The sun rose over the horizon heralding a new day. With a yawn, Luka rose from his bedroll and rubbed his eyes. Eventually emerging from his small tent, the purple-haired teen looked at his campsite. The rain from the previous night had left everything damp, dousing his fire and soaking the wood.
"Alice, you awake yet?" He called out.
It didn't take long for his traveling companion to make her presence known. "About time you got up. I'm getting hungry." The silver-haired lamia declared.
"Ya, just give me a moment. I'll start a fire then get breakfast going." Luka replied.
Gathering some wood and kindling, he got to work building a fire. He struck the stick of flint with his knife, sending sparks flying towards the wood but they were unable to ignite the damp tinder.
Now that they had left the desert behind, he was relieved to experience reasonable temperatures again. About a week had passed since he made his contract with Gnome, the Spirit of Earth. The dry, arid air of the Safina region had given way to the more temperate climate of Natalia as they traveled toward the Kingdom of Grand Noah. Last night had been the first time he had seen rain in weeks, and it was nice falling asleep to the sound of it hitting his tent.
He was starting to get frustrated at the wood in front of him that was still refusing to ignite.
Getting impatient at how her meal was getting delayed Alice decided to speak up. "You know, if you're having trouble lighting the fire, you can just ask me for help."
Luka stopped his efforts and looked up at the lamia. "Wait, are you offering to help for once?"
"You're delaying my breakfast. Then again, you can always help me fill my other stomach."
There it is, the real reason she offered to help. Remembering what happened to the cooking pot she vaporized, Luka made sure to get to a safe distance from the fire pit. "Be my guest, just don't blow up my tent as well please."
With a casual wave of her hand, the pile of wood exploded, sending burning pieces of wood flying through the air.
Luka quickly ran and grabbed the burning pieces scattered around the campsite and threw them back into the firepit. While adding more fuel to the fire to keep it going, he glanced back at Alice. "You could've held back a bit you know."
Alice shrugged her shoulders and replied. "I did."
Deciding to let it go, Luka grabbed a pot and started walking to the nearby river to get some water for the porridge.
Before he got too far, Alice called out to him. "I would probably take Angel Halo with me if I were you."
Knowing what she implied, Luka turned around and quickly grabbed the grotesque-looking sword. Walking down to the riverbank, he kept his guard up, ready to be attacked by another monster.
Summoning Sylph, he channeled the Spirit of Wind's power and listened to everything around him. He could hear through the wind how many birds, insects, and fish were around him. The wind was also telling him there was a nearby.
Raising his sword, he cautiously approached the area where he sensed the monster. Caution turned to concern when he saw the kitsune on her belly unconscious on the riverbank. Her soaked clothes, wet fur, and the trail left in the mud told him she pulled herself from the river before passing out.
Luka decided to call out to Alice in case the monster needed help. After all, Alice was Monster Lord and does show concern for her subjects, especially when they are not attacking humans. "Hey Alice, no need to hide, she's already unconscious. She might need your help." He sensed Alice start making her way towards him as he let go of Sylph's power.
Walking closer to the kitsune, he noted that this was perhaps the first monster he had seen that was wearing what could be called 'normal' clothes. They looked well-tailored and expensive. She wore leather boots with blue trousers with a small hole in the back, allowing her white tail to poke out. The tan shirt had long sleeves and was tucked into the pants.
Her right arm was extended in front of her, and her face was tucked into it, hiding it from sight. He noted that she was tall, maybe around six feet, and had a very masculine body.
His eyes drifted to the top of her head. Poking from the short auburn hair were the two fox ears he expected to see. What he didn't expect was the two normal human ears on the side of her head.
Thinking back to the three other kitsunes he had met, they all had long hair that covered the side of their head. A part of him always wondered if there were ears there, underneath the hair, but he never had an opportunity to ask.
"Really? You called me over for a kitsune. Let's just leave her." Alice seemed unimpressed and Luka wondered to himself why she had issues with that particular race of monsters. Alice chuckled before speaking again. "Oh, she is going to be in big trouble when Tamamo sees her."
"What do you mean?" Luka asked.
"Kitsunes showing their human ears is considered a major taboo in their culture. Right up there with saying another monster has fluffier fur or wasting tofu." Alice answered, before turning to leave. "Now let's just leave her and get back to important things, like you making me food."
