Hi everyone! I just wanted to say thank you so much for all of the support on this cute adorable little story I've made! Anyways enjoy this chapter! It's my personal favorite right now!

Chapter 6
Unsavory Banquet

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15:00
The Hospital Lobby

"Ah, that's so kind of you Tanya. I'm happy to hear that your grandmother is still in good health," said the young nurse with a thoughtful smile as she signed the cute little girl out of the hospital.

"I'm glad as well," chirped Tanya in her natural voice. Unbeknownst to the nurse at the front desk, she was tapping her foot impatiently on the sterile floor, eager to get this transport mission over with as soon as possible. The small talk was manageable at first, but this drawn out chit chat was ticking her off. Especially since there were so many people now crammed into the lobby, far too many of them coughing and wheezing that she was beginning to worry that she'd catch something.

"Alright little missy, you're all free to go. Be careful walking back home okay. Those streets are looking awfully crowded right now," spoke the nurse with a look of concern, her eyes gazing at the constant flow of people outside the hospital's glass doors.

"Thank you! And don't worry! I'm a big girl!" sang the small child with the sounds of childlike bravado. With that, the small blonde turned on her heels and began walking towards the glass double doors. Before said blonde girl left out into the bustling streets of Berun, she hesitated letting herself sigh out loud. The act of pretending so childish weighed heavily on her already limited dignity. "Just a few miles and I can change out of these frilly clothes," she tightened her grip on both of her backpack straps, "And maybe I can offload this pain for a little bit while I get Visha to make me a pot."

With her thoughts now collected, the young Major took a deep breath, and stepped into the heavy sea of people that clogged the sidewalks of the main street. She quickly had to pick up her pace in order to follow the much faster stride of the adult crowd, their height causing her to lose visibility instantly as all of the grown ups dwarfed her small stature. No problem however, all she had to do was go in a straight line for a couple miles before making a single left crossing at the barracks. It should be smooth sailing, right?

~~~Spy~~~

"That girl," muttered Klevar with wide eyes, forgetting his act of reading the paper as he tried to hone his sight back onto the out of place girl. The Republican spy may have lost her in the crowd, but that brief sight along with a subtle spike of mana in the air…

Amontillado calmly stood up from his bench, folding his paper neatly as he then nestled it comfortably in the crook of his arm. He then began his calculated pursuit. He didn't want to assume a little girl of such heinous crimes as that devil, but with how similar the devil was described to look like her, it was a hunch that he had to investigate. It was unfortunate, but that was simply the fault of his line of work and those vile Dachshunds for corrupting an innocent child.

The spy maneuvered through the sea of people to get to the intersection, only pausing to wait for the light to turn green. If there was any bright side to this situation, he was secretly hoping it would be a quick procedure to ask the girl some questions and be on his way. Yet, if she resisted or the lord forbid be the Devil of the Rhine… Klevar could feel his fists clench at his sides.

He only hoped god would once again forgive him for his actions that may come to pass.

~~~K~~~

"Woooooooah! I've never seen so many humans in one place before!" gawked the little pink ball, trying his absolute best to keep his promise by not busting out and saying hello to everyone. But wow, wow, wow! Even looking out of the backpack's tiny opening, this place still looked much bigger when he wasn't high up. "Everyone's so tall! The people, the buildings! Ah, wait what's that sound? It sounds like theres race cars out there! How cool is this place?!" squealed the star warrior, his eyes filled with stars and awe at how cool this world seemed to be.

Tanya had stopped for a while but now she was moving again so Kirby could see the wires above their heads. Some had lights some red, some yellow and even a green one. "No way! I'm so right! This place has to be just like 's world. Everyone zooming around and having fun together!" Kirby couldn't help but smile at all the cool games they could play together. "I wonder if their cars are as fast as the Blue Falcon? If they are it'd be a super awesome race to watch!"

