Around the time Craiku and Clover went to patrol Main Street, Shakti and Adree went to patrol Knossos.
Why does he shout? If you asked him, the man would say only this:
"I am Ganeshaaaaa!!"
At the end of the day, there is no reason.
"I am Ganeshaaaa!"
"Whoa, shut up! But hey, I feel better already! Thanks, Ganesha!"
"I am Ganeshaaaaaa!"
"Shut up already! Ah, but suddenly my worries seem so insignificant now! Thank you so much, Ganesha!"
"I! Am! Ganeshaaaaaaa!"
"Shut the hell up! Oh, but look, you scared that mugger right off! Cheers, Ganesha!"
"We are
Ganeshaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
"""Seriously, shut the hell up!! But wow, we feel our strength returning!!
Thanks again, Ganesha!!"""
Day after day, the elephant-masked god took to the streets, spiriting the townsfolk with his rousing voice.
But man, was it annoying.
Ardee and Shakti watched him from afar.
"What do you think, sis?" asked the younger sibling with a beaming smile on
her face. "Should we stop him, or not?"
"Don't talk to me. Just…don't talk to me…"
"Then I don't have to ask"
"Ask me what" Shakti responded.
"Uh, well lately I've noticed that Tokun doesn't have a magical staff like most mages do, so I was wondering if I could slip off to find him one"
"Why him specifically, he doesn't really need one, he's already pretty strong even without his magic and when he uses it he never goes all out with it"
Adree tilted her head in confusion, "Wait what, you mean he doesn't even go all out with it, that doesn't sound like something he'd do"
"It does if you really know about why he doesn't primarily use it"
Both of them stood there silent, "On that note I'd like to ask you to stop sneaking into his room at night, if the roles were reversed you'd be pretty mad about it"
"Sis, we both know that's not true" she said causing Shakti to groan and role her eyes,
"That leaves me with a glaring question, why do you sneak into his bed and only his bed, do you have a thing for Craiku or something…you realize that he's 3 years younger than you"
Adree's face tensed up as she blushes, "No no not at all, I mean I think he's super cute but I think lots of things are cute, I think puppies are cute kittens are cute even Leon is cute"
"Ok just checking. How do you feel about Clover then"
"He's cool and all but he is a bit of a trouble maker, yet for some reason Tokun would rather hang out with him than me, it's not fair" she pouts.
Suddenly a bunch of people who were covered in blood and burn marks were running across in the opposite direction screaming in a panic. "Get the hell out of here if you value your life"! Said a animal person.
"Excuse me sir I know you're in terrible shape but can you please tell me what happened"
Adree asked, pulling out a small vial to heal him with, "It's those Evilus almost done us in, our party was on our way to the dungeon when they tried to mug us for everything we had. We were pathetic enough for a kid to have to rescue us two of them in fact"
Both of them knew who they were talking about instantly, "We thought they'd driven them out for now but out of nowhere some crazy werewolf lady claiming to be his sister came and started burning everything down" He shouts,
"His sister, but Tokun doesn't have a sister, he's an only child" Shakti's face turned pale upon hearing that.
"Adree go to Main Street and see what's going on, everyone else assist in evacuating the civilians"
The God had arrived at a shady-looking shop located off a side street branching from Northwest Main Street, after many turns, a descent down a
staircase, and a warped wooden door.
The shop itself was decently spacious, but a bit dim. Magic-stone lamps designed to look like fireballs hung from the ceiling. The shelves built into the
walls housed jars filled with snakes, frogs, scorpions, and other off-putting insects. Something seemed to be simmering in a black cauldron in the back of
the shop, judging from the red steam rising from it.
"I am Ganesha"!!
He said flexing his arm,
"We know, if you're just gonna scream then please leave"
He saw an item on the shelf that peaked his interest. A slender magic wand, its tip adorned with a tiny, glowing blue gemstone. "How much does this cost" he asked.
Back on Main Street Craiku was still trembling with anxiety and he struggled to move, once he locked eyes with the woman on the rooftop, it's like his body became numb.
"Craiku, Craiku snap out of it," Clover cried shaking him back and forth.
"I'm sorry, but I can't get near her, she's dangerous, quite possibly the most dangerous person I've ever encountered, leave me behind and make sure the civilians are okay,"
"And what about you"? The archer asked.
"It's the end for me, I can't go against her"
The wolf woman leaped down from and landed in front of them.
A stunning anime wolf woman with dark, rich melanin skin tone, adorned in a black, worn, and torn leather jacket that hints at her tumultuous past, showcasing her athletic yet slender physique, rippling with defined muscles, and covered in a myriad of scars, each telling a story of struggle and resilience, her facial features sharp and defined, her angry purple eyes blazing with an inner intensity, like amethysts burning with an inner fire, her sharp jawline and prominent cheekbones accentuating her fierce expression, her dark hair wild and unkempt, framing her face like a dark halo, with a few stray locks falling across her forehead, adding to her mysterious and brooding aura.
"Well time to go back home now, I'm not gonna ask you more than once, could you please listen to me for once"
Craiku lowered his spear and he started walking towards her before Clover dragged him back.
"Clover let me go, I'm not supposed to be here, just go away and forget about me" He said with a trembling voice.
"And what leave you alone to suffer at the hands of this woman I know nothing about, I may not understand what's going on here, but I know when something isn't right, if she is who she says she is you shouldn't be afraid of her"
Clover loads his crossbow as his eyes narrowed at her, "Craiku what about your father, what would he say if you suddenly disappeared again" Clover asked.
Craiku snapped out of it as he started to realize he was going to end up leaving his dad behind if he just went willingly with Dianna.
"Eh your father,"!? She said with a concerned look as she checked her surroundings as if she was suddenly concerned about something.
"Where is your father is he here right now" Clover grew suspicious of her mentioning his dad.
