Chapter 107

(Ren)

Solitaire had grown.

Being the 'pet' of a Legendary Weapon had some serious effects, and those were amplified in various ways by the owner. Over the last couple weeks, he'd gone from a loyal and attentive (but not overly energetic like most puppies) wolf/cat, to a loyal and attentive...

Ren wasn't sure what to call him now. The huge paws he had when he'd hatched (that was another weird thing he didn't like to think about) had not just been 'grown into' but 'grown past'. Ren wasn't very tall, but his companion's face was nearly eye level with his.

But that wasn't all, and he wondered if it was on purpose, or if it was some hidden option he didn't notice or toggled by accident.

"Ren." Solitaire greeted him as he entered his room at the castle. "I hope you'll take a little time to relax. You've been training exceptionally hard."

This new change happened a few days ago, about the time he stopped growing larger. Once again, he'd been put flat on his back by Eclair, but before Ren could get back up, there was a tall naked man standing between him and the Knight Captain.

About the only thing that told them it was his loyal friend, were the long cat tail and wolf ears. Oh, and the subsonic growl he did when Eclair was a little too rough.

So now, he had the big brother he always wanted, but also never knew he wanted?

After Eclair stopped her nosebleed, Ren was quite firmly told to visit a few people in town. Not one to argue with someone who had been beating him up for a week or so like she was getting paid (she was in fact getting paid), he did.

So now, the big brother he never knew he always wanted, was dressed like a Victorian Butler. And when he changed into his wolf-cat form his 'clothing' took the form of a nice collar and leather chest protector. Like a butler, Solitaire saw to his needs, but unlike a butler, he spoke quite plainly.

Like a big brother taking care of a younger brother.

Ren looked up at Solitaire, "I almost beat her today." He said, accepting a cold wet towel and scrubbing his face with it. He looked like the perfect butler, but... well... he wasn't. Still, Ren appreciated it, "Thank you."

The end of Solitaire's long cat tail swished back and forth happily, "Good work." He nodded, "But, you need a bath, sleep, and food." Not much in the way of eloquence either. "Reading lessons tonight?"

"Yeah." He got out of his clothes slowly, the long training sessions, even now, making everything hurt. "How was your day?" He asked between quiet groans as his shoulders protested.

Part way through taking his shirt off, Solitaire took hold of the fabric's shoulders and helped him wiggle free of it. "I went hunting with some of the knights, had a nap, burned a bit of the food we were going to have for lunch, had another nap, chased a lot of stuff in the swamps, was told to keep away from the campfire and have a bath, had a bath, and ate dinner. I just woke up before you came back."

And then there was the obvious 'animal' mind in the tall regal frame of his wolf-cat friend. Ren took a moment to look at 'the numbers'. He'd learned they were only kind of useful, where as before they seemed to be everything to him. But now that his skill was matching 'the numbers', they were mattering more again. "Good work then. Your weapons?"

"The squad captain said I did well sharpening them." He said with another little tail swish.

"Good." And Ren closed the door to the bathroom.

He and Solitaire spent the hour or so before bed learning to read and write. The Weapon had given his friend an astronomical IQ, and he was well on his way to fluency. Ren on the other hand was just good enough to teach himself, occasionally asking the servants wandering the halls what something meant the next day.

It was just as they were both getting tired enough to lose focus, when Solitaire's head (yes, Ren let him sleep on the bed, even if he was nearly horse sized) lifted up from the book in front of him and he looked directly at the door. "Someone being sneaky."

Followed by two polite knocks.

"Ren." Kodori's voice spoke from the other side of the door, "Have a minute?"

With a grunt Ren rolled and levered himself out of bed, setting the book down to the sword he'd yet to even touch. He opened the door, and yes, there she was, except unlike most times when it wasn't right before combat, she was dressed for combat. How the hell she managed to sneak around in a suit of full plated scale armour was a total mystery, but yes, it was a similar suit to what she'd worn when she'd rescued him and the others.

Unable to help himself, he flexed his newly grown social muscles. "You look... different. Trouble?"