Luka ignored her and knelt beside the unconscious kitsune and rolled her over. "Alice, she looks hurt, we can't just leave her…" He trailed off when he rolled her onto her back, revealing handsome, angular facial features and a strong jawline with about a week's growth of facial hair.
In hindsight, Luka realized it should have been obvious that the kitsune was male, but the monster features had led him to assume otherwise.
Having rolled him over, Luka also saw injuries on the monster. There was a deep gash on his left arm, a long burn on his torso and strange burns on other parts of his body. "Alice come back! He's badly hurt."
Luka heard Alice sign in annoyance. "Fine, I'll take a loo… Wait, what do you mean by he?" Alice was suddenly beside Luka. Glancing over, he saw that she had a shocked look on her face. "That's impossible, he shouldn't exist."
"Why do you say that?" Luka asked. "Is it because he's a male? I thought it was only uncommon for male monsters, like with the Sabasa royal family."
Alice rolled her eyes as she examined the kitsune's wounds. "Idiot, this is completely different. In the rare event, that a monster gave birth to a male, he'd be a human like the King of Sabasa. He'd be stronger than regular humans, but he'd be human regardless. There have been no cases of them having monster features. I'll have to ask Tamamo if she has heard of anything like this. But we're getting sidetracked, we can talk about this later. Right now, let's get him back to the camp."
Alice straightened up and grabbed the kitsune by the tail before turning back the way she came. Luka winced as she started slivering away from the river while dragging the limp monster behind her. "Alice, shouldn't you take more care, he's obviously hurt."
"It's fine, I'm sure he can handle it. Remember monsters are pretty tough." The lamia replied.
Following behind her, Luka thought back on all the times Alice talked about bullying kitsunes and decided one day he should probably ask her why she disliked them so much. After all, it seemed like she got along well with Tamamo when they encountered her in the Treasure Cave.
Luka winced as the kitsune's head collided hard with a rock as Alice continued to drag him back to the camp.
When they arrived back at the camp, Luka got to work boiling the water to prepare some porridge. Placing the pot on the fire, he wandered over to Alice as she began examining the kitsune's wounds.
Alice ripped open the monster's shirt and saw that on the left side of the kitsune's chest were a fair amount of jagged uneven scars, that had long since healed. His eyes drifted over to the burn on his torso, on closer inspection it looked more like someone had cut into his side with a sword before cauterizing it. The skin around the gash was charred and blacked and Luka wondered what sort of weapon was capable of leaving such a wound.
He watched in fascination as Alice placed her hand over the gash and the skin slowly began to mend. Despite traveling with Alice for several months, he had rarely seen her use her magic and it was always interesting to see. The rate at which the wound healed began to slow and soon stop, leaving the wound only half healed.
Luka looked back at Alice in confusion. "Um, Alice. Are you going to finish healing him?"
Alice furrowed her eyebrows and responded. "I'm trying. It's almost like there is some kind of dark magic in these burns. Maybe some kind of curse? Either way, it will regret the day it dared face me." She looked up to Luka. "This is going to take a fair bit of time and energy to overpower and heal. Now leave me be and get back to cooking."
He returned to the firepit and saw that the porridge was almost done. After a few finishing touches, he scooped some into a bowl and handed it to Alice who took it without a word.
Deciding to be productive, he got up to begin packing up his tent, only to be stopped when Alice called out to him. "No point packing up yet, this is going to take a few hours."
Wandering back to the two monsters, he sat there watching for a few more minutes. Alice would occasionally complain in annoyance or frustration. Eventually growing bored, Luka took a look at some of the unusual objects the kitsune had on him.
He grabbed the strange metal object from the leather tool holder on his belt. Examining it, he had no idea what it was. Perhaps it was some kind of hammer? He noticed the handle was hollow and looked down the hollow tube. He felt the sudden urge to put it down, deciding it was best not to fiddle around with things he did not understand.
Eventually, the lamia finished her task and let out a tired sigh. "That took up way more energy than it should have. He'd better be grateful."
Alice sat there for a moment before she reached out and started pulling things from the kitsune's pockets.