"Ha I knew you were lying about being his older sister, you're all of a sudden worried about his dad showing up because you know he'd beat you up, also you said his dad and not our dad which you would have had you actually been related to him. Besides he's fully human and you aren't, right Craiku"
Craiku shook his head in denial, "No Clover, every word she said is true, well half true at least, yes although we don't have the same father we are unfortunately related by blood, before papa mama was married to a werewolf and I've met him once"
Clover was in shock as he explained that to him, "Oh"
"That's what you get for assuming things you little punk" she said in a condescending tone,
"I assumed you weren't his sister because no sibling should make their younger siblings feel real genuine fear. I've known him for at least a month and I've seen him show no fear towards most dangers yet he's not even capable of speaking clearly around you, what have you done to him"
She scoffed, "I didn't do anything, he's just a overly sensitive and needs to grow up and learn to accept the truth"
"Need to grow up? He's nine years old the hell are you talking about!? We have some more work to do, Craiku, we'll talk about this later, but I'm not letting you go anywhere with her" Clover said as he grabbed the mage's hand and vacated the area. "What about the Evilus" he asked, "I think we should cut our losses for now, they're unconscious and they won't be able to hurt anyone for a while at least, but you're not acting like yourself right now and I wanna know what that woman did to you"
Craiku seemed very embarrassed about this situation, "Craiku, are you really gonna go with this stranger rather than your own sister your family"!? She asked angrily,
"Dianna…you remember what you did, I don't think I can trust you anymore, you hurt me far too many times, and I've made friends that don't treat me like garbage," he said hesitantly.
"Ok so I roughed you up a bit, but you were being disrespectful and talking back to me and you needed to learn some respect, you have falna so it's not like you'd die"
Clover raised his crossbow but Craiku held it down, "Don't waste your strength on her, she's not worth it, besides she's too dangerous for either of us to deal with, it's best to walk away"
He said trembling with fear, "If you don't do what I tell you to, I'll order the soldiers I brought in reign down hell on this entire area"
His eyes widened with shock, "What are you talking about, you have no soldiers, I'm not falling for anymore lies, goodbye" she punches the ground.
"Ok so maybe I don't have any soldiers, but I am gonna burn this place down,"
"You're lying, you'd never hurt innocent people for petty reasons, you're mean but you're not absolutely evil"
She raised her hand, "Dark Fire" she shot multiple balls of fire at the buildings and they caught on fire and the flames began consuming the area.
"Nooo what have you done"!! Craiku cried out, as he raised his hand and shot multiple balls of water to counter the flames.
"Don't do that, stop resisting me at once"
"No, do what you want to me but you are gonna leave them out of this"!! He said angrily as he started reverting to his old self.
She then aimed another fireball at a little kid with cat ears and his mother tried to shield him from the blast of fire. "That boy is going to die because of you and your attitude"
Craiku raised his hand and he blasted it directly with a water arrow and the purple flames turned into steam right before it hit the cat box and his mother.
Craiku exhaled a sigh of relief, "You…almost killed a boy, he was just a kid who was minding his own business and you tried to kill him for no reason"
He glares at her with righteous fury. "Anyone who tries to hurt the city of Oriaro….IS GONNA PAY"
Craiku rushed at her and landed a devastating flying sidekick to her face and she was sent flying into the air and landed on her back.
She immediately recovered from that attack and glares at him with a bleeding nose and she pulled out two daggers and started to attack him and he pared out of the way trying to avoid getting hit but a spear flew in between them and Craiku catches it before he clashed blades with his evil ex sister.
Craiku lead her through the city chasing after him as they fought in an attempt to lure her away from Main Street. He hoped to find an area with no civilians or at least people who were strong enough to protect themselves.
But he couldn't simply hope that his friends could save him. He didn't want to be saved, he wanted to do the saving for everyone else. If there's anything he hated more than anything else, it was being a helpless victim and being afraid of Dianna reminded him how that felt and that angered him.
"Dianna, this is about us, it's always been about us, so why do that to them, the civilians of Orairo are not like us they're not even like how we used to be, they're non combative people they'd die from a fireball from the weakest magic user" he said as she was doing an X block with her red daggers.
"I knew you'd be able to save them, I just wanted to scare you into submission"
"What if I didn't save them, if I didn't do that before it hit them you would have had blood on your hands, there's enough people out here getting killed so why on earth would you try to make it worse by doing this yourself. I can't believe I allowed you to go this far but no more, I refuse to be afraid of you anymore" he stepped back then to the side to strike her down before she jumped into the air with great urgency and then kicked him in the face with a roundhouse while in mid air and he staggered back before she drove her knife towards his head and he fucked under her blade and Craiku freed his left hand to punch her directly in her solar plexus with a karate punch before she counters with a strike but he narrowly evaids it and got a cut on his left cheek.
However, Dianna whirled by him, driving the butt end of her dagger into Craiku's face on the way.
The boy's strike hit nothing but empty air, and his face burned in pain. The world shook for a second for Craiku, but he was quick to regain his bearings. Planting his feet, he turned to face Dianna, who
was already behind him.
There was no pattern—Craiku had no idea where
the next attack would come from. What's more, the woman com-bined a few violent kicks with his relentless assault, knocking the boy off balance and making the next attack even harder to predict.
"Ouch, no matter" he splashes a potion on his cheek but for some reason, this wound doesn't heal.
"Oh yeah, didn't you know, these aren't regular weapons, but cursed weapons"
Clover's face turned pale upon hearing that, "Cursed weapon? What are you talking about, what did you do to me"
"Custom ordered it from a mage. It's got a curse built in. Whatever it cuts won't heal, not even with potions or magic. As long as the curses are intact, anyway."
"!"
Shock was written all over his face. Another wave of cold sweat ran down his neck at the same time.
No matter how many times he wiped the blood away, it wouldn't clot. Dianna's claim was true. The blood dripped from his cheek, staining his skin and armor red.
There was no way to recover from even one hit; it truly was a cursed weapon.
"No way, I knew you were a bully but to use such a weapon"?
"Don't worry Craiku, I gathered all my arrows, so you won't have to face her alone," Clover said, aiming at her.
