Ding...Ding...Ding Ding Ding!
The people in Orario looked up when a ringing sound echoed over the city, then they heard Hermes´ voice.
"Ahem, dear citizens and fellow gods. We received a formal request to do some additional censorship, by covering Takemikazuchi´s child more, right now... Could you now please lower your fist, Take?..."
Many male gods and other men in Orario cried out when the scenery in the mirrors changed a bit, instead of becoming white light, the full area around Mikoto´s waist and hips, as well as her chest were covered in pure darkness.
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Mmmh...this is embarrassing...I hope no one is watching.
Mikoto moved carefully through the night, she couldn´t believe the clothes she was wearing. Her problem wasn´t the ninja suit, she was trained to wear one, the problem was her bottom. To have a maximum of movement, she had to wear something that was nearly too much for her maiden heart.
Her usual underwear didn´t work and a fundoshi also wouldn´t fit. So Mikoto used something meant for adult women for the first time...a thong.
She tried to calm down her racing heart. Her problem wasn´t the mission ahead of her, but the fact that the suit fit like a second skin, and with that feeling of being almost naked, the suit just felt like that.
Auuu, focus.
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A bit of smoke and dust still waved around the castle, it was perfect to cover Mikoto. She wore nothing that would reflect light, Mikoto was one with the darkness.
Every piece of her gear had been carefully prepared to make no noise. The soles of her shoes were specially designed so that she could tread softly without making noise. The closer she got to the castle, the calmer and more focused she became. The walls were still intact and the gate was not an option. So how was she supposed to get into the castle?
Mikoto silently moved around the castle, until she arrived at a special wall.
Haruhime, thank you for enduring the taunts, the laughter...in Orario, I'm sure some laughed too. Without you this would not be possible. I'll make sure your shame hasn't been in vain.
Mikoto watched the forms of the guards on the walls, there were very few, she couldn´t know this, but only twenty people were awake in the castle right now. Even when a guard leaned over the crenellation and looked down, directly in her direction, Mikoto was invisible against the dark background.
The wall before her, was the one that Haruhime had bombarded. Haruhime was by no means bad with her arrow, she had to endure much and do her best, so that it looked like she was bad at aiming. Mikoto´s bluish-purple eyes wandered to the arrow that was the closest to the ground. It looked like the Apollo familia didn´t notice the plan they had with these.
With her hands, Mikoto checked her equipment one last time, then she moved close to the wall. It was good that she usually bind down her chest with the bandage or it would become a problem when she climbed. She looked at the arrow in the darkness, it was sticking out of the wall two meters above the ground.
Mission...start!
Mikoto lowered a bit down and jumped up, both of her hands closed around the shaft of the arrow, as close to the wall as possible. Each of the arrow shafts had a diamater of three centimeters, which was enormous, but so was Haruhime´s bow. And since Mikoto was a young, slender woman, the arrow managed to carry her weight.
Her mind became empty when she started to pull her body up. The people in Orario watched amazed how she curled up her body, slowly swinging her legs around until the hollow of her knees touched the next arrow and Mikoto pushed her lower legs against her thighs, letting go of the arrow below her and holding herself just with her legs. She waited for a moment to see if the arrow remained in place, but nothing happened.
She used her hand on the damaged wall to move further up, until she was basically sitting on the arrow.
Takemikazuchi chased a male god through Orario, who cried out he wished he could be this arrow right now.
Mikoto´s focussed eyes wandered to the arrow that would be the next one.
Thank you, lady Lefiya. Your aim was perfect.
When Lefiya had bombarded this wall too, so that the Apollo familia wouldn´t get suspicious, she let it look like ther magic flew randomly, but she had carefully aimed to not hit some arrows.
Mikoto pulled her legs up and balanced on the arrow with her feet. Kicking herself off, she jumped three meters, her hand closed quickly around the next shaft and she remained still afterwards, listening if she made any noise. A guard passed her on top of the wall, but didn´t notice anything.
She continued to climb carefully, sometimes she could put her hand or feet in a crack in the wall, which was a bit dangerous, since she stone could crack or some small debris could fall out.
Orario grew unusually quiet, with many people watching Mikoto's climb. Even in the new Pleasure Quarter, some lovemaking stopped, it was so exciting for many to watch. Of course, bets were immediately made as to whether she would make it or get caught.
Eventually, Mikoto arrived at the last arrow, close to the parapet. Her movements stopped when a guard came closer, her left hand wandered to the her leg holster. The guard looked over the parapet and her breathing stopped, it only needed one quick movement from her to knock out the guard.
