Of Kin and Heritage [Epic Quest - Ayero Shiba]

Ariella sighed and rubbed her temples as she talked to Jarl. The Grumptoes were very excited for their little field trip to the mountains, never having seen snow so clean before. Jarl was explaining everything they would need for their little 'camping' adventure and she nodded, handing him some gold to go purchase the necessary extra clothing and tents they would need. They had brought five children up here to learn about the wildlife and terrain of the mountains and also to teach the kids some basic survival skills but right now, the group was too hyper and excited to be taught anything.

Two of the children were having an argument and all she caught was something about monsters and she sighed again. Three were off throwing snow balls at each other and giggling while these two were trying to decide if the thing at the window of one of the buildings was a monster or just a carving.

"It's a monster, I'm telling you! And I will prove it!"

She ran over to try and grab them both but before she could stop the six year old, he launched a snowball at the back of the undetermined object.

A wide grin platered Vincenzo’s face as the beast lowered his head to his outstretched hand in interest. After Akatetsu had sniffed said appendage, the boy slowly caressed the beast’s bone skull, marveling at how thick and hard it seemed. Vin had seen a creature like Akatetsu and was fascinated at the chimera’s visible features. He looked nothing like the domestic animals his family had raised for sustenance or the wild mountain bears and boars that they hunted on occasion. Were there more creatures like Akatetsu? And blue-haired giants that could supposedly do magic like Yakuroro? This world certainly had a lot to offer!


The young Fanalis giggles softly when he realizes that things weren’t so scary now, not in this little cabin where everything was so calm and warm. His childish curiosity with the beast kept him distracted enough from the low ominous words the adults spoke not only a few feet away.


Crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair, Ayero closes her eyes and inhales slowly. Though she loved and trusted Tetsu, she wasn’t so sure about leaving him with a child who had just suffered a major loss. To be honest, she would be very hesitant to leave him in anyone’s care. Breathing out, she opens her eyes once more. ”I’m not sure if that’s for the best. Besides, we might need Tetsu to help track—“ She interrupts her own words with a pause a child’s distant yelling could be heard, followed quickly by the muted sound of the snowball impacting the chimera’s body.

As the ball of aggregated ice fragments shattered against Akatetsu's hide, the beast retracted its head from the window and took a few steps back before turning to glare at the children responsible. Seeing they were merely a couple mischievous boys, the chimera didn't make any acts of aggression. But he still didn't appreciate the snow ball to his flank. Silently, Akatetsu would stare at the children as his tail gathered up a larger ball of snow behind him. The chimera suddenly grinned showing his teeth and let out a roar as he threw a much large snow ball back at the children with his 2m long tail. "Gyagrawr!"

Yakuroro had hardly taken notice of the sound of the snow ball, but when Ayero stopped mid sentence, he turned in time to see the chimera pulling out from the window. "Tetsu?" The Imuchakk got up and headed outside just in time to witness his son returning fire on the kids. Face met palm in a dull thud as Yakuroro sighed and walked up behind Akatetsu to bonk him on the head for having responded in such a childish manner. "That isn't fair Akatetsu, they can't make snow balls that big!"

Ari covered her mouth in disbelief as the creature turned, only to laugh when a large snowball was returned to the boys. Looking at them slightly with concern of possible injuries, she need not have worried, as the boys were laughing loudly at the snowy assault.

"He's not a monster, he's playing with us!"

The two children promptly began trying to gather more snow, their tiny hands launching small snowballs in the direction of Akatetsu, most not even coming close to hitting the poor creature.

"YOU TWO! STOP! Sir, I am so sorry, they won't do it again... WILL YOU?"

The boys dropped their head at the reprimand, mumbling out they would be good.

"Again, I am so sorry, we are trying to give them some camping experience and they are hyper and rowdy. I hope your... um... sorry, I have never seen anything like him before, but I hope he is okay."

Ari apologized profusely at the behavior of the children while Jarl laughed heartily behind them.

"Lesson one, kids: If you think there is a possibility of it being a monster, don't throw things at it. Lesson two: Never pick a fight with something that much bigger than you!"

Taking a cue from Yakuroro, Ayero also rises and follows the Imuchakk outside with Vincenzo in tow. The laughter of children tickles her ears along with a woman’s scolding voice as she steps out into the snowy streets, squinting as her eyes adjust to the brightness of the outdoors. ”Ari?” She mutters to herself a bit taken aback, not expecting to see the young woman in a place like this. What’s even more surprising is the fact that she’s surrounded by young children, a fact that causes the Fanalis woman to raise her brows as she approaches the yellow magician.


”It’s been a while, Ariella. I haven’t seen you since the party.” Though there is no hostility in her voice, her tone is a bit too somber for one who tries to greet in a friendly manner. ”I didn’t know that you had children.” She adds smoothly, clearly joking even if her tone would not indicate so.


