I wake up, but I'm not in my own tent this time. In fact, I can hear Hadronix messing with some sort of device, 'Why am I in her tent?' I yawn and move to get up… except that there is a weight on my side. 'Eli… Nope, that's Raven.' She is completely out. "Welcome back my liege, how was the near death experience?" Hadronix comments without even bothering to look back.
"I'd rather have woken up to Elise…" I grumble as I carefully pry Raven off of me.
"Yea well, I needed to make sure you were going to suffer from anything… weird." She turns on her chair, "Besides, I'd rather have you awake and with me when Cover wears off." She flashes me a smile.
"Cover? Oh, right." One of her many really weird things, "Were you one of those bears that Raven drew in her picture?"
"Pandaren." She rolls her eyes, "But yes. Anyway, it should be wearing off in an hour, since Lotus has the one I was using."
"Speaking of Lotus…"
The Hunter interrupts me with a giggle, "Oh, I know! I honestly wonder where she is?"
"Um, okay?" She already lost me, just like that.
"The device she stole was a decoy, but I had to program it to somewhere, so I just threw in a bunch of numbers." She shrugs, "And, of course, I put the actual one inside of that dildo."
"...Sis?" Raven yawns as I attempt to pry her off of me. She looks right at me, "Hm… Oh, hello Yasei."
"Are you okay?" Is the first thing I end up asking her.
She smiles, "Mhm, just a little magically exhausted. How are you?"
"As good as I'm going to get with the Wyrmslayer wound." I try to shrug it off.
Which causes her to frown, "Ancestors, even a Revival wasn't enough to heal that? That is the strongest healing spell I can offer…"
"It's alright. It's just something I have to deal with." I try to assure her, "...Among other things." Something then pops in my head, "What were you saying then?"
She bobs her head, clearly still half asleep, but also capable of answering questions, "When I was casting Revival? A prayer to the East Dragon, the Jade Serpent, Yu'lon."
"Oh…" More terms of theirs that fly right above my head. 'I should've known.'
"I… want to check up on the others." She pushes herself up, "I need to make sure they're okay."
Raven ends up stumbling as she gets off the bed, "You need to rest, Sis."
"I won't be up long." She is adamant about this.
"I'll help you, then." I also get up and keep her steady.
"And… you know what, nevermind." Despite the irritation in Hadronix's tone, she has the scent of happiness on her, "I'll have Ruinad get you if you don't return before Cover fades."
"Thanks, Yasei. See you later, Sis!" With that, we make our way out.
The 'camp' is rather quiet. 'There's only one other tent now. We didn't have time to pack up the rest.' "Oh, my darling Yasei!" Camilla is the first to notice me walking out. "Are you well? Did you get enough sleep? Hungry?"
"I'm feeling good, big sister." I give her a smile, "Thanks to both of my retainers," I pat Raven on the shoulder, "Especially Raven."
"I-I just d-did wh-what I'd n-normally d-do." She starts stammering, "H-How are you? E-Everyone h-here should b-be healed c-completely."
"And you would be right!" Elise giggles as she skips over, "That was a really impressive spell! What's it called? Can I learn it?"
"I-I'm not s-s-sure if y-you can l-learn P-P-Pandaren m-magic, Pr-princess E-Elise." The Monk becomes uncomfortable as Elise hops around. She holds onto me tighter. "W-Well, s-since everyone is b-better…" She slowly backs off.
"Hold on, missy!" Elise exclaims, "Not without proper thanks." She ends up rushing the poor Monk and hugs her.
It took almost an entire minute before Raven finally relaxed and returned her hug. "You're welcome."
"It's good to see you up, little sister." Xander is the next to come to me. "We're but a few days away from the area Leo was sent to."
I smile, "Good. I really hope he's just so invested in his work that he forgot to send updates." 'Which, considering it's been months, it seems more and more unlikely…'
"Now, about Phoenix?" The Crown Prince crosses his arms.
"I can't really say much. She stole magic from me, ran me through with her Levin Sword, then pushed me over the edge. Hadronix let go of her spot, put a parachute on my back, then used that device to get us here."
"I see…" He coughs, "Well, I'm glad that… Hadronix got you back here. Raven too, for healing you."
I nod, "Those two are, well, different, but I'm enjoying their company." Right as I said that, I hear both Elise and Raven start to giggle, "And I think they are enjoying the people here, too."
"B-Big sister!" Sakura walks up to me, while also appointently trying to keep some distance from Xander, "H-How are you?"
"I'm well, Sakura." Though, it is starting to get tiring to answer the same question multiple times, why couldn't they all come to me at once? "And you?"
She fidgets, but I can pick out the sense of happiness around her, "As long as you're here, I'm feeling good."
"Hey, Lady Sakura." Raven calls her over, "Lady Elise and I were going to play a game, did you want to join?"
"Yes! Uh, excuse me, big sister."
With her walking away, it's back to Xander and me. "Have you been getting enough sleep?"
"Yes." He replies.
"Lemons." I giggle, "You can't lie to me, big brother."
Which causes him to sigh, "I'll rest when we have the moment, but right now we need to focus on finding Leo… and preparing ourselves for when either Phoenix or this 'Lotus' returns."
A growl slips out from the mention of the Tactician, "I'll skewer her myself." 'Rip, ravage.'
"Control yourself, sister." Xander says in his 'Crown Prince' persona, rather than as an actual brother.
"Yea, I know." It doesn't help that my mate is dead . "I'm going to hunt." I walk off, and I pause several steps later, 'I… don't have a sword anymore. Ryoma took my gifted one, and Phoenix stripped Yato from me.' I resume walking and shake my head, 'I have my Dragonstone, that's enough for me. I am a Shifter, after all.'
Gods, I miss Keaton.
Forests always relax my mind, it just feels right to be in one. It's like it's where I belong. I quickly shift and sniff out the surrounding area. I can tell this area feels off, but I can't quite pinpoint why. Regardless, I head towards the closest scent, a lone deer. Moving far more quietly than a beast my size should, I quickly close the distance between it and me. I then lunge at it, taking the beast out in a single blow, 'Blood, feast.' Shifting back, I quickly rip into the corpse. 'Gods, I needed this, too.' Every drop of blood, every piece of flesh, 'More.' Muscle, fat, organs, it doesn't matter, 'More!' ...but it's already downed, 'More!' What else is there here?
Why are there so few animals here? "Got you!" Before I can even respond, I am slammed to the ground, "I finally got you…" As my eyes refocus to the sudden blur, I can see just who it is. 'That female Kitsune that was next to Kaden.' She definitely looks worse than before, most of her clothes are tattered, leaving her body with little to the imagination. 'Was I so into the feast that I couldn't even notice her? She pinned me while unshifted .' She is sporting a number of recently closed wounds, "I got you, and now I can avenge Father." Despite her statement, she is taking her sweet time. 'Why can't I push her off? Have I not recovered enough?'
"You should've stayed there and joined him." I reply without thinking.
Her breathing is heavy, "Don't worry about me, because you'll be joining your mate, soon." She lowers her head, "Blood for blood, dragon." She flashes her fangs and moves for my neck. I double my efforts to remove her, but… "Squirm for me." My heart is hammering as my own scent of fear starts to overtake the area. I feel her canines scrape against my neck…
But she's slammed off of me, 'Who…?' "Back off." A very cold voice says, "She's my kill." I look up and see Lotus, who noticeably isn't assuming Hadronix's human disguise. "Oh no, stay down, girl." I freeze on the spot as she levels a glare at me. "And you, bitch." Her swords are out, "are nothing more than a coward."
"She's my kill! It's my revenge!" The Kitsune snarls as she shifts, "She killed my father!"
"Yasei is a name on my contract, I'm not letting some little girl go taking my kill. So go on, scurry." The shifter responds by assuming her Nine-tails form, then doing that Replicate ability she did back at the Kitsune Hamlet. Lotus scoffs, "Pathetic, but it's your death." Then, of all things, she sheathes one of her swords, "There, now you have achance at taking me out."
"Fool." All four of the shifter copies charge at her, who ends up dodging their combined efforts with a terrifying ease.
"Tch." How can she dodge all of them? When I try to focus my sight on her, I notice that I can almost see through her, like she isn't actually there. I would run, but I'm simply entranced, 'How can anyone be that skilled?' "Well? Is that it?" Lotus grabs one of them by the head, and snaps the copy's neck, all while continuing to weave her way around the other strikes. "Weak." She decapitated a clone. "Pathetic." She pulls out some small pipe thing and fires it at the third, piercing her head with it. 'It sounds like that one when I first encountered her, in the camp.'
"H-How?" The last one stands, her legs are trembling. "Y-You…" Whatever she was going to say was cut off as Lotus grips her by the neck and readies to…
She throws the Shifter my way, "Eat." The Rogue states.
This makes no sense! "You're just going to kill me, so why bother?" Unless, of course, she injected poison without me noticing.
"I want a challenge for once, so just eat her, so I can get a proper fight in!" She snaps at me.
"Then why didn't you give Keaton the same regards?" I counter. "You just…"
"Who?" She interrupts me.
"Don't play dumb. My mate, when you made your way into Izumo and rammed a Beast Killer through." The Kitsune seems to have fallen unconscious.
"There was no 'Keaton' on my contract, so I'd no reason to kill a 'Keaton'." ...Honesty, "Hadronix is the only one I'd kill without a contract."
"Well, who else could have killed him without being detected?"
"For the love of… just eat that Kitsune, will you?" She then leans on a tree, "I assure you, Yasei, I did not kill this 'mate' of yours."
'Nothing but the truth, but if she didn't kill him, then who did? Was Xander right back then? Did Hadronix or Raven…' The Rogue coughs and gestures towards the Shifter once more. 'No, they wouldn't, then would it have been Phoenix?' I lower myself to the still living Kitsune. 'Rip, feast.' I bring my own teeth to her neck, 'Blood, flesh.' Repeating what I did to Kaden, I bite into her neck, her breathing turns rapid as I suck in the blood as fast as I can, and once more, I lap up the extra as her heartbeat slows. 'Gods… so good.'
"You done?" Lotus asks after I ripped almost all of the Shifter's chest out.
"...Yea." I nod as I wipe the rest of the blood off of my face, "Why are you giving me a chance to fight? You're an assassin."
"Tch. It's easy to sneak in and make a kill, but a one-on-one? That's a test of skill." She draws her swords, "I want a challenge, so I don't just waltz into a place and backstab my targets. So, draw your…" She notices the distant lack of my own weapons. She pinches the bridge of her nose, before sheathing one of her swords and reaches into a pocket. "Here." She almost carelessly tosses a sword my way…
It is an intricately designed sheathe and when I take the blade out… "My crafted sword!" Despite the situation, if for the briefest moments, I smile. It is still as pristine as it was before. The darkened Nohrian metals seem to gleem, and I feel a surge of pride from the sight of the Nohrian royal family seal. Taking a breathe, I assume my stance and...
"W-wait!" Raven dashes in, "St-stop fighting, please!"
"...Raven." The other greets.
"Don't kill her, Lotus, please." She steps in between Lotus and me.
"I'm a Rogue, she's a target. Move." For some reason, she is hesitant on attacking Raven.
"We need to help her." The Monk counters, "Just this once, please."
"No can do. The contract can't be fulfilled if a target remains alive." Lotus walks up to both of us, "Move."
Instead, Raven assumes a fighting stance, "I won't let you." Her nervousness has went away.
"Tch." Lotus scoffs, before charging me. She attempts to slash, but Raven catches the sword between her palms. The Rogue lashes out with her other sword, though the Monk lets go of the first, before weaving around both of them. 'Gods, those two are on a level beyond me.' I might as well be watching a strong wind blow trees down. At least that is how it went for a half minute or so. I see blood start to drop from Raven. 'She hasn't recovered from that spell yet.' "Back. Down."
"I have an oath to protect. You know killing is a last resort." Raven's breathing is becoming labored.
"That's your oath, not mine."
"You are perfectly capable of non lethal techniques." A metallic ring echoes through the forest as my retainer pulls out one of those half moon weapons off of her waist. "And I'm perfectly capable of lethal techniques." Electricity crackles from her weapon, but unlike the normal yellow, hers is coming out as a light green, almost mist like. Another ring and she blocks both of Lotus's swords.
"But you lack the determination to kill." Several more clashes echo out.
"...Celestials," Raven takes a breath as another assault is deflected, "My sincerest apologies, Lotus." Something in the Monk changed in that moment, "Storm," Electricity starts to arc through her body, and a heavy blue mist covers her form. Raven started pushing Lotus back as her strikes came out so fast, that I can't keep track.
"Yasei… is my kill." The skulls on the hilt of her blades began glowing an intense red.
"Nobody has to die." Her voice comes out like an echo, "E-earth." The electricity across her body shifts to small rocks, the mist turns to dust. She then catches Lotus's swords with her hands without so much as a nick.
"Wh…" That action catches her off guard… as does the following kick to her face.
"F-fi…" Raven coughs up blood, "Fir…" She stumbles backwards. 'But she suffered only a few hits…' It then dawns on me what is wrong, 'She's going to die from using too much magic.' Lotus attempts another strike, but once more, despite the Monk's current state, gets reflected. The dust and small rocks that covered her form abruptly left her, as she staggers back, unable to hold whatever magic she was using.
"You got in the way, Raven." Lotus lands a cut, yet Raven blocks the second.
"Not… done yet." As if in response to her distress, the electricity from the half-moon blades increased, and they even seemed to start releasing a violent gust of wind. "I will protect… my charge." She slashes out once, blowing the Rogue back with enough force for her to slam into a tree, and for a brief moment, I saw a visage of some giant being made of wind covering the Monk. "The Windlord, Al'Akir, makes it so." The visage fades and she collapses.
Lotus was gone before I could even turn my eyes back on her. "Raven!" She's alive, if barely. "I got you." I whisper as I lift her up…
At least Lotus left.