"Damn...I wanna go to bed..."
The guard continued to move, if he had lowered his gaze a bit more, he would´ve seen Mikoto crouching there. When he turned away, many people in Orario let out their breath, it was incredibly exciting to watch Mikoto's infiltration. She pressed herself against the wall, listened to the steps for a while, then she dared to slowly move up and look over the parapet.
Mikoto could see a few guards moving around, each of them carried a magic stone lamp. Her eyes wandered to the inner courtyard, there were a few lights down there, but what Mikoto's eyes sought wasn't the lit areas, it was the areas in between. Thankfully, most of the castle was in darkness, partly because of the dust that still hung in the air, and partly because the Apollo familia didn't want to provide an obvious target. It was the first time for Mikoto that she experienced on her own body how much dust could be stirred up by fighting, in the dungeon it was different, she briefly wondered why.
Before she acted, Mikoto rememberred something very important, something that Kaguya told her. There wasn´t one far eastern member in the Apollo familia. So it was unlikely that they knew all too well what a ninja was or could do. Also, Mikoto fought only as a samurai so far, so no one knew what she could do.
She easily balanced herself in a niche of the parapet, following the movement of the guards with her eyes. It was easy to see that they were all tired and exhausted, not like Mikoto, she was filled with energy and well rested.
The spectators in Orario gasped loudly as Mikoto suddenly jumped forward. It was a dive, Mikoto did an elegant somersault and landed in the courtyard without making the slightest sound, such a dive would have been impossible even for a level one. What helped was that Mikoto relied heavily on agility, that and her perfectly fitted gear. Nothing rattled, nothing slipped. She landed on her left foot, leg tucked, right leg stretched out to the side, foot on the floor. The pose looked strange to viewers, but it had a purpose, so she could quickly dodge to the side in case of danger.
Mikoto placed her hands side by side on the floor. They were encased in a type of glove that left the palms exposed to allow for a better grip. Her masked face turned slightly to the side as she gracefully arched her slim body into a handstand. Because she slowly bent her legs forward. Basically, she dropped silently in a controlled manner, landed on her feet again and used the momentum to get up. Moving on tiptoe, Mikoto almost danced between the sheets of light, not a part of her body ever being immersed in the light.
Her heart was beating calmly and evenly, the path she had to take through the courtyard was anchored in her mind. For a ninja, just glancing inside the fortress was enough to see a path. At first Mikoto was unsure, could it be a trap? The route to the door she intended to use seemed almost too easy. It was easy for her to follow the shadows, she never had to pass a cone of light. After a few moments, she remembered the obvious reason. She was a ninja, the apollo familia don't expect someone like her.
Mikoto stopped close to the door, looking up to the guards, but not one of them looked into the courtyard. She glanced at the door again and couldn't believe her luck, the door wasn't closed. The door was open a tiny crack, a rolled-up cloak lying in the bottom corner, preventing the door from slamming shut. Maybe they did it for a light breeze? It was quite warm at night and with all that dust it was definitely stinging during the day.
Every spectator in Orario sat on the edge of their seat as Mikoto tiptoed to the door and opened it as quietly as possible. The passageway inside was mostly in darkness, with one last look at the guards she slipped inside and quietly pulled the door shut until she touched the cloak and stopped.
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"Mikoto did it, she is inside!" Chigusa clapped happy.
"That was awesome, Mikoto really became good."
Takemikazuchi nodded smiling, after he stopped to strangle the god that made the lewd comment about Mikoto´s behind.
"The easy part is now over, let us see what she plans to do."
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Mikoto´s eyes wandered left and right, every few meters was a magic stone lamp and she could hear silent steps. Guards were no doubt patrolling the halls of the castle. Mikoto recalled Nahza's notes, it was amazing what she had noticed. Nahza had constantly observed how the Apollo familia acted. Through which doors which members of the familia went and other things. Nahza had even crept up to the castle the first night and listened between the explosions. This way she knew roughly where the quarters of the familia were and...where their pantries. Mikoto had a simple yet very mean plan, but she had to take it one step at a time. She knew that a lot depended on her, she couldn't let herself be caught and she had to succeed.
She moved noiselessly, her short sword remaining in its scabbard, Mikoto would only draw it if things got ugly. If she did her job perfectly, no one would ever know she was there. As she moved quietly, her left hand hovered over the leg holster, ready at any moment to draw what was inside. Her bracers were a little thicker than they should be for a ninja, but it had to be as tiny weapons were stuck inside. Special throwing needles, quick to use and silent... and coated in poison. Whoever got hit by one of these needles would immediately pass out and fall asleep. She hoped she wouldn't have to use them. Mikoto kept sneaking until she reached the bottom of a staircase, this was her first waypoint. Nahza had heard that people had used a staircase near one of the pantries. It was to be assumed that the chambers were on the ground floor, since the packages, some of which were very large, could only be transported upstairs with great difficulty. The question was, were the pantries guarded?