He hadn't moved aside, and she made no move to enter. But, she did smile, "I hardly expect you to train hard while I do nothing. We have a bit of a situation, and I'm making the rounds."

So, he stepped aside and let her in. "I'm just about to sleep, so I have nothing to offer." A pause, "Solitaire, you know her."

"Wow." Kodori looked at the giant wolf-cat on the bed, standing up and growling at her, low enough that it was making the cup of water by the bed vibrate. "You look fantastic."

"She's been mean to you." Solitaire said, the growl ceasing, but his teeth bared.

"And I deserved it." Ren walked over and poked the big black nose, "Friend."

Since his transformation to 'big brother mode' Ren had stopped really being 'physical' with Solitaire. Nothing past the usual for two 'people'. A nudge to get attention instead of say, a good ear scroofle.

"Very well." And the huge beast changed into his butler form, his ever so slightly taller than Kodori form appearing from a little puff of personal smoke.

"Not bad." Kodori nodded, "Huh, still there." She motioned to the sword under the leather cloth.

"I haven't beaten her yet. But I got super close today." Ren said, sitting down at the little tea table. "And why does looking at you make my status screen hurt?"

She blinked at him, then took a single step back. "My equipment is... well, overspecialized." She smiled.

The step back brought her 'out of focus' for Ren's auto-appraisal skill, and the hundreds of little icons trying to point at her vanished. "So, problem?"

"Yeah. We have assassins." She said plainly. "One of my new friends is a vassal weapon holder from a dead world. One that lost the Waves."

"We really do have a lose condition then." He sighed.

"Yeah. Totally confirmed with no doubt. The ones who killed the four heroes of her world are here in this one... someplace, and from what she told me, they were pretty good."

Ren could tell she was trying to soften things a little, but again, he tried to flex the social muscles he'd worked on, "So, better than we were?"

"Yeah." She nodded, "I dunno about now. But if you're nearly at Eclair's level, you're far better than you were already."

"Huh... But why haven't they bothered us yet? I mean..." He sighed, "We were weak."

"No idea." Kodori said, "Maybe they ended up in the other countries and were wandering around having fun? Or maybe they want a challenge? Maybe when we all went to Kizuna's world, they lost our scent? All the same, I know about them now, and since I want to win, I'm telling you and the others."

Ren nodded, "This is where you come up with a plan, right?"

She laughed quietly, "Yeah, except... that's it. S'yne, the one who told me, and I, know nothing past them being here, and them being responsible for S'yne's world failing. But, awareness is key to avoiding an ambush."

He nodded, "Then, if they come after me, what should I do?"

"Full power, no hesitation, kill them, or flee. Oh, just in case they have some kind of portal blocking skill..." She put a little pendant of polished onyx on the table, "This will get you and your party back to your last visited Hourglass. Uses a totally different way than the Weapons."

"The 'dragon vein' thing?"

"Exactly that. It will only fail if your floating high up, or your in another world before visiting one of their Hourglasses. Incidentally, it also has a heap of other functions, but your Weapon does them already."

"Very well. I'll do my best. If they do attack, how do I contact you?"

"That's on there too. Oh, I plan on gathering us all up in Lurolona in a day or so. We have time before the Wave, but with this dagger at our backs..."

"Neat. Suppose if I'm going to beat Eclair tomorrow, I'm going to need sleep." Social muscles or not, his social battery was another matter. He covered a yawn then asked, "What about Itsuki?

"I'm going to find out. I hope Rishia isn't still mad at me." She reached out and gave Ren a pat on the shoulder, "Good work, and thanks." Then to Solitaire, "You too. Keep him alive."

"I don't need you to tell me that." He grumbled, but didn't growl.

And with a flutter of fabric and the quiet click of armour, Kodori vanished.

"Humph. She needs to brush her tails more. Scruffy fox."

(Rishia)

"Sir Itsuki?"

