UNKNOWN LOCATION
"THERE IT'S DONE. She was the last one. What do you think?"
"Excellent work Met Kafou."
Met Kafou is a formidable Loa. He's a master of dark magic and sorcery. If you're brave enough to summon him then be prepared for a test of willpower, determination, and discipline.
However, if you can prove yourself to be worthy, Met Kafou can bestow immense power and knowledge upon you.
But be careful: his gifts come at a steep price, and he won't hesitate to exact it.
"Now then if there's nothing else you need from me Loki, let's settle that very steep price you now owe me."
"Remind me what that was again."
In a raised voice, "do not play games with me trickster!"
"Oh unclench would you. You're wound up so tight I could shove a lump of coal up your ass and in a few minutes it would be a shiny diamond…well maybe a brown one."
"I'd like to see you try."
Loki heaves a sigh, "I was joking. Once I send everyone back I'll hold up my end of the deal and take you to meet my boss."
"You had better."
****
Corym Elyra, Fiora Elyra, Corin, Holly, Poppy, Silver, Oz, Dale, and Bonaluria arrive at a Templar blockhouse to find it completely empty.
According to Fiora, there's supposed to be ten soldiers stationed here. Corym uses his World Sight skill to search for not only the soldiers but the missing kids as well. However, prolonged use of this skill takes its toll and he passes out from it.
Fiora gets into a heated argument first with Bonaluria and then Oz. It would've come to blows had it not been for Poppy's suggestion of visiting a hot-spring she and Silver had found.
Night has fallen. Light stones illuminate the area.
Fiora, Holly, and Poppy have yet to return from the now newly named Rainbow on the Ground Hot-spring, and Corym still remains unconscious from prolonged usage of his World Sight skill.
"Foods ready."
"What's on the menu, big sis?" Asked Oz.
Bonaluria and Oz hail from Magnolia Village. It's a remote, self-reliant place that's home to mostly demi-humans and beastkin.
As a child, Oz spent time learning from Finnea—Bonaluria's mother, and Bonaluria herself. Which is why he often refers to her as big sis.
True Believers have attacked the village in the past, and took Dale and Bonaluria's daughter. And during their most recent attack, they abducted Oz's three daughters.
"Creamy beef-stew and vegetable soup."
"Good news, I found the captain's liquor stash." Said Dale, coming down the stairs, bottle in hand.
"Did you seriously steal someone's liquor?" Asked Oz.
"I'm not stealing it. I'm strategically transferring it to an alternate location. It just so happens to be my stomach."
"Did you just make that up to justify 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 the liquor?"
"Nope. It's something my father Nick liked to say. Do you have a problem with that?"
"I will if you don't pour me a glass."
This elicits a smile from Dale.
As Bonaluria places the food onto the table she asks, "where are Corin and Silver?"
"They're up in the tower keeping watch." Answered Dale, pouring everyone a glass and handing them out.
"Should I call them down?"
"No need. Corin said they'd come down and eat once Fiora, Holly, and Poppy return."
"Well then," Dale holds up his glass, the others follow suit. "May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May your food be plenty and your cup never run dry. Salud!"
""Salud!""
All three drain their glasses.
"Whooo! That right there is a fine drink." Exclaimed Oz. "That captain really knows his liquor."
"Pour you another one?"
"Yes please."
"Two fingers this time."
Dale doesn't even get the chance to pour them another, when an explosion rips through the air shaking the blockhouse. It doesn't end there. More and more explosions sound off non stop.
"Who the hell is attacking us?!" Shouts Dale.
"It's the True Believers," answered Silver, flying into the room, "they have us surrounded!"
Shouting over the explosions Bonaluria asked, "how did you guys miss them sneaking up on us?!"
"We didn't miss them! One second it's peaceful and in a blink they just appeared and started launching their attacks!"
Oz asks, "Silver, how many are there?!"
"Don't know! The constant explosions make it hard to see!"
"I'll go up and trade places with Corin! I'm better suited for long range combat!" Bonaluria heads for the stairs.
"Wait! Don't go just yet!"
"We don't have the luxury of waiting!"
Oz, grabs his pack, pulls something out and tosses it to Bonaluria.
"Don't make me regret giving that back to you! You may be my big sister, but I still have a job to do as your overseer while Fiora is away."
Bonaluria catches her trademark black bow. "Arrows?!"
"There's a weapons cache up in the tower! Plenty of arrows! I'll show you, right after this!"
Silver, being a support mage, quickly casts speed boost, tactical focus, strength boost, and enhanced dexterity on them, then flies on ahead with Bonaluria right behind him.
Continuing to shout over the explosions.
"What should we do about Corym?!"
"Leave him! He'll be fine as long as the barrier…"
The sound of glass shattering interrupts Oz.
"Was that the sound of the barrier breaking?!"
"Yes Dale it was!" Answered Corin, literally flying down the stairs."
"Can you restore it!?"
"I cannot! Unless one of you is a barrier mage or knows anything about barriers, we'll have to wait for Holly to return!"
"How were they able to break it?!"
"With no one to stop the constant barrage of attacks this outcome was inevitable!"
"Were you able to determine how many there are?"