"Actually he will, unless you want my friends to kill everyone else"
"I'm not falling for it Dianna," Craiku said. Unfortunately much like her unpredictable fighting style, how much truth each statement she makes has is unpredictable as well.
A menacing armed villainous figure stands tall, shrouded in a dark, flowing black cloak with intricate silver trim, its heavy folds billowing behind them, and a matching black cowl, a mask that almost entirely covers up their face. And many others like him followed suit and revealed themselves. "What in the world-" one of them drives their spear towards Clover who pulled out a knife and redirected it at the last second. But he was promptly kicked square in the chest and he went through the air before he fell flat on his face.
"Clover"!! He got back up and shot an arrow in it's the leader's shoulder.
"The rest of you know what to do," Dianna said, snapping her fingers.
Her gesture was the signal for the last few remains of her unit, who had been hiding in the
wings all along. From seemingly everywhere at once came the sound and force of explosions. "Aaaaaaaaagh!"
The earth shook, debris rained down from above, and everywhere people screamed and ran. Dianna had been keeping one last trick hidden up her sleeve. "Magic swords?!"
The woman's mad laughter echoed like thunder. It traveled down the streets, mingling with the sounds of chaos, and reached the ears of the two adventurers. "I hear screams, and…explosions?!" said Ryu, spinning around. "What's going on?!"
"Come on, Leon, let's move!" Before they even had time to be surprised, an elf and a red headed girl took off like the wind.
Craiku stood in front of her glaring daggers at her with righteous fury boiling over from within.
"You monster, how far are you willing to go just to make sure you get what you want" he asked aggressively.
"Mom would hate what you've become" her purple eyes flashed dangerously as she charged towards him with him narrowly blocking. Clover was completely overwhelmed with the new cloaked figures and was on the verge of losing his life. Craiku looking away would result in his life but lost, but his inaction will result in Clover losing his life.
"Think you can be a hero, look around you, " she punched him in the back of his head, and slammed his face into the ground and she held his hand up.
"This isn't the Orairo your father's been preaching about, the time of the Titans is over now, living here is like not possible. There's no room for heroes anymore, they all died years ago. So you think a small punk who runs away from his family and responsibilities is gonna change anything, you ain't nothing and this place shows me how much I got on you, you're lucky I don't take your head off"!!
The woman's mad laughter echoed like thunder. It traveled down the streets,
mingling with the sounds of chaos, and reached the ears of the two adventurers. "Demon!!" came a voice. The attack speed was on par with a Level 2 adventurer. Dianna knew at that moment she wouldn't be able to dodge, so instead she reached beneath her jacket and drew out a short sword.
"Let him go right now"! A red headed girl raised his sword above her head and Dianna ended up using Craiku as a shield believing that she was gonna fall for it.
"As if I'd fall for something like that" a green swift figure blitzes past them and struck her in the side of her head with a wooden blade before she released him and she grabbed him before Alise struck her off guard and a shockwave sent her crashing into the wall and blood gushed from her mouth.
Ryu held him in her arms. "Craiku, Craiku speak to me, wake up it's Leon don't give up on me now"
The wolf woman struggled with standing up, "Okay who's the miserable brat that put their hands on-"
"Silence!" replied Ryu, furious. "This was supposed to be a simple day! How dare you come and spill blood in this place!" Any reservations You might have had about stabbing a defenseless target in the back were gone when it came to this foe. Alize, meanwhile, landed a short distance away and immediately lunged once more with her straight sword to
follow up her failed attack. "You shall pay dearly for this!" she shouted, guided by a burning rage. "We
will strike you down where you stand!"
Dianna's face went pale, "But out of this, this is a family matter"! She claimed,
"Family matter, you're killing innocent people"!
Alise shouts, "Gah, help him, help the kid, that woman is his half sister and she's playing mind games to make Craiku slip up. I know he would have taken her down otherwise-" he passed out.
"Wait, no" Ryu shouted, "Mayruu help him with your magic"
Craiku weakly opened his eyes. "I'm sorry everyone, I couldn't stop her, she had too many dirty tricks up her sleeve, her weapons they're not normal"
Another hand ran across his cheek and he felt a powerful stinging sensation, "Let me guess, you got hit by a cursed weapon so you choked when you found out that you couldn't heal with magic" Lyra guessed.
"I actually didn't have a chance to use healing magic, for some reason it's the only form of magic that I still need Incantations for, but yes, how'd you know"? He asked.
"Kid I've been doing this for a while now, but luckily for you there's a way to fix that"
She took out two vials and splashed them on his face and body and the wound started to heal itself.
"But I thought nothing could-"
"Anti curse, it undoes the effects of the cursed weapons, but it takes forever to make so don't expect to always have it to bail you out"
Craiku pulled himself up, "No Craiku this time it's you that they want, and we can't let anything to happen to you"
Lyra said stopping him from getting involved,
"But if it wasn't for me then she wouldn't be here right now" her face went blank.
"Boy, she's evil, she doesn't care if you go with her or not she'll hurt other people regardless, you're a fool if you believe anything she tells you" Kaguya said in the harshest tone she could muster up.
"But I'm still responsible and need to take her-"
He was punched in the jaw and chopped in the back of his neck and knocked unconscious.
"Kaguya what the actual hell was that!? You'd knock out a kid while he's crying, none of this is his fault?" Ryu shouted.
"Don't you think I know that! But look at the state he was in, if he stayed in the fight for a minute longer he would have fallen for another one of her mind games and surrendered himself to her. It's the same pattern with family members who are controlling, guilting attacking their insecurities and isolating them from the people who actually have enough sense to see what they're really doing"
She realized that Kaguya didn't enjoy what she did but she thought it was the only way to prevent him from doing something he'd soon regret. "Rookie take him far far away from here"
Ryu stood up carrying the unconscious boy on her back and she looked at Alise. "She's right Leon, he's far too young to realize that she's truly far gone but in the long run he'll be able to realize what she's doing. Hurry back because we'll need all the help we can get"
Craiku's POV
Dianna was always hard on me, I knew she was a terrible person but nobody wanted to believe it, and I don't think I wanted to believe it. I'm not sure when it all started, she's been in my life for so long that it feels like it came out of nowhere.