It hadn't been long after the arena match before she was politely told to find another place to clutter up with Itsuki's comatose body. It was very polite, but firmly worded, and a couple days later, they were both out on the streets of Zeltobe.

Of course, the Arena Master wasn't heartless, and had given Rishia a lead on a place to stay. The accommodations were not... high class. Not in the least. And the owner of the place always had a pair of these massive scary looking clowns with him.

But it was clean, and the little man in the purple suit had told her it was paid for.

A day after that, Itsuki had opened his eyes. It was quite clear there was basically nothing behind those eyes. But he was aware enough to follow her voice, sit up, and eat. As if that were some kind of signal, she'd gotten a knock at the door. It had been the only person she'd seen in the building since arriving, (though, not heard, there were... workers living here, and the walls weren't very thick), and when she worked up the courage to open the door she was surprised to see a woman in partial armour standing there with a tough leather bag.

She knew the emblem on her armour too, the same one from the mercenaries the Queen had hired. So, a few quiet words were exchanged, Itsuki was checked over, and once again Rishia was left alone to care for him.

A day after that, Itsuki was getting more of himself back. Still a bit glassy eyed, his head followed her around the room, he ate on his own, and he occasionally scratched at an itch. That night, she found and brought him to a small bath house and cleaned him up properly. And that night, he had given her a hug. Nothing strange or sexual. But it was clear he was recovering things faster now, and he was understanding more of his situation.

Words were next. And while the Bow translated what it could, it wasn't until lunch the next day that it was actually giving her words and partial sentences. It was just after dinner on the fifth day, when he finally said something directly to her.

"Sir Itsuki?" She asked again, the day of constant half-talk blurring after the first clear words from his mouth.

"Is that you, Rishia?" He asked, looking at her as he sat up on the bed.

She blinked at him for a moment, then leaned forward off the stool by the bed and hugged him around the middle. "Yes! Sir Itsuki! You came back!"

A little confused, Itsuki just rubbed at her back with his hand, "You... look kind of terrible." He said, "What happened? I..."

He started to shake, but Rishia hugged him tighter, "No! I don't care about that! You came back!"

Under threat of dying to a hug, Itsuki's brain rebooted and skipped what was probably going to be an agonizing flashback of how he'd done his best to kill the girl hugging him. "To tight." He gasped, "Rishia..."

Not wanting to kill the man she'd been taking care of with a hug, she let him go, relaxed a little, then hugged him again properly. Head on his shoulder now, he got both arms around her, though he was still obviously a bit confused. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I had to do it..."

Young as he was, he wasn't stupid, and just kept his mouth shut so Rishia could wring herself out after... what happened. Finally though, he asked, "I remember... losing." He said, feeling his own tears forming, "Then... little bits..."

So she told him. She glossed over some of it, her spent emotions retreating to that familiar shyness again, but otherwise it was all out on the table, so to speak.

"It's been just over five days." She said finally, "But..." She paused, "How do you feel?"

It was hard enough for him to keep up with her story, but he replied with something he felt, deep down, was FAR more important than how he felt. "I've treated you really badly." He said, "I'm sorry Rishia."

She took his hand in both of hers, "It's okay... Really. But please... are you okay?"

This answer took a while. But after a few wiggles, a deep breath or two, and a glance down at where the Bow was 'stuck' to his leg under the sheets, he replied with, "Tired... hungry too. And I feel like I've been really sick."

Rishia didn't want to say anything about her, mere hours after Itsuki woke up, but she did, "Kodori..." She paused just to make sure Itsuki wouldn't suddenly fall back into madness or something. He flinched a little at the name, but nothing more. "She said when it happened to her, it was a bunch of timed status effects. It would go away on its own."

"I see..." He trailed off, "Help me stand up?"

She hesitated, but helped him up. He was dressed only in shorts, and he was hardly out from under the sheet before he started to shiver a little. But, Rishia got the bed sheet around him like a cape then helped him to his feet.

"Thank you." He didn't move, just stood there, swaying slightly, "Not the most glamorous of capes... but after that, it's fitting." He was moving in slow motion, but his arm came up, the bow in hand, then lowered again. "But I think I need just a little longer." And he sat back down abruptly.