"I estimate about twenty of them, maybe."
"Wait, listen." Oz said.
Everyone goes silent. Listening. Then they realized it, the explosions had stopped.
Dale speaks up, "Can you two buy me sometime? I'll stash Corym somewheres and then join you outside."
Corin materializes his double-chain and Kama, "sure no problem."
"I can't promise there will be anyone left by the time you join us." Oz draws his Escrimas from their sheaths.
They both headed for the door to greet their uninvited dinner guests. Once outside they survey the area. The sea of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet robes that laid before them made Oz's hackles rise.
"I thought you said there were about twenty of them? This is ten times that."
"I estimated twenty, however I definitely would've noticed this many."
"They could be using illusion magic or an item that generates illusions." Speculates Oz.
"Not possible. Illusion magic doesn't work on me." States Corin, "There's something odd about this whole situation."
"Now that you mention it. Not one of them here has uttered a word since we stepped outside. I'm also not picking up any type of scent from them. It's like they're not here, and yet we're looking right at them not more than twenty feet from us."
"If you're not picking up on a scent it's possible they're undead."
Oz growls in annoyance, "this is gonna be a long night."
"Indeed."
"Corin, listen, don't trust the colors of their robes."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Red is normally associated with the warrior class. Blue for the assassin class, and so forth. However, it was reported that the True Believers wear whatever color to throw us off." Explained Oz.
"In other words a green robed tanker class could actually be an orange robed mage class."
"You got it."
It's at that moment a True Believer wearing a red robe and carrying a staff appears.
"Are you their leader?" Asked Oz.
Red Robe A answers by raising its staff.
In short bursts, wolves are capable of reaching speeds of 36-38 miles per hour. Now factor in the speed boost that Silver placed on Oz and it's not all that surprising he'd close the distance between himself and Red Robe A so fast it would look like he had teleported.
"Bombardment!" In a fast fluid movement that took years to master, Oz strikes Red Robe A.
𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘!
First on the left side of the temple, then the right side.
𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘!
Next he strikes the left arm, then the right.
𝑊ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑝! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘!
Oz targets the stomach, both shoulders, and both knees.
𝑇ℎ𝑤𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝑇ℎ𝑤𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘! 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘!
A muffled squelch, combined with a sharp snap is heard as each escrima stick penetrates Red Robe A's eyes, fracturing the orbital bones in the process.
𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘!
The final strike is to the crown. A twelve hit combo in all.
Red Robes A's head snaps down and then springs up, his hood falls back, revealing his identity.
"How?" Corin recognizes who it is right away, but he's unable to say much else as the True Believers swarm him and Oz like starving locusts.
****
Earlier
With the sun gone the only light there is comes from the stars above, the lighting bugs as they fly about, and surprisingly the water itself. This is due to the bioluminescence bacteria living in the water.
Fiora, Poppy, and Holly have been chatting away pretending not to notice that they had been surrounded.
Fiora stands, stretches, and sits back down on the rocks, leaving her feet in the water, her hand resting on Masamune—her katana. "Poppy, how many are there?"
"Ten."
"Should I put up a barrier?"
Before Fiora can reply multiple arrows fly towards them from different directions.
With lightning fast reflexes Fiora smacks some of them down with Masamune still in its scabbard. While Poppy erects a sand wall, stopping the remaining arrows.
As Fiora stands there water dripping off of her she calls out to her attackers.
"Show yourselves you cowardly piss ants. Because if I have to come hunt you down you'll regret it."
Holly points a finger skyward, "Multi Light Barrier!" Several barriers composed of light magic illuminate the area.
One by one all ten are revealed by the light. They're the missing Templar soldiers.
"Shit. I had a bad feeling things would turn out this way." Fiora looks around and spots the captain assigned to this post. "Captain Gnatir, do you recognize me?"
No reply.
"It's me, General Fiora Elyra. Along with Poppy and Holly."
Still no reply. Fiora turns her attention to a male Leopard holding a bastard sword standing nearby. "What about you Ranmy? You and I would spar whenever I visited."
Ranmy doesn't respond. Poppy suddenly pops up right in his face then flies back to Fiora and Holly who had climbed out of the water.
"He's dead. I saw no life in his amber eyes." Poppy reports a hint of sadness in her voice.
"So there's a necromancer involved in all this."
"I. Fucking. Hate. Necromancer's." Spits Holly, her words laced with venom.
****
Present
"Do you know who that is, Corin?!" Shouts Oz, after hitting two more True Believers.
"Yeah! Even with his eyes gone I know it's that piece of shit, Brodi!" Corin blocks an attack from Blue Robe A wielding a staff.
"He's a former Templar captain, but last I heard he died during the Fuchsia City Incident." Corin kicks Blue Robe A in the stomach, knocking him away.
"Didn't some of the Templars under his command turn traitor?!" Oz smashes Yellow Robe A in both knees and jaw — breaking them.
"They did! However of the two thousand that betrayed us only a third of them were found dead. The remaining soldiers are considered AWOL!"
AWOL: Absent without official leave. Is a military term started during the first World War.
As the two continue to shout out over the fighting Green Robes A and B manage to get behind Oz and are about to stab him with a pitch fork and knife when an arrow penetrates the skull of the Green Robe A—wielding the pitch fork.
Half a second later a black arrow penetrates the skull of Green Robe B with the knife.
Oz looks up making eye contact with Bonaluria. She simply nods, nocks a new arrow and fires. Taking down another True Believer.
Looking towards the blockhouse he sees standing in the doorway, dressed in his trademark black gear—minus the hood, is the former leader of the Black Archers, Zero, now known as Dale.
Now with Dale in the mix, all three get to work cleaning house.
Indigo Robe A brandishing a spear charges Dale from the left. Violet Robe A with a hatchet charges from his right, and Red Robe B with a magic wand in hand begins conjuring up a fireball right in front of him.
This makes Dale smile. "Bring it."
Indigo Robe A gets to Dale just before Violet Robe A and thrusts out her spear.
Dale redirects the spear head right into Violet Robe's A sternum who had his hatchet raised above his head.
The hatchet falls forward out of Violet Robes A's hand. Dale catches it and whips it at Red Robe B, lodging it deep in his face, at the same time the fireball is launched.
It veers off course and hits Indigo Robe A, she bounces off the blockhouse wall—hard, and lays there burning.
"Glad to see you haven't lost a step!" Oz shouted.
"Like riding a horse!"
"Double Slash! Stay focused, you two! Fights not over!"
The head of an arrow that Dale has ready to fire is glowing. "Penetrating Shot!" The arrow blows through several torsos. "Have never had a leisurely chat while fighting?!"
Spinning one end of his chained Kama overhead, "can't say that I have!" Corin throws the spinning Kama, it wraps around Yellow Robe B's weapon. Corin yanks the weapon out of the female's hands as an arrow from above strikes Yellow Robe B's throat.
"Hey guys!" Calls Silver, flying towards them. "Something isn't right here."
"What do you mean?" Asked Oz.
"Look around. No matter what you guys do to them they keep getting back up."
Oz, Dale, and Corin do just that.
Green Robes A and B that Bonaluria and Dale had shot are slowly getting back up.
Yellow Robe A with busted knees crawls towards them.
Red Robe B with a hatchet in his face stands up. The same goes for Violet Robe A and Indigo Robe A, who's still on fire.
Every single True Believer that they had fought up to this point had either gotten back up, or are crawling towards them. To make matters worse any injuries they received glow green, then begin to auto heal themselves.
"Bonaluria thinks these are reanimated corpses. Brought back by a necromancer."
"We did speculate as much. But now I think it's safe to say that a necromancer is involved." Said Corin.
"Silver, have Bonaluria search the area. Look for anything or anyone that's out of place." Instructed Oz.
"What if she can't find…"
BOOOOMM!!!
Silver's question is overtaken by the sound of an explosion. They all looked up to see the upper half of the watchtower had been destroyed.
"BONALURIA!!!" Screams Dale.
"BIG SISTER!!" Shouts Oz.
****
The sound of an explosion can be heard coming from the direction of the blockhouse.
Fiora, Holly, and Poppy don't spare a glance in that direction. Years of rigorous training had taught them to keep their focus and composure on the situation unfolding right in front of them. Which would have been fatal, because the soldiers charge.
"Water Wall!" Holly manages to erect a wall of water as a fireball hurdled towards them. "I'll end this right now. Sanctuary of Pur…"
"Holly, don't!" Shouts Fiora, as she parries Gnatir's attack. "Using Sanctuary of Purification will turn their bodies to ash!"
"What's your point?!" Holly fires back, "It's the fastest way to end this!"
"Their families deserve to lay them to rest in accordance with their customs and beliefs!" Fiora dodges an over head swing from Ranmy.
Holly clicks her tongue in annoyance. She knows Fiora's right. And yet she momentarily let her hatred for necromancers cloud her judgment.
"Pollan Magic: Sleep Pollan Breath!" A purple mist spews from Poppy's mouth, putting both Tetes and Hathy to sleep. "I'll search for the necromancer."
Fiora knocks Gnatir and then Ranmy unconscious. "Go, but be careful."
Poppy flies off.
Ahh-wooooooo!!!
Oz's howl reaches Fiora's ears. She's heard enough wolf howls in her life to know this one is one of sorrow over losing someone precious to them.
"Holly, put up a barrier around us now!"
Holly does as instructed. "What's wrong?"
"Something happened to Bonaluria." Replied Fiora.
"So? I thought you hated her."
"I do. However, Dale still loves her and has a kid with her, while Oz and Bonaluria come from the same village, he looked up to her as a big sister figure. There's no telling what state of mind they'll be in now."
"So now what?"
"We currently have two options. The first is: we wait for Poppy to find the necromancer and stop them. The second option is: we disregard proper etiquette for laying our comrades to rest, and you purify them."
Holly expands the barrier so their gear and clothing are inside with them. As she dresses she says, "I'd rather not deal with our comrades haunting us for not laying them to rest properly. Let's wait and rely on Poppy to find the necromancer."
"Agreed. But if she takes too long."
"Then I will purify them." Holly sighs, "this is why as a priestess, I fucking hate necromancers."