Vincenzo felt a little silly clinging to Ayero and hiding behind her, especially seeing as how he thought that he was older than the other children present. Peeking out from behind his sister, his one visible eye fixes on the pretty lady that Ayero was talking to and a deep blush dusts his cheeks. Ayero seems to notice him shift and places a hand on his head while introducing him. ”This is my brother, Vincenzo. Vin, come and say hello to Ari and her friends. Don’t be rude.”


The boy shuffles out from behind the older Fanalis, his head dipped toward the ground as he tries in vain to hide is blushing face. ”Um…hello…”

The snow balls launched at Akatetsu would indeed miss their mark, but one did land a critical hit on a different target. Just as Yakuroro finished scolding Akatetsu, a snowball hits the Imuchakk directly in the face stopping his word midway, "...can't make snow balls that bi-" The magician stopped dead in his tracks and paused as the snow fell away due to the twitching of one of his eyes. "That's it! Tetsu, let's show these brats how to make a real snow ball!" The Imuchakk and chimera pair then began creating their own snow balls that were far larger in size. Hefting a torso sized mass of snow over head as if he were about to throw it, Yakuroro noticed that Ayero had recognized the woman chaperoning the children and was greeting her.

Imuchakk and bonehead alike stopped and the snowballs they were getting ready to throw fell apart falling on top of both of them in comedic fashion. Shaking the snow from his head of blue hair, Yakuroro glanced back and forth from Vincenzo and the other children. Judging from the words exchanged between Ayero and this "Ari" person, they were on good terms. Walking up to Ayero's side, Yakuroro leans down to whisper in her ear, "What safer place for Vincenzo than among others his own age under the protection of someone you know?" That was all he needed to say for his suggestion to become clear. But the Imuchakk wasn't going to wait for the fanalis girl's reply. He didn't see her willingly handing her brother over to anyone at the moment so instead he would force her hand for her.

Standing tall, the Imuchakk addressed Ari in a friendly tone. "Greetings, I'm Yakuroro from Imuchakk. Ayero and I were just about to embark on a trip into the mountains for research but it would be a dangerous journey for a boy. Do you have room for one more lad in your flock of ducklings? He'll get along GREAT with the other kids, I'm sure!" Yakuroro then pat Vincenzo on the back rather firmly in a manner that would send him stumbling forward a few steps but not hard enough to knock him flat on his face.

Ari looked startled to see Ayero there, but smiled broadly at the half-Fanalis woman. She waved at the children surrounding her.

“What can I say, I work fast! Also, these are some kids from the slums. Azix and I are trying to help get them some exposure to things outside of the city.”

Ari looked up as the giant blue-haired man started to gather snowballs with his creature before the snow crumbled on their head. She and the children could not resist laughing at the antics of the two. It was nice to see Ayero had more light-hearted friends, the woman could be too serious. Speaking of serious, the woman looked to be on the edge of tears, rage or both.

When Ayero introduced the boy at her side as her brother, Ari made no sign of the surprise in her mind and instead knelt down to be eye level with him.

“Hi there! I am Ari and these fine young boys like to call themselves the Grumptoes!”

When the Imuchakk man spoke again, Ari stood. His words about research did not ring true to her, Ayero did not seem the type for research and her eyes practically screamed bloodlust behind the friendly spark. She hoped the man was not trying to hurt the woman in any way, even if he did seem rather friendly. She looked back to Ayero with an unspoken question in her eyes.

“If Ayero does not mind us borrowing her brother, we would be happy to have him along! He seems much more familiar with this area than Jarl or I are. He could help us teach the kids about the wildlife and survival techniques, right?”

The other kids cheered, one of the snowball throwing young ones running over to smile and grab Vin’s hand, dragging him over to show off an oddly shaped snowman he had made while the adults were talking.

“That is, of course, if Ayero does not mind. I would hate to break up a family reunion.”

Hearing that Ari and Azix were collaborating on raising these kids, or so she assumed, was a bit of a shock to the Fanalis. Her eyes dart around briefly, half expecting to catch sight of the dark-haired light magician. When Ari kneels down to greet Vin and introduce her younger companions, the boy keeps his eyes glued to the ground as his cheeks heat up even more. The boy wasn’t necessarily shy by nature, but a combination of recent events as well as encountering an exotically beautiful woman left him a little unsure of how to conduct himself.


”The Grumpy Toads?” Vincenzo echoed, lifting his face to examine the other children while his one eye squints in confusion. These kids were smiling and laughing, they didn’t seem grumpy at all! And they looked like toads even less.


As Ari speaks with the younger Fanalis, Ayero’s eyes soften almost to the point of sadness at Yakuroro’s words. If they wanted to move quickly, this was the best option. Though she hadn’t known Ariella for as long as she would have liked to before allowing her to protect what was now the most precious thing in the world to her, she begrudgingly admitted to herself that Vincenzo would be far better off in the magician woman’s care than hunting down bloodthirsty criminals with her. Besides, it seemed like Ari had experience caring for children as evidenced by the little ones running about.