"I'll warm up some soup."

It was around midnight when she felt someone sneaking around outside the halls of the little apartment building. Itsuki had been feeding himself soup in slow motion, but after five days of almost no motion, it was progress. He caught on to her sudden alertness though. "What..."

A little tap at the door, about knee level.

Being well into the middle of the night, she was suspicious. But, Zeltobe didn't really sleep. "Yes?" She said, Itsuki going a little wide eyed as she went to full combat readiness, the shy girl replaced with the one who had broken his pride with love.

She opened the door and stepped back quickly, but...

It was a little dog person. A Kobold. One of the Beast races. However, it wasn't just any Kobold. This one was wearing a nice leather shirt that wasn't quite the same light brown as his fur, pants that went to just past its reversed knees, and little boots with steel capped toes. There was also a 'sword' (long dagger) on its back, but it was crouched down almost on all fours, hands well away from anyplace it might have a weapon.

"Hi." It said, "Have message. From Fox boss." And he stood a little straighter, his shoulder coming into better view and showing the stencilled outlike of a familiar fox mask.

"Kodori." Rishia frowned.

"No. My name Meep. Kodori is Fox boss." Kobolds were usually considered a little below average when it came to intelligence. "Want message? Meep has things to buy do see."

"Yes." Itsuki said before Rishia could reply.

"Here." Meep held out a hand under his chin, and with a little crinkle a bit of rolled up paper appeared. "Bye now." And with kind of adorable mix of two and four legged walk, the kobold walked away.

"I think..." Rishia looked at the lines drawn on the outer surface of the paper, "I've seen you write like this once?"

"Such childish writing..." He sighed, waiting until Rishia sat down to open the rolled paper. But then he paused, "See, this is just a simple spelling." He pointed to each symbol, "I tsu ki." He tapped the Bow for a quill, and wrote a more complicated symbol, "This combines them. It means Tree."

"You remembered." She smiled.

"Yes, I was a little jealous of how fast you learned things." He sighed and put the quill away, "So..." He unwrapped the letter, glanced over it, sighed, "She wants me, and you, to join the team she has here in Zeltobe for some training." A pause, "It's optional, but will help me recover, she says."

Rishia frowned, "You're not..." She paused, "We should... shouldn't we?"

"Yes."

'The Team' was apparently one of many, and were made up of thugs and brawlers.

At least, on the surface. Meep was one of them, but there was also two humans, a centaur, and a kiki. The last seemed to be the leader, and after a raised eyebrow to Meep, the rough looking dark skinned horn headed humanoid nodded, bowed, then introduced himself.

"My name is Tusk. You've met Meep. The centaur is Charger. The two humans are Bing and Bang."

His voice was a little rough, but easygoing. And like Meep, his armour (reasonably tough leather and metal), as well as all the others, had the Fox Mask etched into the leather.

"So why are we here?" Itsuki asked, his old equipment replaced with something more modest, though only because Rishia had trashed it when she beat him.

"Well Hero." Tusk said with a shrug, "She told us bring you on a job or two, then send you to Lurolona." He noticed Rishia glaring daggers at him and he gave her that same patient raised eyebrow, "Nothing nefarious. We're going out on a few contracts. You don't need to be here, champion, but we're not going to stop you."

In that week, Itsuki was treated like a normal foot soldier. To the team of mercenaries, he was just another guy with a bow. He was also expected to follow orders, and wait for them as well. No impulsive sniping, no super skills to show off.

Of course, he couldn't just let himself be ordered around right away. And the first 'hunt' was failed in a most spectacular way. Tusk and his team had taken a commission to hunt down some food for a village. And while yes, Itsuki shot and killed the biggest meanest looking wild boar/thing, the rest of the sounder (the name for a pack of boar) had run away.

The crew were a little annoyed, but instead of laughing, insulting, or berating the failure, the mercenary team picked up the kill, went back to the village and said, "This is all we could get. Sorry for that."

Itsuki then realized that his failure to follow orders would not just reduce the team's pay, but also make it harder to feed the village, who had no one to hunt for them.

Consequence. No finger pointing, no 'he said she said'. Just 'we failed, sorry'.

Rishia didn't want to say anything, and potentially rub the failure in his face. But his reply when they all ate a thin soup the would have been much better if they'd caught what they were supposed to, instead of just one, Itsuki himself said, "I will do better next time."

And the next day? He did. Now, the crew wasn't stupid, and were still there for their own gain. But he and Rishia were told 'stay here, and if something comes this way, shoot it'. Except, nothing did. The two of them spent almost two hours waiting for something to happen.

Only to find that Tusk's team had done all the work without him. Of course this bothered the Bow Hero, but Tusk said, "If we didn't catch them all, you'd have had something to do."

Sometimes being a Hero was boring. But this time, the poor village was much happier, they got the pay they were supposed to get the day before, and Itsuki clued in a bit more on the value of teamwork.

But then there was the training.

Rishia did fret a little, but was right beside Itsuki as they entire crew did a bunch of really basic training. Running, swimming (yes, Meep dog paddled), target practise, hand to hand (or bow, since Itsuki couldn't really use anything else), and various other things that made them all sweat with effort.

Poor Rishia knew, but didn't mention, that it would take a lot of time for this kind of training to show real results. But the Bow Hero at least put in the effort.

And that's how it went. Team building, knowing when to act, following orders when needed, questioning orders when a better idea was suggested.

Then on the last day, while the seven of them were celebrating their little 'help the village' string of side quests (though, Itsuki was clearly joking when he called it that, making someone else comment that if he could still joke, he wasn't training hard enough), Kodori showed up at their camp.

"Boss Fox!" Meep stopped in mid nibble of bread, almost dropped his stew bowl to the ground (Bing, or was it Bang? Caught it as if this were a normal thing), and ran out of the circle of firelight. A moment later, he came back, holding Kodori's hand like a child crossing the road. She didn't seem to mind, and gave the crew a wave as she approached.

"May I join you by your fire?" She asked.

"Bring no trouble, and be welcome." Tusk said, bowing his head, but not standing (that week had taught Itsuki and Rishia that meal time was for eating, not formality).

Meep tugged at Kodori's hand to bring her into the firelight properly, his sleek tail flailing about happily, "Itsuki, Rishia. Glad you could make it." She looked at Itsuki, his old equipment replaced with the same sensible leather and metal of the others. "Recovering? No timers?"

A little off guard, Itsuki shook his head after a moment's pause. "No I..."

"Good." She said, waving away what ever he was about to say next. "I've got a report, and I need you all to hear it."

"First." Tusk grunted, offering her a bowl of boar/thing stew with a small loaf of break sticking out of it.

Itsuki was giving Kodori cautious glances while she ate. While he did that, Rishia was giving him the same glances. She'd changed a little in the past two weeks. For one, she was dressed for battle. She of course had the books at either hip, but her armour now looked to be covered in scales, and she had all kinds of other little improvements all over it.

Finally though, under the watchful eyes of the entire mercenary team, Kodori finished eating, made sure to clean the bowl out with the last bit of her bread, and accepted a steaming cup of tea from someone.

"Now, what news?" Tusk asked.

"Ah, before that..." Itsuki started, getting all eyes on him, "Are you two related?"

Kodori looked to Tusk. The Kiki race were tall demi-humans that looked similar to the Oni from various games Itsuki had played. Big, strong, but also horned. Tusks horns however were sharp little spikes, no bigger than the end of his thumb. Kodori on the other hand, had two hand length horns that were weirdly glossy and had a purple black colour instead of anything 'bone' related.

"He's from a place called Q'ten Lo." She paused, "Easiest way to describe it is 'Eastern Themed area'. At least, from what I've been able to gather information wise."

As a gamer, Itsuki got the reference.