As it soon turned out...no.
The plan to deprive them of any rest now paid off.
Mikoto´s hand closed around the doorknob and she did her best to open the door without making a noise. The inside of the room was dark, but Mikoto noticed the shapes of several boxes and sacks, and the smell of food. As a war orphan and someone who never had much to eat as a child, everything in Mikoto balked at what she planned to do. After carefully closing the door behind her, she slowly moved around the room. It was a good thing she never looked directly into the light sources, her night vision was good enough. The people of Orario watched her pull a special thrusting dagger from her bracer. It was basically a hard piece of steel with a sharp point.
Mikoto moved to the first sack, thrust the dagger in and moved it down so it ripped open. A few small potatoes tumbled out, then she drew back the dagger and moved on to the next. She damaged each sack one by one, but her plan was not to let the contents fall out, only to damage them. As quietly as possible, she began to work on the individual boxes until she had produced small holes. It took around five minutes to slightly damage every container in the room.
With that done, Mikoto grabbed her backpack and opened it with deft fingers of her left hand and with extreme caution pulled out a round object. It was wrapped in special cloth. She found a box in the middle of the room and put the ball there, between two sacks that were lying on the box, then pulled the cloth away. A glass sphere appeared, in the darkness it looked as if it was filled with black smoke. In fact, however, the smoke was a mixture of dark green and purple. She shook the orb heavily one time, then she put it back down.
I won´t ask for forgiveness about doing that to the familia, only for wasting the food.
Mikoto bowed one time down to the food boxes, then she sneaked out of the room and closed the door again.
It was time to move to the next room.
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"Eh?"
"Isn´t that..."
"This orb..."
"Hey, isn´t that one of Viana´s?!"
"Viana, my dear?"
"Yes, lady Astrea?"
"Would you kindly tell me why the young Mikoto has one of those?"
All eyes of the Astrea familia members wandered to the dark elf, who sat in an armchair without her veil, since no visitors were there. As an answer, Viana showed Astrea a diabolical smile.
Astrea sighed. "I hope you didn´t go too far?"
"Not directly, it isn´t lethal."
When Astrea looked to Kaguya, she saw the smile of a pleased cat.
"I guess it was you who introduced these two?"
"I just thought they would get along really well, lady Astrea. And I know that Viana dying to try the orbs."
The dark elf smiled shyly. "Only a little bit."
"What else did you give her?"
"Just a few Dauthdaertya and...something else."
Dauthdaertya were the special kind of throwing needles that Mikoto had in her bracers.
"And that something else i-Oh no way!"
It was rare for her children to hear Astrea yell out suddenly. The goddess jumped to her feet when she watched the scenery in the mirror.
"Viana! Tell me you didn´t give her "those"!"
"You told me to throw them away and get rid of them."
The goddess looked at her follower agitated. "But not like this! You should´ve thrown them away in the dungeon."
"And risk a beast person being too close to it? If Neze were too close then..."
The tanned werewolf girl growled. "I would beat you up again, trust me on this."
"S-See?"
"Hah...Kaguya could you at least stop smiling like a cat that is playing with a mouse?"
"Of course, Mylady."
One half of Astrea´s followers looked a bit disgusted at Viana and Kaguya, the other half...including Alise...amused.
"Oooooh, that will be so funny!"
"Alise...this way of fighting is inhuman." Ryu frowned.
The Astrea familia continued to watch how Mikoto moved around the ground floor and placed various orbs in hidden places. Some of them were really small, filled with black smoke, these were simple smoke bombs. When she arrived in a storage room, she damaged the containers and placed an orb with green and violet filled smoke there. And in some places...orbs that were halfway filled with a liquid.
The people in Orario noticed that Mikoto was especially carefull with the last one. Since the mirrors didn´t show the camps at night, no one saw that Haruhime and Nahza put on special masks, to cover their noses.
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"My ears feel so much better."
"I know, I´m glad that these monsters also need to sleep at some point."
"Bombarding us non stop is such a nasty way of fighting."
"Yeah, but they are weaklings and..."
The two guards went around the next two corners and were gone. A few seconds later, a shadow fell from the ceiling and Mikoto landed gracefully on her feet.