"Hey Alice, it's pretty rude to go through people's things like that," Luka stated.
Alice did not even bother facing Luka when she replied. "I believe your words were, and I quote, 'being a hero has a lot of perks, you know. You get the respect of the people, cheap rates at inns,' and most importantly here, 'you can even walk into people's houses and take stuff.' So, I'm just using my privilege as a hero to take some stuff as compensation for saving him."
"Alice you aren't a hero though." He replied.
"Of course I am. I'm the Monster Lord, therefore I'm the hero for all monsters."
Luka could only sign at her bizarre logic and let the matter drop.
Alice picked up small a bronze rectangular bar and examined it for a moment before licking it.
"Alice, that's metal, you can't eat that," Luka stated.
"Huh, apparently this bar has five thousand seventy-eight 'Imperial Credits', whatever that is stored on it. Weird." Dropping the bar, she grabbed a small metal cylinder and opened it up. "I can eat this though." After taking a bite, her face quickly changed from excitement to disgust as she chewed. "Overall, very nutritious, but absolutely disgusting." Casually tossing the ration bar away, she returned to her task of looting the kitsune.
Alice reached down and removed the rectangular pendant that was on a chain around his neck and examined it and frowned. Luka saw that after a few seconds, her eyes glowed momentarily before she continued speaking. "Is this some kind of identification? Junior Lieutenant Orlen Amar, K59470, Alliance to Restore the Republic."
Luka was glad they at least had a name for their mystery kitsune. He did have questions though, "Restore the Republic of what?" He asked. "There haven't been any republics for hundreds of years. Also, what language is that script? I don't recognize it."
"I don't know what language it is either. Tamamo taught me how to read any writing. She called it demon eyes of comprehension. I would be a poor Monster Lord if I let something as silly as language barriers stop me from telling people what to do." Alice replied before grabbing the next object, a small thin rectangular box, and pressing the buttons on the side.
A blue translucent image projected from the box, displaying more of the same script Luka saw earlier. "What's that say?" He asked Alice.
"Looks like a novel of some kind." Alice started pressing more buttons and the projection displayed objects Luka could make no sense of. The images kept changing as Alice pressed more buttons, shifting from landscapes, buildings, and strange monsters Luka had never seen before. Is that a man wearing some kind of fur suit standing beside Orlen?
Eventually, Alice grew bored and put the rectangle down. "Well, I am going to take a nap. Wake me up when that kitsune is awake." Wrapping her snake tail around a tree, she gave one last order before closing her eyes. "If I were you, I would spend time practicing with the spirits, you are barely passable using Sylph's power and the less said about your use of Gnome's abilities, the better."
Orlen's eyes slowly opened as he gradually regained consciousness. Strangely, he did not feel any pain from his injuries and the warmth of the nearby fire was comforting.
Wait, fire?
Jerking upright, he looked around and saw that he was in a small clearing with a tent nearby. Orlen took a moment to calm himself as he assessed his situation. Whoever had helped him likely meant him no harm based on the fact he was not restrained or dead.
He glanced at his left arm, seeing the gash had disappeared up, and saw that the lightsaber wound had also been healed with only a scar remaining as a reminder of the night's events. Strangely enough, he felt full of energy like he had just drank several cups of caf. Orlen also noticed that his tail was sore, like someone was pulling on it hard.
"Ah, you're awake. How do you feel?" Orlen turned to see a purple-haired boy approaching.
He opened his mouth to speak but the words caught in his throat, coming out as a raspy croak.
The boy saw this and quickly grabbed a waterskin and handed it to him. "Here drink this. Don't worry it's just water."
Taking the waterskin, Orlen gulped the water down and immediately felt better. Wiping his mouth, he handed the skin back to the boy. "Thanks, kid, I really needed that."
The kid's face immediately scrunched up. "Hey, I'm not a kid! I'm eighteen years old, I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet."
"Oh, my bad." Orlen replied. It seemed like his height was a bit of a sore topic for the kid. After an awkward silence, he continued speaking. "By the way, thanks for helping me. What's your name?"
"It's no problem, it's a hero's duty to help those in need." The kid responded while puffing out his chest.
"A fake hero's duty you mean." A female voice called out in the distance.
The kid deflated a bit before continuing. "I'm Luka, a traveling hero. Your name's Orlen, right?"
Orlen tensed up when Luka spoke his name and narrowed his eyes. "How would you know that?" He questioned.
"A name was on these; I assume it's yours." The female voice from before answered.
Turning his head, Orlen saw the speaker approaching holding his identification tags. Like every non-human he has encountered on this planet so far, she looked like someone had crossed a human with a sluissi. Rather than legs, her lower body was a red serpent tail that transitioned into a human torso with purple skin and tribal tattoos. Long silver hair flowed from her hair with flowers adorning it and two horns sticking from the top of her head. Her clothing, if one could call it that, would not have looked out of place on an exotic twi'lek dancer.
Orlen would be lying if he said she was not one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, while at the same time, he felt an almost instinctive submission to her.
She casually tossed the dog tags to him before speaking again. "Now, I have a few questions to ask you. Where did you come from and how have you avoided discovery all your life? I'm sure Tamamo would have told me if there was a male kitsune running around for years."
Catching the dog tags, Orlen put them back around his neck before narrowing his eyes and asking a question of his own. "Kitsune, I've heard that word used several times in reference to me. What's a kitsune?"
The woman sighed in annoyance before answering. "It's what you are idiot. Didn't your mother teach you anything?"
Orlen closed his eyes for a moment feeling conflicting emotions. He had never met any living members of his species before and was glad to know what his kind was called.
At the same time though, he felt a bit of anger. While he had made his peace with, and accepted what happened to him in his infancy, he didn't appreciate the callous disrespect this stranger had for his mother. "I only saw my mother once when I was four and that was a few days after she died on an experimentation table. So no, she didn't teach me anything."
The woman's face immediately fell, and Orlen could see she regretted her choice of words. After closing her eyes for a moment, she spoke again. "That was rude of me. I know what it's like losing a mother. I'm sorry."
"It's fine, you didn't know," Orlen replied.
"Alice."
"What?" He replied.
"My name idiot, it's Alice."
"Oh, right. As for your other question…" Orlen debated if he should lie about where he came from. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided it wouldn't hurt, to tell the truth, it was not like they would believe him anyway. "Well, you'll probably think I am crazy, but I'm not from this world. I had a ship that can travel between planets, and I crash-landed here about a week ago."
Glancing at Alice and Luka, Orlen saw that they had very different expressions.
"That's impo-" Alice began.
"Awesome!" Luka interrupted, eyes wide with excitement. "What are other planets like? Are you an explorer? Are there heroes on other worlds? What are they like?
Alice interrupted the barrage of questions. "Great, he's just crazy."
Orlen grabbed his holocaster and started showing Luka some of the images he had stored on the device while trying to answer some of his questions. The teen sat there wide-eyed and listened intently. Meanwhile, Alice pretended to be uninterested but would occasionally glance at the two.
"And this is the ship I crashed here on," Orlen said answering Luka's latest question while showing an image of his A-wing. He had a few questions of his own about this world, but he was happy to wait once Luka's curiosity had been sated. Orlen found it nice being able to talk to someone again, these two were the first people he had met on this planet who were not hostile to him.
He knew he had to keep moving; the inquisitor was still out there, and Orlen wasn't sure how much of a lead he got from using the river. He did hear the inquisitor's ship depart though.
Now that I think about it, he could've easily just followed the river in his ship and chase me down. Did he give up? No, I'm sure he will be back. I'll have to be ready to fight him again.
My blaster is almost out of ammo, and I don't have any more energy cells, I lost my vibro-knife as well. That leaves me with one option.
"Orlen?" He was interrupted from his thoughts by Luka, looking at him in concern.
"Sorry, just got lost in thought." He answered as a silence fell between them.
The silence was shattered by a sudden, loud roar. Both Orlen and Luka sprang to their feet, Orlen's hand instinctively reaching for his blaster. As the roar faded, they slowly turned their heads to see Alice sitting calmly with her arms crossed.
"Luka, I'm hungry," she stated matter-of-factly as if her stomach didn't just announce that for her.
As Luka got up and started to prepare lunch, Orlen approached Alice, having questions of his own. "So, I've been meaning to ask. I've encountered several non-humans since I got here and all of them were female. Everyone is shocked that I'm a 'male monster' and the humans I've encountered so far have accused me of trying to rape their women. Mind filling me in?"
Alice's eyes widened for a moment and a grin appeared on her face. "This should be good." She muttered to herself, eager to see his reaction to monster biology. "Monsters refer to species like us and are an all-female race that tend to have a mix of human and non-human features. There has never been a male monster, so you're a bit of a freak."
"Well, that explains a bit actually," Orlen replied. "Wait, if monsters are all female, how do they reproduce?"
"Well, we rape humans." She stated as if it was obvious.
Orlen understood why he was chased out of that town now. "Huh, makes sense." He answered. There are a lot of strange ways aliens reproduce in the galaxy. Last time he checked there were eleven confirmed biological genders, all with different ways of breeding, so it wasn't completely unusual to hear about a mono-gendered race. Orlen did take a moment to ponder what insane evolutionary processes took place on this planet to result in this situation.
Alice frowned; Orlen was not reacting the way she hoped. "Additionally, monsters can feed off human semen. It's delicious and is also a great source of nutrients."
"That's… A new one... Doesn't seem like a good source of calories to me." Orlen responded. Not the weirdest thing he has seen or heard, but it is certainly up there.
"That's it? I just told you that you are part of a race that feeds off cum! You don't find that particularly insane or weird?" Alice ranted. This was not going the way she hoped. He was supposed to be embarrassed or stutter or freak out. Instead, the only reaction she got was mild surprise.
"I mean it's kinda weird, certainly in the top five, no, top three weirdest things I've seen." He answered.
Alice scoffed. "Really? Only in the top three strangest things? What could possibly be more insane?" She challenged him.
Orlen began explaining some of the weirder things he had seen or heard about. "Let's see, there's the planet Isis, which is made of crystals, inhabited by a race of sentient crystals that eat crystals."
Seeing that Alice looked unimpressed, Orlen started to share even stranger things he had encountered. "I've seen space whales that can travel through an alternate dimension to travel between planets, not sure what the space whales eat though. Oh, and there's an entire order of monks that, to achieve enlightenment, have removed their brains and placed them in glass tanks and walk around in a mechanical spider walker."
Pausing for a moment, he added one last example. "I've also heard about a race of sentient rocks. Literally just a slab of rock that can talk."
Alice could only stare at him with a blank face before letting out a sign. "Still think mine is weirder." She replied before slivering back to Luka to bug him for food.
While Luka cooked, Orlen took a moment to collect the rest of his belongings scattered on the ground.
Lunch, Orlen had to admit, was pretty good. He was surprised that Luka could make food this good with only rudimentary ingredients and tools.
"Another good meal Luka." Alice complimented the teen. "Now, if we aren't going to spend the day traveling, we might as well be productive. Go grab your sword, it's time for another lesson."
Luka nodded and went into the tent, moments later, he returned carrying something Orlen could only describe as an abomination. The sword, if one could call it that, was covered in small statues with limbs and wings sticking out at random and rather than a tip, had a sharp ring sticking from the end of it. It almost looked like something Sith cultists would use to conduct sacrifices.
For the next several minutes, Orlen watched as Alice instructed Luka on sword techniques noting that the teen had some skill using the strange weapon.
Deciding he should also be productive; Orlen took out his blaster and examined it. The weapon was caked with mud and dirt and needed to be cleaned. Removing the power cell, he started the task of disassembling the weapon and began scraping the mud from it.
Orlen saw Alice sliver back over and sat beside him on the log. "I still have trouble believing you are from space, though it would explain that strange equipment you have." She stated. "Out of curiosity, you haven't heard the name Ilias before, have you?"
"Ilias? No, the first time I heard that name was when a bunch of humans shouted it when they chased me out of town. Why, is it the name of a deity here?" He asked.
"Don't worry about it." Alice mentally cheered at the fact that for all of Ilias' self-proclaimed divinity, space travelers apparently had not heard about her.
Finished cleaning, Orlen re-assembled his weapon and put it back in his holster before gesturing to Luka. "He seems pretty skilled, though I'd say his footwork can be improved a bit. Also, I've been meaning to ask, what the hell is that sword anyway? Doesn't look very practical."
"That's Angel Halo, rather than killing or leaving wounds, it seals its victims in harmless forms. For example, if I stabbed you with it, you'd probably be sealed into a fox. You would be stuck like that until someone gave you enough energy or you gathered enough yourself to break the seal" Alice answered.
Orlen tried not to think too hard about how that would work. On the flip side, he could see the benefits of having such a weapon. The Jedi probably would have loved to have a sword like that.
After a moment, Alice's eyes lit up and she continued speaking. "Forget about that though, you don't happen to know how to fight with a sword do you?" She asked. "Are you willing to spare with him? He's had little opportunity to fight against people with swords."
Orlen shrugged his shoulder, helping Luka develop his skills would be a good way to pay them back for the help they have given him today. "Sure, why not, it would be nice to have a fight where death or rape aren't on the line."
"Luka, go get your old sword. I want you to spar with Orlen." Alice shouted out. "It will be good for you to get more experience fighting enemies who use swords."
Luka stopped his practice and looked over at Alice before answering. "Ya, it's in the tent, just a sec." He quickly went back into the tent and shortly after, came out holding a steel sword and handed it to Orlen. "Um, just so we're clear. If you win, you aren't going to…"
Orlen groaned. "No…" He shouted in annoyance, drawing out the word. "I'm not going to rape you." Taking the sword, he swung it for a bit to get a feel for the balance. It was a bit shorter than he would have liked, about the length of a shoto-saber but it will have to do.
Luka sighed in relief at Orlen's answer. "Sorry, I just had to ask. You understand right?"
"Let… let's just fight," Orlen replied, wanting to forget the conversation.
Luka raised Angel Halo while Orlen, wanting to get a feel for Luka's fighting style, adopted the opening stance for Form III. 'Soresu', also known as the 'Way of the Mynock' or the 'Resilience Form' was a defensive focused stance intended to outlast opponents, tiring them out before ending the fight with a decisive strike. He was also unsure about what Alice said about Angel Halo's unique properties and would rather not experience getting sealed.
This proved useful when with a burst of speed, Luka dashed forward while yelling. "Ha! Thunder thrust!" Orlen barely defected the stab in time as the teen lunged past him.
Luka then followed up with several more swings of his sword while shouting out, which Orlen parried and blocked. He had to be careful not to let his sword get jammed in the various limbs and wings jutting out from the weapon. "Why are you shouting out the names of your attacks?" Orlen shouted as he blocked another sword swing.
Luka paused for a moment. "Um, isn't it normal to do that?" He asked.
"No, no it is not," Orlen replied.
"Oh, well I guess it's a habit now I guess," Luka answered before launching his next attack. In a move that would have impressed Master Yoda, Luka jumped into the air and twisted around so his feet connected with a tree branch before launching himself off it. Flying towards Orlen, he raised his sword overhead and shouted. "Uooohhh! Demon Skull Beheading!" Before bringing the sword down with a mighty swing.
Orlen raised his sword to block the oncoming strike, but Luka's attack was powerful enough that it knocked Orlen off his feet. Rolling out of the way of a follow-up attack, he quickly got back to his feet again.
"I got you now! Demon Decapitation!" Luka shouted as he jumped towards Orlen while slashing at his neck.
Orlen was finding himself struggling, Luka would attack several times before launching a far more powerful strike. 'Soresu' seemed like the wrong approach to fighting Luka. The teen showed no signs of tiring and letting him have the initiative was proving dangerous. Orlen knew he would have to use a more offensive-oriented fighting style like 'Ataru' if he was to defeat Luka.
"Death Sword Chaos Star!" Luka let loose a flurry of seemingly random strikes that linked together. Orlen was barely able to block four of the attacks. The fifth and final strike caught him in the chest, leaving a glowing cut.
Orlen leaped back, gaining some distance from Luka, and took a moment to glance down at the wound. Rather than blood flowing from the cut, he saw that a silver mist was leaking out and Orlen felt weaker. I guess Alice wasn't lying about what that sword does. Still, I would rather not get sealed. Let's see how Luka does on the defensive.
Raising his sword again, Orlen leaped towards Luka while swinging his sword down. The teen was able to block the strike, however, it caused him to stumble backward. Not giving him a chance to counter, Orlen hammered away at the teen who could barely keep up.
He could see that Luka was getting tired now. The teen desperately attempted to counterattack, but Orlen easily parried the blade away. It seemed like defense was Luka's weakness and the teen continuously backed up, trying to keep his distance.
Orlen kept pressing Luka, keeping him off balance, and could see Luka's grip weakening. Seeing the opportunity, he moved to knock the sword out of his hand.
Luka's eyes suddenly turned from focused to panicked. "Take this, and this!" He shouted as he started to randomly swing his sword at Orlen who easily blocked them. While Orlen defected the attacks, he was unprepared for when Luka's foot swung up and hit him in the crotch.
Orlen eyes widened in shock as he doubled over in agony while letting out a pained groan. The world around him blurred and he did not even notice Luka quickly hitting him again with Angel Halo. As he fainted, Orlen vaguely noticed his surroundings growing in size.
Luka panted in exhaustion as he watched the unconscious Orlen get sealed into a small auburn-colored fox. Hearing Alice approaching, he put Angel Halo down and prepared for the oncoming verbal lashing.
"What the hell was that? You were flailing around wildly like you did against that slug girl outside Iliasville. Already forgetting my lessons, I see."
"Hey, I was about to lose, but then I remembered what monsters do when they win, and I panicked, alright?" Luka said defensively before trailing off.
Seeing that Alice didn't seem angry about how he won the spar, he cautiously asked her a question. "Wait, you aren't upset about how I won? I kicked him in the 'you know what'? I thought you'd be angry about that."
Scoffing, Alice responded with a smile. "Oh, please. You attacked the enemy's weak spot. You really are showing how much of a brute you are."
Luka was starting to feel regret at having done something no man should do to another. "Hey Alice, it's not like he was attacking anyone or being an obstacle to coexistence. Would you be able to unseal him?" He asked Alice.
"Fine, I suppose it's only fair. I did ask him to spar with you after all." She leaned down and started to transfer a bit of her energy into the sealed kitsune. Without looking at Luka, she continued speaking. "Did you at least find the spar useful? You haven't had many chances fighting against enemies with swords."
"It was certainly a welcome change of pace. Granberia would just stand there and let me attack her to see what abilities I had." He replied.
The small fox started to stir as Orlen regained consciousness. Looking around in a panic, it lashed out and bit Alice's hand.
Luka could only watch in shock as Alice, acting on instinct, flung her hand up, launching the poor kitsune over the horizon.
Alice looked at her hand before looking back towards the direction she flung Orlen. "Oops"
"Alice, is he going to be okay?" He asked in concern.
"Don't worry, I cast a defense spell on him just before he got out of range." Seeing Luka stare at her blankly, she continued. "What? I'm not totally irresponsible. He should be fine."
They stood there in silence for a few moments before Alice spoke again. "I should probably do something about him… Nah, I'll tell Tamamo next time I see her. Then it can be her problem instead."
"It's probably too late to travel today. I guess I'll get started on supper." He said, deciding to drop the matter.
Luka turned his tent to start preparing the meal when Alice spoke again. "After supper, I'll go over the fight with you and give you a few pointers."
As he was preparing supper, Luka paused for a moment, realizing that Orlen had his iron sword on him when he was sealed.
Not like I need it anymore. I can just keep using Angel Halo.
It's a shame though, I wanted to ask him more questions about where he came from. I want to know more.
A few hours later, he found himself practicing the moves Alice taught him. Finishing another move, he looked over to Alice expecting feedback only to see she had vanished again.
Knowing what that usually meant, he immediately went on guard and checked his surroundings for the approaching monster.
He did not have to wait long before a familiar figure entered the camp.
"Hey, it's you!" He said, pointing at the two-tailed kitsune he fought in the Cave of Treasures.
"Wawa! Not you again!" The young kitsune shouted in surprise.
The two stood there awkwardly for a moment before Luka spoke up again. "Are you going to attack me?" He asked.
"I'm not here for a fight." The kitsune replied. "You didn't happen to see another kitsune around here, have you? Has one tail an- ow, ow, stop Monster Lord, not the tails!" She was cut off when Alice snuck up behind her and picked her up by the tails.
"This kitsune, she didn't happen to be a he, did he?" Alice asked. She was starting to get annoyed at having to deal with so many kitsunes today.
"What? No, I'm just looking for my kouhai…" The kitsune trailed off. "You already met him didn't you."
"Yes, we already met him, and he is long gone from here." Replied Alice.
The young kitsune sighed before looking up to Alice, who was still holding her in the air by her tails. "I don't suppose you could point me in the direction he went, can you?"
Alice smirked in a way that unsettled Luka. "Oh, don't worry, I can help you catch up to him. You want that right?"
The kitsune's eyes lit up. "Yes please, Monster Lord. Thank you so much!"
Alice's smirk deepened. "Alright, now don't struggle, it will throw off my aim."
"Aim?" the fox nervously asked.
Without responding, Alice began to swing the poor kitsune around like a bolo. The kitsune let out a scream as she was spun in circles. "Aaaaahhh! Not like this!"
While swinging her, Alice once more cast a protective spell on the fox, and with a final swing, Alice let go of the poor kitsune, sending her hurling toward where she had previously tossed Orlen.
Luka could only stare in shock at what he just saw. Alice dusted off her hands while looking pleased with herself.
"I think I just found my new favorite sport. Fox tossing." The lamia declared.
As Alice slithered off, Luka once again began to wonder what his traveling companion's problem was with kitsunes.
Ilias pondered what to do about what she just observed. She didn't care that he was a male monster and was more concerned about the implications if he was telling the truth about not being native to her world.
Did the Dark Goddess manage to escape the seal and seed other planets with monsters? Could more of them show up? He had very advanced technology, would it pose a risk to her grand plan?
She was tempted just to smite the monster and be done with it but decided against it.
I will observe him for now and see if other off-worlders arrive. I don't want to take drastic actions right now when my plan is so close to being ready. He is just one more monster so it shouldn't change anything.
As for his ship? I'll task a few angels to look for it and send Promestein to go collect it. I wonder what she will do with it.
Perhaps she has been spending too much time focusing on Luka if she didn't notice this Orlen arriving on her world.
Returning her gaze to Luka, she watched him train for the rest of the evening until he retired to his tent and went to sleep.
Side Story:
While Alice was tending to the unconscious kitsune, Luka took a look at some of the unusual objects the kitsune had on him. He grabbed the strange metal object from the leather tool holder on his belt. Examining it, he had no idea what it was. Perhaps it was some kind of hammer? He noticed the handle was hollow and looked down the hollow tube.
Trying to get a better look, he brought it closer to his eye and shifted his grip to hold it better. When he did, he saw a red light before everything went black.
The next thing Luka saw was that he was floating and surrounded by light and clouds. He gasped in surprise when he saw Ilias float towards him. Before he could say anything, Ilias began to speak.
"Oh, hero Luka, it is sad to see that the sight of a male monster has driven you so far into despair that you had to end it all. Worry not. This is an easy fight with multiple ways to approach it. The first option is that you can summon Gnome. With her defense bonus, you should be able to survive the attack with a small amount of health left. The second option is to not mess with strange technology you don't understand."
"Now go, oh brave Luka. Slay that foul kitsune while he is defenseless. Before he has a chance to terrorize fair maidens everywhere."
With a flash of light, Luka found himself back in his camp holding the hammer-like object. His memories of seeing Ilias were already vanishing as he looked at the thing in his hand. He felt the sudden urge to put it down, deciding it was best not to fiddle around with things he didn't understand.
Author's Note: I imagined Orlen's holocaster as the Star Wars equivalent of a smartphone. Also, there is a lot of weird stuff in Star Wars Legends and Canon. The sentient rock is actually a thing, one even became a Jedi.
As for the spar between Luka and Orlen, (Let me just put my nerd glasses on) my interpretation would be that Soresu is probably the worst lightsaber form to pick against Luka. Because of meditation, he will never tire out, while letting him continue to attack lets Luka maintain his SP. Ataru would work a lot better since Luka would be forced to defend and thus, couldn't build his SP for meditation or attacks.
Also this will be the final chapter I write for a few weeks, I am moving in about a week and will be unable to write. I'll start writing again once I get settled into my new place.
As always, thanks to Chris4th for beta reading.