Unaware to the pink warrior however, Tanya was growing more and more tense with every step she took. There was someone potentially dangerous trailing behind them. Both the girl and the dangerous man sensing each other out in this tense game of tag they played in the crowd.

~~~T~~~

"Shit! Who the hell is behind me!?" stewed the former salary man, keeping up the same walking speed she had before she noticed the other presence, one that stood out from the crowd. This person was strong and kept steadily close to her despite the sea of people that churned around them. She felt herself unconsciously gulp as this person was only a light jog away from her. "No!" she chastised herself, forcing her pounding heart to calm down and think about this logically.

See, to those either born with or trained to possess a strong pool of mana, they would let out a constant leak of mana into the air around them. One that even if they trained their whole lives to suppress such a natural sensation, it would only hinder the signal, never erasing it entirely. To normal citizens, who have never had proper training to harness their latent potential, this leakage would be entirely untraceable. It would be as difficult for them to feel this force as it is for you or I to sense the individual molecules that perpetually exist around us.

However…

If one is trained with such a vital skill, let us say for example, a certain spy and soldier, then they would be able to sense such a leak of mana like it is an innate feeling in their gut. An intuition if you will.

This sixith sense can be boosted incredibly if such individuals have access to magical artifacts such as a computation jewel. With this boost to one's power and thinking, the beings who wield such power can complete miracles such as sensing magical attacks, people, and be able to dodge them all even kilometers away. It is even said that one can even sense the ill intent of another if one is capable enough.

Yet unfortunately for this game of cat and mouse…

Neither of them currently have access to such a device, and as such, neither of them knows if the other person is a friend or a foe…

~~~Spy~~~

"Now then, how should I pull her aside?" analyzed the spy. He now had the girl in his sight and was trying his best to do so without getting too close, at least for now that is. He put his hands in his pocket as he kept brushing shoulders with people, his paper long since deposited into his trenchcoat along with more dangerous items. "Hrm, damn she really is small, I keep having to move all over the place just to keep an eye on her," he sighed, his earlier vengeful fire extinguished with a dull shame.

Here he was, a decorated veteran of one of the very first recon teams sent into this meatgrinder of a war now walking after a little school girl like a complete creep. He exhaled out of his nose and suppressed a laugh. "Ah if only my dad could see the line of work I got drafted into. I wonder how badly he'd beat me? Maybe even throw me through the wall again," he mused humorously.

But no, he couldn't let his guard down. Although unbelievable, the Devil of the Rhine has been documented many times over doing things no girl should be able to do. Each feat of hers becoming more bold and more dangerous than the last to the point where that blonde hell demon had become a boogieman to all in her way, a story to scare men straight for their laziness.

He didn't personally believe every story was true, that was at least, until news of what happened to their newest alley came to light. The mere thought made him frown and furrow his brows, because if the final reports from his comrades were true, her battalion was in this very city.

"Which means there's a chance this could be her," he thought, his right hand tensing over the knife stored in his coat.

But then again, what were the chances right? What were the chances that this schoolgirl could be a mass murderer? It was low, and unfortunately not impossible. He had to pull her aside while not blowing his cover, he just needed to think up a way to do so…

~~~T~~~

"Okay, think Tanya think. Lay out your options nice and easy for yourself," she repeated to herself, mentally picturing her plans as if she were back in the war room.

"Option one, you turn around and see who it is.
Pros, if it's a soldier, commander, or even some rando, I'm in the clear and can just go on my way without this paranoia hanging over me.
Cons, if it is a spy behind me, this could enable them to confirm that I am a soldier of the empire. This could lead to them catching me off guard the second I'm out of the crowd, thus leading to my death and thus by default giving Kirby away to the enemies.
I think this option's a dud. If Rudersdorf had time to explain my tragic grandmother backstory, and give me a stupid dress to wear, I'm sure he'd explain if I had someone looking out for me or not, even if he is sleep deprived."

Tanya mentally crossed out that plan with a big red 'X' and moved on to the next plan.

"Option two, I try and find out myself by making four right turns in a row, thus allowing me to act of my own accord if they follow me.
Pros, with the way we're positioned on the street, three right turns would lead us into an alleyway. This would allow me to ambush them in order to potentially disarm and or neutralize them depending on their resistance. The brass could always use more info from spies, especially since they already executed two of them.
Cons, it's entirely up to chance. If I wasn't wearing this stupid fucking schoolgirl uniform, I would be able to rely on my superior computation jewel to overpower them, even if they were armed with a gun. But without that, I only have to rely on what I can draw out of my body along with whatever calculations I can pull out of my ass mid brawl. Maybe I could use my surroundings to obtain a weapon, but that's too hypothetical to be made into a sound victory."

Tanya wasn't sure about this one, having too many positives and negatives to rule out as simply as the previous one. She ultimately decided to let it be as a backup in case she couldn't come up with anything better. So she moved on to the last option that was on her mind.

"And finally option-"

~~~Spy~~~

"-Number three," pondered Klevar in a very similar manner to how Tanya was right now. Through unlike her, he was wishing he smoked a death stick or two before taking a long walk. It was getting annoying how he had to keep gulping down yawns. "I just go in front of her," he thought as he rubbed his graying stubble. "This will lead to one of two actions…"

"Starting with the most likely, if she is innocent, she won't notice what I'm trying to do since I'll just be another person in the crowd. And then (even if it is uncomfortable), I can strike up a conversation with her," his thoughts suddenly stalled out, feeling a bit embarrassed. "If I still know how to talk to kids. Sheesh, yeah I haven't talked with someone that young since I saw my niece and nephew before the war. I guess I have to hope I'm not too off with my words. Ugh, the last thing I want is to get killed from looking like a perv of all things."

"But this will lead to the second variable. If it is the Devil of the Rhine, I'm sure I can discern it out of her if we talk long enough. I know a killer when I see one, and then I'll have to take her aside, try to get the most out of her before I…"

He dapped his eyes, quickly drying them from the mental image of his little relatives. "She's not the same as them. You do what you must," he thought. It thankfully only took a few seconds for the wave of sadness to dry up as he took his hands out of his pockets, keeping them at the ready.

"Alright then," he muttered, increasing his pace to push past the sea. "Please don't be that devil, girl."

~~~T~~~

Tanya felt all of her hair stand on end, that pressure suddenly getting closer to her much to her displeasure. "Come on! I wasn't done planning you asshole," she fumed to herself. "Fine, I guess I don't have much of a choice," she breathed, increasing the amount of mana that flowed into her muscles.

She then began to hug the right side of the sidewalk until she was able to make her first of three right turns.

~~~Spy~~~

Klevar frowned, gritting his teeth under his lips as he saw the delicate little girl make a right turn for the first time this whole trip. "So you chose the third option," he breathed out.

He allowed his mana to flow through his body as well as allowing his hand to move inside his trenchcoat. Clasping a knife firmly in his hold.

~~~T~~~

Tanya frowned as well. She felt her heart pumping rapidly again, sending her flight or fight into overdrive. It was almost time and she just hoped this person didn't follow her as she made her second right turn.

~~~Spy~~~

"I guess I should've just trusted my gut," spoke the man, his eyes laser focused on his target as he made a second right turn onto a street with barely any people. "This is the end you devil," he nearly shouted, increasing his pace as he nearly jogged at her.

~~~T~~~

Tanya was already in a jog but quickly morphed it into a mana aided sprint that kicked up a small amount of dust behind her. She then at last sharply turned into her last right turn, ending up in the exact place she wanted, a dead end alleyway with nothing but trash and discarded junk, far far away from the bustling main street.

Her eyes instantly picked up on a rusty metal pipe, the only thing sturdy enough that was in her reach. She picked it up, feeling the dilapidated metal cool her hands as she clung to the wall, waiting for this bastard spy to round the corner.

~~~All~~~

Klevar had his army knife out in the open as he turned the corner.

Tanya grinned wickedly as she lifted the pipe up like a rusted club.

They both saw each other at the same moment, both of them moving at each other at the peak of human speed.

Weapons drawn for the kill…

With his power, he imbued the blade with all his mana-!
With her power, she imbued the pipe with all her mana-!

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雷And Hit True!雷

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The two makeshift mage blades clashed together like true greatswords of a long gone era. They caused such a powerful metallic ring, that they would put a cathedral's bells to shame.

Tanya was the first to be sent back, the force causing her small body to go airborne further back into the alleyway. She braced her legs as she landed soundly on her feet, sliding further in as she pulled dirt and grime up in a shoe traced mark.

Klevar was pushed back into the light of the road, making a similar mark on the ground that Tanya had. He still stood and still walked, clearly not finished with this Devil of the Rhine.

Without words being exchanged, Tanya began to walk towards the rotten spy, her grin still as wide as ever. It didn't matter if he was older, it didn't matter if he was taller, and didn't even matter if he was stronger. None of that mattered because she knew without a shadow of a doubt, that by the end of the day, he'd be dead.

And so they walked.
For those they've wronged.
And so they ran.
For those they've-!

The man roared, stabbing his knife forward towards her heart. She dodged it easily, doing so by letting gravity pull her small body under the stab, causing his weapon to sail harmlessly over her head as he lost his footing.

The major grinned wickedly, taking the chance to cock back her pipe to hit ribs in time with his forward fall. Yet the man recovered just as swiftly, twisting his hips to give his right leg enough force to kick the girl right in the temple. Tanya just barely noticed the kick in time, her mana charged thinking already going at full force as she raised the pipe between her head and the spy's leather loafers.

But that kick was immensely strong, sending her whole body sliding on the greasy alley floor into the hard brick and mortar that lined the walls back first. It should've hurt a lot more with how fast she was going, but something soft and squishy pushed against her back, taking in all the force.

She didn't have time to think though as her body told her to dodge, doing so as she tilted her head in the nick of time to avoid a knee driving its way through her skull. Despite the knee being strong enough to chip a hole in the wall, the Republican wouldn't stop there. With Tanya still on the ground, he decided to stomp on her ribs and limbs in an attempt to disable her.

Yet she wouldn't let this happen so easily. Each time his foot slammed on the ground, it would be timed equally with Tanya squirming her way around it. Again and again, she managed to avoid being crushed but now she was facing the problem of running out of room to back out of, the end of the alleyway coming up quickly with no easy path of escape. Tanya glanced back and saw the wall was lined with trash cans giving her an idea.

Reaching out her hand, she grabbed a pile of ash that belonged to the smoldered remains of cigars and threw the gray dust as hard as she could into the man's face.

Klevar howled in pain, his eyes suddenly burning as dust and soot coated his whole body. He couldn't help but falter back, rubbing his eyes profusely to try and get it out. Was she trying to escape?

Tanya took the chance to get back onto her feet, reaching out now for the lid of a trashcan. She riskily reinforced the lid, spreading her already thinned reserves out even more as she held the makeshift shield up and charged.

Klevar barely made out the loud stomping, his vision still a blurry mess as he felt the force of a small car slam right into his chest causing the wind to be knocked out of him, hacking up spews of blood. Yet he tanked the blow that would kill a normal man, still standing despite the pain as he swung his knife wildly around whatever hit him.

She smiled through the pain, doing so to stifle a gasp of pain as the wild knife swung rabidly across her forearms causing tears all over her sleeves that were leaking red. One had even got her shoulder and cheek, as she had enough of this rat. "Just die already!" roared Tanya, stomping on his foot as she pushed back against him with all her might.

"Shit!" panicked the spy, feeling himself lose his balance as he started the fall backward. His sight was still in shambles, but if her foot was on his then her legs must be…

"Gah!" screamed Tanya, more surprised than hurt as a burly leg swept both of her's off the ground, causing her to go airborne for the second time. Unfortunately, she wasn't as fortunate as she landed belly first into the ground her head soon following as it bounced off the filthy alley. This knocked both the wind and her weapons out of her.

Even more unfortunately, she was fighting someone rather nimble as instead of falling on his back like she had hoped, the man rolled into it causing him to go back on his feet while she was on the ground.

The Republican saw his chance as he charged at the vile devil, knife raised to the sky to strike her down. "This the end! You Rhine Devil!" he roared bringing down his mage blade to end this madness once and for all.

"I need to move!" she screamed to her body, panicking for the first time this whole fight, "I need to move or else I'll-!"

*Fidget*
*Fidget*
*Fidget*

"HEEEEEEEEE-!" The backpack was torn open easily as Kirby jumped into the air with a look of absolute determination, putting himself directly between the man and his friend Tanya. Before Tanya, much less the man had any time to react, Kirby lifted a single red foot and kicked the man's wrist with a triumphant, "-YAAAAAW!"

The force behind the kick was so great that not only was the knife sent flying into the sky (maybe even space) at an insane speed, but it was also enough to break all of the bones in the man's wrist with a loud crack.

"Ahhhhhhh!" howled the spy in agony as he clutched his limp wrist as well as falling to the ground rear first. Tanya just blinked, watched from the filth in absolute shock, completely frozen stiff as Kirby softly touched down in this deserted place.

Klevar couldn't even process what had happened. One second he was about to finish the fight, the next he was in agonizing pain. The pain was so brutal he couldn't even open his already sore eyes, he just tried in vain to fix the shattered bones in his wrist as tears poured down his face. Just what had that devil done to him!?

The pink ball glared at the bad guy. How dare he hurt his new friend like that! He turned back to Tanya and frowned his frown even more. She looked so scared! She was sprawled out on the ground, her body all cut up and yucky and uggggh! How could he! How could he! How could he!

Tanya blinked as she felt something grab her arm, helping her sit up as she winced. Once she shakily looked up, she saw that pint sized ball of smiles staring back at her. The same one that was messing around at the windowsill, the same one who just effortlessly sent a grown man falling to the ground with a broken wrist. It felt so surreal. Had her head always been pounding like this? Had her heart always been beating this fast?

"Heya, hrm, so ah…" faltered the pink boy, feeling awful about waiting so long "Sorrwe abouta, letting you get hurt like that," he smiled hoping it would make her feel a little better. "I wheel make yew feel betta aftta I get rid ah this bad guy. Okay," he promised hopefully, all the while the man was still screaming and crying on the ground.

"G-get rid, of… bad guy?" she stuttered, her mind slowing down even more for some reason, like it was preparing for something bad to happen… was she getting chills?

Kirby nodded cheerfully, being glad she got it. "Thats ah rights!" he chirped, giving her a playful wink that wasn't reciprocated. This was all while the man was pleading for the pain to go away.

Then, like it was something normal, like something as simple as breathing to him, Kirby turned away from her towards the bad guy. And then…

Kirby opened his mouth...

And then her brain shut itself off, or more accurately, her brain chose to block out those memories. So she wouldn't have to think about how sick it made her.

She had no idea how long she was sitting there, staring off into space, but when she did come back, she got a face full of Kirby, his little nubs on her shoulder as he shook her violently.

"Tanya! Tanya! Tanya! Wake up!" shouted Kirby in his childlike voice, sounding different for some reason. He smiled with relief as he saw her eyes get their focus back.

"Wha, what happened?" she slurred at first, clutching her head. She was thankful that the feeling was fading quickly. "Where'd the spy go?" she asked, looking around at the surprisingly clean alleyway.

Kirby smiled and then hugged her for some strange reason she couldn't quite process yet. "Don't worry, that bad guy is all gone!" he said and that's when Tanya realized it.

Despite her mind still recovering from the presumed drawback of using a rushed mental enhancement spell, she had still caught that.

Kirby had spoken in the same language as the empire.

"But wow, why does Kirby feel so soft?" she thought, sidetracked instantly as she was in awe. Unconsciously, Tanya rested her head against the top of his head, purring at how unimaginably soft he was. "How have I not realized this sooner?" she muttered out loud, wrapping her arms around him in a hug of her own. She closed her eyes and sighed as they embraced for a long while. "Oh my gosh, it feels like I'm dreaming," groaned the major, unwitting close to falling asleep until Kirby pulled away.

She didn't notice that she whined when he left. And could you blame her? He was just so goddamn soft and… bloody?

"What?" uttered Tanya out loud. She looked down at her arms and saw how bloody they were underneath her sleeves. She looked at her legs and winced at the shades of purple and blue they turned into. "Maybe I shouldn't have looked," she frowned already feeling the pain start to grow worse.

Kirby noticed the blood on himself but simply shook it away like a dog, working strangely effectively as all of the red was miraculously off his pink body without a single stain. "Don't worry about it. Let me heal you," smiled Kirby as he waddled over to her.

"Thank you, I'm glad your species has a way of-, Ah! Hey! Hold on a second! Why are you getting on my legs!? No wait stop! Back up or I-!" she protested too late, her cheeks turning red at what he was doing.

Because for the first time in her second life, Tanya had her first kiss. And she was at a loss not only because it was so unexpected, but also because this little pink guy who was standing on her legs was so damn good at making out.

And don't get her wrong, in her first life she wasn't a slouch when it came to getting out there. So a kiss shouldn't have been that big of a deal, especially without the hormones to make it… y-you know.

Despite that though, Kirby was doing amazingly at it, like he had done this so many times before her. It was warm, sweet, and tender in a way that reminded her of the hug she just had with him.

Not that she would ever tell another soul, but Tanya couldn't help but close her eyes and lean in. It was amazing yes, especially his tongue. She didn't even know he had a tongue but by the texture, it had to be. It was warm and… soft?

"That's odd? Why is it so soft?" she wondered to herself as she kept kissing back, as it just kept going further and further into her mouth. It sounded hot, but only when finally Kirby pulled away was she able to realize what was still in her mouth-!

"IT'S BAAAAAARF!"

All at once she was overwhelmed with emotion. Sadness, depression, and anger coursed through her veins as did the vile barf in her mouth that slowly fell down her throat. "I'm gonna fucking hurl," she sobbed to herself with a hand over her mouth. She managed to stumble to her feet, aiming for any of the trash cans to unload at.

Unfortunately for Tanya however, her body wouldn't even make it that far as just when she was so close to the trash, her body gave up on her pursuit. She collapsed on her hands and knees, puking a never ending stream of barf onto the ground in front of her.

Kirby looked scared as she puked her guts out on the ground. He didn't know why she was acting like this, everyone back home was completely fine with having his healing. Where did he go wrong? Did humans really think humans tasted that- "Ooooooh, oh no," realized the star warrior in horror at what he fed to her.

Kirby felt awful about what he did to his newest friend. But at this point, all he could do was waddle up to her carefully and slowly pat her on the back to help her get it all out.

So there they were as she vomited for a long, long, looooooong while…

Editing Number: 11/6/2024-11/6/2024