Catching the subtle questioning look in Ari’s eyes, Ayero forces a small smile. ”I’ll be accompanying Yakuroro on his research trip into the mountains. Because I know the area well, I’ve agreed to guide him. I would appreciate it if you would watch after my brother for a few days.” She pauses when one of the younger kids tries to drag Vincenzo off to play and gives her brother an encouraging look as he seemed to want to join the other children but was unsure.


”He could, he’s spent his entire life in these mountains.” She looks a bit hesitant, wondering if Vin would be alright away from her. After letting him play for a few minutes, Ayero calls out to him and beckons him back over to her. Kneeling onto the snow so that she could speak with Vin at eye level, she grasps his hands gently and gives him an earnest look.


”Vin, how would you like to stay with Ariella and the Grumptoes for a little while?” Though her voice and movements are gentle, the boy could still sense that something was a bit off among the adults. ”They’re trying to learn more about the mountains, and I think that you’d be the perfect one to help them out. What do you say?” She offers him a smile, but Vincenzo isn’t so sure.


”But…why can’t we both help them? Sis grew up in the mountains, too. I heard you say it!” The boy’s voice shook a little, not thrilled with the idea of being separated from Ayero even if it meant that he could play with his new friends. He moved closer to Ayero, searching her eyes for any sign of relent, begging her not to leave with his gaze.


Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Ayero finds that she can’t look away to gather her thoughts. Instead, she takes a pause before trying to soothe the boy. ”There are some dangerous beasts further up the mountain. I’m going with Yakuroro so that I can protect him. He’s pretty weak you know, the guy can’t really fight well.” She adds the last bit in an attempt to lighten the mood, to try and convince her little brother that they’d only be fighting wild animals if need be. ”So don’t lead them too far up the mountain, okay? I’ll let you know when it’s…safe.”” She adds suddenly, hoping that Vin wouldn’t lead them near their former home.


The boy gives her a strange look. While her alibi sounded perfectly reasonable, it did not hit his ears right. He had seen the sparks of anger and sorrow in his sister’s eyes and knew that she and the blue giant were leaving for more than simple research. His hands ball into fists in frustration and he tilts his head down, trying to stay strong and barely holding back tears.


”But…sis, I don’t want you to go…”


Biting her lower lip in inner conflict, Ayero pulls the boy to her in a warm embrace. ”Promise you’ll be a good boy for Ari and the Grumptoes, okay?”


Sniffling, Vin wipes his face with the arm of his sleeve and nods curtly, head still bowed towards the ground. Ayero casts him a gaze full of regret before slowly unwinding the scarf from her neck. She begins to wrap it around Vin, the boy looking up in surprise at the sudden contact. Standing, she places a hand on his head and offers him a more natural smile. Burying his nose into the fabric and inhaling the calming scent, the siblings share one last hug before going their separate ways. Before they depart completely, Ayero mouths “Take care of him” to Ariella before turning her back to her brother and her focus toward the mountain.

After Ayero says her temporary goodbyes to her newly discovered little brother, she and her trusted companion, Yakuroro, will go in search of the bandits that attacked her village and stole what few precious family heirlooms remained. Desperate to recover whatever pieces of her lost family she could and wanting to protect the other mountain villages, Ayero would point Yakuroro back to her home village in search of hints about the direction the bandits had taken.

If they searched one of the houses, they would find a small camp the bandits had set up temporarily with evidence of wounds being bandaged, as bloody rags were lying about and it was apparent the residents of the home had been slaughtered. Whoever had been there after the carnage had been injured. Would Yakuroro be able to pull information from these bloody scraps?

Entering the ruined house, Yakuroro's search turned up the bloody rags and he moved over to kneel down next to one. The Imuchakk's fingers probed the long dried sample of wept life juice and rubbed into the dark stained cloth. The dried blood flaked and cracked and the magician frowned. Looking around it was apparent from environmental clues that the house had been used as a shelter from the storm. It would be odd for these bandages to belong to the ruin's rightful occupants so that left the bandits. If the rags were truly the left overs of a few of the men who attacked this place nursing their wounds, then perhaps Ayero and Yakuroro were in luck. "Bit stale...but it should be fresh enough..." Yaku mumbled to himself as he picked up the rags and blew some dust off them.

Standing, Yakuroro hunched his head low so as not to hit his head on the roof of this house that was clearly never built for an Imuchakk. Squeezing his way out of the door, Yakuroro moved away from the house and held the bandaging up to the sun to check it once more. He wasn't sure if his spell would be effective on the aged sample of blood, nor was he sure that it belonged to those they sought to track. But there wasn't much in the way of clues or tracks that could give them any leads as to which way the bandits went. This cloth would have to do or else this hunt could be rather long and fruitless. Satisfied with his observation of the bandages in the sunlight, Yakuroro let go of the cloth letting it fall to the floor where he would aim his staff at it.

