The Arrival of Calamity - Alliances

"Are you kidding me?! Why are there so many Grimm?"

Velvet idly thought that was good question, as she dodged the charge of something that might have looked like a prickleboar, if not for the pitch-black fur, glowing red eyes (all four of them), pale bony mask and gigantic curving tusks. She retaliated with a swipe of her claw, tearing through the beast, only to see it replaced by two others.

Getting out of town had been as easy as her companion advertised. They simply showed up at one of the doors, before the infiltrated bandit gave the standing guards a handful of cards. Velvet could only assume that was the currency of this world, despite looking nothing like any sort of coin she was familiar with. Still, it seemed human greed remained the same, at the very least. The two of them were let out, and began their travel through the wilderness. Which was when things began to go wrong.

According to her guide, they would need half a day, give or take a few hours, to reach the encampment he was leading her to. But what should have been a relatively simple trek quickly turned out into a series of battles against those Grimm creatures Velvet had heard so much about. For the third time today, the duo was attacked by a flock of those beasts. As it turned out, she hadn't been that far off by comparing them to daemons; they certainly gave off a similar feel.

Yet there were different too, Velvet found. As she dug her claw into another daemonic prickleboar-lookalike, she was struck by the strange feeling it was giving her. There was no soul for her to devour, instead she was being fed only raw malevolence. Even without absorbing the corpses, they faded away in a short amount of time, as if the hostile force giving them consciousness was leaving them. How did those creatures came to be?

She shelved that question for later when she heard her travelling companion screaming. To Velvet's exasperation, the bandit had proven a mediocre fighter so far, certainly nothing like the two hunters she fought earlier. She had hoped he'd be able to pull his weight when he produced yet another of those Siegfried-looking devices that seemed ubiquitous in this world, but the thing didn't seem as versatile or powerful as the relic Zaveid carried with him. The bandit did manage to dispatch a few creatures with it, but declared himself to be out of rounds during their second encounters with the beasts, leaving him relatively defenceless. At least most of the Grimm seemed to ignore him and focus on her, for some reason, which made things easier. Still, there was always the odd one out looking for a weaker prey.

Holding back a frustrated groan, Velvet rushed to his help. She had a rather poor opinion of the man so far, but him dying here would leave her lost in the middle of nowhere again. In the blink of an eye, she was tackling the charging daemon-boar, grabbing it by its horn before slamming it into the ground. A slice of her blade made sure the beast wouldn't rise again. After making sure her travelling companion was safe, she charged once again into the fray, half a dozen Grimm meeting her head-on. The therion dispatched them one by one in a hurricane of steel and daemon flesh.

A minute later, they were alone once again in the clearing the fight took place in, the bandit clapping enthusiastically. "Man, that was incredible. No wonder you managed to take those hunters down! Did you go to one of their combat schools?"

"Combat school?" Velvet raised an eyebrow. Something like the Exorcist training grounds, maybe? "No, I'm mostly self-taught. My mentor taught me the basics, and I figured the rest out for myself." It felt weird talking about Artorius... Arthur that way, after all that happened, but the mere thought no longer made her retch. There had been a time where she could have still call him her mentor proudly. Trying to deny it, and all the feelings that came with it, almost destroyed herself.

"Really? Pretty impressive," the man whistled. "I think I only saw the boss fight like that. No wonder those guys mistook you for her back then!"

Velvet didn't bother to comment, but took note of the information. That 'Raven' the two hunters mistook her for was potentially dangerous.

"But man, this is insane! Third attack in a day? This area was supposed to be mostly Grimm-free! At this rate, we're going to have to move the camp.."

The dark-haired woman simply tuned him off, simply following him as he began to walk through the forest once again. For a moment, she allowed herself to wonder how the others were faring. The Grimm creatures she fought had not been particularly tough for her to handle - they weren't all that dissimilar from a simple mindless daemons – and she suspected Rokurou would find them equally unchallenging. She could already picture the war daemon complaining about the lack of challenge. But the other members of their little Menagerie might not be so lucky.

If they all got separated, then the two humans of the team might actually be in pretty big trouble. Without a malak to support them and amplify their powers, Eleanor and Magilou would have a lot more trouble fighting back. Truth be told, Velvet wasn't too concerned about Magilou – as if the insane witch would do her the pleasure of dying so easily – but Eleanor was another matter. The earnest former exorcist wasn't the kind to lay low and stay out of trouble, and Velvet wasn't sure her skills with a spear would be enough to keep her safe.

Velvet couldn't help but wonder, though. The two hunters she had fought would have had their place among the exorcists, perhaps even as praetor. They were no Oscar or Theresa, but they could have clearly defeated daemons, and even used some artes. And they did all that without any malakhim assistance. Did the inhabitants of this world find a way to fight back without the help of spiritual beings? Velvet supposed they had to, if those Grimm were as ubiquitous as they seemed to be.

And then there were the malakhim of the group. The thought of Bienfu fighting anything was absurd, but at least the normin malak wasn't the kind to seek danger, quite the contrary in fact. But Eizen and Laphicet were another matter. Both were headstrong in their own way, and they just got dumped in a world populated with monsters purely made of malevolence. That was a recipe for trouble if Velvet ever heard of one. And without Eleanor, Phi had no vessel to ward off the worst effects of a contamination.

She had to find him, and fast. Even if he lucked out and managed to find refuge in a human settlement, eventually the malevolence they emitted would-

The therion paused. Did humans generate malevolence here? She had thought nothing of it back then, but when she ate those hunters, their souls were pure of any taint. Not completely impossible, but exceedingly rare where she was from. And while this world was apparently fighting against monsters, there had been no sign of daemons. So humans overwhelmed by negative emotions were... fine?

She looked back at her guide who was walking in front of her. Bandits in her world had become exceedingly rare since the Advent, the very nature of their activities making them prime targets for daemonblight. Most groups usually fell apart when one or several of their members turned and slaughtered those who wouldn't. The Van Eltia crew had been one of the few exceptions. Yet the man she followed seemed to be part of a relatively infamous group, presumably active for a while, and apparently they had managed to avoid such a fate.

In fact, she couldn't feel an ounce of malevolence from her companion, which was definitely an oddity given his apparent personality. Would that mean humans couldn't turn into daemons in this world? That almost seemed too good to be true.

Her musings were interrupted by a joyful exclamation. "Finally, we're here!"

Velvet looked up. As the man said, they had arrived to the encampment. The place didn't look like much, several tents made from animal hide surrounded by a shoddy wooden palisade. Several crates and barrels were just left around without any sense of order behind it. As they walked through the camp, she counted forty, maybe fifty tribesmen, most of them dropping everything they were doing to watch the stranger, some with confusion, some with naked hostility, and a few with leering smiles and a couple whistles. The therion did her best to keep her facial expression neutral. She didn't particularly care for any of them, but she'd rather avoid more trouble if possible.

"Wait here, I'm going to talk to Raven," her travelling companion said, before looking at the gathering they just created. "Don't any of you morons try anything. It'd end badly, trust me."

The warning was answered with several mutters and a few sceptical looks, but no-one made a move toward her as her guide disappeared inside the largest tent to confer with his leader. Crossing her arms, Velvet began to wait, trying to ignore the gazes upon her, and particularly toward her chest from more than one male – and a couple females. She was rarely bothered by her relatively revealing clothes, and Eleanor's one-off attempt at mending them into something a bit more modest got ruined into the very next fight they got into, her tendency to just dive into melee and push through injuries instantly ruining whatever work the former exorcist managed to accomplish. But right now, having so many people openly staring was unnerving, to say the least. The therion also couldn't help but notice everyone here seemed to carry a weapon. If even a few of them had skills comparable to those hunters, this could make any fight troublesome.

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait for long. After a couple of minutes, her guide exited the tent, followed by his infamous leader.

Velvet supposed she could see the resemblance. Both shared wild, long flowing black hair. Their builds and height were similar enough, and both wore black and red clothes, although it would have been impossible to mistake one outfit for another. And while the eyes were of different color, crimson and amber staring at each other, the way they sized each other up was not all that dissimilar. While no-one would mistake them for each other when looking at them side by side, Velvet suspected they could easily play pretend as sisters.

The therion took notice of the longsword resting at her side in a strange sheathe, and of the white mask with red outlines tucked under her arm, almost animal-like in its form. Given the air of authority she exuded, it wasn't hard to believe she was the leader of that troupe of outlaws. After a moment of silence, Raven finally spoke.

"So. According to Schwarz, you killed two hunters today. That certainly peaks my interest."

Velvet shrugged, as the rest of the crowd whispered all around her. So that was the name of the man who led her here? Somehow she didn't even bother to ask. "I suppose. I was left with little choice when they mistook me for you."

"Hm. I suppose it's an understandable mistake to make," Raven answered after spending a few seconds to examine her once again. "But now I wonder what someone like you is doing here in the first place."

Someone like her, huh? "I have no idea where 'here' is to begin with. I'm just looking for my friends."

The bandit leader considered her answer, showing the tiniest bit of curiosity. She apparently decided the questions she might have about this peculiar situation could wait, going for the business approach instead. "I see. I have ears across this country and beyond that could help you, I suppose. However, our help and hospitality isn't free."

Velvet had expected as much. "I won't take part in your banditry," she warned. Her current situation was bad enough, becoming a full-fledged bandit wasn't high on her list of priorities.

"That's acceptable," Raven simply shrugged. "My subordinate told me you have quite a gift when it comes to killing Grimm. In exchange for our help, I'll ask you to help defend this encampment. Perhaps destroy a lair or two if we ever run across one. Do we have a deal?"

The therion looked at the extended hand before seizing it, both women using just a little more force than necessary in their handshake. "Deal."

"Excellent," Raven smiled. "Welcome to the Branwen tribe, then. Do you have a name you want to share?"

The therion swallowed a sarcastic retort, sticking instead to a neutral approach. "Velvet. Velvet Crowe."

The name somehow got a chuckle out of the swordswoman. "Isn't that an amusing coincidence. I believe I'll have questions for you later, Velvet Crowe."

"I can't promise I'll answer," the daemon-girl retorted. The small act of defiance didn't seem to bother Raven however.

"We'll see. For now, I'll let Vernal find you a place to sleep. Try to not kill anyone, or you'll answer to me. Any questions?"

"Your place, your rules," Velvet simply shrugged. That seemed to mark the end of the conversation, as Raven walked back within her tent and the bandit crowd began to scatter, each tribesman resuming their previous tasks. As she followed the bandit girl assigned to her by her leader, Velvet let her mind wander once again toward Phi. The others would probably be fine for a while, but his fate was the one that worried her the most.

Until she found him, she could only hope he'd manage to stay out of trouble. Hopefully his first steps in this new world would have been less eventful than hers.

"I hope Velvet have an easier time than me in this place," Laphicet nervously muttered, as he watched the giant twin-headed snake, who seemed to exude malevolence through every pore, slowly slithering toward him.

Gulping, the young malak readied his talismans. This just wasn't his day, it seemed.

End of Part One: the Arrival of Calamity