Chapter 12 Death Battle
The next morning Lizzy, Mary, and Michael left the inn they were staying and soon see just how much the city security has risen; numerous pairs of guards walk up and down the streets, groups between six to a dozen guards at every major intersection and hearing people mumbling about a possible hero leading an army coming here.
Michael speaks up first but quietly, "Well let's see if we are going to be having trouble conducting our mission now. If anything happens don't reveal yourself completely or your capabilities for this world isn't ready for us." The two nod in agreement.
Lizzy turns to the two and says, "I'm going back to the library and do some more research on this world's history and the remaining human kingdoms."
Mary grabs Michael's shoulder and says, "And we are going to the guild to build up our reputation of monster-slaying and get some gold along the way."
Michael adds, "Also gain some intelligence on some of the species we have yet to encounter."
Mary shoots a comment, "You can do all that Michael while I'll figure out how to kill them painfully. Besides, I'll probably ruin the bodies anyway with my favorite mace" She pulls up her mace from her waist and does a couple of squeezes on the handle.
Michael ends the conversation with, "Now we know what each of us is doing, we'll meet at the inn at the end of the day, then summarize what we have done and learned, and report to the commander." Thus, the two went to the guild while Lizzy went back to the library, however, the two going to the guild hadn't realized that they got a pair of hooded figures following them. When Mary and Michael got to the guild building the following pair sat on a stub wall on the other side of the street as they secretly eye the entrance.
Once the two were inside the building, Mary led Michael to Rosie once Mary see her. Mary spots Rosie at a table with some different adventurers than the ones Mary knows. They walk over until, "Hello there Rosie."
Rosie jumps and accidentally lets out a quite noticeable "EEP!" and Mary starts laughing along with the adventurers Rosie was talking with. Michael was unfazed and just waited there.
Rosie cry's out, "That's not funny Carla!" Rosie puffs out her cheeks in both frustration and embarrassment.
"You're not Carla Johnson, are you?" One of the men at the table pointed at Mary. The man behind the finger was slighting shaking either in fright or in excitement.
Mary proudly pounds her chest with her left hand and confidently says, "Indeed I am, Carla Johnson at your service." Mary does an expressive bow and Michael can hear chatter not only behind him but everywhere. Bits and pieces of sentences he can hear, "That's her!", "Is she the one who took on a pack?", etc. He sees that almost all the eyes in the guild were looking or eyeing Mary.
'Looks like your plan worked Mary.' Michael thought to himself as he observes the people.
Mary stands straight up and speaks to Rosie, "Rosie I like you to meet a good friend of mine Ricky." Mary points to Michael to which Michael extends his hand to Rosie and says, "Nice to meet you, Rosie."
"And nice to meet you too Ricky." 'Wow, he looks so mature and handsome.' Rosie slightly blushes after shaking Michael's hand. A few seconds later, Rosie calms herself down and asks, "So how can I help you both today?"
Mary wastes no second answering that question, "Got any powerful or large group of monsters for me to slay?"
Rosie looks through her papers until she spots two requests that fit Mary's question and gives them to her. "I think you can consider those two to meet your expectations."
"Hmm." Mary looks over the two papers and sees one is for the elimination of an ogres group ambushing merchants and the other is the sighting of a dragon in the skies also attacking merchants. Mary says, "I'll deal with the ogres first since they will be easier to find and fight. The dragon, however, I need to know where it lives in order to fight it.
Rosie nods and says, "I'll ask around and see if anyone has seen it fly to someplace particularly as for the ogres, they are west of the city along the mountain area."
"Alright then, I'll go say "hi" to them." Just as Mary was going to leave, Rosie suddenly speaks up, "Won't you need help with this?"
One of the men at the table speaks up, "If you want, we'll be happy to help you, Carla."
Mary thinks for a moment and decides, "Sure, more the merrier!" The men at the table all got up with Mary leading them out to the guild building.
Rosie watches the group leave before turning to Michael and saying, "So, what kind of quest are you looking for Ricky?"
Michael replies, "Do you have any herd gathering or surveying requests?"
Rosie looks back at her stack of quests and starts looking through them again until she spots three papers, "Here are these three herd gathering requests." She hands them to Michael.
Michael looks at them and a second later asks, "Are any of them close to each other, or are they all over the place?"
Rosie thinks for a moment before saying, "The Thorn Berry and White Sunflower thrive in similar sunny open area environments so they can regularly be seen together or close to. The Green Creek Moss grows on rocks next to streams or creeks as the name applies, or in very humid swamp-like environments. And there is only one place I can think of you'll have a possible chance of finding some is at Bog Bottom. But be careful I hear there are a lot of monsters in that area!"
'Good' Michael thinks to himself then says "I'll do the three requests"
"Even the moss one?" Rosie was surprised at Michael's casual tone despite the warning of monsters being in that area.
"Yes, and don't fear, I'm quite skilled with my swords as well in hand-to-hand combat." Rosie doesn't attempt to voice anymore further concerns and simply nods and wishes him success. Michael leaves the guild and heads towards the city's entrance but not alone.
Back at the library, Lizzy has been busy reviewing the world's history and known factions as she is currently in contact with the Commander's ship via telepathy, sending information to them while they cross-reference that information with the prisoner's memories. Occasionally reading into parts that conflicted with the mamono's version of past events. Lizzy would make a note of those incomplete pieces and move on to the next subject turning to make a complete timeline of the entire world's history. The head librarian seems to be excited by Lizzy's efforts and does the best he can to fill the gaps, however, some of the accounts he has told don't fit properly in the timeline. It didn't take long to see that two different timelines are being told, one by each side. Unfortunately, Lizzy was starting to run out of reading material since the library she was in wasn't that big and the other books were on matters that are irrelevant in her search. Lizzy decided to expand her search into myths and legends of old to find some more clues and leads.
Mary and a group of five burly heavy men with beards that could mistake them for mutate dwarves walk on the road that was reported to be infested with ogres.
One of the men, wielding a great sword, his brown beard braided on the ends that reach to the middle of his chest, covered in light armor from the neck down and his arms are exposed but show to be very muscular as he walks to Mary. "So, Carla, how long have you been a monster slayer?
Mary looks up at the sky and thinks for a moment to come up with a believable semi-true story came to her mind and says cold heartily, "The day I lost my family to them." She looks back on the road while the man looks at her slightly wide eye but goes back to normal.
He says, "I'm sorry to hear. I'm Bob." He extends his right hand to her to which Mary grabs and shakes.
Mary dismisses it and replies, "It was a long time ago Bob and I doubt I'm the only one who lost their family to these monsters." She grabs her mace and looks at it and says in a sinister way, "Besides I should thank them for the path they open up to me to be a predator." The man beside her worries about her mental health but chose not to ask.
Another man from the group joins the two, he is carrying a mace similar to Mary's but was more traditional built. This man seems younger than the rest but not lacking in muscles in the slightest and has black hair all over his face with a beard knotted under his chin. He curiously asks, "Hey Carla, how much does your mace weigh?
Mary smiles, "I'll give you mine if you give me yours." and she hands her mace to him as he gives his to her. As soon as Mary drops the mace into the guy's left hand while his right hand was offering her the owner's mace, the guy drops to the ground with the mace. Mary manage to grab the guy's mace before he fell to the ground with hers, she looks at it while the other men laugh at him. Mary tosses it between her hands, examining it before saying, "Feels like I'm holding a regular hammer, fit for hammering in nails." Most of the guys just laughed even harder while the one on the ground struggles to get up with Mary's mace.
"By the Chief Goddess, what kind of sorcery is this Carla!?" the man exclaims.
Mary has a smug grin on her face and says, "Oh, no sorcery, just some high-quality materials made into my favorite mace." Then she teasingly says, "Or I'm just that stronger than you."
The men standing around were either speechless or went "OOOH!" as the guy let go of Mary's mace and threaten to say, "If you were a guy Carla, I would be beating you into a bloody pulp!"
Mary drops the dude's mace and says, "Alright, how about this….?"
"Tom"
"Ok Tom, how about we do a little hand-to-hand sparring?" Mary walks up to Tom while the other start circling around the two making a human ring.
Tom conflicted about this situation speaks up, "You want me to hit you?"
"Yes, and if it makes things better for you, don't think of me as a woman but instead a man. You can even throw the first punch at me and I won't try to dodge it." Mary brings her hands up and turns them into fists.
Tom decides to go with it and brings his fists up and says, "Fine then and I won't go easy on you." He steps forward.
"Oh, it won't be fun if it were too easy to begin with."
Tom throws his first punch at Mary's face as fast and hard as he can. His right fist was mere inches away from her face but caught it in the palm of her hand and says, "You took too long." Mary goes on the offensive as she pulls Tom's right hand and launches a sidekick into the right side. The hit earns a grunt from him as Mary lets go of Tom's hand and deliver a quick jab to the side of his head. The men holler and shout, half cheering on Mary while the other picked on Tom's poor performance. Tom regains his composure and does a faint jab which Mary falls for and does a quick sidestep. Tom does a right leg swipe at Mary's side but was countered as she interrupts by raising her left leg. Next Mary throws a barrage of fists at Tom's head as he blocks most of them a few purposely target his gut. Mary backs away as Tom grazes the side of her head with a sudden counter-frontal jab.
Mary was about to retaliate until "HEY CAN WE JOIN IN THIS BRAWL!"
Everyone looks towards the source of that voice and sees a group of ogres watching joyfully at them. All of them standing on a rock that is a few meters towering over Mary's group with lustful excited eyes looking down upon them. Everyone rushes to ready their weapons while Mary just strolls towards hers.
The one who seems to be the leader shouts at them, "OH DON'T STOP FIGHTING, THINGS WERE JUST GETTING GOOD!" Most of the men realize the ruckus they were making has caught the attention of the group they were looking for.
Mary grabs her mace and focuses on the leader before shouting back, "ACTUAL THINGS ARE STARTING TO LOOK GOOD NOW THAT YOU'RE ALL HERE! ARE YOU ALL READY FOR THE BEATING OF A LIFETIME?!"
The leader of the Ogres jumps down from the large rock and lands in front of the group and replies with a smug grin, "Ours or yours?" Mary just points at them as she walks in front of her group.
"HAHAHA! Your funny human but I should thank you for bringing us all strong worthy husbands since all those merchants broke before satisfying us."
Mary smiles and says, "And I should thank you all for coming to us, it saves me the trouble and time of finding you and breaking you." Mary readies her mace and walks up to the Ogre leader.
The Ogre seeing this as a challenge also walks up to Mary and readies her human-size stone club.
Bob yells out, "Carla you're no much against an Ogre's brutal strength!"
"Let's test that statement." Mary looks at the Ogre leader and asks, "What's your name?"
"Gwen and you?"
"Carla Johnson." Mary does a slight bow and when she stands straight up, she asks, "I bet I can break your club before it breaks my mace."
All the Ogres laugh while the men were left speechless at Carla's challenge, can't believe that Carla wants to do a weapon endurance test on an Ogre's club. Gwen replies, "HA! Your real funny little girl, my club would break your mace and YOU!"
Mary swings her mace behind her, rearing to go, and says, "Let's find out anyway." A predatory grin appears on her face and her eyes focus entirely on the Ogre leader challenging her to do it.
Gwen brings her club behind her and says, "What's that human saying, 'It's your funeral friend." A similar appearance to that of Mary's and they both stare at each other completely.
All the men shout at Mary, "Don't do it!", "This is madness, Carla!", etc.
The two bring their swings towards the other's weapon and as they collide, a large airwave was created followed by a thunderous sound a second later. The two big blunt weapons hit with neither giving as was the wielders and the crowd from both sides couldn't believe their eyes. Both the humans and the ogres were speechless at the display of power. The men couldn't believe that Carla wasn't blown away and the ogres didn't understand how a lowly human wasn't launched into the air.
Gwen speaks up, "I'm impressed that you're holding your ground against that strike. You're not the typical pest I usually deal with." Gwen withdraws her club which Mary does the same. "I guess I should take you seriously."
Mary ready for round two speaks up, "I guess I should too since I barely put any effort into that swing." Her smile widens and waits for Gwen to make her move.
The two stand still for a moment until they both swung at each other again and again hitting each other's weapon with a deafening roar and winds fleeing the scene. The two maintained eye contact with each other, never looking away for a moment as the two crowds were in awe as they watch. The two brought back their weapons only to send them flying at each other with every impact getting louder and harsher even the ground around them begin to tremble. The standoff between them was starting to get noticed as the nearby mamono of both land and air begin to investigate the loud noises. Harpies, Fairies, Greenworms, and various forest creatures gathered next to the two crowds, thankfully for the men, they were more interested in the fight than them, for now. As the duel continues, the combatants' facial expressions changed from smiling demeanors to focus determination as Gwen was starting to sweat and Mary was unfazed entirely.
Gwen speaks up, "Hey Carla, are you a hero by any chance?"
Mary brings her mace back but not readying for another swing as she answers, "No but I do get mistaken for one a lot. I was never blessed by the Chief Goddess but I have found other ways to be the same caliber as them even more." After her explanation, she raises her mace behind her, signaling to Gwen that she is ready to resume the duel. Gwen gets ready too and the two unleashed their power swings.
Tom, Bob, and the others were starting to get really nervous as they see they are almost surrounded by new mamono crowds with some of them eyeing them more than the fight. 'Please Carla hurry up and finish this fight!' Bob thinks to himself. By the tenth swing as if his wish was heard Gwen's stone club begins to crack while Mary's mace shows no sign of damage. Eleventh swing more cracks form on the club and on the twelve swing the stone club explodes as a small dust cloud appears suddenly at the collision point. Mary's mace goes through the dust cloud along the many rock shrapnel going towards the Ogre group and the nearby mamono groups. Screaming could be heard from those who were hit, impaled, or grazed as Gwen just stands there like a statue looking at what remains of her club.
"You break it, you break it, you actually break my club." Gwen couldn't believe her eyes or acknowledge what just happened. Her party trying to get her attention as it turns out one of the Ogres was impaled in the neck and is losing a lot of blood quickly. Those who aren't being assaulted by the stone shrapnel are shocked to see a human beating the ogre in a contest of strength as her weapon was still in one piece. The men were both surprised and relieved to see Carla the victor but those feelings were short-lived as they hear the growls and hums around them.
As the men were beginning to form a defensive circle, they hear a voice cry out, "IS THERE ANYONE HERE WHO CAN BEST ME?" They turn to see Carla addressing the crowd around her as she twirls her mace in the air. The ones who were advancing on the guys stopped and look at Mary as she was looking at them in a challenging manner. "ANYONE WHO BEATS ME CAN TAKE ONE OF THEM BUT DO SO AT YOUR OWN PERIL!" The guys couldn't believe that Carla was betting with their lives so willfully and quickly.
"I can take you." A voice barely shouting out as the crowds, the guys, and Mary tries to look for the owner of that voice. They didn't have to look too long as the one who accept Mary's challenge stepped forth squaring off against Mary. "I'll battle you." A young mantis girl looks Mary straight through the eye as she enters a combative stance.
"Alright then, let's fight and see who'll- "NOT SO FAST!" both Mary and the Mantis see the furious ogre Gwen gets between them as she points at Mary saying, "Our dual is not over and you need to pay for Ashlee's DEATH!" Mary looks over the ogre group and sees a pool of blood around the one that got impaled and bleed to death. The other ogres look at Mary with anger as the other mamonos were shocked and sad at the deceased ogre.
"Very well then let's finish this." Mary gets ready while Gwen cracks her knuckles and says, "I'm beat you to a bloody pulp for killing my sister!"
Mary replies in a joyful threatening manner, "If you miss her that much, I'll send you to her in one piece mostly." 'Now the fun begins.' After her thought, Gwen dashes toward Mary, screaming with the broken club being handled like a shive. Mary dodges a left punch then blocks the shive with the mace as Gwen tries to unbalance Mary with the combo. Mary counters by doing a right side kick but Gwen catches her foot with her left hand so Mary swings her mace at Gwen's head. She catches it with her other hand to which Mary smiles as she lets go of the mace to latch onto Gwen's head with her left hand and deliver a series of punches with the right. The last punch hits Gwen in the left eye and makes Gwen shoves Mary off her also by accident her mace. Mary hits and skids on the ground for a second before getting up and grabbing her mace while watching Gwen trying to comfort her offending eye.
"GRR, forget it, I'm just going to kill you NOW!" Gwen roars as her rage takes over, she runs to Mary with her right fist rising above her head. She swings her fist to which Mary responds by doing a mace jab at the approaching fist. When the two connected, bones could be heard breaking follow by Gwen screaming in pain as she falls on her butt, grasping her broken hand. Tears run down her cheeks as Mary walks up to Gwen with her mace poise to strike. Gwen tries to kick out Mary's knee but she catches her left foot with her left then readjusts her grip by letting the handle slide down her right hand until near the head and swings down on her ankle. Gwen screams again as her ankle was now broken, twisted at an abnormal angle.
"Mercy, please mercy!" Gwen crawls back but Mary maintains the distance between them as she replies, "I told you, I'm going to send you to your sister. In one piece or two is up to you." The other ogres rushed to defend their leader however Mary spins around to block a sneak attack.
For it's the mantis girl from earlier, "Your duel with that ogre is over. You fight me now." She prepares to strike again while Mary walks away from Gwen and the ogres to ready herself as well. Mary notices Gwen's club handle lying a few feet away from her then an idea came to mind.
'Let's see if I can take out this rude bug in one swift move?' Mary has her mace in both hands and looks at the mantis and says, "Ok you stupid bug, you want that fight I'll give it to you. So come on, I'm right here." The mantis clutches her fists as Mary carries on with her taunts, "It's a bad idea to fight me so I suggest you fight that ugly slug over there. That way the fight is more even side than fighting me you know." The mantis looks at the pointed Giant Slug who is now bright red from all the eyes looking at her and getting angry from that comment. The blonde hair mantis looks back with hints of irritation at Mary then she soon launches herself towards Mary with great speed. 'Perfect!' Mary thinks as she angles her mace to which when the mantis's blade hits then glide up the handle with Mary's fingers out of the way which makes the mantis fly over her. Once the mantis blade was off the handle, Mary stepped past the club handle then quickly turns around with the mace swinging downward towards it as if she was golfing. The mantis lands and turns round to have her face smashed in by the club handle and her body thrown back by the force of the impact. The body lands next to Gwen and her group as they look at the impaled face with shock and horror then quickly look at Mary who was flashing a smug grin at them.
"SO, WHO ELSE WANTS TO FIGHT ME?!" Mary's voice booms above the other voices that speak about what has happened. Mary looks around to see the faces that express horror, anger, and disbelief.
"YOUR MINE CARLA JOHNSON!" Mary sees a woman dressed in a shadowy outfit, dark leggy netting, a darkish purple dress on her body and waist and a black facemask, and light green eyes glaring at Mary.
"Now we have a proper fighter among us unlike the dumb beasts and weak insects here!" More glares are directed at Mary instead of the newcomer as the newcomer speaks, "Carla Johnson I'm here to take you to my mistress to answer for the varies murders and suffering you have wrought."
"OHOHO, someone very important has sent you to me, I'm honored but I have other things to do like this little contest I have going on. So, if you're here for me and not them, I suggest that you wait once I have concluded my event." Mary looks at the guys and winks at them but they were still very nervous with all the monsters next to them.
The Kunoichi addresses the crowd, "My fellow mamonos hear my words, I have been sent to track and capture this murderous woman known as Carla Johnson by my superior Scarlet who is one of the lieutenants to Lady Druella as she herself wants to judge Carla as well. As you all saw yourself for what Carla has done to the ogres and the deceased mantis girl."
'Jackpot, well done my little Herald.' Mary can't help but smile to herself as her plan worked beautifully in her favor. Murmurs and small talk erupt around the two as the Kunoichi continues, "Carla Johnson I'm giving you the chance to surrender peacefully and you'll be well cared for. Resist and I'll take you by force even if it means I'll have to break your arms and legs."
"What about these guys?" someone in the crowd shouts out with some of them having forgotten they were still there.
The Kunoichi replies, "I'm not here for them so you gals can have them." The crowd cheers at the news as the men quickly draw out their swords shields and whatever they had with them. Mary is displeased with how things are no longer going her way and now has to save them before some monster grabs one of them.
"Thanks, you assassin of joy, you've ruined my fun and my mood!" Mary barks at her as she reaches into one of her back pockets and pulls out a pink marble. "Hey, Bob! CATCH!" Mary throws the marble at him and as soon as Bob catches the marble a pink flash blinds the mamono groups. When they opened their eyes again, the group of men have vanished leaving only Mary with a disappointing look on her face. The crowd gasps with many looking in all directions while the rest growl, glare, and other negative expressions at Mary. Mary points at the Kunoichi and asks, "What's your name annoyance?"
"My name is Violet and you should surrender Carla, now you have no backup to help you or have any possible means of escape."
"Ha! Wrong, Violet, I'm not going to escape, for I'm going to take you with me while the others here die." Violet narrows her eyes at Mary while the other, more aggressive mamonos are now tempted to shred Mary apart for losing their chance at gaining a husband and the degrading off comments she had made.
Suddenly Mary gets on her knees and grasps her hands underneath the head of the mace as if she was praying. This throws a loop to all the mamono to see her like that even Violet was confused at this display. Mary closes her eyes and then speaks out loud, "Oh Diablo, God of ruin and despair hear me! Your loyal servant calls for your aid and salvation as your enemies move against you!" Violet and many others were even more confused since they never heard of a god by the name of Diablo thus a few soon grew concerned while others think she is bluffing. Then the ground around her started to look different as purple vines were spreading out where Mary was kneeling.
Back at the Dark Guard command ship, a com officer speaks, "Sir getting an incoming message from Mary."
The commander orders, "Let's hear it." The com officer patches Mary's communication through the ship's speakers and hears, "Oh Diablo God of ruin and despair hear me! Your loyal servant calls for aid and salvation as your enemies move against you"
'She must be under attack.' The commander asks, "Where's her location?"
A different bridge officer replies, "Tracing her psionic signal now and the results are…. found her! She is several kilometers away, mostly north of us sir."
Mary's voice comes in again, "Creatures of malevolence seeking to end all things surround us. Deliver your wrath that blankets the skies and rain down death."
"Prepare a precision warp strike of anti-personnel mortars and fire on my command. Do we have a cloaked drone near Mary's position?" Commander having figured out Mary's encrypted message.
"There are no nearby drones but we can warp one above Mary right now." A third officer answers.
"Launch the drone but make sure it's extremely high up in case of aerial enemies are also there."
"Yes sir." All of the bridge officers got to work getting things ready while the commander waits for the drone feed on seeing Mary and her current situation. After a few seconds, the third officer reports, "The drone is away and should be out in three seconds." The commander nods and looks at the monitor.
Back on Mary after sending her message to 'Diablo', she waits for her trap to spring. Violet and the rest look around to see if anything happened but just see the purplish vines underneath Mary have vanished. Mary hasn't moved an inch and remained silent, Violet having enough of this farce walks towards Mary with a dagger out. She unknowingly walks into the trap and Mary smiles.
"Get up!" Violet shouts as she is now two feet away from Mary but she remains where she is. "I said get up or I'll drag you back to camp by your hair Carla!"
Mary opens her eyes which surprises Violet at the sudden color change and before Violet can say anything, Mary gently says, "Cleanse the vile so that life can prosper." In a split second the purple vines reappear but spread out more and at the end of the vines rose a purple wall of light.
The commander seeing the containment barrier up with both Mary and the unknown individual in it, orders, "Commence firing!"
"Yes sir!"
Violet runs to the end of the barrier but is unable to pass no matter how much she strikes it, "Let me NOW!" Mary doesn't reply but instead stands back and readies her mace. Violet then hears screams and explosions as she turns around and sees the mamono outside of the barrier were bringing rain on by a black meteor-looking shower. She looks up at the sky and sees the harpies and other flying mamono being blasted out of the sky in pieces. Everywhere she looked was nothing but death and dust being picked up by the exploding stars falling all around them. The loud noises all around her, the cries for help, and the gasps of the dying, the fear and hopelessness Violet felt was overwhelming. She turns to Mary as she smiles at her and again hasn't moved a muscle.
"WHY! THEY HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING TO WARRANT THIS DESTRUCTION!" Violet enrage at Carla's action. "ONCE I DEFEAT YOU, I'LL TELL EVERYONE OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE HERE TODAY CARLA!"
Mary chuckles then laughs out loud before she speaks in a serious tone, "Oh Violet, you have no idea what we are going to do to you once I defeat YOU." She calmly walks toward Violet while Violet trembles even more and looks at the outside of the barrier to see it stop raining whatever it was that was caused all this death and destruction. Violet looks back at Carla and sees the barrier behind her was shrinking with every step she took toward her. Violet then understands she is trapped like a cornered rat. Readying for the fight of her life as the distance between them was closing to eight feet, six feet, finally four feet then Violet dash and slash at Mary. Mary blocks and deflects all of Violet's attacks until she counters with a low staff hit to Violet's gut. She staggers back from the unexpected hard feeling hit and before she can recover, Mary punches her in the face which causes her to fall down back to the barrier edge. Violet looks up and sees Mary smiling wickedly down at her and as soon Violet tries to get back up, Mary steps on her left leg.
"Argh! You're not human, are you?!" Violet asks confused.
"Hmm, what makes you say that?" Mary replies with a question of her own.
"Mhm, for one; I sense no holy energy or magic from you, so you're not a Hero. Two; The amount of pressure you are putting on my leg is far greater than that of a regular human but instead that of a Golem. And three; This barrier feels wrong, its energy is like Demonic but somehow different." Violet ignoring the pain in her leg, sits helplessly, waiting for Carla to make a move.
Mary gets down on one knee, getting close to Violet's face but still leaving her foot on Violet's leg, and says, "You are very observant but I don't want to ruin the surprise waiting for you."
'NOW!' Violet thrust a small dagger hidden under her wrist which impales Mary in the gut, 'Got you, now your mine Carla, for you'll be answering for...wait! Shouldn't she be...' "ARGH!" Violet doesn't finish her thought as Mary grabs Violet's wrist and twists causing her to let go of the dagger which soon drops to the ground. Mary using her other hand grabs the dagger and looks at it.
Violet couldn't believe her eyes, she unintentionally speaks out, "How are you not asleep, and why are you so cold!?"
Mary looking back at Violet, shrugs and says, "Well I guess you can say this is reason number four which is these things don't work on me. But I do like these interesting weapons, a good way to arm yourselves while still being a pacifist. The perfect weapon to capture your enemies or in your case...victims." Mary then stabs Violet with the dagger in the heart and says, "I was going to knock you out with my mace but this seems more humorous to take you out with your own weapon."
"Your…a… ." Violet falls unconscious, Mary withdraws the dagger and glances at it before dropping it to the ground. She stands up then reaches out to the barrier and taps on it which causes it to fade away. Violet's body falls completely flat on her back. She looks around the area and the sky but sees no one alive so she telepathically communicates with the commander, "Thank you for answering my prayers 'Diablo'!
The commander mentally rolls his eyes and responds, "Mary how did you get overrun by all those mamonos?"
"Well long story short, I and a group of four others were tasked with finding and eliminating a group of ogres. They walked into us and the ogre leader and I had a little competition. While that was going on, a large crowd of mamono no doubt came to investigate all the noise. A high-value target walked right up to me then I contacted you for that bombardment. Finally, I subdue the target who goes by the name of Violet and she was sent by someone with higher authority to pretty much arrest me."
After Mary's explanation, the commander says, "Alright then, we'll transport her here and we'll have the Mind-readers interrogate her. What happened to your companions?"
"Oh, I threw a temporal orb at them to get them out of the way and to avoid them seeing what was about to happen! I'll be staying here until they appear back."
"Very well, we'll add her with the other one."
"What other one?" Mary confused by that statement.
The commander answers her by saying, "Michael also obtain a high-value target today as well."
"I see, well that's all I have for you for now" Mary then thinks to herself, 'Michael, who foolish enough to fight you?"
"Acknowledge." A few seconds later, Violet suddenly vanishes in a dark purplish-black mist and Mary now stood alone or she was until she heard *cough* *cough* Mary looks over to where that ogre pack was and sees Gwen still alive. She picks up her mace, walks towards her, walking over her dead companions and other mamono or pieces of them. She stops at Gwen's head as Gwen can barely look straight at Mary.
"Argh, argh…so your going to finish me off, or are you going to *tch* gloat?"
"I don't need to gloat at you for you aren't worth gloating over." Mary raises her mace above her head and continues saying, "But I did promise you by sending you to your sister in the afterlife."
"Then get on with it, you've successfully killed my whole tribe already and *sigh* I got nothing left." The remaining ogre lays still, lazily eyeing Mary with exhaustion.
"Don't worry it'll all be over before you feel any more pain Gwen so…. Farewell." Gwen closes her eyes then Mary brings down her mace thus Gwen's suffering came to an end.
Mary looks around more closely for survivors but instead sees in the distance at the tree line are either the ones who fled the bombardment or those who came to see where the explosions came from. She sees the horrified expressions on them as they survey the corpse-littered ground and see Mary standing there, looking back at them. None of them dare go past where they stand now, for fear has crept into their hearts and taken hold.
'They'll definitely send word of this throughout the forest and soon to the ones who sent Violet to me.'
A few hours later, the sun has set and darkness begins to cover the land, Mary still standing in her spot inspecting her mace until a bright pink flash appears. The four men were bewildered at the scenery around them and the scent of blood assaulted their noses.
Tom sees Carla and cries out, "Carla, what in the Chief Goddess's name has happened? Why are we surrounded by dead monsters? Why is it nighttime all of sudden?" Soon the other three also start piling their own questions at Mary to which Mary just says, "I'll tell you all on the way back to the city."
Up in the sky, an owl mage watches as Mary and the four men leave the area. 'I must warn everyone about her.' The owl mage flies back to the hidden village with news of the slaughter that has happened and who was the one who did it.