"Come, show us where your former owner went. Tracking Dew!"

Yakuroro sent a jolt of magoi into the object with commands to the rukh. The spell asked the rukh lingering in the blood which way the flesh vessel it had come from was at. The rukh responded by forming a trail of dew that darkened the snow covered ground and glistened in the light when crossing uncovered surfaces making it slightly easier to follow. If the bandages belonged to someone who was dead then the trail of droplets would only lead them to a corpse. Hoping that this would not be the case, Yakuroro called out for Ayero and Akatetsu to follow. "It seems we have a lead. This way."

The dew trail would lead to a camp 10 miles east of the village. As Yakuroro spotted the camp in the distance he dropped low and gestured to Ayero quietly before pointing out the distant gathering of men. There were six bandits in all with one seemed to be the clear leader of the group.

((Information in this post about the plot enemies and their location was provided by Solomon's Proxy via pm.))

Magoi - 290/300

250+/250 Tracking Dew Training:

The Fanalis is mostly silent as she leads the Imuchakk back up the mountain, only speaking to give direction when necessary. Several hours into their journey they would reach the small village once more, or rather what had remained of it. As Yakuroro went to work looking for clues, Ayero tentatively entered the ruins of her old home, hoping that this time around she might be able to find something that would help lead them to the men who caused such destruction.


Entering the charred remains once more, Ayero finds that she can’t keep her gaze lingering in one spot for too long. Every overturned object, every crack in the wooden floor and every black scorch mark reminded her of the struggle that had taken place. It wasn’t long before she felt a queer mix of anger and nausea and began to back up towards the exit, fighting the need to remain in the place she’d once called home and the urge to be sick. A scrap of paper in the corer catches her eye, the dull white sheet contrasting starkly with the earthen tones around it. Her eyes narrow in curiosity as she approaches the paper and picks it up. Paper was an uncommon good and generally wasn’t necessary in a place like this. As far as she knew, no one in her family save for herself and her departed father were literate. There little need to learn how to read and write living such a secluded life, and her own skills were rudimentary at best.


Her eyes suddenly widen in realization and memories come flooding back as she studies the sheet of paper. Staring back at her are eleven Fanalis and one human male, all sketched with a piece of charcoal whittled thin. The drawing was done by one of her younger brothers, someone whose name she struggled to remember. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know her sibling’s names by heart, but at the moment she wasn’t able to pin the artistic attribute to one of them for certain. Folding the paper with gentle care, she slips it into the side of her breastplate lest she let it distract her any longer. She would have the rest of her life to reminisce.


Stepping out into the light, Ayero shields her eyes from the blinding cover of snow reflecting the sun. Wondering where Yakuroro had gone, she soon finds her answer when the magician casts his tracking spell. She approaches him slowly in an attempt to not disturb him from whatever magic he was casting, but still eyes him with a curious gaze. Had he found a clue that would help lead them to their mark? As he calls her and Akatetsu to him, she quickens her pace before nodding in affirmation of his news. Though she was rather impressed that he possessed magic capable of tracking someone down, she doesn’t vocalize it due to circumstance.


Leading Yakuroro through the rocky mountainside once more, Ayero grunts lowly when he signals to her. Her eyes were fixed on the figures in the distance, at last she had something physical to pin her anger to. Even just the sight of them causes her heartbeat to quicken and her blood to pound against her veins. A red-hot anger smolders in her eyes once more, all of her focus narrowed onto those six men. Hopefully the young woman wouldn’t succumb completely to her blood lust and vicious revenge.

Ayero and Yakuroro would see a bandit camp in the distance. Only two of the bandits would be visible on their approach, one at the fire and another asleep in a make shift hammock. There were makeshift tents surrounding the fire, indicating there were more than two bandits at this camp. If the two attempted a casual approach, the bandit at the fire would stand and draw a sword, warning them to be on their way. If they refused to turn back, the bandit would give a signal and four other bandits would approach, all with similar swords in hand. If they chose a stealthier approach, they could possibly take out the two visible bandits before the others appeared.

Enemy information:
Name: Ruthless Bandits x5
Rank: B
Damage needed to take out: B
Description: Each bandit wears warm, dark clothing with triangular hats. Each wields a sword capable of B-tier damage and moves at 7 m/s.
Abitlities:
Vicious Slash: Their blade moving at 20 m/s, the Ruthless Bandit jabs their sword forward to inflict A-tier damage.
Parrying Strike: Moving their blade at 20 m/s, the Ruthless Bandit brings their sword up to block a strike and redirect it away from them.
Dodging Roll: Tucking into a ball, the Ruthless Bandit moves at 20 m/s and rolls 10 meters to the side.
Painful Deterence: Twirling and bringing their blade down at a diagonal at 20 m/s, the Ruthless Bandit strikes at the bundle of nerves at their opponent’s neck, paralyzing the arm for 3 posts.