The light from the lamps did not reach the ceiling, there was enough shadow and darkness everywhere in the castle. Mikoto used a technique Takemikazuchi had shown her that he called "ghost gliding". It was entirely possible for her to move through a room or hallway using only the ceiling, and Mikoto did so more than once. It was incredibly exciting for the people of Orario to watch, some holding their breath when a guard passed beneath her. But it was as if she wasn't really there, her mastery of stealth was just perfect. The gods never had a chance to watch something like this, so they were really excited. Some wondered what else the children of Takemikazuchi could do and now some others longed for a child from the far east.
Mikoto could and must never know that what she was doing here was the reason why some tailors in the new Entertainment District created some "sexy ninja" costumes and with that "infiltration services". She would die of shame if she knew this.
Using the tools she got wasn´t easy for her, for a moment she rememberred the moment when Kaguya came up with an idea.
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"Huff...Huff...Huff."
"You are getting better."
"Thank you, elder sister Kaguya."
Mikoto only trained in special pants and the binding around her chest, since the day was really hot. Kaguya told her that there was no chance someone would come here, which was the reason why Mikoto dared to take the kimono off.
"When you´re able to master the quick draw, you can also use it to disarm people in different ways."
"Like striking against the hilt or shaft of their weapons?"
"Yes, or like this."
Kaguya moved her sword faster than Mikoto could notice.
"Huh? What did you do?"
Kaguya smiled wide, then Mikoto started to notice an airy feeling. When she looked down, her face became deep red.
"Kyaa!"
Kaguya had cut right through Mikoto´s binding, without even scratching her skin. Now her bindings fell down and her breasts became exposed. Mikoto´s hands shot up and she covered her nudity just before the two most important parts became visible, while she crouched down.
"Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Most people, especially women, are unable to fight when you do something like that, shame stops them.
"Who wouldn´t be ashamed?!"
"Alise for example, or me. Against Leon this would be very effective, but she would also fall in a rage."
"Which I can understand!"
Mikoto looked up to Kaguya with teary eyes.
"It is not like anyone who cares about that saw your skin, now cover yourself and follow me, I want to introduce you to someone."
"Mmmh..give me a moment."
After she used a new bandage to bind her chest and put on her kimono again, Mikoto followed Kaguya.
"There is a familia member that is really interested in you, but she is too shy to come on her own. So I will bring you to her."
"But for what reason?"
"Oh you will see, you two will go along very well, trust me."
Kaguya stopped in front of the last room in a hallway. She knocked three times, then she opened the door slowly.
"Vi, you there?"
"We are."
Mikoto blinked confused. "We?"
"She talks like that, dark elves have a tendency to talk a bit strange."
"We heard that."
"I know, your ears are long enough for that. Follow me, pupil."
"Yes..."
Whatever Mikoto expected to find in a dark elf's room, it wasn't this. The rooms in the home of the Astrea familia were of different sizes. As a goddess, Astrea had the greatest, followed by Alise and Kaguya as captain and vice captain. Lefiya and Filvis had a larger room because they shared it, but the next largest belonged to the Dark Elf. In fact, it was in some ways the largest of all the rooms, as she had an extra basement that was far larger than her room.
And what Mikoto found in that room...were plants. Dozens and dozens of different plants. The air felt a little muggy, probably from the summer heat. Most of these plants Mikoto had never seen before, but some gave off a strange smell.
"H-
"Watch out."
Kaguya slightly pulled Mikoto´s arm to stop her movement. Mikoto looked down and flinched a bit, a snake slowly crawled across the ground and disappeared between some plants...and it wasn't a small snake.
"Wha.."
"Her pet."
"Pet?!"
"Yeah, she has a few pets, lady Astrea allows it as long as they stay in her room. And yet lady Astrea has to feed them sometimes when we are in the dungeon for a few days, during an Expedition."
Mikoto looked up and noticed by chance a tarantula.
"Irgh..."
"Vi thinks they are cute, with the short fur and the eight eyes."
"Aha..."
"""Hisss!"""
"Kya!"
Mikoto yelped and jumped back.
"A monster?!"
"No, her favorite pet. It is harmless for someone like us."
Mikoto´s eyes widened in shock when Kaguya crouched down and gently petted the head of the creature that came out between the plants, or rather...one of the three heads. It looked like a hydra, but it was really small, not bigger than a cat.
"From her home country, these things live there and are kept as pets."
"We love Skylla..."
