snapped. "All of you are evil, man-killing freaks."
"Actually, I never really cared about killing," Sherra said. "It just makes such nice tasting fear and anger in whoever's left."
"Whatever that means," Kalus hmphed. He drew out a few knives. "Trying to take me yourself will be a mistake." Kalus launched a few daggers which Sherra dodged smoothly.
"Please, you're a few hundred years too late to beat Sherra...umm," Sherra turned to face where Duofolger was sitting. "I'm not a Grausherra any more, what was my family name?"
"I think it was sowuhtoemay or something like that," Duofolger shrugged.
"I don't need to know your name," Kalus shouted. ~If I'm going to die I'm going to remove at least one more of these monsters from the world.~ Kalus had trained most of his life to fight with daggers especially, and he had trained himself hard. In a straight battle he might have even given Zelgadis a few minutes hard work, assuming Zelgadis were cured of his curse and refrained from using magic.
Sherra on the other hand was much weaker than she ever remembered being, but she was still much stronger and faster than the average human. A little above human levels in fact even in her human form. And it may have been a couple hundred years since she broke the habit of melee combat, but that left hundreds of other years of active participation left engrained in her instincts. Gourry or Zangulus would have been an even match, but this knife thrower was out of his depth.
"I haven't done this in a long time," Sherra smiled. "I'd almost forgotten how fun it could be to face off against an opponent like this. Thanks!" She smirked as she dodged Kalus's strikes. She smiled at the man's sneer. She couldn't feel his emotions any more, but she dimmly remembered enjoying that look ages ago before she was mazoku.
"This is not for your benefit, beast!" Kalus shouted.
"This quite a wonderful meal Sherra, my compliments," Duofolger noted.
"I don't really want to eat him," Sherra snickered. "But he isn't getting out of this alive. I don't like being hunted."
"Well I was referring to the anger waving off him," Duofolger corrected.
"Oh, that's right," Sherra snickered.
"You will take me seriously!" Kalus growled. Sherra dodged under a slash and closed in with the man.
"Why?" Then she struck upwards, and continued striking, finally pulling back and letting the foolish hunter fall to the ground. "I'm way too slow." Sherra sighed as she kicked at the hunter experimentally.
"You haven't won yet, demon," Kalus gasped weakly through cracked ribs, drawing out a vial with a shaky hand.
"What do you think..." An explosion erupted out from Kalus seeming to envelope both him and Sherra. As the flames died down the smoke cleared to reveal one crispy corpse at the bottom of a crater. Duofolger hovered several yards in the air holding Sherra.
"You saw that coming, of course," Duofolger noted.
"Oh, shut up," Sherra snapped. She smirked at him. "That was fun."
"Good thing he was human," Duofolger noted. "Not like those mazoku coming up behind us." Sherra looked over his shoulder and frowned at the approaching snow storm.
"A blizzard, a fight to the death, the smell of crispy corpse, and battle going on," Sherra lifted off, showing that six hundred years as a mazoku didn't just disappear. "There is such a thing as too much of a good thing." She sighed shaking her head irritably.
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