It was hard for a blue haired giant and an equally tall bonehead chimera to stay out of sight and remain inconspicuous, but it seemed as though for now Yakuroro and Akatetsu were able to go unnoticed by the sentries in the camp. One could suppose they had the trees and other foliage to thank for their concealment. Turning his head to look at Ayero hoping to discuss a hushed battle plan with the woman, Yakuroro saw the fury smoldering behind her normally beautiful eyes that were now giving off an aura of destruction. The magician gave a sigh and realized that it would not be easy to talk Ayero out of charging in like a beast. Thankful that she had the control to prevent herself from simply leaping into action the moment they spotted the camp, Yakuroro spoke in a whispered voice so the men in the nearby camp could not hear.

"It looks like there are more of them based on the number of tents. But somehow this doesn't strike me as a group large enough to take down a small village with a family full of people with fanalis blood. There may be a larger group somewhere else." Remembering the way Ayero cut down the Brotherhood of Ash assassin, Yakuroro added in quickly, "If possible we should keep some of them alive to question afterwards." After watching Ayero briefly to try and ascertain how open she was to these suggestions Yakuroro was about to begin explaining to her that he would support her with an invisibility spell using water magic. But after recalling how little the fanalis knew of magic, Yakuroro caught himself from making a lengthy explanation to condense things down into a shortened vesion. Perhaps it was not detailed, but it should be better suited towards keeping Ayero's mind focused on the task at hand rather than bogged down by magic concepts that were beyond her.

"I'm going to make you invisible for a bit using magic. Don't be startled if you can't see yourself. Okay? I'll leave the heavy lifting to you. Bending Veil." The Imuchakk then pointed his staff at Ayero wrapping her in a shroud of blue rukh that used water from the air to bend light around her effectively making the fanalis woman vanish from view. Now, if she approached the camp, even if the bandits could hear her coming they'd never see her blows in time to avoid being struck down.


Magoi - 260/300

Spoiler:

”Alive?” She grunts lowly, clearly not pleased at the idea of allowing at least one of these scoundrels to live. Upon further thought, she realizes that she’s also not entirely against letting one man linger painfully on the edge of death in exchange for information. Initially she had set out with the intent to end their lives as swiftly as possible, but dark thoughts of cold revenge began to creep back into her mind the longer her gaze lingered on the bandit camp.


Her face remained hard, unreadable save for the light of anger and displeasure that remained in her eyes. A nod is her only response as the unseen rukh flutter around her. Casting a quick gaze down at her hand to prove to herself that the magic had worked, she’s still a bit surprised that she can’t see the limb. Keeping her gaze fixed on the camp and unsheathing her sword slowly, she quickly scales a nearby tree, a vague feeling of familiarity as she clambers up the bark and onto a branch. She’d spent some of her free time as a child climbing trees, and even more time getting her siblings out of trees when they had either climbed too high or refused to get down…or both. Leaping from limb to limb, the Fanalis woman’s feet barely touch bark as she makes her way through the trees. Landing on a branch bordering the tents with as little force as she could to reduce noise, the halfling pauses for a split second to orient herself.


Gaze fixed on the man sleeping in a hammock, a sudden spark of rage lights her eyes and she launches herself from the tree tops, sword reeled back before delivering a slash aimed down the middle of the hammock as well as the man’s body. Should she hit her mark and the man not somehow awaken and leave the hammock, the fabric would rip and tear, no doubt arousing the attention of the man by the fire.


Watching him quietly for any movement, Ayero would use both feet to perform a Great Leap into the air, aiming for the second bandit. She would be silent as she sailed through the air, bringing her blade back once more as she reached her apex. Moving her arm in front of her, she aims to deal a blow straight down the man’s back.


[Stamina: 180/200]

Spoiler:

Ayero’s first strike to the bandit asleep in the hammock would fall true, nearly cutting the man in half. The bandit near the fire would jump up in shock, not seeing what had eviscerated his comrade and then the half-Fanalis woman’s blade would find a home in his back, making him cry before his breathing turned to a gurgle. The commotion would wake the three bandits in their tents, all of them scrambling as they came out by the fire, panting with their swords drawn. They would look around and find the two bandits guarding the camp quite defeated and useless, with no visual signs as to who or what had done such a thing. One of the direct the other two to spread out and begin looking around the edges of the camp while he went to check on his fallen comrades.

He would kneel beside the bandit that had been sitting by the fire, examining the wound on his comrades back and finding it looked like the clean slash of a blade, not the random tearing of animal claws and he would look around sharply. With a high pitched whistle that would travel for quite a distance, he alerted their leader to a problem at the camp as he stood and looked around, his blade raised in a guarding position, ready to cut down whatever had attacked the other bandits.

