Chapter 29: Chapter Twenty-Nine

(Hey there, guys! I have some kinda-awesome news! As of today, I finally decided to do something fun! I’ve made a Discord server, where you can come and hang out with me and talk about my writing, or games, or anime, or all kinds of fun stuff! I’ll add a link here! 

https://discord.gg/858fU4HS

But now, back to our regularly-scheduled shenanigans!)

 

 

Asteria turns back, my bnuuy’s head turning to mimic hers, as I shake Marika’s hand, her face lighting up as her lips curling into her usual cat-like smirk. “Ohhh, is my adorable angel making friends?” she teases, and I turn red, sticking my tongue out at her.

“W-well, anyway! We should probably kick of our streams again, yeah?” I dodge the question, making Asteria’s eyes twinkle. She’s going to give me grief over that when we’re alone, isn’t she? Regardless, we resume our streams, and I fill my chat in on what’s happening, including my plans to find a moderator or two for my streaming. “I can’t wrangle you AND the game at once, guys! I’m a novice at this stuff!” I mockingly complain, smiling, as Asteria’s voice comes from a few metres ahead, echoed by a few bunny sounds, as the as-yet unnamed giant rabbit bounds along, almost going bipedal and gesturing with her forepaws.

 “Yep, WildRose is here too, she’s got her own stream running, so I won’t try and butt in too much. Anyway, some of you might recognize the pretty girl standing there, right? Well, it IS the same one I… well, bitch-slapped. We’ve agreed to bury the hatchet, though, so it’s all fine now. No need to be mean, and put the pitchforks away!” I chide, wagging a finger in the direction of my streaming orb.

Marika shyly waves, and I smile at her. “So, the three of us are heading to the Imperial Capital, Vassim, thanks to a tip we received from Captain Kael’Dornis-Galatea, and I’m looking forward to exploring a new place!” As we travel along the path, I settle on a name that might work for my new companion.

I whistle to her and she lollops over, my gauntleted hands ruffling through her fur. “Your name is… Thunderbun!” she flips one ear up, then the other.  A few seconds later, she’s off, binkying around the group, leaping and twisting in mid-air as she frolics, before pausing to bury her head in a patch of wild strawberries, her fluffy powder-puff tail wiggling ecstatically.

I giggle, watching as she enjoys her snack, producing a handkerchief to wipe her face clean of strawberry juice before it stains.  She boops my fingers with her snoot, and Marika shyly gives a few gentle pets to the enormous bun.  Following Asteria, we round the bend in the forested path, and she holds up a hand, halting us. “Look. It seems we have company.” Half-a-dozen people in armour, weapons drawn, are waiting up ahead, blocking the road.

“Who are they? Are they friendly?”  I ask, and Marika shrugs, looking concerned. Asteria shakes her head. “Stream snipers, ladies. They watch a streamer’s content when they’re live, then track them down in-game and try to harass them, maybe kill them, because they think it’s funny.”

I grit my teeth. “What a bunch of jerks! I doubt they’ll let us go, yeah? We’re in for a fight…”

Observing the group, I take note of what they’re bringing to bear with us.  

One guy in a samurai getup, even dual-wielding a katana and wakizashi.

Two Vulpa mages, twins by the look of their characters, both wielding staves topped with crystal balls.

A guy in leather armour, with a double-stringed longbow and quiver.

An Executioner like Clawdette, but a lanky reptilian dude, two savage-looking handaxes at the ready.

And finally, a girl in healer’s robes, a strange, floating orb hovering over her palm.

This could be a problem, not only are we outnumbered, but they’re going to be at least my level, if not closer to Astie’s. I look back at Marika. “You can stay out of this if you want; it’s Asteria and I that these creeps wanna get to. If you get caught up in this, you might die.”

To my surprise, she shakes her head, a weirdly fierce look on her face. “No. I’ll prove that I’m better than my- than I’ve been to you. I’ll handle the healer and the bowman, okay?” she whispers right in my ear, so only I can hear her.

I smile, and then place a hand on Thunderbun’s flank.  She closes her eyes, and vanishes in a crackle of electricity. Stepping forward, I relay Marika’s plan to Asteria under the guise of giving her a kiss on the cheek. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the Executioner reacting angrily, and shrug, breaking the ‘kiss’ and turning to face the group. “So, how about we make this fun? We pick the two of you we wanna fight, and then you guys come at us at once, okay?”

A brief muttering rises from the group of stream-snipers, and I chuckle, appearing to be unarmed, which seems to have the ranger-looking guy looking a little unsure of himself.  Eventually, I yawn theatrically. “I don’t have all day, you guys. Make your decision, or it’ll be made for you!”

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That galvanises them, and the samurai steps forwards. “Understood. Pick your opponents then!” he roars, and I snap my arm up. “I pick you, samurai-dude, and the Executioner. You face Sky-Queen Kettrin!”

I step aside, and Marika rushes up behind. “I’M going to fight the archer and the Healer! I’m not going to disappoint, I hope!” she produces her wand and flourishes it wildly. I’m starting to LIKE this girl, God help me!

Finally, Asteria saunters up, her two opponents looking seriously at her. The pair of short fox-people seem like they aren’t going to underestimate her. Too bad I won’t be able to focus on watching her fight, what with my own duel to win.

The sun is past its zenith, about 1 or 2pm, as we step forward to meet our destiny. The stream snipers split into their pairs, and, with one final nod to each other, Asteria, Marika, and I all leap into action.

I take to the air, not in true flight, but using my wings to boost into a leap. As I reach the peak of my jump, I reach up, both hands closing on thin air, and then, as I plunge down upon the samurai, my giant sword crashing down as I descend upon them.

Swearing, he uses both blades to block my attack, scraping back across the earthen path, the Executioner coming in on my left. With a smirk, I activate Earthshaker, causing spear-like needles of rock to explode out of the ground around me, the reptilian axeman taking a trio of stone blades to the throat and chest as I hear a volley of explosions going off behind me.

The samurai darts in, kicking off the stone spikes as he delivers a blistering flurry of blows. I back off, and he takes the chance to un-porcupine his comrade. Looks like the Earthshaker wasn’t enough to put the Executioner down for good, though.  As he chokes down a healing potion, I raise my blade and begin channelling energy into it, focusing on the power of ice.  My sword crackles, crystalline rime and frost swirling around it and forming a thick, sharp coating of ice around the steel. With a beat of my wings, I gain some altitude, plunging down to deploy a two-footed kick to the samurai as he emerges from out of the field of stone blades, slamming him back and breaking several of the rocky needles as he curses up a storm.

The lizard-like man clambers back up as I bring my blade around, one of his axes hooking around the edge. However, he starts emitting a hissing sound, as the frost drifting over length of my sword biting into the metal of his hatchet.

Over his shoulder, I can see Asteria’s battle is already over, the two Vulpa lying in pieces as my Alven sweetheart twirls her Rimeblade scythe languidly. Turning back to my own problems, I twist the blade of my sword, reactivating Imbued with Chaos, and the ice evaporates in a flash, roaring flame cascading along the metal.

 The frozen iron of the Lizarra’s hatchet shatters from the sudden temperature change. As he stumbles back, I sweep my blade across, finishing the cut he’d attempted to prevent. With an unearthly shriek, he falls away, divided in two.

With the samurai still working to free himself from where’d I’d kicked him, I take a look at Marika’s fight. She’s still holding her own, but the archer is giving her a right peppering. His bow’s double strings allow him to fire twice as many shots. His quiver is looking pretty dry, though, so it won’t be long till he’s run out.

 His shafts are detonating against the shield that Marika’s casting with one hand, using her wand to fire back with jets of flame, the healer gasping  as she tries to keep up with the recovery magic. Her MP reserves must be pretty much exhausted.

As I watch, the Healer collapses, burnt out, as her bowman friend turns in alarm, and pays for it. A pink mist fountains from Marika’s wand, spraying the leather-clad archer from head to toe. He lets out a chuckle, before coughing. His head tilts, and he coughs again, louder. Suddenly, he’s convulsing, hacking and choking as he coughs over and over, each one more violently wrenching than the last. A series of wet popping sounds fill the air, and he crumples, twitching, before falling still. The Healer’s eyes are wide in horror.

I feel the heat of my flaming sword, and, as the samurai struggles free, his eyes wide as he takes in the devastation his mates have suffered. “No, this wasn’t supposed to happen! This wasn’t-!” he blurts, as I rise into the air, wings beating, my flaming sword in hand. Playing up the whole angel aesthetic, I raise my voice, as loud as I can. “BE NOT AFRAID, MORTAL!”

With that, I descend, bringing my blazing blade down and activating Earthshaker as I impact. The combination of fiery sword and stone lances is enough to destroy the samurai, leaving barely a trace of him behind.  

The Healer starts whimpering, trying to move, but her mana-burnout has paralyzed her. She’s helpless, alone, and outmatched, and you can tell that she knows it, from the fear in her eyes. Asteria looks to Marika. “Do you want me to finish her off? I’ll make it quick, I promise.”

The neon mage nods, backing away a little. Asteria turns to face the powerless girl, her black outfit shifting and shimmering as it changes into a half-armoured war-dress. Golden pauldrons and a breastplate glint over white silk, the skirts flowing out to the back as golden faulds and greaves replace her boots. Her ungloved hand curls around, as a pair of feathered wings emerge over one pauldron, followed by a serpent’s head. “Naberius, if you would?”

“Asss you wish, missstresss,” the Quetzalcoatl hisses, coiling around her arm, his head resting on the back of her hand. He opens his mouth. I watch in awe as a blast of black light pierces the air, a ray of darkness that washes over the Healer. When the beam dies away, nothing is left of her at all, not even a smear on the ground. It’s as if she’d never even existed.

Asteria lowers her hand, Naberius making his way back to coil out of sight. She turns to her streaming camera, the glowing orb hovering closer as she raises an eyebrow. “O-kay, seems some people didn’t get the message!  How many times do I have to demonstrate, stream-sniping won’t get you anywhere?? Anyway, I’ve got some damage-control to deal with, so I’m calling it here! Catch you guys later!”

Her stream winks off, and I hurriedly run through my outro, signing out as well. I sigh, “We’d better get away from here. These guys might not be dumb enough to try again, but I doubt they’ll be the last.” Marika nods silently, and Asteria saunters up, my eyes roaming her body. God, she looks so hot in that armour, I just wanna peel it off her and- wait, no. Bad thoughts. Time for you later.

 

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