"Anyhow. The Vassal Sewing Kit has given me what information she could about the death of her old world." She looked to Itsuki, "Yes, us dying would doom this place. Which makes me wonder about Fitoria. But meh, she's not here."

"Oh? Murder Pierrot?" the Centaur asked. "Figured that silly pair of scissors was something special..."

"Well, lemme tell you what she told me. It's not much, but it's super important." Kodori looked to Itsuki, waited for him to nod, then continued, "It's a bit like this..."

It wasn't a very good way to round out a meal, and Meep asked, "She sure? Super sure? No lie?"

"No lie." Kodori replied, unable to help herself it seemed, and giving the kobold a headpat. "So, if you encounter them, fight or flee."

After the whole business with the Spirit Tortoise and Kyo, and nearly ending up dead along with some of his party, or all of Ren's party, Itsuki was a little less arrogant about his reply.

"Yeah... Rishia? Will you stay with me to help? Just in case?"

"Of course!" She paused, blushed, "I mean... Yes, Sir Itsuki."

Trying to diffuse the poor girl's case of stuttering idiot, Kodori gave Itsuki a little crystal pendant. "We encountered stuff that blocked the Portal Skills. This should bypass it. If you need to run, do not hesitate."

Itsuki looked at it, blinked, and then looked up at her, "You really have been busy. Shame I never liked crafting systems."

"You should learn, at least enough to make your own potions." She shrugged, "Anyhow. Make your way to Lurolona. I plan on mustering there, and maybe making an effort to hunt them down."

After his humbling, and restoration by someone who had every reason to let him rot, Itsuki replied with, "Yeah. Suppose we should actually be heroes. It's not a Wave, but it's a threat to the world, right?"

Rishia gave him a pat on the shoulder, while the others turned to Kodori. "So what about us Boss?" Tusk asked.

"Finish your contracts if you have any, then return. Meep? You better share what ever it was you're brewing, right?"

"Of course! Got more pipes too! Make more stuff!"

"Get your equipment seen to, and relax for a day or two." Kodori nodded, then stood, "Oh." Kodori put her hand to one of the Books, then lowered it a little more to take a straight bladed sword from the inventory. "Rishia, for you. Itsuki? Don't break it."

The joke stung a little, but she was smiling when she said it. However, before Itsuki could reply, Kodori had vanished.

(Motoyasu)

After parting with Rishia, S'yne and Itsuki, Motoyasu and Kuro went on a little tour. They headed south again, towards the Tortoise-Tree and helped with recovery efforts for the people there. There were still monsters around after all that, the people needed medicine, and honestly, Motoyasu needed to feel needed after all that crap after getting captured.

Rishia taking over and helping Itsuki without him was kind of the final straw. He wanted to help, but was put to the side. So now, he was using all those little functions he once thought of as 'pointless' and 'beneath him' and was helping with relief efforts. Not for long mind, but long enough to feel good about things again. To get that 'I am a hero' vibe back.

It was about two weeks later, sitting by a nice little fire by their nice little wagon, when he asked Kuro something.

"What next?" He asked. "I mean... We tried to help poor Itsuki, managed to, kinda, and have been wandering about helping with cleanup. But now I'm kinda just..." He sighed, "What are we supposed to do?"

Kuro stopped nibbling at her food, "I see nothing wrong with a little time off." She said with a little huff.

"I know, but... with a clear goal in mind, I kinda want to hurry up and do it. It's not a game, but I'm kinda wishing some of it was. Like getting on with the next event." He laughed a little awkwardly, "Huh, suppose you wouldn't get that without some explaining."

"Just so long as you don't start thinking this is a game, you may explain all you want." She said, reaching for a ladle resting in a bubbling pot over the fire. "You have improved your cooking. That's something."

"I'll never be as good as her, but I can try my best." He grinned, helping her fill her bowl, then peering into the pot thoughtfully, "Might just finish that off, it was pretty good."

Then he froze, the unfamiliar clinking of a chain tickling his ears over the crackle of the little fire.

"Yes, I might just finish you off." Said a voice behind them.