As the other bandits emerged from their tents and began to fan out, Yakuroro would pat Akatetsu on the side and mutter to the beast, "Now it's our turn. Let's make sure those men find more than what they were looking for." The chimera nodded and took Yakuroro's words to mean that he should try to intimidate the men whilst sowing confusion among them. The large bonehead began stomping trough the woods using his thick skull to bend smaller trees out of his path. A loud roar bellowed from Akatetsu's maw as he charged the two men looking around the edges of the camp moving at 5m/s. Yakuroro would sprint after Akatetsu remaining behind the lizard-like chimera's silhouette.  

Upon reaching the fist of the men, Akatetsu would try to ram him into him using his thick skull do deal bone breaking damage. This attack would halt Akatetsu's forward motion allowing him to act as a platform of sorts. Yakuroro then ran up Akatetsu's back a few steps and rose his staff high into the air before leaping from behind the horizon of his son's form. "Frozen Horn!" Yakuroro shouted causing a swirl of liquid condensed from the atmosphere, fueled by his magoi, forming the shape of a large Rampaging Unicorn horn. The water froze over in an instant creating sharpened edges along the branches of the ice horn just in time for Yakuroro to bring his staff downwards during his descent. The spell would threaten the other searching bandit with a crushing blow capable of rendering most men out of commission.

All the while, Yakuroro sustained his invisibility spell allowing Ayero to retain the element of surprise even among the midst of the enemy.

Magoi - 215/300

Spoiler:

Satisfied that the two men had fallen to her invisible blade without so much as a struggle, Ayero keeps alert, aware from the number of tents and the damage she had seen in her village that there would be more than just two men to deal with. She uses the commotion the men had made after being roused from their sleep to mask the noise of her footsteps as she moves toward the opposite side of the fire after confirming that the light of the fire did not cast her shadow. Her footprints would be left in the snow and may be visible in the dim light, but likely wouldn’t be of much suspicion as they could have easily belonged to the man who now laid dead by the fire.


She watches the other man carefully as he surveys the scene, letting out a whistle before raising his to defend himself from the unseen attacker. Ayero can feel her heart pound heavily in her chest, not just from the adrenaline but from the realization that he had alerted someone with his whistle. Gritting her teeth as another wave of anger flooded over her, the sudden sounds of Yakuroro and Akatetsu’s assault flood her ears. Taking a cue from them, she takes advantage of what she would assume to be a confusing situation for the bandit and scoots her foot closer to the fire. Should he turn his back to survey the chaos, Ayero would kick some of the kindling from the fire onto his person before rushing forward herself and following the burning pieces of wood as they made contact with the man. The metal armor she wore on her body might heat up slightly, but overall she passed too quickly through the fire for the flames to do little more than lick her skin and leave a sparse coating of black residue where they had touched.


Remembering that Yakuroro had mentioned that it would be a good idea to keep at least one of the men alive, she begrudgingly holds back and delivers a weaker slash to the man’s body, enough to subdue him but not enough for him to immediately bleed out or pass out. Eyes trained on the weapon he held in his hand, she would attempt to grasp at his wrist and squeeze with her Fanalis strength, hard enough to break the thin wrist bones and ensure that he wouldn’t be able to hold a sword.


[Household: 410/3000]

The bandit butted by Akatetsu went flying back, hitting his head on a tree and rendering him unconscious. As the bandit facing Yakuroro sees an ice weapon form, he uses Dodging Roll to try and move out of the way but the icy spear strikes into his leg, making him cry out in pain and shake in fear.

The bandit Ayero faced looked around wildly as embers were knocked up at him, making him raise an arm to defend his face just as Ayero’s blade came down, dealing a devastating blow to his arm, and nearly removing the appendage. When she grabbed his opposite wrist and nearly crushed it in her grasp, he fell to the ground whimpering.

“Please, don’t kill me~”

His words would be interrupted by the sound of a crashing tree. The crashes became louder and suddenly a massive man appeared at the edge of the camp, swinging a monstrous blade.

“Useless men!”

The man looked cruel and hard, his large blade dragging on the ground. He had no use for cowering idiots and he would not risk the other camp being exposed by blathering fools. His eyes settled on the bandit whimpering on the ground, seemingly held at the wrist by an invisible force.

"Show yourself! Face your death!"




Name: Raizul
Rank: A
Damage needed to take out: Omega
Description: Raizul moves at 9 m/s and carries a massive broadsword that is just over one meter long, capable of dealing A-tier damage.
Abitlities:
Parrying Strike: Moving his blade at 20 m/s, Raizul brings his sword up to block a strike of A-tier or lower and redirect it away from him.
Painful Deterence: Twirling and bringing his blade down at a diagonal at 20 m/s, Raizul strikes at the bundle of nerves at his opponent’s neck, paralyzing the arm for 3 posts.
Stabbing Jab: Raizul jabs his sword forward at 25 m/s to deal A-tier damage.
Slashing Knock-Back: Raizul swings his massive blade around at 25 m/s, dealing B-tier damage to anything within 1 meter of him and knocking them back 10 meters.