Mikoto turned around when she heard a voice, it was the dark elf that she had briefly seen before. She wore black clothes, had a skin color close to an amazon, completely white hair and...well Mikoto couldn´t see her eyes. The dark elf used a veil to cover her eyes and nose, only her mouth was visible.
"Viana has a problem to look in the eyes of people she doesn´t know."
Mikoto bowed slightly. "Nice to meet you."
The dark elf nodded slightly, but she didn´t say something.
"She also has a problem to talk to people she doesn´t know."
"W-We can´t help it..."
She wasn´t sure if her eyes betrayed her, but Mikoto could swear that the tips of the dark elf´s ears got a bit darker, was she embarrassed?
"Elder sister Kaguya said you wanted to see me. My name is Yamato Mikoto."
"Elder...sister?"
Kaguya smirked pleased, Mikoto was sure that the dark elf was rolling her eyes.
"Since she is too shy to introduce herself, this is Viana, the princess of all dark elves."
"A princess?!" Mikoto looked surprised.
"We are no princess. Lady Kaguya we told you to stop making this joke."
"Ehe."
Mikoto sighed, so Kaguya just messed with her again.
After she had her fun, Kaguya looked a bit more serious. "Let´s get to business. Vi, I told you about the strategy they have for the wargame. Mikoto, Viana has an interesting idea due to her...hobbies."
The dark elf looked unhappy. "These aren´t hobbies..."
"Anyway, talk to her a bit, I will be back when you are finished."
When Kaguya left, an awkward silence followed for a while.
"Thou are trained in the arts of ninja?"
"Yes."
"We have something...that we would like to test."
"Test?"
The dark elf showed Mikoto the way to the basement, everything down there was a laboratory. Mikoto saw all sorts of glass containers, some bubbling, as well as various boxes and boxes. In one corner was a table carved with runes, each of the runes glowing slightly...as she later learned, this was just for ambiance.
"What are you making here?"
She saw the lips of the dark elf curling into a smile. "Poison."
"Poison?"
"Yes."
Mikoto noticed a helmet hanging on a stand, she had never seen anything like it. Instead of holes for the eyes, this helmet had cut crystal lenses. The part in front of the mouth was much larger than it should be, it was later explained to her that it contained filters.
Slowly, Mikoto remmeberred the alias she heard about this member of the Astrea familia and had wondered before why she was named like this.
"That means, you are..."
The dark elf curtseyed politely.
"We...are Venom."
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Viana...or Venom was the reason why Mikoto had the orbs with her. Astrea´s follower wanted to test a few new ideas a bit, but she promised that none of them were lethal. The orbs that contained the liquid had no poison inside them, but something else...something really nasty.
Viana begged her to not drop one of those in her home or her whole familia would beat her up, including a spank from Astrea...
Mikoto continued to place the orbs in hidden places, then she finally arrived at the biggest of the storage rooms.
Lady Alfia, it is time to use your gift.
Even if she didn't want to, Mikoto had to hurry a little. After she shook the other balls, the contents started to work and become unstable. She would have her mask against the poison, but Mikoto wanted to be far away when the orbs with the liquid broke. After making sure no one was around, she carefully opened the door. She finally found the most important one, this is where the water supplies were stored.
The good thing this time was she didn't have to damage the containers. Mikoto sneaked back into the middle of the room and opened her backpack one last time. She pulled out Alfia's present, which was still in the small sealed box. Mikoto broke the seal and opened the box, pulling out a sphere.
As she touched the sphere, it began to glow faintly. It was the usual reaction, she would only be in trouble if she dropped it.
Never before in her life was Mikoto so careful and gentle with an object, as she placed it in the middle of the room. After she made sure that the sphere wouldn´t roll away, Mikoto pulled a small glas tube out of her backpack and started to shake it heavily. The tube started to get warm, so Mikoto placed it next to the sphere. It was one of Viana's accidental discoveries while experimenting with her poisons. When she mixed different poisons, strange reactions sometimes ensued. One of the "poisons" in her lab was marked with a warning symbol and a heart. Apparently, it wasn't good as a poison, but it was an incredibly powerful aphrodisiac. Mikoto blushed at the memory, Viana had explained to her what it was and that she was free to test one of them as well. The dark elf was happy to have a "guinea pig". But Mikoto had no use for something like that, Her maiden heart wasn´t ready for something like that.
And the contents of that glass tube were also an accidental discovery. If she mixed the venom of a certain dungeon monster with that of her favorite pet and shook it vigorously, it would become highly unstable and would eventually explode. The explosion was dependent on the amount of poison, but not very strong in general. Mostly the dark elf used it to light a campfire or her fireplace. But now it was exactly what Mikoto needed.
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"We didn´t give her the sphere, lady Astrea. We swear on it."
Astrea´s eyes wandered to Kaguya and then to Lyra, both shook their heads.
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Time to get out of here.
To Mikoto´s bad luck, it was time for the changing of the guard. If her ears weren't deceiving, at least five guards were moving in her direction. Even with ghost glides on the ceiling, she wouldn't go undetected. She had no choice but to move swiftly and quietly up the nearest flight of stairs. Now all she had to do was find a window. Unfortunately there weren't any in the hallways, so she crept to the nearest door and opened it a crack. Mikoto noticed a window...and some cots...occupied cots.
The door closed slowly behind Mikoto, she tiptoed across the room, she must make absolutely no noise or the adventurers would wake up immediately. She was just a little relieved when she realized that this was a women's dorm. One of the beds was empty, the quilt half hanging off the bed, so the owner was probably outside for a moment, perhaps to visit the "bathroom".
Unfortunately for her, the window was behind one of the beds, so she had to climb over it. After looking at the ceiling, Mikoto jumped up and grabbed at ridges in the rock. Many people in Orario had jaws dropping when they saw Mikoto move effortlessly on the ceiling. When she was right over the bed, Mikoto peered down. At that moment, the young woman with the long black hair in bed opened her eyes and her mouth opened wide.
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Hah...Hah...Hah...Hah...Hiiiii!
Cassandra ran for her life, something hunted her in her dream. It was a winged shadow, like a crow in the darkness of the night. No matter in which direction Cassandra ran or how fast she did, the crow chased her and came closer. Panicked, she looked over her shoulder as the crow spread its claws and swooped down on her.
She woke up from her prophetic nightmare and when she looked to the ceiling, her nightmare became reality. Bluis-puprle eyes stared back at her from the dark ceiling.
Before Cassandra could scream, the shadow fell down onto her, something flashed silvery for a moment.
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Mikoto let herself fall, turning around while she went down. She landed with her knees on either side of the young woman, pinning her arms down, the left hand pressed to her mouth and one of the throwing pins in her hand. Pure panic filled the black-haired young woman's eyes and Mikoto leaned forward before she could start screaming. Even with her hand over her mouth, the sound could wake the others up.
Mikoto was about to stab her with the poisoned needle to put her back to sleep when she realized who she was sitting on. It was the black-haired healer that Nahza had seen and made a priority target. If possible, Mikoto should make sure that she couldn't keep healing the others, however she might go about it. A real ninja would now draw the blade and do what had to be done, but this was just a war game, not real combat.
Still, Mikoto leaned down and whispered threatening.
"Make a noise and it will be the last one you ever made."
Cassandra´s eyes widened more, but she remained silent.
A spontaneous idea filled Mikoto, she looked around and made her decision. A bag stood by the young woman's bed.
"Get up, slowl-"
"Mnhml...Cass-"
The throwing needle left her hand with great precision, digging lightly into the shoulder of the other young woman who was just waking up.
"Uh?..MMnhl...Zzzzzz."
Cassandra panicked more when she noticed what happened to her familia member.
"Is this your bag?"
Cassandra nodded.
"Good, take it."
Mikoto didn´t like to threaten someone like that, but the outcome of the wargame was too important. She slowly got up and pulled Cassandra with her, making her pick up the bag.
In the first storeroom that Mikoto had snuck into, the first sphere eventually ruptured, emitting dark green-purple smoke. The smoke quickly spread throughout the room, but was stopped by the door. Since she had damaged all the containers, the smoke went everywhere and touched the food. Potatoes, fruit, meat, everything began to turn black and discolored, and the food became immediately inedible. A few moments later, the poison sphere burst in the next room...and the next.
"You will come with me, don´t even try to resist."
Cassandra shuddered at Mikoto's menacing stare, small tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. She was, as some would say, someone with a weak heart, Daphne rather called it...a crybaby.
"*Hic*"
Mikoto raised the needle, if she had to she would use it. "Be quiet."
She moved to the window and tried to open it, it was locked. Mikoto tried to be quiet, but there was no way to open the window.
Not good.
Her eyes flashed around for a moment, should she knock the woman out and sneak away? Or shatter the window?
Unfortunately for them, at that very moment the first alarm went off in the castle, one of the guards had noticed what was happening to the storerooms. As soon as the scream rang out, the other women in the room woke up. The first reflex of a woman with short, red hair was to look at Cassandra's bed.
"Cassandra!"
The throwing needle left Mikoto´s hand, but the other woman had fast reflexes. Daphne yanked her pillow up and used it to catch the needle, then threw it at Mikoto and jumped up while grabbing her sword.
"Intruder!"
Mikoto did two things at once as Daphne jumped up. With her right hand she drew her short sword, which hung across her hip at the back, with her left she pushed against Cassandra's backpack with full force. Cassandra screamed as she fell against the window, which shattered from the impact. It was a good thing old castles didn't have thick glass in the windows, and shattering glass was fairly safe for adventurers, so there was little chance Cassandra would be cut.
"CASSANDRA!"
Chizan collided with Daphne´s sword, Mikoto noticed that this around sixty centimeters long sword looked like it was made in the far east.
"What have you done to Cassandra?! I´ll kill you!"
Daphne jerked her sword back and was about to execute a quick thrust, a good maneuver against another swordsman. Mikoto wasn't a swordsman though...not even a samurai. Right now...Mikoto was a ninja. In the darkness of the bedroom, Mikoto's contours blurred slightly, she was moving much faster than Daphne had expected. As Daphne's sword darted forward, Mikoto blocked it with her bracer and pushed it aside, then slammed her fist into Daphne's chest.
"Ack!"
Daphne caught herself and tried to attack again, but Mikoto took advantage and got so close that Daphne couldn't use her sword. Mikoto had a huge advantage with her equipment. Daphne wore only panties and a skimpy t-shirt, both of which of course were bathed in blinding white on the magic mirrors. And Mikoto, she wore weapons all over her body. Even her hair was tied up and threaded through a throwing star. Mikoto tensed her left forearm, just as Kaguya and Viana had shown her, one of the throwing pins pushed forward out of the pouch. Her next punch was for Daphne's forearm, who hissed as she felt the sting. Daphne's eyes quickly lost focus, but she didn't pass out, being upper level two her body was too strong to give up immediately.
That was all Mikoto needed though, she slammed Chizan's pommel against Daphne's wrist, hitting it in the right place, causing Daphne to drop her sword. Mikoto punched Daphne again while she crossed her arms to block. Even though she was currently a ninja, Mikoto's nature forbade her from attacking an unarmed one with her sword. Chizan slid back into the scabbard, and Daphne quickly learned what eastern samurai-style hand-to-hand combat meant. Daphne could fight back a little in unarmed combat, but not against someone who had learned under a god of war since childhood, especially unarmed combat. The entire fight from Daphne's sword slash to the point where her back hit the ground lasted eight seconds. It would certainly have been different if Daphne hadn't just woken up, but now everything was spinning for her.
The fight lasted just long enough for the other young women to jump out of their beds and reach for their weapons. All four attacked Mikoto more or less together. If all four were trained to fight an opponent in their midst at the same time, Mikoto would be lost. But they had to be careful not to meet the others, and none of them wore armor, but underwear. Mikoto struck a special pose and showed perfect concentration. The key to defeating these four opponents was not going to arms. For Mikoto, winning meant... letting go. Takemikazuchi had trained her for years, not only was she fascinated by samurai, she lived by that code of honor, happily except for the thing about cutting open her stomach. The god of war had trained her extensively to fight without her weapon, in the special martial art of the samurai. None of her familia could defeat her except for her god, but Takemikazuchi was strong enough to single-handedly defeat most of the Apollo familia in hand-to-hand combat.
The technique Mikoto used was called Jiu Jitsu. It was perfect for a prolonged fight, as instead of fighting strength with strength, it flowed into attacks, deflecting them and using the opponent's momentum against them. So she let the first woman's sword thrust past her, grabbed her arm and pulled her on while tripping her. Too surprised and sleepy to catch herself, the woman stumbled forward and into one of her comrades. The next jabbed at Mikoto with a short spear, but to her a spear was nothing more than a pointed stick... and Mikoto had fought with sticks for a very long time and often. Arching her body back, she struck the top of the spear with her left hand, just past the point, and pushed the woman's hands up, at the same time pushing them aside and in the path of the fourth woman's mace.
"Ah!"
The fourth woman panicked and tried to reverse the path of her mace, instead of hitting the other woman in the head, she only caught her elbow and broke it directly.
"Ack!"
The woman with the spear dropped the weapon, Mikoto caught her and spun the spear around, pulling the other woman's legs away. The first two women got back up and attacked Mikoto, but she was completely in her element and the shock of her appearance helped. In addition, the four women were all level ones, not one of them was a match for Mikoto, who used their numbers wisely against them. Soon they were all on the floor moaning and panting, Mikoto wasting no time and ran to the window.
She jumped to the window just as the door swung open. Since a ninja was always prepared, she had already pulled four throwing needles from her thigh pocket and hurled them towards the door. The adventurer trying to rush into the room tried to jump out of the way as the needles came, but he got hit by three of them, sending him to the ground immediatelly. The last thing that was seen of Mikoto was her dark silhouette in the window, then she jumped into the night.
At that moment, the Inferno Stone she placed in the water storage detonated and the explosion ripped through the room and destroyed over two third of the water supplies.
The Apollo familia members were immediately on their feet and armed, just as the smoke bombs in the castle exploded one after the other. Thick black smoke filled the hallways, causing familia members to cough and gasp. Some screamed that something was wrong with the storerooms, others were thrown to the ground by the blast, still others yelled about intruders. And then... the worst of all happened. Family members yanked open connecting doors and banged into weapon cabinets. One by one the spheres filled with the liquid fell to the ground and shattered. What followed wasn't panic...but it was unsavory.
There was a good reason why Viana should dispose of those orbs and why Nahza and Haruhime tied towels over their noses even though they were far away. And why Mikoto and Lily ran away from the castle with their prisoner as fast as they could. The spheres contained no poison from the dungeon, not even poison itself. But something that would incapacitate most people, especially beast people. Basically, it was a delicacy from Viana's homeland. She came up with the idea since most people only rely on magic, sniping, or dungeon drops in combat. But what about the things that happened naturally in the world? Others would probably prosecute what she had created there as a war crime. The spheres contained a kind of soup made from the remains of a fish.
A special fish delicacy whose containers should only be opened under running water.
It was originally a food developed by humans close to Viana's homeland, but her clan took a liking to it. Only...the smell had a special effect.
It was good that the magic mirrors changed the picture of what was happening. Many members of the Apollo familia were seen kneeling on the floor or leaning against a wall...spitting out streams of rainbows. It would have been beyond disgusting to see and smell what was really happening. Mikoto had destroyed all food and water supplies in one fell swoop and unleashed a weapon of incredible terror. It was this tactic that Alfia called "lowering their status".
.
.
"Ah...ahm...äh...lord Ganesha, do you have something to say?"
"Never underestimate the wrath of a woman, the far eastern battle techniques are terrifying. We should probably never anger Takemikazuchi or he might send his ninja to us."
All over Orario, people were shocked, although the sight of the Apollo familia spewing liquid rainbows was quite exhilarating. Many gods roared with laughter, but just as many learned an important lesson, never underestimate and tease the weak too much...they might think up mean tricks.
.
.
"Ahahahahaha! Ahahahahaha! *inhale* Ahahahahaha!"
Kaguya couldn't stop laughing, she had shed her usual highborn demeanor and was curling up laughing on the couch. Even the otherwise shy Viana couldn't help but grin. The other elves of the Astrea familia weren't so enthusiastic.
Astrea sighed. "I hope these were the last stink bombs you had."
"We will never create them again, we swear."
"Good..." Astrea shook her head and closed her eyes, sighing again.
"Irgh...it would´ve been better if she didn´t use the stink bombs." Ryu wrinkled her nose.
"Vi?"
"Captain?"
"Did you tell her what these spheres had inside them?"
"No."
"You didn´t?"
"No, judging by her behaviour and nature, she would´ve never used them then."
Filvis looked a bit angry. "Then you should apologize to her after the wargame."
Laurier nodded with a green face. "I agree."
Viana slightly shrugged her shoulders. "We won´t apologize, they needed help, we helped them. You were the one that told us that shame has no place in the dungeon."
"Says the one that always wears a veil, even when you work at the pub."
"Viana."
"Yes, lady Astrea?"
"If the young Mikoto gets a bad reputation in Orario because of that, you will explain the situation and apologize on her behalf."
"Yes..."
"Without your veil."
"What?!"
"This will be your punishment."
"Auuu..."
"Winning the fight is important, all her other actions were justified...but the stink bombs were too cruel. What do you think she will do when she finds out about this?"
Mikoto only knew that the spheres would stink, but not that much.
.
.
While the Apollo familia suffered and desperately tried to get the stench out of the castle, Lily and Mikoto disappeared into the night with their captive. Nahza spotted them with her ears before she could even see them, soon they arrived at the camp.
Those who weren´t awake soon got up, all of them were relieved that they were back.
There was only one person in the hidden camp that wasn´t relieved at all.
"Hiiii...please let me go..."
Cassandra shivered when the eyes of the enemy familia fell on her. When Bell made a step forward, Cassandra started to cry.
.