There was a long slithering rattle, and both Kuro and Motoyasu jumped backwards away from the fire. A farmer's sickle (kama) hissed through the air and split the little cast iron pot in two. Motoyasu barely got the shaft of the Spear between him and the hooked blade as the chain attached to it was yanked backwards.

With another little yank, the blade slipped off the Spear, nearly sliding upwards and nearly cutting Motoyasu's hand, then back through the air to the owner.

Tall, dressed in a black all concealing outfit, he could have been mistaken for a ninja from any number of manga Motoyasu had read. In his hands, was a long chain with a spiked weight on one end, and a sickle on the other, a kusarigama. He was good with it too, needing all of a half second to coil up the excess chain to hide its real length.

"Kuro." Motoyasu said, "Be ready."

"I think not." The man said, backing up a half step as Kuro turned on him, before lashing out with the weighted end of his weapon towards her.

Kuro was fast, and skilled, and it looked like the man might lose his weapon in the first exchange as Kuro made ready to catch it. But at the last instant, the assassin shook his hand to send a wave through the chain, redirecting the spiked weight. With a meaty 'thunk' Kuro failed to capture it and instead had it bounce off her forehead.

"A hard skull." The man said as Kuro fell backwards, tripping over the log she'd been using for a seat and just missing the fire as she ended up on her back.

"Pick on someone your own size." Motoyasu said, stepping forward and to the side, the weighted end lashing back towards him, but he flicked it away with the Spear.

"Gladly." Lightning fast the sickle swung out in a wide arc. This time Motoyasu jumped back a step out of the arc...

And lunged forward as soon as his feet touched the ground again. "YA!" Crackling with energy, the spear led his charge, aimed right for the man's chest.

But even with his (voiceless) lightning thrust attack, the man spun to keep the momentum of his sickle, let the Spear just miss his back, then tried to sweep it at Motoyasu again.

He couldn't jump back in time, so he opted to duck under it, but with a flick of his wrist the assassin slammed the weighted spike into his shoulder. Even protected by good metal, it felt like a hammer hitting bare flesh. Motoyasu backed off again, feeling a dribble of blood welling up from the puncture in his armour.

"I wonder if she's dead." The man said as Motoyasu ignored the slow warmth soaking into his shirt.

Thanks to the Status magic, Motoyasu only had to waste a blink of time looking to see if Kuro was alive. She was, though she had a status effect he didn't recognize. And even though it was less than a second the assassin had gotten both ends of his weapon spinning again.

All the same, he stepped protectively between Kuro and the man and took a gamble.

With a great backwards motion of his arm, he made ready to throw the Spear.

"Fool." And before he could get far with his telegraphed attack, the sickle was zipping towards him, low to the ground.

But instead of throwing, Motoyasu reached up with his other hand, gripped the spear just behind the head and brought it down in an overhand swing like a club. The shaft of the spear met the chain of the sickle, fouling it. But then the weighted spike on the other end came at him in an attempt to make him back off. He didn't, instead doing his best to get the Spear shaft up.

The weighted end wrapped around the Spear once, the spike taking a gouge out of the armour over Motoyasu's ribs, but now with both ends of the assassin's weapons wrapped around the Spear, it was now a contest of strength.

Except, Motoyasu used the inability to drop the Spear in his favour, switching grips quickly to get his hands on one end, and letting the man pull his weapon free. Except, before he could, Motoyasu changed the Spear into the Monster Trainer spear, the weird bladed 'shepherd's crook' forming at the end and tangling the chain up hopelessly.

"Kuro." Motoyasu said as he and his assailant braced and tugged backwards against each other.

Even in the near dark of evening, the assassin saw the shadow Kuro's filolial queen form blot out the sky above...

Notes!

Figured the others needed a little 'training arc' and catching up with. And yes, 'Kiki' are a thing. The Wiki even said so!

And next chapter... we swing into the next arc!

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord! As well as ways to support me!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.

And! I'm looking into getting some story themed merchandise made. Join the Discord to find out more!