With his tackle successful, Akatetsu stood his ground and roared for all to hear. The chimera let his presence be known with the bellowing cry and then looked at the bandit he'd injured with a snarl. Yakuroro had also been blessed with good fortune and his ice encased staff crushed the leg of one of the men. The Imuchakk magician ceased his sustained flow of magoi to the spell wrapped around Ayero as he watched her deal with the few remaining bandits, but he would find himself regretting this decision soon. He turned his attention instead to the man whose leg had been broken and shot him a friendly smile. The screams he was making didn't faze Yakuroro's amiable demeanor one bit as Yakuroro hefted the Frozen Horn to rest it upon his shoulder, "Shhh, hush now. I don't want to hurt you any more, but my son here doesn't like loud things..." Hearing these words, Akatetsu turned to face the bandit and growled at him with a glare full of animosity. "He tends to eat them."

Hopefully that threat would scare the man into silence. Yakuroro and Akatetsu then began approaching closer to the camp when suddenly a force came stampeding through the woods like a large beast. But the cause of the commotion revealed itself to be a man, not a monsters, or perhaps both. It was then that the regret at having lowered the invisibility from Ayero hit Yakuroro. He would not be able to cast the same spell again for some time leaving his fanalis companion visible for this new threat to see. Yakuroro held his ground at the edge of the camp and scanned for any remaining bandits aside from their leader whom had just arrived but otherwise did not take action. The Imuchakk wanted to observe the situation first and would decide how to act after taking a moment to analyze the situation.

She gives pause at the sound of something large crashing through the brush, the hairs on her neck raising at the sound of the deep gravelly voice belonging to the bandit leader. She releases her hold on the man’s wrist only to deliver a sharp blow to his back with her foot, turning on her heel with the injured bandit now forgotten.


Her breath hitches in her throat audibly as her eyes land on the towering beast of a man. Ayero had faced her fair share of intimidating opponents before, and the woman was nearly unmovable in the heat of battle. But memories of the not too distant battle with The Brotherhood of Ash came rushing back. Though their group had quickly felled their opponents, the strange old man with the flute had left them with an illusory parting gift.

---

From Unfinished Business


Her brows furrow when the crisp sounds of battle reach her ears, causing the bewildered woman to turn toward Akatetsu and Maxia. But what greets her vision is not the enemy fanalis and the chimera, but rather a handful of hulking figures, their features obscured by a strange sort of darkness. ”There’s more of them?” She grits her teeth and narrows her eyes in irritation, not expecting their opponents to have such…strange backup. She tightens her grip on her sword and shifts herself into a battle ready stance as the figures begin to slowly move toward her, the eerie dark miasma trailing from them and fading into the air as they moved.

Soon they were nearly upon her and although the figures made no aggressive movements, a heavy feeling of dread overcame the young woman. Something wasn’t right. These shadowed men had reached her far too quickly for the speed they were moving at, and they seemed to multiply by the second. Though her ears were working fine, her senses were completely drowned in her hallucinations. The figures stopped moving roughly a meter from her and simply stood around her, shrouded heads tilted slightly downward as if they were watching her, judging her. The ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach grew in intensity as they did this, a wave of panicked confusion washing over her as she unconsciously backed away. What was going on? Why weren’t they attacking her?

---

Even after discovering that the foes she fought were not real, Ayero couldn’t shake the ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach. It had plagued her for the remainder of the day and into the night with unsettling dreams. The feeling had gradually left on its own, and Ayero had mostly forgotten the disturbing situation. But now, a realization dawned on her. The man she saw before her held the exact same shape, the same outline as the shadowy foes she had faced.



And all at once, the foreboding feeling she had written off as fatigue or poison from Kabu’s bite made sense. Was it her own psyche that had tried to warn her? How did she know what this man looked like, she swore that she’d never seen him before. But the illusion were magical in nature, so did magic have a hand in this? The questions whirred through her mind a thousand miles a minute but soon made way for her anger. As her expression melted from utter shock to pained rage, the magically induced invisibility that had hidden her began to dissipate. Holding her blade out to the side, she spoke in a strong tone, her voice wavering in anger.










[Household: 676/3000]

The bandit near Akatetsu and Yakuroro immediately silenced himself at the words of the frightful magician, even once the magician wandered over towards the camp, his only noises being a slight whimper and the scraping of leaves as he attempted to lean himself against a tree and treat his leg.

Raizul gave a hearty laugh as Ayero appeared before him, the sound echoing through the woods.

“Well, aren’t you a pretty thing! Your family? You mean those whimpering brats in that joke of a village? Ah, yes… the red hair does look familiar. You think to take my life? HA! Wretched girl, you do not know who you are dealing with!”

With a scoff and a lunge forward, he waited until he was closer to the young woman before twirling around and bringing his blade down in a slash, intending to strike the warrior woman with Painful Deterrence on her sword arm.