In one of my earliest memories of her, we'd love to play together. I think the first game we ever played was dungeons and dragons, which seems super boring now that I've been to the actual dungeon…although I haven't seen a single dragon yet. She seemed like she loved having me around.
We were not only siblings but best friends. She was there when I missed my mom when she was still going to school. She played the villain when I wanted to be the Argonaut and most importantly…we both snuck cookies from the cookie jar when mom wasn't looking…and both got grounded for it.
One night later we caught her sneaking cookies from the cookie jar and she ungrounded us if we promised not to mention it to Dad who is against doing things he tells us not to do. I thought she was the coolest person, because she knew how to fight. Everything for me changed the day I started going to my aunt's house. She's super nice and we have a lot of things in common.
Auntie Irene is a mage similar to me, and when I say similar to me I mean it. She told me about the old days about how she and Dad wanted to become adventurers and use their talents to help complete the three great quests. I know one of them is to kill the black dragon but she never told me about the other two because she claimed it would give me nightmares. One day I got bored and I asked her if there was anything I could read since I'm a major bookworm and she told me to check the addict.
I found a spell book that she used to use and I tested it out and that was the first time I used my magic. I used my new magical abilities in secret but Dianna caught me one day and she was quite angry with me and she said if I told anyone about it then mom and dad would send me into a warzone to die.
I cried a lot that night and mom kept asking me what was wrong but I was too scared to tell her. So I thought about avoiding Auntie even though I really liked her and thought she was cool, but dad said that she'd be sad not to see me anymore so I kept visiting her for the next year and my curiosity got the better of me so I kept messing around with her spell book and I eventually discovered that I could use spells without Incantations which freaked me out at first, but I thought it was really cool, I even used it to prank Dianna without her ever knowing it was me.
Then I discovered a really cool spell known as Aqua Cannon, but it packed more of a punch than I expected and I destroyed my aunt's addict and I felt so guilty about it. No one suspected that I had done it but I felt so guilty and upset that I broke down crying and begged them not to disown me. I thought they would literally kill me, but Auntie was happy to have another mage in the family and called me a genius.
I had to do exactly what she told me to make up for destroying her storage so I started taking magic lessons from her which I didn't mind doing. And I ended up spending more and more time with her and that's the story of how I got my magical power.
I thought it was cool how I got my magic without getting falna, especially after Auntie said only a select few people are capable of casting spells without it. But after I completed my basic magic training, Dianna's attitude towards me began to change. She began to treat me more harshly, making comments about how I was rewarded for destroying public property.
She even started taking my stuff without asking, my books, my toys , my quills and paper, and I would be punished for getting upset with her because we're 'family' but if I did the same thing I'd be grounded. She doesn't want to teach me how to fight anymore since she said mages shouldn't fight, but I learned anyway and I got pretty good at it. She started attacking me at home to prove karate was a waste of time, but left me alone for a while after I judo slammed her for the first time.
Mom was definitely gonna ground me, but dad said she attacked first so she should be the one getting punished and called her out for unfairly punishing me all the time, and mom and dad got into a heated argument over it. Dianna was grounded for the first time, but she took out her anger on me physically every time my dad wasn't around and told me that I'd make my parents hate each other if they found out, but dad found out anyway and he decided that he couldn't be with Mama anymore.
Mama pleaded with him but he said he wouldn't stay with her until she started shaping up and stopped letting Dianna beat me up all the time. Mom claims she doesn't let her but said how much I tend to upset her. My dad exploded at her saying that she is way older than me and she is old enough to know right from wrong and he decided that he would take me to someplace that'll be safe for me and she was already reported to the village chief and he decided that he is a better fit for me to live with. So I stopped living with my mother and dad Grandpa and I got ready to go someplace else. Dianna called me the boy who runs away because I ran away from her and mama, but I thought I'd be running away from papa.
Papa was always the one who took care of me and made sure I was safe and he was furious with Dianna and Mama when he found out that I was getting bullied and nothing was being done about it. I remember when he apologized for allowing it to go on under his watch.
We both tried to join the Loki Famili-a but that didn't work out, papa already joined during a different trip, but I got rejected by their goddess Loki, it was because something happened to another little girl that joined the Loki Famili-a recently and she ended up being so messed up that she was afraid of large amounts of water for some reason. After she told my dad that he was too scared of me ending up like her. I got so mad that I ran away, I felt really bad about it afterwards.
Then before I got cornered by Jura and Rudra Familia's members in an alleyway, and I beat them up, that's when I met Clover for the first time, I actually tried to save him, but he was setting up a trap and already hatched an escape plan. We ended up fighting together and caught them. And that's the day I met Shakti and Adree for the first time.
I thought coming to Orairo would change me, but in the end I was proving her right, I was just a boy who ran away. In fact it's what I'm doing right now as Leon carries me in her arms as we run across the city.
"Oh CRAIKU" my heart sank as I heard that terrifying voice.
"Come out and play, with me, you remember the golden days, and you used to be such a good little boy too, before your aunt started poisoning your mind, she has to be the most naive delusional woman I've ever met"
I clenched my fists and I got ready to charge back out there. But Leon held me down. "Craiku cooperate, she's trying to rile you up to make you go after her, don't fall for it" she said covering my mouth.
I wanted to call her a bunch of names, even some bad words I'm not allowed to say. "Leon let me go you don't understand, I have to take her down before she hurts someone, all I ever do is make things worse so let me not run from my responsibilities for once"!
"It shouldn't be your responsibility in the first place, you are nine years old"!
"Yes elf meaning he's old enough to understand that he needs to do what I tell him to do"
"Oh yeah, not if I have anything to say about it, just wait right where you are and I'll come over and give you the fight you're looking for" Ryuu said with sharp eyes.
"You don't even know me that well, why are you okay with risking your life for such a troublemaker" I asked as I clung to her cape.
She looked down at me with conviction, "Because you'd do the same thing for me, and don't tell me you wouldn't, I will get this bully out of your life for good, sir tight, my friend" she pulled up her mask and she stormed out there to face Dianna.
"Letting other people fight your battles for you, little brother is still a coward and a little-"
"That's enough out of you" she struck her across the face but she quickly regained her footing and started attacking her with the knives but she was blocking them with great efficiency.
"Don't you understand why this is all happening, why I'm here, if not for him I wouldn't be here, if he had just went with me over a month ago-"
"A lot more people would be trafficked or dead, and you said he was running from his responsibilities but you're spitting out nothing but nonsense, he's not the one running from responsibility you are"! Ryu shouted furiously as the two of them clashed blades.
"The lives that are currently being ended because of him"!
"Ended, ever since he came here he's done nothing but save lives, he reunited a little boy with his mother when he was about to get sold out to the entertainment district for…I can't even imagine what they'd do to him"
I recalled the day I rescued that little boy from Evil's clutches, I did help that little guy, and if I wasn't there, he probably would have been snatched up.
"He risked his life and his efforts prevented a mother from losing her child! Does that not mean anything to you, are you so concerned about controlling your own brother that you don't even care about the fact he's helping people!?"
Narrator
Ryu poured her entire being into evasion
and counter attacking, utilizing every opportunity to strike the werewolf was leaving her. "I've been an adventurer for only two months and I'm currently keeping up with you, if I can keep up with you then you're not as powerful as you seem"
She snarled and spun around deflecting her wooden sword and struck her across her chest causing blood to fly everywhere.
Craiku frets when he tries coming out from the alley way but Leon gives him a pleading expression. It was basically telling him 'If you come out here she will win'.
Half way across town in the shopping district, Adree was fighting her way to get to her friends while trying to lead people away from the purple flames.
"Got 'em!" replied Ardee. The girl abhorred violence, but she was a Level 1 adventurer all the same. Her one-handed sword, Sacred Oath, was the judge and executioner of many monsters and villains. She raised it above her head and unleashed a vicious onslaught that flung the soldiers of the Evils to the ground before they even had a chance to attack.
"Adree" said an elephant masked deity standing in beside her.
"Lord Genesha, what are you doing out here, all gods must take shelter from the Evilus, if something happens to you-"
"Agh" cried an adventurer that crashed into the wall and fell flat on her back.
A wolf woman came towards her in order to finish the job but a little boy ran out from the alleyway and grabbed her from behind trying to restrain her. "I know you're little grubby hands did not just touch me just now"! She elbows him multiple times and then knees him in the stomach causing him to go flying.
"Always trying to play the hero even though you're the cause of everyone's problems" she started stepping on his head.
Adree saw this and was angered by it, "Tokun, he's just a kid and she doesn't even care, who is this woman, and who does she think she is"
Although she applauded violence, she was not opposed to doing what's needed to defend her friends.
"Adree wait, use this to boost your healing magic" he said handing her a wand with a silver lining and blue gemstone. She takes it and rushed towards her and she sent Dianna flying into a nearby building.
"Hang on Tokun it's going to be ok" she pointed the wand at him.
"To my fallen comrades rise again, please let me be a friend, and bring your strength back and allow it to ascend–Dia Kaumudi"
Blue sparks began washing over him and he got back up, but he was still very weak. "You wasted it all on me, Leon's the one who almost died protecting me. She was right, I am the bringer of disaster. I appreciate you looking out for me, and I'll always be your friend, but I think it's time for me to go home"
He said as he went to approach his sister, "Not so fast young man, I don't remember the boy who said he'd eliminate Evilus and end the dark age being such a quitter"! Said a loud voice.
"But I'm the reason she's even here to begin with, if I never showed up-"
"Do you actually believe that, think about it, you've been here for over a month and she never came looking for you, doesn't that sound a little suspicious" he claimed. "You better not buy it Craiku, I will burn down everything in this area if you don't listen to me, I wouldn't have done any of this if you listened to me" Dianna said standing up.
"She's lying about it," Genesha's face was stern.
"NO I'M NOT" she denied strongly, but the god remains quiet.
"You can't lie in the presence of a deity, she's been lying to you the whole time" Craiku's eyes widened with shock and disbelief.
Dianna's face turned pale, "Tch well I uh what are you gonna do about it, because all you've ever done is run away from your responsibilities"
"She's lying again, don't you see Tokun, she's putting things in your head to make you do things you don't want to do, that's what villains like her do, they don't have a lot of physical power so they manipulate others into submission. If you left with her, she wouldn't have held up her end of the bargain am I right"?
She started sweating intensely, "Well, is it true that you've been lying to me for this entire time"?
He asked her, "Ok fine I admit it! I have been a little dishonest but I only did it because I knew you wouldn't be able to handle the truth about Orairo being a more dangerous place and your delusional world would crumble apart! Killing a couple of people was worth teaching you a lesson"!
He started glaring at her, he raised his wand and aimed at her. "FIREBALL"! A bright ball of fire raced towards her and she was blasted across the street.
"Lord Genesha, I'm ending this, it's time someone put this criminal in her place, get everyone away from here, I'll take care of the bad guy, I think I can do it now"
She got back up and said had a huge scorch mark on her shoulder, "You blasted me, you dare blast your own sister"
"I didn't, I blasted you, it's time for you to stop this, surrender peacefully and atone for your crimes or face the consequences" her face tensed up, "Consequences, I was only trying to scare you at first, but now I don't give a damn of you live or die, and because of that, I will kill you"! She dashes towards him raising her left arm with her red knife and she glares at him with a snarl.
Flashback
Two weeks before his father divorced his mother he was inside his dojo training with his fellow karate students. It was specifically a group of people who were waiting for their parents to pick them up. All of them had joined some kind of Familia hence why they were able to keep up with each other. Suddenly a cloaked figure appeared in their dojo and all of them were attacked.
She clawed at all of them and snarled, the kids tried to fight back against her but it was no use, his teacher even gave him permission to break his no magic in the dojo rule. But the most he could do was push the attacker back, so the sensei used her martial arts to take her on while the kids got out of there and fled to safety. But Craiku had to carry two of them since they were hurt pretty badly.
But when they got to a safe enough distance they saw their beloved dojo going up in flames. It was a heartbreaking sight to behold. And Craiku was convinced that he had caused it since he shot fireballs at her from the inside. And when the village watch found the sensei's body he was dead, that day he lost his master. When they asked him what happened he told them everything about how they were attacked. But seeing the flames after his usage of fire magic made him believe that he was responsible for the death of their mentor.
The villagers started treating him like a monster, "Get away from me you monster, I don't want to be burnt to death like your teacher was" said an old lady who he tried to help pick up fruit she dropped. "Ma'am that was an accident I would have never used my fire magic if-" she pulls out a knife and he walked away from her with tears running down his face.
"Goes around pretending he's some kind of hero and turned around and killed his own teacher, always known he was a freak,"
"Just because he's a kid doesn't mean he can't kill people. That level of abnormal strength would make anyone corrupt."
"Can't believe I admired him at one point, Dianna was right about him all along, he truly is a unhinged demon child" a young girl did.
These were the things that people would tell him for two weeks straight. The only other person who didn't believe that he intentionally caused the fire was his father who was investigating the true culprit. But his mother started avoiding him like the plague, whenever she came home from work he would try to hug her only for her to avoid him and give him a disappointed look. One day while she was out at work, he was studying a bunch of his spell scrolls that he got for his birthday from his aunt. He heard the door open and thought his mom had returned earlier than usual and went to greet her, then saw that the door was still open but Dianna was talking to someone who was dressed in a black cloak.
"What do you mean you didn't check, if he got away it'll throw a massive roadblock in our plan"! Said Dianna looking at her with a serious look. "But he was not easy to beat, I think if I was unarmed I wouldn't have succeeded in setting the place on fire. And it definitely wouldn't have been convincing to people if he hadn't used his fire magic" the guy said.
Craiku's face turned pale. That's the man who attacked me and my friends! "Look if I appreciate the help with scaring my brother out of his little delusion that he could become a hero but I'm just saying be careful next time and I want a full scan of the village to ensure he's not just laying low. Those martial arts masters are a scary bunch if they get away then our little act will fall apart and he'll realize that his fireball wasn't enough to destroy the dojo"
"Relax, we thought it through, he was already out of there by the time I used the magic sword to burn the place down. And all those people are convinced that he is a killer no way he'll ever become a hero now"
Craiku thought he should have remained silent but he was boiling with rage and stepped out to confront her. "You did this"!? He yelled as he drew a wand he had at the time, she turned around and saw him standing there with his wand ready for battle. "Craiku, you are hearing things, whatever you just head-"
"Shut it, I heard everything, how could you possibly do that to me, how could you kill Sensei, and you were in on this, you're my big sister and you're supposed to protect me not destroy me. I'm telling papa and Grandpa about what you did! And then you'll go to jail for a long time"!
This escalated into a one sided fight that resulted in Craiku being defeated swiftly. His mother came back and just as he was about to tell her the truth about what she did Dianna spun the story around and made it sound like he attacked her and she and her assistant were just defending themselves. "They're lying mama I was just studying and thought you were home and I saw them talking about-" he was cut off by a fierce slap in the face.
"I had hoped you were incapable of doing such things, but it seems like letting you join karate gave you an inflated ego, and I don't intend on letting you go down that path and longer, I'm very disappointed in you"
Dianna then made him watch as she burned his spell scrolls and reduced them to dust and ashes, and both held his mother and the assassin held him down as she proceeded to torture him for nearly an hour. As a last resort he used his wind magic to blow them off but it was no use.
"You're attacking your own mother now, and you expect us to believe you, but people like you are incapable of taking responsibility and accepting the fact they're deranged. Mom, exiling him from the village to avoid getting more people killed might be best"
She stared at her son with a disgusted face, "I'll consider it, but for now" she took his wand and snapped it in half. "Treating me like your enemy and refusing to accept the truth, I raised you better than that Tokun"
"You didn't raise me at all papa did, he's the only one who doesn't think I did it! You are a horrible woman and a terrible mama. I hate you"!! Those words cut deeper than any knife and she slapped him with full force and he fell to the ground. He looked up at her and he was bleeding from the mouth. She covered her mouth in shock at what she did, but tried to convince herself that he needed to be disciplined.
But unexpectedly, the door opened and a man with his skin color walked in on the entire event, and he was horrified by what he was witnessing and immediately went to check on his son. "Tokun are you okay, what happened?" he immediately hugged him. "Mama hates me now, they think I'm a murderer papa, but I'd never kill anyone, setting the dojo on fire was an accident, I didn't want to kill Sensei, I loved her so so much." He said talking as if he believed that he was guilty of causing the fire.
"I'm sorry I killed her. I'm sorry I'm sorry just don't banish me to the forest I'm begging you!" He embraced him in his arms, "I believe you, I know you better than that, and you'd never seek to cause harm to anyone. It's not in your nature. But what happened to you, please tell me that you just tripped on your way home" he said praying that his suspicions are incorrect.
"Dianna and her boyfriend beat me up when I caught them talking about doing horrible things to me and burned my scrolls. Then the held me down and Dianna said and did horrible things to me for an hour and Mama just watched and then she broke my wand and slapped me"
Ging looked at the woman who was supposed to be the mother of his son with a look of disgust. "Ging you have to understand-"
"Understand why you hurt our son like this," he screamed.
"You know how he can be, besides he's the only one that could have been capable of causing the fire. I don't want to believe it either but the fact is our son's a killer" Ging reached into his bag and he pulled out orange metal fragments of metal.
"What are you hoping to accomplish by showing me some broken pieces of metal?" she asked.
"Nothing just thought I'd show you, but if my so called killer of a son isn't welcomed here, then I'm taking full custody of him. But understand that you are throwing away your relationship with the one of the most kind hearted people you'll ever know. The fact that you're so naive to accept the information you were given without further investigation shows you're unfit to be his mother. Let's go Tokun, I'm not gonna let them treat you like this anymore." After that, it was how Craiku told his story, he got his falna from his first God and they left the far east to travel the world before arriving in Orairo.
Present day
He raised his spear and blocked her knives and front kicks her back and punched her in the face with aggression. And blood flies through the air as his fist connects with her face. She kneed him in the stomach and he gasped in agony before she slashed him across his chest and forearm.
"You think you're hot stuff huh, I'll show you how hot I am, " she flips over his head and kicks him in the back of his head. Good riddance to him, "You're gone and here's your going away present, Dark Fire"! A purple flame flies through the air towards him. He was on the verge of passing out. 'He'll never dodge this attack in time he's going to fry and burn in hell, literally!' She laughed maniacally much to everyone's horror, a couple of civilians evacuating the area were watching the events and the sight of a child being needlessly beaten up by his own sibling was too gut wrenching to watch It hurts, just like before she's beating the hell out of me, but compared to everything I've seen so far it's not as strong as before.
He rose to his feet and he saw the incoming fireball and pulled his wand out, "Take this, blast" he swings his wand like a baseball bat and the wind blows the Dark Fire back at Dianna and she was struck in the face and she was engulfed by purple flames as burns consumed her entire body.
"You miserable little brat, how dare you burn me like that"
He smirks, "What's the matter Dianna, I thought you were going to kill me, but I'm still alive, and still standing in front of you, I thought you were gonna be a challenge, I can't believe I used to be afraid of you."
"My Lady," another soilder ran into the frey and her face was full of concern and fear. An Evilus soldier, but why are they calling her my lady?
"Leave now this isn't the time to be interfering with my crusade"
"The soldier's Lady Valletta provided us were defeated by a large group of adventurers, they were being led by a crazy girl with red hair, we have to fall back."
Craiku looked at them and Dianna and clenched his fist, "You're working with the Evils" she looked down. "No, they're working for me, I get you back and I take out a few civilians, I had to get the cursed weapons somehow"
"TRAITOR"!!
"But you're outnumbered boy, you're not gonna be able to defeat all of us"
"Hence why we've arrived to provide assistance for our new fellow warrior of justice" cried out a red headed girl who slashed down a soldier in a single strike. "Dianna's working with the Evils I can't believe…actually I can totally believe it…I'm still gonna kick your head in, get over here" he dashes at her blasting her away with a huge amount of wind magic before chasing after her.
Craiku's POV
I can't believe I was afraid and let an actual criminal tell me that I was a terrible person, but now I realize that I'm not a bad person and I never was. The only mistake I made was believing anything that came out of her mouth. While she was still in mid air still enraged by what she did I punched her in the face twice before her body even touched the ground.
Despite all of her injuries she was quick to recover from my surprise wind blast attack and blasted my me with two Dark Fires which I barely managed to block. I spin my spear like a windmill and I thankfully negated the blasts from hitting me. But she was still on the attack.
Dianna spins in my direction, his twin daggery hurtling toward my chest.
"?!" My instincts howl, and I reflexively parry with my spear. The heavy blow numbs my hands down to the marrow in my bones. That thrust would've gone straight through my heart if I didn't block it. She's serious.
Dianna is trying to kill me!
"The moment you set foot on this field, the fighting begins!"
Others are fending off the Evilus soldiers around us and letting loose with their own weapons like
They're struggling but they're persisting. A thunderous roar rings out, marking
the beginning of the battle.
The sounds of furious slashes and heavy, thudding blows fill my ears, and
my body shivers as the battle cries wash over me. There's no time to be amazed by how quickly the city can transform into a feverish melting pot
of struggle. The half-werewolf in front of me slashes with all her strength.
"I told you that I'd give you a proper punishment for ruining everything for me!"
"Ghh…?!"
"This is a battlefield! This what it means to live in the dark age, but you're still too stubborn to understand how bad it is but if you wanna play the hero then fine, I'll gladly play the villain!" Our blades meet in a spray of sparks as Dianna roars at me. Her weapons twist without leaving any obvious opening, and I parry his attacks with my
Spear as a flurry of blows envelop me.
Acting on reflex alone, I draw the wand at my hip and blasted her chest with a powerful fireball. I move in a mixture of defense and evasion with my life on the line. I can't let my mind dwell on the terror she's caused me, nor how mom was defending an actual criminal even if I wanted to there are lives to be saved.
"Uooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
As the battle cries make the very air tremble, I'm choosing to join my fellow adventurers and become one of them. A thrusting dagger point, a spinning kick that almost touches the ground, an unmistakable murderous glint in her eyes—this is unlike anything I did during training or practice. Dianna's momentum is overwhelming. Meanwhile, I'm just barely managing to stay alive. Dianna, as much as I hate to admit it, is still a lot stronger than me, she's had warriors training in her tribe since she was a toddler and I only started two years ago and got my falna one year ago. If experience is the deciding factor then I'm in major danger. However….
The unease I felt when I discovered how powerful she was, …that's all gone now. I swing again and again, digging in with my feet as I fight desperately.
Dianna isn't someone I can hold
back again. A moment of indecision is unthinkable.
If I don't fight back with everything I have, I'll be killed!
"Ya!"
"Haaaaaaaaah!"
It's the same for everyone around me. Along side Clover Adree and the Astrea Familia's executive members. I also notice two humans, a man and woman, crossing blades next to me. A dwarf behind me sends an elf flying with a heavy hammer blow, while a beast person and an Amazon are locking blades at close range. They might be with Alise too but I have no time to think about that.
Narrator
Like a surging river, they collided with the Evils horde and forced it back in an astonishing display, flashing swordplay and booming magic."
"Dammit Craiku, just die already" she said as she continued attacking and assaulting him. Ugh, nothing I do is gonna get rid of this girl, I guess I have one option left, although she burnt my scrolls…I still had time to memorize one spell from Auntie.
"Arctic spirits that envelope our forests with frost, here my name. Respond to the contract, let snow rain"!
Magical energy grew stronger as he started chanting, "Ha ha ha CRAAAAAIKUUUUUU, no way that's gonna work, don't you understand, but it's always one ear out the other with you, sure you are able to cast spells without your falna but your spell will always be inferior to any acquired magic, which is what Dark Fire is"!
Craiku was performing magic developed by the Elves for use without a falna. It requires the user to undergo training and rituals and use a long chant systematized during the ancient times. It has more than twelve verses to its chant and its power is weak compared to magic used by those with a falna.
She shot two Fireballs at him in an attempt to make him have an igneous. But he dodged both of them.
"Follow my order and provide divine protection. Let's put them into an eternal winter slumber with no chance of resurrection" she twitched with irritation. "Just stay still and let me hit you" she positioned her knives into a backhanded position and attempted to cut him down.
Being weak has its advantages, I learned to dodged a lot during my travels with Dad.
He gave her an intense look as he raised his wand and she backed away immediately, "Don't think you're gonna do anything, you'll just waste magical power. There's nothing special about your magic, my magic makes anything you can do completely meaningless, just watch. She concentrated all her mind energy and put her hands together and made a huge purple fireball. "What's the, Craiku move out of the way, don't risk it, if that thing hits you you'll get fried" Adree screamed.
But he gave her a look that basically told her it was okay. I'm not gonna run away from her anymore, she's not going to get away with what she did this time. "Ha ha ha that's what I like to see, your friends are gonna witness you dying like a fool, this is always how it goes, you try to stand up to me and I put you in your place and mom promptly punishes you. But I'll tell her that you died doing something stupid…she'll believe anything I say," he remains quiet.
"Ha ha ha, farewell little brother, see you in hell, now disappear" the fireball was hurtling towards him and the heat could be felt five feet away. But he plants his foot forward and thrusts his wand at the incoming fireball. "Kuros Anemos"!! . A burst of arctic wind expanded as they rushed toward Dianna and her fireball intercepted it but was slowly getting weaker as it approached him and it was reduced to nothing as the icy wind hit her, encasing her partially in ice and a look of shock could be seen on her face. What, but how, my Dark Fire should be superior. Craiku pants from exhaustion fighting his exhaustion, but he ran towards her, for the first time, he didn't have to run away from her but he ran towards her with a fire in his eyes that was indomitable representing his newly ignited spirit.
She was unable to defend or attack. He held his fist out, I'm ending this right now. He stepped forward and did the most powerful uppercut he ever performed and hit her so hard it shattered the ice, Ha big mistake dumbass, you lost your best chance to defeat…wait why am I suddenly getting burned up. She noticed the flames on her abdomen. "FIREBALL"!! he yelled as a huge burst of flames blew her away and she crashed into the wall and landed on her back that had a major scar on her solar plexus now and her chest is scorched and smoking as she slowly loses consciousness. No, this isn't how it is supposed to go, he's just a kid, an ignorant little boy. I'm a highly trained warrior and the strongest in my tribe, I had acquired magic, how did his weak magic overcome me!?
He panted from exhaustion as she fell unconscious, he had a small smile on his face as he collapsed on his back and he let out a small laugh. "I won, I actually won." All of them were speechless, "The kid actually took her out…retreat-" the last soldier was hit by an arrow then knocked out by Kaguya, "None of you are going anywhere." she sheathed her sword as a boy around her age approached her. "I could have caught him myself, your arrow wasn't necessary" she told the archer. "I'll take that as a thank you" he responded sarcastically. He went to help Craiku up and supported him as he tried to find his footing.
"Nice one, I knew you could do it" he said patting his head. "It's not a big deal, it's just Dianna, she's not that tough, I would have done it a lot sooner if I'd known she was a liar," he said. "But we tried tag teaming combo moves but nothing was going to get rid of her, although Alise or Kaguya probably could have taken care of her but they had to deal with someone who was even stronger than her. You did pretty well for someone who was getting surprised by dungeon lizards." He grew annoyed, "Think twice before you talk because I can burn and freeze you too" . It was then a cherry swordswoman put away her rapier and chuckled.
Did pretty well in my opinion." Alise said cheerfully. At that moment, a jubilant cry erupted from the townsfolk."YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"Alize turned to see that many were openly weeping tears of joy. Somewhere even smiling. The surviving adventurers raised their arms as if to say,"Good job!" —all sharing in the taste of victory these adventurers had won.
"That's the magic boy, he did drop a spell on them like he said he would, he stopped that fireball like it was nothing, it was awesome." said a little girl that seemed to recognize him. "And then Archer really took them out with his arrows, I thought he was a total goner" Clover face palms.
"A lot of them were doing magic honey, let's give him a different name…how about the ice prince"
He stood there with a red face, "Uh just Craiku is-"
"Agreed, he did put the fire out with that powerful blast of icy wind, but Snow Prince rolls off the tongue better." An amazon woman said.
"Can you just call me a healer, I'm in a lot of pain right now," he passed out.
Soon the Genesha Familia arrived at the scene and they arrested every member present including Dianna. "So this is the one who's been picking on Craiku for so long" Shakti asked, staring down in disgust. "From what we saw it seems like it, she had tried to fabricate a story in order to throw him off his game and she nearly killed us. She ain't no normal adventurer either. There was hardly anyone in the area that could have defeated her."
Shakti gives her a cold stare and kicked her while she was unconscious, "You're gonna be locked up for the rest of your miserable life. For framing a minor for murder, ruining his good name and for crippling millions of men women and children just to make yourself look better."
That day, Dianna was arrested, and Craiku received justice not just for himself but for the people she wronged.