”Kkttt…” The anger is clear on her face as Raizul speaks, taunting her with heavy ammunition. She knows well enough not to let the rage get the best of her, but it’s building up rapidly behind her dark brown eyes. There was absolutely no way that she would allow this man to live, Yakuroro’s words of warning lost in the sea of cold revenge.

She refrains from speaking, her body language and expression giving all of the non-verbal response that was needed. Instead she readies herself and keeps her eyes trained sharply on the man, prepared to counter any movements that he made. When he closes the gap between them and twirls before raising his massive sword above him, Ayero responds swiftly by raising her own blade to meet his in a Parry. Should she be able to successfully intercept and knock his blade to the side with her own, the Fanalis woman would use the force of the parry to lurch forward and aim a blow at the man’s stomach.


[Household: 847/3000]


[Stamina: 160/200]

Spoiler:

As the Imuchakk observed the clash between the two red haired fighters begin, he noticed Akatetsu begin to step forward. The chimeric beast was eager to help his friend, Ayero, and sought to protect her from harm. However the Frozen Horn on Yakuroro's staff fell to block his way. Turning his bonehead back to Yakuroro, Akatetsu saw the magician shake his head solemnly. "This is something she must do on her own. If we carelessly interfere, it may do more harm than good." He said in a sobering tone. Akatetsu didn't quite understand even with his enhanced intelligence, but he trusted Yakuroro's word as if it were gospel. Making an uncomfortable sound of reluctant agreeance, Akatetsu stepped back and watched the fight unfold.

Knowing that Akatetsu was worried about Ayero, Yakuroro placed a hand on the beast and pat its back assuringly. Didn't you hear me correctly? We can't interfere carelessly..." Yakuroro said with a mischievous grin. Turning the see his father's expression Akatetsu's eyes lit up with hope. "Run around the left side and make some noise, but don't engage. I have a plan." The beast nodded and then followed Yakuroro's orders by circling around Ayero and Raizul to the left. Akatetsu stomped about and roared keeping a distance of about 10m which meant he was close enough to attack at any moment making him a large potential threat.

Meanwhile, Yakuroro allowed the ice around his staff to crumble away and melt as he circled around as silently as an Imuchakk could to the right. He would seek to move into a flanking position 15m away from the fanalis and her opponent. Hopefully Raizul's fight with Ayero and the rampaging beast on the other side of him would keep the fighter's gaze from settling upon Yakuroro. Either way, he would aim his staff towards Raizul and a bit off to the side so as not to catch Ayero in the range of his spell as Yakuroro muttered under his breath, "Equilibrium..." willing green rukh to spread from his staff in a cone towards the enemy generating a loud ear piercing tone for a brief second. The magic would be invisible to everyone but Yakuroro, but its effects would have a very noticable effect on Raizul should he lay eyes on Ayero.

Yakuroro hoped that his interference in the fight would be subtle enough that Ayero's pride was not trampled upon.

Magoi - 195/300

Spoiler:

Raizul grunted as his move was parried to the side, the sound of crashing trees and roaring catching his ear. The momentary distraction of the noise allowing the hit to land in his stomach. Unsure of how far away the noise was coming from but certain that he would hit at least the young woman, Raizul used Slashing Knock-Back with a loud roar by swinging his blade in a complete circle around him, the massive blade aiming to deal damage and knock back anything close enough to hit him. The half-Fanalis woman packed quite a punch. After his swing, he would turn to locate the woman to see if his hit had landed, only to have the ear-shattering tone strike him. When he would set eyes on Ayero, his vision would be reversed.

The sound of Akatetsu crashing through the brush nearby and his familiar roar tickles her ears, but she pays it no mind. She wasn’t aware that all of the bandits have been subdued and was grateful for the aid of Yakuroro and his chimeric son, so she had assumed that the struggle was going on. Had she been less absorbed in the battle she may have though that the Imuchakk was up to something, but her focus was dead set on her clash with Raizul. She’s satisfied when her blow lands, but the man is quick to recover and deals a swift rebuttal, successfully knocking back the Fanalis 10m.


Grunting, Ayero quickly scrambles to her feet, barely able to feel the pain due to the adrenaline pumping through her system. She wastes no time in charging him, sprinting with her blade outstretched to her side. Feeling the urge to help his enraged master, Kabu rises slightly from her perch on her shoulders and lets out a low warning hiss before rearing his head back and spitting a Poison Shot aimed at Raizul. Unaware of Yakuroro's spell and not wanting to make the mistake of taking the man head on, Ayero takes advantage of her Fanalis speed and begins to weave as she approaches her opponent, hoping to try and catch him off guard with her movements. After moving into striking range, the woman lowers her body and raises her weapon to his left side, bringing it down in a sharp diagonal slash in an attempt to deal damage.

[Household: 1104/3000]

[Stamina: 140/200]

Spoiler: